Rutabaga competition grows with written component

BY DENNY SCOTT

The Blyth Community Betterment Group is expanding the Great Rutabaga Giveaway competition running this month with a creative writing component based on Rita Rutabaga, a creation of Cindy McKenna at Blyth’s Wild Goose Studio Canada.

Rita, a young girl holding a rutabaga aloft, loves rutabagas, according to the Wild Goose Studio Canada post about the painting, and calls them “the heart of the earth”. Through the artistic creation, Annie Sparling of the group hopes to encourage people to put pen to paper and create a narrative, backstory or history for the character. “It could be a children’s story or any level of writing,” Sparling said.

The creation of Rita started with a Regional Tourism Organization 4 (RTO4) competition that opened months ago, Sparling said. The competition was designed to craft something that would have a “sense of identity” for a community in the RTO4 area. Sparling worked with McKenna to create Rita.

The concept of Rita didn’t get much traction in the contest, Sparling said, but the project stuck with McKenna, who has a history of working on mythical creations that connect to communities. She previously worked on “Saugie the River Monster”, a Loch Ness Monster-like creature that lives near Paisley.

Submissions for the contest can be sent to rutabagafestival@gmail.com.

Recently, the Blyth Community Betterment Group has seen the Great Rutabaga Giveaway gaining steam with visitors coming from Lucan, Ripley, Brussels, Wingham and Clinton to pick up rutabagas. It was also featured on the CBC Radio program Ontario Morning when host Wei Chen interviewed Sparling and broadcast the feature on Thursday morning.

For more information on the contest, visit the Rutabaga Fest on Facebook.