Miss McHenry County Fair queen named first runner-up at state pageant

Amid a string of Miss McHenry County Fair queens to advance to bigger titles, Grace Markovitz recently became first runner-up in the Miss Illinois County Fair Pageant.

It’s the first time in at least 50 years a Miss McHenry County Fair queen has placed in the top five at the statewide pageant.

As Miss McHenry County Fair Queen 2021, Markovitz competed Jan. 13 to 16 in Springfield with 70 other county fair queen winners for the statewide prize.

“To be quite honest, I didn’t even know if I’d make the top 15,” said Markovitz, a 2020 McHenry High School graduate who is studying pre-dental and philosophy at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin.

“You have absolutely no idea. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m excited. Now, who won?’ It was just fun to be part of everything big picture-wise.”

As a first runner-up, Markovitz, who plans to become a pediatric dentist, earned a $500 scholarship from the state’s Department of Agriculture and another $400 from the Illinois Pageants Directors Association. As Miss McHenry County Fair queen, she earned more than $2,000 in scholarships.

After Markovitz placed as first runner-up, Lovena Hunter, director of the Miss McHenry County Fair Queen Pageant, did some research. She discovered only two past McHenry County Fair queens reached the top five in the statewide competition. Both were queens at least five decades ago.

“It’s a huge accomplishment,” said Hunter, director for the past 20 years. In those 20 years, all but two Miss McHenry County Fair queens have placed in the top 15 statewide.

The 2019-20 Miss McHenry County Fair queen, Deepa Dhillon, went on to win both the titles of Miss Illinois International and Miss International 2021, while 2018 Miss McHenry County Fair queen Olivia Lorenzo is the current Miss Colorado USA and competed in November at the Miss USA Pageant.

“We are certainly blessed and very proud of this accomplishment for our queens and our county,” Hunter said. “We put faith in believing our girls are meant for greatness.”

Like her predecessors, Markovitz represents all that the competitions stand for, Hunter said, “finding your best self, not only in appearance, but who you are as a person and who you want to be to your community and to those around you.”

Her first runner-up placement was well-deserved, she said.

“To describe Grace is to say her name,” she said. “She’s a graceful person, very thoughtful, and she cares about her community and she does everything using her heart.”

Upon winning the Miss McHenry County Fair queen title, Markovitz took it upon herself to organize a book drive to donate 1,500 books to Your Children’s Bookshelf, a nonprofit in McHenry that provides free books to children and families in need.

She also raised about $1,000 for Kids in Need of McHenry County, another nonprofit providing resources to children.

Markovitz has volunteered throughout the community since the age of 13. Her volunteer work with Gigi’s Playhouse, a McHenry-based nonprofit that provides resources and support for individuals with Down syndrome, inspired her college major. She discovered how difficult it can be for people with disabilities to access dental care, she said.

It was the potential for scholarships and a passion to help others that drew her into pageants, she said. Contestants are judged in numerous areas, including interviews and a speech on a topic of their choice.

“One thing I want people to know is that if you’re seeing pageantry as a beauty pageant, look a little closer,” said Markovitz, who has yet to decide whether she’ll pursue any further titles.

“The good ones are the ones where you’ll see the people go into the community and they’re going to be doing stuff to help the community. The perfect female, that’s not what it’s about anymore. The more we can get to empowering women in the community, the better it is for everyone.”