Your hostess for the Illinois State Fair – and, later in the month, the Du Quoin State Fair – is Addisyn Calloni, who is from Royalton, in Franklin County.

Since Franklin County has no pageant – her high school does not even have an FFA chapter – she came out of the Perry County pageant to become Miss County Fair Queen.

Queen Addisyn says even in 2022, there is a place for a pageant.

“I think beauty pageants will always be a timeless opportunity for girls. You can develop interview skills, networking – it’s just great for an overall boost of confidence,” she said. “The large majority of the score in a pageant comes from your interview, so it really matters more about what’s on the inside than the outside that counts.”

The queen is going to be a sophomore at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, majoring in biological sciences, with an eye toward becoming a physician’s assistant.