It takes a lot of preparation to be chosen as a fair queen, and a lot of work to make it through to fair week. Bradford High School junior Mallory Craig, Miss Bradford 2024, is used to working hard to achieve her goals. Now that she has been given the title, she says that she is looking forward to a summer filled with events and appearances.
“As a fair queen, I get to go and make a lot of appearances at different places and public events, and I think that is going to be very interesting,” Craig said.
“I am looking forward to becoming more involved in my community,” she added.
Craig is a daughter of Jessica and Dustin Craig. She was born and raised in Bradford.
She is a member of Key Club International, where she strives to help those around her.
“Our goal is to encourage leadership through serving others, and I think that those are words to try and live by,” she said.
Craig is also a member of the Bradford Owls Marching Band, where she has previously served as color guard captain. This year, she is the drum major. She was able to use her experience in band to help her creatively in the competition for Miss Bradford.
“One part of the competition is that we have to do a talent,” explained Craig. “So I was able to let my creative juices flow – I came up with a color guard routine that I rehearsed every night for weeks.”
Another part of the competition that Craig prepared diligently for was the speech, on the importance of agriculture in McKean County.
“We had to give our speech in front of the whole school, so I prepared by taking a video of myself reading my speech and then playing it back and reviewing it,” Craig said.
“By the day of the competition, I could practically say that speech from memory,” she added.
Throughout her preparation, she was greatly encouraged by Marissa Golden.
“I really want to thank her, she helped me so much through this and gave me great advice; she kept me positive and focused,” Craig said. “(Golden) was Miss Bradford when she was in high school so she can relate to what I am going through.”
After high school, Craig hopes to pursue veterinary medicine.
“I want to work in a field where I can help animals,” she said, “because I feel like I have a strong connection to them.”
