Julia Phillips can remember the Buckwheat Festival days of her childhood spent looking up to Queen Ceres, but never imagined herself standing in the queen’s place, waving to a crowd of starry-eyed youth from a purple, silver and gold parade float.
This week, years later, that’s exactly what Phillips will do as Queen Ceres LXXXII.
From a young age, Phillips has spent many of her Buckwheat Festival days in the fair’s livestock barns, a passion shared with her family. Phillips has previously shown goats, market steers, breeding heifers and, more recently, market pigs.
Hard work paid off and led to one of Phillips’ favorite Buckwheat Festival memories: winning Grand Champion Steer in 2017 with the first steer she raised herself.
Outside of the barns, Phillips’ family has inspired her in other ways. During his senior year at Preston High School, Phillips’ father served as King Buckwheat, while her sister served on the Buckwheat Festival Royalty Court just last year.
Although Phillips felt her shy demeanor might not suit the role, the time for Royalty Court applications rolled around and she was inspired to try out — a few months later, she was crowned Queen Ceres LXXXII and has cherished every memory made and lesson learned.
“It was something where, if I didn’t do it, I knew I would regret it,” said Phillips. “Having grown up in the [agriculture] industry, I thought it was important that someone in the industry tried out to be Queen [Ceres].”
As part of the Buckwheat Festival Royalty Court’s duties, the group travels across north-central West Virginia to attend parades, charity benefits, youth outreach events, fairs and more — interspersed with stops for ice cream, of course.
From these experiences, Phillips has appreciated a firsthand look at the hard-working shoulders on which the festival stands. The court’s responsibilities have also been great practice for time management skills, she said.
“It’s been very rewarding, seeing all sides of the community pull together to help make the festival run,” said Phillips.
At the 82nd Buckwheat Festival, Phillips looks forward to seeing the efforts of the community come to fruition and the ways the festival continues to grow and evolve year after year. She also intends to keep up her somewhat unconventional Buckwheat Festival tradition featuring two key components: French fries and vinegar.
“My favorite thing to do at Buckwheat is, I go up to the fry stand, and I get French fries — and I drench them in vinegar,” said Phillips. “I know some people might think it’s disgusting, but it’s my favorite.”
Above all, though, during this week’s festivities, Queen Ceres LXXXII looks forward to being a role model for the younger generation just as the Buckwheat Festival Royalty Court acted as an inspiration to Phillips as a child.
“It’s a great feeling. The kids look up to us, and I know when I was younger, I always looked up to the Royalty Court and Queen Ceres,” said Phillips. “It’s an honor to be someone they can look up to.”
As a senior at Preston High School, Phillips is part of National Honor Society, the Preston County Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter, Interact Club and has earned her FFA state degree.
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