Aug 16, 2018 2 min read

Paige Riggle has attended the Washington County Fair with her family ever since she can remember, but a tiara shone on her head as she watched the demolition derby – her longtime favorite attraction – on Tuesday night.

Riggle, 16, was crowned fair queen Saturday after taking part in a pageant alongside seven other girls. She wanted to compete last year, but had been too young to sign up.

“I always watched the older girls compete when I was little,” said Riggle, who lives in Canton Township and will be a senior at Trinity High School this year. “I thought, ‘Oh, that seems fun.'”

But participating in the pageant was no small undertaking. Contestants had to write an essay, write and deliver a three- to five-minute speech and be interviewed by a panel of judges. Then, the girls went to the fairgrounds, where they gave a short excerpt of their speech to a crowd of onlookers and took part in an impromptu question-and-answer session.

Riggle, the daughter of Tonya and John Riggle, said the whole process was “a little bit nerve-wracking, but definitely fun.”

She most enjoyed the Q&A session, since none of the contestants knew what the question would be. This year, the judges asked the girls what could be changed about the fair to attract more families. Riggle suggested lowering the admission price to make attending more affordable.

In January, Riggle will travel to Hershey to take part in the State Queen Competition.

“I’m just excited to meet the other fair queens and see if there’s anything unique about their fairs,” she said.

In the meantime, she looks forward to showing her 33-inch tall miniature horse, Sven, at the fair, which she did Wednesday and will do Friday.