Skylee McDonald named 2023 Dayton Fair Queen

DAYTON — The Dayton Fair officially got underway on Sunday with the crowning of the 2023 Dayton Fair Queen. This year, Punxsutawney’s Skylee McDonald was crowned the queen, while Dayton’s Brianna Atherton was named the runner-up.

McDonald, 19, is the daughter of Billie Jo and Jamie McDonald of Punxsutawney and is a 2022 graduate of the Punxsutawney Area High School. She earned her National Healthcareer Association (NHA) certification in phlebotomy by completing the Phlebotomy Technician Course at Lenape Adult Education in 2022. She currently holds two jobs: she is a phlebotomist at the Punxsutawney Area Hospital, and she is the manager at Fox’s Pizza Den in Rural Valley, where she has been for three years.

In the future, McDonald has plans of furthering her career in the medical industry. She has been an active member of the Dayton Livestock 4-H Club for 12 years and is currently the president of Dayton Livestock. She has been showing swine at the Dayton Fair since she was seven years old, and this year is her 12th and final year. She enjoys spending time with her family and working on her family’s farm, which is special to her as it has been in the McDonald name since 1858.

Atherton, 16, is the daughter of Chris Atherton and Adam and Crystal Keener. She currently lives in Dayton and will attend Lenape Technical School to study biomedical technology. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, hunting and fishing.

Atherton has volunteered with the Dayton Fire Department with her family since she was small and officially joined two years ago. She now attends different trainings and events with her department. She currently works at Charley’s Place in Rural Valley.

The Dayton Fair officially opens today at 1 p.m. At 5 p.m. the Judging Light Horse Game Show will take place at the horse arena and the Judging on Foot Carcass event will take place at the Livestock and Swine arenas. At 7 p.m., Rend Collective will play at the grandstand.