THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9509010211
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
The results are in for the 1995 Currents Incredible Vegetable Contest after a judging session that caused sparring and heated arguments among staff members.
That wasn't a surprise. Most topics do.
But the fact is, despite a long, hot, dry summer all the vegetables were incredible and coming to consensus was not pretty.
Of course we never expected less than a full salad of freaks of nature.
No one would make a trip to a newspaper office unless they had one strange-looking sample of vegetation.
So after careful study of those entries, the winners of the contest, who all will receive $25 cash awards, are as follows:
MOST BIZARRE VEGETABLE - Paul W. Caviness of the 4800 block of Milan Drive, who grew a red bell pepper in the likeness of Jimmy Durante.
MOST ARTISTIC VEGETABLE - Marie Outten of the first block of Farragut St., who entered a pair of cucumbers because they reminded her of a green and yellow cuckoo bird and a corkscrew.
Seems like we always get some weird entries from Cradock, which makes one wonder about gardening so close to the shipyard.
She named them the ``cuke-coo'' and the ``cukescrew'' and added eyes and legs to her bird.
But after the photographer put the two together in one photo a staffer titled the pair ``The Early Bird Gets the Worm.''
MOST HUMONGOUS VEGETABLE - Portsmouth Public Library director Dean Burgess took the prize with a big juicy organically-grown tomato, 17 1/4 inches in diameter and 15 inches in height. It weighed in at 1 3/4 pounds.
Not bad for a vegetable grown in the middle of Olde Towne.
Runners-up and honorable mentions for Most Bizarre entries were:
Hollis W. Miller of Cavalier Manor, second place for an ear of Golden Queen corn that looked like it got crossed with a pineapple; and Elizabeth ``Betty'' Aronson of the Portsmouth Sheriff's Department, third place for a green pepper that made a fist.
Honorable mention went to Orba D. Light of the 4300 block of Templar Drive for Siamese cucumbers.
For Most Artistic:
Alfred Morgan of the 1200 block of Tatem Ave., second place for an America tomato he brought in because it looked like a bathtub rubber ducky; and Orba D. Light again, third place for a Better Boy tomato that looked like a cross between a realistic valentine and Mickey Mouse.
Honorable mention went to Angie Marushia of the 3100 block of Brighton St. for a cucumber that curled into a graceful swan.
For Most Humongous:
Odessa Taylor of the 1400 block of Parker Ave., second place for a bell pepper that weighed about a pound and was 16 1/4 inches long; and Estelle C. White of the 2000 block of Effingham St., third place for two cucumbers that measured 14 and 15 inches long. ILLUSTRATION: INCREDIBLE VEGETABLE CONTEST
Most Artistic: Marie Outten's corkscrew and cuckoo bird cukes
Honorable mention: Angie Marushia's `swan' cuke.
Most Bizarre: Paul W. Caviness' pepper shaped like Durante's face.
Most Humongous: Portsmouth Public Library director Dean Burgess'
organically grown tomato weighs in at 1 3/4 pounds. It's 17 1/2
inches wide and 15 inches high.
At left: Alfred Morgan's artistic tomato resembles a rubber ducky.
At right, Betty Aronson's green pepper makes a fist.
At left: Honorable mention went to Orba D. Light for his Siamese
twin cucumbers.
by CNB