CAMP HILL, Pa — A new State Royalty Team (SRT) was chosen on September 20th to represent Pennsylvania’s dairy industry for the next year.

Following two days of competition among 21 county dairy princess contestants, Lebanon County’s Jesslyn Risser was crowned Pennsylvania Dairy Princess. Bryanne Keller of Adams County and Rebekah Aldrich of Franklin County were chosen as alternate dairy princesses.

After months of preparation and anticipation, the county princesses spent Thursday and Friday in advance of the Saturday coronation competing in contests and enjoying social and educational experiences. Weeks before the competition, each girl submits a favorite dairy recipe to be kitchen-tested and published in a cookbook. When arriving, contestants have a scrapbook, display board, and 30-second radio spot ready to submit as part of the competition. They also take a dairy knowledge exam. Most importantly, everyone gets their turn giving their 3–5-minute speech, their skit presentation, and also an individual interview with the judges. This level of competition is no small task.

After the hard work of completing all the required contests, the county princesses are celebrated with glitz and glam during the coronation ceremony on Saturday afternoon.

Following the meal, the county princesses make their entrance to the stage. The retiring SRT enters, each escorted by her father.

After a unique introduction of each contestant alphabetically by county from Master of Ceremonies Kirk Sattazahn of Berks County, family and guests settle in to be entertained and enlightened by the top winners of the creative presentation (skit), speech, and radio spot contests. 

The audience watched as speech runner-up Cecile Preston of Crawford County shared about robotic technologies on dairy farms, followed by speech honorable mention Rebekah Aldrich from Franklin County explaining the Fill-A-Glass with Hope program. Other honorable mentions were Raychel Sealand from Mercer County and Sophia Tice of Bradford County. 

Jesslyn Risser won the speech contest as well as the skit presentation portion in which she portrayed herself as a detective. She was looking for clues, learning that the success of high-level athletes is a diet of dairy foods. Skit runner-up Bryanne Keller of Adams County presented herself as an astronaut to highlight many astronomical facts and dairy benefits. Skit honorable mentions were Franklin County’s Rebekah Aldrich, Bradford County’s Sophia Tice, and Perry County’s Leah Clouse.

In just 30 seconds a lot of information is packed into a creative radio spot. Winner Macy Myers of Huntingdon County shared health and wellness tips gained from dairy. Runner-up Rylee Stultz of Blair County gave a tribute to America’s upcoming 250th birthday. Cecile Preston of Crawford County, Jennifer Stringer of Mifflin County, and Rebekah Aldrich of Franklin County were honorable mention winners in that contest.

In the Royal Recipe contest, award winners were Grace Hutchin of Washington County with runner-up honors going to Macy Myers of Huntingdon County. Honorable mention acknowledgements went to Sophia Tice of Bradford County, Leah Clouse of Perry County, and Kylie Dehoff of York County.

Winning the Display Board contest was Macy Myers of Huntingdon County with runner-up Jesslyn Risser of Lebanon County. Three honorable mention winners were Lydia Sheatz of Clarion County, Hunter Nuemann of Centre County, and Rebekah Aldrich of Franklin County.

Scrapbook contest winners were Brinley Hess of Berks County with Sophia Tice of Bradford County coming in as runner-up. Honorable mentions were Jesslyn Risser of Lebanon County, AvaBella Friedline of Somerset County and Macy Myers of Huntingdon County.

After completing the Dairy Knowledge Exam, the winner was Rebekah Aldrich from Franklin County with runner-up going to Macy Myers of Huntingdon County. Honorable mention winners were Grace Hutchin of Washington County, Sophia Tice of Bradford County, and Leah Clouse of Perry County.

Rebekah Aldrich of Franklin County was voted by her princess peers to win the honor of Miss Congeniality.

Many judges serve at the competition to make selections in all these contests, but the three given the task of the final selection of the new SRT were Linda Foreman and Gail Yeiser, both from Maryland, and also Tony Rice from Virginia.

Two awards are presented each year to members of the previous class of county dairy princesses. The Jan Harding-Ruslavage Perseverance award was given to Madison Mower of Huntingdon County for participating in the highest percentage of involvement in promotions her county achieved, serving in 400 promotions.

Given in memory of the 1985-86 Huntington County Dairy Princess Tina M. Schultz, this annual award is given to a county princess who went above and beyond to serve in her capacity, just as Tina did as she battled cancer and lost her left leg to the disease. Tina passed away in May of 1986 at the age of 18, but served as dairy princess as enthusiastically as she could.

Francis Weaver of Centre County was presented with the Tina M. Schultz Award. During Francis’s year as county princess, her mother suffered a major health set-back that required Francis to step-up her responsibilities at home in addition to everything else. After thanking many people, Francis said, “This past year wasn’t about me; it was about everyone who walked alongside me. It’s about the farmers who trusted me to share their story, the children in the classroom who asked questions about where their milk comes from, and people at community events who stopped to talk about what dairy means to them. These moments and conversations are what made this experience unforgettable.”

The Jan Harding Ruslavage Service Award is now in its second year. Presented by three of Jan’s five children, this year’s award and $3000 prize went to Cara Trotter Itle. She works for United Dairy and has many years of involvement in national and state Guernsey associations, promoting Golden Guernsey milk. She was raised on her family’s Trotacre Farm near Enon Valley.

After the first round of deliberation, the judges disclosed the top seven finalists. Those announcements were Rebekah Aldrich of Franklin County, Bryanne Keller of Adams County, Macy Myers of Huntingdon County, Cecile Preston from Crawford County, Jesslyn Risser of Lebanon County, Rylee Stultz from Blair County, and finally Sophia Tice from Bradford County.

With the selection of the top seven came the next highlight of the event, the impromptu question. The judges crafted the question and each candidate was asked: “As a dairy promoter, how will you bridge the gap between Pennsylvania dairy farmers and today’s consumer to help them better understand where their food comes from?”

The evening was also full of introductions of special guests and sponsors. There were many former state royalty members in the audience that were recognized. Board members and other supporters of Pennsylvania Dairy Princess & Promotion Services (PDPPS) were commended for their service.

PDPPS director Carrie Anderson took the stage to give a final farewell to the 2024-2025 Pennsylvania State Royalty Team, consisting of Princess Charlotte Wallace from Berks County, Sadie Innerst of Perry County, and Erie County’s Morgan Larson. Carrie expressed her gratefulness for her unique position and the time she’s given to build relationships with the girls on the SRT over the course of the year. “I’m only in this three years, but I already feel like I have nine daughters, in an extended way,” she said. Carrie spoke of several new promotions achieved this year on top of the many typical events the SRT is involved with. Each retiring princess gave farewell remarks, thanking many people and expressing their gratitude for the memorable experiences they now possess.

The final moment had arrived for the long-anticipated announcement and crowning of the 2025-2026 SRT. “I’ve been handed an envelope with three names!” Sattazahn teased. From Franklin County, Rebekah Aldrich was recognized as the second Alternate Dairy Princess along with Bryanne Keller from Adams County to serve as first Alternate. Jesslyn Risser from Lebanon County was announced as the Pennsylvania Dairy Princess as the room erupted in cheers and applause.

“What a privilege, I’m truly in awe of this opportunity,” Jesslyn began as she was filled with emotion. “I hope to promote and make that connection between producers and consumers, and most importantly, be able to represent the dairy farmers of Pennsylvania because I know how hard you work day and night. I want to thank my parents for giving me this opportunity and giving me the chance to work on the farm daily, being able to promote them as well as Pennsylvania and Lebanon County.”

While the selection of the SRT is a highlight of the year, the importance of each county dairy princess and her grassroots involvement which will continue until the end of May 2026 is a critical component of the success of dairy promotion. The county princesses and their junior promoters make most of the one-on-one connections with consumers to share the importance of dairy. The work of these young ambassadors is very much appreciated.

The live stream of the coronation festivities is archived at the Pennsylvania Dairy Princess and Promotion Services Facebook page.