Pennsylvania Dairy Princess and Promotion Services, Inc

Mission Statement: The mission of Pennsylvania Dairy Princess and Promotion Services, Inc. is to work with the local county committees in their promotional efforts and their dairy princess programs to promote the sale and consumption of milk and dairy products at the grassroots level throughout the state of Pennsylvania; to plan and conduct the training of young people to serve as dairy industry promoters now and to be future agricultural leaders; to coordinate the selection and activities of the State Royalty.

Staff

Junia Isiminger, Executive Director
JuniaPDPPS@aol.com  

District Coordinators

At-Large Coordinator and 2004 Co- Chairperson- Jan Harding 

chasjanrus@pennswoods.net

Northeast Coordinator and 2004 Treasurer - Betty Reibson
mreibson@epix.net

Bradford, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Sullivan, SUN Area, Susquehanna, Wayne, Wyoming

  Southeast Coordinator and 2004 Chairperson - Charlene Ranck
mranck@juno.com

   Adams, Berks, Carbon, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Franklin, Fulton, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Schuylkill, York

Northwest Coordinator - Roberta McConnell
robertas-tours@earthlink.net

 Cameron, Crawford, Clarion, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence,  McKean, Mercer, Potter, Venango, Warren

At-Large Coordinator and 2004 Secretary - Donna Werley

PENNSYLVANIA DAIRY PRINCESS HISTORY

1956 to 2004

             Since its inception in 1956, hundreds of young people and their families have been involved in the promotion of the dairy industry at the local, grassroots level through the Dairy Princess Programs.  Initiated and run until 1966 by the Pennsylvania Association of Milk Dealers as the Miss Milk Maid Contest, contestants represented milk marketing areas from one to fourteen counties.  In 1967 there was no state contest, although promotion continued at the local level.

        In 1968 the Pennsylvania Holstein Association assumed the responsibility for the program and geographic representation was changed to the county dairy promotion system of today.  This change offered more contestants the opportunity to vie for the state title and provided increased dairy promotion at the local level.  Form 18956 through 1971, the Pennsylvania Dairy Princess participated in a national contest sponsored by the American Dairy Association.  The national contest was discontinued in 1972.

        For several years, commencing in 1970, the Bureau of Markets of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture coordinated the program and employed the Pennsylvania Dairy Princess to travel throughout the state during the summer to educate the consuming public on the value of dairy products.  From 1972 to the present, the Pennsylvania Dairy Princess Pageant and Coronation has been held annually in September in conjunction with the All American Dairy Show.

        In 1975, district coordinators were appointed to help increase program activities at the county level and serve as resource personnel.  In 1978, an incentive award program was initiated to encourage local princesses to take part in a wider variety of promotional activities.  From 1979 through 1983, Atlantic Dairy Association served as coordinator of the princess program working together with the six district coordinators and the county dairy promotion committees.

        In 1983, in order to provide a more uniform program which would serve all areas of Pennsylvania equally, the district coordinators established the present Pennsylvania Dairy Princess and Promotion Services, Inc.  which maintains its own office and is coordinated by an executive director.  The organization is supported by Pennsylvania’s dairy farmers throughput the advertising and promotion agencies of the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program, American Dairy Association & Dairy Council –Mideast, Mid Atlantic Dairy Association; American Dairy Association and Dairy Council, Inc., and Allied Milk Producers, in addition to contributions from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and other dairy related organizations and individuals.  Its primary function is to work with the local county committees in their promotional efforts and their princess programs and to plan and conduct the training of these young people, and to coordinate the selection and activities of the State Dairy Princess and her Alternates.

          Although requirements have been broadened, dairy princesses today are chosen according to qualifications similar to those used for the very first pageant.  Prospective princesses must come from a dairy farm, or dairy related background, own dairy animals or they or their parents must be employed in the dairy industry or an agribusiness that serves it.  The must be single and be between the ages of 16 and 24.  They must possess the knowledge, poise and speaking ability necessary to carry out their many duties as spokespersons for Pennsylvania’s dairy industry. 

          After receiving their crowns as county dairy princesses, these young women have prepared for their role as county dairy spokespersons and the state contest.  In July all princesses, their alternates, some parents and members of the county promotion committees attended and three and a half day training seminar.  Here they received intensive instructions on the dairy industry and nutrition as well as public speaking, working with the media, social conduct and personal appearance.

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