Maddy Meiser chosen as new Ohio Swiss Festival royalty
Newly crowned Ohio Swiss Festival queen Maddy Meiser from Coshocton and her court are pictured riding on a float during the grand parade on Saturday, Sept. 28.
Maddy Meiser may not hale from Sugarcreek, but she will make Sugarcreek and the Ohio Swiss Festival a part of her life for the next year.
As the 2017 Coshocton Canal Days queen, Meiser traveled extensively throughout the state to represent her festival. During that time one of her stops was in Sugarcreek for the annual Ohio Swiss Festival.
It didn’t take her long to fall in love with the aura surrounding the longtime Sugarcreek festival and all of its food, music and entertainment, so when the opportunity arose for her to take a shot at stepping into the queen’s role for the Swiss Festival, she jumped at it.
“I knew that I love to travel, and I really enjoy attending all of these different festivals around the state, so I wanted to continue to do that,” Meiser said. “I came to Sugarcreek because I absolutely love this festival. I love the costumes and everything about it. So I figured why not try out and see what happens?”
What happened was Meiser found herself perched high atop the queen and royalty float when the grand parade rolled around on Saturday, Sept. 28.
During the Swiss Festival queen crowning celebration, Meiser accepted the 2020 Ohio Swiss Festival queen title, presented to her by Jaci Hershberger, the 2019 Ohio Swiss Festival queen. Kylie Robinson was tabbed as the 2020 Little Swiss Miss and was joined in her court by Annya Hart and Raquel Zimmerman.
“I was a little surprised, but I am thrilled to be able to represent the Swiss Festival, and I am really excited about the chance to travel again and to promote everything the Swiss Festival offers,” Meiser said.
In addition to serving as Canal Days queen in 2017, she also was a junior queen and princess there, so she has developed a great deal of confidence and expertise in traveling and promoting her festivals.
Meiser takes her role as a representative seriously, having traveled to 70 different festivals and events during her reign as queen for Canal Days between 2017 and 2018.
“I love the variety in the festivals that take place all around Ohio, and I really enjoy getting out and experiencing them all as much as possible,” Meiser said. “It has really given me an opportunity to experience everything that is unique around the state of Ohio.”
During her trips around Ohio, Meiser has seen and experienced so many positive things that she said it is very difficult to choose her favorite. She said among her favorite stops were Feast of Flowering Moon in Chillicothe, the Ashtabula Covered Bridge and the Ohio Swiss Festival.
Meiser said once her senior year is complete and her tour of traveling as queen comes to an end, next up will be college. She isn’t sure where she will attend yet but is focusing on majoring in math and becoming a high school math teacher.