Top of the Morning, July 10, 2024

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Queens Katie Landers and Makenzie Huls dressed appropriately for Monday’s sticky fair improvement project in Urbana. “No crown or sash today,” Landers said, opting for a “hot and sweaty outfit.”

To kick off their final week as Champaign County royalty, Landers and Huls worked their tails off for two-plus hours, spray-painting dozens of hooves (cattle, pig, sheep) on cement paths leading to fairground barns. The colorful addition will greet and guide visitors when the Champaign County Fair kicks off July 19.

“We wanted to do something that would promote the barns,” said Landers, happy to carry on a relatively new tradition of queens sprucing up the fairgrounds.

Pageant director Carson Robinson said when she was queen (2019-20), participating in the fair improvement project "shed light on how special our pageant program is for doing something like this to give back a very small way to our fair. The queens seem to really like the idea of doing the project, and always are excited to get it done."

Landers, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Illinois, said her year as Miss Champaign County Fair “has been wonderful. I’m sad to see it end.” Her final week included a stop at Monday night’s pageant at the Fisher Community Fair before turning her attention to this weekend’s competition in Urbana. She’ll help host Sunday’s 2 p.m. pageant at Kesler Hall.

Afterward, she’ll celebrate at home in Fisher in the best possible way: “In my PJs watching a movie and eating sushi with my family.”

Sunday’s contestants include:

Little Miss

Macey Huls

Avery Wilsey

Ellie Leemon

Kyndell Ackerman

Savanna Smith

Reagan Schluter

Ava Butler

Chloe Teare

Queen

Hannah Shields

Olivia Shike

Delaney Smith

Olivia Powell

Taylor Prough

Katelynn Graham