LOS ANGELES — The State Fair of Texas is just a few weeks away, and one of the fair’s most popular traditions is the arts and crafts contest.
Kaylee Rodgers
The selection of the winners of the 2024 competition is already underway, but one young participant received disappointing news even before the competition began.
Kaylee Rodgers, 16, made a dress entirely out of poker cards and planned to enter it in this year’s arts and crafts contest at the fair. However, a few days before the competition began, the judges told her the dress was too big for the category she was competing in, and she was disqualified.
“I was at work and got the call that it had to be picked up a little early, and I was definitely very disappointed,” Kaylee told CBS News Texas.
Kaylee said she has always had a passion for creating art using unique and recycled items.
She said her mother, who works at 5 Loves Food Pantry in Sachse, brought home some used decks of cards one day. Kaylee came up with the idea of making a dress out of them and entering it into the State Fair of Texas arts and crafts contest.
Kaylee Rodgers
She said this was the first time she had undertaken a project of this kind. The dress took more than 60 hours to make and involved over 2,000 cards (that’s more than 40 decks of cards).
Kaylee said she made the dress larger than she originally intended, and the show warned her that her dress could be rejected if it didn’t meet the size requirements for her chosen category, so the judges ultimately disqualified her.
Kaylee said she wasn’t upset about the fair, but was still disappointed that she couldn’t show her art. So her mother posted her story on social media and the picture of her dress was shared thousands of times with people in North Texas and around the world.
This week, Kaylee received a call from the organizers of the famous Go Texan Pavilion, who offered to showcase her dress throughout the state fair.
“(This experience) really showed me that if you put in the effort and know that you are presenting yourself with what you have, it can actually open doors. The Saturday my mom wrote the post, I was not having a good day. I was so frustrated that morning, and it turned into one of the best days of my life,” Kaylee said.
Kaylee said some casinos and art exhibits have even offered to talk to her about showing her dress.
She said the support she has received is better than any award.
“I think I definitely got a lot more than just a first, second or third place ribbon. I’m a little overwhelmed, but in a good way,” Kaylee admits.
Kaylee Rodgers
Kaylee also said that she is currently in the process of making another dress for the Day of the Dead, which will also be made entirely from recycled cards.
