The Box Butte County Fair Queen Contest was hosted in Hemingford on August 10, where 12 contestants competed to see who would be crowned the 2022 Box Butte County fair queen. There were three judges: Delinda Neville, Rose Pancost and Molly Turek who scored the contestants. Barbie Applegarth, who coordinated the contest, was thrilled with how the contest turned out.
“I was so thrilled to have 12 contestants, and they were all so extremely talented and smart. It was a wonderful contest,” said Applegarth.
The event started off by a performance from Riley Wright who sang the National Anthem. The contestants each introduced themselves to the crowd by stating their name, age, and who their parents are. They also thanked their sponsors. The contestants came up a second time to the stage to show off their talents, where contestant Elizabeth Mayer came on stage and performed different exercises with weights.
“The reason I chose lifting as my talent is because it has helped me evolve into my sports. For example I was scheduled to play in the All-Star Volleyball and Basketball games this year. Along with qualifying for state track in the 200m dash. This summer it also has been helping me while I continue my track career at Wayne State. Not only has it helped me with my athletics its also been an amazing stress reliever,” said Mayer.
After the contestants finished showing off their talents that ranged from everything to sports, dancing, singing and even some archery, the contestants then came out in evening gowns to answer a serious question followed by a funny question. Contestant Anaka Digman was asked, “If you came with a warning label what would it be?”
“May tell you an inappropriate joke a time or two when you’re with them,” answered Digman.
A group from Seventh Street Dance Studio put on a dance show while waiting to crown this year’s winners.
The royalty winners would earn scholarship money: Miss Congeniality wins $600, second attendant wins $700, first attendant wins $800 and the Queen wins $1,000. Peyton Kindred earned Miss Congeniality. Avery Davies earned second attendant. Elizabeth Mayer earned first attendant and the 2022 Box Butte County Fair Queen was Brinna Phillips. Phillips was in awe after being crowned Queen.
“It means everything. I can’t even put into words how appreciative I am of this opportunity and I’m so excited to give back to the community,” said Phillips.
Phillips came driving up in a red race car during her part in the talent show portion of the pageant Phillips talks about how much work she put into getting ready for the pageant.
“I have put endless hours into preparing and getting ready for this in between just like figuring out what I was going to say, what I was going to do, working on my car, getting it ready to go. Many countless hours and hard work,” said Phillips.