McDougal, Fuss 2012 Hartford Fair King, Queen

By LENNY C. LEPOLA

News Assis­tant Man­ag­ing Editor

The Hart­ford Inde­pen­dent Fair’s annual King and Queen com­pe­ti­tion is a tra­di­tion that draws entire fam­i­lies as young can­di­dates take to the stage for light-hearted com­pe­ti­tion while they vie for the honor of rep­re­sent­ing the fair dis­trict at events through­out the com­ing year.

Last Sat­ur­day evening, can­di­dates, their friends and fam­i­lies, gath­ered in the Pavil­ion on the Hart­ford Fair­grounds to find out who would rep­re­sent the fair dis­trict for the next 12 months.

Retir­ing Hart­ford Fair Queen Cather­ine Jula and retir­ing King Cameron John­son MC’d the event; Judges were Candy Ash­brook, Abby Pound and Kevin Pope.

Ash­brook was the 1975 Hart­ford Fair Queen and today serves as Mod­ern 4-H Club advi­sor and fam­ily and con­sumer sci­ences teacher at Lib­erty Union High School. Pound was the 2002 Hart­ford Fair Queen and Horse Queen, and served on the Junior Fair Board for many years. Pope has been at the Hart­ford Fair for many years as a con­ces­sion­aire, serves on the Board of Trustees of the Greater Ohio Showman’s Asso­ci­a­tion, and sits on the Ohio Fair Man­agers Asso­ci­a­tion PAC Committee.

Sev­eral hours before the 7 p.m. pub­lic com­pe­ti­tion where the new king and queen were cho­sen, the three judges shared din­ner with the can­di­dates, fol­lowed by a tour of the fair­grounds. Dur­ing the din­ner and tour, each judge had an oppor­tu­nity to speak with indi­vid­ual can­di­dates and observe them as they inter­acted with others.

Dur­ing the pub­lic por­tion of the selec­tion process, each can­di­date intro­duced him– or her-self with a brief state­ment about 4-H, FFA, Hart­ford Fair involve­ment and school activ­i­ties, fol­lowed by extem­po­ra­ne­ously answer­ing a ran­domly selected question.

After the pub­lic por­tion of the selec­tion process, judges retired to make a final selection.

When they returned to the stage, Tay­lor Fuss and Stephanie McDou­gal were crowned as the 2012 Hart­ford Inde­pen­dent Fair King and Queen.

Stephanie McDou­gal is from Newark. She is the daugh­ter of Al and Colleen McDou­gal and will be a sopho­more at West Vir­ginia Uni­ver­sity in the fall. Clover Con­nec­tions 4-H Club spon­sored Stephanie.

Tay­lor Fuss is from Pataskala. He is the son of David and Jody Fuss and a fresh­man at OSU-Newark. National Road­ers 4-H Club spon­sored Taylor.

The other 2012 Hart­ford Queen Can­di­dates were:

• Greta Neil­ley, first runner-up. Greta is from Bal­ti­more, and the daugh­ter of Grant and Susan Neil­ley. She is a fresh­man at Hock­ing Col­lege, and was spon­sored by Amer­i­can Tra­di­tions 4-H Club.

• Elisa Hig­gins, sec­ond runner-up. Elisa is from John­stown. She is the daugh­ter of Scott and Lisa Hig­gins, and a fresh­man at Wright State Uni­ver­sity. Elisa was spon­sored by But­tons & Baker’s 4-H Club.

• McKen­zie Cel­lar, third runner-up. A 2012 Big Wal­nut High School grad­u­ate from Cen­ter­burg, McKen­zie is the daugh­ter of Eric and Lau­rie Cel­lar, and will be a fresh­man at Mount Ver­non Nazarene Uni­ver­sity in the fall.

• Shelby Fry, fourth runner-up. Shelby is from Pataskala and is the daugh­ter of Pat and Mary Fry and a fresh­man at Cen­tral Ohio Tech­ni­cal Col­lege. Jer­sey Farmer’s 4-H Club spon­sored Shelby.

The other 2012 Hart­ford Fair King Can­di­dates were:

• Sean Sid­dens, first runner-up. Sean is from Pataskala and is the son of Rachel Sid­dens and Bryan Sid­dens and a fresh­man at OSU-Newark. PACA 4-H Club spon­sored Sean.

• Andrew Smith, sec­ond runner-up. Andrew is from Newark and is the son of Aaron and Beth Smith. Rocky Fork Junior Live­stock spon­sored Andrew.

The 154th Hart­ford Inde­pen­dent Fair and Hart­ford Junior Fair con­tinue through Sat­ur­day. The Hart­ford Fair Gen­eral Gate Admis­sion (Does not include rides) is $6. Park­ing is free every fair day and all grand­stand events are free on a first come, first serve basis.

Tonight, August 9, Motocross Rac­ing is fea­tured in the grand­stand. Fri­day evening the pop­u­lar Rough Truck Con­test is held, and the 154th Hart­ford Fair’s grand­stand enter­tain­ment closes with the Sat­ur­day, August 11, Cham­pi­onship Horse Pull.

For addi­tional infor­ma­tion Phone: 740–893-4881; Fax: 740–893-4810; Email < hartfordfair@embarqmail.com >, or log on to < hartfordfair.com >.

Posted by Gary Henery on Aug 8 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.