St. Croix Valley PRCA Rodeo to host 2017 Miss Rodeo Wisconsin pageant
By Cara L. Dempski
GLENWOOD CITY — This year’s St. Croix Valley Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Rodeo will have a few extra competitors in 2017, but they will not be riding in the rodeo.
The June 16 and 17 event will also host the 2017 Miss Rodeo Wisconsin pageant. Laura Nielsen, who was Miss Rodeo Wisconsin 2012, is part of the organization’s selection committee and said she contacted the St. Croix Valley PRCA Rodeo committee regarding holding the pageant in conjunction with the 2017 rodeo.
“I asked her how much it was going to cost us, and she told me nothing, so I said OK,” rodeo coordinator Dean LeMay laughed.
The pageant will feature a group of women age 18-27 who have already been through a March 18 and 19 “Queen Boot Camp” held at UW-River Falls. The contestants will compete in a horsemanship class just before the rodeo on Friday afternoon. Each competitor will ride a reining pattern – which is a set pattern of figure eights, sliding stops, and high-speed spins – and then will be required to switch to an unfamiliar horse so judges can watch how each rider handles an animal she is not accustomed to.
The competition will also feature a fashion show and contestant speeches, and will send each woman vying for the crown out into the surrounding community.
“We have them doing a little story time at the library,” Nielsen explained. “It will be a little community outreach event.”
The contestants attended sessions on giving speeches, etiquette, interacting with event planners and the general public, and the duties required of Miss Rodeo Wisconsin during the “boot camp” in March. The St. Croix Valley PRCA Rodeo will give each candidate a chance to show how she interacts with spectators, exhibitors and judges, in addition to how she presents herself onstage and while speaking to a large group.
In addition to earning the title and making appearances at various events around Wisconsin through the year, the woman selected as 2017’s Miss Rodeo Wisconsin will receive a $500 scholarship.
There will also be a pageant for Miss Junior Rodeo Wisconsin, which features candidates age 13-17. The girls will compete in the same events as their older counterparts, but are not awarded a scholarship.
Nielsen said her year in the position took her to the Warrens Cranberry Festival, Wisconsin State Fair, and even to rodeos in Wyoming, South Dakota and Colorado. The former pageant winner lives now in South Dakota, but she and her husband are maintaining their love of the sport by holding ranch rodeos.
This year’s St. Croix Valley PRCA event not only features the Miss Rodeo Wisconsin pageant, but will include “muttin bustin’ buckoffs,” pony rides, a petting zoo, a stick horse rodeo, and an official after party hosted at the Pump House in Downing.
Tim “Wild Thang” Lepard and his team of Ghost Riders, and Trey Kimzey of“Kimzey’s Tricked Out Trickriding” will provide entertaining both evenings.
The rodeo celebrates its 10th year in 2017, and organizers are hoping this is the biggest year yet.
“Every year it keeps growing, and we’ve got a lot of dedicated committee members,” LeMay stated.
Pageant events will start at 4:30 p.m. both days, with rodeo events starting at 7:30 p.m. both nights. Advance tickets can be purchased for $12 for adults and $9 for children aged 5-12 (kids four and under are free). Tickets will be $15 for adults and $10 for children at the gates, and all military personnel can receive $2 off the cost of entry with a valid military ID.
