Anna Pence to compete at State Fair next week

Washington County will be represented in the Iowa State Fair Queen pageant next week.

Anna Pence, daughter of Kelly and Scott Pence, and the 2016 Washington County Fair Queen will represent Washington County at the pageant next week.

"In order to qualify to compete for Iowa State Fair Queen you have to be a county fair queen," Pence said. "I believe there are 102 counties or 102 contestants who will be representing their individual counties at the Iowa State Fair."

In order to prepare for the competition, Pence had to withdraw from the horse competitions she was entered in at the State Fair.

"We decided that because of the state fair pageant that we wanted to devote our time truly and wholly to that, so we decided to drop out of our horse classes," Pence added. "I've actually never competed there. We were supposed to last year but then our horse wasn't quite ready, so this was going to be our first and last year, and we kind of decided that if we really were going to devote our time and wanted to represent Washington well, we couldn't do both."

The pageant's format is very similar to the Washington County Fair Queen pageant but will be all week.

"We're there Tuesday until the crowning on Saturday," she said. "We'll have two personal interviews and one group discussion interview along with casual-wear introductions where we're on stage and then a formal-wear introduction while we're on stage."

Pence will also participate in workshops throughout the week.

"We'll have a model that comes in and teaches us how to walk and how to represent ourselves well," Pence said, "and fun stuff like scavenger hunts and learning to country line dance."

During the week the judges will narrow down the contestants for the title but won't announce it until the crowning Saturday night.

Pence will also have a group of people with her to support her throughout the week.

"Friday night they have a dinner [or] banquet for all the girls and their counties," Pence said. "I have a group of people coming up for that ? Brenda Koehler, who is like a mother to me, and then I have the second runner-up Kaitie Miles and then Joceline Spenner, Miss Congeniality, who will be helping to represent at that banquet with me. Some of my family will be in and out throughout the week and definitely there on Saturday for the crowning."

Pence said she is looking forward to interacting with the other contestants and making new friends next week.

"I'm also really looking forward to representing Washington County," she added. "We were preparing a lot, so I'm excited to see that flourish."