MADRID -- Chloe Renaud of Gouverneur was crowned the 55th St. Lawrence County Dairy Princess by outgoing Dairy Princess Maureen Pierce at the Annual Pageant on Saturday afternoon, April 20 at the Madrid Community Building.

Chloe Renaud is the daughter of Brooke Bush and Derek Renaud. She was sponsored by Scotch Acre Farm. She is a senior at Gouverneur High School. Joining her as Princess Alternate is Elaina Wainwright, a junior at Canton’s Hugh C. Williams High School. She was sponsored by Baynes Farms.

Both contestants presented speeches on how milk is a healthy and nutritional option for all. The pageant tests the candidates' knowledge of dairy products and practices through interviews with judges, speeches presented to the audience, and by answering an impromptu question.[img_assist|nid=256997|title=The Dairy Princess Courts of 2018 and with the new Dairy Princess and her predecessor and the New York State Dairy Princess. |desc=|link=none|align=right|width=300|height=177]

In addition to the Princess and Princess Alternate, the 2019-2020 Dairy Princess Court members are Ambassadors Kaylin Gotham of Hermon, Leeann Gotham of Hermon, Michael Pierce of Heuvelton, Kaitlyn Putnam of Lisbon, Sarah Rodee of Canton, and Abigail Smith of Colton. They will be joined by Dairy Promoters Myrah Bullock of Edwards and Addison McKnight of Chase Mills. The court will spend the next year making public appearances and educating people of all ages about the nutritional benefits of dairy consumption and answering questions about dairy farming.

A new scholarship award was presented during the pageant for past or current dairy court members who have demonstrated a devotion to promoting the dairy industry and who portray an interest in continuing to promote dairy or a career in the dairy industry. Applicants must be between the ages of 17 to 24 and are serving or have served on the SLC Dairy Promotion committee either as a promoter, ambassador, alternate or princess and are pursuing a full-time, post-high school education (including colleges and technical schools) during the upcoming fall semester.

This year’s winner is Hannah Grant, Madrid, who was the 2016-2017 Dairy Princess and now attends SUNY Canton.

The outgoing 2018-2019 court of tallied 85 event appearances and reached out to over 15,000 people across St. Lawrence County as part of their duties. They represented to the public the importance of agriculture, the dairy industry and dairy farmers to our community.

People may follow the efforts of the new court on the St. Lawrence County Dairy Promotion Facebook page.

The new princess and her court will be at the Canton Dairy Princess Parade starting at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 1.