Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
West Virginia RoadKill Cook-off Queen Emily Anderson, 19, of Big Bend, had a busy schedule over the weekend. It all started Friday evening at the Rockin’ Square Dance, where her coronation took place.
Then she hit the ground running the next day, greeting guests and handing out awards at the RoadKill Cook-off. Despite the rain, she was at the finish line, cheering on the Possum Trot 5K participants. She also gave encouragement to the cooks in the cook-off.
The bubbly young queen has been competing in pageants for a long time, and she is proud that she will represent the cook-off in the West Virginia Association of Fairs and Festivals Pageant in January.
“I’ve been in pageants since a very young age,” she said. “This was my first time doing the West Virginia RoadKill Cook-off pageant, and I was honored to be crowned. I’m so excited to reign over this awesome tradition.”
Although Anderson has family in Pocahontas County and she has been visiting the area for years, this was her first time experiencing the one-of-a-kind festival which takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to a cook-off competition.
She said she was looking forward to sampling what the cooks had to offer and was up for the challenge of trying new cuisine.
“I love to try anything new,” she said. “I’m a little weary of the names of the food, but I’m sure everything will be good.”
Anderson is the daughter of Shannon and Trudy Anderson, of Big Bend, and is a junior at Marshall University.
“I’m studying political science in hopes of going to law school or working in human intelligence for the United States military,” she said.
Anderson choice of careers was inspired by her favorite TV show, NCIS, which piqued her interest in the intelligence field.
“This is funny, I always tell people this,” she said. “My favorite show of all time is NCIS, and I’ve watched it since I was a little girl. I’ve always been interested in government and politics, so that’s kind of what started it for me. Once I started taking classes at Marshall, I really gained interest in the intelligence portion of the military.”
