‘The Hills Are Alive’ 2015 Richardson County Fair

    The clouds parted and the rain moved out of the area; setting the stage for a beautiful night in Humboldt to kick off the 2015 Richardson County Fair.  
HTRS junior, Kendall Werts and Joseph Cook of rural Humboldt, were crowned king and queen of the Richardson County Fair and Humboldt Fall Festival, at the coronation program Wednesday night, Sept. l6, at the Humboldt Square.
     Crowning the Fair’s royalty was Nebraska Lt. Governor Mike Foley.     
The queen is the daughter of Kelly and Amy Werts. Kendall has an older sister, Shelby who was a junior attendant in 2000 and a top five queen candidate in 2012. Kendall is the granddaughter of Jerry and Linda Werts of Humboldt, Ruth Driever of Nebraska City, Tom and Jeane Farwell of Humboldt, and the late Jim Crooker of Humboldt.
Kendall is the junior class vice president. She has participated in volleyball, basketball and track. She is a cheerleader and is on the drill team at HTRS. She is a member of the school band where she plays the saxophone, and is also a member of the swing choir, STARS Leadership, mentoring, and National Honor Society.
Joseph F. Cook was born on Sept. 24, 1929, in Dow City, IA. His parents were William Jefferson Cook and Bernice (Thompson) Cook. As an adult, Joe worked for his father, building houses, barns and grain elevators. In 1950, Joe married Melba Ried in Omaha. In 1954, the couple settled in rural Humboldt. Joe and Melba have one daughter, Sherri (Sharlie) Thames, of Humboldt.
Joe has served on the Richardson County Agricultural Society Board of Directors since November 2000. He was a member of the Advisory Board for many years prior to that.
The grand total for the final vote was 357,322,960 with 215,546,595 of those votes being cast in the final week.
Queen Kendall won with a final count of 143,808,989; Claire Svoboda, an HTRS junior, (107,901,531 votes) was first runner-up and second runner-up was Shelbie Wilhelm, an HTRS senior (40,763,627 votes). HTRS juniors Logan Standerford (25,058,026 votes) and Laura Stalder (18,394,959 votes) were third and fourth runners-up, respectively.
Escorting the queen candidates were: Christian Bennett, of Falls City, Koalton Taiclet, Nolan Schafer and Elijah Herr, all of Humboldt, and Braden Shiley, of Shubert.
Junior Attendants: Eden Frank, daughter of Dan and Heather Duryea; Ty Dunekacke, son of Taylor and Crystal Dunekacke; Kassidy Kanel, daughter of Mike and Kari Kanel and Cole Hunzeker, son of Mike and Amy Hunzeker.
Humboldt Chamber of Commerce President Tiffany Jorn presented the 2015 Woman of the year award to Barbara Gould.
Gould was born on a farm east of six-mile to Leonard and Bernice Rexroth. She attended Humboldt High School, graduating in 1957. After graduation she attended the National Business Institute. She was married to Don Wenzl from 1959 to 1979. Together they had four children.
In 1988, Barb moved to Kansas City and married Ron Gould. In 2002, Ron and Barb retired and moved back to Nebraska. Barb has been a great asset to the community for many years. She volunteers with many clubs and organizations, including the Lion’s Club, Chamber, and the Friend of the Auditorium.
County Judge Curtis Maschman was the master of ceremonies. The coronation program’s theme was “The Hill’s Are Alive.”
Humboldt Mayor Crystal Dunekacke presented keys to the City of Humboldt to last year’s royalty, Casey McNealy and Jon Cander.
Following the coronation ceremony, the program featured students of the HTRS school system.