Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Bremer County and Clayton County

This past Thursday August 4th my parents and I attended the Bremer County Fair. Bremer County is in North East Iowa. The fair is held in Waverly. This was about a 2 and half hour drive for us. I was asked to come for the afternoon just to check out the fair and communicate with fair goers. I did a variety of activities while I was there. Those activities included laser tag, eating pie and ice cream, attending the rabbit show, and learned new ways to help the environment. Those are just a few things that I was able to do while at the Bremer County Fair. I had a great escort around the fair and tour guide, shout out to Jill. Thank you! I really enjoyed being at the Bremer County Fair. I met many wonderful people such as the fair board members and the 2011 Bremer County Fair Queen. She is a great gal and I know that she has done a great job for Bremer County and will continue to do a great job representing Bremer County at the Iowa State Fair Queen competition. I really enjoyed my afternoon and evening at the Bremer County Fair. To Jill and the rest of the Bremer County Fairboard members thank you for having me attend the 2011 Bremer County Fair.
The next day I was asked to attend the Clayton County Fair which is just on east of Bremer County and is actually on the border of Wisconsin. It was about a 4 and half hour drive from Knoxville. It was one of    our longer drives this summer. I was asked to come to the Clayton County Fair during the late afternoon and evening for the beef show. I was so excited to be able to catch a steer show from a county that is very far away from where I live, I will probably never have the opportunity to see the Clayton County beef show in the next 10 years. I was impressed with the quality of beef that the 4-H and FFA exhibitors showed at Clayton County. Clayton County was my last fair of the summer. It was great that I got to end my summer travels with a beef show as it is one of my loves. My parents and I were treated absolutely wonderful by the fairboard members of the Clayton County Fair. Their fairgrounds is a great facility and has a lot of support that makes it so terrific. I couldn't have asked for a better fair to end my summer travels as the 2010 Iowa State Fair Queen. Thank you to the Clayton County fairboard for having me at the 2011 Clayton County Fair.
I would like to thank everyone again for having me at their fairs this summer. I had a wonderful summer full of travels around the state of Iowa making different appearances as the 2010 Iowa State Fair Queen. This summer could have not have been better. I can't believe a year has gone by already as I will be crowning the 2011 Iowa State Fair Queen this coming Saturday on the Bill Riley Stage at the Iowa State Fair at 7 o'clock. Time really does fly by.
Hope all is well with everyone and hope to see you all at the Iowa State Fair!

God Bless,
2010 Iowa State Fair Queen
Lacy Stevenson


Thursday, August 4, 2011

Wayne County Fair and Lucas County Fair Queen Contest.

I have been absent from blogging as I went on vacation in the Lake of the Ozarks for 4 days. It was great to have some time to relax and enjoy with the family. Before the Ozarks I had 2 different appearances that I made and I have not yet blogged about them.
I was asked to go to the Wayne County Fair July 28th in the evening. My parents and I gratefully accepted as it is close to home and we love going to county fairs. :) I was also able to see my grandparents as they came to the fair that night since they only live about a half hour away from Wayne County. I was happy that they were able to experience a fair appearance with me. Wayne County Fair is held in Corydon, Corydon is just south of Chariton off of highway 2 and 14. Wayne County Fair will be a really memorable fair for me as we about got destroyed from a tornado. When we arrived it was decent weather but looked a little stormy, not even ten minutes after we had got there is started to pour down rain. Of course I didn't expect anything less I do live in Iowa and you can never predict the weather. The next thing I know we spot a rotating funnel cloud in the sky. Just my luck! Here we are standing in Morton buildings on the fairgrounds with the tornados sirens going off with nowhere to go. I thank God for Tia, one of the fair queen coordinator’s that she was standing next to me and had a house very close to the fairgrounds. So what do we do?  Take of sprinting in the middle of the pouring rain to get to her car and drive to her house. At the time I had no idea if this was the safest idea or if I should have stayed at the fairgrounds. We did make it to her house safely and went straight to the basement. This was pretty scary as no one expected for that storm to be that large and either did the weathermen on the news station because they had no idea what was going on in the little town of Corydon, Iowa. That was the comical part of the whole situation was that the weathermen had no clue of what was happening. We eventually made it back to the fairgrounds and enjoyed the rest of the evening. I spoke with the queen that I had judged earlier in the week, she was doing a fantastic job representing Wayne County. I was also able to see Suzie their fair queen; she was a very happy princess and enjoying every minute of it. We ate supper with my grandparents at the fair, was given a tour of the fairgrounds, introduced at the truck and tractor pulls and I got hypnotized. I have been hypnotized three times before this so I knew what I was getting myself into. :)  After the hypnotist show we said our good byes and headed for home.
The next day Friday the 29th of July I headed back down south to Chariton for the Lucas County Fair Queen and King Contest. I was asked to be there the whole day to enjoy the candidates and chat with them. We all ate lunch together and then it was time for the candidates to have their individual interviews. After individual interviews the group interview was next. I was asked to be in charge of questions for the group interview. This was great as I got to throw out questions that I thought were important in my age group in today’s society. Some of the questions caught the candidates off guard, but they eventually got the conversation rolling and had a great discussion on all of the topics. After they were done with the group discussion it was off to the fairgrounds for introductions and a fishbowl question. It was a great group of young ladies and gentlemen but only one could be picked like always. The young lady that was picked is a great girl who was involved in the fair and completely deserved Lucas County Fair Queen. She will represent Lucas County; the county should be proud as they have a great queen. The King that was chosen was also a great pick. He is very active in the fair and is also on the 4-H State Council. Both of them will have fun during their reign and do a great job. I want to thank Kim Edder and the rest of the queen coordinators for having me at the competition that day. It was great spending the day with young adults my age, as sometimes I have not been able to do that very often this summer.
The Iowa State Fair is less than a week away!!! I am ssoooooooooooooo EXCITED!!! I don't know if you can really tell but I can't wait, even though I don't want it to end but I know everything comes to an end sooner or later. I am looking forward to this next week of excitement in my life as it will be one to put in the memory books along with the rest of the year I have had as the 2010 Iowa State Fair Queen. Hope all is well with everyone :)


God Bless,
2010 Iowa State Fair Queen
Lacy Stevenson

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Des Moines County Fair Queen Competition

Tuesday was my first day off in the past 2 weeks. I had queen duties to do for 14 days straight, it went fast. The saying is true that time really fly’s by when you are having fun. I was able to catch up on a few things at home on Tuesday, I worked out and played basketball, wrote thank you's, cleaned my room and bathroom. I was a very busy girl all day. That night I was able to see my family as well which was great I haven't gotten to see them much as we have been on the road all summer. It was my Grandpa Hunter's 83rd birthday. Most of my mom’s side was able to come and help celebrate with us. We enjoyed a lot of homemade food, laughs, water volleyball, whirlpool making, and of course homemade ice cream! It was a great night of food, family and fun. It was really nice to relax and enjoy my family.
Yesterday my parents and I traveled over and down to Burlington for the Des Moines County Fair Queen Competition. Burlington is right off of highway 34. We left around 11 so we were able to have enough time to stop and see my Great Aunt and Uncle who live in Burlington. We do not see them often so while we were down in that territory we thought it would be great to stop in. They are both doing well and it was great catching up with them. After spending sometime at their place we met Jessie Hutchinson who is the Coordinator of the pageant for dinner. Jessie was the 2005 Iowa State Fair Queen and was able to be my chaperon for the last two days of the State Fair last year. To see Jessie meant a lot for me because I really got to know her when she chaperoned me and I truly look up to her as a role model. She is such a great beautiful lady. She puts on a very well organized queen pageant. She asked me to judge the stage portion of the competition that evening, which I was totally up for doing. The competition was held in the Southeastern Community College gymnasium which is right by the fairgrounds. There was a surprise visit from Gary McConnell the Vice President of the State Fair Board, I did not expect him to be there but it was great that he was able to make an appearance. We judged the girls on two different outfits, and two different speeches that evening. All of the girls' formal dresses were so pretty, it is great to see their personalities come out in their outfits. In the end you all know how it goes only one girl can be crowned the fair queen and this year’s Des Moines County Fair Queen was Katie Clover. She was very deserving and did a great job on her stage portion of the competition that I judged. I had a wonderful afternoon and evening as I got to see many people that I hold close to my heart. Thank you to Jessie for having me be a part of the competition!


God Bless,
2010 Iowa State Fair Queen
Lacy Stevenson

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Louisa County Fair Queen Competition and Johnson County Fair

Monday the 25th of July my parents and I loaded up in the car once again. I can practically call the car we travel in my second home. The back seat has really turned into another room for me as you can find a pillow, clothes, makeup, shoes, perfume, a computer and a few other things. My parents and I always joke and tell me to go to my room or go sit in my corner. We have found a lot of humor in different things we have done this summer in our travels such as this story. The competition was held in Columbus Junction which is right off of highway 92. I arrived around 11 and spoke with the judges about my year and answered any questions they had about judging and what to look for in a fair queen. I was not able to judge this competition as I had duties to do in Johnson County at 3. There were 9 contestants that were running for Louisa County Fair Queen. They were a very sharp dressed, sophisticated group of girls. I enjoyed having lunch with them, sharing stories, and of course taking photos. It was great to be a part of it all even though I could only be there a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun meeting all the girls. I wish each and every one of them good luck with anything they do in the future. I want to thank the Michelle and Ashley for inviting me to spend some quality time with the queen candidates.
Once 1:30 rolled around we were off to the Johnson County Fair, it was nice to be able to do two appearances in one day. This was able to happen because Johnson County and Louisa County are next to each other. Before we headed out of Columbus Junction we had to make a stop at the famous swinging bridge also known as the "lovers leap bridge". This bridge is a well-known landmark in this area of Iowa. It is 262 feet in length; it was first built in 1886 and then was rebuilt in 1922. I walked across it and back, it was a little scary as I felt that I might go overboard if I had lost my balance. It was really neat to see this landmark though and now be able to say that I walked across it. There will be a picture posted later. I was asked to make an appearance at the Johnson County Fair I participated in many different activities throughout the afternoon and evening. Those activities include MCing the sexiest legs contest, handing out ribbons for the rubber chicken throwing contest along with participating in it, eating fair food :) , talking on the radio, meeting the fair queen candidates, and speaking at the 2011 Johnson County Fair Queen Ceremony. This was a very special fair queen crowning as one of my friends that I have gained through showing cattle was crowned the 2011 Johnson County Fair Queen. I was so glad that I was able to be there and see her get crowned. I am very proud of her and she is going to be a great representative for her county. I wish her the best of luck at the Iowa State Fair Queen Competition. I was lucky enough to be able to see my long lost friend Kelsey Dierks that I played AAU basketball with, she was actually in Iowa City and made a special stop at the Johnson County Fair to see me. It meant a lot that she did that and that I was able to see her. What a great gal thanks Kelsey!! After a long day it was time to head home. I want to thank Brenda and the Johnson County Fairboard for having me make an appearance at the 2011 Johnson County Fair. My parents and I truly enjoyed our visit. Only 15 days till the Iowa State Fair, remember “Nothing Compares” to the Iowa State Fair. J

God Bless,
2010 Iowa State Fair Queen
Lacy Stevenson

Wayne County Queen Contest

This past Sunday afternoon my mother and I went down to Corydon for the Wayne County Queen Competition. We both were asked to judge this along with another young lady who is a couple years older than I am. It was a very fun energetic panel of judges. We judged the princess, prince and Queen Competition. The princes and princesses were all so cute, like I have said before it is very difficult to judge these little boys and girls. All of them were dressed up all so nice and looked like they were going to a formal dinner. The parents were allowed to sit in on the prince and princess competition, and during the prince competition a little boy kept looking over his shoulder at his mom and shaking his fist at her. It was the funniest thing I have seen. Along with his fist shaking he would also stick his tongue out. Long story short he was leaving on time and he stuck his tongue out at me so I shook my fist back at him with a funny face, needless to say he didn't come back in for the second interview. I hope he wasn't scared of me. I felt terrible but at the same time I was smiling, it is those kinds of memories that I will look back on and get a good laugh. The little boy and girl that was selected as prince and princess will have a blast doing all the different activities that they will have at a fair and will be a lifetime experience for them. There were 7 young ladies in contention for the 2011 Wayne County Fair Queen. They went through 2 interviews an individual interview and group. They had also prepared a speech for us who were about themselves, community involvement, the fair, and why they feel they should be the Wayne County Fair Queen. It was a very tough decision for us to make as each young lady did a tremendous job on their interviews and their speeches. The girl that we choose was a very poised, mature, well rounded young lady and we knew that she would represent Wayne County very professionally but at the same time have a great time doing it. She will be very caring to the prince and princess which go with her to some of her duties throughout the fair.  My mother and I really enjoyed judging the contest and had a wonderful afternoon. I would like to thank the queen coordinators Heather Moorman and Tia Carpenter they did a wonderful job with the contest and thank you for asking us to judge.


God Bless,
2010 Iowa State Fair Queen
Lacy Stevenson

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Clarke County Fair and Pre Fair picnic in Warren County

This past Saturday my parents and I hopped in the car to make our way to the Clarke County Fair. This fair is held in Osceola. Osceola is right off of highway 34. I was excited to make this appearance as I got to see Randy and Judy Brown and Jerry Parkin. Randy Brown is the Iowa State Fairboard President, he is from Osceola. Jerry Parkin is a member of the State Fairboard and is the South Central district representative. Clarke County has an amazing fairground. They just built all new facilities in 2005 in a new area which is located west of Osceola. I was able to get a tour from Randy and Jerry of the fairgrounds and we were also introduced at the end of the hog show. I enjoyed eating dinner in their nice air conditioned building where all 4-H projects are put on display. Once we were done at the fair Randy and his wife Judy invited us over to their house for awhile before we all headed to Warren County. We spent the afternoon with Randy and Judy sharing stories, memories, and laughs. Thanks for the hospitality it was great spending time with both of you. Around 5 we headed to the Warren County Fairgrounds where their pre fair picnic is held. This is a night of food, entertainment, scholarships, and crowning the fair queen all leading up to the start of their fair. Randy and Judy were also there along with Jerry and his wife Randall. My brother and his fiancĂ© were able to be there along with my Grandma Helen and parents. There was a wonderfully decorated table that was reserved for us and special name tag thanks to Kaylee Miller. Shout out to her she is a great gal! I was asked to hand out the Barbra Dykstra Memorial Scholarship. It was an honor for me to be asked to award this scholarship because Barb Dysktra was my Aunt. She passed away a year and a half ago. I know Barb was watching over me smiling as I gave this scholarship out to a very deserving girl who also knew Barb very well. I wish that Barb was still here to be able to experience everything with our family and I could share all my great experiences I have had as being the 2010 Iowa State Fair Queen, but I then remember she is above watching it all happen. :) After scholarships were handed out we had some entertainment from four ladies who named themselves the Vintage Fair Queens. These ladies performed a dance, gave advice to all the fair queens’ candidates and promoted the new free stage Warren County had added to their fairgrounds this year. They were hilarious. Once the Vintage Fair Queens got off stage it was time to crown the 2011 Warren County Fair Queen. The young lady who was crowned will do a great job representing Warren County both at the County and State level. It was a very fun filled day and I was glad to be a part of both occurrences.

God Bless,
2010 Iowa State Fair Queen
Lacy Stevenson

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Harrison County Fair

            From Jones County on Thursday night we had a long drive to Harrison County which I had to be there by 10 am. We drove through the night till about 4 and posted up in a motel, then woke up at 8 to arrive at Harrison County on time. This will probably be our longest road trip we literally went across the whole state of Iowa that night. A prop to my Dad as he drove through the night, there is no way I would have ever been able to stay awake. Thanks! I was asked to make an appearance at the Harrison County Fair for their cattle show that day. This year their fair was held in Dunlap normally it is held in Missouri Valley but due to water and flooding they did not want to chance having their fair under water and not being able to proceed with all shows and events. I enjoyed myself as I watched the cattle show all morning and was able to chat with their County Fair Queen and Princess. They are also one of the few counties that have a king and prince. I think that it is really neat to also give the guys a chance to participate in interviews and competing. While the cattle show proceeded Herald Bertleson a man that is on the Harrison County Fairboard came up with an idea of the Queens and Princess to do a fun showmanship class. He announced it as the “Battle of the Tiaras.” I thought this was a great idea as it got us involved and gave a little fun to the end of the cattle show. Since we all show different species I showed a bottle-bucket calf, Briar the Queen showed a hog, and Shelby the princess showed a sheep.  The twist to this class is that we had to show all three species. They had us switch about every two minutes until each one of us had a chance to show each species. Of course there was no winner, it wasn’t about that, it was about us having fun and being able to enjoy that experience. This will always be a memory to me as I loved showing livestock and for me to get in the ring and show just for fun was great. I enjoyed my morning and evening at the Harrison County Fair watching the cattle show, mingling with fair goers, eating fair food, participating in the showmanship class, and receiving a nice flower bouquet. Thank you to Herald and his wife D and the Harrison County Fairboard for having me at their fair.
God Bless,
2010 Iowa State Fair Queen
Lacy Stevenson