Storm Lake native Isabelle Landgraf crowned 2026 National Clydesdale Queen

Storm Lake’s Isabelle Landgraf stepped into the national spotlight Friday, earning the 2026 National Clydesdale Queen title at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois, and putting a local horse family at the center of one of the breed’s biggest stages.

The coronation came during the National Clydesdale Sale, which the Clydesdale Breeders of the U.S.A. says is the largest sale of Clydesdale horses in North America. Landgraf, a senior at St. Mary’s High School and the daughter of Nick and Tanya Landgraf, won a title that requires more than pageant polish. Candidates must be at least 16, single and either come from a Clydesdale family or be actively involved with the horses.

For Landgraf, that history runs deep in Buena Vista County. She has spent years around her grandfather John Landgraf’s Glacier Ridge Clydesdales southeast of Storm Lake, helping break colts, showing at the state fair and even helping start a draft horse class with the Buena Vista County Fair Board. Her family’s operation has already made its mark at the Iowa State Fair, where Glacier Ridge Lightning’s Big Bud won first in the two-year-old Clydesdale stallion class and earned Best of Iowa recognition among draft breeds in 2013.

The crown also carries national weight for the breed itself. The Clydesdale Breeders of the U.S.A. was incorporated in 1879, now serves more than 1,200 members and registers more than 500 new horses each year. As queen, Landgraf will represent the association at its own events and at other gatherings that promote Clydesdales, including state fairs and breed shows.

Her schedule will bring that role back close to home. The 2026 National Clydesdale Show is set for Aug. 20-23 at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, where Landgraf is scheduled to appear. The association says the show will remain at the Iowa State Fair in 2027 and 2028 as well, a sign of Iowa’s continuing place in the breed’s national footprint.

Landgraf’s rise adds another chapter to a local resume that already includes being named Buena Vista County Fair Princess in 2025 and signing a letter of intent to run track at St. Catherine University in April. For Storm Lake and the farm families around it, her title reflects more than a personal honor. It points to a regional equine tradition that still reaches well beyond the county line.