The West End Fair has a new queen — Katarina Frantz.

Frantz was crowned Sunday afternoon by Taylor Edman, the 2017 fair queen, during the opening ceremony. This is the fair’s fourth year offering the queen scholarship program, which includes a $500 scholarship.

“I’m looking forward to talking to and meeting a lot of new people,” Frantz said.

She said she applied for the contest because she wanted to become more involved in the community.

“I thought it would be cool,” she said.

Frantz, 17, of Effort, is in her senior year with the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, where she is in two honor societies, several clubs and is secretary of the equestrian club.

Frantz also spends some of her time volunteering at the West End Food Bank. She lives and works on a small farm and plans to go to college next year and major in forestry or wildlife management.

The West End Fair Queen Scholarship Program selects a queen based on a 300-word essay on the theme “What My Fair Means to My Community,” personal interview and speech based on the essay.

Females in Monroe County between the ages of 16 and 20 are eligible to enter. Some of Frantz’s duties will include selling 50/50 tickets every night to help raise money for the following year’s scholarship and promoting the fair at the Stroudsburg St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Chestnuthill Township Community Day.

“This year’s queen will also be given the opportunity to go to Hershey’s PSACF convention to compete against the other Pennsylvania fair queens in January,” said Krista Lynn, head coordinator of the contest.

Last year’s fair queen, Edman of Effort, said she enjoyed her tenure as queen, especially Kids Day. She played games with the children and gave out prizes.

Frantz said she is normally comfortable in talking to groups of people, but the activities associated with being queen helped her to become more comfortable in social situations.

“I know a lot of girls are afraid of speaking in front of a crowd. Last year, I was on stage terribly shaking,” she said. “Don’t be afraid. Just get yourself out there.”