NORTH VERNON — The glitter, grace and glamour of last Sunday’s Jennings County Fair Queen Pageant outshined the dark shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic when Mariah Grider was selected as the 2021 fair queen.
The pageant was the first major event held at North Vernon’s Park Theatre Civic Centre since the pandemic forced the community landmark to close its doors in early 2020.
Most of the 2020 fair and the fair queen contest were canceled because of the pandemic last year, and Carolyn McDonald’s reign as the 2019 fair queen was extended to include the year of 2020.
When the decision was made in May to go ahead with fair events, pageant co-directors Kitty Shepherd and LaVerne Vanosdol worked to put final plans in place for the big night.
During the week before the 2021 pageant, the three candidates for the title of fair princess and the four candidates for fair queen worked to decorate the theater’s stage in an air of celebration.
The candidates for fair princess were Meredith Nicole Conrad, Allison Nicole Caudill and Madison Nicole Garris. Caudill, an incoming freshman at Jennings County High School, received the honor.
In the queen contest, entrants were Hope Diekoff, Haylee JoAnn Ballard, Brianna Katelyn Caudill and Grider.
“I am very honored to be chosen as this year’s fair queen and excited to see what this year brings," Grider said. "I hope to serve my community by being a good role model for the boys and girls of the community."
The 21 year-old is a lifelong resident of Jennings County and the daughter of Chriss and Gennie Grider.
Just three years after graduating with honors from JCHS in 2018, Grider graduated with honors from Hanover College with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and integrative physiology. During her years at Hanover, she also worked as a waitress at Cracker Barrel and then as a laborer at Dunlap Construction.
Grider has now pivoted away from the athletic medicine profession and is enrolled in studies at IUPUC to become an orthopedic nurse. She hopes to one day become a nurse practitioner.
“The effects of the pandemic in the world made me rethink how I wanted to move forward,” Grider said. “I just saw the effects of the pandemic happening in the bodies, the minds and emotions of people all around me, and I decided I wanted to reach a wider field of people with the effects of this thing we have all been through."
In addition to her plans to study at IUPUC, Crider will also continue work as a patient care technician at Columbus Regional Hospital.
Grider and her court will make visits at a variety of events throughout this week’s fair and will go on to participate in the competition for the title at the state competition.
