The Dallas County Fair kicked off yesterday in Adel and among the first day festivities was the crowning of the 2013 Dallas County Fair Queen.

Selected for the honor this year is 2013 Adel-DeSoto-Minburn High School graduate Madison Gavin.

Gavin says this is the first year she ran for queen and she’s excited it went so well.  She says she was surprised to be chosen because there were so many good candidates and she’s proud to represent Dallas County

Gavin’s duties as queen started right away as she helped out with the annual pie auction at the fair booster dinner.  She says she’s looking forward to attending all the activities this week and meeting new people and creating lifelong memories at the state fair next month.

The Dallas County queen will compete against other county fair queens from across Iowa for the state title next month.  Gavin says she hopes to show that small town girls can have big goals too.

This year’s Dallas County Princess is Anna Steggerda of Urbandale and Ryann Slycord of Adel was chosen as the first runner-up.  Other queen candidates were Maggie Bermel of Granger, Cierra Hildebrand from Perry, Danielle James of Minburn, Abigail Merschman of Adel and Hanna Taylor from Bouton.

Gavin says she wants to thank her parents and the community for all the support they’ve given her throughout the years and this week.  She looks forward to making everyone proud during both the county and state fair.

For more photos and a video of the crowning, visit the Raccoon Valley Radio Facebook page.