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 An interview
with Miss Logan County Fair 1999 Lanie Reinhart
Reigning fair queen
reflects on year
[JULY
27, 2000] One
year ago a Beason woman received an offer she couldn’t refuse.
Actually the offer came after many months of hard work and dedication.
And on the opening night of the fair, after an event-filled day of
competition, she heard the master of ceremonies call her name:
"The Miss Logan County Fair for 1999 is…Miss Lanie
Reinhart." |
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I
had the chance to talk with Lanie Monday night on the phone. Earlier
that day she began to put together her thoughts for the farewell
speech she will deliver next Tuesday night. As she prepares to crown
Miss Logan County Fair 2000, LDN thought this was the perfect
opportunity for us to talk about her experiences of the last year.
Q:
Looking back, what was the year’s most rewarding experience?
A:
Representing Logan County at the 2000 Miss Illinois County Fair
pageant in January. I met so many people while I was there. I learned
about the county (fair) system as well as a lot about myself. I was
even chosen a Top 12 finalist. (In
Logan County’s 61-year pageant history, Lanie is the 10th
finalist.)
(Click here
for a list of all Logan County Fair queens.)
Q:
What was the year’s most challenging experience?
A:
(jokingly) I always had to be on my best behavior. Not that
this was a hard thing, but I was constantly in everyone’s eyes.
Honestly, you don’t want to smile all the time. But smiling and
being with the people, that is the most rewarding part too.
The
state pageant was also very demanding. I had to be here and there at
specific times. I was also in three-inch heels for 10 hours a day for
four whole days. (Each
year Logan County and nearly 70 other fairs are represented at the
annual Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs’ Miss Illinois
County Fair Queen Pageant. The contestants compete in four areas:
beauty and physique, stage presence, communication, and the interview.
The winner of this competition serves as a good-will ambassador who
promotes the importance of Illinois agriculture and Illinois’ fairs.
)
Q:
If there was one thing about the year that you could change, what
would it be?
A:
(She candidly replies) That I didn’t bomb my speech on Sunday
at the state pageant. But I learned a lot from this. I have the
strength of mind to do anything. I sat through 19 other contestants
giving their speeches and don’t remember a thing. I just maintained
my composure. I didn’t cry. I didn’t lose my smile. After this, I
knew I could do anything.
(To top of
second column)
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Q:
What is the one thing you’d like to be remembered for?
A:
My interaction with people and my involvement in ag(riculture). (Lanie
grew up on her family’s cattle, corn and soybean farm. She’s shown
cattle since she was about 6 years old and was a 4-H member for 11
years.)
Q:
What was the highlight of last year’s Logan County Fair?
A:
Interacting with the kids was definitely the highlight. I thought it
was very important to acknowledge them. The week I … was crowned, I
was backstage at the talent show. There were two boys and a little
girl. She kissed my hand and touched my shoe. I think she thought I
wouldn’t talk to them. I will never forget that.
Q:
What are your future plans?
A:
I graduate in December from Western (Illinois University) with a
degree in animal science and a minor in communication. I hope to go
into public relations for a company in the agriculture industry.
Q:
What role has your faith played in helping you throughout this year?
A:
Everything. I ask God to give me strength, to give me a smile and the
ability to talk to everyone. There were days I didn’t want to put a
smile in my face or a wave in my hand, but I prayed that He would give
me the will and grace to do anything. And I have come away as a better
person.
Q:
What advice do you have for the contestants who will be competing for
your title next Tuesday night?
A:
Always be yourself. Always smile. Talk to everyone. Have fun!
Now
let’s get to the good stuff…
Q:
What was your favorite part of the Logan County Fair?
A:
The calf and pig scrambles
Q:
What is your favorite fair food?
A:
Culler’s french fries
Q:
What’s your favorite ride at the fair?
A:
The ferris wheel
Lanie
is the 21-year-old daughter of Roger and Nancy Reinhart. She has a
younger brother, Matthew.
Editor’s
note: Eleven
contestants are vying for Reinhart’s title Tuesday, Aug. 1. This is
the opening night of the Logan County Fair. For more on the
contestants, log on Monday to Lincoln Daily News.
[Natalie
Jeckel]
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Miss
Logan County Fair Queens
1939
Eileen Stopher
1940
Edna Buehler
1941
Irma Kaesebier
1942
Juanita Vail
1943
Bernadine Wendell
1944
Catherine Thompson
1945
Evelyn Oltmanns
1946
Norma Bree
1947
Ann Ash
1948
No queen
1949
No queen
1950
No queen
1951
No queen
1952
No queen
1953
Margery Moriearty
1954
Joyce Babbs
1955
Peggy Letterle
1956
Nancy Heinzel
1957
Sue Boyd
1958
Janet "Pete" Ritchhart
1959
GeorgeAnn Aughton (finalist at state pageant)
1960
Linda Finfrock
1961
Joyce Ruwe
1962
Shearyl Earhart
1963
Karen Worth (second runner-up at state pageant)
1964
Pam Stuckel
1965
Jan Jonston
1966
Barb Kaiser
1967
Lois Bock
1968
Peggy Neal (finalist at state pageant)
1969
Debbie Leimback (finalist at state pageant)
1970
Linda Allspach
1971
Debbie May
1972
Jill Broughton
1973
Chickie Verban
1974
Elise Gleason
1975
Kim Hudson
(To top of
second column in this list)
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1976
Patty Reaves
1977
Beth Miller
1978
Doris Robinson
1979
Jeannie Bruketa
1980
Connie McRoberts
1981
Beth Ely
1982
Kim Manning
1983
Jacqueline Colbert
1984
Julie Prisk (finalist at state pageant)
1985
Sara Doolen
1986
Stacie Nutt (first runner-up at state pageant)
1987
Julie Allison
1988
Jeris Nutt (1989 Miss Illinois County Fair)
1989
Wendi Humbert
1990
Alison Brewster
1991
Natalie Fulk
1992
Laurie Jeckel (first runner-up at state pageant)
1993
Patience Horton
1994
Kara Farwell
1995
Marisa May
1996
Dianne Dugan
1997
Natalie Jeckel (1998 Miss Illinois County Fair)
1998
Shannon Sandel
1999
Lanie Reinhart (finalist at state pageant)
Logan County Fair Queen statistical
information
56
Logan County Fair Queens (total)
10
state pageant finalists
2
first runners-up at state pageant
1
second runner-up at state pageant
2
Miss Illinois County Fair Queens
(Back
to interview)
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New
principal to be installed at Zion
[JULY
27, 2000] Fred
Krueger will be installed as Zion Lutheran School principal at the 8
and 10:30 a.m. worship services at Zion Lutheran Church this Sunday.
The Sunday School children will sing a song in his honor at both
services. A potluck dinner to welcome Krueger and his wife, Diane,
will follow the 10:30 a.m. service. |
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Krueger
begins his administrative duties at the school next week. He will also
teach part time and coach the seventh and eighth grade girls
basketball team when school begins Aug. 22. His wife will serve as the
pre-school aide.
Krueger
has 34 years of teaching, coaching and administrative experience in
Lutheran schools in the Midwest.
(To top of
second column in this article)
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He
received his bachelor’s degree from Concordia Teachers College in
Seward, Neb., and his master’s degree from the University of South
Dakota.
Zion’s
8 a.m. worship service will be broadcast live on WLLM, 1370 AM, and
broadcast on cable Channel 15 Monday at 5 p.m. and at 10 a.m. the
following Sunday.
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Two
juveniles arrested for vandalism
[JULY
27, 2000] Lincoln
Police arrested two juveniles Wednesday, July 26, on criminal felony
charges of burglary, arson and criminal damage to property over $300
for vandalism to the Johnston Center at Lincoln College on July 21. A
14-year-old female was arrested and placed in a juvenile detention
facility; a 12-year-old male was arrested and, due to his age,
released to his mother. According to a press release today, patrol
officers and detectives of the Lincoln Police Department obtained
information and evidence that led to the arrests of the juveniles.
Damage at the Johnston Center included spray paint in various areas,
broken theater seats, a burn mark on the floor and damage to other
items. Due to the defendants’ ages, further information on the
arrests is unavailable. |
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Farmers’ market brings
customers, vendors together
[JULY
25, 2000] Satisfied
customers and vendors who go home with empty pickup trucks are the
sign of a successful farmers’ market. That was the story on a recent
Saturday morning at Lincoln’s Latham Park, where by 11:15 customers
had carried away so many bags of vegetables and baked goods that some
vendors were saying, "Sorry, I’m sold out." |
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[Kyle Haning of rural Delavan,
who sells produce at the Lincoln farmers’ market, checks out the
baked goods brought by Marilyn Lolling of Hartsburg.]
Kyle
Haning of rural Delavan had sold 20 dozen ears of sweet corn and 10
pounds of green beans, and John Justice of Lincoln had only two
watermelons left. Richard and Nila Smith of Mason City had half a
dozen tomatoes and a truck full of empty boxes.
The
farmers’ market in Lincoln has had a long history, with ups and
downs, beginning somewhere in the 1960s. At present the trend is up
again, according to Vickie Hum. She and her husband, Doug Fink, are
information officers for the market. There are half a dozen regular
vendors and sometimes as many as five more who bring their baked goods
and produce to the park on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 7 a.m. until
noon.
Adolph
Hum, Vickie’s father and the market manager, brings garden produce
and fruit, including Southern Illinois peaches, apricots and cherries
in season. He raises his own apples and peaches and will be bringing
peaches to market this week. Although he now lives in Lincoln, he
spends most of every day tending the vegetables and fruit trees on the
eight-acre farm his family owns between Lincoln and Mount Pulaski.
[Adolph Hum of Lincoln has been a
fixture at the farmers’ market for many years, bringing fruit and
vegetables. He is now market manager.]
Clarence
Spurgin works a 3½ acre truck farm with the help of his wife,
Virginia, and grandson Zack Tibbs, 17. Zack, "a hard
worker," according to his grandfather, wasn’t there Saturday
because he was detasseling. Spurgin says he will have corn for perhaps
two more weeks, potatoes until September, okra in August and zucchini
through August, "if we can keep the squash bugs out of the
vines." He’ll have apples and pears in September, and onions
and cucumbers until frost.
Richard
and Nila Smith of Mason City have had their ZeoPonic Greenhouse
tomatoes, along with some garden tomatoes, at the market every
Saturday. Commercial growers who started their business last August,
they have their own greenhouse, where the tomatoes are allowed to
ripen on the vine.
"They
never get straight water," Nila says. "We feed them with a
nutrient solution which contains zeolite, a volcanic ash growing
medium." The zeolite was developed by their neighbor Earl Allen
while he was doing research for NASA.
"We
believe it is the only tomato grown like this in the industry
today," Nila said. They have sold tomatoes to Eagle Country
Market, Schnucks and stores in Mason City, Havana and Delavan.
(To top of
second column in this article)
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Marilyn
Lolling of Hartsburg brings baked goods, and she can count off how
many dozen cookies – sugar, oatmeal, sesame seed, peanut
butter, peanut butter kisses and monsters – she sets out on her table. She also
sells five kinds of diabetic cookies, 12 breads, coffee cakes,
brownies, upside-down cakes, sweet rolls, angel food cakes and large
and small pies. She is up baking by 5 a.m. most days and finished by
10 or 11. If someone wants a special order, she will bake it for them.
Along
with his sweet corn and green beans, Haning sells cucumbers, beets,
turnips and small flower arrangements. John Justice brings melons,
sweet corn, tomatoes, green beans and some unusual varieties of
squash. Later he’ll have decorative gourds and baby pumpkins.
[Richard and Nila Smith of Mason
City sold out their vine-ripened greenhouse tomatoes at a recent
farmers’ market.]
Other
vendors may come only a few times in a season, when their particular
crops, such as strawberries or sweet corn, are in season. One vendor,
Anna Stanfield, sells live plants along with her produce. Krista
Ubbenga and her mother of Hartsburg have been bringing baked goods and
garden produce for the past few weeks. Krista, who competed in the
cake bake-off at the Logan County Fair last year, is trying to decide
whether she will make farmers’ market her FFA project next year.
The
current resurgence of the market came about five years ago, when Fink
and Hum began to organize and publicize the event. Haning, who has
come to the market since 1987, when he was in junior high school, also
helped with the publicity.
All
vendors must have liability insurance and follow Logan County Health
Department guidelines, Hum said. Baked goods must be pre-wrapped and
the ingredients must be listed on the product or posted where the
buyer can see them. The Logan County Board gives permission each year
for vendors to use the park. Anyone interested in being a vendor can
contact Fink or Hum at 732-6962. Vendors pay a one-time fee to cover
advertising.
The
first month and a half the market is open only on Saturdays. Vendors
have early vegetables such as asparagus, leaf lettuce, green onions,
berries and rhubarb. By mid-June other vegetables are ready and
vendors begin coming on Wednesdays as well. In the fall, they will
bring apples, pumpkins, squash and homemade apple cider.
"We’ll
be here until it’s too cold to be out," Hum said.
[Joan
Crabb]
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