Fair queen contestants get down to earth, in the air during first night pageant

It didn’t take long for the action to begin at Genesee County fairgrounds Friday evening, as the six-horse hitch teams made their way to the horse arena and nine young ladies prepared to take the main stage one by one for the first half of the fair queen pageant. 

“Tonight, after the speeches, we are focusing on women’s health,” pageant director Virginia Zocco said before the event began. “There will be a discussion on the importance of eating clean food. We are hosting a demonstration on cheese making, drying fresh herbs, and milling your own flour, presented by Gabriella Zocco and Lyza Baker. Immediately after, the contestants will be performing their lovely talents.”

This is Zocco’s fourth year as pageant director, and she gives the contestants a packet with rules, including that they need to select a topic for their presentations. 

There was a focus on clean eating from the earth this year. Lyza Baker, a Little Miss contestant, and Gabriella Zocco, a contestant for Fair Queen, teamed up, given their mutual interests of love for the earth and a concern for women’s health, said Zocco, who happens to be Gabriella’s mom.

“She loves the pageant; she has done it since 2015. So for her, it was kind of bittersweet tonight because she knows this will be, once you’re queen, you’re kind of aged out,” Zocco said. “But now it's nice to see the other girls come up. The one thing I love about doing the pageant every year is I get to see the girls grow, and I watch them mature and get more confidence, and I watch their love of farming and nature.”

Lyza Jean Baker, 7, is a Little Miss contestant from Basom, where her family raises many animals. She is homeschooled and going into second grade, with this being her third pageant. Lyza is an active 4-H member and will be showing her bunny Ophelia at the fair. Other hobbies are gardening, camping and dance, and this year she is trying out for the Rochester City Ballet performance of The Nutcracker. 

Gabriella Zocco, 17, of Le Roy, attends Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women, where she will be entering her senior year this fall. She maintains a 4.5 grade point average while also being the historian in National Honor Society and a member of the Leadership Distinction Program. Her other activities include founding and acting president of Book Club, co-founder and vice president of Lorax Club, Red Cross Club, Sunshine Club, Merceds Articles, and Mercy Service. She has received awards for her balance of leadership, work, service, academics and clubs, and they include Issues of Morality, U.S. History and Environmental Health, the Rachel Carson Healthy Planet Award from Chatham University and the Youth Leadership Recognition Award. Gabriella is captain of the Mercy Dance Competition Team; she volunteers to care for the earth, animals and people while also enjoying gardening, traveling, and playing the piano and clarinet.

Zocco has volunteered at the fair and was put into the director's position after the last one moved on, she said. 

“She got a different position, and it left a pageant director open, and she knows I'm a teacher, and I have experience working with kids and doing different activities,” she said. “So I took on this role because I love what the Genesee County Fair does for the community, and bringing everybody together and having that shared experience. So I really do love continuing the pageant legacy.”

Friday’s pageant included introductions, speeches, and a talent portion. The topics for the speeches can vary according to what the contestants find interesting and important.

“We’re pretty open to what the girls want. And this year, one of our contestants wanted to give a speech on women’s health and the earth, connecting those two together and the importance of clean eating and tying that into our farmers,” Zocco said. “When I give the girls topics to do on agriculture, it’s really open to interpretation.  So the girls can take it a different way if they’d like to.”

The talent portion featured “a good range of talents,” she said. “It’s a great variety for the community to see. We had dancing, singing, storytelling, acrobatics,” she said. “Sunday we usually get more people, the tent usually overflows when we crown the contestants.”

The second half of the pageant is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday at the Main Stage, under the big yellow tent. It is there and then when the final crowning will occur.

Remaining contestants include:

Also vying for Little Miss is Kali Martino, who is also 7 and moving into second grade at Pembroke Primary School. She lives in Batavia with her family with her family and two puppies and has taken dance classes since she was just 2, including acro, ballet, tap, cheer, and hip-hop. Her favorite sports are soccer, swimming, softball and cheerleading, and she’s very active in her church. Kali’s hobbies are trampoline jumping, dance parties with her siblings, swimming, riding her bike, traveling and gardening. Kali wants to be a teacher and a doctor once she grows up because she wants to help children learn and feel better, she says.

Two contestants for the Miss category: 10-year-olds Eleanor Hudson and Carly Hanel. Eleanor lives with her parents and brother in Alabama and is a 4-H Goat Club member, raising Nigerian award dairy goats. She can’t wait until this fall to be in Future Farmers of America at Oakfield-Alabama Central School, she says. She loves to dance and has been dancing for seven years, currently taking jazz, tap, and pre-pointe ballet classes. Ellie, as she’s called, plays soccer, and participates in Run Club, Page Turners, chorus and plays the tenor saxophone in her school’s band. She attends church, loves musicals, and wants to be an agriculture teacher.

Carly lives with her mom and older sister, loves to sing and draw. This is her second year in th pageant, and she enjoys singing karaoke and being part of her school musicals. She also participated in the Kids Club at her school. Her favorite princess is Cinderella, and she hopes to go to Disney Land one day. Elephants are her favorite animal and aqua green her favorite color.

Duchess contestant Isabella Redden, 12, is from East Pembroke, where she lives with her mom, stepdad and family dog, Dozer. She has a love for swimming, crafts, dance — senior across and jazz — French bulldogs, the piano, reading, and public speaking.  Since the age of 5, she has had a desire to contribute to her local fire company and other organizations by helping with activities and events by collecting donations of food, household needs and blankets for the local food pantry. Known as Bella, her future plans are to go into the field of education and musical theater, and she’s waiting to be accepted into the Genesee Community College homeschool accelerated college enrollment program this fall. 

Cassandra Judge, 14, a high honor roll student who just completed eighth grade at Akron Middle School, is a candidate for the Princess category. Her academic diligence earned her the Presidential Gold Award, and she received the Mission Mover Award from the school’s Board of Education for initiating and raising all the funds for inclusion projects in her school. She is a member of student government, concert, jazz and marching bands, chorus, cheerleading, Girl Scouts, and a competitive dancer on the Diamond Dance Team for Batavia Muckdogs.

Grand Princess contestant Sara Keller is 15 and lives with her mom in Darien, attending 10th grade this fall at Alexander Central School. Sara has been a dancer since 2016. She also loves toeing and has been part of her school chorus and the school’s swim team. She participates in church activities, attends youth group, and enjoys traveling — having visited seven countries and 19 states. For several years, she has helped her grandpa raise goats, chickens and pigs on his small farm.

Corrine Rhoads, the second Grand Princess contestant, is 14 and lives in Le Roy with her family, participating in the 4-H programs of Family Consumer Science, Fur and Feather, Dog and Raptor clubs. She likes to play ultimate frisbee and has competed in the state and national championships, spends a lot of tie hanging out with her teammates, and hiking, going to church and writing poetry. She has spent the last four years performing in the circus and enjoys working with her partner in ground acrobatics, the Lyra and recently began the Chinese pole. Corinne plans to continue her education at GCC this fall and would like to pursue a career in criminal justice and psychology.