Irene Attebury Van Patton was the Queen of the Umatilla Project Fair in 1933.

When Irene Van Patton of Butter Creek was named Queen of the Rodeo at the 21st Umatilla Project Fair in 1933, each person attending the fair was allowed to vote for queen.

Van Patton says that a friend of her family took tickets at the gate. If someone didn’t know who to vote for out of the six candidates, he suggested they vote for her. Candidates were chosen from the respective high schools in the area and included Josephine Connell of Umatilla, Dorothy Mudge of Echo, Nellie Leicht of Irrigon, Imogene Wilson of Boardman, Margaret Shafer of Hermiston and Willamina (Billie) Hedrick of Stanfield.

Being queen of the fair was a little different back then, says Van Patton, whose last name was Attebury in those days.

“We didn’t do anything,” she said. “We rode in the parade and sat in the bleachers during the rodeo.”

Becoming queen was “quite an honor” for Van Patton.

“Dad and Mother were both in 4H clubs,” Van Patton said. “I met a lot of nice girls who were the princesses.”

Her mother and father were leaders for 4H sewing and dairy, respectively. Van Patton took part in 4H since the age of seven. One year, she and her father entered the fair with their dairy cows. Her father had a bull he prized over everything.

“I took first prize with my little heifer and he took third with his prize bull,” Van Patton said with a laugh.

Van Patton and her three sisters and brother were raised on the Attebury dairy six miles out of town on Butter Creek, where Space Age sits now. She remembers bringing milk from the family cows to town on a wagon. She and her mother had to rest the horse about half way to town.

The year after Van Patton was named queen of the fair, she married Paul Van Patton and moved from Butter Creek to town. Paul was a butter maker at the creamery. They had one daughter, Eileen, who still lives in Hermiston.

In 1982, the Umatilla County Fair honored her by naming her Grand Marshall. Just as she did 49 years earlier, she rode a horse in the parade. The horse she rode in 1933 was owned by Glen Moore and was named Duke. As grand marshall, she rode Danny Boy.

Now 90 years old, Van Patton lives at the Hermiston Terrace and keeps busy sewing quilt tops for her church and crocheting afghans using colorful yarns. She is surprised at what she brought with her to the Terrace. She still has her sash and the panels used on the convertible she rode in as grand marshall in 1982.

Van Patton still attends the Umatilla County Fair each year. She still enjoys the clothing exhibits and the livestock. Today’s fairs are much larger than the ones she attended back in the 30s, she says. For many years, the fair was held at the old Sandstone School (present-day Armand Larive Middle School).

“There are a lot more people,” Van Patton said.