When I was seven years old, I was crowned the Schuylkill County Lil’ Dairy Miss. Throughout that year I enjoyed working with my county princess and envied her bigger crown and embroidered sash. Life got busy and I stopped doing dairy promotion. Last year I started again as a Dairy maid. My princess told me that I was next in line for the crown, and that it would come fast. May 6th 2023 I was crowned the Schuylkill County Dairy Princess. It was a dream come true and I was super excited to finally be in that position. Little did I know what was to come.
September 21st-23rd. Those dates swirled around in my mind for a long time. This was the Pennsylvania State Dairy Princess competition. This competition would name three new county princesses as the State Royalty Team (SRT). There were seven possible contests I could compete in. Five of them are mandatory. I had to write a speech, perform a skit, do a dairy knowledge exam, a recipe contest, an interview, and the bonus contests were radio spot and poster board. I had my work cut out for me. I started preparing a little bit after my coronation and didn’t stop until the night before my competition. I put months of preparation into it, and I still didn’t believe I was good enough to win a State title. I studied and practiced every night I was there and told myself I would just be myself and do my best.
Friday night was the awards banquet. I ended up placing in five of the categories! Second in skit, third in speech, second in posterboard, fourth in radio spot, and second in dairy knowledge. Getting runner up with my skit meant I was going to present it on stage. My skit was me pretending to be a teacher and teaching my class about fairy. I created a music parody to the song “Don’t Stop Believin’” and called my skit “Mooing Melody.” The morning of the pageant we practiced how we would walk on stage and stage presence. My nerves stayed surprisingly calm, as I continued to trust God with his plans for me.
September 23rd 2023. One of the best days of my life. This is the day of the pageant. Getting in my gown, doing my hair and makeup, and sitting with my team of women who helped me get to where I was, The Davis Family. The Davis’ helped me to get where I was and knew what they were doing, with having many people in their family win state titles. They prayed with me before I left for pictures. They prayed for my nerves to stay calm, and by God they did. I didn’t feel any nerves but excitement the entire night. I presented y skit on stage and it was time to announce the top seven individuals. “Alexis Butler, Schuylkill County” was called and I was overjoyed! That was such a big accomplishment for me in itself. We had to answer an impromptu question on stage. The question was, “the judges would like to know, you are at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, and a consumer comes up to you and asks about the dairy industry. What would you say?” I answered the question really well and returned to my seat.
5:00 pm. The top three individuals are about to be announced. “Your second Pennsylvania Alternate Dairy Princess… Mackenzie Thomas Lebanon CPunty!” I clapped for Mackenize, as I was happy for her. “Your first Alternate Dairy Princess…Emily Wright Crawford County!” I was happy for Emily, but I was disappointed. It was over. I was too young and not good enough to be anything higher than an alternate. We also never had a State Princess from Schuylkill County and I definitely wouldn’t be the first. “Your Pennsylvania State Dairy Princess… don’t stop believing Alexis Butler Schuylkill County!” The tears fell down my face as I realized what had just happened. It was unbelievable. I was allowed to say a few words and honor is all I could think of. I am so beyond honored to represent the hard working dairy farmers as the 2023-2024 Pennsylvania Dairy Princess.