A 'ticket and change' decides winner of fair queen's crown

Retiring fair queen Kally Stroup places the crown on the head of 2025 Linn County Fair queen Maddisyn Ernest during the coronation ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 2. Members of the queen's court, from left, Kylie Freeman and Rebecca Miller, watch as the new queen is crowned. (Photos by Roger Sims / Linn County Journal).

By Roger Sims, rsims@linncountyjournal.com

MOUND CITY – The sales contest to determine which young woman would be crowned queen of the 2025 Linn County Fair and Rodeo was close. Very close.

As Wade Teagarden, fair board member in charge of queen candidate recruitment and sales put it, it was the price of one event ticket and some change.

A row of tiaras and a row of bouquets are laid out on the bed of a trailer waiting for the coronation ceremony to begin.

However, it was Prairie View junior Maddisyn Ernest who earned the crown, selling $13,934 in advance tickets for the four evening fair events and raffle tickets for four rifles.

Ernest was crowned in a ceremony prior to the demolition derby on Saturday, Aug. 2. Retiring fair queen Kally Stroup assisted with the coronation.

Outgoing 2024 fair queen Kally Stroup waves to the crowd as she takes a final lap of the arena before a new queen is crowned.

Runner-up was Rebecca Miller, whose total ticket sales was $13,917. That’s a difference of $17. Miller graduated from Prairie View in May. Third place went to Kylie Freeman, a junior at Jayhawk-Linn High School, who sold $3,440 worth of tickets.

The three candidates together sold $31,391 in advance tickets.

That was down from the previous two years. In 2024, candidates sold just over $45,500 worth of tickets, the second highest in fair history. In 2023 total sales were nearly $38,000. Queen candidates receive a percentage of their ticket sales for their efforts to promote fair events.

The fair queen and court pose for photos following the crowning.

In a brief interview, Teagarden said the dip in advanced sales was a concern, but he added that with cooler weather scheduled – particularly for the first weekend – box office sales would likely make up the difference.

For both the demolition derby and Outlaw Truck and Tractor Pull on Saturday and Sunday respectively, the bleachers were full of spectators.

Queen Maddisyn with her parents, Sarah and Matthew Ernest following the coronation.

People could buy advance tickets at several venues in the county and could choose a queen candidate to credit those purchases to. Sales credited to Ernest were $1,910, with Freeman credited for $1,135 and Miller credited for $660 in outlet sales.

Miller made most of that difference back in direct ticket sales to buyers, selling $13,257 in event and raffle tickets. Ernest came in second in direct sales with $12,024 and Freeman was next with $2,305 in sales to buyers.

Tickets for the rifle raffles generated the most sales with 1,225 advanced tickets sold. Advances sales for the two nights of rodeo were 855 tickets total, while the demolition derby had sales of 823 tickets and 516 tickets for the truck and tractor pull.

As is custom, Ernest will be at the fair all week helping with events, and her court will be assisting.