By Jessica Brown
The Miss Scott County Fair Queen Pageant may have gone off without a hitch, but it certainly went well off the charts in temperatures.
Audience members filled as many folding chairs that could fit under the pavilion at the Scott County Fairgrounds on July 20 to support the pageant contestants. Ranging in age from kindergarten to college level, it was full steam ahead for the participants.
An introduction of girls vying for titles of Scott County Fair Little Miss, Junior Miss and Queen smiled, waved and held their own during each portion of the competition.
Each of the 17 contestants was introduced and then recited speeches, with 2025 Scott County Fair Queen Kylie Clayton delivering hers first. Clayton began attending the Scott County Fair as a child, when she showed livestock.
Many of the participants mentioned mentor and pageant director Heather Wardlow, who has been overseeing the pageant since it began four years ago. She shared that having the pageant had been a passion of hers since she was in high school. At that time, there were various competitions but none that were open to all, allowing only 4-H members to compete. Wardlow says creating a county fair pageant that was more flexible was very important.
“We had the 4-H queen at one time and in the 90’s, there was a Scott County Queen, but they weren’t allowed to compete at the state level,” shares Wardlow.
Because of the changes instilled by Wardlow, Clayton was allowed to do so when competed at the state level in January of this year against contestants from 74 other counties in Illinois. It is this privilege that not only makes Scott County’s pageant unique to ones that have come before, but also encourages younger Scott County girls to compete.
Clayton added that working with Wardlow made filling the role of 2025 queen as stress free as possible. “That’s what Heather is great about,” she shares. “If you want to give 110 percent or if you just want to compete in the pageant for the experience, she leaves it up to you. ”
Other parts of this year’s competition consisted of a question and answer portion for each age level. The questions were asked by Clayton and the other 2025 Scott County Fair royalty, Junior Miss Maura Moore and Little Miss Carly Schnelton.
After all their hard work for the evening, the courageous competitors donned big smiles, held hands and looked out at proud family and friends as, at last, the winners were announced. The Eden Laschmett beamed when her name was called as winning the title of 2026 Scott County Fair Little Miss, as did Ella Little, who showed shock and tears as she realized she had won the crown for 2026 Scott County Fair Junior Miss.
The most emotional win of the night, however, came when Braylee Littig, who graduated from Winchester High School in May, was crowned 2026 Scott County Fair Queen. The crowd exploded in applause in support and congratulations for Littig, who is a cancer survivor. She’s had the full support of the community after her diagnosis in 2024, subsequent treatment and continuing recovery.
It made winning the title of queen even more poignant for her and those rooting for her. Clayton, known as “Queen Kylie” to her pageant companions, is ruefully passing the crown on to Littig. “I’m a little sad, but so happy to have Braylee experience it for herself,” she shares.
Littig is just as excited. “I can’t wait to represent Scott County,” she says.“It’s going to be hard to fill Kylie’s shoes, but I’m looking forward to spending time with my junior and little misses and getting to know them.”
