McLeod County Woman Selected as 71st Princess Kay of the Milky Way

(KNSI) – The night before the Minnesota State Fair opens isn’t just a time to prepare your stretchy pants and walking shoes. It’s also the coronation of Princess Kay of the Milky Way.

This year, three central Minnesota Dairy Princesses were chosen among nine finalists to compete for the title, which went to McLeod County’s Rachel Visser. Nineteen-year-old Visser of Hutchinson will be the goodwill ambassador for the thousands of Minnesota dairy farm families for the next year.

Grace Woitala of Avon represented Stearns County and was chosen as one of two runners-up. Winona County Dairy Princess Katie Ketchum was the other.

Finalist Selena Corona also represented Stearns County. Another local finalist, Paige Gerads, is from Morrison County.

Candidates are judged on their general dairy knowledge, communication skills and enthusiasm for promoting dairy. Finalists applied and then had to be interviewed, deliver a speech, and participate in a mock media interview.

Visser’s first order of business will be to sit in a rotating cooler and have her likeness carved in a 90-pound block of butter. The other dairy princesses will follow suit throughout the fair, which wraps up on Labor Day.

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