Reign as Holmes County Fair queen too short for Ramirez

Reign as Holmes County Fair queen too short for Ramirez
Submitted

The 2019-20 Holmes County Fair queen Kylie Ramirez was robbed of a large portion of her time visiting other county fairs and festivals by COVID-19. That didn’t stop her from making a big impact in representing her county and fair with the time she and her court did have.

                        

The time serving as the queen of the Holmes County Fair is supposed to be filled with activities and sight-seeing that includes pumpkins, roses, cheese, making new friends and a whole list of grand memories of visiting fairs and festivals throughout Ohio.

When Kylie Ramirez was tabbed as the 2019-20 Holmes County Fair queen last year, along with king Macin Hager and her court, she was looking forward to all of those experiences and more, ready to cram her photo album full of photos, stories and memories of her time traveling the state promoting her county and her fair.

Then came the unprecedented times of COVID-19, a virus that eliminated a large portion of everything Ramirez and her court was supposed to experience. One by one festivals and fairs were canceled and tours vanished, and along with them, many of those good memories faded away, never having been experienced.

Ramirez knows she wasn’t alone in feeling deprived, but she said the experiences she did have will have to suffice.

“What experiences have you missed out on because of the pandemic? This has been the question for me and the rest of the 2019 Holmes County Junior Fair court,” Ramirez said. “Once Macin and I were named king and queen, we wore our sashes with so much pride and went to as many places as we could every spare moment we had. We both strongly believe that you shouldn’t take anything for granted because you never know when it will be gone, and this is why I am thankful he was willing to start traveling the week after our fair.”

Ramirez said serving as fair queen of the Holmes County Junior Fair is something she will treasure forever.

“I have loved building a closer friendship with the court and traveling the state with my friends and family,” Ramirez said. “Something I will forever remember is younger youth wanting to touch my crown or get a picture, as fair royalty people look up to you, and that’s something special. Traveling to fairs and festivals all across the state has definitely been a highlight of the year, but there are definitely some our court missed out on because of the difficult times we went through, and we look forward to hearing about them from this year’s court.”

So many things have changed with the coronavirus putting a dent in the joy of serving as royalty, but Ramirez said even some of the little things that can be taken for granted will be missed as she and her court wind down their time representing Holmes County and its fair. Sometimes, it is something as simple as a handshake.

“I am most definitely going to miss shaking the hand of the winners at the fair this year; that’s something I will forever remember,” Ramirez said.

While it has at times been a whirlwind tour and at other times extremely frustrating as she and her court have had to forego a number of fairs and festivals, Ramirez said she will cherish her time spent as queen forever and has come away from the experience better for it.

“Being queen taught me leadership and citizenship skills and lessons that no other experience could have,” Ramirez said. “I was very honored to represent such a beautiful fair and county this past year. This year our court was able to showcase our county fair and our community everywhere we went on our social media. We were also able to do different holiday posts and could use this as a promotional outlet. I can’t wait to see how this year’s court grows as individuals and a team while representing our fair. To those running for the 2020 court, you are all such amazing young individuals and are going to make a difference in the world. All of you have so much potential, and I can’t wait to see you grow over the next year. Thank you for everything Holmes County.”

With the 2020 fair currently changing what seems like every day, it isn’t the fair the queen anticipated in her final days of serving as the queen, including the cancellation of the BeYou Livestock Show, a show she developed for the fair that provided a chance for those with special needs to experience the joy of showing an animal at the fair in front of a crowd.

However, like she has always done, Ramirez will make the best out of whatever opportunities present themselves at this year’s fair.


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