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By Jane McClure

For the Herald

Seventy years ago this summer, the first-ever Princess Kay of the Milky Way was crowned at the Minnesota State Fair. And it all began on a Grand Meadow dairy farm.

“A brown-eyed 4-H girl with bangs changed her name Saturday – from Eleanor Maley to Princess Kay of the Milky Way at the Minnesota State Fair,” an August 29, 1954 Minneapolis Star Tribune article stated. “Miss Maley, 17-year-old Dairy Princess representing Rochester, Minn., will keep the crown for the next year as she stumps the state for the Minnesota Dairy Industry committee, contest sponsor.”

Maley, whose nickname was Ellie, advanced to the state contest by winning a Mower County Dairy Princess competition. She then topped the field at a regional contest at Rochester’s Kahler Hotel.

The May 28, 1954 Austin Daily Herald featured two front page pictures of Maley. In one she poses with a large cow head. It was the main decoration at the competition. “Cows are looming large in the life of Mower County’s Dairy princess, Eleanor Maley,” the caption stated.

Maley received her crown from Mrs. Myron Clark, wife of the Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture and Rochester Centennial Queen, Miss Jean Holter.

The news story noted that Maley was from a family of rural royalty. Her father, Clarence Maley, was famous as a cornhusker when that work was done by hand. “He was county champion 12 years, won the state title once, was runnerup twice. And one year he was third in the national,” the article stated.

Maley won her county and regional crowns when she was a junior at Grand Meadow High School.

The first-ever Princess Kay was chosen out of a field of almost 2,000 young women statewide. It was time when tens of thousands of

Minnesotans had dairy cattle. County and regional contests were held, leading up to the state fair. Fifteen finalists competed before a grandstand full of spectators.

Maley had a whirlwind year of appearances in 1954-55 promoting dairy products. Countless pictures of the smiling young woman appeared in newspapers around the nation. Some poses included dairy cows, with Maley wearing a fancy dress. She also posed at the milking stool and with dairy products.

She was even flown to Paris, France to meet the prime minister and gift him with 48 bottles of milk representing each U.S. state at that time. The gift was in appreciation of efforts to increase dairy consumption throughout that country. The American Dairy Association estimated that her trip sparked nearly one million dollars’ worth of publicity.

She graduated from Grand Meadow High School in 1955 as class salutatorian. Her obituary noted that she met her husband Dick that summer in a chance encounter at the Austion swimming pool where he worked as a lifeguard.

Eleanor Maley Thatcher died in 2023, just a few weeks before what would have been her 86th birthday. Her obituary stated that being the first Princess Kay was a highlight of her life.

She and her husband raised their three children in Rochester where she was busy with a family business, community activities and competitive tennis. The couple later retired to Henderson, NV. They enjoyed travel and activities with their children and grandchildren.

And where did that colorful contest name come from? The quest to name the dairy princess contest drew thousands of entries. The name “Princess Kay of the Milky Way” was submitted by Mrs. Jacob Toman of Keewatin. She was given a $100 prize at the coronation. Toman was at the fair that day with her baked goods in open class competition.

The 2024 Maynard News, a newspaper printed at the Minnesota State Fair’s Newspaper Museum, featured a shorter version of this story. Jane McClure is a journalist and historian in St. Paul. She edited this year’s museum newspaper.