Carbon Fair opens, crowns queen

Katie Aaron is no stranger to the Carbon County Fair.

The Lehighton Area High School senior is heavily involved in the local 4-H Club and she has also served on the junior fair board.

Monday night, Aaron took center stage when she was crowned the 2019 Carbon County Fair Queen.

“I’m really excited for the year ahead and some of the amazing opportunities I’ll have as fair queen,” she said following the event. “I’m particularly looking forward to the state event, especially after hearing Maria talk tonight about some of the wonderful people she’s had a chance to meet along the way.”

Placing the crown on Aaron’s head was last year’s queen, Maria Burits of Palmerton.

Aaron is on the soccer and track and field teams at Lehighton and is a member of Future Business Leaders of America and student council.

Finishing as first runner-up was Kiersten Gursky, 16, of Palmerton. Gursky attends Carbon Career and Technical Institute. She is a member of the varsity cheering squad and basketball team at Palmerton. After high school, she plans to attend Penn State and get her degree in sports medicine.

Kaili Enslin, 17, of Albrightsville, was the second runner-up. Enslin attends Commonwealth Charter Academy. She plans to study early childhood education in college.

Jayden Gursky, 14, of Palmerton, was crowned 2019 Junior Miss. The Palmerton High School student captains the junior varsity cheering squad and is a member of the track and field team. She hopes to attend Penn State University and become an orthopedic doctor.

Before crowning this year’s queen, Burits spoke about her prior year’s experiences.

“It’s been truly incredible,” she said. “The year felt like it went by in about two months. I had the time of my life. The state fair queen competition is an amazing experience. I will take so much from that trip. The women I met have the capabilities to move mountains.”

Celebrating a milestone

Monday was also opening day at the fair, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

New to the fair this year is a wine garden and a raffle on Saturday that will see some lucky fairgoers win prizes including a timeshare in Florida, a $50 Outback Steakhouse gift card and a basket with eight bottles of wine.

Monday’s opening ceremony included a flyover by two planes, a 1941 Waco UPF-7 biplane, and a 2017 Van’s RV-7 monoplane, which took off from Jake Arner Memorial Airport in Lehighton.

The fair board dedicated two benches near the main stage, one to the late Jesse Mendez and another to the late Cary Sinclair.

“Jesse was a Lower Towamensing Township supervisor who was on the board when we were starting up here at the fairgrounds,” fair President Bob Silliman said. “He was always very supportive of us. Cary was a wonderful lady who recently passed away. No matter what her problems were, she was here to support us. She worried about us more than herself.”

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Lions’ District 14-U Vice District Governor Gary Bender thanked all the area lions clubs for coming together to put on the fair.

“The most important thing we can do is serve our community,” Bender said. “All of the clubs involved here do a great job all year long in putting this fair together.”

The fair’s annual fireworks show concluded Monday night’s festivities.

Tuesday is children’s day and Wednesday is senior citizen day at the fair, which runs through Saturday.