Sheldon makes some history at Ohio Fair’s queen contest

This past summer Jenna Sheldon added her name to the growing list of Holmes County Fair queens.

She hasn’t hesitated to take full advantage of making her way around the state representing Holmes County and its fair, and recently, she made quite the impact by becoming the first Holmes County queen to ever reach the top 15 in the Ohio Fair’s queen competition at the Ohio Fair Manager’s Association Conference in Columbus.

Facing competition from 80 other queens from festivals throughout Ohio, Sheldon charmed her way into the final 15 contestants. Her effort included a series of short interviews, an essay and filling out paperwork on her many accomplishments.

As one of the 15 to make the finalists and being the first Holmes County queen to do so, Sheldon said it only adds to her experience as queen, and narrowly missing the top five didn’t take away from the history of the occasion.

“There were some pretty amazing girls in that top five, and I actually became good friends with two of them in my time there,” Sheldon said.

Now in her final year at West Holmes High School, Sheldon is currently gearing up for her next phase in life. She will head to West Virginia University next fall to gain a degree in animal science nutrition, with her sights set on becoming an animal nutritionist. She will add an ag business minor to her college career and said her time in FFA and 4-H has helped hone her ag skills and propel her toward her passion to serve others and work with animals.

“West Virginia has an incredible science program, and they have a ginormous animal farm for their animal science program,” Sheldon said.

Sheldon said her experience in Columbus saw her have to prepare on the fly for a random question from the judging panel, and preparing her 10-minute interview to introduce herself and make a positive impact on the judges was challenging.

“I tried to promote all of my 4-H experience and highlight a lot of the work ethic our county creates,” Sheldon said. “It was hectic but fun.”

As for the word Sheldon had to talk about on the fly in front of the judges in the final 15 contestants, it was one she welcomed, that being the word “opportunity.”

She said she felt confident with that word and added she had another advantage over many of the other queen contestants, that being an entourage of supporters from the Holmes County Fair Board who made the trip to show their support.

She said that support served as a calming factor.

“We are very blessed to have a very supportive and awesome senior fair board,” Sheldon said. “I’ve gotten so close to many of them. I talked to other queens and asked them if their fair board members were there, and they didn’t even know who their fair board members were, so I’m grateful to be able to work with such a caring fair board that welcomes all of us in the junior fair board in and trusts us, so we’re very fortunate here.”

Sheldon said her experience in Holmes County prepared her well for the contest and said this competition was much more cutthroat and in-depth than running for the county fair contest.

She said while she would much prefer to talk about the benefits of Holmes County and the many positives of the county fair, she found that during this competition she had to promote herself to try to stand out in a crowded field of quality queens all after the same pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Among her accomplishments she promoted were running the Showman of Showman event at the fair, serving as an officer in both West Holmes FFA and the junior fair board, her experience in showing animals at the fair, and promoting and serving as a role model for younger FFA and 4-H members.

“It was a great experience for me, very exciting,” Sheldon said. “I met so many other wonderful queens and learned a lot going through the process. This was an absolutely huge moment for me.”

In touching base with the many other queens and hearing about their ventures, fairs and festival experiences, Sheldon said she returned home armed with plenty of new ideas she feels could enhance a county fair that she said is already among the best in the state.

Having wanted to be the fair queen since she was little, Sheldon has dived headfirst into representing her fair and her county. She said meeting many new people and showcasing Holmes County is something she has a real passion for doing, and getting to do so in front of people from all over Ohio was a true honor.

Eventually, Sheldon finished just outside the top five, but the experience was one she can add to her resume and one she won’t soon forget.