Dinosaurs, pink glitter cowboy boots: Meet the youngest members of Grange Fair royalty

Dinosaurs were an exceedingly popular animal at the Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair this year. At least according to the contestants of the Grange Fair’s Little King and Little Queen competition, which was held Wednesday morning.

After several rounds of questions, judges crowned Declan Wert, 3, as Little King and Emberlii Deibler, 3, as Little Queen.

Declan won over the judges with his ambitions to become a dinosaur when he gets older. Emberlii showed off her pink glitter cowboy boots and her love of her family’s alpaca farm.

The two toddlers were picked by the judges out of 14 contestants — 8 girls and 6 boys.

Declan’s mother, Alyssa Poorman, said she was very excited for him to win. Poorman said she’s been coming to the fair her entire life.

Emberlii comes from a fifth generation Grange Fair family. Her mother, Kacy Deibler, was runner-up for Grange Fair Queen in 2013. Bellefonte parents Kacy and Matt Deibler knew as soon as Emberlii was born that she’d participate in the Little Queen pageant.

“She just lights up a room anywhere she goes,” Kacy Deibler said. “So we’ve been waiting for this all year, my heart was beating so hard. I was crying, I could cry right now.”

Tara Montauk has been judging the children’s pageant for the past three years, and said judging this was especially difficult. They judge off the contestant’s confidence, demeanor and personality, she said.

“It was really hard this year because normally the winner will emerge as their personality comes out or sort of organically as we go through the judging process, but this year was really hard,” she said.

Morgan Royer-Cole, the 2017 Grange Fair Queen, also served as a judge for the pageant. Royer-Cole said the bond between the Grange Fair Queen and the younger royalty is particularly special.

The Little King and Queen often accompany the Grange Fair Queen to events and help throw candy at the parade. It can be an almost sibling-esque relationship between the older and younger members of fair royalty.

“They’re at the parade and activities with you, so they become your little bestie,” Royer Cole said.

This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 5:02 PM.