Three contestants in the Sweet Corn Festival Queen Pageant, left to right, are Iris Espinoza, Blaire Collins and Payton Klatt. (Photo courtesy of Setchell Studio)

MENDOTA – This year’s Sweet Corn Festival Queen Contestants have been kept very busy. The girls gave a helping hand to the Mendota Chamber during the 4th of July Fireworks event and also helped out Relay for Life on July 14.

All of the 16 candidates in this year’s Sweet Corn Festival Queen Pageant will be receiving Mendota Gift Certificates. The certificates are gifts from Mendota Chamber member businesses, who are participating in the Mendota SCF Queen Gift Certificate Program. The gift certificates are redeemable for goods and merchandise in participants businesses. The Chamber would like to thank those members who have participated.

Now let’s introduce three more pageant hopefuls.

The Mendota Museum and Historical Society has selected Iris Espinoza as its queen candidate. She is the daughter of Dr. Ricardo and Rosie Espinoza of Mendota. She is 5-3 and has dark brown hair and brown eyes.

Espinoza is a May 2018 graduate of Mendota High School where she was selected for the National Honor Society and Spanish National Honor Society. She was a member of the choir, Spanish Club, played basketball and tennis, serving as captain of the tennis team. She was also a state qualifier for the team. Espinoza was also a Spanish Cultural Contest grand prize winner and an MHS Pully Mentor.

Espinoza dedicated some of her time as a volunteer in the community, serving as a Nightingale’s volunteer, Mendota Lutheran Home volunteer, a Graves-Hume Library Summer Reading Program volunteer, and a Living Works volunteer.

She is attending Illinois Valley Community College this summer and plans to transfer to Northern Illinois University in the Fall, where she will participate in intermural tennis. Iris is seeking a degree in Communicative Disorders, specializing in Speech Pathology.

This summer you will find Iris working as a dietary worker, serving meals to the residents of the Mendota Lutheran Home. She will also be studying for her summer classes at IVCC, giving tennis lessons and volunteering.

Espinoza enjoys playing tennis, traveling, painting, family game nights, making smoothies, and taking her turtle on long walks. She also likes to watch Netflix with her mom and play pickleball with her brother.

She really enjoys printing photos and making photo albums. Espinoza says it is always so interesting to see how a photo captured various moments in her life and that photos go hand-in-hand with traveling.

Her plans for the future include completing her Bachelors in Communication Disorders and a Masters in Speech Pathology. Her goal has always been to find happiness in helping others.

She has been able to learn how to get back up after a car accident that almost ruined her senior year tennis season. She pushed through training with a positive attitude and was able to achieve more than she believed she could. Espinoza will use that experience to help people achieve greatness in their futures.

Blaire Collins will be representing the P. E. O. Sisterhood Mendota Chapter BV. She is the daughter of Ross and Rickette Collins of Earlville. She stands 5-6 and has blonde hair and hazel eyes.

Collins graduated from Mendota High School this spring, where she was a member of the band and choir. She played in the Jazz band and performed as a member of the Show Choir. She also participated in Madrigals and was a member of the All-State Honors Chorus. Collins was a member of FFA, where she served as reporter her Junior year and secretary her senior year. She also took part in 4-H, serving as president from 2016-2018.

She plans to attend West Texas A & M University in Canyon, Texas, in the fall, where she will be a member of the choir. She is seeking a degree in Music Business.

This summer you will find her working as a groundskeeper at the Aurora Sportsman’s Club, mowing grass and loading the trap & skeet machines with clay pigeons. She will also be working at 4-H fairs and cattle shows.

Collins enjoys spending time with her friends, hiking, travelling with her family and watching Netflix. Her main interest is music, which has had a big influence on her throughout high school. It made her want to continue her appreciation and interest in music throughout her life.

Her plans for the future include getting a job at a record company after she graduates with her degree in Music Business.

Collins is very proud to represent the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O. Sisterhood), a group that has been in existence in Mendota for 94 years. P.E.O. celebrates the advancement of women; educates women through scholarships, grants, awards, loans, and stewardship of Cottey College; and motivates women to achieve their highest aspirations. Collins is the first young woman selected by P.E.O. Sisterhood Chapter BV to be a Sweet Corn Festival Queen candidate.

Payton Klatt is the choice of the Mendota Community Theatre for the queen contest.  She is the daughter of Jay and Wendy Klatt of Mendota.She has blue eyes and blonde hair and is 5-6.

A graduate of Mendota High School, Klatt was active in choir, Show Choir, Madrigals and a two-time All-State singer. She also played the part of Ariel in the MHS production of “The Little Mermaid,” and has taken part in numerous other musicals. She was an honor roll student and a member of the Spanish Club. She was also a freshman mentor and worked in the principal’s office. Klatt has volunteered as a member of the clean-up crew for Mendota’s Sweet Corn Festival. She has also taken part on mission trips for her church four times.

Klatt plans to attend Illinois College in Jacksonville in the fall. She will be seeking a degree in special education, specializing in Speech Pathology.

This summer you will find Klatt spending time with her family and friends, swimming and preparing for her college experience.

She enjoys singing/vocal studies, hiking, playing with her dog, binge watching Netflix, swimming and spending time in the sun. She especially enjoys working with children, taking part in musicals, playing with make-up and traveling.

Klatt’s plans for the future include earning her degree in Special Education, and studying abroad. Later she would like to go on for her Masters in Speech Pathology. She would like to work with children in a school setting.

Klatt is involved in her church and hopes to continue exploring her faith while at Illinois College.