At Oregon State Fair, table setting is a competition in artful placement of knives, forks and plates

The Oregon State Fair brings hundreds of thousands people to Salem each year. They come for the rides, the shows, the food … and the competitions.

One of the most unusual involves a skill many of us practice at home every day. While there’s no prize money involved, reputation is on the line — but how exactly do you judge table setting?

OPB’s Paul Marshall sat down with Samantha Swindler of the Oregonian/OregonLive this week to find out. Below are highlights from their conversation.

Paul Marshall: Let’s start with the basics. What is competitive table setting?

Samantha Swindler: That is exactly what it is. It doesn’t sound like a real thing, and I did not think it was a real thing. You are competing against other people to have the most precise, beautiful and to-theme table setting for two people. There are different themes. There are judges, they’re making sure that you were following American standard table setting rules, so they are making sure that your forks and knives and soup spoons are in the right places and they’re all spaced properly. It’s very exact and very precise and very weirdly competitive.

Marshall: You talked to judges and contestants this year. What kind of person is drawn to this event?

Swindler: Everybody that I talked to was a woman. They came from all different cities. They were just people who had grown up with their moms doing really fancy tables or they remember the table setting competition at the State Fair when they were kids, and they just thought it was really beautiful. These are not necessarily people who make fancy tables at their own homes, so it’s sort of like a fun chance to play house.

Marshall: What kind of preparation does a competitive table setter do?

Swindler: Well, you have to come up with your menu; they’re not actually making any food, but they create a menu to theme. And then you have to get all of your utensils and your silverware and your stemware together to fit that menu. Another big part of it is all of the decorations on the table. So for the “regency” theme they would be gathering candelabras and fake root garlands. A lot of them set their tables at home first to make sure that they have all their pieces.

Marshall: What’s the turnout for this event?

Swindler: I was told that it is always like the first contest that fills up with entries at the fair. There are only 20 slots because you bring your own table, and there’s only space for 20 tables. It’s like the first thing to fill; like the day that people can sign up to do it, it’s full. As far as people coming to see it, it’s just part of the Creative Living Pavilion entries at the state fair. It’s right when you first walk in. Central placement means that it’s a very popular thing for people to come look at.

Marshall: You note in your story that while this is not a new event at the state fair, social media played a big part in the growing popularity of competitive table setting. How?

Swindler: It’s just a beautiful thing to look at. There are weirdly like table setting groups on Facebook, where people just share pictures and little videos about their tables. You can find like TikToks of people doing really elaborate settings; they also call it table escaping. I also heard that there was a documentary about competitive table setting. It’s called “Set!” that kind of drew people into this world of creating these really just sort of beautiful elaborate things for people to gather around.

And you know, we’re coming out of a pandemic, or maybe coming out of a pandemic. People haven’t been entertaining, and so maybe there is that interest as well in creating a gathering space for something special.

Marshall: Do contestants have to bring their own silverware?

Swindler: Oh yes, they had to bring their own tables too. A lot of them get their stuff from from thrift stores and things.

Marshall: Did you learn anything about table setting in reporting on it that you’re going to start doing at home now?

Swindler: I don’t think so, These people are so out of my league, like I would never be able to even conceive of a table this gorgeous. I know where the knife goes in relation to the plate and the fork. That’s what I learned.

The Oregon State Fair runs through Monday at the state fairgrounds in Salem.