Umatilla County Fair & Farm City Pro Rodeo | East Oregonian & Hermiston Herald | 5
Fair court exemplifi es county’s
ag roots
By NICK ROSENBERGER
EO Media Group
W
ith COVID-19 shutting
down the Umatilla County
Fair in 2020, the young
women on this year’s Fair Court are
more than ready to take their positions.
The four-person court is made up of
Keeva Hoston, from Hermiston, and
Brielle Youncs, Madaline White and
Alexis Bowen, all from Pendleton.
All three Pendleton girls are head-
ing into their senior year of high
school, while Hoston graduated from
Hermiston High School on June 3. She
is planning to go into nursing and is
thinking about attending Blue Moun-
tain Community college for two years
before transferring.
All four princesses are involved in
FFA, a youth organization focused on
agriculture and leadership.
Hoston, who was a dance team
manager during her junior year, was
part of the FFA team that were state
champions this year and will be attend-
ing nationals for the organization. Her
team will be focusing on vertical farm-
ing in large cities and will be going to
California to visit some vertical farms
before heading to Nashville for the
competition this fall.
“What I’m most looking forward to
is the kids, is the children being able to
see us just because they get so excited
and I love that for them,” she said.
Bowen, who has lived in Pendleton
her whole life and is a varsity swimmer
for Pendleton High School, a National
Honors Society member and the Pend-
leton FFA Chapter treasurer, grew up
working on her grandparents’ sheep
farm. She has been showing animals at
the county fair since she was 6 years old.
The Sweet Life Photography/Contributed Photo
The 2021 Umatilla County Fair princesses Brielle Youncs, left, Madaline White, Alexis
Bowen and Keeva Hoston pose for a portrait.
“I just grew up wanting to be the
princesses that I looked up to,” Bowen
said.
And while she has fi nally accom-
plished her dream of becoming a
Umatilla County Fair princess, it isn’t
exactly how she imagined it would be
with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s just kind of diff erent,” she said.
“It’s not exactly what you expect but
we’re making the most out of it.”
Despite the uncertainty, Bowen is
hopeful they can make the fair even
better since people missed so much
last year and is looking forward to
everyone coming together after such a
tumultuous year.
“Especially right now it seemed
like everybody’s fi ghting against each
other,” she said. “But when you see the
community come together, even with
their diff erences, it may fi x problems
that we’ve been all going through, or
help each other through it.”
Youncs, who participates in Young
Life with her church and plays soccer,
softball and basketball, got involved
with the court through a friend who
had been in FFA with her. Her favor-
ite part of the fair is the livestock
event and she loves attending and see-
ing everyone there — and especially
being a role model for young girls in
the area.
“I defi nitely wanted to be a really
big role model to our little girls,”
Youncs said. “Just so they can see all
the things that you get to do when you
are on court.”
And, the fair is a special time as
families are able to come together —
like for Youncs.
“It’s the one time my dad can get a
week off work,” she said. “It’s the one
time we get to spend together, and so
I’m excited to be there with him.”
Youncs also helped convince Prin-
cess Madaline White to apply for the
court.
White, who moved to the area about
10 years ago, grew up with her grand-
pa’s cattle ranch and has always been
interested in agriculture. When she
was fi nally able to show livestock, she
fi gured out that she wanted to show
sheep.
“When I was younger, we actually
went to the fair and they had mutton
busting,” she said. “I ended up doing
that and I don’t know why, but I just fell
in love with the sheep and I just stuck
with it.”
White, who already has developed
her own small business for her live-
stock, wants to go to college for agri-
culture, raise competitive club lambs
and work with some of the other bigger
show and breeders in the country.
“I kind of have a little obsession
with it,” White said. “I’ve loved it ever
since I started doing it.”
“The fair is everything,” she said. “It
means a lot to the community because
it’s a good place to get together and you
don’t have to worry about any outside
issues. It’s kind of just like a fun time
for everyone to enjoy.”