Three young ladies vying for crown of 2019 Allamakee County Fair Queen

July 16 coronation event kicks off 166th Allamakee County Fair

Three Allamakee County young ladies are vying for the title of 2019 Allamakee County Fair Queen. Those three candidates for this year's crown include Diana Davison, Cayla Nolting and Soraya Reyes, all three of them being students at Waukon High School this past school year.

The crown of Allamakee County Fair Queen and all the honors and responsibilities that accompany it will be bestowed upon one of those three candidates Tuesday evening, July 16 during the Allamakee County Fair Queen Coronation event being held at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon to kick off the 166th Allamakee County Fair.

The coronation event will begin at 7 p.m. with a local 4-H and FFA showcase of presentations that will include Share the Fun acts. Top entries from the 4-H Expressions Day held annually in Allamakee County in conjunction with the Fair will also take to the stage. This year's event will also feature an Allamakee County Royalty Showcase once again, including the introduction of local youth crowned as royal representatives of their respective industries, such as 2019 Allamakee County Dairy Princess Faith Palmer and Alternate Kaylee Gibbs, and 2019 Allamakee County Beef Queen Shara Cota.

The crowning of the Allamakee County Fair Queen will follow that Showcase event. All candidates will be part of the Allamakee County Fair Royalty Team assisting with various events throughout the 2019 Allamakee County Fair. The 2019 Allamakee County Fair Queen will also advance on to compete for the title of Iowa State Fair Queen at that August 10 coronation event to be held in Des Moines during the 2019 Iowa State Fair.

Biographies of each of the three candidates seeking this year’s Allamakee County Fair Queen crown are printed below.

Diana Davison ...
Diana Davison is the 16-year-old daughter of Cindy Shogren of Waukon. She will be a junior at Waukon High School when classes resume this fall. Her future plans include pursuing a Professional Photography two-year degree at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo.

Diana’s activities in school span a wide range and include heavy involvement in the Little Switzerland FFA Chapter where she has served as Chapter Historian, competed in Sub-District FFA Job Interview and District FFA Creed Speaking events, was an officer candidate for the Northeast Iowa District and a member of the State FFA Choir. She also served as an FFA Grandstand Usher at the Iowa State Fair and has attended both the National and State FFA Convention.

Her high degree of involvement in FFA has earned her numerous honors in her relatively young career, including the Little Switzerland FFA Proficiency Award, Chapter Degree, 2018-2019 Star Agribusiness winner and 2019 Rising Star honors. She was also the 2018-2019 Agriculture Education Entrepreneur winner and was awarded the Greenhand Degree and Chapter Star Greenhand honors.

In addition to her FFA involvement, Diana has also been the Waukon Marching Band Flute Squad Leader and a member of the Flute Choir, Woodwind Choir and Women’s JV Choir. She played on the Waukon girls golf team and has served as a Waukon varsity boys basketball team manager, as well as an announcer/scoreboard/stats worker for Waukon varsity and junior varsity baseball games. She has also served on the Student Council, been a staff member and photographer for the Waukon High School Yearbook, been a past member of the school’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Chapter and participated in both District and State Speech.

In addition to being a Waukon High School Academic Letter winner, Diana has also earned letters as the varsity boys basketball manager, as well as Band and Vocal letters. She has won several District and State Speech awards, and has also been selected as a National Tractor Supply essay contest winner as an Iowa “Great Neighbor” recognized at the 2018 Iowa State Fair, along with being one of two “Great Neighbor” winners used in a nationwide Tractor Supply campaign.

Diana’s involvement in 4-H is also very inclusive at many levels, as she is a current club member of the Allamakee 4-H Clover Chasers and former member of the River Valley Panthers 4-H club, serving as a 4-H/FFA food stand worker at the Allamakee County Fair, as well as on the Allamakee 4-H County Council and as a County Council representative for the Youth Development Committee. She has also been a member of the Iowa 4-H Camera Corps and was one of four participants representing Iowa at the National 4-H Photography Summit in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Diana has been a 4-H Club Leadership grant writer and recipient of grant funding from DuPont-Pioneer Seed Company, as well as being a member of the Allamakee 4-H Dog Project, where she has made history as the first Dalmatian duo in the project’s existence. She also served as guest speaker at the 2019 Iowa 4-H State Conference for the banquet highlighting “A Universe of Possibilities”.

Further community involvement includes Diana being a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Waukon and receiving an AWANA Timothy Award. She is also an Allamakee County Patriot Quilts of Valor quilter, has been named Little Miss Poppy and served as the Gettysburg Address speaker for the Waukon Memorial Day Observance, and will be a junior member of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Auxiliary this fall. Diana has also served as a volunteer helper with Boy Scout Troop 64 omelet breakfasts, and she was a 2017 Waukon Miss Corn Days contestant.

When all of her involvement allows free time, Diana enjoys photography, quilting, flower bed landscaping, traveling to visit FFA friends in Iowa, listening to music and training 4-H partnered dogs, including a Vizsla named O’Henry, a Lab Mix named Missy and a Dalmatian named Piper. She is also employed at Queen Jean Quilting and at Stoney Creek Inn, both in Waukon.

Cayla Nolting ...
Cayla Nolting, age 18, is the daughter of Chad and Cheryl Nolting of Waukon. She is a May 2019 graduate of Waukon High School and will be attending Iowa State University in Ames this fall as a freshman, where she plans to major in Agricultural Business with a minor in Communications.

While in high school, Cayla was highly involved in multiple activities, including Student Council, Peer Tutoring, Student Leadership, Large Group Speech, Bowling and FFA, where she served as a chapter officer for each of the past three years. Her FFA involvement led to her being a member of the 2018 Iowa FFA Association State Champion Dairy Evaluation Career Development Event (CDE) Team, and she was also inducted into the Waukon High School National Honor Society Chapter during her junior year in 2017.

Her involvement in 4-H has resulted in several unique experiences and honors. In 2017, Cayla had the opportunity to represent the state of Iowa as a Youth 4-H Dairy Judge at the North American International Livestock Exposition, being selected for that opportunity due to her number-three ranking among youth dairy judges in the state of Iowa at that time. This past fall, she received the Allamakee County 4-H Debbie Hager Award, which is given to one male and one female student in Allamakee County who exhibits a true love for 4-H.

This past year, Cayla served as the Allamakee County 2018-2019 Alternate Dairy Princess, enjoying classroom visits where she educated children about the importance of agriculture. Noting that she is always up for a challenge and enjoys trying new things, she has also volunteered as a third and fourth grade youth soccer coach through the Waukon Park and Recreation program, despite never having played soccer before. When the Park and Rec program didn’t have enough coaches this past spring, her willing attitude figured “why not, it sounded like fun,” and before she knew it, she was holding practices and coaching games, an experience she says she truly enjoyed.

In whatever spare time she can find, Cayla enjoys preparing her fair animals for the upcoming Allamakee County Fair, which include dairy and swine this year, but have also included sheep and chickens in the past. This past year she also enjoyed working at Kids’ Club through the Allamakee Community School District, where she would always strive to be a good role model for the younger generation.

Soraya Reyes ...
Seventeen-year-old Soraya Reyes is the daughter of Lori Reyes of Waukon. She will be a member of the senior class at Waukon High School when classes resume this fall. She has future plans to attend a community college to begin pursuit of her career in Nursing.

In school, Soraya has served as a team manager for the Waukon boys basketball program and she was also a member of the Waukon High School Little Switzerland FFA Chapter, where she was part of the chapter’s Career Development Event (CDE) Poultry Evaluation Team that competed in various contests. She was also inducted into the Waukon High School Chapter of the National Honor Society as a junior this past school year.

Her 4-H involvement has included being a member of the 4-H Toppers club, and furthering her involvement into leadership roles that have included serving on the Allamakee County 4-H County Council and as a representative on the Allamakee County 4-H Youth Development Committee. Through her 4-H involvement, Soraya has earned several honors, including being named the Allamakee County Dog Livestock Champion, receiving the AK-SAR-BEN Award for Leadership and being honored with the Overall Senior Achievement Award for Citizenship.

In her spare time, Soraya’s hobbies and interests revolve around a love for animals. She raises California meat rabbits and also enjoys dog training.