Jennie Doyle has spent 20 years with the county and 4-H fairs

Jennie Doyle of Lebanon added a new exhibit this year to the quilts and baby sweaters on display at the Linn County Fair: a "Help Wanted" sign.

Doyle, 49, is spending today wrapping up the final duties for her last county fair as textile class open superintendent.

She has spent 10 years in that position, and another 10 doing a similar job for the

4-H fair. She loved her work and heard often how good she was at it. During her tenure, entries in the division skyrocketed - she started with 20 quilts, for instance, and this year checked in more than 100.

But after two decades, she said, it's time to retire and do some summertime traveling instead of spending her July at the fairgrounds.

"It's time to go," she said. A pause. "With a lot of mixed feelings."

Doyle has been sewing herself since she was 10 years old, when her aunt taught her to use a treadle machine. Since then, she's added knitting, crocheting, quilting, embroidery and cross stitch to her repertoire.

So naturally, she said, when the younger two of her three daughters were 10 and 5, she started a sewing/crafting 4-H group with them. And just as naturally, someone asked her to get involved with the 4-H fair.

"When you say yes, it's a lifetime commitment," she said with a bubble of laughter.

That commitment really hits home the few days before the fair begins.

Doyle is responsible for making sure all entries are properly entered, sorted, displayed, secured, ribboned, recorded and taken down.

In between, she rounds up judges. She deals with unhappy ribbon recipients, though the actual judging is done by others. She patiently explains the rules, repeatedly, to the multitudes who misunderstand - or never read - their fair instruction books.

"She puts her heart and soul into all of this," said her husband, Bill Doyle.

Jennie Doyle said it gives her so much joy to create things out of fabric that she wants to share that enthusiasm with everyone, and to give each entry a place of honor on the fairgrounds floor.

She groups items by color and by theme. She arranges multiple levels of tabletop and wall screen displays, so that visitors will feel they've stepped into a fabric boutique.

She encourages entrants to keep working and to try new things.

It's a volunteer position. No pay. But her reward, she said, is seeing the happy 7-year-old with the ribbon for a "finger-knit" scarf, or visiting with the man who enters his cross-stitch work every year.

"We have so much talent in this county," she said.

The textile division has changed, and changed back, over the years, Doyle said. She sees more smaller, wall-hanging quilts these days than the actual bedcover size. Decorative techniques befitting commercially-made items are more in vogue right now than the homemade look. It made her laugh to see paisley prints and hot pink flowers back on fabrics she last saw in the '60s.

Her life has changed, too, she said, and it's time to let the fair be a part of the past.

"I'm really going to miss it. I really am," she said. "It's going to be hard in the afternoon just to walk away and say, that's it."