Wayne County Fair celebrates 70 years of junior fair royalty

The original juniors are now seniors. That’s bound to happen when seven decades have passed.

The Wayne County Fair opens next week and will culminate with the 70th year of junior royalty. A king, queen, prince and princess will join a group of royals that had its first members in 1955, about the same time Elvis and Elizabeth II became king and queen of their respective realms.

“As a fair participant, it’s a high honor,” said Christie Aylsworth, a former queen and now volunteer program coordinator. “It’s exciting. It’s a top honor, I would say. There’s a lot of work that goes into those four titles. If you put in the work with your projects and all the things you can be involved in, it’s an honor and it’s fun.”

As part of the 176th Wayne County Fair, the 70 years of fair royalty will be celebrated throughout the week, in particular on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 5 p.m. in the Coliseum. Aylsworth said there will be a small ceremony commemorating the history of the court.

The ceremony will include Stuart McCoy (1959), the oldest living king, and Anita (Gindlesberger) Berry (1956), the oldest living queen.

“Up until the last celebration (10 years ago), we had almost everybody from the beginning,” Aylsworth said.

And, of course, the fair will see a new court named. Aylsworth, junior fair queen in 2011, said there’s nothing quite like that moment for a young boy or girl. She was 16 when she ascended to the throne.

“It’s kind of shocking, in all honesty,” Aylsworth said. “You don’t know until that day. You spend three or so weeks not knowing if you got it or not.”

With each passing year, Aylsworth gets to relive that moment, seeing new queens and kings crowned. It also rekindles thoughts of the hard work that goes into earning the honor as a 4-H participant or FFA member.

For kids who dedicate their lives and efforts to those organizations and to the fair in general, the junior royalty is a culmination of sorts.

“The fair is a social event," Aylsworth said. “If you have been a part of the fair most of your life, it’s very important to you.”

The junior fair royalty has been a part of Aylsworth’s life for going on two decades. For her family it’s even longer. She has seen it evolve during her years and has heard of its changes for much longer.

Her dad was a runner-up in the 1980s. Unfortunately, in those years, coming in second just meant not winning. Now it means being prince.

Aylsworth also has a cousin who was fair queen in the 1990s, and her siblings have been involved over the years.

Ultimately, Aylsworth aged out of 4-H but wanted to stay involved, so she joined a committee and has stuck around since.

“It was something I enjoyed doing, and I wanted to give back,” she said. “I spent a lot of time on those committees. I wanted to have something else to be a part of. It’s just sometimes rewarding too. I was approached about doing it. I travel with my job at work and don’t have a lot of time to be involved with a committee, but this one you kind of meet within your own schedule.”

Aylsworth said junior fair royalty is composed of a group of kids put on the court and usually elected by their peers. Candidates fill out an application, then do an interview. A panel of judges decides who should be king and queen, prince and princess.

The first queen was elected in 1955. In the first four years, the junior fair board president was the king.