Fair queens take on busy schedules in and outside of fair time

By Susan Reiser, Tri-State Neighbor Correspondent

SPENCER, Iowa – Both Navaeh Brauhn and Hannah Tessum love the Clay County Fair, in Spencer, Iowa, and both have a long list of activities and community involvement. After being crowned fair queen and runner-up, respectively, both can now add Clay County Fair Royalty to their achievements.

The decisive moment to enter the queen contest for Brauhn came after watching last year’s Queen Linnea Bloom.

“At first I wasn’t going to enter the contest. I never thought I was involved enough with the fair because I don’t show animals. But there is more to the fair than showing,” she said.

While she remembers always looking up to the fair queen, she said she never expected to be one.

“Seeing Linnea gave me inspiration. She has a kind heart and soul,” Brauhn said.

Brauhn and Tessum are two of 10 contestants who competed in the Clay County Fair Queen contest this year.

A Sioux Rapids, Iowa, city girl, Brauhn, 17, will exhibit a communications poster on food security and issues, photography, posies in the pail and enter the baked goods class with cupcake creations. Baking is something her mom and her have done since she was a little girl.

She plans to be on the grounds every day of the fair, set for Sept. 6-14, completing her required duties as fair queen. The most fun she has had for many years is helping a friend get ready for the swine show by washing pigs on Wednesday night before the Thursday show.

A senior this fall at Sioux Central High School, Brauhn is active in FFA, Family Career and Community Leaders of America, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, National Honor Society, large and small group speech, student council, secretary of her class, volleyball, softball, track, school dance team, Bright Lights Studio dance, the Peterson Livewires 4-H Club where she serves as president, and the United Methodist Church Youth Group in Peterson.

Last year she completed a week-long service trip to Honduras, raised $6,000 for a meal packing event for the hungry and persuaded her fellow students to pack thousands of meals for the less fortunate. This summer she will travel for a week-long mission trip to New Orleans with Urban Impact Ministry, working with inner city kids and running their vacation Bible school during the day.

Brauhn’s normal day begins at 6 a.m. with weightlifting, followed by volleyball scrimmages, helping around the house or helping her dad at Brauhn’s Concrete. She is employed as an umpire for junior high and junior varsity reserve softball games.

Brauhn is the daughter of Rish and Steve Brauhn. She has one brother, Beau. Her future plans are to attend college, but she is unsure where. She wants to work in medical sales.

“I like the medical field and interacting with people,” she said.

In the food department at the fair, Brauhn loves hot beef sundaes and is hoping the cheesecake truck returns, because it was “super good” last year.

For Runner-Up Queen Hannah Tessum, fall is her favorite time of year.

“The fair is my absolute favorite time of year. I’m really involved in the whole atmosphere of the fair,” Tessum said. “I show sheep and pigs. We camp there all week and I skip school all week.”

She is not worried about missing school. Her mother is her English teacher, volleyball and basketball coach.

“I wanted to be a bigger part of the fair. This is my last year,” she added.

Tessum plans to exhibit four sheep, five pigs and a wood painting project. When she is at the fair, she plans to enjoy her two favorite foods: poutine, which is French fries covered with gravy and cheese curds, and pickle pizza, by Godfather’s, which is offered only at the fair each year.

Her list of activities is long. A senior at Hartley, Melvin Sanborn School this fall, Tessum is involved with volleyball, basketball, track, student council, the Hope Lutheran Youth group in Everly, and the Clay County Countrymen 4-H Club. She has more than 80 community service hours for assisting others with vacation Bible school, Sunday school, sports and youth camps. She babysits for free for moms who have just left an abusive household. She also works on the farm alongside her dad or grandpa, weighing, sorting and shearing lambs, bailing hay, doing livestock chores and odds and end projects. In between, she works at Mullets in Arnolds Park as a waitress.

The daughter of Tyler and Ashley Tessum, the family has a farming operation, a large sheep flock, show pigs and some chickens for eggs. She has two older brothers, Skyler and Tyson, and is quite excited to become an aunt in August.

She plan to attend Stewert’s Cosmetology and Aesthetics school in Sioux Falls and obtain a double major.

“I want to own my own business and stay local, and then get my nursing degree later,” she said.