Lovely day for Loveday as Antique Festival crowns new queen
Mariah Loveday became the newest member of the Antique Festival queen club by winning the 2017-18 Holmes County Antique Festival queen contest held at Millersburg Christian Church on Saturday, Oct. 7 during the festival.
Five young women competed for the role of 2017-18 Holmes County Antique Festival queen, and while they all did a spectacular job, only one could receive the tiara and crown as this past year’s queen Blythe Mast passed along the honor of representing Holmes County and the festival as its queen.
The 55th Holmes County Antique Festival queen honor went to Loveday, 16, daughter of Scott and May Loveday. The first attendant honor went to Macey Gilstrap, 14, daughter of Chris and Michelle Gilstrap, and the second attendant role fell to Madelyn Dawson, 17, daughter of Darren and Cass Dawson. The other contestants were Julie Parrish, 15, daughter of Ricky and Rhonda Parrish, and Callie Proper, 14, daughter of Craig and Regina Proper.
As far as serving the Holmes County Antique Festival, Loveday understands what kind of work goes into representing Holmes County and the festival. She served as the first attendant under Mast last year, so the travel experience will be nothing new for her.
“I was very hopeful that I would get [queen] because I had experience with it before,” Loveday said. “But it was harder because there were more people in this than there were last year. It was quite a competition. Everybody was so gorgeous.”
Loveday said the idea of running for Antique Festival queen never really entered her mind until one day when her mother talked to her about the opportunity. She noted that she had never done anything like it before, and she wasn’t involved in a lot of other activities, so she felt she could give it a try.
Two years later and she has gone from an attendant to the queen. “I figured I’d try something new,” Loveday said. “Over the past year it really grew on me.”
Loveday said she traveled with the court to well over 20 festivals, and the experience was one that will definitely pay off in the long run. She said she has developed great new relationships with Mast and the former court, and she is looking forward to creating new friendships and memories as this year progresses.
“I am already very good friends with Madelyn, and I know Macey a little bit and think she is a nice girl, and I’m looking forward to getting to know her better,” Loveday said.
As a member of the West Holmes marching band, Loveday is used to performing in front of big crowds. However, that is with a large group alongside her. Now in this role, she will be asked to represent her community in a very new and challenging way. The experience of public speaking is one she feels she will grow into as the year progresses.
As for the memories she has already made as an attendant, Loveday said they were wonderful. Now she is looking forward to making bigger and better memories.
“I’ll remember everything,” Loveday said when asked what she will look back on in her future years. “I will remember the feeling of all of it and the great friendships.”
Loveday said that upon graduation at West Holmes High School, she will attend Stark State Community College and work toward becoming a dental hygienist.
Her court also was thrilled to have the opportunity to serve the Antique Festival, and they too are looking forward to all of the travel and hoopla surrounding being part of the royalty.
“I am really excited to have the opportunity to travel all around the state of Ohio and to see everything Ohio has to offer,” Gilstrap said. “I have talked with several past queens, and they all said the experience was unbelievable, and it is a once-in-a-lifetime thing that I should really cherish and enjoy.”
Gilstrap said she enjoyed getting to know the other contestants and said that she would have been thrilled for any of them had they been selected. At the same time she really wanted to win.
Gilstrap said she firmly believes this experience will help her mature her public speaking, and she can’t wait to get this year started.
Dawson has been through the process before, having competed in the princess contest for a number of years, so she understands the process. At the same time she said she knows how harrowing the event can be, so the nerves still play a big part.
“It would seem like it might get easier, but the nerves came right back, even more this time because I’m older and it is the queen contest,” Dawson said with a smile of relief following the contest. “I think when I was younger, I didn’t think about it as much.”
Dawson said that while many people might view this as a mother-daughter kind of experience, she is excited to have her dad involved.
“My dad has been such a big part of this,” Dawson said. “I am excited for him and happy to travel with him.”
As the trio of young women join this year’s princess team of queen Kaylin Williams and her court of first attendant Alexis Wagers, second attendant Breella Krantz and third attendant Meghan Wallace, it should be a fine year of developing friendships and growing as they travel Ohio to promote Holmes County and the Antique Festival.