19-year-old woman from Olmsted County crowned Princess Kay of the Milky Way

A 19-year-old college student from Byron, Minn., has been named the Minnesota State Fair's 66th Princess Kay of the Milky Way.

Amy Kyllo, representing Olmsted County, was crowned Wednesday night at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. During her yearlong reign, she will serve as the official goodwill ambassador for more than 3,000 state dairy farm families, the Midwest Dairy Association announced.

"This is the great state of Minnesota and dairy farmers are part of what makes it great," she said, holding back tears.

Kyllo, daughter of Paul and Susan Kyllo, attends the Association Free Lutheran Bible School in Plymouth, where she is studying scripture.

Ten county dairy princesses competed for the Princess Kay title. Candidates are judged on their general knowledge of the dairy industry, communication skills and enthusiasm for dairy.

Elizabeth Krienke, representing McLeod County, and Brittney Tiede, representing Le Sueur County, were selected as runners-up. Kyllo was also named Miss Congeniality.

As Princess Kay of the Milky Way, Kyllo will work to connect consumers to the state's dairy farm families through conversations, classroom visits and speaking engagements. But her first official duty is to sit in a rotating cooler in the Dairy Building (at the corner of Judson Avenue and Underwood Street) for nearly six hours Thursday to have her likeness sculpted in a 90-pound block of butter.

This year marks butter sculptor Linda Christensen's 48th year carving the winner's likeness.