CHARLESTON — Anna Butcher, the reigning Miss WV Freedom Festival, will compete for the state title of Miss WV Association of Fairs and Festival this Saturday, January 9, at the Charleston Civic Center. Butcher will represent the tourism aspects and attractions of The City of Logan and Logan County. She will compete against 75 other contestants in Street Wear, Interview, Evening Gown and Commercial.

Butcher has represented The City of Logan in various capacities around the Logan area and the State of West Virginia since winning the crown in June 2009. She will take those experiences to the stage on Saturday in hopes of capturing the state crown.

This is the seventh year that the WV Freedom Festival will be represented on the State Level. The festival has attended each year to network with other festivals, as well as new attractions and vendors. The festival uses this resource to bring new festivities to the WV Freedom Festival each year in July.

Butcher is the daughter of Elaine and Jim Hiroskey and the late Hassell Butcher. She has one brother, Hassell Lane Butcher, currently serving in the U.S. Air Force, and one sister, Eva Butcher Roberge, and a nephew, Aidan Roberge, of Charlotte, N.C. She is a 2009 graduate from Chapmanville Regional High School where she was a member of the National Honor Society, the Tiger Choir, captain of the volleyball team, dance team, and a member of the 2009 AA State Champion Lady Tiger softball team.

Scholarship pageants, such as the WV Freedom Festival, propel young women like Butcher to a higher place where dreams and scholastic ambitions become a reality. Butcher is well on her way to a career in the medical field by attending Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College. She is currently employed at WVOW radio station in Logan as an announcer and she really enjoys being a part of the radio family. Butcher also enjoys participating in all local events, such as reigning over the Freedom Festival in July and hosting the City of Logan’s Halloweenfest in October.

She loves to be surrounded by children. In her opinion, children are the one thing that can brighten anyone’s bad day. For the last three years, Butcher has been an assistant coach with the Holden Midget League Cheerleaders. At the early age of 4, she began participating in majorettes, and continued with dancing until her senior year of high school. By coaching and getting little girls prepared for competition, she gets to continue doing what she loves, which is dancing, and experience their excitement as well.

Being a college football fan, Butcher loves nothing more than spending a day in Milan-Puskar Stadium cheering on the Mountaineers.

"There’s nothing like game day in Morgantown," Butcher said.

Other hobbies include shopping, exercising, reading and spending time with friends and family.

Butcher hopes to represent the City of Logan well at the WV Fairs and Festivals pageant. Through her self-improvement, experiences and personal growth, she hopes to be a great role model for younger children.

"I would like to thank the City of Logan, my pageant director, Amber Miller, and all of my friends and family for all the support I have received," Butcher said.