(Jena Hanson – 73rd Princess Kay of the Milky Way)
(image: Matt Addington / Midwest Dairy)
Minnesota’s dairy industry has a new spokesperson and goodwill ambassador for the coming year.
Jena Hanson, a 20-year-old University of Wisconsin-River Falls student was crowned the 73rd Princess Kay of the Milky Way Wednesday night at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. The annual event is the traditional lead-in to the Minnesota State Fair. Isabella Schiffler and Jaiden Smith, both from Stearns County were this year’s runners-up.
Crowning the new Princess Kay was Wright County’s own Malorie Thorson of Waverly, who was crowned at the same event in 2025.
(Malorie Thorson butter carving / 2025) (image: Midwest Dairy)
Malorie spoke prior to the crowning of the new Princess Kay, thanking the her parents, and the Minnesota dairy industry as a whole for the experience of a lifetime. She described her reign as Princess Kay as a whirlwind year of growth…
“The last 12 months have been full of growth, garnering others legacies, and traveling all around the state to witness that outreach of Minnesota dairy. I changed during the seasons and with the seasons, and because of that, I grew into the voice that Minnesota dairy farm families entrusted me to be.”
Malorie said she will be forever grateful for the honor of traveling nearly 12 thousand miles in the past year to every corner of Minnesota during her year as Princess Kay.
For her first official duties, the new Princess Kay, Jena Hanson will sit today in a rotating cooler at the dairy industry display at the State Fair to have her likeness sculpted from a 90-pound block of fresh dairy butter.
Congratulations to the new Princess Kay, and congratulations to Waverly’s Malorie Thorson for her great work over the past year representing Minnesota’s dairy industry.
*Audio in this story courtesy FOX 9, Midwest Dairy, and the Minnesota State Fair
