Fairest of Fair feels confident for future

Meeting new friends is a major reason why Marion resident Harmony Riemer has continued to attend the Shawano County Fair throughout her life.

Riemer was recently named Shawano County Fairest of the Fair, with Clintonville resident Olivia Danley being named first runner-up and Shawano resident Chloe Boyles being named second runner-up.

“I have shown many animals here, like horses, dogs, dairy, poultry and cats at one point,” said Riemer.

Riemer, who is currently a student at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said that meeting new people and learning new things from the fair has helped her to build relationships with others.

“I do the fair because I meet so many people,” said Riemer. “I meet so many friends and get to know people who have the same interests as me. I have got to know a bunch of horse people; now we go on trail rides.”

In her role as Fairest, Riemer said that her main role is to promote the fair.

“I go around to events throughout the county to promote the fair before this week,” said Riemer. “At the fair, I go around and welcome everybody, thank them for coming, as well as I get to do a bunch of fun events — like polka, announce at the speedway and introduce the bands.”

Riemer walked through the process of how she was elected for the position.

“We all applied for the Fairest of the Fair, where we wrote an essay on why the fair is important to us,” said Riemer. “Then we did an interview process with three judges and, at Brunch on the Farm, we get told who won.”

Riemer, Danley and Boyles all gave different reasons for why the fair is important to them, but two similar themes stuck out, building relationships and building knowledge.

“It is important to me because of the experience and the knowledge that you can get from here,” said Danley. “I have met so many friends at the fair — I didn’t even really know Harmony (Riemer) and Chloe (Boyles).”

Danley said that she loves being a representative of the fair and helping out wherever it may be needed.

“It is cool, because growing up, we were here all of the time,” said Danley. “Now it is cool to have an important role within the fair.”

“We are here all of the time, so we might as well do something here,” added Boyles.

The three girls walked through what the difference is to be in their roles, compared to someone just attending the fair for fun.

“We get to see a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff,” said Boyles. “We see those people who are putting in 18-hour days and the people who are here from 6 in the morning until midnight. It does give us a different perspective on how much time and effort that the people who work here put in to make it run smoothly.”

Danely explained that the trio’s roles expand as the fair continues, where they end up helping out wherever they can.

“On Thursday and Friday, we were all helping hand out ribbons and then Harmony was at the polka — it is literally everything at the fair,” said Danley.

With her time being at the fair when she was younger and now that she is in the role of Fairest of the Fair, Riemer said that she has learned to be more outgoing.

“All through elementary school, I was always the quiet kid,” said Riemer. “Then in high school, I started to get more responsibility at the fair. When am I taking on my dairy role or my horses, I have been able to ask for help. I have grown to be more outspoken. I have used that in my role as Fairest of the Fair and plan to keep using it in the future.”

At college, Riemer is currently studying to be at interpreter. She said that being outspoken and being a large part of the fair will help her to feel more comfortable in that line of work.

“When I go into being an interpreter, I can feel more confident in myself,” said Riemer.

Boyles, who is a freshman at Northwestern Technical College, said that she may look to something in her future revolving around agriculture and farming.

“I have grown up on the farm and don’t ever want to stop that,” said Boyles. “The agriculture experience grows on you, and I know that it is something to use in my profession.”

Riemer also wants visitors to the fair to know how important farming and agriculture is in everyday life.

“That is what you eat,” said Riemer. “It is all around you. When you drive down the road, there is agriculture all around you.”

Another thing that Danely noted about the fair is that hard work does not go unnoticed.

“It is kind of nice that you can show off who you are and what you have done,” said Danely. “These kids that get home from school and go out to the farm to walk their cow right after get to show that off and take pride in their handwork.”

“I love seeing all of the kids show what they are passionate about, because that is what we want them to do,” said Riemer. “We want them to have something to be passionate about and be able to teach someone something about agriculture or their animal.”

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com