Amanda Bush, Kyle Hack win Junior Fair titles

By Eve­lyn Long –

The excite­ment was elec­tric in the Junior Fair Youth build­ing on Tues­day, August 28, when the annual King and Queen pre­sen­ta­tion was held.

When the final results of the elec­tion were announced, Amanda Bush and Kyle Hack were named the 2012 Mor­row County Junior Fair King and Queen.

Named first run­ners up were Jason Zei­gler and Valerie Tolle. Sec­ond run­ner up was McKen­zie Smith; third run­ner up, Rea­gan Neviska and Jor­dan Blan­ton was fourth runner-up. There were only two king can­di­dates this year.

The event was hosted by the 2011 king and queen, Coltin Osborne and Lind­sey Hes­sey, both of whom reviewed the past year. They had trav­eled to many county fairs and other events. “The junior fair has been my life for 11 years,” said Hessey.

“I’m clos­ing this chap­ter and I’m so glad to spend it with you. I love the fair and 4-H and it’s a great expe­ri­ence. I have learned lead­er­ship, respon­si­bil­ity and there is a sense of com­mu­nity. I would like to per­son­ally thank my par­ents, — for feed­ing my ani­mals while I was gone,” she said, bring­ing laugh­ter from the audience.

She also thanked Mr. Par­rott, her AG-FFA Advi­sor; and Bill Her­sh­ner, her 4-H advi­sor. “He has touched my life.” She thanked her par­ents, the junior fair board and the com­mu­nity for their support.

Osborne said “It’s been a real bless­ing and a lot of work — vis­it­ing 15 fairs. We met a lot of good peo­ple. The Junior Fair board has helped me. I’ve been on there four years. I will miss it a lot. I love every­thing about the fair. I’ve always been involved and vis­ited more fairs this year than ever.” He noted his mom was an advi­sor and, “I learned from my advi­sor.” He also rec­og­nized his sis­ter also involved with the fair and thanked every­one who had been instru­men­tal in his life.

A new inno­va­tion was intro­duced to the pro­gram this year when each queen can­di­date was asked to name their favorite part of the fair and also sug­gest an ani­mal that could be exhib­ited at the fair. The lat­ter ranged from a mon­key show, flamin­goes, tigers, camels and giraffe.

The new queen was attired in a teal, floor length strap­less gown with a fit­ted bodice dec­o­rated with sequins. She car­ried the tra­di­tional red roses. “This is a great honor,” said the breath­less queen. “I want to thank all the advi­sors and the junior fair board mem­bers, the FFA chap­ter, my par­ents and grand­par­ents for their sup­port.” This was the first year she had entered the queen contest.

King Hack said this was his sec­ond try for the honor. “It’s pretty awe­some,” he said. He thanked his 4-H club, the Mount Gilead FFA, his par­ents and oth­ers who had sup­ported him.

Bush is the daugh­ter of Anthony and Teresa Bush and Jodi Moss. Hack is the son of Tim and Patty Hack.

Prior to the king and queen announce­ment, all of the fair’s com­mod­ity queens were intro­duced. Also intro­duc­ing them­selves were the queens, king, princesses and other roy­alty from county fairs around Ohio who had ear­lier attended the annual Roy­alty din­ner. It was held in the Youth Build­ing. The entree was pro­vided by the Mor­row County Pork Pro­duc­ers. The dessert was fur­nished by the Hes­seys and the top­ping was fur­nished by the Mor­row County Dairy Asso­ci­a­tion. The 55 peo­ple attend­ing were hosted by the Hes­seys and the Osbornes, par­ents of the 2011 king and queen.

Intro­duced were Suzanne Hawk, from the office of U S Sen­a­tor Rob Port­man and Jeff Hein­rich regional rep­re­sen­ta­tive from the office of Josh Man­del, state treasurer.

Spon­sor­ing the King and Queen pre­sen­ta­tion were Keith’s Flower Shop, Mary K’s Flow­ers, the Hick­son fam­ily; Con­sol­i­dated Elec­tric Coop, Inc., David Adkins, the Mor­row County Repub­li­can Party, Mary Jo and Jerry Sel­l­ars, Sara Jo Erb, Del­mar and Kathy Eichorn, Eve­lyn Long, Talk of the Towne Beauty Salon, Brad and Kim Hes­sey, Tracy and Missy Kid­well fam­ily and the Maple Run Vet­eri­nary Clinic.

Posted by Randa Wagner on Sep 5 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.