Pritzker opens DuQuoin State Fair, praises essential industries of ag and health care

DUQUOIN, Ill. — Flanked by his wife, First Lady M.K. Pritzker, on one side and Illinois State Fair Queen Kelsi Kessler on the other, Gov. J.B. Pritzker cut the ribbon to officially open the 2021 DuQuoin State Fair on Aug. 27.

“I want to say thank you for joining us and for making the DuQuoin State Fair a part of your summer once again. Be safe, enjoy the celebration and now, let’s open the 2021 DuQuoin State Fair,” Pritzker said as he finished a speech in which he paid tribute to fair officials and some of the state’s essential industries.

One of those industries, the state’s frontline healthcare workers, was represented in the Twilight Parade after the ribbon cutting.

Woody Thorne, the vice president of community affairs for Southern Illinois Healthcare, was the parade grand marshal and helped Pritzker cut the ribbon to open the fair.

“I am so proud that, in a little while, this year’s Twilight Parade will be led by a grand marshal representing Illinois’ health care workers here in DuQuoin. Woody Thorne, the vice president of Southern Illinois Healthcare, is, frankly, one of the great people we were able to honor earlier this month at the Governor’s Mansion. I can tell you without a doubt that he has been a real hero in his community, in this community, fighting this pandemic. Frontline workers like Woody are the very best of Illinois,” Pritzker said.

In April 2020, SIH created a relief fund for healthcare workers, community agencies and social service agencies that were being affected by the pandemic. The fund also took donations of face masks and other protective gear for healthcare workers.

Pritzker called attention to another of the state’s essential industries that is represented in the exhibits and livestock shows at the DuQuoin State Fair — agriculture.

“Illinois’ proud agricultural tradition has long been the force that drives our state forward and the last 18 months has been no different. In March of 2020, when the world seemed to have come to a halt, our state’s No. 1 industry, an essential industry in a global crisis, kept right on moving. After all, there were still crops and animals to care for, deliveries to make, people to feed. Today and throughout our DuQuoin State Fair, we honor our farmers and their ag industry partners and I know that we all share their hopes and dreams for the future,” Pritzker said.

Jerry Costello II, the director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, served as emcee of the opening ceremonies. Costello formerly represented the 116th district that includes the area around the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. He thanked Pritzker for signing the 2019 capital bill that allocated money for upgrades and repairs at both of the Illinois state fairgrounds.

“He’s a man who pushed through, about two years ago, an infrastructure bill that is building new roads and new bridges here in southern Illinois, not only new roads and new bridges, but he is also making sure that our kids in southern Illinois have broadband, so in the rural parts of this state, they have just as much opportunity as kids in big cities. I would also like to thank him very much for the capital bill because it’s done a number of things for our fairgrounds. At the end of the day, we are putting southern Illinoisans back to work,” Costello said.

For the 2020 Illinois State Fair Queen, Kelsi Kessler, the cancellation of the 2021 Illinois Association of Agriculture Fairs convention earlier this year, where the new Illinois State Fair queen is crowned from among a group of county fair queens, meant that she would be a two-term state fair queen.

Kessler, who represents White County, said she was excited for the return of the DuQuoin State Fair.

“I know I am one of many Illinoisans who have been waiting two years for the return of this event that is so important and special to this area of the state. Throughout my travels this summer representing the Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs, I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many people, all of whom have been so excited to return to these iconic fairgrounds,” Kessler said.

Guy Alongi, mayor of DuQuoin, also welcomed the fair and fairgoers back to town.

“Governor, I am going to tell you that this pandemic has kicked our butts, but it hasn’t kicked us down. We are going to have a good DuQuoin State Fair this year. I want everybody to come out, I want everybody to have a good time I want the vendors to prosper, I want the midway to prosper and I want you to spend your money at the DuQuoin State Fair,” Alongi said.

The DuQuoin State Fair continues through Monday, Sept. 6. A full list of events and ticketing information can be found at www2.illinois.gov/sites/dsf/Pages/default.aspx.