Fairest of the Fair: Miss Warren County Fair Crowns a Newborn, A Preteen, and Ages in Between

Ahead of the Warren County Fair kicking off on Monday, July 28, with a pageant for ages thirteen and up, a Miss Warren County Fair pageant was held at Laurel Ridge Community College on Saturday, July 26, representing girls under thirteen. As each girl walked out on stage or was carried, personal information was broadcast from a microphone, such as her goals, which could range from learning to crawl to mastering the alphabet in more advanced cases. Attired like princesses, these young children, if they are old enough to interact, have learned about agriculture even as they are being taught how to present themselves.

Co-director Savannah McNey makes opening remarks for the pageant. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

“We always thank those who enter to compete, sponsor, or volunteer to help us host this pageant year after year and for helping support the Warren County Fair Association by participating in this pageant,” said co-director of the pageant, Savannah McNey, in an email interview. “The Warren County Fair is a non-profit organization that depends on events like this to be able to invest further in some of the most important traditions in our community. These pageants are a chance for girls of all ages to come together to make new friendships, become more confident, share any platforms they may have, and to most importantly be a face and voice in our community. For the younger Queens, such as Tiny, Little & Pre-teen Miss, it’s a way to start to build confidence in themselves. For the older Queens, such as Junior Miss & Miss, it’s to get their platforms driving into these communities to make a positive impact on what they are passionate about individually.”

Tatum Hindman is crowned for the newborn division.

She went on: “The tradition this pageant has upheld is for these queens to represent the Warren County Fair during fair week at multiple nights and fun events, but also to get hands-on in the community with community service hours and to just be a voice. Our Miss Warren County Fair is a competitive division where all contestants compete for a chance to win our fair pageant to go to later compete at the Miss Virginia Association of Fairs in January to hopefully win the ultimate state fair title. These girls who win put in lots of hours into the community, the fair, and to each other. It’s beautiful to see in the past two years I have been directing, that these girls always show out year after year to keep this tradition alive and going.  Each queen serves as a face for the Warren County Fair throughout her reign.  Who doesn’t think of the fair queen when you go to the fair?”

(Above) The winners for the one through four-year-old divisions pose for a photo. Left to right: Kianna Jones, 1-year-old, Nayeli Duran, 2-year-old, Kamryn Leighty, 4-year-old, and Brynlee Updike, 3-year-old. (Below) The winners for Tiny Miss, Little Miss, and Preteen pose for a photo. Left to right: Layla Ruckman, Little Miss, Waverly Andersen, Preteen Miss, and Lillian Potter, Tiny Miss. Asked what they liked best about the event, these three young ladies reflected on the exhilaration of being onstage, the opportunity for mentorship, and, of course, making new friends.

She finished: “Being able to compete and win Miss Warren County Fair in 2022, I have been on both sides of this pageant. I have seen this pageant system grow so much, and new things are still coming! I had the chance to really get out into my community and project my service platform with the help of my director, Lacey Ramey, whom I now co-direct with, and my Ms. Queen, Michala Craig, who also pushed me to do better every day since we won that title in 2022. I have made some of the closest friendships and relationships with girls and business since holding that very special title, but also by just being around those who wanted to see me succeed. Our Miss Queen this year, Johanna Pearson, has gone above and beyond, diving into this community and making an impact anywhere she goes. The next queen will have very big shoes to fill! We are truly lucky to cross paths with any girl who competes for us at the fair pageant and to see them continue to grow year after year, or even just running into them in this small town we live in, to see the impact that competing in a pageant creates.”

Hopefully, these young ladies will come away from this experience with the awareness that their lives are not an accident, and that their essence and the alterations they can make in the world for good are subjects worthy of investigation. One might ask: when will their princes come? To quote rom-com sensation Meg Ryan, after a romantic disappointment in You’ve Got Mail: “There is the hope of someone else.”