From the left: Emma Vogl, 2019 Princess Lindsey Van Gundy, 2019 Queen Molly Simmons, 2020 Queen Jaden Johnson, 2020 Princess Rylee Sloss and Reese Coffman.

Over $20,000 was raised at the 2020 Guthrie County Cattlemen’s Association Annual Banquet last weekend.

Around 225 people attended the event at the Guthrie County Fairgrounds Event Center Saturday night, as their trophy auction’s funds raised exceeded the prior year’s, which goes towards scholarships to Association members’ relatives attending their first year of post-secondary education. Five recipients were awarded scholarships this year, with the two largest going to former Guthrie County Cattlemen’s Association queen and princess Paige Caltrider and Chelsea Larson.

The 2020 queen and princess were also crowned, with Jaden Johnson of Panora and Rylee Sloss of Guthrie Center receiving the honors. Association President Cale Kastner explains the royal responsibilities, “They help us with a lot of grilling events, they help us at the state fair when we go down there for one day and help them cook. They help us at the county fair, they end up handing out trophies and ribbons and whatever other various tasks that we have for them throughout the year. They ride on the floats in all the parades throughout the summer, they stay plenty busy.”

Other proceeds from the trophy auction go towards Association projects such as improvements to the county fairgrounds, for which Kastner says 4-H and other youth involved in agriculture are their biggest priority. The banquet also included a presentation from Iowa Cattlemen’s Association Senior Director of Membership and Communications Katie Olthoff, and entertainment from hypnotist Randy Andrews.