FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn — Rachel Visser was crowned the 71st Princess Kay of the Milky Way in an evening ceremony Aug. 21 at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.
The 19-year-old college student from Hutchinson, representing McLeod County, will work as the official goodwill ambassador for the nearly 1,800 Minnesota dairy farm families. Visser attends the University of Minnesota.
Nine county dairy princesses from Minnesota competed for the Princess Kay of the Milky Way title. Katie Ketchum of Altura, representing Winona County, and Grace Woitalla (Why-tall-uh) of Avon, representing Stearns County, were selected as runners-up.
Visser, Ketchum and Woitalla were also named scholarship winners. Mackenzie Moline of Saint Peter, representing Nicollet County, was named Miss Congeniality.
"Visser’s first official duty as Princess Kay will be to sit in a rotating cooler in the Dairy Building (located at the corner of Judson Avenue and Underwood Street) to have her likeness sculpted in a 90-pound block of butter the first two days of the Minnesota State Fair – Thursday, Aug. 22, and Friday, Aug. 23. Minnesota artist and butter sculptor Gerry Kulzer will be carving Princess Kay and the finalists," according to a release from Midwest Dairy.
Other finalists are scheduled to have their likenesses sculpted as follows:
- Saturday, Aug. 24: Miranda Schroeder, Caledonia, representing Houston County
- Sunday, Aug. 25: Grace Woitalla, Avon, representing Stearns County
- Monday, Aug. 26: McKenna Wright, Hutchinson, representing McLeod County
- Wednesday, Aug. 28: Selena Corona, Saint Joseph, representing Stearns County
- Thursday, Aug. 29: Katie Ketchum, Altura, representing Winona County
- Friday, Aug. 30: Katelyn Welgraven, Ruthton, representing Pipestone County
- Saturday, Aug. 31: Mackenzie Moline, Saint Peter, representing Nicollet County
- Sunday, Sept. 1: Afton Nelson, Owatonna, representing Steele County