Some years, there’s barely enough room on the stage for all the girls competing in the White County Fair Queen pageants while other years, it’s about quality over quantity. Such was the case last night at the Carmi Fairgrounds for the Queen contest and while a total of only 12 young ladies competed in all 3 categories total, the judges had an unenviable task of trying to sort out a tight race in each division. Your 2019 White County Fair Queen is no stranger to success. Neither were her competitors, but Kelsi Kessler will represent the White County Fair for the next year, just as her mother Kara did exactly 25 years ago. Kessler says she’s stoked about the coming year.
“Just what an exciting year it’s going to be with the other queens and spending time here at the fair and then going to compete at the state fair pageant. I’m really excited to represent White County in the coming months.”
The 18 year old recently graduated Carmi White County High School valedictorian will head to the University of Illinois in Champaign this fall where she’ll study business. After that, she plans to come back to Carmi with a degree and help businesses and farms thrive. Before that however, she says she’s looking forward to spending the rest of this week getting acquainted with her fellow royalty and enjoying some fair cuisine. She also offers advice to others who might entertain the idea of competing in pageants.
“Definitely hanging out with the other fair queens and getting some awesome fair food….and you know I’d tell them to be confident in everything you do. Confidence is one of those things that just flows out of people and it will help you perform and makes people want to watch you.”
The 2019 Junior Miss is 12 year old Rhaney Jack of Norris City. Jack enjoys playing soccer where she’s a standout. She was also the 2018 Jr Miss Corn Day and 2018 Runner up of the Junior Miss Merry Christmas. Her favorite movie is Clueless and believe it or not, Jack says she loves to clean and organize her room.
Carly Digman began the queen turnover by crowning the new Little Miss last night. She’s being succeeded by 8 year old Kaylyn Turner of Carmi. The red haired, green eyed new Little Miss loves swimming and fishing and playing with her two boxer dogs, Muzzy and Roxy. She says she wants to be a teacher and a nurse when she grows up. Kessler, Jack and Turner will preside over the remainder of the 141st annual White County Fair. You can hear more from Kessler tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 9am on 92.1 FM and AM 1460 when she’s the guest on WROY’s Open Line Program.
