Zach Ostgaard, 13, had won a fence painting contest at home in Orange County, Calif., before coming to Hannibal, where he won the national fence painting contest Saturday during National Tom Sawyer Days.
As national champion, Zach took home the traveling trophy to be displayed by his state governor. Next year he will be bringing the trophy back to Hannibal for the future champion.
Dylan Krigbaum, who won the local contest on Thursday, finished in second place in the national event. Third place went to Dominic GenCo of Carmel, Ind.
Also in the national contest were Chase Guttman of New York, N.Y.; Noah Miers of Jacksonville, Ill.; Sawyer Scott of Denham Springs, La.; and Caleb Fuller of Missouri. Fuller won the state fence painting contest Friday.
Zach was already familiar with Hannibal. Last year his younger brother, Sam, had been chosen Huck Finn in a local contest and came to participate in National Tom Sawyer Days.
Asked what advice he would give future fence painters, Zach decided, “Run fast and paint it really good,” adding “if you know you aren’t going to get back first, paint it really good.” Both speed and quality of the paint job are judged, along with costume.
Zach was proud of his costume, which he said was composed of items mentioned in the Tom Sawyer book, including a dilapidated window frame, four orange peels, 12 marbles, a straw hat, apple core “and a lot of other stuff.”
Dylan, the son of Jason and Kristy Krigbaum of Hannibal, was following in his dad’s footsteps - his dad won the local fence painting contest three times in his youth. Jason also was a runner-up in the national contest.
At age 13, this was Dylan’s final chance to compete. Dylan’s strategy was to “make sure you got the fence decently covered.”
