2009 Pageant

The Pageant 2009 – View Photo Album from the Pageant

WOW!! What an exciting week! From the written horsemanship test to the fantastic style show, the week of the pageant was filled with tons of fun!

I arrived at the Hampton Inn around 3:00 pm and immediately started the process of getting ready, check in was at 5. After all the primping and curling of the hair, I went downstairs for check in. Everyone was super nice and we all got to know each other really fast. There were three queen contestants, Shantell Frame, Lesli Furniss, and Elise Anderson. Also there were four teen contestants, Amy Hager, Lauren Brunsvold, Jesse Eades, and myself. After getting to know each other a little it was time for room assignments! I was in a room of three people… let’s just say it was a bit crowded! In my room it was Shantell, Amy, and me. We had such a blast and had some pretty interesting jokes. All in all we had a great time.

After we got settled into our rooms it was time to take the dreaded horsemanship test. This test consisted of questions involving PRCA, parts of the horse, and just all around stuff a good rodeo queen should know! The written horsemanship test was an hour exactly, so as soon as we were finished we went to our first rehearsal.

Thursday was the day of our first of three impromptu questions, horsemanship, horsemanship interviews, PRCA mixer, and lastly the Pajamarama Party!! Thursday was also the day we went to Hoglunds, a western store in Great Falls, to pick out our outfits for the style show. The outfits were all gorgeous and it was a blast modeling them. We ended the day with Pajamarama. It was so much fun! Visiting royalty from around Montana came, so I got to know tons more rodeo queens!

Friday included Personal Interviews, The Speech Luncheon, and finally the rodeo. Personal Interviews were so much fun. All of the judges were funny and nice, so it made talking to them very easy! The speech luncheon was fantastic. We had Barbeque sandwiches for lunch. Don’t get me wrong they were delicious, but eating barbeque in elegant dresses not so easy!!

Saturday was one of my favorite days. In the morning we were introduced at the Rodeo Committee Meeting and after that we transferred all of our clothes to the Heritage Inn for the Style Show… that was quite a process!!! The Style Show was so fun. We modeled all of the clothes from Hoglunds and then our western elegance outfits. After all of the craziness of changing settled down, we headed straight for the Kiddie Rodeo. I helped out in the steer roping, and let’s just say I’m not too great of a roper! I managed though and it was a lot of fun seeing those kids run around the barrels and rope the steers.

Finally Sunday came around. We were all extremely nervous for coronation and for the final impromptu coronation question. After waiting for what seemed like 8 hours the winners were finally announced. Lesli and I were escorted to a nearby room where we signed contracts and all that fun stuff, and soon after that went back up to our rooms to change for the rodeo.

Jennifer and I left early for the rodeo and stopped to get a bite to eat at Arby’s… YUM! Jennifer is so supportive and nice, she was really helpful and I’m so thankful that she was there with me. At the rodeo I borrowed one of Gary Rempel’s pick up horses, Felix. He was huge!! I got to do a queen buzz and then hand out awards at the end of the rodeo. I had such a great time! After the long, tiring week my family and I packed up and headed out back to Florence. I couldn’t have had a better time and can’t wait for next year’s pageant!! :)

Happy Trails,

Sam