This year celebrates the 70th Princess Kay of the Milky Way, the pageant for the dairy industry representatives. Each year young women with dairy farm backgrounds are chosen in each county to be spokespersons for the products. Dodge County has four dairy princesses this year, Gabi Espinoza, Alita Rinehart, Makenzie Alberts and Ellie Sauder. Some of them will take the opportunity to advance to the state competition.
A two-day leadership event held in early May in Minneapolis was an educational session where about sixty of the county princesses met for workshops to learn how to better promote the dairy farmers, industry and products in the state. At this meeting many were interviewed and ten finalists were selected to compete for the Princess Kay title later in August.
Makenzie Alberts was one of the ten finalists chosen for the honor. Makenzie is the daughter of Eric and Angie Alberts of Pine Island and a seventh-generation dairy farmer. The family milks about five hundred Holsteins at the Pine Shelter Farms.
Makenzie is a sophomore at South Dakota State University where she is pursuing a dual major in agricultural communication and leadership and a minor in dairy industry. She is a 2022 Pine Island graduate and this is her first year as a dairy princess. She has been active in 4-H and FFA and just finished her position as Minnesota state FFA secretary.
Makenzie started showing calves as a novice in 4-H and grew to love showing cattle at the fair. In high school she joined FFA and continued to be involved in agricultural activities. She fed calves on the family farm, helped with herd management, takes turns at one of the three times a day 7-hour milking shifts and drives tractor hauling forage in from the fields during harvest. He mother was on the Dodge County Dairy board and she remembers wanting to be a dairy princess since she was a young girl.
This summer she will be working on the family farm and taking part in representing the dairy industry at events like Breakfast on the Farm and the Dodge County Fair. The week before the Minnesota State Fair will be the most exciting time when one of the ten finalists will vie to be chosen as the 2023 Princess Kay of the Milky Way.
Her favorite memories were growing up on the close-knit family farm with her cousins and doing fun things like sliding down the bunker plastic as kids. Now she helps to fill the bunker and throw tires on the plastic.
After college she plans to follow a career in a company involved in the dairy industry and help educate the public about how dairy products get to the table.
