Fan favorite joins the court

Attendees are used to seeing the Miss Jay County Fair Queen Pageant winner around the fairgrounds this week — at the various 4-H shows, hanging out along the midway and enjoying the entertainment at the grandstand.

She’s always joined by her court — the contest runners-up and miss congeniality.

This year, another title has been added to the group.

Jay County Breakfast Optimist Club, which sponsors the pageant, created the fan favorite award this year, with Shalynn Overholser earning the honor of being the inaugural winner.

As she will be all week, Overholser was donning her blue sash this weekend at the fair alongside queen Sarah Walter, first runner-up Betsy Muhlenkamp, second runner-up Britlyn Dues, third runner-up Lucy Hemmelgarn and miss congeniality Allie Brinkerhoff, taking in the dog, rabbit, alpaca, poultry, horse and pony, and beef and beef feeder shows.

The idea to have a fan favorite award stemmed from 2014 queen Abby Muhlenkamp, who helped out with this year’s contest and will be a co-chair for the 2019 event.

She felt that when she went to the Indiana State Fair competition four years ago she did not have a platform — a background of involvement or volunteering with a non-profit organization — that many of the candidates from the state’s 92 counties did.

Muhlenkamp, contest chair Carol Gebert and 2017 queen Abby Saxman discussed options and worked out the details for the fan favorite award. Those in attendance at the queen contest could place dollars in a container for their favorite, with the money raised going to causes selected by the candidates.

“We hope next year the candidates will be able to do this from the moment they join us … through the pageant,” said Gebert.

This year, more than $600 was raised for a variety of local causes. Of that money, $172 donated in honor of Overholser went to the Jay County High School choirs.

“She was just such a popular choice,” said Gebert. “The audience just loved her.”

Overholser chose the high school choirs as her cause because of the impact the groups had on her life. The 2018 graduate was involved for four years, spending her freshman year with Just Treble and her next three as a member of Patriot Edition.

“It’s a huge honor,” said Overholser of being the inaugural winner. “The fact that they chose to do this this year and the money went to an organization that’s so dear to my heart is a huge honor to me.

“(Choir) allowed me to be part of a team at school, but it also gave me a second family that I was a part of.”

In addition to being involved in choir, Overholser took part in FFA, German Club and art club while in high school. She was also a manager for the swim team.

Her experience with livestock was on display Sunday as she took part in the poultry show at the East Arena. A 10-year 4-H member who previously showed rabbits, Overholser earned the grand champion honor for egg production.

She said she enjoyed the first two days of the fair and getting to attend some of the 4-H shows she has not been a part of before. She’s looking forward to continuing that experience through the week, and is most excited about joining the rest of the court for this evening’s hog wrestling competition.

“I’ve heard a lot of stories from other girls about how it wasn’t really about how good they did, but how much fun they had doing it,” she said, adding that she’s enjoyed forming bonds with her fellow court members and gaining more self-confidence.

Overholser’s message during her one-minute speech at the queen contest focused on personal growth. She discussed times in her life when she struggled with self confidence and dealt with “hard life experiences, some things that kind of knocked me down.”

But, she told the audience, being yourself is the best thing you can do.

Her reward for doing just that is the honor of going down in the history books as the fair queen contest’s first fan favorite.