The 2024 Marion County Fair royalty was crowned Saturday night at a ceremony inside Dyer Hudson Hall.

Selected to be the 2024 Fair Queen was Marley Larson of Knoxville, while Dillion Hall from Knoxville was chosen as the inaugural Fair King and Aliana Pearson of Knoxville was selected as the Jr. Princess. At the ceremony Saturday night each contestant was asked a question unique to their interest and then a question that was identical to the other contestants in their category. The winners received their crowns and sashes from last year’s fair queen Carly Cox and Jr. Princess Lauren Boelling. Newly crowned fair queen Marley Larson says she wants to be the positive role model that other queens have been for her.

“I’ve always looked up to the queen. I love seeing her out there and what she does, all the advocacy she does, all the smiles on the little kids faces when they see her, and I wanted to be that positive role model for the little kids.”

The Marion County King category was just added this year and inaugural king winner Dillion Hall says it is a big honor to be crowned.

“This means everything. I’ve been with the county fair since I’ve been a little kid. It’s my favorite part of the summer. I’ve been on county council so I’ve put how the county fair is going to roll out, and to be the fair king and be a big part of it means everything to me.”

Jr. Princess winner Aliana Pearson says after getting runner up last year, she is excited to win the competition this year to be able to represent the county on a high level.

“This is just really what I’ve been looking forward to. Last year I tried out and got runner up but this year I’m just really excited to be at the county fair and state fair.”

Hear from all three royalty winners on today’s Let’s Talk Knoxville.