Marion County Fair Queen Marley Larson received the Queen Alumni Award at the Iowa State Fair Queen Contest on Saturday.

This award is in honor of 1993 Fair Queen Julie Wolterman, and is given to someone that brings attention to a certain cause that deserves more awareness. Larson has done this with the organization she started, Chasing Positivity, which raises awareness for suicide prevention. Larson was crowned Marion County Fair Queen in June and is also the President of the Knoxville FFA chapter. Larson said when she was crowned Marion County Fair Queen that 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 2024 Iowa State Fair Queen is Elli Blackford of Clarke County.