Serving as queen has been a rewarding experience for Pringle

Having poured her heart and soul into her time throughout her Holmes County 4-H career, whether showing animals, doing life skill projects, leading her 4-H club or serving on the junior fair board, Alysa Pringle has left little doubt that 4-H and the Holmes County Fair have left a lasting image on her heart.

This past year she gave some of that passion back, having served as the 2023-24 Holmes County Junior Fair queen, an honor she has enjoyed and one that, much like her career in 4-H, she has poured herself into.

“My time as the 2023 Holmes County Junior Fair queen has been such a rewarding experience,” Pringle said. “This honor is truly something I will never forget, and I will have these memories forever.”

Pringle said anyone who knows her recognizes 4-H is not something she was really ready to give up, and being crowned Holmes County Junior Fair queen last year in her final year gave her more time to stay closely connected to the county program and the many friends and relationships she has made over these many years.

Many of those relationships were along for the ride during her tour around the state while visiting county fairs and festivals.

“I am truly grateful to have such an amazing court,” Pringle said. “Being able to have this experience with my good friends Garrett (Fowler) and Dakotah (Ringwalt) and my brother Alex has made this year so much more memorable.”

She said some of her favorite moments while serving as queen besides traveling and spreading the word about the Holmes County Fair has been being able to show the visiting royalty all the wonderful things the Holmes County Fair has to offer and how special it is to her, her court and the community, as well as handing out ribbons and banners during fair week and being able to congratulate Holmes County 4-H members on all their hard work on their projects.

And the work she and her court put into their travel schedule was relentless and began moments after they were crowned royalty.

“After our fair was over, our court truly hit the ground running by starting to visit fairs just the day after our fair ended,” Pringle said. “We have spent countless hours in the car traveling to many fairs, but they were all worth it.”

Representing her community as she grew and blossomed throughout her 4-H career was something Pringle knew she wanted to pursue, and part of that was honing her public speaking skills, which she did, just like so many 4-H and West Holmes FFA youth do through both programs.

“When I started running for queen, I told myself from the beginning I wanted to visit a lot of fairs, so far during my reign, I have visited more than 20 fairs with many more planned for the coming weeks,” Pringle said. “I wanted to see what other fairs have to offer that we could implement in Holmes County to make it even better while sharing all of the great things we do here.”

She said while the court does not always all travel together overall, they have visited roughly 24 fairs as a whole.

“Visiting fairs and representing such a wonderful place has been a great experience,” Pringle said. “I am very thankful for this experience that has helped me grow as a person.”

While her time serving in this royal capacity is quickly drawing to its conclusion, she said she is truly thankful she has been able to enjoy all the experiences throughout the past year, and she is excited to pass along her experiences and knowledge to whomever will be tabbed as Holmes County Junior Fair royalty for 2024-25.