FARMINGTON – Royalty walked among the Farmington Fair’s cows on Wednesday.
Wearing a big, tall diamond tiara that glinted in the September-bright sunshine and a purple shiny satin sash declaring “Maine Dairy Princess 2008,” she wasn’t too hard to spot.
Crowned on Sept. 4 at the Clinton Fair, Ashlie Hardy, 14, of Farmington, gently nudged the reigns to “Annie,” a very pregnant Ayrshire beauty, into the Worthley Ring for show.
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“Here comes an Ayrshire led by royalty,” announcer Rick Barr said. Hardy smiled, Annie mooed and those watching from the bleachers appreciated this show’s spectacle even more.
Winning the state crown means more than getting to wear a cool-looking tiara, Hardy said. Competing in the pageant wasn’t easy. It required giving excellent answers to the judges’ questions, giving a speech she wrote before a big crowd of people and competing in a cow-milking contest.
Actually, the cow milking part was easy for Hardy because she’s been doing for as long as she can remember, but it wasn’t easy for most of the other contestants.
“It was hilarious,” Hardy said. “We (Hardy and her friend Sarah Richards, 17, of Hermon, who was also competing) knew what we were doing, but they didn’t.”
For the talent portion of the pageant, it was her award-winning speech titled “Sexed Semen,” detailing the process of determining whether a cow or bull will be the likely result, that most impressed the judges for its scientific specificity and advanced level of thought. Then it was on to the evening gown round and judges’ questions.
They wanted to know why she wants to be Maine’s Dairy Princess. Hardy, a freshman at Mt. Blue High School, said she wanted people to “know the joys of having animals to take care of” and to bring more awareness and education to the general public about farms and farming.
Once all the questions were answered, Hardy and the other contestants had to wait for what seemed like forever for the judges to make up their minds.
“It was the longest time I’ve ever spent waiting,” Hardy said. The judges returned and gave all but Hardy and Richards trophies. Looking at each other, they realized they were the finalists – one the runner up and the other, the big winner. Then they announced Richards’ name.
“My mouth was just hanging open,” Hardy said, “when they said I was the winner.”
It turns out royalty runs in the Hardy family of Hardy Farm. Ashlie Hardy’s older sister, Marjorie, 17, was crowned National Ayrshire princess at the National Ayrshire Association Convention last June.
“She helped me through the pageant,” Hardy said of her sister Marjorie. “She’s been through it but at a much higher level. She knows what she’s doing.”
Now, as the representative for the state’s dairy industry, Hardy’s duties include attending fairs, riding in parades all over the state and beyond. Next up, she will be representing Maine at Eastern States in Massachusetts coming up next week.
Walking with Annie into the ring to show three times, the pair won a first place ribbon, a champion ribbon and the grand champion ribbon in the Ayrshire, Guernsey and Milking Shorthorn Exhibition.
“This means a lot to me,” Hardy said of her crowning achievement. “I was born and raised with cows.”
