371 Unforgettable Days
Under the stage lights at the 2026 Miss Dale Fall Fest Pageant, Layni Litherland stood before the audience one final time as the reigning queen.
Over a year had passed since her name was called and the crown was placed on her head. Now, before passing it to someone new, Layni began her farewell speech by remembering where the dream started.
“As a little girl, I always dreamed of being a queen for a day.”
Becoming Someone They Looked Up To
Hanke Studios began documenting Layni during her work at the 2025 Dale Fall Fest. There were the expected photographs of a festival queen wearing her sash and crown, attending events and representing the community.
Some of the most important moments, however, happened because of what the crown meant to the children who saw her wearing it.
Layni works at a daycare. Throughout her reign, she watched her daycare children and other young girls light up when they saw her. They ran to hug her, asked to take pictures with her and looked at her with the same wonder she had once felt when meeting a princess.
For Layni, those moments became one of the most meaningful parts of the experience.
“Their smiles, hugs, requests for pictures and genuine excitement created memories I will carry with me for a lifetime,” she told the audience during her farewell speech.
The crown had become more than something Layni had once dreamed of wearing. It gave her an opportunity to become part of someone else’s childhood memories.
She remembered dressing as Elsa and Aurora, wearing their dresses and crowns, and being mesmerized when she had the opportunity to meet a real-life princess. Although she eventually outgrew the costumes, she never completely outgrew the dream of wearing a crown of her own.
When Layni became the 2025 Dale Fall Fest Queen, that childhood dream came true. What followed was much more meaningful than one moment on a stage.
A Year Measured in Seasons
Layni’s year could be measured by more than appearances and community events. It could also be measured by the changing sports seasons at Heritage Hills.
During the fall, Hanke Studios photographed her cheering beneath the Friday night lights. When winter arrived, she stepped onto the basketball court as a member of the Lady Patriots. In the spring, the setting changed again as she joined her teammates on the Heritage Hills softball field.
The crown was only one part of her life.
Away from the pageant stage, Layni was also a student, teammate, cheerleader, athlete and daycare employee. Each role required something different from her, but together they showed a young woman who remained involved in both her school and her community.
Those photographs gradually became more than separate images from games and events. Together, they documented an important year in Layni’s life.
Why Layni Became a Senior Ambassador
That history mattered when Hanke Studios selected its Senior Ambassadors for the Heritage Hills Class of 2027.
The ambassador program was not intended to be based only on who was comfortable in front of a camera. It was created to include students who could authentically represent their class, their activities and the communities surrounding them.
By then, Layni had already shown those qualities without trying to earn a place in the program.
She had been photographed representing Dale, supporting the Patriots from the sidelines, competing alongside her teammates and connecting with the children who looked up to her. She was comfortable being photographed, but her selection was about more than her presence in front of the camera.
Layni was chosen because Hanke Studios had spent a year seeing how she showed up in different parts of her life. Her involvement, confidence and connection to the community made her a natural choice to represent the Class of 2027.
The crown provided the first opportunity to document her. The person wearing it gave Hanke Studios a reason to continue following her story.
Passing on the Crown
As Layni prepared to welcome the next Dale Fall Fest Queen, she used her final moments to speak directly to the young girls sitting in the audience.
“To all of the little girls here tonight, I hope you keep dreaming. Keep putting on the princess dresses and crowns. Keep believing that someday it could be you standing on this stage.”
She also offered advice to the young woman who would soon receive the crown.
“Enjoy every moment. Take the pictures. Go to the events. Talk to the people you meet. Smile, even when your cheeks start to hurt. Most importantly, don’t wish the year away, because the days go by much faster than you think.”
Layni’s reign lasted 371 days.
During that time, she attended events, met new people, represented the community that helped shape her and became the real-life princess that other little girls could not wait to meet.
A crown can be passed to someone new. The memories, friendships and experiences created while wearing it remain with the person who carried it.
Layni once dreamed of being a queen for a day.
“I never imagined that someday that little girl would get to live that dream, not for one day, but for 371 unforgettable days.”
- Queen Layni
