By Ben Shanahan

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

Drew Thomas and Katie Oestreich are king and queen at the 150th Wood County Fair.

The Sunday event started with the Junior Fair Parade, where past and present Wood County Fair Commissioners were honored as the grand marshals.

The parade also included performances from Wood County high school bands. Bands performing were Eastwood, Bowling Green, Otsego, North Baltimore and Elmwood, all playing a different variety of songs such as “Sweet Child of Mine” and “A Superhero Medley.”

From the left, the 4-H royalty court of first runners-up Carter Lampe and Sally Nietz, second runners up Eddie Eschedor and Elle Ruffner, king Drew Thomas and queen Katie Oestreich, and third runners-up Emma Ruffner and Jimmy Russell.

Scott W. Grau | Sentinel-Tribune

The parade honored the past, present and future, with kings and queens of the past in the parade, as well as the 2023 competitors, and displaying each member of every organization that competitor was representing.

Once the parade wrapped up, the king and queen of 2023 were announced.

This year’s king is Drew Thomas, 17, who is going to be a senior at Bowling Green High School who was representing the Wood County Junior Leadership Board.

The queen is Katie Oestreich, 18, and Eastwood High School graduate from Wayne, who will be attending Ohio State University this fall and represented the Future Farmers of America.

Oestreich was at a loss for words when they announced she had won the crown, something she said was a huge honor and absolutely shocking.

“I was not expecting that at all,” she said. “Walking up the stairs was difficult because I could not feel my legs. But I got up there and am so grateful to everyone who helped me get here, including my parents, advisers and everyone else who made me the person I am today. I am just so grateful for these opportunities and am so excited to represent Wood County.”

The next step for Oestreich is college and aspirations for the law.

“I am going to Ohio State this fall in Columbus, majoring in political science with a minor in Spanish and Agriculture Communication. With the eventual goal of becoming either an immigration or agriculture attorney, that’s the goal now but can always change,” Oestreich said.

She is the daughter of Matt and Leslie Oestreich, and was representing Eastwood FFA. She was the chapter president and Ohio FFA State treasurer.

Thomas said that the Wood County Fair has been part of his entire life.

“I have been showing at the county fair basically since I learned how to walk, and when I got into 4H, that is when I started getting into the project and all that 4H brings,” he said. “Which led to me getting involved in the Wood County Leadership Board and getting more and more involved in the county, which ended up leading to me becoming the student adviser last year for my chapter.” Thomas said.

He is the son of Andy and Holliday Thomas. He is a nine-year member of 4-H and is the vice president of the Ohio 4-H Teen Leadership Council and a member of BG FFA.

Though everyone was cheering when the results were read for Thomas, a few of his friends were extra loud over the crowd, something that meant a lot to him.

“The guys that were loud were some of my friends in the audience, and the other part of my life is that I am a part of drama and choir. So those were some of my buddies from that, which is nice to know that I have support like that in everything I do.” Thomas said.