Washington County’s 2019 Fair Queen placed in the top 10 in the Iowa State Fair Queen Pageant. Leah Marek was named the second runner-up. She receives $1,000 in scholarship money and a $250 Jordan Creek Mall gift card. There were 102 contestants.

Marek was crowned the Washington County Fair Queen in July and shared with KCII News what it felt like to hear her name called, “It was really exciting. I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a really little girl. And I always looked up to the Washington County Fair Queen, so I’m really excited to be that role model this year.” The 2019 Iowa State Fair Queen is Hannah Koellner of Mahaska County. First runner-up was Lauren Ries of Jones County and third runner-up was Britney Ford of Cedar County.

Contributed photo