Photo courtesy of Katelyn Welgraven Pipestone County Dairy Princess Katelyn Welgraven, shown here appearing at a Pipestone A's baseball game, was selected as one of nine statewide finalists for Princess Kay of the Milky Way. As a finalist, she'll be appearing at the Minnesota State Fair this weekend.

RUTHTON — It was a shock, Katelyn Welgraven said. In May, she got the news that she was one of the nine finalists in the running to be crowned as Princess Kay of the Milky Way.

“I was not expecting it at all,” she said.

This summer has been a busy one for Katelyn, the daughter of Keith and Jeanna Welgraven of rural Ruthton. She’s gone through rounds of competition in the Princess Kay program, to attending the coronation. This weekend, she’s headed to the Minnesota State Fair. As a Princess Kay finalist, she will sit in a cooler in the Dairy Building to have her portrait carved from a 90-pound block of butter.

At this point, Welgraven said, “I don’t know what the heck I’m going to do with my butter head.” But she was looking forward to meeting the sculptor.

Welgraven is an alumna of RTR High School, and is currently starting her sophomore year at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. She’s had connections to dairy farming her whole life.

“I grew up on a dairy farm outside of Ruthton,” she said. In 2019, she became a Pipestone County Dairy Ambassador.

“I started out as an ambassador at the end of my eighth grade year,” she said. After serving as an ambassador, Welgraven went on to apply to become Pipestone County Dairy Princess. Being a dairy princess is a role that takes her to schools, as well as to parades and other area events, to help teach people about dairy.

“I like to do little craft days with kids,” she said, or activities like making ice cream or butter. “It’s so cool to see they’re learning.”

It was also good to be able to answer questions and share information about the dairy industry, Welgraven said. “I think it’s important for people to know where to get reliable information,” she said.

Being a county dairy princess was also part of what made Welgraven eligible to compete in the Princess Kay program. Princess Kay candidates from around Minnesota took part in a leadership event this spring, where they were also scored by judges.

“We had to prepare a speech,” Welgraven said. “We also had to do a mock media interview and a personal interview.”

The nine Princess Kay finalists were revealed in May. Welgraven said she didn’t learn she had been named a finalist right away, because she was attending a play at her high school. She watched the announcement video during the intermission. It was an emotional moment, she said.

From there, Welgraven joined the eight other finalists for an orientation event that included etiquette training. Another round of competition was held in August, before a coronation ceremony at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.

“We were all so nervous and excited,” Welgraven said.

On Aug. 21, Rachel Visser, a 19-year-old college student from Hutchinson, was crowned the 71st Princess Kay of the Milky Way.

Welgraven said getting to know her fellow finalists was one of the fun parts of the competition. “I got really close to some of the girls,” she said. Finalists had different roommates during the leadership and orientation events, to help give everyone a chance to meet each other.

Part of being a Princess Kay finalist is getting to attend the State Fair. “We’ve got different stations there,” she said, from an education station to amateur butter sculpting. Each finalist also gets her own butter sculpture made at the fairgrounds. Welgraven will be sculpted on Friday.

After the fair is over, part of the experience will also come home with Welgraven.

“We get the butter sculpture, and the scraps,” she said. The process of carving each portrait usually fills one or two five-gallon buckets with leftover butter pieces, Welgraven explained.

Welgraven said she didn’t yet know what she was going to do with her butter portrait. But she and her family would have to make sure they had enough freezer space to bring it home.

Welgraven has been balancing being a Princess Kay finalist with the start of classes at USD. Welgraven is majoring in elementary education, with a minor in Deaf education.

“It’s definitely busy,” she said, but she and university faculty have been making the scheduling work. “Our dean and my professors are amazing,” Welgraven said.

Welgraven said she hoped to be able to mentor younger dairy princesses and ambassadors next spring. “I think it will be super fun,” she said.