2025 State Fair Queen loves God, her family and her faith
Bailey Schneider’s “come to Jesus moment” came with a tiara and a sash.
“I’m not going to lie — before State Fair week, I was busy, I was struggling, it was hard to find the time to sit down, pray, read by Bible, do a Rosary,” said Miss Schneider, Missouri’s reigning State Fair queen.
She would have been happy to place in the top 10 for the royal honor but was shocked on the Fair’s first day to be named the final finalist.
“It’s like God was saying, ‘Look! Look what I can give you. Come back to me!” she recalled.
Miss Schneider is determined not to let that invitation go to waste.
“God gives you your platform for a purpose,” she stated. “That’s what my Mom once told me, and it’s kind of become my motto.”
Miss Schneider, daughter of Jeff and Jennifer Schneider of Warrenton in the St. Louis archdiocese, spent the entire 10-day Fair shuttling about the Fairgrounds in Sedalia, attending special events, serving as an official ambassador for Missouri agriculture and the state’s premier agricultural showcase.
She received a $2,000 scholarship to continue her education.
She’ll be invited to attend other events throughout the coming year, including various county fairs.
“God gave me this opportunity for a reason,” she said, “so I’m going to use it to the best of my ability and hopefully make him proud in the process.”
A lifelong Catholic, Miss Schneider grew up on a farm in Warren County and is a graduate of Holy Rosary School in Warrenton.
She’s currently a junior at the University of Missouri, studying agricultural education with an emphasis in communications and leadership and a minor in agricultural business.
She’s active at the St. Thomas More Newman Center in Columbia.
“People here at the State Fair, they ask me, ‘What do you do in college?’” she stated. “One of the first things I mention is, ‘I’m really active at my Newman Center. I go to church every Sunday and I go to Adoration and Confession, and I’m trying to lead a Bible-study group.”
Catholicism and rural life run deep in her family.
“I grew up on a farm,” she said. “My grandpa has cattle and row crops. My Dad and Mom and I have pigs and row crops, as well. We all farm together.”
Miss Schneider joined 4H when she was 8 and “did a bunch of projects” — arts and crafts, cake-decorating, shooting sports, showing pigs and cattle at the Warren County Fair.
“4H is really the reason I’m here today,” she said. “It’s where I started my journey into agricultural advocacy, and also showing livestock and figuring out what I love in life.”
When she got old enough, she joined FFA.
“I still showed cattle and pigs,” she recalled. “I did a lot of public speaking and different contests like soil judging and livestock judging. So, that was fun!”
She frequently exhibited pigs at the State Fair and volunteered at the Cattlemen’s Association’s Beef House.
She entered the Warren County Fair Queen competition last year.
“The County Fair is really a big family affair for me,” she said. “My family has been involved for over three generations at the fair. So, I ran for county fair queen and was blessed enough to get that title, and a year later, they sent me to the State Fair.”
“Step on in”
The first day of the State Fair Queen competition included two-minute interviews with five different judges.
“The next day, we woke up at the crack of dawn and did speech or talent,” Miss Schneider said. “I ended up giving a speech, and my speech got scored high enough. I got first place in speech.”
Her topic was a take-off on this year’s State Fair theme: “Step on in.”
“I talked about how you could ‘step on in’ to advocacy for whatever your cause is,” she said. “Whether it’s faith, agriculture or maybe an organization you’re in, you have a platform, and it has power. So, step on in to it. Find the courage to use your platforms for good.”
Then came the evening-gown competition.
“After that, they called the top 10 up,” she said. “And then, just the top 10 girls got to answer a final question on stage, on the spot, in front of everybody.”
It was basically a three-part question: “What is your favorite State Fair tradition, and how would you promote that tradition while trying to further the growth of the State Fair?”
Miss Schneider wasn’t happy with her off-the-cuff response.
“I thought I answered it terribly,” she said. “I went to the back after answering it and thought, ‘What did I just say? That was horrible! I don’t normally answer questions like that.’”
Meanwhile, her Mom and the rest of her family were looking at each other, whispering, “I think she just got it!”
They were right.
“Being in the top 10 was all I wanted,” Miss Schneider noted. “So, it was like, ‘This is all up to you, God. Your plan is gonna be whatever happens and I’m gonna be happy no matter what.’
“I knew I had saints and my guardian angel looking down upon me, and I just know they were saying lots of prayers for me,” she said.
The final moments of the pageant were surreal.
“When they announced my name, I didn’t believe it,” she said. “And then they said, ‘Hey, take your first walk as queen!’ And I was shaking the whole time, because I was so full of excitement and just disbelief and ‘How is this happening?’”
Royal treatment
As State Fair queen, Miss Schneider had a full daily schedule, welcoming dignitaries, greeting visitors, congratulating champions and taking part in the festivities, including the Opening Day Parade and the Governor’s Ham Breakfast.
“I was at the rooster crowing contest,” she said. “I got to watch those kids and a couple of adults try to win $200.”
The State Fair Fire Department, with volunteers and equipment from all over the state, gave her a ride on an antique fire engine.
“I got to meet with a bunch of veterans,” she added. “A bunch of ladies created quilts for the veterans. They wrapped each veteran in a quilt and said thank you for your service.”
She helped honor a family that had been going to the State Fair for over 90 years and exhibiting cattle.
Each afternoon, she attended the flag retreat ceremony, during which the U.S. flag was ceremonially lowered, folded and given to that day’s honored veteran or service member.
“And I just love going around seeing all the people,” she said. “All the little girls, even some of my family or people from Warren County, I’ve run into. And I’m like, ‘Hey, guys!’ It’s just fun to meet new people and see all the support staff here, as well.”
Extended family
Father Edward Godefroid, pastor of the Warrenton parish, was among the first to send Miss Schneider a text message, congratulating her on becoming the new State Fair queen.
“Holy Rosary is a big family, and I love it!” she stated. “All the parishioners there are very excited. I’ve seen several posts from them saying, ‘Hey, look! This is our former student at the Catholic school! She’s the State Fair queen!’”
She said growing up in a rural parish and a rural community is like being part of an extended family, where people have similar values and a similar outlook on life.
“And everybody knows everyone,” she said. “And if you don’t come to church, they know it. ‘Where were you last week?’ Which is great, because it encourages you.”
Prayers and hard work are a given.
“Farming is basically a gamble,” Miss Schneider noted. “You never know what it’s gonna be like. You may be rich one year and then can’t break even the next.
“You have to rely on God in those times,” she stated. “And I feel like that’s why the faith is so strong in those areas, because it’s in God’s hands what happens. But if you have a good outlook on faith and a good outlook on life, then you’re going to stay closer to the person that’s able to control what happens.”
And people pull together, especially when there’s a crisis.
“You tend to look out for each other when everybody’s in the same boat,” she said. “I feel like that’s another God thing, as well,” she said.
For all the saints
Miss Schneider wears a St. Benedict bracelet all the time.
He’s just one of her favorite saints.
“There’s also St. Isidore, patron saint of agriculture,” she said. “And Mother Mary, obviously.”
She often seeks the intercession of soon-to-be St. Carlo Acutis, who will be declared the first millennial saint next month, because of his inspiring story, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who will be canonized at the same Mass.
“They’re two of my favorites,” she said. “And St. Therese. And I could go on! Really, I just say, ‘Hey, everybody, just help me out here!’”
Miss Schneider visited the Newman Center several times with her family before becoming a student at the University of Missouri.
She arranged to take a tour of the Newman Center and meet the priests and staff while she was in Columbia to schedule her classes.
“I go there every Sunday now when I’m not back at home,” she said. “I’m there for all of their events and it’s definitely my second home here.”
A fellow student at the Newman Center invited her to join a Catholic Bible study group.
“And now she’s one of my best friends,” said Miss Schneider. “And the Newman Center brought us together. She was my Bible study leader and we’re best friends now.”
Fully present
For Miss Schneider, prayer and her relationship with God boil down to friendship.
“If you keep a good relationship up with a good friend, they’re gonna be there for you through everything,” she said. “You know you can go to them. But that friendship will inevitably deteriorate if you never talk to them.
“So, I look at my relationship with God as a best friend,” she stated.
She said nothing beats being Catholic.
“There’s something so deep, so intense about it,” she said. “Because we have the Eucharist — the Real Presence of Christ, the Body and the Blood. To me, that’s the biggest thing.”
She’s drawn to the faith that so many generations practiced before her and to honoring God with such deep reverence and devotion.
“I have attended other church services with my friends,” she said. “And they’re fun. I enjoy them. But they don’t have the Eucharist, and that’s something I’m drawn back to every single time.”
As students head back to school and a new class of freshmen arrives on college campuses, Miss Schneider requested prayers for her fellow Catholics to stay close to their faith or to return to it if they’ve fallen away.
“If they are Catholic, or maybe if they’re not, for them to recognize how amazing our faith is and that they have a place where they belong in the Catholic Church, and just for them to open their eyes and see that they do belong and that we can welcome them home,” she said.
For college students who don’t want to lose their way, she suggested finding and connecting with the Catholic Newman Center on campus.
“If you’re going to a school that doesn’t have one, find a local Catholic Church,” she advised. “Find a faith family. Get to know the priest. Find people who have the same values as you. People you can fall back on if times get tough, or who can pull you out of something if you get into it.
“That’s what we have at Mizzou,” she said. “They make it very hard to stay away!”
She’s convinced that all of this is God’s doing.
“Every night now, I lay in bed and say, ‘Lord, thank you. You know, your plan is better than what I was expecting in my own life. And just thank you. I can’t say it enough,’” she said.
