 Hello and welcome to tonight's 2015 Sheboydon County Ferris of the Fair Gala. Tonight we will be watching four lovely young ladies as they vie for the title of the 2015 Sheboydon County Ferris of the Fair. The Sheboydon County Ferris of the Fair is the official hostess and spokesperson for the Sheboydon County Fair. Tonight I have with me two very special guests. We have the Wisconsin State Ferris of the Fair's Miss Tiana Schleis as well as the 68th Alice in Dairyland Miss Tiana Lather. So Tiana, you were just recently crowned as the 68th Alice in Dairyland. What is your biggest accomplishment that you'd like to have as the Alice in Dairyland? Sure, I think the main goal of the Alice in Dairyland I'd really like to take with me into the future here in the next year is really connecting the consumers plate to the farmers gate. So helping people understand where their food comes from, the people and processes behind it and how they can take that with them into their daily lives right to their dinner table. Okay, and of course we all know that all of agriculture is very special, but what is especially special to you that led you to becoming the Alice in Dairyland? Sure, well I would say that even though our agriculture is an $88.3 billion industry here in Wisconsin, we have so many aspects that factor into that. The dairy industry is our largest economic sector at $43.4 billion. I was involved in that growing up on my dairy farm until I was 11, but then I really got a feel for how diverse agriculture can be in Wisconsin where my family diversified into beef cattle and market hawks too. So I think showcasing that aspect of Wisconsin agriculture is something I will certainly take with me into the position. Alright, and so then talking about the economy, when you do talk to some of the farmers around Sheboygan County, they're talking about how the milk prices are falling in the dairy industry, but other things are rising, for example, with selling bullcats. Where do you see the economy in the dairy industry heading in the next 5 to 10 years? Certainly, well I think it is definitely growing at Wisconsin dairy industry, we currently produce about 27.6 billion pounds of milk in the state, but we hope to reach 30 billion pounds by the year 2020 with a few initiatives that are here in Wisconsin. So that sort of industry is certainly growing, and we have over 600 different varieties, types and styles of cheeses that that milk then goes into. So those go into our processing industries, and 90% of that milk is then taken into the cheeses that are produced here. So as cheese consumption is growing, the dairy industry is growing here in Wisconsin. There's a bright future ahead of us. All right, well thank you. And we have the Wisconsin State Fairest of the Fairs, Miss Deanna Schleis. So Deanna, you have been the State Fairest of the Fairs for a little while now. What has been one of your favorite events that you've done so far? Well I think right now, just with June dairy month, kicking off all of the dairy breakfasts are super fun. Not only do I get to eat all these amazing foods that people are preparing, but just we get to celebrate dairy, and especially if it's a breakfast on the farm, we get to go to the farm and actually meet the producers and talk with them a little bit about what they do, and get to know more about, like Deanna said, how does that get to my plate? Where did it start and how did it get there? All right, and I know that you were the Brown County Fairest of the Fairs before you became the Wisconsin State Fairest of the Fairs. So what led you wanting to become the Brown County Fairest of the Fair that led you here? Well when I was in high school, I was very active in agriculture through the FFA. And as I went into my professional career of teaching, I kind of got away from that. I started to incorporate some agriculture into my classroom, but then I really decided I wanted to get back into the industry, whether it was, you know, doing something just like my local FFA chapter, but then I found out about the Brown County Fairs program, which has just recently started up again. So it was kind of a cool opportunity and a unique time in my life to become an advocate again, and it's just kept taking off. All right, and is there anything that you want us to know about the upcoming Wisconsin State Fair that anything new that's going on? Oh goodness, there's so much new at the Wisconsin State Fair, but as we're talking about food, we've been talking about it, one of the aspects of WI State Fair dot com is the food finder, where you can go on and type in any food that you are looking for, and it will show you if it's at the State Fair where you can get it, which is something that I adore because I love to eat their food. And the other things that are going on, we have main stage acts from Boston, County Rogers, and Nick Walenda is going to attempt his longest stretch that he's ever walked across on a wire, so that's pretty exciting. But I would love it if everyone could join us on August 6th to the 16th at In West Dallas for the Wisconsin State Fair. Thank you so much. We're going to get back to the 2015 Chicago County Fairs of the Fairs Gala, where we have four lovely young ladies who will be vying for that crown. And these four lovely young ladies are all very talented and qualified, and will make a fantastic 2015 Sheboygan County Fairs of the Fair. Good evening and welcome. Tonight is sure to be a wonderful experience celebrating the talents of our young people and Sheboygan County Fair traditions. I'm excited to be joining you in this role this evening. My name is Jeff Frears, and I am the FM Operations Manager for Midwest Communications Sheboygan. What that means is I help oversee our Rock Station 1065 to Buzz. We have the Country Station, Sheboygan's Country B93, and our Pop Station 1045 and 961 The Point. I also host the afternoon show on The Point, and Midwest Communications is very excited to have the opportunity to be involved with the Fair this year. And B93 in particular is looking forward to helping present the national headliner Joe Nichols to the Fair this year. That will be a lot of fun. So it is with great excitement that we start the night with a person who's given it her all to the citizens of Sheboygan as the 2014 Sheboygan County Fairest of the Fair. Danielle, daughter of Richard and Don, now this is Cleveland, served Sheboygan County with much commitment and excellence during her year as the 2014-2015 Sheboygan County Fairest of the Fair, and represented Sheboygan County in the Top 10 at the Wisconsin Fairest of the Fairest Competition in January. Absolutely. One of the many highlights that we host is an extremely successful celebrity cream puff eating competition at the Sheboygan County Fair. I was a participant, and good play in not letting us know that we couldn't use our hands until seconds before the contest started. So I was thrown off by training with completely by the week side, but it was a lot of fun, and you did a wonderful job hosting the event, and you were also the first fairest to ride her horse and present for each flag in the front of the grandstand before the extreme bull riding and barrel racing competition. Now these events took the front headlines of local and statewide media because of her hard work and organizational skills. Please help me once again to welcome to the stage our 2014 Sheboygan County Fairest of the Fair, Danielle Navas. We're at the 2015 Sheboygan County Fairest of the Fair gala. Like Jeff said, my name is Danielle Navas, and I am your 2014 Sheboygan County Fairest of the Fair. A year ago it was in these ladies shoes, and we have four very lovely young ladies here tonight, and I can tell you from the couple weeks that I've gotten to know them that they are very talented and very qualified for this position. But I do know how nerve-wracking it is in their shoes, so maybe we can give them a little bit of a round of applause right away. Now the Sheboygan County Fairest of the Fair is the official spokesperson and hostess for the Sheboygan County Fair. But truly the Fairest of the Fair is someone who is very passionate for our county fair and wants to share that passion with all of you and with our community. And there are a lot of people that we can thank for this amazing program that we have here tonight. We want to thank first of all our sponsors. We have over 100 sponsors, and some of them hopefully are here tonight. We want to give them a huge thank you. I'd also like to thank our judges that are here tonight, because without them I wouldn't be here, and the next Fairest of the Fair would not be here. I truly thank you for the judges for making the track all the way to Sheboygan County. I'd like to thank our whole community and all of you for being so supportive and encouraging of me in this role and of the Fairest program in general. That also goes with thanking the Fair Board. They truly welcomed me in at the Fair. They were so wonderful. They fed me. It was great. I'd like to thank the 4-H leaders and FFA advisories that are out there for helping our exhibitors to grow up into great young 4-H and FFA kids at the Fair and eventually becoming Fairest of the Fairs. I'd also like to thank a very special couple of people that are out there, my parents, for without them and pushing them to be out of my comfort zone and pushing me to be that all I could be, I wouldn't be up here, because for those of you who don't know, I used to be the most shy person ever. I was terrified to talk to my teachers. I didn't really have a ton of friends. I was so scared of everything, and now I'm up here talking to a bunch of people. I don't really know what happened. And then the last group of people are a very, very, very special group of people to me, and that is our Ferris Committee. We have the most amazing Ferris Committee, I think, out of all of this in the whole state. They're just absolutely wonderful. They put on everything here tonight. They were there every single day for me. I could call any of them and they would talk to me. And the best thing was that at the Fair, they really welcomed me into their fair family. So could everybody on the Ferris Committee please stand up so that we can acknowledge you? Thank you, guys. So please enjoy tonight. Make sure that you give a huge round of applause for all of these four young ladies at the end of the night. Come and say hi to all of them, not just the winner, because they've all had to overcome a lot of fears just to be here tonight. So thank you again so much for being here. Thank you, Danielle. And we would like to take this time to recognize our men and women that are serving for our freedom, those that have served our veterans, and those that have given the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. We salute you. And would ask that any servicemen or women past or present in the audience please stand so that we can applaud you for your service. And it is now time for our Pledge of Allegiance by the Sheboygan County 4-H members. It is now time to meet our candidates. They are alphabetically arranged for this part of the program. Each candidate will introduce herself with a 30-second self-introduction and make her way back to her seat. Would you please help me in welcoming Kimberly Beck. It has always been an important part of my life. Every year, my dad would break a little care for me to show in the open show at County Fair. I have always had so much fun and learning experiences at the Sheboygan County Fair. If I become here in 2015, Sheboygan County Fair is so fair, I hope I can serve you with as much passion as I have for the fair. I hope everybody has a great evening tonight. Thank you. It is now time for the first one to go, so thank you, Kimberly Beck. At this time, up next, we have Shannon McCabe. Please put your hands together for Shannon. Yeah, I'm Shannon McCabe from Sheboygan. I'll talk till you get there. A quote once said by Bo Jackson, my goals in life are to become a veterinary animal shelter. For eight years, that's part of my summer growing up. It's selected your 2015 goal of mine since I was a little girl, and dedication would shine through. Thank you, Shannon. And up next, we have Sarah Schultz. Sarah, please to the stage and put your hands together. You river falls and major in animal science. Please to shell my horse at the fair. While showing, I've gained leadership, patience, and team building skills. Nothing has slowed me down from achieving my goals, even though I'm a type one diabetic. I hope to be your 2015 Ferris of the Fair. Thanks, Sarah. And around the door tonight, we have Elizabeth Witter. Elizabeth to the stage, please. Steve, majoring in agronomy and genetics with hopes of going on to graduate school in the public on how each and every one of you will have the applause for all four of our candidates this evening. And at this point in time, I get to introduce the 2015 Wisconsin Ferris of the Fair is joining us this evening. We have Deanna Schleis, and Deanna grew up in a small town of Denmark, Wisconsin with her parents, David, and Sharon Schleis, and graduated from Denmark High School in 2007. She attended the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, and graduated in December of 2012 with a Bachelor of Music Education and a minor in Biology Education. She was an active member of many honors groups on campus, a member of an all-female acapella group, and a member of the UWEC cheer and stunt competition team. Deanna started teaching eighth grade science at L.B. Clark Middle School in Two Rivers in the fall of 2012. At Two Rivers, she serves as a student council advisor, CLC after-school program coordinator, and an active member of her school's leadership team. Her luck for the fair started in 2003 when she joined the Wisconsin State FFA Honors Chorus. As a member of the FFA, Deanna started participating in speaking contests and taking ag classes at her high school. As someone who did not grow up directly in the ag business, she has found a love of agriculture through different venues. Please help me in welcoming the 2015 Wisconsin Ferris of the Fair is Deanna Schleis. I don't know if there's much left for me to say. Okay, Deanna Schleis, I grew up in Denmark, Wisconsin, so it was a very nice, lovely drive down I-43 and 23 over here to this lovely venue where I got to meet the wonderful contestants. Being a part of the Ferris of the Fair program is something that I truly cherished, and coming into this program to see all of the effort that this committee has put forth, it is just amazing. There are so many things, great things that are going on with this program, and as you heard, Deanna was a fantastic ambassador for her fair, and meeting these four girls, I've only met them very shortly, but I've gotten to know them quite well in that little amount of time, and I can't wait to see which young lady is accepted as the new Ferris of the Fair. That being said, I will tell you a little bit more about myself. As it said in the intro, I did not grow up on a farm. I did not grow up in the agriculture industry, and a lot of people that fall in love with the fair industry do grow up in that sort of environment. And my love for the fair started back in 2003 when I spent four days at the Wisconsin State Fair. If you've ever been in the Tommy Thompson building, it is 12 girls to your room with one bathroom. It gives two sinks, so that's okay. But it is kind of a whirlwind adventure. When you go down there and you have no idea who these 12 other girls are in your room, and you're just kind of thrown into this environment where you are, anything can happen. And that is where my love of the fair really started. Through that, I started getting involved at my county level through my FFA. If you're familiar with the Demerick FFA alumni, they're very active in Bronx County and over the state. I got involved with FFA and started taking those egg classes, but really fell in love with the service portion of agriculture in the fair industry. I love to give back to my community, and it's something that the fair does. They put on this amazing showcase of not only youth, but also the hard work that they do. And I always say it's so cliche and it's so corny to say that the youth are a future, but they really are. And if you go to any county fair, you are going to find the most dedicated, the most passionate, and the hardest working youth in the state. And I truly believe that. I am really excited to be able to represent the Wisconsin Association of Fairs and all 76 county district and state fairs that we have in the great state of Wisconsin. If you've never been to any of your surrounding county fairs, I challenge you to attend a new fair this year, something you've never seen. Maybe it's the state fair, or maybe you take a trip over to Calumet County. Maybe you take a trip and I'm gonna find the luck to see something you've never seen before. Because honestly, the fairs are the center of our community. There's such a great opportunity for us to showcase the history, the tradition, and the education that we have to offer in this great state. That being said, I love the Wisconsin State Fair. I will be attending my 12th Wisconsin State Fair, and being that I am 25 years old, that is almost half of my entire life I have spent down at the Wisconsin State Fair, and it's just gonna get bigger, which is great. But I will unfortunately not be able to perform with the State FFA choir this year as I will be kind of busy, but it is really important that you all know what's going on at the Wisconsin State Fair. Now, I didn't bring my cheat sheet up here, so please don't mind if I have to recall some facts here. But it is the 164th Wisconsin State Fair, and the most fun fact that I have learned about the fair this year is that the cream puff is the longest standing item sold at the fair. It has been sold out of the same building at State Fair Park since 1924. So that was something fun that I was able to learn. The State Fair will host over a million people in its 11-day run, and if we're talking about agriculture, which I know Sheboygan County has a rich history of agriculture, we're going to see 6,000 to 8,000 different animals grace our presence at State Fair Park in West Alice. And that is just really exciting when you think about how much agriculture is the backbone of our industry. And it's really fun because we give out scholarships also to those participants, and we are the home to the largest junior dairy show in the world. So that's really exciting. Some of the new things. If you're Kenny Rogers' fan, he's going to be closing out our main stage acts at the Wisconsin State Fair. Boston will be opening them up. We also have 30 free stages. If you're familiar with the new commercials, the push-it commercials, maybe you don't watch too much TV as I do, but Salt and Pepper is going to be at the Wisconsin State Fair on August 15th, and I am looking to see if they beat up vanilla ice. Vanilla ice had a huge crowd last year, so I'm going to see how well they do. But with that, there are many other things that you can see at the Wisconsin State Fair. You can always log on to wistakefair.com. The website has just been revamped, and it's very easy to follow along and find the things that you want. And as Danielle said, it must be a fairish thing, because it's not allowed to eat, and the fair is the perfect place to do that, because there's tons of food there. They have a new thing called the Food Finder. You click on it, you type in what food you want, and it'll show you if it's at the State Fair park and where you can get it. And if you type in cheese, you will have to search for days through the entries, because almost everything at State Fair has cheese in it. So that's a really great way to kick it off. So I'm going to officially invite you to the Wisconsin State Fair sponsored by US Cellular. It is running from August 6th through the 16th in West Ellis, Wisconsin, at the State Fair park. And some of you have little smiley faces on your programs. We have the back page in the little corner. And so here's the deal. I will get you something, whether it's a ticket for a cream puff, maybe it's State Fair tickets, once I figure out what I can give you. But here's the deal. You have to give me your address, because I don't have anything with me. So if you have a sticker on the back and you put your address on your program and hand it to me by the end of the night, I will get you something special from the Fair. So thank you very much for having me here tonight. And good luck to all of our contestants. If it makes you feel better, I know exactly which Sultan Peppa Push It commercial you were talking about. It's a very good commercial. So at this point in time, it is time to introduce our selection panel. And as you can see by the introductions this evening, they will have a very difficult task. And actually started, the selection team started at 3 p.m. today doing individual interviews, group interviews, and had a light dinner with the candidates so far. Their jobs aren't over yet, as the candidates are still being evaluated on their professionalism, speaking ability, and fair knowledge. I will ask that they please stand as we recognize them individually for their commitment to the program. And first, we have Brenda Gilbertson. Brenda Gavina Gilbertson has a lifelong passion rooted in the agricultural sector and involvement in supporting Wisconsin fairs. She and her husband Eric reside in Hollendale, Wisconsin with her growing family, where Brenda works from home as an independent agricultural marketing communications consultant and wellness and financial coach for Advocare. In addition, to that, her husband Eric and father-in-law Mark own and manage Gildale Holsteams in Iowa County. She has extensive media relations, ag promotions, and consumer awareness by serving in multiple ambassador roles, including as the Wisconsin Holsteam Princess, Manitowoc County Fairest of the Fair, and being a top five finalist for Wisconsin Fairest of the Fairest, in addition to the honor of being a finalist for Alice in Darryland. Once again, Brenda Gilbertson. And next, we have Jim Reed. Here is representing our male gender this evening, as you can tell. For 19 years, Jim has been president and CEO of American Digital Cartography Inc., headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin. ADCI has specialized in providing digital mapping products and services since 1988. Jim is a member of the Executive Committee of TEC, Fox City's Chamber of Commerce, president board of the Wisconsin 4-H Foundation, and serves as past president of the sales and marketing professionals of Northeast Wisconsin. Jim is very active in the community as well, dedicating many hours working as a hospice volunteer and doing taxes for over 10 years for low-income taxpayers in the Fox City's area. Jim is a 1990 graduate of Duke University Fuqua School of Business Executive Management Development Program. Once again, Jim Reed. And our third of the selection panelists is Jeannina Seemers. Please welcome Jeannina. And Jeannina, along with her husband, Dan, and his family are proud to be fifth generation farmers and have the opportunity to raise their children on their family's quesantennial farm, Quas-quesantennial farm. She serves as a farms business manager of Seemers Holstein in Newton, Wisconsin. Jeannina grew up very involved in agriculture through her family's dairy farm, and today enjoys all aspects of agriculture and has served in leadership roles in various agricultural organizations. She coaches dairy bull teams in 4-H and the Junior Holstein Association that have competed successfully at the local, state, and national levels. Jeannina received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management and Organizational Behavior from the University of the Pacific. Jeannina and her husband, Dan, have two sons. Jordan, a sophomore at Cornell University and Connor, a sophomore at Howard's Grill High School. Jeannina Seemers. And that is your 2015 Ferris of the Fair selection panel. And one more time, please join me in thanking this selection panel for their time and dedication to these names and our Ferris program. At this point in time, we have several special guests with us in attendance this evening. And if you hear your name, if you could please rise. And you've got a nice long list here, so if you could please hold the applause until the end and we'll give one big round of applause for all of our special guests. We do have the 2014 Ferris of the Fair, once again, Danielle Nautis, and her parents, Richard and Dawn, are in attendance tonight. And we have a 68th Alice in Dairyland, Tiana Lathur. We're Scots and... Oh, go ahead, let's give the round of applause. We're Scots and Ferris of the Fair, Dianna Schleis, former Cheboygan County Ferris of the Fair, Nicole Noel Reese. And Nicole is now one of the coordinators of the Brown County Ferris of the Fair, and she has a special guest, Ferris from Brown County, Heather Duquesne. And we also welcome back former Cheboygan County Ferris, Jessica Ford. And if you have any other former Cheboygan County Ferris in attendance tonight, if you are, please wave your hands. I think we got everyone. Thank you. Also in attendance tonight, Miss Lori Siegert. And we'll move to the next one here. But Lori is and will be representing her family for the Barbara A. Siegert Memorial Fund Scholarship to the Ferris. Also Jean and Kathy Kastner. Jean and Kathy are the scholarship sponsors for the first runner-up. We have Bill and Pauline Jens. Not here in attendance at the moment, but they are the scholarship sponsors for the second runner-up. We have the Locke family of Locke Ballroom. Of course, the great facility sponsor. We appreciate. Round of applause for the Locke family. In attendance tonight, we have State Senator Devin Lemahue. We'll be here shortly. And when he comes, we'll let him know that there was a tremendous round of applause due to him. Also joining us, State Representative Tyler Borepavo. And we'll have some wonderful entertainment from the willing workers for each club. Clause for the pledges that let us in the Pledge of Allegiance. These should boy get four eachers done. At this point in time, we are ready to move into the applicants the 32nd Radio Advertisements and impromptu questions on stage. Now the women drew an order this afternoon for this component of the contest. The first candidate will be Kimberly Beck. So I ask Elizabeth, Sarah and Shannon now to proceed into the sound proof room that we have in the back here. And up first, we'll be Kimberly Beck. Age 19 of Plymouth. She is the daughter of Ed and Denise Beck. She's a graduate of Plymouth High School and a graduate of Fox Valley Technical College where she obtained a technical degree in agriculture business, dairy technician. She is currently employed at Gazer Dairy LLC where she helps care for the transition cows and keeps records on cow calvings, breedings, pregnancy checks and other responsibilities. Her future goals include working full time at a dairy farm as a herdsman or assistant herdsman or owning her own dairy farm. She also wants to continue growing her pure bred, cemental herd and marketing them. Please welcome Kimberly Beck. This year's 2015 Sheboy and County Fair will be September 3rd to the 7th. There's so many fun and exciting things happening this year. We got the livestock shows and sales. You have the Joe Nichols concert Saturday night, the lot, the rodeo, pig and duck races and even a Grand The Crouchy show. It's not the end of summer but the beginning of fun. I hope you can join us at the 2015 Sheboy and County Fair September 3rd to the 7th. For more information check out Shevcofair.com Kimberly, we will have a question now and we do have a similar question but we'll be polling a type of audience that will be written on a sheet and that will vary the answer to this question. So we'll pull out the impromptu question and we'll have different questions in the poll and once you have answered the question we'll welcome you to take your question out of the poll here and then take us here afterwards. So I have this poll right under here and Kimberly come on over and reach in. Here is your question. How would you persuade people with disabilities to attend the Sheboy and County Fair and how would they benefit from attending? People with disabilities to the Sheboy and County Fair. There are so many accommodations for people with disabilities to come to the Sheboy and County Fair. You have people that will help you. There are a lot of different ways and it's all handicapped accessible. You've got ramps up into the 4-H building and into the open class building. All the lifestyle barns are handicapped accessible so you can go and check out every aspect of the Sheboy and County Fair even if you are handicapped. And at this point we will not give you that soundproof room and invite Elizabeth Witter to pause for Elizabeth age 18, Sheboy and Falls is the daughter of Steven Hyde Witter. She is a graduate. She really is soundproof. She has no idea. She is a graduate of Sheboy and Falls High School and is currently attending Iowa State University where she is studying agronomy and genetics. She is currently a summer intern for Dow agro sciences plant breeding research station in Arlington, Wisconsin where her duties include recording and counting seed, planning nurseries, pollinating and taking field notes. Her future goals include graduating from Iowa State University and then attend graduate school for plant breeding. She would like to return the university to teach agronomy courses and do research. Elizabeth Witter for 30 second announcement. Country Recording Artist Joan Witter for 30 second radio advertisement. She will ask it. Basically there will be index cards and they will slightly influence a question that we're asking tonight. They'll have different audiences that will help shape your question. Your question Elizabeth is how would you persuade high schoolers to attend the Sheboygan County Fair and how would they benefit from attending? To come to the county fair would be to tell them about all the great entertainment we have that they would really enjoy with the county fair. And we also were discussing earlier today I don't know if the Fair Board is counting day for high schoolers and bringing their student idea, ID in, to get a discount. So that's an option too, out there. And then what was the last part? I'm attending because there's a lot of educational benefits that they can have. They can learn about agriculture. They can learn about all the different industries that Sheboygan County has to offer. Next we will have Sarah Schalk and she will be making her way to the stage for other shortly here. Sarah, age 21 of Waldo is the daughter of David and Debra Schalk. She's a graduate of Plinip High School and is currently attending UW Fond du Lac where she is majoring in animal science. She's currently employed by Mills Fleet Farm where she assists customers in the lawn and garden department. She's also employed at La Quinta Inn where she helps at the front desk and also works at Sundance Farms. Her future goals include transferring to UW River Falls and obtaining her degree in animal science with an agriculture business minor and then she would like to attend graduate school at the University of Kentucky where she would like to be in the large animal nutrition field and specialize in equine. Please welcome Sarah Schalk. In La Larnes and 4-H building watching the pig and duck races me and Grandpa Cratchit through the summit. For more info, check out shopcoaffair.com. Sarah and it is now time for your question portion. And we'll have you reach into the basket and the index card will help mold the question that you are asked. So here we go. We can pick one out here. And your question this evening is how would you persuade tourists to attend the Sheboygan County Fair and how would they benefit from attending? So I had tourists to come to the Sheboygan County Fair by telling them there's a lot of different events at our fair that are not found at others. We have such as a concert a new country concert coming and also other events for everyone they're free. So we appreciate them with these at the fair. Thank you Sarah. And lastly we will have Shannon McCabe and Shannon is 24 years old of Sheboygan is the daughter of Tom and Katie McCabe She is a graduate of Sheboygan North High School and Lakeshore Technical College and is currently attending UW Fond du Lac where she is studying pre-vet with a biomedical animal science major and a business minor. She is currently employed by Sprint as a sales representative and advanced auto parts as a key holder customer sales associate. Her future goals include becoming a veterinarian and owning her own veterinary clinic and animal shelter. Shannon McCabe. Thank you Shannon and it is now time for your question portion of the evening. So we have one last index card for formality purposes. We'll have you reach into the basket here and the answer on this card will help shake the question that you are asked. And your question Shannon is how would you persuade senior citizens to attend the Sheboygan county fair and how would they benefit from attending? I would persuade senior citizens to come to the Sheboygan county fair by explaining how much fun it is the fair is good for all ages it's fun educational community oriented and very inexpensive. There's plenty of activities for senior citizens to go to. There's animal shows and polka and lots of many other events. Senior citizens would have a wonderful time at the Sheboygan county fair. A round of applause for all of our candidates. It is not easy to answer a question on this part like that. Thank you for your wonderful time. At this point in time we will excuse our selection panelists. They have a very important job to do best of luck for the panelists. And at this point in time I'd like to introduce the 68th Allison Dairyland Tiana Lathur, Wisconsin 68th Allison Dairyland is Tiana Lathur of Sock City. She grew up on a dairy and beef farm showing at the Sock county fair. She was a 2010 Sock county fairest of the fair. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison in 2013 with a degree in animal sciences and finisher master's degree in animal sciences this spring. She says running for Alice has always been in the back of her mind but it was when she really got into the education and the agriculture that she thought this would be a great way to educate people about agriculture. As Alice she wants to help people better connect to where their food comes from from the farmers date to the consumers plates. One idea she has is recipes from Alice a collection of foods which not only use Wisconsin ingredients but the stories behind those ingredients the faces of Wisconsin agriculture that play into that. Lathur will spend the first two weeks after her selection and orientation at the Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection she will begin her official duties as Alice in Dairyland on June 1st. Ladies and gentlemen the 68th Alice in Dairyland Tiana Lathur. Well thank you so much for that wonderful introduction. I think you heard almost my entire life story with that but I want to give you a little bit of an insight way back into my childhood. I want you all to think back to when you were five years old. How many of you had a best friend? When you told all your secrets to and maybe you even shared your after school snack with. Okay raise your hands don't be shy. I certainly had one. She had four legs, black and white spots and weighed 1500 pounds. The whole steamed dairy cow was my best friend growing up on her family barn. We had 120 cows until I was 11 years old and since then we've diversified into having market hogs and beef cattle and this knowledge of the diversity of Wisconsin's agriculture here has something that I will take with me into this role as Alice in Dairyland because we are America's Dairyland but we rank number one in the country for the production of cranberries ginseng, mink pelts mink milk goats and even cheese. So there's many different facets of Wisconsin agriculture that I will represent through my year as Alice in Dairyland and since I have grown from my farm and my family legacy I went on to the University of Wisconsin Madison where as it was said I developed a passion for education within agriculture and Alice in Dairyland's role as the official agriculture ambassador within our state is really to teach both rural and urban audiences all across the countryside into the inner cities about where it comes from. So as I kick off my time here as Alice in Dairyland it's also a very exciting month here within Wisconsin agriculture it's June Dairy Month and the dairy industry within Wisconsin is phenomenal it is a $43.4 billion economic impact and to give you an idea of how much that is the entirety of Wisconsin agriculture that economic impact is $88.3 billion nearly half of the economic impact that trickles down into each and every one of our communities here across the state in this dairy industry each dairy cow on those farms produces $34,000 that then feeds back into our schools our communities and our grocery stores the public services that we have so whether you grow up on a farm and you have your best friend as Angel the Holstein dairy cow or you're from an inner city at the moment you can always enjoy the dairy industry within our state one of the ways that the dairy industry impacts us here is through our producers and processors cheese is number one in the nation coming from Wisconsin we produce over 600 different varieties, types and styles of cheeses and this can be enjoyed all through the state all through the nation and as we export into more than 150 countries around the world that are not as felt you can taste that Wisconsin brand no matter where you go so as you continue on here through the summer June is dairy month but you can enjoy Wisconsin's dairy industry into the summer and every month which is dairy month in Wisconsin you can visit the Wisconsin milk marketing board's website at June dairy or excuse me dairydaysofsummer.com where you can find different locations for breakfast on the farm you can search or by location to find one near you or weekend that works throughout all summer long here you can visit and meet the farmers behind the consumers weight and then to work farm get hands on experience experiences with the lovely ladies that are producing our dairy on a daily basis 365 days a year so I encourage you all to enjoy dairy as you continue on through your summer here and all the way through to the end of the year and as was mentioned before too I was a stock county fairs to the fair I grew up in 4-H and FFA and to echo what Deanna said I really truly do believe that these youth here today and in our county fairs in 4-H that are showcasing their projects as you near September here they are the future of agriculture and when I was teaching at the University of Wisconsin as much as I acted to inspire my students and to instill agriculture in the value of that in their lives my students were the ones that were inspiring me so think about that when you visit your county fair and you see all of those kids working so hard to showcase their love their passion for the agriculture behind your community here it's really an honor to be a part of this selection process here in your Gala tonight for your Ferris of the Fair all of these 4 wonderful ladies really truly are incredible inspiring future advocates for agriculture as they continue on I told all of them here before we started this community event that no matter what happens tonight they will walk away with something that they can take for the rest of their lives into the future and continue to be advocates for the rest of their lives thank you so much for having me here and I hope to see you throughout the year as we advocate for agriculture today tomorrow and always thank you for Scott's 68th Alice and Gary and the rest of the nation at this point in time we have the 2015 Shaboygan County Fair so I'd like to call to the stage Shaboygan County Fair Association representative Gary Vanderkin yeah stickers I don't know nothing I don't know anything about Ken whatever she's going to do I'm going to do double that's what I have to do with that sticker whatever she's going to do I'm going to give you double that's what we're going to do whatever it is and the board members are here representing the Shaboygan County Fair we are the second largest fair in the state of Wisconsin annually every year we welcome over 200,000 visitors we have 10,000 exhibits by far the biggest in the state and that's a fact so like I say I'm representing the fair I'm happy to see all of you here this evening this is kind of the start of our fair year I guess and I'd like to thank the fair to the fair committee who does a great job every year for staging this event I know there is countless hours that they plan to send put their time in and stuff and they give that to the fair and it really helps itself they get very, very helpful they don't get any help from the fair board I'll be very honest with you and they don't ask for any and they get nothing in them it's just the way it's just the way it is well, I'll see what she's going to do but and to all four far of the contestants good luck to each of you look at me I had a week to prepare for this thing and stammer and stutter around each guy got 30 seconds repairing it to blow me away on it I just want to report on the fair a little bit of course on Thursday we'll always start with with the meat animal sale on the grandstand we have a local tractor pull Friday is almost senior citizens day nothing's going to change there Friday night the big tractor pull on the grandstand and that's a little bit of a change this year because as the girls alluded to on Saturday night we have the Joe Nichols concert and we used to race on Friday night it's been very, very successful for us but we can't do that because we need to hold track they're setting up a stage to come in on Thursday morning we're going to set the stage up to the track so you can't race without track so we can run the big smokers I guess they call them in front of the grandstand and that's what we're going to do Friday night Saturday afternoon the popular farmer Buzz is back Saturday night we're bringing in Joe Nichols this act has been called for for a few years a national act a very expensive act for us to bring in we're just a little shaboy and pony fair and this act will probably cost us well over $100,000 when all is said and done so please put the Saturday night on your calendar so you can use the help and he should play to a younger kind of a middle age group there he was at Miller Park two weeks ago very well attended so the way ticket sales look right now it looks like it should be a really good success Sunday morning we start with the church service not long after that the maturity show begins and they tell me that the maturity show is by far the best in the state and that's no bull Sunday evening brings back popular demand the bull riding event Monday morning the blue ribbon small animal auction it's just getting better and better every year we spend days we hear the stuff like Manitowak you can ride all week for free and stuff like that well that's not really true but we're offering as much as we can right now we think we have a better venue so we're coming actually we're having a deal where you can buy tickets before the fair and you can ride all weekend for that one total one ticket the horse hitch from Kelvin Hins will be back here you will see another thing we did last year we covered as much of the grounds in tents and awnings as we put and you'll see more of that this year just to keep everybody out of the rain the sun and what have you and we're riveting and one of the girls alluded to the egg adventure exhibit we're doing that this year in conjunction with the state fair it's kind of a techy thing I guess there's iPads and stuff like that but it's going to be new and we're going a whole tent to that we have some very generous sponsors that have stepped to the plate and helped us out with that and plus we have $60,000 worth of free entertainment throughout the weekend and that's free entertainment you come into the fair and you can do anything and it's all free entertainment we have more shuttles people are asking for them we've been using our new parking lot way at the northeast and it's a little bit of a walk bringing in golf carts the big golf carts with shuttles, crams and to get the people off to the gates one of the girls alluded to in her question handicap if anybody knows of a handicap person you call the fair we will make sure they're picked up where they want to be picked up we have drivers for that all weekend we just want to make everybody happy and we're still working on a few things yet but all in all if we had to run a fair we wouldn't run it right now because you ain't going to do it thank you very much it is now time for the entertainment portion of the evening brought to us by the hardworking 4H club members and parents of the willing workers club some of you may remember the music and silly jokes of days gone by from the TV comedy show He-Ha take a trip down memory lane with the willing workers as they present to you our very own rendition sit back and enjoy a good lab or two of our corny jokes corny dancing and freaking news reports its surface emerging cornfields in our area these things are described as having two bees calling for intruding out of their faces Tommy the scary boy was called upon to deport the crows from our area at a news conference earlier this afternoon Tommy stated that he was bringing in a few of his cousins and that all corn farmers should keep our very eye out for these villains then the weather we're looking at a severe change with rain maybe more than likely possible tomorrow or someday in the near future and with our 30% accurate guarantee our forecasts are always reliable you've married 50 years now can't your girlish figure oh that's good I fell out how come? because I missed the pitch four 2014 Sheboygan County Barrist of the Fair because of my involvement in the foray torson pony project I feel compelled to mention American Farrell and his victory of winning the prestigious triple crown he's won the first two legs of the triple crown since affirmed the last triple crown winner American Farrell difficulties including thousands of people who doubted his abilities to succeed but hard work and dedication has paid off for this horse and his team similarly to this truly amazing horse though not nearly to the same extent I along with most if not all of you have dealt with many difficulties and obstacles that I've had to overcome for example my whole life I've been an extremely shy person once too afraid to even talk to my teachers yet here I am about to tell all of you about my magnificent year as the Barrist of the Fair I have had to overcome my fears and push myself far outside of my comfort zone to reach my goals and I feel so incredibly lucky and thankful that I was given this wonderful opportunity to share my passion for our county fair with our community this past year has been filled with so many incredible memories I only wish I had time to share all of them with you having been a forage exhibitor at the county fair for over ten years I've always believed that this aspect of the fair has been one of the most important kids work all summer to finish up their crafts and to work with their animals so that thousands of people in the community can see what they've accomplished being able to hand them their ribbons and trophies after their class was one of my favorite parts about being the Barrist of the Fair I was able to see all of the smiles and how proud they were of their projects and their animals this to me is what the fair is all about and the amazing thing is that I was privileged enough to see just about every show with the horse project secluded in the upper corner of the fair grounds and the horse show happening every day of the fair I had never seen any of the other animal project shows I must say that the most entertaining show was the pig show they really really liked my shiny shoes another amazing event that was a first for me was the Holstein Fertury having lived on a Holstein dairy farm my whole life this was a very special event that I was able to be a part of a strict event to support our county's dairy industry I can tell you that this is an event I'll be putting on the agenda to attend every year the 2014 fair also had many new events that were not only tons of fun for the public but also were incredible experiences for me one of these were the addition of the Thunder Express Pertrans the Six Horse Hitch is home to Sheboyin County and they truly are one of the best the first day that I was given the opportunity to ride along with the horses all around the fairgrounds I've been in many creeds throughout the summer but let me tell you, nothing can compare to this hundreds if not thousands of people line the streets to see the horses and wave to us talk about exhilarating as if that wasn't enough we drove right in front of the grandstand oh my gosh that was just absolutely amazing with thousands of people cheering I climbed out of the wagon I still get goosebumps just thinking about it another new addition was the extreme bull riding and barrel racing event with this event being right at my alley I contacted the organizers and was given the opportunity of a lifetime to ride in the opening ceremonies for the night I was able to ditch the dress and the heels and do what I love, ride I had also given the organizers the idea to allow the 4-H horse and pony project western drill team to perform during a short intermission this meant that my younger brother Alex who was on the team would also be in the pit area as I prepared to ride after warming up with my brother they handed me the 4-H play and I galloped around the ring in honor of the 100 years of 4-H I honestly cannot explain the feeling I had that night, it was truly amazing I think it's safe to say that I will never forget this life experience not only is it permanently stamped on my resume but it's permanently stamped on my heart and to think that it never would have happened if I hadn't stepped outside of my comfort zone more like leafed out like I've been telling these 4 ladies you can't be afraid to jump out of your comfort zone surround yourself with people who will support you and reach for your goals you never know where they might lead you so now I put together a brief slideshow for all of you to enjoy that has the highlights of my theorist Ferris that was my horse and that's my friend Molly from Richland Sound we had a lot of fun together at the State Fair I got to meet some really amazing people like I was talking about with our Ferris committee we were awesome and that's my brother on the bottom with his horse and Callie feel actually won it last year as well so if she's invited next year I think she's probably got the got the head over on everybody on a closing note I'd like to say thank you I've been telling these girls about experiences I've had as Ferris where I could make a difference in someone's life I believe that it is important and is something I strive for every day but what I didn't tell them the biggest impact wasn't what I could do for someone else but it was what our community all of you have done for me you've made a huge difference in my life with your support and your encouragement and for that I say thank you thank you all so much it is now time for a special presentation of Danielle Navas I would like to please call upon State Representative Tyler Borpogel and Senator Devin Lemahue to give our special presentation well thank you I wasn't able to be here tonight but I just want to recognize as well Representative Katzma from the 26th Assembly District who was able to sneak in between things a little between the programs so he's here as well but it really is my pleasure on behalf of Devin to present a citation from the State Legislature on behalf of Devin and myself and it's really short so I'll read it here whereas Danielle Navas is passing on her title of Sheboyne County Ferris of the Fair after a year of service and whereas Danielle, daughter of Richard and Dawn is a graduate of Howard's Grove High School and a recent graduate of Concordia University majoring in Biomedical Science and a minor in Chemistry and whereas Danielle is employed by DNR Dairy Farm Emanuel UCC Church and the United State Pony Club whereas Danielle has dedicated an entire year to bringing people together through her leadership qualities and working hard as the 2014 Sheboyne County Ferris of the Fair engaging all citizens young and old in events throughout the county by teaching them about the fair's benefits to community agriculture and youth now let it therefore be resolved Senator Devin Lemahue Representative Tyler Vorpagel commend Danielle Navas on her public service and wish her a lot and prosperous future. Congratulations once again, thank you for the state representative Tyler Vorpagel and Representative Cosmon for being attended tonight we appreciate it and Danielle can't go too far as I would like to call up our Ferris committee chairperson Courtney Booth to the stage round of applause for Courtney so tonight can you tell I'm so welcome everyone to the Ferris of the Fair gala it's so great to see a great crowd here to support the Ferris candidates our Outpoint Ferris of the Fair the Allison Dairyland Ferris of the Fair and all of our sponsors that have contributed so much to making this program what it is today so we would like to encourage you all to please turn to the back of your program you'll notice the outpouring of support that we have does everyone have a program your neighbors it's really important because I'm going to ask for a little bit of time here just take a look over 123 sponsors how many of you think that you know 25 of them as you scroll down raise your hand if you know 25 of them that's great how about 50 of them now the Ferris committee is raising their sponsors for 2015 do some of you patronize those individual businesses if not I would encourage you to do that some of our new committee members that we have with us tonight have done a lot of hard work to reach out and extend our program even more so would you please if you are a sponsor here this evening if you received a special invitation in the mail from our Ferris committee person Kara Abraham would you please raise a rise take a moment so that we can celebrate your contribution and your generosity to the Ferris program please rise as you can hear the hooting and the hollering a lot of people have been impacted by your contribution so thank you very much and I hope you'll consider it in the future when we come knocking because you are an important part of this program at this time with the Ferris committee worked their way up to the front with me for a little bit our 2014 Ferris of the Ferris well we have something for you on behalf of the Ferris of the Ferris committee this is a pin that celebrates her role as Ferris of the Ferris this past year and it's a small pin that she can put on her lapel or what's some place special whether it be on another sash some day at Alice or whatever it may be but this pin actually also symbolizes the contribution of Barbara Siegert to our program she believed in the program and started it back over 30 years ago and it has her birthstone of Peridot I believe it is in the middle of it so we want to say thank you for all of your hard work you were always so great you got out of your shell you made people feel very welcome and you made a difference for our county and our program congratulations at work as well you don't see them but they are kind of just scattering like ladybugs I want to introduce the Ferris of the Ferris committee would you please help me thank after I say all of their names and their husbands and families as well Kara Abraham is our treasure Kara would you step forward and help is acting as our photographer this evening so she will contribute to the media that way Leanne Black John and Sue Bourne Sue is up here John is in the back I think and Brenda Phipps Brenda does our handbook and so forth we have two new committee members from the southern part of the county would you help me welcome Gloria Tennison of Cedar Grove from Waldo so this is our family day ladies you're excused to keep working hard because we have a meal prepared before all of you tonight so thank you and for all of their contributions to their families who let them come to a meeting that you know is only supposed to take a couple hours and then we get chatting and it becomes 11 o'clock before we get home sometime but that's part of the fun and excitement of volunteering with a great group of ladies who have taken different roles of leadership and together we bring this program to you so I hope that you've enjoyed tonight's event we also would like to take the time to thank our selection panel we really appreciate they've moved locations here to another table but we really appreciate the time that you took and your willingness to be with us almost all day and the difference you're making in the lives of the young people in Sheboygan County so thank you Gad for your contribution in Sheboygan County feel very privileged to have both Alice and Dairyland, Tiana later we really appreciate you taking the time we feel honored that they allowed us to pencil in your schedule you're going to make a great representative for our state of Wisconsin and I'm just honored that you can share in Sheboygan County's best so thank you for being here the same Tiana you have I saw you at the state competition and you did a great job and tonight you continue to shine and I look forward to the brightness that you'll bring to our fair industry as well we also want to give another thank you to the great 4-H members entertaining us this evening they came out and they waited patiently as you can see there was a lot of kids to organize thank you to all the leaders and parents that brought them out tonight we really appreciate it we have gala volunteers that step forward to make this night possible and we also want to thank our outstanding MC Jeff Readers for joining us tonight you're doing a great job so I'm going to turn it over to you for closing thank you all for joining us this evening and for supporting our talented young adult leaders thank you ladies for coming out and representing our program any one of you will do an outstanding job we're very fortunate the best to all our candidates and please stay after the gala to enjoy the winners dinner that's waiting for you donated by our generous sponsors and I know you'll have an appetite for taking us a little bit to get through a great program so thank you all thank you Courtney and at this time I would like to invite all four of our candidates to come back on the stage and does the selection team have the envelopes handy and keep in mind all girls are receiving gift baskets worth $700 from our generous sponsors this evening and tonight's beautiful flowers are provided by Eileen Perone thank you Eileen okay ladies here we go please good luck to all of you thank you for the fun job each of you are doing to promote the fair and our county and we look forward to supporting you wherever your paths lead in the future one more round of applause for all of our four candidates and to begin the placings our third place finalist is in the cave congratulations Eileen the second place finalist will receive a letter from the Bill and Pauline Jens family their granddaughter Erin Jens the 2008 Sheboyton County Fair is representing them in support thank you to the Jens family the second place runner up is just switching a very nice looks beautiful the second place runner up is Sarah Shull congratulations Sarah we'll be active filling the shoes of the fairest in areas where she is not able to attend first runner up will receive a $500 cash award from scholarship sponsors Jean and Kathy Kastner longtime supporters of youth development in our county Jean and Kathy's daughter Christine was the 1983 fairest of the fair drum roll please again here we go our first runner up Kimberly Beck congratulations Eileen in the 2015 fairest of the fair will be responsible for serving as the Sheboyton County official host later in the weekend as well as participate and represent Sheboyton County in escape competition in January the winner this evening will be receiving the Barbara Secret Memorial Fund Scholarship of $2,000 Barbara has started the fairest program over 30 years ago with her husband Roger Barbara's legacy will live on these wonderful girls each year through her memorial fund in the 2015 Sheboyton County fairest of the fair is Elizabeth Wiener and congratulations Elizabeth now don't forget about the winners dinner everybody is invited to stay after the gallery to celebrate and enjoy delicious products donated by some of our wonderful sponsors also for the media we will have photos taken again after the event right in front of the stage also media and family members too and thank you all for supporting these outstanding candidates the fairest of the fair program the Sheboyton County fairest stay around and join each other's company and have a safe drive home one more round of applause for all of our candidates and here in 2015 the winner is Elizabeth Wiener