MAPLETON – Since the year she was born, Lauren Hennesy said she has never missed the Drayton Fall Fair.
When it was cancelled due to pandemic restrictions, she was sure to attend the Harvest Festival.
And when her baseball tournament fell on the same weekend – she was able to juggle both, and her team came in first place.
When Hennessy was four, she learned to show a dairy calf at the fair, with her friend Kristen in the ring along side her, incase she needed help – “but I did it, all by myself,” Hennessy said.
And this year, at 13 years old, Hennessy still showed a calf at the fair, a Jersey named Eclipse, but with a highly coveted title to her name: the junior ambassador.
She was invited to a Mapleton council meeting on Oct. 8, where councillors presented her with a certificate for her accomplishment of becoming the first ambassador the fair has seen in years.
“The competition was very fierce,” said Mayor Gregg Davidson, with five participants who all gave great speeches and interviews, and made poster boards about themselves.
“Sometimes you can tell whose going to win, but in this case everyone was so good it was hard to tell,” said councillor Marlene Ottens. “There was lots of cream rising to the top, so you were the best of the best,” she said.
Councillor Amanda Reid congratulated Hennessy on becoming ambassador and congratulated the agricultural society for bringing the ambassador program back.
“That’s a huge thing for local fairs to have a voice for some younger people,” Reid said. “It’s awesome.
“I was happy to see this come back,” added Ottens.
“I look forward to seeing it turn into a full ambassador program again because it’s so important,” she said.
Ottens noted seeing many ambassadors at fair conventions representing different areas. “It would be nice if Mapleton was represented there as well,” she said.
Hennessy described to council the many reasons she loves the fair: from cookies, jams, sunflowers and sewing in the exhibit hall, to the “fast, aggressive, loud and entertaining” demolition derby.
“If you want something to do on the second weekend of August, come to the fair and I will show you everything,” she said.
Next year’s Drayton Fall Fair will be “Celebrating Roots” on Aug. 8, 9 and 10.
The Drayton Agricultural Society has hopes of including a senior ambassador as well as junior ambassador at next year’s fair. Ambassadors can be any gender, Davidson noted.
Ambassador responsibilities include attending parades and competitions, and handing out ribbons at the fair.
