The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Commerce Queen to be crowned for final time
The tradition started in 1974 with Vivian Kelly, and it will end next week with a woman whose name has yet to be revealed.
That annual rite is the crowning of the News-Herald Commerce Queen.
The event, which has become a fixture at the Lake County Fair, will take place for the 45th and final time July 24.
After more than four decades of sponsoring the Commerce Queen competition, The News-Herald has decided to end the event after the 2018 ceremony.
“It’s such a different world these days than it was when we began the competition, we felt it was time for a change,” said News-Herald Executive Editor Tricia Ambrose.
The Commerce Queen coronation is slated for 7:15 p.m. July 24 at the Belcher Pavilion on the Painesville Township fairgrounds, 1301 Mentor Ave., on the first day of the 2018 Lake County Fair.
Eight women who work at businesses in Lake County are competing for the crown. These women were nominated through a balloting contest conducted in News-Herald print editions.
In the initial request for nominations, The NewsHerald asked readers to “nominate a woman who through her work at a Lake County business demonstrates courtesy, efficiency, helpfulness, enthusiasm and kindness in her faceto-face dealings with the public.”
Past winners have held such positions as waitress, secretary, bank teller and clerk.
This year, after the ballots were counted, eight nominees were chosen as finalists.
Those nominees, in alphabetical order by last name, and their employers are:
• Doree Adams, KellerWilliams Group
• Sarah English, Applebee’s
• Ruth Frazier, Rideout’s IGA
• Tammy Samac, Tammy’s Thairapy Salon
• Gerri Verdi, Verdi’s Italian Market
• Marylan K. WaldanTaylor, Shumar-Walden Group • Sarah Weaver, CVS • Tammy Weglicki, Barb & Patty’s Butcher Palace
The triumphant candidate will succeed last year’s queen, Debbie Morris, a medical receptionist at Erieside Medical Group. This final winner’s name will be added to a list of Commerce Queens that began in 1974 when Kelly, a clerk at the Convenient Food Mart on Clark Avenue in Willoughby, won the inaugural award.
When the competition started, the honor bestowed was called the News-Herald Retail Commerce Queen. The crowning took place on Industrial and News-Herald Day at the county fair.
On July 24, WINT Radio’s Ray Somich will have the honor of announcing the name of the winner.
Looking back on the event, Ambrose said the newspaper’s role in bestowing royalty to worthy recipients has been rewarding.
“The News-Herald has been proud to recognize the outstanding service of so many Lake County women over the years,” she said.
“The NewsHerald has been proud to recognize the outstanding service of so many Lake County women over the years.” — News-Herald Executive Editor Tricia Ambrose