Rachel Leith is hugged by her sister and fellow pageant contestant Hannah Leith, as she is crowned as Lawrence County Fair queen on Sunday during opening ceremonies at the fairgrounds. (Kayla Niece | For The Ironton Tribune)

On Sunday, the 2025 Lawrence County Fair opened with the crowing of a fair queen, king and princess.

The ceremony started with Miss Ohio Olivia Fosson, of Kitts Hill, leading the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. Then, the 2024 Lawrence County Fair Queen Isabella Kerns led them in the 4-H pledge.

The ceremony began, with the princess contestants, then the king contestants and then the queen candidates going around the show ring in the big barn.

The princess was announced first, with Cate Litner being crowned, then new king Josiah Stallard being announced and the new fair queen was Rachel Leith.

“I am still in shock,” she said. “But I am really excited.”

This was her first year competing and one part of the competition was her sister, Hannah, who was the second runner up.

“We were rooting for each other,” Leith said. “She’s my best friend, so it was pretty easy to root for her.”

Leith goes to Ironton High School, shows heifers as a member of the Power Ranchers and has been in 4-H “my whole life.”

As part of her duties as the fair queen, she will be required to be at all the shows helping out this week.

“I think it is going to be the same as normal, I’m still going to go out there and show my cow and try not to act any different,” Leith said. 

Litner was the princess first runner up last year. She is the daughter of Andy and Elizabeth Litner, a freshman at Ironton High School and a member of the Kitts Hill Willing Workers 4-H club. This year, she is showing turkeys and fancy poultry.

She said she doesn’t know exactly why she decided to run for princess.

“I like pageants. I am a dancer, so I enjoy beauty contests. So, I wanted to try it and see what happened,” Litner said. As for winning, she “is very shocked. I did not expect it this year. I thought it would be next year, but I am very happy with the result.”

Stallard said he decided to run for king because “I thought it would be fun, be a fun experience and a good goal to accomplish. It feels great, I couldn’t imagine anything better.”

Stallard goes to Ironton High School, is a member of the Back Road Haybalers and shows rabbits competitively.

He was “knighted” with a show stick by the 2024 King Devin Fife, a tradition started three years ago by the 2023 Fair King Evan Clark. While the queen and princess get crowns, the king gets a ball cap with their royal title and year on it.

Fife said he was going to run for king again next year since it is his senior year.

Sunday marked the end of the reign of Kerns and her time as a 4-Her because she starts college at Morehead State University in the fall, where she plans to study pre-vet medicine.

“I plan to specialize in large animals, specifically the 4-H animals — hogs, cattle, goats, lambs, and occasionally horses, but they are not my favorite,” she said. “Horses and I do not click the way other animals and I do.”

She was excited for Leith to experience all that she has during her reign.

“It has been such an honor to represent Lawrence County at all the different county fairs in Ohio,” Kerns said. “I am really excited for her to make the friendships and memories I’ve gotten to make over the past year. It is really fun.”