(Radio Iowa) – An 18 year old who’s a frequent camper at the Iowa State Fair is the 2024 Iowa State Fair Queen. Elli Blackford says being crowned at the end of Saturday night’s contest was a surreal moment. “It was just so unbelievable and it’s something I never imagined I could do,” she says. “It was truly a dream come true and I can’t even tell you what was running through my head because it was running at 10,000 miles per hour.” Blackford watched the queen contest as a child, one of the activities she’s enjoyed due to having such close access to the fairgrounds. “I’ve been at the fair 18 years and I’ve camped at least 13 of them,” she says. “It’s just a super fun tradition with our family. I actually camp with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle have a site real close to us.”

Blackford, a 4-Her, has showed cattle — Simmental heifers — at the fair, too. “You get to know so many 4-H and FFA members throughout the entire state, so we really build a community in the barn as a family and as a 4-H group, as a county, being stalled with the people that you’re working with all year long, just building those connections,” she says, “then also having the ability to cheer on your fellow 4-H or FFA members while they’re also doing the same in the stands for you.” Blackford joined a different community this past week as she, along with 102 other Iowa county fair queens, gathered in Des Moines. The group learned the lyrics to “Our State Fair” — featured the State Fair play on Broadway and in the State Fair movies.

2024 Iowa State Fair Queen Elli Blackford of Weldon. (Iowa State Fair photo)

Blackford and the rest of the queens sang it as they rode a trolley down Grand Avenue in Des Moines in this year’s Iowa State Fair parade. “They taught it to us kind of on the buses on the way there. I’d heard it before, but didn’t 100% know all the lyrics. I was able to catch on pretty quick,” Blackford says. “Sometimes it gets in my head and other people will be singing it and I kind of hum along with them.” Blackford is from Weldon, a small town in Clarke County and she graduated from Clarke Community School in Osceola this spring. She’ll be a student at Iowa State University this fall and plans to study animal science and agricultural business. “That career pathway for me right now looks like marketing or sales with either of the two degrees,” she says.

Blackford, the queen of the Clarke County Fair, provided daily reports on “Go Clarke TV” — a video network run by her school — to provide updates on activities during the local fair.