BUCYRUS — Royalty was crowned on the first day of the Crawford County Fair.
Hannah Feldman, age 17, was crowned 2021 Junior Fair Queen and Daniel Kurek, age 17, was crowned Junior Fair King.
Feldman, a 10-year veteran of 4-H in Crawford County, said fair royalty experience runs in her family. She was the 2020 Fair Queen Second Attendant.
“My brother was the king before me and I was also the fair princess a while ago,” said Feldman, a member of Lykens County Crew 4-H club and Wynford FFA. “This has just always been something that I always wanted to do. I love traveling and seeing all the little girls. It brightens my week. It’s just a great way to start my week off.”
Feldman had an encouraging word for her younger counterparts in 4-H.
“Never give up,” Feldman said. “I was the second attendant last year and I came back out this year because I really knew that I wanted to be on the fair queen court and here I am standing with the full-on big title, being so proud of myself. Work with your animals every day. You don’t have to live on a farm and live out in the country to be in 4-H. There’s so many other ways.
“There’s an alpaca club where you rent the animal. You can do a Department 1 project,” she added. “Overall, 4-H is such a good program and I hope everyone can be involved in it at some time.”
Feldman said she will show goats on Wednesday and hogs on Thursday.
“It’s gonna be a good fair week this year — I can already feel it,” Feldman said. “I’m proud of my animals this year. They’ve worked really well. I’ve worked harder than I ever have.”
Kurek has been involved in 4-H for 12 years and is a member of the Lykens Champions 4-H Club. He is in his third year as a Junior Fair Board member.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity,” Kurek said. “There are so many fantastic people here. We have a great community and it’s really an honor to represent them here at this fair and at other fairs across the state. … In life, you have to make time for the important things and this really means a lot to me. I plan to work really hard here this week for the people here.”
Kurek said his message to younger 4-H exhibitors is “to stick with 4-H and keep working hard.”
“It’s a wonderful program,” said Kurek, who noted that he intends to enlist in the United States Air Force. “It’ll expose you to a lot of things and teach you a lot of life lessons that are really important and will carry you along the whole journey in life.”
As a member of the Junior Fair Board, Kurek said he will be working at several of the shows this week and helping some of the younger exhibitors.
“My favorite thing to do here is just to be in the office and help people,” Kurek said. “Whether they need people to run ribbons down to the arena or there’s too many people at the counter. Just this morning, I was stacking water melons for the water melon eating contest.”
Corin Feik, age 17, is the Queen First Attendant. She has been involved in 4-H for nine years and is a member of the Liberty Leaders 4-H Club.
Nolan McKibben, age 17, is the King First Attendant. He is a member of the Dairy Maids and Gents 4-H Club and is the Junior Fair Board treasurer.
Linnea Gerlach, age 14, was crowned Junior Fair Princess. She is a member of the Mount Zion Buckeyes 4-H Club.
Allie Tieben, age 15, is the Princess First Attendant. She is a member of the Dairy Maids and Gents 4-H Club and has been involved in 4-H for nine years.
The royalty crowned on Monday will represent the Crawford County Fair during the upcoming year at various fairs and festivals across Ohio.
The Crawford County Fair runs through Saturday. To see the daily schedule, go to crawfordcofair.com.
