Photo Courtesy of Say Uncle Photography

The 2012 Washington County Fair Queen Lexi Marek recently competed in the 2016 Miss Iowa Pageant. The senior at Iowa State University decided to try for the crown at the encouragement of her friends and family, and was crowned Miss Liberty in Cedar Rapids two months ago. It was the last pageant she could have won in order to qualify for Miss Iowa this year.

Marek received the Spirit Award and the Applause Award at the pageant. She said she used her experience as Fair Queen to help prepare for the competition. She said she’d like to improve her talent portion. When she went to college, she moved away from her dance studio and stopped taking dance lessons, so she felt that was an area she could work on for next time. Additionally, she feels she can continue to work on her public speaking ability for the interview portion.

Marek plans to continue working on her pageant skills and hopes to be right back on the Miss Iowa stage next June.