This year, the Muscatine County Fair Queen and first runner up are both from Wilton.
Kiley Langley, was selected as the 2023 Muscatine County Fair Queen. Rebekah “Becky” Imhoff, was selected as First Runner Up and Miss Congeniality.
The queen pageant started with former Muscatine County Fair Queens Morgan Forbes and Katie Chalupa explaining the process for the contest.
“Each of our contestants have submitted application materials including a resume and an essay highlighting why they want to be the 2023 Muscatine County Fair Queen to our judges,” Chalupa said. “Earlier today, each of our contestants were interviewed by our panel of judges in a 15 minute individual interview. After the individual interviews, judges observed the girls as they discussed hot topics in the news during a group interview.
Forbes and Chalupa introduced the judges to the crowd. They were Dr. Allison Roe, an art educator at the University of Iowa; Lynn Chapman, who owns and operates Chapman Angus Company near Tipton; and Brooklyn Wieland, the 2021 Miss Agricultural USA.
Afterward, the contestants were announced for the pageant. They included: Nellie Stagg, the daughter of Burt and Melissa Stagg; Becky Imhoff, the daughter of Tim and Debbie Imhoff; Kylie Struck, daughter of Sonya and Brian Flake and Jorge and Caitlyn Woods; Sadie Peters, daughter of Brent and Megan Peters; Kiley Langley, daughter of Barry and Melanie Langley and Emily King, daughter of John and Sarah King.
Each contestant was asked two additional questions that evening that they picked randomly out of a bowl.
Stagg was the first contestant to answer a question. She was asked how she was involved in the Muscatine County Fair. Stagg said she had art in the arts building and was involved through the West Liberty FFA team.
Imhoff was asked what skills she learned participating in the queen competition. She said she learned how to communicate better, gained interviewing skills and made new friends from the competition.
Struck was asked what was her favorite part of the Muscatine County Fair. Struck said her favorite part was watching everyone compete in the livestock shows.
Peters question was how would she describe her individual leadership style. Peters said she identifies people’s traits and puts them on a task where she knows they will succeed.
Langley was asked what advice her parents gave her was the best. She said learning to let go was the best piece of advice they gave her. Sometimes it was hard to do that but at the end of the day if no one is hurt, then they can learn from it.
King was asked where she would take someone attending the Muscatine County Fair for the fist time and why. King said she would take them to the livestock barns first, specifically the beef barn because that is where all her memories are from. She also said this is where people can see the hard work participants put in showing their livestock.
Once the contestants were done answering questions, Muscatine County Fair Board President Troy Schlapkohl spoke to the crowd. He thanked everyone for attending the fair and the future of the activity center. The fair board is going to start fundraising for a new activity center building.
“The building has been there for 50 years,” he said.
The building was built in 1970, Schlapkohl said. This will be the largest project the fair board has taken on.
“The new building will be located immediately to the northwest of the existing building,” he added.
The new building will provide a place for the county to hold meetings and small events. The design process for the new building is happening now.
“We don't have a lot of answers right now,” Schlapkohl said. “We just saw our first round of pictures for the first time the week before fair so we’re in the process of trying to finalize and do things.”
Schlapkohl thanked the queen contestants for being a part of the fair and said it was a great experience for them to have.
After Schlapkohl was done speaking, the new queen was announced.