Blake Adams and Cole Newsome were crowned queen and king, respectively, Saturday afternoon at the 2017 Highland County Fair.
Adams became the 57th fair queen and Newsome became the third fair king.
The queen’s attendants were Brianna Burleson from Fairfield High School, Brianna Purvis from Whiteoak High School and Brittany Rhoads from Hillsboro High School; and the king’s attendant was Jeffery Mann from Lynchburg-Clay High School.
Adams, a senior at Fairfield High School, said she has been involved in the Highland County Fair since third grade when she started showing feeder calves and entering special interest projects. She said entering the fair queen contest was something she always thought about, partly because she wanted to be like other members of her Fab Five 4-H Club who had been crowned queen.
“I think it was just because of my involvement with the fair and a lot of things,” Adams said. “I spend the whole week here and I just wanted to be at each and every show because I enjoy it so much, and I wanted to represent Highland County at all the other fairs.”
Seven girls were in the contest and Adams said that as the names of the three attendants were announced she was nervous, but trying not to show it.
“I thought well, if I get it just stay calm and relaxed, and if I don’t, just be thankful for being able to be part of the experience,” Adams said. “I was super nervous waiting to see whose name would be called.”
Adams, the daughter of Craig and Kim Adams of Leesburg, has earned her state FFA degree and is president of her 4-H club.
Newsome, a junior at Hillsboro High School, said he didn’t really didn’t think about entering the king contest until the middle of this summer.
“I decided I’d like to try it because I wanted to prove to people that I could do it if I wanted to,” Newsome said.
There were just two boys entered in the contest and Newsome said he had mixed feelings as he waited to see whether he or Mann would be named king.
“The first thing I did when I sat down with Jeffery was congratulate him,” Newsome said. “I said, ‘At least you’re royalty because there’s only two of us.’ After they announced the winner I was just kind of happy, but I also felt bad for Jeffery because he didn’t get it.”
Newsome is the son of Terry and Tammy Newsome of Hillsboro. He is a patrol leader with the Boys Scouts, and a member of the Highland County Junior Leaders Club and Highland County 4-H Committee.
As for what he’s looking forward to during his reign as king, Newsome said, “Visiting all sorts of other fairs and trying all kinds of Ohio foods.”
Following is a list of the past fair queens and kings.
Fair queens
1960 – Kay Brown
1961 – Anna Ross Moris
1962 – Martha Bellison Wright
1963 – Gloria Turner Roush
1964 – Tana Lucas
1965 – Connie Shelley Cummings
1966 – Jean Sprinkle
1967 – Susan Grimsley DePont
1968 – Carol Watts
1969 – Patty Lucas
1970 – Colleen McMullen
1971 – Charlene Dean
1972 – Christa Edwards Davis
1973 – Sherri Minton Hertlein
1974 – Kathy Hagan
1975 – Debbie Glaze Pence
1976 – Rindy Burton Brooks
1977 – Amy Bohrer Barnett
1978 – Billie Jo Hackney
1979 – Kristin Long
1980 – Kim Long
1981 – Tammy Bingamon
1982 – Mary Beth Burton
1983 – Kathie Flach
1984 – Kim Carmean
1985 – Pam Ames
1986 – Angel Fleming
1987 – Jill Burgess
1988 – Amy Hartman
1989 – Julie Rittenhouse
1990 – Randi Hamilton
1991 – Barbie Snodgrass
1992 – Susan Crawford
1993 – Brenda Davis
1994 – Jennifer Roehm
1995 – Kristi Fawley
1996 – Jamie Marie Sponcil
1997 – Lora West
1998 – Linsey Erin Griffith
1999 – Marcy Yochum
2000 – Jessica Frazer
2001 – Abby Yochum
2002 – Danielle Kinzer
2003 – Ellen Davis
2004 – Lynette Hamilton
2005 – Jennifer Daye
2006 – Kristen Jenkins
2007 – Debbie Cook
2008 – Katrina Michael
2009 – Emmy Jenkins
2010 – Tiffany Satterfield
2011 – Amie Griffith
2012 – Courtney Michael
2013 – Tara Karnes
2014 – Kaylee Achor
2015 – Emily Burwinkel
2016 – Quinn Walker
2017 – Blake Adams
Fair Kings
2015 – Lane Frost
2016 – Braden Heizer
2017 – Cole Newsome
Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522 or [email protected].
