2023 Little Miss Marcus Is…
The 87th Marcus Community Fair started Thursday night (Aug. 10) with the crowning of Little Miss Marcus for 2023. Kristie Ames and Angie Schnepf welcomed us to the 87th Fair and to the Little Miss Marcus contest.
Last year’s Little Miss Marcus, Graycen Ruden, (daughter of Cody and Chelssa Ruden) was on stage to tell of some of the things she did as last year’s Little Miss Marcus. Then it was time to introduce the contestants for this year’s Little Miss Marcus contest.
There were 11 contestants for this year’s contest. The contestants were: (1) Eleanor “Ellie” Bork (Age 6) daughter of Robert & Chelsea Bork; (2) Aaliyah Campe (Age 8) daughter of Kelsey & Konrad Campe (3) Willow Dreckman (Age 8) daughter of Mandy Dreckman; (4) Kendall Holmes (Age 6) daughter if Kayla Holmes; (5) Avery Hueser (Age 6) daughter of Dan Hueser & Kelli Hueser; (6) Lena Kohn (Age 6) daughter of Kyle & Lorna Kohn; (7) Hadley Miller (Age 8) daughter of Jennifer Miller; (8) Avery Priebe (Age 7) daughter of Matt & Abby Priebe; (9) Charlee Ruden (Age 8) daughter of Cody & Chelsea Ruden; (10) Kylie Schreier (Age 8) daughter of Jon & Amanda Schreier; and (11) Amelia Tuttle (Age 7) daughter of Brian & Rachael Tuttle.
The first category for these young ladies was Casual Wear. Each girl was wearing what she liked best! Most of the girls wore shorts of all 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 want swimming, rode their bikes, and even found tine to read books! They were all getting ready to go back to school and were excited about the new school that they were going to go to. Then they exited to get ready for the last category, “Sunday Best”.
Kirk Letsche, President of the Marcus Community Fair Board spoke on some of the events that were offered in this year’s Fair program. While the girls were changing, it was time for Babies on Parade. These babies had waited long enough and were ready to make their entrance and then go back to (for some, to go nighty-night!) their normal routine.
Sunday Best contestants were (1) Funlee Olson @ 3 months of age and looking her best! Chenyle & Lucus Olson and kids presented their newest family member. (2) Are we seeing double? Yes, twins were next. Halle Wallway and Parker Wallway at age 16 months were next. Their parents are Alex and Chad Wallway. Proud grandparents are Alan and Geralyn Hoefling. (3) Quinn Wester was the next beauty at 3 months of age. Parents are Olivia and Kyle Wester.
Bathing Beauty was the next category. Riley Miller was all ready for what summer is all about. She is 11 months old. Parents are Blake and Jackie Miller. Riley was walked on by her big sister Harper.
Celia Seablom was 4 months old. Her parents are Tony and Ashley Seablom.
Belle Utesch was 4 months old and ready for summer fun. Parents are Tanner and Alissa Utesch.
Athlete of the Year had all kinds of athletes! TJ Holmes at 18 months old was a Cub’s player. Oh, do I see another Cub’s player? Yes, it is another Holmes—Andrew Holmes at 4 and a half months old. Parents of these two Cub players are Tim and Andrea Holmes.
Nolan Hoefling was just happy to be any athlete as he was celebrating his 7 month birthday with us this day! Parents are Andrew and Samantha Hoefling. Grandparents are Al and Geralyn Hoefling.
Calvin Klingenberg was 9 months old. He is the son of Taylor and Jillian Klingenberg. Grandparents are Jeff and Julie Letsche.
Cooper Lehnhoff at 5 months of age is a golf athlete! He is the son of Jacob and Bailey Lehnhoff.
Skyler Anne Letsche is 3 and one half months old. Do you suppose she will be a basketball player some day? Parents are Ben and Gillian Letsche. Grandparents are Jeff and Julie Letsche.
The last category was What I Want to be When I Grow Up. Rhex Pearson at 2 and one half months of age knows he wants to be a fisherman. His parents are Jake and Alexa Pearson.
Haley Tapper is 9 months old but wants to be a farmer (farm girl). Her parents are Cory and Katie Tapper.
Simon Markworth is 11 months old and wants to be a farmer. His parents are Nate and Laurai Markworth. Grandparents are Bill and Deb Mayer.
(I sure hope there aren’t any mistakes on this Baby Contest as the ink pen used for signing in wasn’t always working, making it hard to read what was written down.) All babies received apple juice from “Jeff’s Foods. Now it was time to get back to the Little Miss Marcus part of the night.
The girls had changed into their Sunday Best and were ready to come on stage.
One wore a long pink and white dress. There was a long pink floral print dress; a short blue dress; a white dress; a white floral long dress; a bright red dress with sequins on the bodice; a black and white long dress; an aqua floral colored long dress; a pink dress with the girl wearing a hat; a sparkling blue dress that was short in the front but had a long train in the back; and the last girl was wearing royal blue long dress. Each had a father, brother, uncle, mother, or friend escort them on stage. The judges for determining who would be the next Little Miss Marcus were Jen Miller, Lori Shene, and Megan Brown.
Each girl was asked a question (not all the same question) with the judges marking down how it was answered. They would determine how the question was answered if she was outgoing and could fulfill what they were looking for to be the next Little Miss Marcus.
The girls stood in a long line on the stage waiting for the judges’ decision. Then we heard, The 2023 Little Miss Marcus runner-up is Lena Kohn and the 2023 Little Miss Marcus is….Kylie Schreier!
The girls went outside to have their picture taken as a group and them the runner-up and the 2023 Little Miss Marcus.
Congratulations to the new Little Miss Marcus! Even though there was only one winner, ALL of the girls were winners! Each girl was given a bag of goodies—ride tickets, a shirt, etc. They all were going to hand out ribbons to animal winners at the livestock shows. And, they all were riding on a float in the Saturday parade!