Former Hancock County Fair Queen Claire Bishop gets goofy on the midway at the Indiana State Fair, where she’s pulling 12-hour days as this year’s fair queen. The recent Greenfield-Central grad plans to start classes at Purdue University Aug. 21 — the day after the fair ends.
INDIANAPOLIS — With her crown glistening atop her head, Claire Bishop bites into a Nutella-flavored elephant ear and grins.
It’s been a great summer for the recent Greenfield-Central High School grad, who is presiding the Indiana State Fair as fair queen.
As such, she’s been a frequent fixture on social media, seen sampling all the food and fun this year’s fair has to offer.
“Opening weekend was crazy but it’s been so much fun,” said Bishop, 18, whose fair-hosting duties are more than a full-time job.
According to the state fair’s website, the Indiana State Fair Queen plays a key role in promoting the Indiana State Fair by traveling nearly 6,500 miles during June and July to approximately 45 counties in preparation for the three-week-long fair.
“Last week I walked 35 miles in three days,” said Bishop, but she’s been loving every minute of it.
Typically found strolling the fairgrounds in a sundress and queen’s sash, with a State Fair escort by her side, she’s done a few quick changes into jeans and button-down shirt to show a variety of animals at the fair.
Bishop spends more than 12 hours a day at the state fairgrounds interacting with guests and serving as the lead ambassador for the fair, which premiered in 1852.
It’s hard for her parents to believe that the smiling, brown-eyed little girl who started 4-H a decade ago is now spending her summer as the Indiana State Fair Queen, all while making time to show some of the animals she and her family raise on their Hancock County farm.
“It’s been a lot of work for my family, who has been supportive in helping with my barn chores so I can be here at the fairgrounds,” said Bishop, whose family raises rabbits, cattle, goats and pigs.
Her parents, Jim and Nicole Bishop, are serving as her guest escorts this week at the fair.
“It’s been so much fun to watch her experience it all,” said her mom.
It was just last summer that Bishop was crowned the Hancock County 4-H Fair Queen, which made her eligible for the state fair pageant in January.
Ever since the state fair opened on July 28, Bishop has been relishing promoting the time-honored event, which runs through Aug. 20.
She took part in the fair’s opening ceremonies and the grand opening of the Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion, a new multi-use building that will host a variety of livestock, consumer and sporting events throughout the year.
She also got to throw out the first bag in the fair’s first-ever cornhole tournament.
It took a bit of time to adjust from her hometown county fair to the much larger landscape of the Indiana State Fair, which spans 250 acres and draws an average of 850,000 visitors each year.
“It’s similar to what I was doing at the Hancock County fair but on a much larger scale,” said Bishop, who embraces the chance to play pitch person for the state fair.
“I pretty much love every part of it. There’s a lot of good food, a lot of good fun, and as a 4-H’er I obviously love the agricultural aspect of it. I’ve also loved getting to travel the state and learn about the different areas,” she said.
Interacting with the public is a big part of the job, said Bishop, who most enjoys talking with the little kids, many of whom clamor to meet the fair queen.
“Talking to the kiddos is one of my favorite parts about it, just as it was at the county fair last year,” she said.
She’s also a big fan of the fair food, especially the pig wings, dairy barn milkshakes and Nutella-flavored elephant ears.
Bishop loves mingling with the public but especially loves running into people she knows, like her Hancock County 4-H friends, many of whom are participating in the exhibits or livestock shows.
As of Aug. 9, Bishop had won a blue ribbon in sewing construction, third in class for wether dam goats, two fifth-in-class livestock awards and 10th overall for senior crossbred swine showman.
She and her brother Everett, 14, also won blue ribbons for senior team demonstration in verbal communication, delivering a humorous presentation on what to pack for a camping trip.
Addressing a crowd is nothing new for Bishop, who has spent the summer traversing the state promoting the state fair.
Although the days have been long, she isn’t ready for this once-in-a-lifetime summer filled with fair food and friends to be over.
“It’s been incredible. I don’t want it to end yet,” she said.
Bishop will soon make the transition from fair queen to freshman when she moves into her dorm at Purdue University in West Lafayette, where classes start Aug. 21 — the day after the state fair ends.
“I think the plan is to drive straight from the fairgrounds to school to be ready for class the next day, but we haven’t gotten that far yet,” she said. “We’re just taking it one day at a time.”
The Indiana State Fair runs through Aug. 20. For more information, visit IndianaStateFair.com.
