ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The Five State Fair Queen crown has officially been placed on the head of Summer Garrison for the next year.

Garrison was crowned Monday evening to help kick off this year’s Five State Fair festivities, and she said she is excited for the honor.

“I was honestly pretty scared about who was going to win, but I'm very grateful I got it,” Garrison said. “I want to thank everybody for supporting me throughout this journey of running for fair queen.”

Garrison said it was a somewhat easy decision to run for this year’s Fair Queen.

“I had seen the Facebook post a few weeks ago and I decided I wanted to go for it,” Garrison said. “I'm a very outgoing person, and I just thought it'd be very fun. My mom ran for it when she was about my age, so I thought ‘Maybe I can too!’ I was just so happy, I’d worked so hard, and it just made me feel happy yet shocked when my name got called.”

Garrison added there was a lot of work that went into her campaign, but it was enjoyable.

“Some of the fundraisers I did included meat raffles and shoe raffles, and and then I sold bake sale items at the farmers market and other places around town,” Garrison said. “I really enjoyed talking to more people and getting to know them, and them getting to know me to feel comfortable with donating to me. There were also a lot of new friendships I made along the way, which is also great.”

Garrison will be participating in 4-H shows throughout this coming weekend, and she said she is excited for her tenure as the Five State Fair Queen.

“I'm happy I got this, and I want other girls to know they can do it too if they put their mind to it,” Garrison said. “I want to thank everyone for helping me and sponsoring me for this.”