Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— The director of the Clay County Agricultural Fair Scholarship Pageant will be the grand marshal for the 54th annual Our Country Day Parade on July 2.
Diana Rothwell partnered with the Clay County Fair Association to relaunch the pageant and has been the event’s director since 2015.
Rothwell said the fair had a pageant in the 1990s, but the event had gone dormant for several years.
In 2014, she approached then fair manager Pete Sutton about restarting the event.
“I just knew that Clay County did not have a pageant attached to the fair,” she said, “and I knew almost every other fair does because I had judged some of them.”
Rothwell added that the pageants’ primary benefits are developing young women’s skills and giving them access to scholarships.
“I thought it was a great opportunity for Clay County because it’s a huge county, and our young ladies were missing out on scholarship money.”
Rothwell also previously co-directed the Miss Keystone Heights High School Scholarship Pageant.
She said that some of the fair pageant’s most significant milestones have occurred recently, with Villages Media singling out the event in a documentary it produced about the state’s 67 counties.
And this year, the largest magazine in the pageant world: Pageantry Magazine, recognized and awarded the pageant with two Pageantry Magazine Spirit Awards. The magazine’s upcoming summer/fall issue will feature interviews and photos of the fair queens and spirit winners.
“That’s pretty exciting,” Rothwell said of the awards.
She added, however, that the scholarship money the pageant has provided overshadows the external recognition.
“Our Miss Queen, she has $1,500,” she said. “Our Teen Miss gets $750, and the two younger girls get $150 a piece.”
Rothwell added that this year the pageant added two prizes in each of its four divisions: an interview prize and a community service award, each with a $100 scholarship.
Rothwell previously served for 20 years in Clay Electric’s Holiday Helpers program. The program has sponsored several food drives throughout the co-op’s service area, and much of the food was donated to the Clay County Food Bank.
In the past, she has combined two of her projects, taking some of the fair’s pageant queens on a food bank tour to show them its importance and giving them invaluable, hands-on experience of making a lasting impact.
Rothwell said she was first inspired to serve the community by watching her father share his garden with those less fortunate.
She added that she developed her work ethic and the value of teamwork while laboring with her three siblings doing household chores.
Clay Electric has employed Rothwell for 25 years, where she is currently a junior accountant.
In addition to her other community service efforts, she leads a women’s Bible study group at Keystone’s Immanuel Anglican Church. She serves as vice president on the church’s board and teaches children’s church.
She and her husband, Roger, have been married for 36 years. They have two children: a daughter, Rachel, who is married to Bo Bright, and a son, Michael. They also have three grandchildren.
In addition to Rothwell riding in the grand marshal’s car, all four Clay County Fair queens will be riding in the Our Country Day Parade.
