Local County Fair Queens Participate in Iowa State Fair Queen Contest

Seven county fair queens from the KMCH listening area participated in the 2023 Iowa State Fair Queen contest this past week.

Local candidates included Dannielle Burkle of Delaware County, Addison Gericke of Buchanan County, Kayla Donovan of Dubuque County, Reagan Stelken of Clayton County, Anna Egan of Fayette County, Genevieve Scott of Linn County and Emily Meyer of Jones County (pictured above).

Of the 104 candidates, Henry County Fair Queen Kalayna Durr of New London won the title of Iowa State Fair Queen on Saturday night (pictured below). 

Durr graduated high school this spring and plans to attend Des Moines Area Community College to get her associate degree in ag business before eventually transferring to Iowa State. But along with her studies, Durr’s ready to dive into a busy year of promoting the Iowa State Fair. She’s hoping to break a record set by the 2022 Iowa State Fair Queen Mary Ann Fox, who visited 76 county fairs across the state this summer.

top photo courtesy of Dannielle Burkle/KMCH; bottom photo courtesy of Iowa State Fair; audio courtesy of Radio Iowa