When Jennifer Bube was a little girl, she spent time in the dressing room behind the pavilion stage at the Brown County Fairgrounds, helping her older sisters prepare for their Brown County Fair Queen pageants.
Sister Sherry was crowned fair queen in 2010. Three years later, a second sister, Jeanette, was also awarded the crown.
As hairspray and glitter filled the air, Bube said she remembers thinking she wanted to be a fair queen just like her sisters when she grew up.
Bube grew up in Brown County. As she transitioned into a young adult, her love for Brown County grew, and it inspired her to want to represent it at the state fair even more as the fair queen.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“While that was still in there, the, ‘Hey, that would be really amazing to carry on this tradition or this legacy that my sisters started,’ I began to realize that being Miss Brown County is just an incredible opportunity to share my love and my passion for this county and for this county to the people, especially at the state level,” she said after her crowning moment on July 29.
Bube said she didn’t expect to win the crown, and she was nervous.
But when she heard contestant number three called out, which also happens to be her lucky number, she was excited. And also, hungry.
“I’d really like a big hamburger right now. I’m very hungry, but then just really feeling thrilled to be surrounded by so many of these amazing girls,” she said.
Her mother, Sharon, her father, Mike, and her five sisters were all there to cheer her on.
“There’s the excitement, mostly excited for the week ahead of me to come,” Jennifer said of her feelings after winning the crown. “But also excited to see the look on my family’s faces, definitely seeing how proud they were was really important.”
When asked what he thought about his daughter winning, Mike burst into a song: “Fairy tales can come true. It can happen to you if you’re young at heart,” he sang.
“I was really excited for her,” her mother added. She said winning the fair queen crown was something Jennifer has wanted to accomplish in life.
“It’s like a fairy tale,” Mike said.
They described their second-youngest daughter as creative, outgoing, energetic, caring and self-motivated.
“If she wants to do something, she’ll do it. She really has these ideas that just come from her. Even when she was little, she would be experimenting with things,” Sharon said.
Jennifer competed last year, but did not place. Her family encouraged her to compete again.
Her sister, Jeanette, helped to calm her nerves by reminding her why she was up there. “Sure, it’s exciting to get up on stage and wear a beautiful dress, have fun with the pageant, but just remember that it’s more about the community; it’s about your county and how you’re able to represent them,” was her advice.
“I think that was really comforting, just a reminder that the pageant isn’t really about me, it’s about different ways I can represent who we are as Brown Countians.”
What will she take away from the contest? “How to walk in heels a little bit better, maybe,” she said with a smile.
“A little bit more than that, not to be nervous, not to be fearful or scared, I think, especially walking out on stage in these pageants, because there is really something that is more important that lies beyond.”
Not long after she received her crown, a little girl approached her with a question: How much does the crown weigh?
“I looked at her blankly and said, ‘I don’t know, so why don’t you try it?’ I was able to take the crown off my head and let her try it on,” Jennifer said.
“Just seeing her and the look in her eyes, looking up, I could tell she could see the sparkles. It was really inspiring. You give them something to look forward to.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Queen’s court” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
First Runner-up: Madison Martin
Second Runner-up: Jessica Taylor
Miss Congeniality: Hailey Lane
Princess: Emily Earnshaw
[sc:pullout-text-end]MEET THE CANDIDATES
The Brown County Fair queen and princess were crowned Sunday night at a pageant which was two contests in one. Girls who will be 18 by June 1 next year competed for the queen title; younger candidates were eligible for the princess title. The Brown County Fair queen will advance to the state fair queen pageant in January.
QUEEN CANDIDATES
Josephine Armstrong
Age: 19
Parents: Sarah and Tad Armstrong
School and work: Brown County High School graduate with honors; attending Indiana University Bloomington studying political science with plans to attend law school.
Activities and honors: Former high school band member; high school Band Boosters member; band mental attitude award winner; political and civic activist on IU campus; maintaining a 3.0 or higher GPA; enjoys nature and portrait photography, kayaking, swimming, following current news and international affairs.
Goals: To graduate from IU on the dean’s list, and attend law school after graduation and after traveling for a year while working as a paralegal. She hopes to become a family lawyer focused on adoptions and uniting families.
Quote: “I am no bird, no net ensnares me.” — Jane Eyre “This quote helps remind me that there is nothing in my way and nothing keeping me from my goals.”
Jennifer Bube
Age: 19
Parents: Mike and Sharon Bube
School and work: Home school graduate; Ivy Tech Community College graduate, magna cum laude majoring in visual communications; will receive advanced gunsmithing certification this fall. Currently serving as a Lilly Endowment intern for the Brown County Community Foundation. Formerly served as intern at the White House in Washington, D.C. Launched own freelance design and writing services, professionally and philanthropically, to groups, businesses and individuals.
Activities and honors: 10-year award winning-alumna, assistant coach and guest judge for CCA National Speech and Debate League; Indiana Right to Life, National Rifle Association and Indiana Farm Bureau member; Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Department event volunteer; youth program presenter with Brown County Soil and Water Conservation District; St. Agnes Catholic Church volunteer and member; 10-year 4-H member who held several junior leader officer positions, participated in workshops and conventions and served as a junior director for 4-H camp; volunteer for the Shooting Sports club; Fig Tree Fellowship Radio Players performer; supplemental instructor for Ivy Tech, founded and served as president of a student organization; dean’s list scholar at Ivy Tech; served as public relations chair for international honor society chapter; published author; certified dance fitness instructor; Rotary Youth Leadership awards delegate; Brown County Fabulous 50 women’s philanthropy club member; enjoys traveling.
Goals: Opening her own business in Brown County focusing on education and resources of firearms for self-sustenance and self-defense.
Favorite quote: “Never a day without a line.” — St. Philip Neri “In a culture of artists, we take it literally to mean never let a day close without painting or creating. In a generation of altruists, I like to take it as encouragement to never let a day end without doing or being something good in it.”
Hailey Lane
Age: 17
Parents: Christy and Jason Lane
School and work: Senior at Brown County High School. Undecided on which college she will attend, but plans to study criminal justice or child care.
Activities and honors: Brown County 4-H member, Girl Scouts, youth group, Brown County High School Rhapsody show choir member; softball player; Brown County Pride Award winner for last two years; solving puzzles; singing; listening to music; photography; playing and working with children; decorating.
Goals: To go to college to study criminal justice or child care.
Favorite quote: “If you want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.” — Jim Rohn
Madison Martin
Age: 17
Parents: Jason and Kathy Martin
School and work: Senior at Brown County High School. She plans to attend Indiana University to study medical science. She has her certified nursing assistant license and works at Brown County Health and Living. When she is not working, she is caring for her disabled father.
Activities and honors: Teaches preschool at New Life Community Church; volunteers through youth group at New Life Community Church including picking up trash, buying and wrapping Christmas presents and makings cards for people in the community; serves at Mother’s Cupboard; member of National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society; Honor Roll recipient; dance team member; Spell Bowl participant; enjoys dancing and singing, playing clarinet, reading, spending time with family, playing with animals, spending the day at Lake Lemon fishing and swimming.
Goals: Become a biomedical scientist. She is interested in the medical field and research. She wants to eventually own land, build a house and raise a family there. She also wants pets because she is a “huge animal lover.”
Favorite quote: “The future depends on what we do in the present” — Ghandi. “This is my favorite quote because I want to have a positive impact on the world, and if we can work on fixing the world now, our children won’t have to have the same struggles.”
Kearsten Shugars
Age: 17
Parent: Candace and Darrel Shugars Jr.
School and work: Junior at Shugars Jr. Academy (home school). She plans to attend Ivy Tech to study business and culinary arts.
Activities and honors: 4-H member; basketball manager; enjoys baking, photography, hanging out with friends, running with aunt.
Goals: Get into college and earn degrees to open own bakery.
Favorite quote: “Stop hating yourself for everything you aren’t and start loving yourself for everything you already are.” — Anonymous “I like this quote because you shouldn’t compare yourself to others; instead, be happy about your differences.”
Emma Snyder
Age: 18
Parents: Kevin and Marlene Snyder
School and work: Senior at Brown County High School and works at Old Time Photo in Nashville. She will study to be a certified nursing assistant during her senior year and use that to help pay for her college education. She plans to go to Ivy Tech and then transfer to the University of Southern Indiana to study nursing.
Activities and honors: Masons volunteer, Mother’s Cupboard volunteer, 4-H Junior Leaders member; Kids on Wheels member; BCHS History Club member; C4 student; second-place winner of the Jobs for American Graduates regional critical thinking competition; enjoys training animals, running, exercising and volunteering, shopping with her sister, eating sushi and Chinese food and watching movies with her cat, Gaston.
Goals: Pursue a career helping people while incorporating travel, like a traveling nurse.
Favorite quote: “You’ll always miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” — Wayne Gretzky “This quote makes me realize that I can not win or lose unless I try. If I don’t try, then I can only wish or dream the outcome.”
Jessica Taylor
Age: 18
Grandparent: Debbie Havely
School and work: Brown County High School graduate studying communications at Ivy Tech Community College.
Activities and honors: 10-year Brown County 4-H member, 4-H Junior Leaders member; Brown County Volunteer Fire Department volunteer; St. Agnes youth group member; Nazareth Farm volunteer; Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer; Thespian Honor Society member; four-year varsity golf player; Most Spirited Player Award winner; Archdiocese of Indianapolis Spirit of Youth Award winner; enjoys writing, poetry, photography, and spending time with friends and grandmother.
Goals: Graduate with a bachelor’s degree in communications and attain a job with a radio or news station as a reporter or journalist.
Favorite quote: “Behind every successful woman is herself.” — Anonymous “I live by this every day because I know that no one will hand me my dreams, that everything I do myself will push me closer to my goals.”
PRINCESS CANDIDATE
Emily Earnshaw
Age: 16
Parent: Wendy Earnshaw
School and work: Sophomore at Brown County High School who plans to attend Purdue University to study environmental science, research and development.
Activities and honors: Brown County 4-H member, 4-H Junior Leaders member; New Life Community Church member; Brown County High School Student Council member; A-B Honor Roll; National History Day competitor; two-time State History Day competitor; junior high honor roll; taking all academic classes; enjoys hiking, playing piano, experimenting with different art styles, cooking, special interest in materialism and alternative ways of living that lessen carbon footprints and pollution rates.
Goals: Wants to help people and the planet. Future goals are to study abroad and go on a missions trip.
Favorite quote: “Comfort is the enemy of progress.” — P.T. Barnum “(This) is a quote I like because no one ever did anything significant from doing the same thing every day and never stepping out of their comfort zone.”
