FAIR TAB: Medina County Fair to have junior prince and princess contest for the first time

MEDINA — Some of the youngest fairgoers will be named as the junior prince or princess for the first time at this year's Medina County Fair. Fair board official Jessica Ehrman said in the past, there used to only be a prince and princess contest for kids who were around ages 9-13 and a royal court for teenagers. The new junior prince and princess category aims to extend the age range of participants. "We wanted to get the kids ready if they ever wanted to run for the king and queen," she said. "We're hoping that this will bring our numbers up and help the kids." This year, junior princes and princesses are between the ages of 5 to 10 years old, and there will be 16 participants, Ehrman said. The prince and princess category will have 14 participants between 11 and 15 years old. The junior prince and princesses will be judged once at 6 p.m. July 29 in the pavilion. She said contestants will dress up, say their name, answer two fun questions and be judged on their answers. "The judges are just going to look for how well they answer the question," Ehrman said. "The questions will be graded on a scale of one through five. One being that they didn't answer the question at all, and five being really great." The girl named the junior princess will win a tiara, sash and bouquet and the junior prince will receive a sash, she said. They will be paraded around the fairgrounds, and there will be an announcement for them at the grandstands later that night. "The kids would always say to me, I want to be that queen one day, but they don't know what to expect," Ehrman said. "Our hope is that this will help them to know what to expect and get comfortable with public speaking and get comfortable with standing in front of a big crowd of people." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.