The 115th annual convention of the Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs is coming to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield. Over the weekend, supporters gathered to send off White County representative Laney York with their encouragement and endorsement. Dozens showed up at Carmi Emmanuel Church between 2p-4p on Sunday including family, friends, fans and former queens. York, and 74 other fair queens will vie to become the state’s 68th Miss Illinois County Fair Queen, to be crowned on Sunday.
Since being crowned on Sunday, July 5th, York has stayed busy between queen duties and starting her college career at Murray State where she’s already well on her way in a journey towards a career in dentistry.
I’m a Biology/Pre-Dental Major. So after my Bachelor’s is over, I want to go to Dental school somewhere and do general dentistry; that’s my idea for the long run. But for now, I came with an Associates Degree right after high school so I have a Junior status. That should save me some time and lots of money and push my graduation up quite a bit.
She’s going to miss a bit of school at the end of this week. She’s there now, but has a busy week and weekend ahead.
I will leave Murray on Wednesday night, come home and grab my state luggage. My mom will hop in with me and we’ll head up to Springfield to check in at the Crowne Plaza where I’ll compete. Thursday morning is official check in and we’ll start practicing that day and Friday. Friday, I’ll also get to meet with the judges and do my 4-minute interview. Saturday, practices in the morning and then I’ll compete in the evening at 7pm. I know you can buy livestream tickets if you’re interested. I’ll compete in swimsuit, evening gown, and speech. Sunday, they’ll announce the top 16 and that evening, and from there after finals competition, the crown is given out late Sunday evening.
York will be on stage alone, but she’s quick to admit that she’s had and continues to have the best support on the journey from family to friends to former queens.
I’ve had the best support system throughout this. Like you mentioned, it’s going really strong right now and I think a lot of that is due to the people here to help. Obviously my family has been a huge support system, my mom for sure, she’s always given me outfit advice and interviewing me on car rides, but also Kelsi (Hunsinger), Hannah (Sailer), Kara Kessler – Kelsi’s mom, and Lacey Moore, and Emily Williams have all practiced with me. They’ve poured so much into me and they’ve been great. They want to see me do well and want to help me do my best. It really means a lot.
You may think prep for a pageant is a walk, a smile, choosing an outfit. And while York agrees those are important components, prep also includes presence, memorizing a speech, and being up to date on what’s going on in the world, nationally, and on your local level because if you make it that far in the competition, you will be asked a question you don’t get in advance.
A lot of my preparation has been keeping up with current events because if I do get to the on stage question portion of the competition, they will ask me a current event topic related question. So I’ve been trying to watch the news and keep up with headlines to make sure I know what’s going on. My speech is about one of my stage experiences. It was my most special stage experiences right here in Carmi.
Those interested in watching Laney compete and perform at the Illinois State County Fair Queen pageant can do so with virtual tickets if you can’t make the 3 hour drive to the state capitol. You can do that at AnywhereSeat – Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs. Voting is also underway now for the Peoples Choice with votes costing $1 each. You can participate in that at People’s Choice – Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs.