The race is on to see who will be crowned Fall Fair Queen, with eight young contestants seeking to win the coveted title this year.
The new queen will be crowned during the annual Rainy River Valley Agricultural Society Fall Fair, which runs Aug. 13-16 this year.
In addition to selling buttons, the eight contestants will be judged on their parade float, banner, and how well they perform during the talent/fashion show Aug. 13.
This year’s contestants include Jodie Allan (Wilderness Air in Nestor Falls), Amy Flatt (Tompkins’ Hardware in Emo), Sheri Galusha (Borderland Racing), Dena James (Hair and Body Care in Emo), Christine Kellar (Emo Inn), Edith McCormick (Smitty’s Repair in Emo), Laurel McQuaker (Village Variety in Emo), and Dolly Teeple (Dev-Lynne’s in Devlin).
Dorothy Bonot, who sits on the pageant committee with Tanya Smith, Sadie Smith, Donna Sheppard, and Debbie Carlson, said this year’s format will be a little different.
“The crowing will either be Friday [Aug. 14] or Thursday night after the entertainment,” Bonot said, noting the final decision has yet to be made.
Traditionally, the fair queen is crowned Saturday afternoon just after the parade. But Bonot said this year’s committee wanted to see if the winner could be announced at the start of the fair instead near the end of it.
“We’re just trying to have a queen to reign over this fair,” she explained. “So in the parade on Saturday there will be the queen.”
But this puts a little tighter timeframe on the contestants and the judges since the parade floats figure in the final standing of each contestant.
“We’ll find out [if it works],” Bonot said.