2022 Little Miss Marcus Is….
The 86th Marcus Community Fair started Thursday night (Aug. 11) with the crowning of Little Miss Marcus for 2022, Kirk Letsche recognizing past Fair Board members, and Babies on Parade. Kristie Ames and daughter, I cannot remember her name!) welcomed us to the 86th Fair and to the Little Miss Marcus Contest.
There were 11 contestants for this year’s little Miss Marcus contest. The contestants were: (1) Josie Alesch (8 years old), daughter of Marty and Jill Alesch. (2) Alaliyah Campe (7 years old), daughter of Konrad and Kelsey Campe. (3) Clarissa Cottingham (6 years old), daughter of Shawnda Meier and Petty Cottingham.
(4) Lucy Ehrig (7 years old), daughter of Joel and Mary Beth Ehrig of rural Cherokee.
(5) Marley Frangione (8 years old), daughter of Joe and Charissa Frangione. (6) Addie Hueser (8 years old), daughter of Dan Hueser and Kelli Hueser. (7) Kayleigh Kohn (8 years old), daughter of Kyle and Lorna Kohn of rural Cherokee. (8) Gracelyn Rassel (6 years old), daughter of Jesse and Amber Rassel. (9) Graycen Ruden (8 years old), daughter of Cody and Chelssa Ruden. (10) Callie Stodden (8 years old), daughter of Don and Tonya Stodden. (11) Amelia Tuttle (6 years old), daughter of Brian and Rachel Tuttle of rural Granville. (Contestants are from Marcus unless otherwise stated.)
Kylee Olson, daughter of Jim and Kate Olson, was 2021 Little Miss Marcus made her appearance to tell the audience what this title meant to her. She was involved in many events and enjoyed being Little Miss Marcus.
The first category for these young ladies was Casual Wear. Each girl was wearing what she liked best! Most of the girls were wearing shorts of all different colors as well as a tee shirt and sandals. Blue, pink, and purple seemed to be the favorite colors.
They were each asked what they did over the summer? Many went swimming, rode their bikes, and even found time to read books! They were all getting ready to go back to school. Then they exited to get ready for the last category, “Sunday Best”.
Kirk Letsche, President of the Marcus Community Fair Board, spoke on four members who died over this year. Jim Hoefling was involved for many years; Nancy Hier was not a member of Fair Board, but through her, Marcus had the Westernaires from Colorado perform with their horses. Nancy found a place (school) for the performers to stay, made sure they were fed, and had this large group come to her place for a night of food and fun. While this group got a feel of rural Iowa, we benefited by getting to know this group from a much larger area than Marcus! Nancy was just a person that got things done and really didn’t want to be recognized for her efforts.
Marv Simons was a Board Member for many years that helped in the weighing in of animals. Steve Smith (not the Steve Smith from Marcus!) ran the Smith Amusements carnival that came to Marcus for many years. He passed away in June. All four of these people will be missed for what they accomplished for many years that made the Marcus Fair what it is today.
The Babies on Parade came next and I will have a report on them next week.
Now the girls were ready in their Sunday Best to come on stage. Each had a father, brother or mother escort them for their final judging. (Judges were the new elementary counselor and new first grade teacher.)
There were long dresses of pink, blue, and orange worn. Some had short dresses of soft summer colors. There were some with sequins to add to the garment.
They stood in a long line on the stage waiting for the judges’ decision. Then we heard, “The 2022 Little Miss Marcus runner-up is Addie Hueser and the 2022 Little Miss Marcus is….Graycen Ruden!
The girls went outside to have their picture taken. Addie was at one end of the line and Graycen at the other end. When I asked the two to come together for a picture, I wish my camera would have taken what happened next—Addie came and gave Graycen a hug! How many times do you see the one that didn’t get it to come forth and give a hug to the winner?!
Congratulations to the new Little Miss Marcus! Even though there was only one winner, ALL of the girls are winners! Each girl was given a bag with ride tickets. They handed out ribbons to animal winners at the livestock show. And, they all were riding on a float in the Saturday parade.