BUCYRUS—With this year’s fair comes new fair royalty.

According to the application sheet for Crawford County, the requirements to be royalty are individuals must belong to an organization represented on the Junior Fair Board, they must be at least sixteen to eighteen years old as of January 1, 2021, must be able to participate in the preliminary judging and in the Junior Fair Royalty Contest, must conduct themselves in an orderly manner and abide by all rules and standards set forth by the Junior Fair Board advisors, must be able to attend Junior Fair activities during the fair, and after selection of the Crawford County Junior Fair royalty each member will be expected to attend at least one-noon meeting of the Crawford County Senior Fair Board. Other assignments will be determined at the informational meeting held following the royalty contest.

This year’s queen applicants were Corin Feik, Brooke Slagle, and Hannah Feldman, and the king applicants were Daniel Kurek and Nolan McKibben.

After preliminary interviews, answering a question given to them before the event, and answering a random question pulled from a fishbowl, last year’s royalty, Queen Jodie Jennings and King Blaine Bishop passed on their titles.

The title of 2021 Crawford County Jr. Fair Queen went to Hannah Feldman, and King went to Daniel Kurek. Corin Feik was named the Queen First Attendant, and Nolan McKibben was named the King First Attendant.

Feldman, an upcoming senior at Wynford, exhibits market hogs through FFA and goats through her 4-H club, Lykens County Crew.

When asked what her favorite part of the whole process of the royalty contest, Feldman said, “Running for queen when I was super little was always a goal of mine to get the title, not just for the fact that I wanted to be fair queen and have the pretty crown because that’s what it was when I first started, but I have learned so much, that it’s way more about being a role model for the younger kids. Running against two of my closest friends has been really hard for me, but I honestly think it has made us bond a little bit more. We are definitely going to encourage Brooke, who sadly was not able to get anything tonight, to run again next year so one of us can crown her. I’ve definitely loved running with all of my friends and just enhancing my public speaking skills more.”

Over the next year of her reign, Feldman is looking forward to traveling to all the fairs and getting to watch different shows and bringing things back to the Crawford County Fair.

Advice that Hannah would give to younger 4-H members would be to never give up. “Just because you might not win every single time does not mean you should ever give up. I was the second attendant last year, and I did not let that get me down. I came back out this year and just wanted it a little bit more than I did before. I would definitely say work your hardest, do not get discouraged, keep going — even if you are not in 4-H, it is the same thing; 4-H isn’t all about the animals, you can be in 4-H and not live on a farm, and that’s the big thing that I really want to portray this year.

This year’s Junior Fair King, Daniel Kurek, will also start his senior year at Wynford this August. Kurek, a Lykens Champions 4-H club member, took the Department One project, “Dashboard Dining,” to the fair this year.

When Kurek was asked what his favorite part of the process to become royalty was, Kurek said, “There are a lot of fantastic people here—the court and people who didn’t get crowns—everyone here is really fantastic. Everyone here are very impressive people, and they have worked their butts off to get to this spot.”

Over his reign as King, Kurek is looking forward to getting to know people and getting to connect with them and share ideas with people from all around the state.

During the week, Kurek can be found working shows or sitting in the junior fair board office, waiting to help anyone who needs it, whether that be handing out ribbons or stacking watermelons for the all-you-can-eat watermelon eating contest.

This year’s Junior Fair Princess is Linnea Gerlach, and the Princess First Attendant is Allie Tieben.

Photos by Don Tudor