Fairest of the fair

Every year the Winnebago County Fair crowns one of it's poised, energetic and mature young women as Fairest of the Fair. The Fairest of the Fair acts as the official spokeswoman representing the county and the fair at parades, community events, schools and other various county wide activities. The Fairest of the Fair competition is held in April with a panelist of three judges who play a significant role in the community or as fair members from other counties. The competition first consists of an informal introduction performed for the judges solely in a room right before the one on one interviewing.  After the solo interviews the contestants had a light lunch with the judges and the 2007 Fairest of the Fair. Afterward comes the group interviewing. After the group interview it's time for the audience to meet the contestants with a professional introduction of self. They then perform a mock radio ad out of sight from a room consisting of the judges, fair board members and family and friends. The last part of the competition is the impromptu question in front of the crowd before announcing the winner.

As Sarah Kunde, our 2007 Winnebago County Fairest of the Fair opened the envelope with the 2008 Fairest's name, she stopped to take a long pause as she glanced over and smiled. A few seconds later I heard my name.... Melissa Weyland. It took a few seconds to process as my face stayed ridiculously buried in my hands. But I was ecstatic. I know my acceptance speech didn't go nearly as well as anything else I had been put through that day; but one thing is for sure, I am more than honored to be the 2008 Winnebago County Fairest of the Fair. Fair was something I looked forward to summer after summer for as long as I can remember. One thing is for sure, it won't be hard to represent something that I take so much pride and passion in. I will go on to compete in the state competition in January where I will represent Winnebago County amongst fairest of the fairs from around Wisconsin. We will all be competing for one thing over those few days, and that's the Wisconsin State Fairest of the Fairs title.

[L-R] Claire Caroll, WI State Fairest of the Fairs 2008; Kira Tate, First Runner Up; Melissa Weyland, Winnebago County Fairest of the Fair 2008; Teal Kempe; Betsy Lyness; Sarah Kunde 2007 Winnebago County Fairest of the Fair; Stacey Kunde, 2007 Miss Rural Winnebago

Official Sponsor of the Winnebago County Fair