Marion County Fair Queen Kaitlyn Banning of Salem will compete for the Miss Illinois Fair County Queen 2024 title in Springfield this weekend.
Banning is in Springfield Thursday for practices ahead of the opening round of competition on Friday.
“Friday is the first competition part. We have interviews and I’m a part of the afternoon session so I will get to do my interviews first. Then after my session is done with interviews I’ll do practice on the stage and all the stuff to prepare for Saturday, the preliminaries. Then we will do swimsuit on stage, on stage speech and evening gown as well.”
After a big dance with all the contestants on Sunday, the top 16 will be named. They will then go through all the various parts of the competition again except the interview. Banning has been working with Pageant Director Stacey Beavin and several past queens to get ready for the state competition. She feels well prepared, especially for the interview portion.
If you want to go to Springfield to support Queen Banning, tickets are available for the Saturday session that begins at one pm at the Crowne Plaza and Convention Center. They may be purchased at the door.
