Princess Kay of the Milky Way Crowned

Meeker County Dairy Princess Paige Frenchick of Manannah was one of the ten finalists for Princess Kay of the Milky Way during last night’s pageant at the Minnesota State Fair, but by the end of the night, the crown went to a dairy princess from a neighboring county. Wright County Dairy Princess Malorie Thorson is the 72nd Princess Kay of the Milky Way.

Malorie is the daughter of Andrew & Colette Thorson of Waverly and is studying dairy production at South Dakota State University. She plans to return to her family’s farm after graduating from college to become the 6th generation to operate the farm. In the meantime, Malorie will travel around Minnesota in the coming year, representing the nearly 1800 dairy farmers and promoting dairy products.

During last night’s coronation, Meeker County Dairy Princess Paige Frenchick answered questions from emcee Rod Johnson about how she incorporates dairy ingredients into her recipes with her favorite being macaroni & cheese, and she mentioned how milking cows is her favorite chore on the farm. Paige Frenchick is the daughter of Melissa Tessmer and Josh Frenchick. She’s a Biology major at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Paige hopes to continue dairy farming and go into dairy reproductive services upon graduation. Paige will get a likeness of her head carved out of butter on Monday by Litchfield artist Gerry Kulzer.

Midwest Dairy presented 3 scholarships of $1,000 each last night and they went to Natalie Clemenson of Goodhue County, Nicole Hauschildt of Wabasha County and Alexis Hoefs of LeSueur County. The 3 finalists for Princess Kay of the Milky Way were Alexis Hoefs of LeSueur County, April Klaphake of Stearns County, and Malorie Thorson of Wright County.