Princess and Little Miss enjoy serving community
Madison Miller
Two members of the Cy Young Days Festival court have learned they can help their community at a young age.
Madison Miller, 6, of Cambridge enjoys her role as Cy Young Days Festival princess.
“I like being in parades. When I see people I know, I’ll yell their name,” Miller said.
Being in rainy or cold weather in a parade is not a favorite.
She is the daughter of Matthew and Katrina Miller. She has a sister Morgan, who serves on the court as mini queen first attendant. The entire family sometimes attends festival parades together. Her father drives the truck while her mother sits in the back with the girls.
Miller attends kindergarten at East Elementary School in Newcomerstown. She also plays in the Cy Young Youth Softball League.
Miller enjoyed attending festivals and fairs throughout the year. She also loved going to Second Saturday events in downtown Newcomerstown over the summer.
“I met some new people and made some new friends,” Miller said.
She also recalled one of her favorite activities at a Second Saturday event, which involved a game where she got to put tinsel in her hair. Through the court she enjoyed meeting and working with all the court members.
Introducing herself at festivals isn’t always easy, but Miller is happy with the support of the court. They help each other.
The Miller family also visited a festival in West Lafayette, county fairs in Guernsey and Tuscarawas County, and participated in Christmas parades. She enjoyed the fairs the most because she liked going on rides.
Miller also helped raise funds for the festival by helping with a toll-road fundraiser and helping to sell T-shirts.
Math is Miller’s favorite subject. It’s something her mother, a math teacher, likes to hear. She also enjoys taking tests.
“We have been getting like number tests. We would have numbers on a sheet, and we would have to make the answers, and I would always be the first one done,” Miller said.
At home Miller enjoys watching TV, reading books and playing Go Fish. She is new to playing softball, where her favorite activity is hitting the ball. In the future she would like to work as a lifeguard.
The youngest member of the court, Mackenzie Berkshire, 5, serves as the little miss. She is the daughter of Sheila and John Berkshire and attends preschool at the Good Neighbor Place. Her family attends the Newcomerstown Church of the Nazarene.
She is excited to serve on the court. She has a friend who was on another court, and Berkshire thought it looked like fun. She went through an interview process to earn her title.
“I like the music,” Berkshire said of her favorite festival activity. Her favorite festival food is French fries.
She also enjoys making new friends and being in parades.
One of Berkshire’s favorite things about being on the court is singing. The court members like to sing at parades and sometimes while they are walking around at festivals.
Berkshire likes seeing the new mural in Newcomerstown that features Woody Hayes and Cy Young. Of course, Cy Young is her favorite. Berkshire enjoys learning about Young’s career.
“I really miss him,” she said.
“Every time we go past the mural, she’s got to tell me that,” Sheila Berkshire said.
Mackenzie Berkshire’s favorite festival that she visited during the past year was Midnight at Moonville, which is a Halloween festival in Vinton County. She liked that she got to dress up as Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.” As for favorite memories from the past year, there are too many to choose from.
In school Berkshires’ favorite activity is art, and she enjoys drawing. She likes to play Legos with her father, read and color for fun. She also is in dance classes studying ballet and tap.
In the future she would like to be a doctor because she likes to help people.
The Cy Young Days Festival is always held the fourth weekend of June. This year’s festival will be held June 27-29 in downtown Newcomerstown with some activities at the village park and elsewhere.