Cornwall Manor Represented at the Lebanon Area Fair
The Lebanon Area Fair is a much-anticipated tradition in the county and runs the last week of July. This year’s event, which attracted record-breaking attendance, commemorated their 65th year of featuring something for everyone – delicious food, thousands of exhibits, rides, track events, entertainment, attractions and much more.
Cornwall Manor resident Pauline Charles and team member Michele Laucks both entered items into the Fair’s exhibit.
Pauline entered four items altogether and won two ribbons and a Best of Show.
Her first piece entered was a wall hanging which was a challenge for the Lebanon Quilters Guild in June 2021. The challenge was to depict a non-traditional holiday. The pattern she used was “New York Beauty,” which looked like the Statue of Liberty headdress. Pauline’s interpretation fit well with the challenge and she named her piece “Happy Birthday, Statue of Liberty!” Pauline hand quilted the black and white border and machine quilted the rest of the quilt. Her piece received a first-place ribbon and Best of Show!
Her second item, won her a second-place ribbon, was a 94×97 bed quilt she made for her granddaughter, Daisy, to commemorate her graduation from Drexel University. Daisy and her boyfriend, Andrew, selected all the bright colors and fabrics, Pauline pieced the top and Ann Davis, Lebanon, quilted on her long arm machine.
She also entered her COVID quilt and a snowman block. The snowman block is a 12.5” by 12.5” block depicting a snowman. Every snowman block entry is used together to create a quilt that will be auctioned at next year’s Fair, with the proceeds benefitting the Lebanon Area Fair Scholarship Fund.
Pauline took her first quilting class in Spring 1992 and she joined the Lebanon Quilters Guild. Since then she has been producing hundreds of items – too many to count! After she and her late husband, Dick, moved to Cornwall Manor in 2014, her Cornwall Manor home is a showcase of all of Pauline’s beautiful items. She even has a “quilt studio” in the finished basement of her Gatehouse Lane home where racks of bright colored and patterned fabrics line the walls. Pauline was one of several residents who made masks for front line workers during the Coronavirus pandemic (her last count? Over 800 and she stopped counting).
Michele Laucks is currently the Vice President for Finance at Cornwall Manor. She was hired in 1988 as the Director of Finance and she resides in Lancaster County with her husband, Bob. She enjoys golf and recently took up photography as a hobby. She began taking photos on her cell phone in 2019 when the right scene caught her attention. After the pandemic hit in 2020, she started taking more photographs with a used camera as a way to deal with the isolation of the pandemic. By the end of 2020, she purchased a new Canon and tele-lens. One would be surprised to learn that Michele has only been snapping photos for a year-and-a-half and that her hobby is one she learned on her own.
Michele entered five photos in the Paintings & Photography (Division 3) category at this year’s Fair and won three ribbons. Her black and white photo of her Sharpei Bogey won her a first-place ribbon. Michele and Bob rescued Bogey in September 2020 and he was playing in the snow when Michele captured this photo.
Her second entry was a winter scene of a robin perched on a holly branch with freshly-fallen snowflakes piling on her head. This photo was taken at Cornwall Manor and won Michele a third-place ribbon in the Birds and Animals class.
A stunning sunset photo won her a fifth-place ribbon in the landscape scenery. This photo was taken near the Lancaster Airport, Neffsville, and garnered thousands of likes when WGAL News 8 shared her photo on their Facebook page.
Many of her photographs are frequently shared on the Artist Gallery Wall at Cornwall Manor (across from the fitness center on the Buckingham Campus). Michele mainly photographs wildlife, scenery and her two dogs. Her favorite places to photograph are Middle Creek, Wildwood Park in Harrisburg and the Conowingo Dam in the lower Susquehanna River.
All of us at Cornwall Manor appreciate both Pauline and Michele for sharing their craftsmanship with the Cornwall Manor and Lebanon Valley communities!
