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The 2025 Mt. Pulaski Fall Festival
kicked off Friday evening with an opening ceremony announcing this
years parade grand marshal, the volunteer of the year and the young
volunteer of the year. This event was immediately followed by the
Junior Miss and Little Miss Mt. Pulaski Fall Festival pageant.
The evening began with opening
remarks by Mt. Pulaski Mayor Matt Bobell. The mayor complemented the
fall festival committee on another job well done with the 2025
festival. He noted the effort that it takes and the dedication of
the volunteers and local organizations that make it possible. He
also observed that this year the Fall Festival Parade is going to
have the largest number of entries he has seen since he became
mayor.
After his opening remarks, the podium was turned over to Katie Alsop
who announced the 2025 parade Grand Marshal as retired Mt. Pulaski
High School Agriculture Teacher Ralph Allen. Allen was presented
with a plaque by Mayor Bobell
VIDEO Retired
MPHS Agriculture teacher Ralph Allen announced as the 2025 Mt.
Pulaski Fall Festival Parade Grand Marshal
Next, Alsop introduced the Volunteer of the Year as being Loren
Holmes.
VIDEO Loren
Holmes named 2025 Mt. Pulaski Volunteer of the Year
The final award for the evening was given to Kayla Aylesworth as the
Young Volunteer of the Year.
VIDEO 2025 Mt.
Pulaski Young Volunteer of the Year Kayla Aylesworth
There was then a short break as the contestants for the Junior Miss
and Little Miss pageant finished getting prepared for the evening.
This year, the emcee for the
pageant was Jenny Lakin, the daughter in law of the late Mike Lakin
who owned and managed a print newspaper in Mt. Pulaski for many
years.
Assisting her was young Ross Jones.
The judges for the evening were
Alexandria Hafner, mother of the 2024 Little Miss Mt. Pulaski Piper
Haftner, Janell Woolard of Lincoln, and the 2025 Little Miss Logan
County Vayda Farmer.
This year there were eight Little Miss contestants and nine Junior
Miss contestants.
The Little Miss Contestants were Gwenyth Taylor, Eliza Meister, Isla
Leinweber, Reese Diebert, Laila Fulk, Zoie Streskal, Reese Jones and
Ivy Schaffenacker.
Each of the contestants came forward, introduced themselves, told
how old they were, then shared with the audience their favorite
thing about the Mt. Pulaski Fall Festival. Several said they enjoyed
the bounce houses, one contestant said she liked it because her dad
was in the dunk tank and it was funny when he splashed, and another
said they enjoyed painting the square in preparation of the weekend
activities, and one said her favorite thing was the pageant because
it was a lot of fun.
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VIDEO Little Miss candidate Gwenyth Taylor
VIDEO Little Miss
contestants Reese Diebert, Laila Fulk and Zoie Steskal
VIDEO Little Miss
contender Reese Jones
VIDEO Little Miss contestant Ivy Schaffenacker
When the Little Miss contestants
were finished, the Junior Miss contestants were introduced. Those
eight contenders were Harlyn Gibbs, Nora Smock, Leah Jones, Almas
Meister, Lillian Bishop, Faye Taylor, Luci Bobell, Briella
McDonnough and Kinsley Lahey.
After the group introduction, each
girl returned front and center to introduce themselves, say how old
they were, and tell what they plan to do when they grow up. This
year there were a number of young ladies who said they wanted to be
artists, some were interested in becoming teachers, a couple were
interested in medicine, one wanted to be an architect, and one
wanted to be a zookeeper.
With this portion of the pageant complete, the responsibility of
selecting a singular winner in each of the two contests fell to the
judges. This year it was a very hard decision that ended with each
judge choosing a different young lady for the respective crowns.
This meant that there was much discussion that followed, and at
least one judge had to change her vote in order to come to a
conclusion.
In the end the contestant named as
the 2025 Little Miss Mt. Pulaski Fall Festival was Reese Diebert.
She is the daughter of Todd and Krystal Diebert and is in the first
grade at Mt. Pulaski Grade School. Reese received a tiara and sash
and will ride alongside the Junior Miss Mt. Pulaski Fall Festival in
the Saturday afternoon parade.
The Junior Miss Mt. Pulaski Fall
Festival was Nora Smock. She is the daughter of Doug and Chelsea
Smock and is in the third grade at Mt. Pulaski High School.
The girls were assisted with their sash and tiaras by the 2024 fall
festival royalty, Junior Miss Addy Conn and Little Miss Piper Hafner.
Congratulations to the two winners of the 2025 pageant, and kudos to
all the contestants who did an outstanding job representing their
community in the contest.
[Nila Smith]
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