FRANKLIN—Southampton High graduate Victoria Blow has fond memories from this past year as the Southampton County Fair Queen.

So much so, that now that the end of her reign is coming, it isn’t easy.

“It is going to be hard to let my crown go,” Blow said. “It has been an amazing joy, an experience I’ll never forget. It is something I can tell my grandkids about.”

She said this was not something she woke up and decided that she would do. When she was a sophomore, she had been a runner-up for the Miss Southampton High School Pageant.

“That’s when I realized that I can do this, and I can win,” Blow said. “I wanted to do another one, and I thought that I would try this one.”

She said leading up to the fair, she had been praying for weeks.

“I was praying on stage when they started to announce the winners,” Blow said. “They said my name, and I was like, I did it. It felt like a dream.”

Out in the crowd, her family went crazy when she won — her brother, Trevor, 11, started screaming, “That’s my sister! That’s my sister!”

“I was awfully proud of her, not because she won a pageant, per se, but because Tori did that on her own,” said her mother, Felicia Blow. “I didn’t write any of the applications. She didn’t practice with me. She executed that on her on.

“On top of that, it was a wonderful milestone in this community, to see an African-American woman represent the community in that way. I was even more proud of this community that I am so fond of.”

Blow was crowned on Aug. 9, 2012.

“I wanted to go out with a bang during my senior year, and I kind of overloaded myself,” she said.

On top of classes, Blow’s involvement included student government, the national honor society, cheerleading, the debutante ball and the culinary club, where she was involved with state competitions.

Blow placed second this past year in a state management team competition, where she had to put together a proposal on a restaurant.

Felicia Blow said Victoria is always in the kitchen.

“Every night she is doing something down there, it is always after hours. Teenagers don’t go to sleep at normal hours or get up at normal hours,” Felicia Blow said. “She is always banging in the kitchen on some concoction.”

But one of the biggest impacts on her schedule this year was being the reigning Fair Queen.

“You have to balance a lot of things,” Blow said. “There is school, which is important for college, and everything else. I’ve personally never been the type of person to give up easy, and I’m an outgoing and driven person. You just have to learn when to take a break and start back up.”

As Fair Queen, she has represented at events, galas, awards, the state pageant and, of course, parades. The most memorable moment for her was the Franklin Christmas Parade.

“That’s when I knew that I had made my dream come true,” Blow said. “It felt like I was living my life like I wanted to.

“I remember dad got a really nice car, silver, with a red interior. It was the Christmas holidays so I was in the Christmas mood. I saw a lot of my friends and family and people in the community. It was an awesome moment, even though it was cold.”

This fall, Blow will attend Old Dominion University in Norfolk, where she will major in mass communications, hoping to work one day in entertainment, perhaps for the Food Network or BET.

“I am looking forward to finally getting out in the world, not being so dependent on everyone else,” Blow said. “I’m looking forward to the new experience, and everything college has to offer — clubs, sororities and dance.

“I’m going to miss my family, even though they get on my nerves.”