URBANA — Sophia Hartke, an 18-year-old from Sidney, was crowned the 2025 Champaign County Fair Queen earlier this month. She kicked off her reign with a busy week of fulfilling her duties at the fair, which wrapped up July 26.
“I usually start my mornings off down at the barns,” Hartke said. “And we always introduce ourselves at the beginning of every grandstand event and welcome everybody for coming.”
She and Sloane Davis, this year’s Little Miss Champaign County Fair pageant winner, serve as ambassadors for the fair, handing out ribbons to prize livestock, greeting fairgoers and sometimes handing out free Cullers’ french fries to lucky attendees.
Hartke didn’t expect to win the pageant on her first attempt. She entered the competition after encouragement from a few friends and family members.
But she’s no stranger to the world of county fairs — or agriculture.
Hartke said visiting the Champaign County Fair has always been part of her summers, and she also helps her grandfather, the president of the Effingham County Fair Board, prepare for his fair every year.
She also has 10 years of experience in 4-H and has served in many leadership positions at Unity High School’s Future Farmers of America chapter.
“Maybe when you think of a county fair, you just think of the rides or the grandstand events,” she said. “But I think it’s very important for people to get in touch with where their food comes from, what process it takes to get that food, and I think it’s valuable to keep the connection between farmer and consumer relatively close.”
Her Champaign County Fair Queen predecessor shares that sentiment.
“So many people don’t realize how agriculture touches them in their day-to-day lives,” said Olivia Shike, who won the pageant last year and plans to pursue a career in agricultural economics and policy.
To Shike, being the queen was an opportunity to represent not only the fair, but the farming community she calls home. She said the fair helps bridge the gap between rural and urban communities.
“Farmers want to be able to feed the world,” she said. “They want to make sure that the environment is going to last for generations to come. And so I think when you realize [that] at the end of the day we all have the same goals, it just kind of helps you work together more.”
Though the fair is over, Hartke said she is excited for the year of opportunities and responsibilities that come with being the fair queen, like attending parades and community events.
“I’m proud of being able to represent my county and represent my family a little bit,” she said. “My grandpa cried when I won. He was so proud of me, and I think that that made it feel real for me.”
Hartke is also preparing to start her first year at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where she plans to study exercise science and eventually pursue medical school to become a surgeon.
She will go on to compete in the Miss Illinois County Fair Queen Pageant in January.