During the agonizing 90-plus minutes the judges were deliberating on who would be crowned the 2022-23 Kendall County Fair Association queen, winner Mayah Morrison said she kept thinking about an upcoming calculus test instead of the task at hand.
Morrison, a senior at Boerne High School, bettered five other contestants on Thursday night during the opening night of the Kendall County Fair and Rodeo and was crowned queen. Lillie Vogt took home Junior Miss honors while Emma Schulze was named Little Miss.
“I was trying to have fun,” Morrison said about the pageant, including the 90-minute wait for the judges to come back to the stage area to deliver the results. “But … that test. I was more worried about my calculus test and having to study for it.”
Morrison said she will take the test next week – after she and her court rule over the 116th annual Kendall County Fair and Rodeo, which ends Sunday.
Marilyn Curd was crowned princess, Hailey Johndrow is the new duchess and Brittany Berry was named the first runner-up. Tristan Mays earned the runner-up title in the Junior Miss competition.
Other award winners were Sierrah Pratka, crowned both Miss Photogenic and Miss Congeniality; Jordan Hoever, Big Heart Award; and Vogt, People’s Choice winner.
Besides the six queen candidates, there were three Junior Miss competitors. Schulze was the lone Little Miss entry.
“I’m super excited,” Morrison told The Star after the pageant. “I’ve grown up in Boerne and have seen past pageant queens. I’ve always looked up to them, and now to be one is incredible.”
She said it’s always been a dream to become Kendall County’s fair queen.
“Oh, yeah,” Morrison said. “I’m super excited and grateful.”
The new queen said she is most excited about seeing the smiles on people’s faces, especially the younger ones, during the fair and beyond.
“I hope they smile like I smiled,” she said, reflecting on when she rubbed shoulders with previous queens.
As the evening began, the outgoing court – Queen Sushanna Cobb, Junior Miss Makenna Jureczki and Little Miss Kaci Lemm – were introduced before the 10 2022-23 candidates took to the stage under the fairgrounds pavilion.
Then, each of the contestants drew a random question out of a bowl and only had a few seconds to think before having to answer. Morrison’s question centered on what she thought was the biggest problem for young people today.
Her answer was social media and “separating it from real life.”
Other questions the other candidates drew dealt with things like technology, how to stand up for what you believe, what one person would the candidate most like to meet and who has been the most influential person?
The judges then left the pavilion at about 7:30 p.m. to pick the winners. They returned shortly after 9 p.m.
In their absence, Lemm, Jureczki and Cobb gave their farewell speeches. Cobb couldn’t hold back tears as she thanked her parents, sister, fellow court members and pageant Director Ashlee Boerner and her husband, Kyle.
Also while the judges were deliberating, a video highlighting the past year was shown.
The pageant culminated a day full of judging that included personal interviews and other competitions. Morrison earned a $2,000 scholarship for being named queen as well as her sash, crown and other prizes. The princess, duchess, junior miss and little miss also received scholarships upon graduation from high school as well as various prizes.
The judges for this year’s pageant were DeAndra Nightengale, Rhiannon Klodowski, Lolly Sidensticker Mican and Diana Abel. Abel was the Kendall County Fair queen in 1963. Mican also served as fair queen in 1979-80 while Nightengale and Klodowski also both have pageant experience.
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