Pig Crazy from the Beginning

Introduction by Courtney Sampson, Publicity and Media Relations Intern

Hey friends,
If you haven't met Denae Pyle yet, you're in for a real treat. Denae became the official hostess of our State Fair after she earned the title 2010 Indiana State Fair Queen! Occasionally, we will re-post some of Denae's entries from her personal blog, Pig Crazy Queen, which she updates regularly on her journey visiting Indiana's County Fairs. You can catch Denae during this year's Indiana State Fair, but in the meantime, get to know Denae as she chronicles a Day in the Life of a Pig Crazy Queen.
Th-th-th-that's all, folks!
- Courtney

Meet the Queen:


Won Miss Kosciuscko 2009
20-year-old Junior at Purdue University Studying Hospitality and Tourism Management - made the Dean's List!
4-H member for 10 years; showed dairy calf feeder steers and swine
Loves community service
Really enjoys shopping!

Here are some excerpts from Denae's first blog post:
"There is a children's book called 'Princess Pig' by Eileen Spinelli, and it's a story about a sash from a local beauty pageant that blows to a barnyard and ends up around the neck of Pig. She wakes up and thinks it's a sign that she must be a princess. Princess Pig is treated like a princess by all the barnyard animals, but she comes to find out that princesses aren't allowed to roll in the mud or sleep in late. Pony, another character in the story says 'It’s a fine thing to be a pig, if a pig is what you are.'

The last day of the 2009 Indiana State Fair came around, and all 88 girls were anxiously awaiting the outcome of the 2010 Queen. The judges had deliberated and the emcees were now announcing the Queens Court, and then finally the Queen. Like Princess Pig, unexpectedly a sash blew around my neck and a massive crown was placed on my head by the 2009 Queen, Haleigh Yergler. And that is where my escapade began.

I grew up on a hog farm and would sit in the pens with the baby pigs when I was little. As we got a little older, we got roped in to the “oh-so-fun” job of sorting hundreds of baby pigs into pens. Then we got a little bit older than that, and had the even more fun job (hint: I am being very sarcastic!) of loading out pigs when they were just slightly larger. Is 250 pounds a little larger than a 3-week piglet weighing about 10 pounds?! I think so. I’ll just say that the best memories I have weren’t when we were loading out 500 250-lbs hogs. I’ll give my Dad the credit for doing it over and over and over! But those hog barns are where I learned what it meant to work hard and where my family really bonded. If it weren’t for my Dad and those hundreds of pigs in and out of those barns, I would never have ended up being a 10-year 4-H member showing hogs at the Kosciusko County Fair every summer as well.

In the 'Princess Pig', Pony says 'It’s a fine thing to be a pig, if a pig is what you are.' Even with a sash and crown, I am always going to be me. Yes, the title of the “Indiana State Fair Queen” means I will be traveling around the state of Indiana all summer and being the hostess at the State Fair, but I’ll be me the entire way. I am a country girl at heart and can’t get enough bacon or Country music. It’s also very hard for me to let people wait and serve me, when I am driven to serve others. I just pray that God uses me this summer to serve others through this experience!

So I am truly a 'Pig Crazy Queen,' and I am very excited to reign over this summer and during the Indiana State Fair -- the Year of Pigs -- as your Miss Indiana State Fair Queen 2010."


Blog excerpts written by Denae Pyle; compiled by Courtney Sampson