THIS year's Woolorama Young Ambassador is 22-year-old Chloe Blight from Highbury, and neither she nor her family are strangers to Woolorama.
She grew up on the family's mixed grain and sheep farm.
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Her parents Michael and Paula still own and operate the farm which is home to the Seymour Park Poll Merino stud run by her brother Michael Clinton.
Chloe, part of the family's fifth generation of farmers, said she had been going to the Woolorama for as long as she can remember.
In her earliest years she competed in the horses-in-action events and later helped holding rams in the Merino section.
However the Blight name at Woolorama was well recognised even when the show was in its earliest days.
Grandfather Geoffrey Blight was a regular there and once travelled Australia with his menagerie of free-ranging farm creatures to the delight of adults and children alike.
Known as Old McDonald's Farm, many people would remember the farmer strolling through central Perth streets herding his sheep flock held together by a couple of eager Border Collies.
Chloe recounts one of her father's stories when he helped take the show to the city.
As they unloaded the sheep one escaped into a civic garden, but sticking to a timeline they pressed on and decided to leave the sheep where it was.
When they returned and loaded up the animals they were surprised to see a man well-attired in a pristine business-suit and tie strolling towards them with a sheep around his shoulders as if it was something that happened every day.
Chloe attended Narrogin Senior High School from year 8-12 and graduated with multiple TAFE qualifications.
She was selected among the top four vocational education students for Western Australia and attended the awards ceremony in her final year of school.
In 2021 she was honoured to be invited to talk to high school students about her experience completing vocational education training courses rather than the alternative ATAR pathway.
It is a topic she is passionate about, saying the pressures put on young people to complete ATAR and know exactly what they want to do by year 12 is not necessarily for everyone.
"I always knew I wanted a career in agriculture, as I have always loved farming," Chloe said.
After graduating, she worked with CBH and on several local farms before taking a full-time job for Nutrien Ag Solutions as a livestock administrator.
In May she started as relationship analyst with Rabobank for the Narrogin-Lake Grace region.
"I was thrilled to be offered the position as the bank holds a strong focus on the rural community."
Chloe said she was very sports-driven.
"It is a great passion of mine and I was fortunate enough to have been able to travel internationally playing," she said.
"In 2018 I was selected for the State Country hockey team which played in Berri, South Australia."
Later she was selected to play in the Australian Country Under 21 side which travelled to Fiji.
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"This was an amazing opportunity and truly showcases the opportunities we still have available to us in rural Western Australia but many young people don't know these opportunities are there," she said.
"In my role as ambassador I would like to show there are opportunities so young people can stay in the country and still achieve their goals and I want to make people aware of these opportunities."
She also applauds the Wagin Woolorama for showcasing so much and from a young person's perspective, saying it had something for everyone.
"It is all sourced locally, regardless if it is the fashion parades, livestock or different foods and other aspects, it all comes from what is available locally," Chloe said.
"It is an escape from day-to-day life - it's what is normal in a community and something to look forward to and I am so incredibly grateful to be involved in it.
"Wagin is such a small town but the number of people Woolorama can draw in to showcase everything is amazing."
Chloe is Woolorama's 42nd entrant since the competition was first held under the Miss Showgirl banner in 1972.
In 2000 it changed to become the Rural Ambassador allowing young men to take part.
Chloe will be the face of Woolorama '23 and will be busy around the grounds talking to people, sashing champions and being part of official duties.
Later in the year she will compete for the State title against other entrants from around WA and if successful will compete at the Sydney Easter Show in 2024.
