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Newly crowned 2009 Whea Esta Queen Miss Jessica Parrish

The 68th Annual Whea Esta was held August 21st & 22nd at the Okeene High School gym, cafeteria and auditorium.

The pageant is always a great time of excitement for the entrants, the proud families and those who are there to cheer them on.  All of the girls did a wonderful job.  Jessica Parrish was crowned Queen as Jena Holiday won 1st Runner Up,  Karlee Brownlee was the 2nd Runner Up, Jessica Parrish won the Spirit Award and Karlee Brownlee won the Miss Congeniality.

I loved the addition of the video this year.  It was so nice to see the Whea Esta Queen’s year as it was also a scrapbook of the Chamber events!  Jill Boeckman was a lovely Queen last year, thank you Jill for all of your help!

The entries started arriving just after 7am Friday morning; we had some folks anxiously waiting to entering their fair items! Donna Laubach gave us a hand with entering and what a great help she was!  We had a nice variety of items throughout the categories but the exhibit that won the Chamber Directors heart was the display Marjorie Winters put together of the Westfahl family’s legacy, WOW, if you missed Whea Esta this year, you missed something very special, something I hope, we get to see again.  Saturday was filled with the Exhibits with Ribbons hung, the BBQ Cookoff, Drawings with Door Prizes from Chamber Members, a Petting Zoo by Cody Seelke and great demonstrations.

The Wheat Walk/Run had over 70 participants who enjoyed some great Okeene weather Saturday morning.

The exhibit placings were as follows:

Junior Division

Agriculture
1^st Jesse Totty – Corn, 2^nd Trent Turner – Corn, 3^rd Chayce Carter – Corn.

Crafts
1^st Allison Schieber – Other:  Stepping Stone, 1^st Amilee Kehnemund – Craft/Plastic, 1^st Grace Seelke Fabric, 1^st Jessica Parrish – Other Material, 1^st Keyle Kehnemund –Paper, 1^st Keyle Kehnemund – Wood, 1^st Koby Smith – Rock Collection, 1^st Koby Smith Pinewood Derby, 1^st Kristie Burghardt –Leather, 1^st Kristie Burghardt –Picture, 1^st Kristie Burghardt –Plastic, 1^st Lex Kehnemund – Jewelry/Beads, 2^nd Amilee Kehnemund – Fabric, 2^nd Amilee Kehnemund, Jewelry/beads, 2^nd Cheyenne Haag –Picture, 2^nd Jessica Schieber – other/Stepping Stone, 2^nd Keyle Kehnemund – Plastic, 2^nd Lex Kehnemund –Paper, 2^nd Lex Kehnemund –Wood, 3^rd Amilee Kehnemund –Paper, 3^rd Amilee Kehnemund – Wood,  3^rd Hannah Schieber –Picture, 3^rd Hannah Schieber – Other Stepping Stone, 3^rd Keyle Kehnemund –Fabric, 3^rd Keyle Kehnemund – Jewelry/Beads, 3^rd Lex Kehnemund –Plastic, 4^th Harley Waldrop –Picture, Lex Kehnemund – Fabric, 5^th Amilee Kehnemund – Picture.

Baked Goods:
1^st Jentry Biggs – Snickerdoodles, 1^st Koby Smith – Choc. Chip Cookies, 1^st Sydney Biggs – Oatmeal, 1^st Taylor Biggs – Peanut Butter, 2^nd Alek Winter Monster Cookies, 2^nd Brexton Smith – Peanut Butter Cookies, 3^rd Hannah Schieber – cookies/other, 4^th Ashleigh Grauberger – cookies.

Canning
1^st Karlee Brownlee – Sweet Pickles, 1^st Levi Smith – Picante Sauce, 1^st Levi Smith – Jelly/Pear.

Clothing
1^st Hannah Schieber – Pot Holder,1^st Kallee Dunn – Pillow Case, 1^st Kallee Dunn – Fleece, 2^nd Allison Schieber – Pot Holder, 2^nd Karlee Brownlee – Fleece, 3^rd Holly Boeckman – Fleece, 3^rd Koby Smith Pot Holder, 4^th Levi Smith – Pot Holder, 5^th Jessica Schieber – Pot Holder.

Flowers
1^st Hannah Schieber – Zinnias, 1^st Jacke Parrish – Periwinkles, 1^st Jessica Parrish – Zinnias, 1^st Jessica Schieber – Other: Sunflower, 2^nd Jacke Parrish – Zinnias, 2^nd Jessica Parrish – Periwinkles.

Horticulture
Alec Johannesmeyer -1^st’s: – Sweet Peppers, Squash – Butternut, Squash – other, Hot Peppers, Onions, Potatoes & Collective Arrangement.   2^nd – Yellow Squash, 3^rd – Okra, Zucchini
Brexton Smith – 1^st’s – Zucchini Squash, Yellow Squash, 3^rd – Squash/Other.
Hannah Schieber – 1^st Okra.
Allison Schieber – 2^nd Hot Peppers
Koby Smith – 2^nd Zucchini Squash
Levi Smith – Squash/Other
Miles Howe – 2^nd Okra.

Photography
1^st Alec Johannesmeyer – People, 1^st Anna Lee – Structure, 1^st Anna Lee – Nature, 1^st Anna Lee –Animals, 1^st Blake Bedwell – Story Board, 2^nd Alec Johannesmeyer – Nature, 3^rd Breanne Haag – Nature.

Senior Division

Agriculture
1^st Clifford Droke -Grass Bundle, 1^st Clifford Droke – Oats, 1^st Clifford Droke – Grass/Other.

Accessories & Handiwork 1st Brenda Oney – Needlepoint, 1^st Judy Laubach – Quilt, 1^st Margaret Oney – Counted Cross Stitch, 1^st Margaret Oney – Hand Embroidery, 1^st Toni Windle – Crocheted Work. 2^nd Virginia Weaver, 3^rd Dorothy Roach-Jeans Quilt, 4^th Cathy Brownlee – Fleece Quilt.

Arts & Crafts
1^st Jason Parrish - Misc Craft, 1^st Joyce Droke – Jewelry, 1^st Joyce Droke – Hobbies, 2^nd Joyce Droke – Craft Misc.

Baked Goods
1^st Amie Jantzen – Cake, 1^st Delane Kehnemund – Quick Bread, 1^st Dorothy Roach – Snickerdoodles, 2^nd Brenda Oney – Cookies, 2^nd Jamie Smith – Quick Bread/Zucchini, 3^rd Judy Laubach – Cookies, 4^th Dorothy Roach – Peanut Butter Cookies.

Canning
1^st Cathy Brownlee – Tomatoes, 1^st Judy Laubach – Apple Cinnamon Jelly, 1^st Judy Laubach – Relish, 1^st Judy Laubach – Zucchini Jam, 1^st Ruth Lubbers – Beets, 1^st Ruth Lubbers – Fruit, 2^nd Delane Kehnemund – Jam, 2^nd Delane Kehnemund – Relish, 2^nd Judy Laubach – Beets, 3^rd Cathy Brownlee – Sweet Pickles, 3^rd Jamie Smith – Relish, 3^rd Leta Kirtley – Vegetable, all types, 3^rd Ruth Lubbers – Vegetable/

Clothing
1^st girls & 1^st boys –  Delane Kehnemund, 1^st other-Judy Laubach, 1^st Women’s – Margaret Oney.

Flowers
1^st Margaret Oney -Fresh Flower Arrangement, 2^nd Virginia Weaver – Fresh Flowers, 3^rd Clayton Fisher – Fresh Flowers.

Horticulture
1^st Clifford Droke – Peppers, 1^st Jamie Smith – Squash all types, 1^st in ea: Judy Laubach -Onions, Potatoes, Sweet Peppers& Squash.  1^st in ea Lisa Howe – Okra & Squash/all types, 1^st in ea Lorean Droke – Eggs, Cantaloupe, Squash, Cucumbers, eggplant & peppers, 1^st Shalla Terrell – Collective Arrangement, 2^nd Clifford Droke – Cucumbers, 2^nd Judy Laubach – Okra, 2^nd Lorean Droke – Collective Arrangement, 3^rd Okra – Lorean Droke, 4^th Jamie Smith  – Okra.

Photography
1^st Beverly Unruh – Story Board, 1^st Jamie Smith – Animals, 1^st Jana Johannesmeyer – Structure, 1^st Jana Johannesmeyer – Nature,  1^st Jana Johannesmeyer – People, 2^nd Beverly Unruh – Nature, 2^nd Clifford Droke – Story Board, 2^nd Jana Johannesmeyer – Animals.

Wheat Show
Junior Division
The Wheat King of 2009 is Quintin Wray, 2^nd – Olivia Westfahl, 3^rd Nathan Rackley, 4^th Dylan Sawyer, 5^th Hunter Westfahl, 6^th Morgan Westfahl, 7^th Kristi Burghardt, 8^th Jessica Parrish, 9^th Kelsie Burghardt, others competing in the Wheat Show were: Cody Day, Koby Smith, Kylee Wray, Nolan Rackley, Tanner O’Kelley, Thomas Blehm and Will Bedwell.

Senior Division
Clayton Fisher

Whea Esta was a bit of a challenge this year with the construction going on in the front of the gym but this was the 68^th Annual so the show had to go on!  I’m sure if you asked our new Wheat King, Whea Esta Queen, Grand Champions, Reserve Champions or any of the ribbon winners, they are all glad we put forth the effort and to be honest, it was really nice having a little smaller Whea Esta as it gave us some time to look at how to improve it as we have the 70^th coming up with only 1 year to perfect it in between!  Be thinking throughout the year about what you want to enter in Whea Esta next year, set the items aside or make a list.  I hear that is how Whea Esta was so big in the days gone by: people planned and thought about it, reminded their children and each other about it all year long.