Did we have a Corn King this year? Not exactly.
Did we have a Corn Queen? Try again.
For the first time in the 74 years of the Agassiz Corn Festival’s existence, a Corn King and a Corn Queen were both crowned in 2022. Brother and sister team Kelsea Kielstra and Shaun TeBrinke won a tandem crown.
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Fair board president Victoria Brookes said both were crowned winners of this year’s corn royalty competition since they were both involved in the corn that was submitted for judgement. The dynamic duo succeeds the 73rd winner of the Corn Crown, Nathan Hertgers, who won back-to-back crowns in 2020 and 2021.
Two members of corn royalty is unprecedented, and in another bit of Corn Festival history, Kielstra is the first Corn Queen crowned since 2007; in fact, she is the second-ever Corn Queen.
In short, it’s as Brookes once said: “To the disappointment to some of the farmers or maybe their wives, it’s not based on the handsomeness or the beauty of the person.”
The Corn Crown is a hard-earned agriculture honour. Each contestant’s corn is carefully judged on a rigorous list of factors, including height, weed control and maturity.
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