Princess Kay of the Milky Way

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Princess Kay of the Milky Way is the title awarded to the winner of the state-wide Minnesota Dairy Princess Program, an annual pageant competition organized by the Midwest Dairy Association. During her one year term, the Princess Kay of the Milky Way serves as official good-will ambassador for the Minnesota dairy industry. The Princess is crowned every year at the Minnesota State Fair, and receives a scholarship. The crowning of Princess Kay annually garners state-wide as well as national media coverage.

The name "Princess Kay of the Milky Way" was selected from over 10,000 in a 1954 contest to name the Minnesota dairy princess.

Contents 1 Pageant Process 2 Butter Sculptures 3 Previous Princesses 4 References

[edit] Pageant Process

Individual counties in Minnesota may select a Dairy Princesses at their county fairs, and these Princesses may then elect to participate in the Princess Kay of the Milky Way pageant competition. Of the over 100 contestants in the competition, twelve finalists are selected in the pageant, and are then required to take on public relations roles at the Minnesota State Fair. The crowned Princess Kay then makes numerous media and public appearances throughout the coming year on behalf of Minnesota dairy producers.

Contestants must be U.S. citizens, and their parents, guardians, or siblings must be actively involved in the production of dairy products. They must also have completed a high school education, be under the age of 24, and be unmarried with no children. Candidates are judged on "appearance, communication skills, general knowledge of the dairy industry, personality and enthusiasm for dairy promotion." [1]

[edit] Butter Sculptures

Since 1965, sculptures of the winning Princess Kay and other finalists have been carved, one per day, at the Minnesota State Fair. Recent butter sculptures have been carved out of a 90 pound block of Grade A butter, in a walk-in, glass-walled refrigerator. The butter is manufactured by Associated Milk Producers, Inc., in New Ulm, Minnesota. The butter carving booth is one of the most popular exhibits at the Fair. The carving of the butter sculpture takes 6-8 hours per finalist. For the past 34 years, Linda Christensen has sculpted the Princesses' butter sculptures. Princesses take their butter sculpture home with them at the end of the Fair.

[edit] Previous Princesses

Below is a list of previous Princesses. * indicates deceased.

Year	Name	County	Town	Current residence
1954	Eleanor Maley Thatcher	Mower County	Grand Meadow	Rochester
1955	Ruth Marie Peterson Faber	Mower County	Lansing	Le Mars, Iowa
1956	*Barbara Bossus Bohrer	Crow Wing County	Brainerd
1957	Judy Merritt	Dakota County	Lakeville	Amery, Wisconsin
1958	Diane Schroeder Dunn	Polk County	Fertile	Spirit Lake, Iowa
1959	Betty Jax Cole	Mower County	Adams, Minnesota	Plymouth
1960	Marilyn Christianson Styve	Freeborn County	Corning	Afton
1961	Diane Kramer	Nobles County	Worthington	Clarinda, Iowa
1962	Kathy Hjelle Martens	Marshall County	Argyle	Willmar
1963	Audrey Meyer Carlsen*	Freeborn County	Clarks Grove
1964	Karen Bracken Geier	Lincoln County	Verdi	Minnetonka
1965	Mary Ann Titrud Springer	Todd County	Clarissa	Minnetonka
1966	Linda Kottke	McLeod County	Glencoe	Deadwood, South Dakota
1970	Gayle Krogstad Solum	Norman County	Ada	Barnesville
1971	Mary Ann Glawe Hardy	Becker County	Detroit Lakes	The Colony, Texas
1972	Madge Stapleton Johnson	Houston County	Caladonia	Burnsville
1973	Lori Anshus Redmer	Yellow Medicine County	Canby	Minneapolis
1974	Juliet Tessmer Garbow	Hennepin County	Rogers	Saginaw, Michigan
1975	Wanda Ponto Sackter	Kanabec County	Mora	Eagan
1976	Kathy Zeman	Steele County	Owatonna	Kenyon
1977	Beth Aarsvold Olson	Winona County	Peterson	Lewiston
1978	Kari Schroht Reuvers	Steele County	Owatonna	Willmar
1979	Tamara Pennings Goehring	Kandiyohi County	Blomkest	Albany
1980	Jean Lindig Kessler	Pine County	Pine City	Plymouth
1981	Jill Jensen Douglas	Martin County	East Chain	Merrillville, Indiana
1982	Janet Forner Bosch	Carver County	Chaska	Montevideo
1983	Lisa Schaffer Coyne	Dakota County	Cannon Falls	Spring Valley, Wisconsin
1984	Barbara Bianchi Clayton	Nicollet County	Gibbon	Hartland, Wisconsin
1985	Stephanie Dickey Bjella	Clearwater County	Leonard	Everett, Washington
1986	Yvonne Moerke Devito	Grant County	Ashby	Mora
1987	Amy Polikowsky Mesenburg	Olmsted County	Byron	Byron
1988	Marie Dick	Cottonwood County	Bingham Lake	Bingham Lake
1989	Katie Scott Johnson	West Otter Tail County	Battle Lake	Underwood
1990	Beth Mesenbring-Mastre	Carver County	Cologne	Omaha, Nebraska
1991	Julie Felger Mulford	Kanabec County	Mora	Mora
1992	Bridget Hendrickson Jacobson	Fillmore County	Preston	Roseville
1993	Ann Erickson Gibbs	West Otter Tail County	Battle Lake	Battle Lake
1994	Julie Sauber Antonutti	Dakota County	Lakeville	Esko
1995	Kimberly Mallery Gusick	Chisago County	Shafer	Coleman, Wisconsin
1996	Kristi Ann Pettis	Sibley County	Winthrop	Billings, Montana
1997	Kari Skiba Stanek	Anoka/Isanti	North Branch	Reedsburg, Wisconsin
1998	Jenny Kinnunen	Wadena County	Menahga	Minnetonka
1999	Renae Jorgens Gebhart	Yellow Medicine County	Boyd	Meadow, South Dakota
2000	Bridget Hollermann	Pope County	Farewell	Litchfield
2001	Kelsey Olson	Fillmore County	Spring Valley	Spring Valley
2002	Sarah Olson	McLeod County	Hutchinson	Ireton, Iowa
2003	Tae Vander Kooi	Nobles County	Worthington	Worthington
2004	Christina Rettmann	Renville County	Buffalo Lake	Buffalo Lake
2005	Rebekah Dammann	McLeod County	Lester Prairie	Lester Prairie
2006	Audrey Rose Mohr	Brown County	New Ulm	New Ulm

[edit] References

• Princess Kay of the Milky Way: The Minnesota Dairy Princess Program
• Meet the Past Princess Kays
• Princess Kay of the Milky Way History and Facts
• Minnesota State Fair Journal; A Dairy Queen, Oops, Princess, in All Her Buttery Glory, a 2005 New York Times article on Linda Christensen and the butter carvings