Pair of area young ladies vying for 2017 Allamakee County Dairy Princess crown at Saturday's banquet

The 2017 Allamakee County Dairy Banquet will be held this Saturday, March 25 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon. The meal will be served from 7-8:30 p.m. with the program starting at 8 p.m.

The annual celebration recognizes the importance of the dairy industry in Allamakee County and the contributions dairy families make to this important industry. Every year, top producers from the county are recognized at the banquet. In addition, several other awards are presented that evening, some of which include the following:

• Outstanding Young Dairy Family Award
• Pioneer Dairyman Award
• Distinguished Dairy Family Award
• Service to Dairy Industry Award
• Golden Butter Knife Award.

Also a highlight of the evening's festivities, the 2017 Allamakee County Dairy Princess will be crowned. Two Allamakee County young ladies - Victoria Waters and Carmen Wille - are vying for this year’s Dairy Princess crown. Photos and biographies of the candidates follow.

Victoria Waters -
Victoria Waters is the 18-year-old daughter of Kim and Chad Waters of Dorchester. She will be graduating from Waukon High School this May and plans to attend Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) in Calmar majoring in Dairy Science, Ag Business and Ag Finance. With those three degrees, she hopes to start her own dairy farm in the near future.

Victoria works for Eric and Greg Palmer, milking roughly 165 cows in a 12-stall stand-up parlor. When Victoria milks for the Palmers, she also feeds calves and chickens and helps clean up the milk house and parlor.

Victoria’s interests in school include art, history and band. She also enjoys any Ag classes, mainly horticulture, as she has helped every year at the annual FFA Greenhouse sale. She has received numerous band and choir awards for improvement, outstanding student and for positive attitude. She is on the "B" honor roll and has received numerous Girl Scout awards, also receiving her Greenhand Award and Chapter Degree award through FFA.

Outside of school, Victoria enjoys riding horses, gardening, fishing, milking cows, the Allamakee County Fair and helping her family out any way she can. She grew up helping her grandma, aunt and uncle on their farm of 100 dairy cows and 60 beef cows. Growing up she would help feed calves, wean heifers and steers.

Victoria has been involved in 4-H for 10 years and has shown horses, dogs and goats, and hopes to show dairy and beef cattle this year. She owns two horses, a few rabbits, six goats and a couple beef cows. Victoria's sponsors are Nancy, Mike, Mark and Brenda Hartley.

Carmen Wille -
Carmen Wille is the 17-year-old daughter of Carl Wille and KaLynne Opperman. She will be graduating from Waukon High School this May and plans to attend Iowa State University to major in Ag Business.

Carmen’s involvement in the dairy industry began at a young age when her father, Carl, owned their own dairy herd and farmland. Since then her family has removed themselves from the dairy industry, but Carmen remains active as she currently works for 5M Dairy owned and operated by Matt and Michelle Byrnes of Dorchester. She assists in milking their 160 Holstein cows along with assisting in calf chores.

While in school, Carmen is actively involved in many student organizations. She currently is Waukon High School’s Student Council President, a National Honor Society member and part of the Allamakee Scholarship Fund.

Carmen’s greatest achievements come from FFA where she has held many chapter office positions, this year serving as the Chapter Vice President. She has also been on many State-recognized contest teams, including Reserve State Champion Meats Evaluation Team and Reserve State Champion Veterinary Science Team. Along with all of these accomplishments, Carmen was crowned 2015 Allamakee County Fair Princess.

In her free time, Carmen enjoys participating in many outdoor activities with her family and friends. With a busy schedule, she still makes a point of going out of her way to participate in community events to interact with new people. Carmen’s sponsor is Matt and Michelle Byrnes.