Northwest Montana Fair & Rodeo

For my last Montana summer rodeo, I headed to Kalispell for the Northwest Montana Pro Rodeo, where I had the chance to work with the new royalty, Hannah, Katie, and Abby. We put on a kiddie rodeo, helped with the grand entry and rode in the parade. Alyssa Hadley let me borrow her horse Roxy, who did great. Thank you to Mike Twillman and the rest of the NWMT Pageant Board, for making my time spent in Kalispell great. How could I forget, I was able to meet Fred Whitfield. He is one of my dad's favorite ropers so it was a real treat to show him this picture.

Missoula Stampede

The Miss Missoula Stampede Rodeo Pageant was going on along with the rodeo. I had the opportunity to emcee the horsemanship and the fashion show/ speech portion of the competition. It gave me some great practice for the Miss Rodeo and Miss Teen Rodeo Montana pageant this year coming up here in a few months. Congratulations to Jade, Tiffany, Bailey and Ashton. I hope to see them all at the fashion show in January. Missoula brought back horse racing this year, which was so fun to watch. I helped with a kiddie rodeo one of the 4H groups put on. This is Jacko the clown. It rained a ton while we were there and the Missoula Lake was formed in the arena. One of my favorite moments was in the barrel racing, when my cousin Whitney’s horse decided to try to jump the lake between barrels 1 and 2. She looked like she was shooting for the moon. Another hilight of my time there was seeing the camels!

Northeast Montana Fair

The Northeast Montana Fair is in Glasgow, Montana. My great aunt Elaine lives just 15 miles from there, so I was able to stay with her. The calf dressing is always my favorite event to watch, especially when you know people on each team. Tasha & Tessa Weifrich and Shea Anderson were all on a team and did a great job. I put on a kiddie rodeo at the local nursing home. Not very many kids showed up, but the ones that did had tons of fun. We didn't have bale to put the calf dummy head in, so we improvised and used a box. The residents really enjoyed it. I was even able to meet the Oldest Man in Montana. He is 107 years old and is as sharp as a tack!

Big Sky Pro Rodeo Roundup

It was so fun to be at the Big Sky Pro Rodeo, especially because I held the rodeo queen title there before. The committee was wonderful and I was given the royal treatment. The theme nights at each rodeo really added some jazz to the performances; military, family, TETWP, Pepsi, and Spirit. It was a Sankey Rodeo, and I had the opportunity to carry the American Flag during each grand entry. It is such an honor and rush to carry such a beautiful thing. The Montana State Fair always have great concerts and this year was no exception. My favorites were Styx , Clay Walker and Leanne Rimes.

Last Chance Stampede

The Last Chance Stampede was a total blast. I started out the weekend with a humungous kiddie rodeo held at Capital Sports and finished out the evening with the Sawyer Brown Concert. The next day was the kiddie parade, where we saw some great costumes. Local business and family donate bicycles as prizes for the category winners. Future Miss Rodeo Montana The next few days were rodeo time. The Thompson’s provided me with their lovely horse Lily again. I cannot thank them enough for everything they did for me this summer. Wayne Brooks was the announcer and included me in a few interviews throughout the rodeo, which was a blast. The Last Chance Stampede Rodeo Royalty had a reunion and it was so cool to meet some of the past Miss Rodeo Montana’s that I haven’t met already. Chicks and Chaps was one of the main events during the Last Chance Stampede, and I was able to hang around that for awhile.

This is Peggy. She is some kind of sheep dog and was the sweetest thing!

The Daddy of Em All

WoW what a rodeo. It reminded me a lot of the Calgary Stampede. When rodeo queens think of Cheyenne they think of the famous “fly by.” Instead of doing a normal queen’s run around an arena, you run as fast as you can down a straight away of the racetrack. It was indescribable and the only two words I have to say are, “adrenaline rush.” Pete and Gerrie Corrneau opened up their home to Miss Rodeo Kansas, Danielle Dinges, and I. It was great getting to know Danielle along with Pete and Gerrie. During my few days at the “Daddy of Em All,” I was able to see the Aaron Tippen and Neal McCoy concerts and they both have so much energy! The parade in Cheyenne was the longest parade I have ever been in. My arm was very sore from waving by the end of it. Right before I had to catch my plane, we headed to the Cheyenne Indian Village. While, we were there they honored us and we got to learn how they dance. It is alot harder than it looks! We also attended the Cowgirls of the West Brunch and Fashion Show. I had the best conversation with my table. They were all great ladies. Sandy, sponsored my ticket to be at the brunch, and turns out she is Cody Buller's aunt. Because he is a bull rider from Montana, she likes to sponsor the Montana queen. :) Another hilight of Cheyenne is the pancake breakfast. It was so fun to be able to flip the pancakes. Good thing the pancake catchers are so good. Some of my flips were out of control.

Great Falls Voyagers

The Big Sky Pro Rodeo Roundup Committee asked if I could join them at the Great Falls Voyagers Baseball game to help promote their rodeo. They have a new stadium, and I had never been to a minor league game. They gave me the opportunity to meet the team and throw the first pitch. Even though I threw it from the mound to the base, I wish I would have practiced a little more. The Girl Scouts were also hosted that day, so I enjoyed the hula hoop contest and singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” with them. A few fellows brought a few bales and some steer heads and taught some of the baseball fans how to rope.

Beef & Beans/Great Northern Fair/Marias County Fair and Rodeo.

Once we arrived back in Montana, we headed to Billings to send my sister to Australia. While I was there I attended the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame Beef and Beans Dinner. This was a dinner that honored the high school scholarship recipients and me! Thank you again to all of the members for your support and giving me a scholarship as well. I headed back to the hi-line for the Great Northern Fair and Rodeo in Havre and the Marias County Fair and Rodeo in Shelby. What a nice feeling to see so many familiar faces. There is nothing better than being at your hometown rodeo, it really makes a girl feel good. The Great Northern Rodeo was the biggest NRA rodeo in Montana this year. They had a huge payout and over 400 contestants signed up. Miss Indian Rodeo, Tiffany Sinclair is from Browning, Montana, and she was able to be in Havre as well. The Marias Fair and Rodeo is in Shelby, Montana, just 60 miles from my hometown. Even though I was so close to home, I didn’t make it home. However, my parents came to see me and brought my little basset hound Josette. It was Brookman rodeo so I got to hang out with Tasha and Tessa Wiefrich. They even conned me into going into “The Black Hole.” It was a fair attraction that made you feel like you were spinning upside down. I was right behind a group of kids and they wouldn’t let me out. I was so glad we decided to go through it after the rodeo. The girls are still teasing me for getting scared.

The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth...CALGARY!!

As I drove across Montana on Highway 2, I stopped in Rudyard and picked up my Mom and Dad. From there we headed North to Calgary for the famous Calgary Stampede! Thanks to my dad, I got to sleep the entire way. It was amazing! Once we arrived in Calgary we really got to know the city, because we drove around it for 2 hours looking for our hotel. I wish I would have realized that Gary the Garmin (my gps) didn't work in Canada before we left. It was quite the adventure. We jumped on the local Calgary transit and headed to the Stampede grounds. With a million different foods to choose from, my parents and I literally stuffed our faces. Our long time friend, Les from Foremost, AB told us that his friend was one of the chaperones for the Indian Queens. We met up with her and were so glad that we did! During the chuckwagon races we got to stand right on the rail. I literally had mud in my mouth. It was my first chuckwagon experience and it was AWESOME! We stayed for the Grand Stand Show and it was outstanding. The fireworks were absolutely beautiful! The next day was my "host" day. I could only bring along one chaperone, so we left my dad behind. A bunch of other local rodeo courts and I started the day at the Queen's Alumni Pancake Breakfast where we signed several autographs and got to know each other. Our next stop was downtown, where I learned to square dance! My Grandpa and Grandma Han were avid square dancers so it was really fun to learn something they really enjoyed. We stopped at a few more get together's and introduced ourselves and then it was rodeo time!! Can anybody say rain? I didn't know that it could rain as hard as it did during the rodeo. Lucky for the queens, we were able to huddle underneath the stage and still enjoy the rodeo. Unfortunately, we had to cut the trip short and head home after the rodeo. My sister, Bridjour was flying to Australia the next day for basketball and we wanted to see her off. Even though we were only there for a night it was definately worth it! I for sure want to make it up there again.