Language struggles froze her on stage last year. How this year’s Jr. Miss Winnebago County Fair ‘leveled up’ to win the crown

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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PECATONICA — A year ago, Anastasia Mackenzie responded to the final round of questions in the Junior Miss Winnebago County Fair queen pageant with a long pause. Then she delivered an answer that caught the crowd off guard.

“Pass.”

To the hundreds in attendance inside Moss Hall at the Winnebago County Fairgrounds, it may have appeared she froze under pressure. But there was a lot more to Anastasia’s story.

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The then 11-year-old had been doing her best to learn English at home since coming to this country from war-torn Ukraine in 2020, but she still struggled to understand some words. She delivered a prepared speech well, but the impromptu round of questions tripped her up and she settled for second runner-up in her first-ever pageant in 2022.

“Last year I didn’t really quite know how to ask him to explain it, and I was very stressed out, so I couldn’t bring myself to ask what it means,” she said of host Steve Summers’ questions. “So I just said pass.”

This year, she didn’t have to pass on the questions. She passed the test. Anastasia answered Summers’ questions with poise and confidence, and the only time she paused was when it took a moment for her to realize she won the crown of Junior Miss Winnebago County Fair.

“I felt like I was leveling up. It felt awesome,” Anastasia said after winning the crown.

The Jr. Miss pageant features younger contestants than its big sister, the Winnebago County Fair queen pageant, which was won by Fallon Perry.

Anastasia, who is now 12, came to the area on a visit in 2018 speaking a mix of Russian and Ukrainian. Sam and Mandolyn Mackenzie hosted Anastasia and her brother, Roma, on that visit and then began a long process of adoption. The brother and sister moved here for good in 2020 right as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.

The pair are homeschooled, and Mandolyn Mackenzie learned Russian so she could communicate with her children and teach them English and more from home.

“Sometimes it would be frustrating,” Anastasia said of learning the language. “Sometimes Roma and I would have a little bit of a mental breakdown and we would go up to our rooms, but we pushed ourselves through it.”

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Anastasia said she still does her best to keep up with what’s happening in her native country. Doing so, she said, is “a little painful, but God uses things for good.”

Roma and Anastasia both gave credit to their mom for her proficiency in Russian and for finding fun ways to teach them at home. Anastasia said one day she wants to be an archeologist or geologist.

“She landed here without knowing any English,” Mandolyn Mackenzie said of Anastasia. “She’s been learning at home, putting in the time, and now three years later she’s competing in fluent English.”

Anastasia also had no familiarity with the concept of pageants until last year, her mother said.

“She didn’t even know what pageants were,” Mackenzie said. “I know her personality, she loves people, she likes pushing herself. … I’m just so proud of her for getting up and trying.”

Pageant director Kim Mathieu said she, too, was proud of Anastasia’s improvements in just one year’s time.

“I didn’t realize that’s what happened to her last year, and I felt horrible afterwards,” Mathieu said. “She’s grown so much and she’s such a wonderful young woman.”

Anastasia said her English is still a work in progress, and this year she had to use context clues to help her understand what was asked.

“Some questions, I actually didn’t know what the words meant, I just tried to imagine what they could mean and I just went with the flow,” she said.

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The questions this year were about the quality of education in Winnebago County and why she decided to compete in the pageant.

This year she didn’t pause at the questions, but she did pause at another point in the competition: When she was announced as the winner.

It took a moment or two for it to register with her that she had won. Then, she was flush with emotion and broke down into tears.

“Not everybody gets to do this, and I was not expecting it at all. It was very emotional,” Anastasia said. “It felt like a dream at that second, and I was like, ‘wake up!’ But it’s not a dream.”

Results | Junior Miss Winnebago County Fair Queen

First runner-up: Claire Owens, 11, of Pecatonica

Second runner-up: Stella Foley, 11, of Roscoe

Interview: LeAnne Swinbank, 10, of Rockton

Speech and communication: Hailey Powers, 12, of Rockford

Fun fashion: LeAnne Swinbank

Crown bowl question: Deegan Edwards, 12, of Rockford

Evening gown and stage presence: Hailey Powers

Miss photogenic: DaMya Lofton, 10, of Roscoe

Director’s award: Claire Owens

Miss congeniality: Deegan Edwards

People’s Choice: Kaydence West, 13, of Winnebago

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas