Royalty portion of fair crowns winners

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

It wouldn’t be the start of the Floyd County Fair without the crowning of royalty, now would it?

That’s exactly what went down Tuesday night as Little Miss Floyd and Little Mr. Floyd were announced as part of the Fame, Fun and Royalty portion of the fair.

The ceremony also awarded fair ribbons for Share the Fun and had a fashion review.

Ali Shirley took home the crown as the 2018 Little Miss Floyd. She was joined by the new Little Mr. Floyd Isaac Soifer, up on stage in front of packed house at the hall of fame building on the Floyd County Fairgrounds.

Renee Knapp organized the royalty contest, as she has ever since winning her own crown as the 2011 Floyd County Fair queen. She said she enjoys the smiles on the faces of the contestants who have fun answering questions like, “What’s your favorite part of the fair?” or “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“I love working with the littles,” said Knapp. “I love getting to see their personalities shine and get a chance to speak about the things that they like and they look forward to.”

There were six contestants vying for Little Miss Floyd — the winner, Shirley, along with Ayla Carstens, Cheyenne Osterholm, Riley Quade, Madison Vance and Hadley Whipple. Four entrants on the Little Mr. Floyd contest including the winner, Soifer, were Kayden Hillegas, Elijah Soifer and Charley Sweet.

Also in attendance was this year’s 2018 Floyd County Fair Queen Bailee Bortz. Sydney Fullerton, the 2017 fair queen, also made an appearance.

“I really enjoy being part of the first day to kick off the Floyd County Fair,” said Knapp. “I want to make sure everybody gets recognized for doing what they do.”

The queen crowning and the Little Miss and Mr. Floyd program used to take place on the same night. But recently the queen ceremony was moved to Central Park at a Party in the Park.

“That seemed to have gone really well,” said Knapp.

The top three finishers in the Share the Fun category won purple ribbons and advanced to the Iowa State Fair next month.

Anne Marie Hansen and Bennett Hansen each won first place in Share the Fun.

They took home a purple ribbon for the vocal duet of “My Brother Eats Bugs.” Second place was awarded to the “Hee Haw Remix” by the Ulster Future Leaders. Third place was snagged by Nathan Schulz, who did a piano solo.

Blue ribbons went to the bag dance performed by Abby Pippert, Ella Pippert and Julia Whipple. Bennett Hansen won one for his piano solo, as did Dylan Schulz. Daniella Havranek took home a blue ribbon for her gymnastics routine and so did the vocal trio of Taylor Brown, Heidi Howe and Ella Pippert.

Bill Mead was inducted into the 4H Hall of Fame at the ceremony.

Judges of the Little Miss and Little Mister contest were Kaitlyn Bonzer, Heidi Hain and Jesse Stewart.