Ten candidates are vying for the Miss Marion County Fair Queen title in Tuesday night’s fair queen pageant. WJBD-WSIQ news will profile the first five candidates in the news Monday.
This is the first time Sara Timm is doing any sort of pageant. She says that she has enjoyed getting to know her fellow competitors and bringing more excitement to the fair.
“I think my favorite thing about doing this so far is seeing how many girls that are passionate about the fair and want to be involved in the fair.”
Sara is a graduate of Kaskaskia College and will be attending the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana this fall.
Katlyn Hilmes is from Alma, a graduate of South Central High School and is currently attending Kaskaskia College.
“My favorite thing is being able to dress up again because I’ve missed that. Althought I’m definitely not a girly girl, I have missed dressing up a little bit.”
Siara Cane is from Patoka and is a sophomore at Greenville University studying physical therapy where she is also on the cheerleading team. She is most excited for the speech portion of the pageant in which she reflects on her time as a young girl competing in the Little Miss Pageant and her dream of being a princess.
“My speech relates to when I was little and was doing the Little Miss Pageant and had said what I wanted to be when I grew up.”
Kennedy Schwartz is going to be a senior at Centralia High School this coming year. It is her first time doing the Miss Marion County Fair Pageant. She is excited to be competing with all of the other contestants. She explains that the pageant is more than what the audience sees the day of.
“We come here pretty early in the day and do interviews and speeches. 45% of our judging is done before we even step on stage. Then we do a dance, walk and they introduce us with our swimsuits on. Then we come out in our formals and they tell us who won.”
Makaela Dragie is from Salem and is currently attending Penn Foster University studying to become a special Education Teacher. She enjoys riding horses, babysitting, and singing. She has 10 siblings and is the second oldest.
