Schoolgirls Take the Canning Crown
A competitive canning contest between Kennewick and Prosser school teams highlights the rise of agricultural youth clubs.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A new and interesting feature of the carnival was the competition of the school children in the different agricultural clubs. The canning contest, in which teams from Prosser, Sunnyside, and Kennewick competed, was particularly interesting. The local team lost the contest to Prosser by a margin of one point, the two scores being 90 and 89. Each team was allowed two hours and were judged for their swiftness, cleanliness, and scientific methods. The Prosser team’s strong point was swiftness, as they canned 108 quarts to Kennewick’s 84, but the local team was given practically a perfect score on cleanliness and scientific methods. As winners of the contest, the Prosser team will be sent to North Yakima next week to enter the state contest at the state fair with all of their expenses paid.
“The Prosser team’s strong point was swiftness... but the local team was given practically a perfect score on cleanliness and scientific methods.”
Youth agricultural education remains a pillar of Washington state culture; this story captures the early, rigorous competitive spirit of 'canning bees' that were once essential to household food security.
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