Dahlia Festival 2023 info for Homegrown Dahlia Contest

Thank you so much for entering our first ever Dahlia Contest at Dewey Hall!

DEADLINE TO ENTER: SEPT 13

In order to enter the Dewey Hall Dahlia Festival Dahlia Contest you must purchase a ticket here AND fill out this form in its entirety. If you have already filled out and submitted the registration form, you can ignore the follow up email. If not, please do. Your registration is not complete until that form is completed.

NOTE: You may submit up to three dahlias per $10 entry. If you have more than 3 dahlias you would like to submit you need to buy an additional ticket/s.  You may enter a total of 3 times, totaling 9 dahlias and $30. The deadline to register is September 10th, 2024.

On September 17th contestants must bring their dahlias to Dewey Hall to be received between 9am and 10am. Contestants must deliver their dahlias in one bucket with water (buckets will be available for pickup underneath the display tables during the festival. Please label your bucket with your name and phone number so we can contact you if it gets left behind). Dahlias will be displayed in vessels provided by Dewey Hall. Stems must be 12’’-18’’ long. Please keep leaves or offshoot buds or flowers on the stems, they will be removed as needed during intake. Organic growing methods are strongly encouraged.

Judging

Entered flowers will be judged in three categories. Contestants submitting multiple stems do not need to submit in multiple categories nor do they need to know which category their stems fall into. Dahlia receiving staff will sort them so they can be compared with other dahlias with similar blooms. 

Dahlia judging categories:

Category 1: Double Flowering (multiple rows of petals) Ball, pompom, formal or informal decorative, cactus, semi-cactus. 

Category 2: Single Flowering and semi-double. Open-centered. 1 to a few rows of petals. Orchid, anemone, colarette, mignon, peony. 

Category 3: Giant dahlias (Dinner Plate) (Any dahlia with a bloom wider than 8’’ across). 

Prizes

There will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes given in each category. Winners will receive a certificate and a small prize in honor of their efforts. Contest winners will be announced around 3:15pm.

If you have additional questions (after looking at the registration form), please contact: deweyhalloffice@gmail.com