Lounsbury crowned as 2019 Fair Queen

A confident performance in Wednesday night's Henry County Fair Queen contest led 2019 New London graduate Sophie Lounsbury to the crown. The daughter of Joe and Koni Lounsbury and future Iowa State student topped five other contestants for fair royalty,

'I surprisingly wasn't that nervous when they were about to call it, because I knew I had done everything I could up to that point,” said Lounsbury about hearing her name called. 'I knew it was just up to the judges, and I knew whoever they picked would be a good queen.”

Not only did Lounsbury win the hearts of the judges, but she earned some kudos from her fellow contestants as well. She was named Miss Congeniality, a prize voted on by all fair queen candidates. Lounsbury says she made friends with all of them.

'I made some friends that I never thought I would make, and all of them were so amazing,” Lounsbury said. 'Any of them could have easily been the queen.”

After modeling business and casual attire, Lounsbury brought the contest home with her answer in the question round. She says if she won a large sum of money, she'd donate to cancer research to help fight a disesase that has affected so many around her. She said in her answer that she wishes nobody would have to suffer from the illness again.

'Once they asked the question, I just took a couple seconds to gather my thoughts, so I wasn't standing up there mumbling like an idiot,” Lounsbury joked. 'Then I just really spoke from my heart and found a personal situation to relate it to.”

Lounsbury will be heading off to Ames to double major in management and supply chain management. She says her plans for the rest of fair week are to get to as many events as she can.

'I have been around the fair my whole life,” said Lounsbury. 'I've always been at every activity at the fair, and I camp at the fair, so I'm pretty much going to do the same thing I would do if I wouldn't have been crowned, and just be at any activity that I can, and just try and support people and be involved.”

Kenna Smith, the daugther of Jason and Debbie Smith, was given runner-up honors. Kenna is a current student at Mt. Pleasant High School and will be going in to her senior year next fall.

Zoe Long was named 2019 Henry County Fair Princess. Meadow Carter was the runner up for the princesses. The night was also filled with various performances from fair clubs. In the 'Share the Fun” competition, New London Lassies and Lads, the 4H Wizards and violinist Morgan Meyer were chosen to represent the county at the state fair later this summer.