Miss Ohio Audrey Bolte to attend Festival of the Bells

Miss USA second runner-up Audrey Bolte, who recently represented Ohio in the national pageant, will be a featured guest at the 2012 Festival of the Bells. 

Bolte is the daughter of former Highland County residents Bill Bolte and Shelly (Johns) Bolte. Her aunt, Mary Bolte Stanforth, is the administrator of St. Mary's Catholic School in Hillsboro and assisted festival chairman Michael Bradford in arranging for the beauty queen to come back to Highland County. 

"We are really excited to have her," Bradford said. "I had kind of been talking about it with Mary when Audrey was going through the phases of the competition. Then, when she did so well, we were excited she agreed to come back. We think it's so nice for someone who grew up here and then went off and did really well and achieved notoriety to be able to come back and interact with her hometown community. This is really big, and we're really excited to have her." 

Bolte of Batavia was crowned Miss Ohio USA 2012 on Oct. 15 at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts in Portsmouth.

Bradford said that Bolte will be in Hillsboro Thursday, July 5 for the first day of the festival and the annual parade.

"Mary put us in contact with the correct people to work with. We're still in the planning stages, but we're hoping to have some meet and greets, and she is going to ride in the parade," Bradford said. "We're working in conjunction with one of our corporate sponsors, Merchants Bank, and they're going to provide some space for the meet and greet sessions."

While Thursday is the only official date Bolte will be in town, Bradford said she is hoping to be in town for the entire festival. 

"Her Aunt Mary will be with us and helping us escort her around town. She has said she is really excited to come back home. She attended the festival as a child and as a teenager, and she said she's really excited to come back."