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You’ve seen Flat Stanley, but have you ever seen the great traveling Pan Ham?

If you haven’t, you’re missing out. The Pan Ham contest is a travel photo contest where you take a picture of P.D. Gwaltney Jr. and his famous pet ham with you on your travels, snap photos with the image and submit them. You needn’t go far; the beach, the mountains, a road trip or a staycation in your own backyard are all proper venues for the dapper gentleman and his ham on a leash.

All you have to do is visit www.historicisleofwight.com/pan-ham-photo-contest-2021.html to download the picture, and then print it and take it with you. Then you post submissions on the museum’s Facebook page, tweet them to @WorldsOldestHam or email them to the Isle of Wight County Museum staff at jengland@smithfieldva.gov.

The website above shows last year’s winners and this year’s current entries. Last year’s winners were David Morgan Jr. at the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Kieren Thomson in Isle of Wight, England, and Kathryn Gosciewski in Vicenza, Italy. 

This year’s current entries are from as close to home as Norfolk and as far away as Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Missouri and more.

All entries received by 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 15, will be entered into a random drawing for a prize. 

If you’re getting out and traveling this year, or even staying close to home with your family, there’s no more fun way to maintain your connection to our home county, spark a conversation with your fellow travelers and maybe win a prize.