Meet Sheboygan County Fairest of the Fair Elizabeth Benicke | Local News | sheboygansun.com

Elizabeth Benicke, a Plymouth Comprehensive High School graduate, has been crowned the Sheboygan County Fairest of the Fair.

She was born and raised in Plymouth and is currently working for a dairy genetics company, as well as milking cows at Phil-Mar-Ru Farms. She became interested in the dairy industry when she was around 12 years old. Her best friend showed cows at the fair and Benicke would help her. When Benicke was 18, she showed animals for the first time and that enhanced her love for the animals and the dairy industry.

Benicke has a technical degree in Dairy Herd Management from Lakeshore Technical College and an Associates of Science from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. She also has associates degrees in agribusiness and dairy business management.

She had always wanted to try out for the Sheboygan County Fairest of the Fair, but she said he was not naturally outgoing. Through her work on the farms and meeting people through school, the dairy industry and finding some role models, she became motivated to try out.

When asked what she thought are three of the most important qualities for Fairest of the Fair, she responded, “An outgoing personality for one. As Fairest of the Fair, you talk to a lot of people every day and that draws it out of you. You definitely get out of your comfort zone.” Another quality that she finds important is naturally having kindness. “When you are out in the public and have so many people coming up to you, you have to have kindness. A lot of people come up to you at events and ask a lot of questions. Sometimes I have to ask myself what they might mean by a particular question and I will kindly ask them what they meant.” The third quality that Benicke said was important is a willingness to learn. “I attend many events. Some of those events I have never heard of and I work on learning about them so that I can recommend things people can check out.”

Benicke said as Fairest of the Fair, one of the most important roles in the Sheboygan County Fair and other events that she attends is suggesting events and things to try at each event. “You are there all day, every day out in the public interacting with people and telling them about things to see or do. I see someone checking out an event and I suggest that maybe they would like to check out another event that is similar. I will say something like if you like this, you might want to check this out. Maybe it was something they normally would not have tried before.”

As Fairest of the Fair, she meets a lot of people in the dairy industry which will help with her plans for the future. She would like to own a farm like the Bushman Homestead. She would like to have beef, pigs and sheep. She would also like to grow her own food to support herself and to share and sell to others. Benicke said, “As Fairest of the Fair, I am meeting people in the industry and I have made many contacts and am getting a lot of support which will help me to someday have a small farm.

When asked what her favorite moment(s) of being Fairest of the Fair have been, she replied, “A lady who knew my grandmother came up to me and told me that I had a lot of class just like my grandma. That made me so happy.” She also said that she enjoys seeing the kids get excited to meet her and they call her a princess. “It is something special to be Fairest of the Fair. People see me as a celebrity, but I do not look at myself as a celebrity. My boyfriend told me that I am a celebrity. My parents and grandmother told me they are proud of me and my friend is so excited that I am the Fairest of the Fair.”

Benicke said that something she has learned about herself while being Fairest of the Fair is that she needs to savor peace. “It can be very overwhelming at times and I learned to find a balance. I might take a break to get a drink of water or just take a few minutes to breathe.”

She has been in many parades around Sheboygan County. She attended the Cheesehead Chase, Millstreet Festival, German Night in the Park, Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center, Brat Days Parade and Festival, Cleveland Dairyland Festival Parade, Wisconsin State Farm and Taste of Elkhart Lake. She is looking forward to the Sheboygan County Fair.

Source: Meet Sheboygan County Fairest of the Fair Elizabeth Benicke | Local News | sheboygansun.com