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."

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)

 

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]

 


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)

 

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)

 


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.

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)

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.


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."


[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)

 

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]