Mansfield, Ohio (Crawford County Now)—Sunday night saw the reign of 2023 Richland County fair king Micah Miller, and fair queen, Sara Smith, come to an end as the new royalty was crowned.

This year’s queen, Gracie Rodman, is a student at Shelby High School and a member of the Richland Round-Up 4-H CLub and Shelby FFA, where she exhibits a market beef steer, market beef feeder calf, a cow-calf pair, and a market goat. 

Going into the competition, Rodman stated she was very nervous but excited for the year ahead as fair queen. “I am really looking forward to just kind of growing more as a person, meeting new people, and getting some really cool opportunities.”

This is Rodman’s third year in the Shelby High School FFA program, but she said she’s been showing goats since she was a cloverbud at four years old. 

In the last decade of her life as a 4-H member, Rodman has loved how much she has grown and the new things she has been able to experience. 

“I think it’s kind of like, as you kind of get older, you advance, you try new things, and like this past year, I tried a new project, I got to state fair, and I just love learning more as I grow.”

This year’s king, Anderson Roll, is a 2024 graduate of Shelby High School where he is a member of Shelby FFA, and he is also a member of the Freedom Wranglers 4-H club.

Roll exhibits two dairy goats through FFA, and takes a honey bee project through his 4-H club.

After his win, Roll stated he felt exhilarated, and that he is very grateful for the chance to win this opportunity.

Unlike a large portion of 4-H and FFA kids, Roll wasn’t brought up in an agricultural family but found his way into the lifestyle at the beginning of his high school career.

“If you know Micah Miller, past king of 2023, me and him have been friends since we were little, so I’ve always seen him show animals, and then I wanted to get into it during high school, so I started through Shelby FFA my first year. Freshman year I showed dairy goats and I loved it, so I wanted to keep doing it. And I didn’t really grow up in an agricultural background, my parents were school teachers and they worked two jobs to help me pay for my animals every year. I want to be an example to the younger kids that you don’t have to grow up in an agricultural family and you can achieve just as much as I can and or even more in any aspect.,” Roll said.

Roll plans on attending North Central State College this fall where he will major in nursing, and he’s going to take some lessons he learned in 4-H along the way to help him.

“My leadership skills. after I become a registered nurse, I want to go into nurse administration. So this will be building blocks for my leadership skills, decision-making, and public speaking as well, and being able to be approachable to anyone around the fair or at any county Fair,” Roll said. “I’m excited for the next journey in my life.”

 

King – Anderson Roll

First runner-up – Carson Secriskey

Second runner-up – Logan Hoffman

 

Queen – Gracie Rodman

First runner-up –Kelsey Snyder

Second runner-up – Sofia Johnson