Lebanon Fair queen program teaches life skills, prepares participants for the future

As former fair royalty and a judge, Emily Bomgardner Moyer is passionate about the Lebanon Area Fair’s queen program.

LebTown spoke with several past queens who represented as royalty a program that’s been around for nearly four of the fair’s seven decades. Moyer, who lives in North Annville Township, was the Lebanon Area Fair queen in 2014.

“I just have such a passion for this because I was a fair queen,” she said. “These ladies that have been coming out for the fair queen competition are our future leaders, and the way that they present themselves in public, the passion that they have for not only agriculture but for people, it’s inspiring to me to see how much the fair queen committee has grown.”

Launched in 1988, the program has seen over 35 young ladies wear the crown from the first Saturday of the fair to that same Saturday a year later. During their reign, they represent the program at the fair, along with other court members, and participate in a plethora of events outside of the fair, according to fair queen committee chair Andrea Harrell.

“We always tell them, the crown kind of gives them a platform. People notice them and it’s just a great way to support the fair but also support agriculture. And a lot of times when they go into the nursing homes or to the schools, they try to do some kind of program with the kids to promote agriculture,” Harrell said. 

There’s a reason for that, she added.

“Because it really comes back to, and when you think about it, agriculture includes everyone. I mean, if you eat every day, it’s something that everyone does, and so it all comes back to ag. But there’s so many aspects of ag to support, and so it’s nice that the girls can have all these other opportunities,” Harrell said.

Each “platform” centers on an interest of that given queen and includes an agenda that may or may not be ag-based.

“What is so cool to see and to be a part of is just them kind of finding their own little niche of whatever they want to do throughout the year,” Harrell said. “I know one year we had a queen that … started to have the queen brunch. And so she opened it up to younger girls and other girls to come and just enjoy a time of brunch and they would go over what the program consists of.”

Harrell, who has chaired the committee for four years, said another queen “wanted to go and do story time at the local library” while this year’s queen, Olivia Morrisey, had a different goal in mind. 

“Olivia went into a nursing home and they actually took bunnies into the nursing home and then they handed out cookies. And so each one of them kind of has their own thing, and we try to help to support them in whatever they decide that they wanna do,” she said.

In recent years, the program has expanded to include a princess division for 13- to 15-year-old girls and a junior division for girls ages 10-12, according to Harrell. Additionally, contestants only need to be a Lebanon County resident to compete.

“The princess part is something that we incorporated over the last four years. We didn’t have that in the past. That’s something that we implemented and we felt that it was important to include those younger girls so that they can start earlier and also just generate more interest in the program,” she said. “What we found is, it is working really well. There are younger girls that want to come (and participate).” 

2005 fair queen Margeaux Firestine turned her passion for animals into a career. She’s a veterinarian at two locations of VCA Garden State Animal Hospital in New Jersey.

“It was obviously a wonderful opportunity. I think it really helped mold me into who I am today,” Firestine said. “I always talk about it with fond memories. The farm community is incredible. Our agriculture is wonderful. The food is amazing. and having the opportunity to be closer to them for a year to represent the fair, I think was just so wonderful and just a life-changing experience.”

While she entered into a different profession than Firestine, Moyer followed a similar trajectory of using the fair queen program as a stepping stone into a job. Moyer was a middle school English teacher for two years at New Coventry Christian School before entering another full-time position: stay-home mom for her two children.

The queen competition includes a written essay, personal interview, and speech presentation, the latter being held traditionally on the first Saturday of the fair. 

“I always had a gift of speaking and writing, and the reason I wanted to be fair queen is that I’ve been going to the fair all of my life,” Moyer said. “And from when I was little, I was all about the crown and dresses. We would be going to the fair and my family’s looking at the animals and they’re looking at the equipment and they’re talking to people who they know. When I see a fair queen, I’m just kind of staring and I’m like, ‘Ooh.’ So the fair queens made a huge impression on me when I was 3 years old. Just a little girl who loves shiny things and sparkly things.”

At 16, Moyer was motivated to use her speaking and writing talents to become queen. 

“So when I heard about the fair queen program, being 16, obviously I was a little scared. ‘Wow, that’s a big thing,’ but I feel like all of my passions of writing, speaking, and then teaching children and the community about agriculture, which is Pennsylvania’s No. 1 industry, I was like, ‘Well, this is just perfect,’” she added.

Dana Lape, who is among several Lebanon Area Fair historians, shared some interesting facts about the program.

“They actually had a king … the first two years of the program,” Lape said, noting that he and Tim McGowan have researched past queens and other aspects of the program.

The young lady chosen as Lebanon Area Fair queen gets to compete at the Pennsylvania State Association of Fairs’ annual convention in Hershey in January. Since 2017, Lebanon County has been on a roll, having several named as state fair queen and one alternate, according to Lape.

The three state queens from Lebanon County are Liz Voight (2017), Chloe Bomgardner (2022), and Olivia Morrisey (2025). Brooke Beamesderfer (2024) was, Lape believes, the only state queen alternate from Lebanon County. The state fair queen title runs from the January they are crowned until the next state fair convention.

That’s a notable recent track record of success for Lebanon County queens, Lape said, especially when many other public-facing programs took a hit earlier this decade due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic also led Shay Miller (2019-’20) to hold the distinction of being the only Lebanon Area Fair queen to serve consecutive terms, Lape said.

Another fun fact is that only one mother/daughter combination served as Lebanon Area Fair queens – 2000 fair queen Beth Kreider Copenhaver is the mother of 2023 fair queen Madison Copenhaver.

“I don’t know of another mom and daughter who were fair queens,” Lape said. “That’s a pretty cool thing.”

Firestine said the experiences of showing at the fair, along with the public speaking learned as a queen, were both integral learning opportunities that benefited her career.

“I’ve always loved medicine and I’ve always loved animals while growing up. I obviously don’t practice large animal medicine. I’m a small animal vet just because of where I live,” Firestine said. “I still am passionate about food (producing) animals and understand that it’s important in our world.”

Becoming a veterinarian was an extension of the care Firestine learned to give her animals when she exhibited at the fair.

“Being able to have that relationship and learning to care for something else and the importance of how it makes other people happy. Your pets are so important as part of your family and the same with our livestock,” she added. “Growing up and showing had such an impact on that.”

Moyer’s love for the fair queen program led her to agree to become a judge at the 2025 fair.  

“It’s just a big part of my heart,” she said. “It was just really neat to get to know these ladies, see their hearts, see their passion, see why they wanted to become fair queen.”

As a past queen, Moyer knows firsthand how it can benefit the participants. One perk beyond the social skills learned, friendships formed, and incredible year-long experiences is that each queen receives a $1,000 scholarship for higher education upon the successful completion of their reign.

“Everything that they’re doing, whether they become fair queen or not, just being a part of this contest is an experience for them to grow,” she said. “Just being able to stand in front of a stage and talk, that’s a huge fear that people have that they were able to overcome at young ages. To be passionate about something and to believe in it and to be able to make an impact, I just think is amazing.”

If You Go: The next fair queen will be crowned at the Lebanon Area Fair on Saturday, July 25, at 5 p.m. during the coronation program in Wenger Pavilion. The 70th edition of the fair will run Saturday, July 25, through Saturday, Aug. 1. General admission prices are $5 ages 10 and up after 3 p.m. Children under 10 are free, as is parking at the fairgrounds at Lebanon Valley Expo Center & Fairgrounds, 82 Rocherty Road, Lebanon. Check the events page of the Lebanon Area Fair’s website for the schedule.