JEFFERSON — Jefferson County Fair Park is hopping this week, from early-morning animal judging to afternoon carnival rides to grandstand entertainment and other attractions stretching well into the night.
But one event that’s conspicuously absent is the “Fairest of the Fair” competition, which in recent years has taken place on the last day to crown the fair’s official spokesperson for the following year.
Fair Park director Amy Listle said that the Jefferson County Fair is in the midst of reorganizing this event, with the competition likely to take place during the spring of 2020 in preparation for the 2020 fair.
No official dates have been set yet, but planning for this competition will take top priority for fair personnel as soon as the 2019 fair run wraps up Sunday.
“For the last couple of years, our ‘Fairest’ competed during the fair and was crowned on the Sunday of fair, to reign the following year,” Listle said.
Prior to that, the “Fairest” competition was held earlier during the week. But organizers decided they wanted all of the candidates to be more invested during the fair’s entire run.
So the competition was moved to Sunday, with all competitors participating in numerous events throughout the week as “fair royalty” while the “Fairest” crowned the previous year served as the public face of the Jefferson County Fair.
However, the county had trouble attracting applicants this year, despite extending its deadline three times, Listle said.
The only requirement to be “Fairest” was that the individual turn 18 years old by this July 1.
Traditionally, Jefferson County’s “Fairest” have all been young women, although there are no restrictions as to participants’ gender. In fact, Jefferson County did have a male contestant a couple of years ago, but he had to drop out of the running due to scheduling conflicts, Listle said.
At that time, fair coordinators had considered changing the title to “Fair Ambassador” to be more inclusive, but that particular candidate had indicated he’d be fine with being called “Fairest.”
There have been male contestants in other counties, Listle noted, and for the last three to four years, there has been a male competitor in the state “Fairest” contest.
Likewise, there’s no reason why the role of fair ambassador — whatever it’s called — could not go to an older person.
For now, there are no plans to change the name of the competition or title, which tie into the Wisconsin Association of Fairs “Fairest of the Fair” program.
Listle said that Jefferson County did get some interest in the position this year from people who met the age requirements, but those potential candidates wound up having conflicts that would have prevented their full participation.
Likewise, the fair office heard from a number of candidates who wanted to try out in future years, but didn’t quite meet the age requirements as originally laid out, so they could not participate this year.
With the competition likely moving to the spring, Listle said, it is possible the age requirement could be moved so that candidates could participate if they turned 18 by the time of the spring competition.
“We’ll be reviewing that right after this year’s fair,” Listle said.
The change in timing for the “Fairest of the Fair” competition also will give Listle, who took up the mantle as Fair Park director officially in May, and new marketing specialist Micheala Slind, who took her position at the end of June, a chance to review and revamp the program.
In the meantime, the spotlight will be on the 2019 “Fairest of the Fair,” Libby Knoebel of Helenville.
Knoebel is scheduled to give her farewell address Sunday afternoon around 4 p.m. following the presentation of the herdsmanship awards.