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ABOVE: Pennsylvania State Fair Queen Nicole Clemson of Dallas poses with her cat Tiger.
Times leader file photos
LEFT: Past Luzerne County Fair Queen Nicole Clemson and Dave Delaney were part of the cheering crowd waiting for WNEP’s Joe Snedeker to arrive.
While she still has a few months left as Pennsylvania State Fair Queen, Nicole Clemson of Dallas last week relinquished her title as Luzerne County Fair Queen to Krista Paluski.
Krista, a senior at Wyoming Area High School who is the daughter of Ed and Bonnie Paluski, will reign over this year’s county fair, set for Wednesday through Sept. 13 on the fairgrounds along Route 118 in Dallas. In January she’ll compete in the state contest in Hershey.
That’s where Clemson took top honors earlier this year, chosen from a field of 53 representatives of local fairs to promote the state’s top industries of agriculture and tourism.
A freshman at the University of Scranton, Nicole is an aspiring veterinarian with a deep love for animals. Shortly after she won the state contest, she explained during an interview how her family included not only parents Paul and Trudy and brother Christopher but cats Tiger and Buddy and a German short-hair pointer named Sam.
In addition to maintaining honor-roll status at Dallas Senior High School, Nicole kept busy tutoring two younger students in algebra, playing soccer and field hockey in season and working on projects for the Science Olympiad.
Calling herself “a science geek beyond all imagination,” she spoke with enthusiasm about using a type of chemical analysis called chromatography to identify fabric samples in a mock crime scene, and for another project, identifying various trees of Pennsylvania.
An outdoorsy kind of person, Nicole has enjoyed family camping trips out among the trees, along with fly fishing and hunting.
As a high-school student, she organized a 12-hour dance-a-thon to raise money for children with cancer.
Luzerne County Fair Queen contestants are judged on poise, appearance, neatness and their ability to communicate through writing, speaking and in an interview with judges.
Another contest, this one for younger girls who perhaps aspire to someday become full-fledged fair queens, is set for 1 p.m. Sept. 12 in the amphitheater at the fair. Known as the Luzerne County Fair Princess contest, it is for children who are at least 4 and no older than 6.
It’s not a talent or formal contest, according to the fair Web site, but “just a day for little girls to shine.” The deadline to submit an entry to the princess contest was Aug. 24.
MEET THE NEW QUEEN
You can meet 2009 Luzerne County Fair Queen Krista Paluski as she presides over this year’s fair from Wednesday through Sept. 13. First runner-up is Channing Loke, a sophomore at Marywood University, whose parents are Marlena and Ray Middleton.