After four years, Hill wears fair crown

By Traver Riggins triggins@heraldt.com
July 14, 2007

BEDFORD — After four years of trying, Alyse Hill has been named 2007 Miss Lawrence County Fair Queen.

“It feels good to finally achieve what I’ve been trying to do,” Hill said.

Times-Mail / GARET COBB BEDFORD — Haley
Sowders, the 2006 Lawrence County 4-H Fair Queen,
crowns the 2007 Lawrence County 4-H Fair Queen,

Times-Mail / GARET COBB BEDFORD — Makenzie
Meadows high fives 2007 Lawrence County 4-H Fair
Queen Alyse Hill after winning the 2007 Lawrence County
Little Miss contest Friday evening. The following is an
article about a student who will be joining us in the fall. 
She has received a $400 scholarship from Ivy Tech,
offered in conjunction with our county fair efforts.

Hill has been first runner up in the pageant for the past two years. With that experience, the 2006 queen, Haley Sowders, thought that Hill was perfect for the position.

“She was pretty due for it this year,” Sowders said. “I couldn’t have handed it to a better person.”

Sowders said that 20-year-old Hill worked right along with her and just as hard as she did during last year’s fair.

Her parents, Wendell and Jody Hill, said they are elated. After four years of practicing interview questions, finding dresses and preparing for the pageant, they were finally able to see their daughter reach her dream.

Hill has a lot of work ahead of her in the coming week at the fair. She and her court will appear at all of the fair events, award 4-H members their ribbons and participate in the parades.

But her duties don’t end when the fair does. For the next year she will act as a representative for Lawrence County. In August, she will compete in the three-day long Miss Indiana State Fair competition.

With all of those duties, she said that she is looking forward to being at the fair the most.

“She loves the fair,” her mom said.

Last year Hill celebrated her 10-year membership in 4-H. Those years of experience are what pushed her to go out for queen and stick with it.

“I had fair queens giving me my things, and it always inspired me to do this,” Hill said.

Hill will attend Ivy Tech Community College in the fall and transfer to Indiana University in the spring to study marketing. And she’ll do it with a little help.

As fair queen, she received a $1,000 scholarship to help further her education. The money for the scholarship, and the scholarships awarded to her court, was collected from Lawrence Country businesses. She also received a $400 scholarship from Ivy Tech.

Tammy Sanders, pageant director, said that one her main goals is to get the young women to push themselves by furthering their education and making careers for themselves.

Sanders and her assistant, Raegan Atchison, spent weeks preparing the girls for the pageant by instilling social, etiquette and public speaking skills. But more importantly, they were preparing them for life.

“If you can get this interview right here,” Sanders said she would tell the girls, “there shouldn’t be any job you can’t go out and get.”

Interviewing was half the of the 100 possible points participants could earn. The other half came from the evening gown and professional wear divisions.

“The competition was very keen,” said Jim Lankford, pageant judge. He’s been judging fair pageants for more than a decade and has been involved in fairs for more than 50 years.

“They made their way into our hearts,” said judge Rachel Bogle, Miss Wabash Valley, “and hopefully they’ll do the same in Lawrence County.”

For the other 11 participants, Hill advised them to keep trying. “My first year, I didn’t get anything.” she said. “It takes time, practice and hard work.”

Traver Riggins is serving a two-week internship at the Times-Mail.