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Birt finishes in top 10 at State Fair Queen pageant
INDIANAPOLIS -- With 85 fair queens from across the state competing, the odds were against Miss Putnam County 2014 Brittany Birt making the finals of the 2015 Indiana State Fair Queen Pageant.
Then with nine of the 10 finalists named for Sunday's finals, things looked especially bleaker.
"I was actually the last person to be chosen for the top 10," Birt said Sunday evening. "So when No. 9 was called, I thought, 'Well, I'm not going to make it.' So when my name was called it was like, 'Oh my gosh, I made it!'"
Making the finals was a great moment for the South Putnam graduate and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College sophomore, but it was just a part of an excellent three days.
"The whole experience was great. I had an absolute blast," Birt said.
Among these things was rooming with 13 other girls she got close to in a short time.
"Last night, (Saturday) hardly any of us could sleep. We were very excited to find out," Birt said. "But then when we did, we were sad to leave each other. In three days, we got very, very close. It was very cool."
Things kicked off for Birt and the other contestants with registration on Friday morning, followed by interviews that lasted until 9:30 p.m.
Saturday featured a trip to the Marriott for the Indiana Association of Fairs convention. And then it was back to the Indiana State Fairgrounds for the preliminaries.
Then, of course, there was Sunday, which featured the crowning of Miss Hendricks County Madeline "Mady" Hayden of Plainfield as the 57th Miss Indiana State Fair.
"It was an honor to represent Putnam County," Birt said. "I was the first girl (from Putnam County) to make the top 10 in a long time, and that was my goal."
The daughter of Glen and Paula Birt, Brittany wanted to thank the Putnam County community for all the support she's received since her July crowning as Putnam County Fair Queen.
"I'm so thankful for the amount of text messages, Facebook messages, any way you can contact me, that I received from the community just supporting me," Birt said. "And to my family and the committee who sat through three hours on Saturday. I'm unbelievably blessed to have those people in my life."
2015 marks the first time the Indiana State Fair Queen Pageant has taken place in the winter. State officials cited the preparation time it allows and the pageant not coinciding with the start of the school year as factors in moving the competition.
For her part, Birt appreciated the prep time, but was ready to get on with it by Friday.
"It was nice that I had a lot of preparation time," Birt said. "But a few days before the contest, I was just ready for it to be here because I had prepped and prepped and prepped and I was just ready for it to be here."
The Miss Indiana State Fair reign of Hayden, an 18-year-old Purdue University freshman, includes the 2015 Indiana State Fair (Aug. 7-23) and will end with the 2016 competition next winter.
The Queen's Court includes:
-- 1st Runner-up Alexandra Abney, Johnson County.
-- 2nd Runner-up Melissa Smoker, LaPorte County.
-- 3rd Runner-up Jacinda Thompson, Gibson County.
-- 4th Runner-up Jessie Earhart, Huntington County.
-- Miss Congeniality Kimberly Carcamo, Newton County.
In addition to Birt, the other finalists, in no particular order, were Kennedy Drago, Delaware County; Cassie Molter, White County; Allison Trevithick, Lawrence County; and Riley Mineart, Tippecanoe County.