Henry County Fair Queen Contest coordinators are excited for their first year

MT. PLEASANT — This year’s Henry County Iowa Fair Queen Contest will introduce a team of three sisters working together as the new contest coordinators, a focus on community involvement, and more agriculturally engaged judges.

Former Henry County Fair Queen contestants Kelsey (Smith) DeWitt, Kristen Smith, and Kenna Smith will work together to head-up the contest.

The oldest sister Kelsey not only received the title of Henry County Fair Queen, but she also went on to win Iowa State Fair Queen in 2013.

Kirsten, the middle sister, took home the Henry County Fair Queen title in 2016, and their youngest sister, Kenna earned runner-up in the 2019 contest.

“We've all kind of stayed involved in the fair as much as we can, but it was a little bit harder when we all moved out of town,” Kenna said. “And then my oldest sister, Kelsey. She actually just recently moved back to Mount Pleasant from Cedar Rapids, and she was asked by the fair board if she would be able to take over coordinating since Summer was no longer able to do it.

When Kelsey returned to Mt. Pleasant, she received a request to take on the role of fair queen coordinator. While she loves the program, she expressed concern about having enough time to do the job justice.

“She was like, ‘I am super busy, and I want to make sure that this contest is done right, and I have time to do it,’” youngest sister Kenna Smith explained. “So then, she asked both my middle sister and I if we would help with it, so then it all just kind of became a sister thing.”

The sister fair queen coordination team appears to be a good fit considering how close knit the candidates often become during the contest.

“There were only three of us last year,” Fair Queen Candidate Julie Campbell said. “I still made friends with Chevy [Mills], the girl that won. I didn’t know her before and I’m kind of really good friends with her now.”

“I got the opportunity to get really close with her and hopefully, this coming year, I’m able to get close with the other two candidates, as well,” she said.

Each of this year’s fair queen candidates expressed excitement about the addition of the Smith sisters as contest coordinators.

“They seem super nice and super fun,” Fair Queen Candidate Abby Miller said. “I'm excited to get to meet them in person and hang out with them. During the contest.”

“I love them,” Fair Queen Candidate Kalayna Durr commented. “I've known them for quite a while. I kind of grew up with them, so they've always been girls that I've looked up to.”

“I'm super excited to be with them,” Julie said. “It's something new. It's something great. So, I'm excited. Nothing against the previous one, but it's something new. So, it's really cool to see how they're going to do it.”

Kalayna expressed her confidence in the sister’s abilities stating, “I think it's amazing that they're taking over, and they've all been in the queen contest. So, I think they kind of obviously know how it runs and they're going to do very well with it and will go really far and take the Henry County fair very far.”

According to Kenna, the group would like to put their own spin on the contest but want to take their time.

“There's obviously a lot of work to do, especially being new to it. We wanted to make sure that we have everything that we know we need down first before we implement any big changes but we did want to implement changes.”

“It's kind of hard to do all of those changes at one time, especially being so new to the contest,” Kenna said. “But I would say we definitely tried to focus a lot more on getting community sponsors just to kind of show that they're here to support us.”

“That support means everything,” she said. We really could not do this competition without our help from supporters”

“We have a good group of sponsors that have been super supportive,” Kenna said. “A lot of people in the community are willing to help out, like our judges and everybody with the extension office and the fair board. So it definitely takes a lot of community support.”

According to Kenna, the coordinating team decided to make some adjustments to the contest judges.

“We decided to go more into people in the community related to 4-H and the fair To kind of see how that goes over and get a different mix of judges,” she said.

The Smith sisters also included the community and their sponsors in the prizes contestants win for their work in the contest.

“We tried to focus more on the community service aspect overall and the scholarship that they received from it to kind of draw more people in and show them that you are rewarded for all of your hard work,” Kenna said. “The money donated from sponsors will be put toward these scholarships, which is why we greatly appreciate their support!”

While this year’s rewards remain a surprise, Kenna assures, “We will have gifts for each winner along with a scholarship check!”

As the queen contest approaches, the Smith sisters say they’re excited for this adventure.

“We're very excited,” Kenna said on the sisters’ behalf. “We have a really good group of girls. We're just super excited to meet all of the girls.”

“I'm sure there will be something that we forget. But we feel very prepared,” Kenna said.

Between the three categories of Queen, ages 16-21, Junior Queen, ages 12-15, and Princess, ages 8-11, this year’s contest has 20 contestants that will compete on Wednesday, July 12 at 7: 30 p.m. under the Wright Pavilion.

This year’s queen contestants will include three 2023 graduates from different Henry County high schools with passions for agriculture and their communities.

Henry County Fair Queen Contestants

Julie Campbell

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Recent Mt. Pleasant graduate Julie Campbell, daughter of Jason and Melissa Campbell, will throw her hat in the ring as a Henry County Fair Queen candidate, this year.

According to Julie, her younger sister Jacie Campbell encouraged her to participate in the contest for the first time last year.

“She's like, hey, you should try this out, and I kind of told her no,” Julie said. “Then she decided she was going to participate in the Junior category, so I said OK!”

Julie enjoyed spending time with her sister and getting to know fellow fair queen candidates last year and looks forward to more of the same this year.

As part of the teen council that helps with fair organization, Julie knows a thing or two about fair week.

“My favorite food is the dole Whip,” Julie said. “It's super hot during the fair, and all you want something is super cool, and I'm not like a dairy person, so with them it feels more fruity.”

When she isn’t enjoying a refreshing Dole Whip, Julie says her favorite fair activity is mud volleyball.

“That's been kind of new,” she said. “It's just something that us kids put together. I think that's what makes it more fun is that we're able to put it on ourselves.”

In addition to her time on teen council, Julie says she always shows beef and participates in static projects through her 4-H and FFA connections.

“This year I decided to expand, actually,” she said. “I’m showing swine for the first time.”

Throughout her time at Mt. Pleasant High School, Julie also participated in National Honor Society and softball, though she spent most of her time focused on agriculture.

“I'm a part of the first class to get all four years of the FFA program,” Julie said. “I was a reporter and then the President this last year. And it's really been able to grow my experience.”

With that in mind, Julie plans to study Agriculture Business at Kirkland in the fall with hopes of then studying Agriculture Education.

“Hopefully I’ll come back close to Mt. Pleasant and teach agriculture when I’m done,” she said.

Abby Miller

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Recent Winfield-Mt. Union graduate Abby Miller, daughter of Tom and Mary Miller, looks forward to participating in the Henry County Fair Queen contest this year despite the nerves that come with the onstage question portion.

“The onstage question is what really hit me,” Abby said. “Having to answer a question in front of everyone is a lot.”

According to Abby, she wasn’t planning to participate in the contest, but when her mom mentioned that registration was open, she threw caution to the wind and jumped in.

“I wasn't planning on it, but here I am,” she said.

While Abby spends a lot of the time at the fair showing cows and sheep, she particularly loves to attend the demolition derby.

Her favorite fair snacks include funnel cakes and hand-shaken lemonade.

“The best memories are just hanging out with friends,” she said. “And just being able to hang out with other people that enjoy doing agriculture things as well.”

Throughout her time at Winfield-Mt. Union High School, Abby spent her time in 4-H, FFA, and managing both football and basketball teams. She also spent her high school career participating in band, choir, and jazz band.

This summer, Abby has spent most of her time soaking up moments with friends as she prepares to head off to Central College in the fall in pursuit of an Elementary Education degree.

Kalayna Durr

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Recent New London Graduate Kalayna Durr, daughter of Daniel Hester and Tony and Anne Durr, will join the fair queen she looked up to through her years at the fair as one of the three Henry County Fair Queen candidates, this year.

“I have shown cattle at the Henry County Fair since I was in Clover Kids,” Kalayna said. “So I've been around for a long time, and I always admired the older girls and the Queens and everything like that just because they always represented Henry County so well.”

Kalayna grew up looking up to Kelsey as she saw her win fair queen, then state fair queen.

“I've just always looked up to them,” she said. “I figured it's my senior year might as well go out with a bang. Hopefully I'll be able to be somebody that the princesses and junior Queens can look up to.”

Kalayna says she loves more than the fair queens. She loves everything about the fair.

“I would probably say my favorite thing to do is go to the livestock shows just because you get to see how hard the kids have worked all year,” Kalayna said. “For a lot of us kids. It's our life. That's what we do every day, all day. We work with our animals and get ready for the fair and everything. So, I just love to see all the hard work and dedication that everybody's put in.”

This fair queen candidate says she has grown up showing cattle at the fair every year, and this year she is expanding her portfolio and showing sheep.

“It's been a lot, but it's worth it,” Kalayna said.

Throughout her high school career, Kalayna participated in 4-H, FFA, teen council, Old Threshers, Threshers House of Terror, Relay for Life, Friends of Geode, National Honor Society, Student Council, Volleyball, New London Holiday stroll and stage-managing theatrical productions.

“I will be going to DMACC (Des Moines Area Community College) in the fall, which is up in Ankeny, and I'll be studying Agribusiness,” she said. “Then my plan is to go to Iowa State to finish out my four years for AG education.”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com