NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Rural Northern California counties put in a strong showing at the California State Fair's Counties Exhibits Competition.

Lake County won a gold award and a Best of Division for community built exhibits, a new award in the competition this year, the state fair reported.

This year's fair exhibit was built by a group that included retired County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox, and deputy administrative officers Eric Seely and Alan Flora.

Cox said the Lake County exhibit received a lot of positive comments from members of the public at the fair on Friday.

The team that built the bee-themed Glenn County exhibit, the Salvagno family, celebrated their 10th anniversary of building Glenn County’s exhibit at the California State Fair by winning the Best of Show Award.

Although they have won silver and gold awards in the past, Glenn County has never won the Best of Show Award until now.

Exhibit designer and Salvagno family member Terrie Barr, was near tears as she accepted the Golden Bear trophy on behalf of the county at a Friday awards ceremony in Sacramento.

In all, the state fair reported that awards were presented to 24 California counties exhibiting in this year's event.

The counties exhibit has been a longstanding fan favorite and continues to draw crowds of fairgoers every year who support their favorite county, according to fair officials.

In addition to Best of Division for Community Built Exhibits, this year's Counties Exhibits Competition includes another new award, Best of Division for Professionally Built Exhibits. Although the builders from the communities may be experts, they do not build exhibits for a living.

Additional county winners included the following:

• Best of Division – Professionally Built Exhibits: Placer County;
• Best Content Award: Amador County;
• Best Marketing Presentation Award: Glenn County;
• Best Craftsmanship Award: Tuolumne County;
• Best Agricultural Presentation: Yolo County;
• Best Design Award: Sacramento County;
• Best Use of Special Effects/Animation Award: Placer County;
• Best Use of Products, Produce or Artifacts: Mono County;
• Best Visitor Experience Award: Calaveras County;
• Superintendent’s Award: Sierra County.

Gold awards went to Amador County, Butte County, Calaveras County, Colusa County, Glenn County, Humboldt County, Inyo County, Lake County, Mendocino County, Modoc County,  Mono County, Nevada County, Placer County, Sacramento County, Santa Cruz County, Sierra County, Solano County, Sonoma County, Stanislaus County, Tuolumne County, Yolo County and Yuba County.

Silver awards went to El Dorado County, San Joaquin County and Shasta County.