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Long Live the King: Hertgers takes Corn King crown again

Hertgers is one of few multi-crown winners
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2020 and 2021 Corn King Nathan Hertgers is all smiles as he is crowned on Sept. 18. Corn King entrants – or rather, their crops – are measured in many ways to decide the winner. (Adam Louis/Observer)

The 2020 Corn King Nathan Hertgers graciously surrendered his hunter green cloth crown during the Fall Fair and Corn Festival this past weekend. A few minutes later, Agassiz Agricultural and Horticultural Society president Victoria Brookes crowned him king once more.

In an especially tight race, Hertgers is the 73rd Corn King.

“There were a couple of points between first and second (place), between second, third, fourth and I even think fifth, I think there was a little over a point difference,” Brookes said. “It was extremely close.”

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The crown of Corn King must be earned. Each contestant has their crops judged on a number of stringent factors, including uniformity of the stand, height, weed control, weight and maturity.

“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,” Brookes told a full house of fair-goers during the corn-nation. Brookes added that this year’s entries had to take advantage of irrigation for the most part due to an especially dry summer. Hertgers’ fields, however, were not irrigated.

“Miracles can happen!” Brookes said.

RELATED: Remembering Agassiz’s Corn Kings

The runners up are John Hoogendoorn in second place and Alex Klop in third place.

Hertgers is in particularly elite company in that he is not only a multi-crown winner but one of the few who has won in consecutive years.


@adamEditor18
adam.louis@ ahobserver.com

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