Hello, I am Nicole Stepp the 2007 Kimberton Fair Queen.  I hope that through my articles you are gaining a greater appreciation for our local agriculture and the economic benefits of what Pennsylvania has to offer.  Late in November I was invited to Harrisburg by Senator Andrew Dinniman.  He is the senator for both Chester and Montgomery counties.  I was there to be introduced to the Pennsylvania State Senate as the Kimberton Fair Queen.  The Senate had a very busy session that day and I thought it was extremely nice of him to invite me to be introduced to all of the senate members. After leaving the Senate we were able to tour our state capitol building and the museum. The museum has a lot of important artifacts in it about the state and everything that has to do with Pennsylvania . I was amazed that they even had a steel beam that was used to build a building that came from our very own Phoenix Iron Company.

December is here once again and besides all of the shopping and running around there is there is one family tradition that will never change, and that is getting the family tree.  Each year families from all over the world celebrate the holidays and the history of the Christmas tree. But did you know that each year hundreds of families just like yours help to make your holidays brighter with locally grown trees.  Here are a couple of facts and benefits of Christmas tree farming.  Christmas trees replenish the air with oxygen; did you know that just one acre of Christmas trees produces enough oxygen to support eighteen people?!  Tree farms provide a habitat for birds, and other wildlife, in the trees that won’t be sold that season.  Due to the tree’s hardiness, Christmas trees are often planted where few plants grow, therefore increasing soil stability.  For each Christmas tree cut on tree farms, 2 or 3 new seedlings are planted in its place.  Pennsylvania leads the nation in Christmas tree farms with nearly 2,200 that produce 1.7 million cut trees and contribute $13.9 million to the state’s economy annually.  There are approximately 10 Christmas tree farms in Chester County .  I hope you will consider this information about local Christmas tree farms when purchasing your tree for next year.

January is right around the corner, and that means the Pennsylvania State Fair Queen competition is coming as well. I have been preparing for my competition for weeks now and I am starting to feel the pressure!  I have already completed and submitted my essay for judging on the topic of “What the Kimberton Community Fair means to my Community”.  I have been meeting every couple of weeks with my coordinator and with an experienced public speaking professional to prepare my speech.  This is a huge opportunity and a very big part of my reign as Fair Queen. This competition is not a beauty pageant, and will have nothing to do with performing a talent.  Instead this is to show the judges how well you can communicate to others, and represent your fair as well as the State of Pennsylvania by raising awareness about agriculture.

I hope you all enjoy your holidays and have a wonderful New Year!

OCTOBER NEWS ARTICLE

Fair Queen Keeps Busy with Public Appearances

Hello, I am Nicole Stepp the 2007 Kimberton Fair Queen.  So far, during my reign as Fair Queen, I have been very busy.  During the first week of October I was in Harrisburg with many other commodity queens from across Pennsylvania for Farm City Day. This day is dedicated to teaching second through eight grade inner-city youth about the state’s agriculture. Farm City Day is very important to these students because most of them have never seen a working farm or had the opportunity to touch farm animals.  More than 1,600 young people joined me and the other queens that day to share in the excitement of what Farm City Day had to offer.  The student’s learned about agriculture and how it benefits us each and every day. By taking part in more than 22 hands-on educational stations, the students were able to better understand the origins of our food supply, and career and educational opportunities available to them through agriculture, even in urban areas.  Teachers received curriculum materials that raise the awareness of the importance agriculture plays in our communities, our economy and our world.  Farm City Day was a lot of fun and I had a great time.  I held a baby chicken and watched live demonstrations about all of the different livestock animals that were there.  I especially had fun painting milk mustaches on the student’s faces and giggled at their first reactions to farm smells.

At Farm City Day I learned more interesting facts about Pennsylvania and what all this state has to offer the country.  For example, I learned that Erie is first in the state for potato production. Did you know that Lancaster is first in dairy production, egg production, chicken production, corn production, beef production and pork production? Washington County is number one for lamb and sheep production. The county that is number one in oat productions is Somerset. Adams County is first in both peach and apple production. The number one producer for soybean and wheat is York County.  And I already knew that the number one producer in Pennsylvania for mushrooms is Chester County.  Did you know that colonists used pumpkin as an ingredient in the crust of pie, not the filling?  Pennsylvania ranks third nationally in pumpkins, producing 136 million pounds of the tasty fruit, ranging in size from less than one pound to more than 1,000 pounds. 

During the second week of October, I visited Yeager’s Farm and Market.  Yeager’s is a family owned and operated business on Rt. 113, just south of Phoenixville.  This farm is open almost all year long selling everything from dirt and mulch to pumpkins and Christmas trees. Yeager’s has their own peach and apple orchards.  I witnessed many people coming to purchase a variety of apples for homemade pies. They also have a wide variety of baked goods and homemade cider inside the stand along with household decorations and lawn ornaments.  I rode on the hay wagon to the pumpkin patch with about 15 children and adults to pick out the perfect pumpkin. It was a lot of fun to see all of the kids running around to find just that one.  I marveled at their efforts to bring their discoveries back to the wagon.  When the day was coming to an end for me, I took a few pictures with some little girls who all admired my crown and loved that a real princess had joined them today to get pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.  It was extremely exciting to know that I had made someone smile and learned something new about agriculture at the same time. 

The third week of October I attended the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs (PSACF) Zone Dinner Meeting.  This meeting was held two hours away in Kempton, PA. I was introduced as one of two queens in attendance representing our respective fairs.  Following a homemade dinner of ham and chicken, a role call of fairs was taken; everyone took turns saying which southeastern Pennsylvania fair they represented.  There were fairs I had never heard of and some that I recognized and didn’t know belonged to this very large association.  I learned that most fairs receive money or funds from the state to promote agriculture through partial reimbursements for prize money and through grants for fair site upgrades.  I learned that fairs take a complete year to plan and set-up.  I met the President and Vice-President of PSACF and was able to speak with them for several minutes.  A presentation was given by the students from the Delaware Valley College in Doylestown.  They sponsor an annual fair called “A-Day” each May.  All the students participate to put this fair together and demonstrate their agricultural education.

Coming up in November I will be traveling to the State Capitol building to be introduced to the entire Senate body.  This is quite an honor for any individual.  I may also be going to a local dairy farm to see all the hard work involved with owning a herd of dairy cows and the daily responsibilities.  My Queen Coordinator will be submitting my application and essay for entry into the Pennsylvania State Fair Queen competition and I will be preparing my speech.

You can support our local agriculture by purchasing products from area farm markets or by looking for the Pennsylvania Preferred logo at the grocery store.

Please look for future articles throughout my year as Queen.  If you are interested in having me attend your upcoming function please contact my Queen Coordinator Louise Kritzberger at 610-935-8358.

SEPTEMBER NEWS ARTICLE

Hello, I am Nicole Stepp the 2007 Kimberton Fair Queen.  Becoming the newest Fair Queen is a great opportunity for me.  These competitions are a huge personal accomplishment.  Everyone that has ever met me would probably say that I am extremely shy.  Now that I have this chance to talk to more people, this experience has made me become more open and confident.  I hope to receive more out of this experience than I ever thought possible.

This year I would like to educate people about how important agriculture is to our Community and County.  I also plan to participate in the Community and help out various organizations as much as I can.  Awaiting me this year are new experiences and the opportunity to meet different people.  In October I will be traveling to Harrisburg to participate in the State’s Farm-City Day.  Farm-City Day is an opportunity for inner-city youth to find out about Pennsylvania ’s number one industry, Agriculture.  For some it will be the first time they will see or touch farm animals.  Over the next couple of weeks I will be at area farm markets and dairies helping to promote local agriculture.  Please join me for hay rides, pumpkin picking and maybe even a local winery.  I will also be participating in the Pennsylvania State Fair Queen Competition this January in Hershey.  I plan to write more articles on this topic as it gets closer.

So far during my reign I have attended the Magic Memories Daycare center in Phoenixville where I read to the kids and handed out coloring books about fairs.  The kids all liked my shiny, new crown, especially the little girls!  I really enjoyed talking with them.

In September, I attended the Kennett Square Mushroom Festival and I was in their parade.  Did you know that Chester County, Pennsylvania is number one for growing mushrooms in the World?  There are over 465 million pounds produced every year.  I am learning new things every day about Chester County ’s agriculture and I hope I can pass this information on to everyone I meet.

You can support our local agriculture by purchasing products from area farm markets or by looking for the Pennsylvania Preferred logo at the grocery store.

Please look for future articles throughout my year as Queen.  If you are interested in having me attend your upcoming function please contact my Queen Coordinator Louise Kritzberger at 610-935-8358.