A Fall Fairytale Through the Eyes of a Queen

New Albany’s Harvest Homecoming Festival has always been my favorite fall activity. Local businesses and vendors fill the streets with magic for four days every October to celebrate the Harvest. The amount of food I eat and earrings I buy every year is absurd.

This year was especially magical for two reasons; I was representing the festival as Miss Harvest Homecoming and the theme this year was A Fall Fairytale.

Myself riding in the annual Harvest Homecoming Parade to officially kick off the festival! Photo courtesy of Crit Fisher.

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My history with the festival is extremely expansive. I started out as a Harvest Homecoming Princess, a role where I danced around on stage during the pageant and got to ride in the parade. It was awesome! I looked forward to spending time with the queens every year, and dreamed of being them one day.

I then got older and began to volunteer with the festival. I helped decorate boo

ths, got to sit in on meetings with my Board Member of a father, and just loved enjoying the festival from the volunteer lens. I did this up until I left for college, and the memories I have are fondly remembered.

As I got into middle and high school, I became a stagehand for the Miss Harvest Homecoming Scholarship Pageant. This was where my dream of becoming Miss Harvest Homecoming elevated into a personal goal. However, I sat backstage every year for fear I would never make the dream come true.

It wasn't until this year that I thought, “What the heck, let’s do this thing!”

And I did that thing.

The moment I was crowned Miss Harvest Homecoming. Photo courtesy of Brook Hollis Photography.

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After my crowning, I anxiously awaited the festival. October 1st felt so far away until it arrived, and BOY did the week fly!

After the parade, my Outstanding Teen, Hannah Grace Colin, and I spent the next few days decorating our golf cart, hosting senior bingo, assisting in the Kid’s Dog Show, and shopping with our sponsors. All of those appearances were absolutely incredible, but nothing prepared me for the hallmark of the festival; the booth days.

Waking up at 2 in the morning is something I absolutely loathe, but when you’re Miss Harvest Homecoming, you have no other option. Having your hair curled and face beat with makeup in the morning is tough, but going on the news makes it worth it.

Hannah and I posing for a photo with our director Marie Fulkerson and interviewing with WLKY News from Louisville, Kentucky. Photo courtesy of Gretchen Krammes.

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The four days of booths were full of photo ops, good food, and live music. Receiving the royal treatment was unreal, the best part however was all the free food. I also had the opportunity to emcee events and sing the National Anthem at LEAST 100 times. Most impressively, I kicked off the tractor pull contest with a full pull of a tractor packed with 160 pounds on the back! I do not skip leg day!

Being the festival’s titleholder was a lens into the festival that I always dreamed of looking through. Having the opportunity to do so was an absolute dream, and I still smile just thinking about all the fun I had. The entire week of festivities was nothing short of a Fall Fairytale, and coming back to collegiate reality was TOUGH.

I have more photos that anybody could ever need, but feel free to peruse the gallery below to take a peek into what it’s like being a festival titleholder!