MISQUAH — The Klatch reconvened Monday morning at the Daybreak for the first time since the halls opened, and it was, by unanimous description, unbearable and wonderful. Nine firsts and two champions sat down at the same table with six people who got nothing, and everybody drank coffee and pretended the results had not been posted publicly on a corkboard for five days.

The rules of this occasion are unwritten and absolute. You do not congratulate anyone more than once. You do not mention your own ribbon first. You may mention the judge, but only in a general way, and only if you won — a rule which exists because the one year somebody who lost mentioned the judge, the table went silent and Pat Reinholt refilled everybody at once, which is how she ends things.

The count: Eunice Dahlquist champion in canning and firsts in relish, whole wheat, bars, and the zucchini bread class of forty-one, which she says does not count and which everyone agrees does not count. Marlys Overby reserve in canning and firsts in dills and dill spears. Gladys Sandbo firsts in beet pickle, applesauce, rolled cookies, and onions, and not one word about any of them. Pat Reinholt firsts in dinner rolls and chokecherry jelly, from a woman who bakes for a living and enters anyway, which the table considers unsporting and admirable.

The six who got nothing have already begun next year, which is the actual function of the fair. Two have announced classes they intend to enter. One has announced a class she intends to enter and will not name. And Vern Knutson, who has never entered anything in his life, spent Monday morning describing in detail the pie he could make if he wanted to, a speech the table has heard every August since 2011 and listens to every time.

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