Hoke brings county pageant perspective to state event

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — For Sandy Hoke, county fair queen pageants aren’t just gowns and crowns.

“You learn poise. You learn how to write a proper bio for yourself. You learn how to be interviewed. It opens you up for a whole new direction in your life. It gives you a whole new perspective,” she said.

Hoke is the new director of the Miss Illinois County Fair Queen pageant. She took over the role after Cathy Redshaw, who directed the pageant for over a decade, retired in 2023.

Hoke isn’t new to county fair pageants. She served as the director of the Moultrie-Douglas County Fair Queen pageant for 30 years.

“I think the key is letting the girls be themselves. It’s taking the strengths they have and making those even stronger and finding the areas where they are not so comfortable and working on that with them to get them well rounded and ready to go, not just for the pageant, but for life in general,” she said.

Hoke said one of her goals is to get more girls involved in their county fair queen pageants. To do that, she wants to banish some pageant myths.

“I think the biggest one is that everybody thinks they have to be a certain size to be in a pageant and that is so far from the truth. You can be any size,” she said.

One other encouraging factor that Hoke wants to use and wants other county pageant directors to use, to encourage more participation, happened at the 2024 state pageant.

“The last four state queens we have had, including Natalie, have come from counties that have never had a state winner. This year, in the top 16, there were quite a few girls whose counties had never before made it into the top 16,” she said.

“I think that will help those counties whose pageant participation has been lower. They can say we made it into the top 16, we know what we’re doing, come give it a try.”

The state fair queen pageant consists of several rounds that include interviews before a panel of judges and then in front of the general audience.

The state pageant includes evening gown, swimsuit and speech events. The interview portion gives girls experience that they might not get anywhere else.

“One of my past county queen contestants competed three times and never won. But she got so much out of the experience,” Hoke said.

“When she went to interview for a job, the person interviewing her asked if she had any questions and she started asking all kinds of questions. He said that he had never been interviewed for a job he was offering and she said that’s what I learned in the pageant, how to ask questions.”

Hoke said participating in their county fair’s queen pageant opens up new experiences for the girls who take part.

“Fair week is always a great week. They get to experience so many things. I had one young lady who won our county queen pageant and she had never been to the Illinois State Fair,” she said.

“My husband and I took her over for County Fair Day and then we took her back for another day at the state fair so we could just walk around and show her everything that goes on at the Illinois State Fair.”

As the director of the state pageant, Hoke serves as the official chaperone for the new Miss Illinois County Fair Queen Natalie Evans, Morgan County Fair Queen, from Jacksonville.

They will travel to at least 20 county fairs this year to satisfy the scholarship requirement for the state county fair queen.

“We will go from one end of the state to the other,” Hoke said.

She traveled last year with Paige Van Dyke, the 2023 Miss Illinois County Fair Queen. Their itinerary often included some unscheduled fairs.

“We sometimes had the opportunity to do two fairs in one day. As we are traveling to one fair, if we pass another fair, we are going to pull over and make an appearance there. We will go wherever we are invited,” Hoke said.

She said being informed about current events in their home county as well as around the state is her top advice for girls who are thinking of participating.

“I would start by knowing your county and knowing your state. The more you learn, the better off you are,” she said.

Another piece of advice is to work on presentation, in writing and in person.

“You want those judges to be waiting to interview you because you look really good on paper. Work on your interview skills,” Hoke said.

“When you are writing your bio, have people proofread it. Go to your English teacher. Go to your mayor or village president. Make sure you look really good on paper, then you can sell yourself in person in that interview.”