Meet this year’s Butler County Fair king and queen, who will be busy starting today

New faces will wear the tiara and crown at this year’s Butler County Fair, following last week’s announcement by the Ohio State University Extension Butler County Office.

For the first time ever, the fair crowned the king and queen before the actual festivities began. The 169th edition of the fair begins today at 7 a.m. with Heidi Edans and Herbie Summe sitting on the throne.

This year’s royalty have long been connected to the fair, spending most of their life involved with the 4-H program in the junior fair section. Edens says this is her 13th year in the section, while Summe has been with the program since he was a cloverbud.

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“I was an honorary cloverbud from the day I was born and have never missed a fair since, so I’ve watched numerous fair Kings and Queens since I was younger,” Edens said.

In addition to their vast fair experience, the two have worked with farm animals for a good bit as well. Summe has worked on the family farm, tending to the farm’s hogs, goats, and cattle. The Summe Family Farm has been in operation for nearly 50 years and is located at 3300 Millville Shandon Road in Hamilton.

Following an application process, contestants had a preliminary interview three weeks before the major interview when the selection was narrowed down to the top 10 candidates.

“You just have to show up,” said Summe, as the interview questions were pulled out of a hat at random.

Summe and Edens both ran last year, when Micalya McClure and Dalton Norris took the crown. The two made it to the final five, with Summe taking runner-up.

After being so close last year, Edens was elated by the honor.

“The fair is part of my blood and being able to be one of the faces of it now is truthfully amazing,” said Edens. “I just hope I can be one of the role models for younger kids that I always looked up to.”

It will be a busy week for the king and queen, who will be making many appearances judging competitions and attending breakfasts. On Thursday, Edens was judging a special interest project about genetics while Summe was looking at a project focusing on farming safety. These projects were submitted prior to July 1 by 4-H members.

Edens graduated from Edgewood High School this Spring and will attend Wilmington College to study Animal Science. Summe also just graduated from Ross High School and will continue working at the family farm.

Today at the Butler County Fair will be the first-ever monster truck show, starting at 7:30 p.m. Trucks are available to drive starting at 1 p.m. on Sunday also. The show costs $10 per adult and $3 per child between the ages of six and 12. The fair will run from today until Saturday, July 27 starting at 7 a.m. and ending at 11 p.m. on all days.

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