The Marion County Fair Royalty Contest will be held on June 21st.

The ceremony, which will be held at Dyer Hudson Hall, will include the crowning of this year’s Marion County Fair Queen and Junior Princess ahead of the 2025 Marion County Fair. This year’s queen candidates are Abigail Vander Linden, Riley Reid, Anna German, Brenna Findley, Karlie Pettyjohn, Morgan Bolkema, and Nattaley Johnson. The candidates for the Junior Princess contest include Emersyn Bender, Addison Poffenbarger, Irelynn Dunkin, Aubrey Wright, Kinsley Wooldridge, and Kahrynn Wooldridge. Marion County Fair Royalty Contest Coordinator Ashley Kearney says fair royalty is a special tradition and she encourages the community to come out to the ceremony. Kearney adds that fair royalty has an impact on the youth in the community.

“I think it can be really important, especially for inspiring our youth. I know when I was little I always looked up the fair queens because they are kind of just this pillar and I just feel it is really important to have this aspect of the fair because it can inspire our youth to want to be more involved because the queen and the royalty are so involved in the fair. It can really show them the different aspects of the fair and have them want to get involved because of these people at the fair who are kind of the face and I think it is really important for that.”

Hear more about the fair royalty from Kearney on today’s Let’s Talk Knoxville.