Some award-winning arts and crafts are on display at the San Diego County Fair. Among them, a group of woodworking pieces that have won a series of first place prizes.
Handcrafted and beautifully made small wooden works of art that Jeff Frazier couldn't be more proud of.
"We have some very talented people who very much have some creative spirit within them,” Frazier said.
At 63 years old, he's the youngster on the nine-member team made up of late in life carpenters all grouped together by a common thread.
They are disabled veterans, no longer living on their own.
"Hmm, yeah, I'm single, I lost my wife a while ago, over 20 years, and this gives me a sense of purpose, gives me a sense of belonging,” Frazier said.
Over the years The School of Woodworking Recreational Therapy at the Veterans Home of Chula Vista has taught hundreds of men and women woodshop skills, but this is the first time the group entered the contest at the San Diego County Fair.
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Nineteen pieces submitted - remarkably all 19 received first place prizes.
"There are over a 150 corks we cut to fit in the violin case," Frazier explained
A violin from a swap meet Fraizer repurposed it into a wine rack, and it won best in the show.
"I've been coming to the Del Mar Fair since I was five, my uncle was a woodworker, and I always wanted to put something in, and I finally did," Frazier explained.
