WASHINGTON CO., N.Y. — The Washington County Dairy Princess Program held its 55th annual pageant on World Milk Day – June 1, 2020. Molly Walker of Landview Farms in White Creek was crowned Princess with Lauren Desorbe, Greenwich, and Audra Dubois, Greenwich, named as Alternates.
Walker, a Junior at Hoosick Falls High School is the 16 year old daughter of Randy and Rebecca Walker of Landview Farms. Molly is on both the basketball and soccer teams at her high school while also serving on Washington County Junior Fair Board and is an active member of the Post Corners 4-H Club. As the 3rd generation on her family’s 1400-cow dairy farm, Molly’s passion to tell the story of the dairy industry is what drove her to run for dairy princess and she feels that today’s consumers are too removed from agriculture to understand where their food comes from.
The daughter of Anthony and Rebecca Desorbe, Lauren Desorbe is a graduate of Greenwich High School and will be attending Castleton University in the fall for nursing. While Lauren didn’t grow up on a farm, it was her first high school agriculture class that sparked her love for agriculture. Through her agricultural education program, Lauren was able to lease dairy cows to show each year at the county fair which is what sparked Lauren’s passion for dairy promotion.
Audra Dubois is the 17-year old daughter of Becky Mattison and is a Junior at Greenwich High School. In school, Audra is an active member of the Greenwich FFA Chapter and attends BOCES for Equine Care where she is in the National Technical Honor Society. Her passion to educate others about the dairy industry and share her experiences working on a local dairy farm is what she credits for motivating her to run for Washington County Dairy Princess.
Due to COVID-19, the pageant was moved to virtual means this year with judges selecting the court based on a pre-recorded speech, answers to three dairy knowledge questions, the creation of an original social media post, response to an impromptu question and a video conference interview. After the selection process was completed, committee members Elizabeth Foote and Mary-Elizabeth Foote traveled with Erin Armitage, New York State 2nd Alternate Dairy Princess and outgoing Washington County Dairy Princess, and recorded Armitage announcing the court and each candidate being individually crowned with a final video being produced and published to social media as the official pageant.
Since the pageant, Walker and the Washington County Dairy Princess team have been actively promoting June is Dairy Month through partnering with both CBS 6 as well as Taste NY. In early June, Julia Dunn from CBS 6 visited Landview Farm where she received a tour and Walker was interviewed as part of the “Positively Upstate” series. Recently published by Taste NY, several ambassadors and the court were featured in a video showcasing New York dairy products.
If you would like to watch the pageant online, search for “Washington Co. Dairy Princess” on Facebook and the click videos.
–Washington County Dairy Princess Program
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