God Bless,
Courtney Smith
Miss Rodeo South Dakota 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Silver Spurs Rodeo
From snow to sun, I ventured to sunny Florida for the Silver Spurs Rodeo in Kissimmee, Florida. It was an exhilarating trip that included hog hunting, a trip to Gatorland, tasting gator and turtle for the first time, air boating, numerous school visits and a trip to the beach. I truly enjoyed spending time with the newly crowned Silver Spurs Rodeo Queen Court. Of course, the highlight of my trip was carrying the South Dakota flag during the grand entry of every rodeo performance. Thank you to Norman West for allowing me to borrow his horse for the opening ceremonies. My host family, Regina and Sammy Roberts, provided me a memorable stay in Florida that even included a night airboating trip. Mark and Laura Kessler did a remarkable job planning all of the rodeo queen’s activities. I applaud them on a job well done for giving me a lifetime of memories. It was a great opportunity to get out in the sun and promote South Dakota and rodeo! In March, I look forward to attending the Tri-State Expo in Belle Fourche and the Black Hills Horse Expo in Rapid City.
Silver Spurs Rodeo in sunny FLORIDA!
Miss Rodeo America, Maegan Ridley and I
Miss Vicki and me at the Special Rodeo
Carrying the South Dakota flag during grand entry
The whole group at Cocoa Beach
Armadillo hunting
Airboating
The albino gator posing with Oregon, Arkansas and me at Gatorland
All of the visiting queens posing on our states
Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo
The month of February started at the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo in my hometown of Rapid City, SD. During the first weekend, I was honored to carry flags during the first two official stops of the Extreme Bulls Tour produced by Sutton Rodeo, Inc. as well as the second annual Sutton Saddle Bronc Match, which showcased some of South Dakota’s amazing saddle bronc riders! I was also able to attend the speeches and modeling for the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo Queen Contest. McKenzie Haley took home the crown and I am looking forward to representing rodeo with her throughout the year. I also had the opportunity to spend some time at the Ft. Meade Veterans Hospital where I met some of our veteran heroes. The first weekend ended with the South Dakota High School 20X Rodeo, in which I was lucky enough to cheer on my sister, Hayley Smith, in the pole bending.
My week during the Black Hills Stock Show included several school visits, helping with the Ranch Rodeo and a trip to Children’s Care. I was also honored to speak for the Rapid City Cosmopolitan Club. A big thank you goes to Steve Ferley (uncle to South Dakota Saddle Bronc Rider, Chad Ferley) for setting up the speaking arrangement. It was wonderful to meet so many people from the Rapid City community who are so enthusiastic about the sport of rodeo. They are an organization that supports funding for diabetes and the community. My hat goes off to them for all their community support.
New to the stock show this year, was the Sutton Rodeo Zone, where rodeo enthusiasts could participate in interactive games and look at various sponsor booths of rodeo. It was an opportunity to sign autographs daily, talk with the rodeo contestants and answer questions for the general public. One of the highlights of my week was helping with the South Dakota Ag History Day. The Faith High School Rodeo Team and I taught five hundred fourth graders from Rapid City Schools about RODEO, South Dakota’s official state sport! We explained all of the different rodeo events and then we let them experience each event, from roping to goat tying and even saddle bronc riding! It was a great day and we truly taught some history to the youngsters about rodeo’s legacies.
During the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo many state rodeo queens joined me. Thank you to Freya Ford (Miss Rodeo Idaho), Victoria Jeffcoat (Miss Rodeo Alabama), Allie Bass (Miss Rodeo Wyoming), Jessinta Hammer (Miss Rodeo North Dakota), Jackie Gibson (Miss Rodeo Oregon), Anna Bavour (Miss Rodeo Nevada), Amy Amack (Miss Rodeo Nebraska), Michaelle Blake (Miss Rodeo Oklahoma) and Kristina Maddocks (Jr. Miss Rodeo South Dakota) for all your hard work promoting rodeo during the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo.
Another spotlight event during the stock show is the annual Stockman’s Ball and Banquet, where I helped with the live auction to raise money for the Black Hills Stock Show Foundation scholarship fund. A very special thank you goes to Landstrom’s Original Black Hills Gold Creations for donating tickets to the ball for all the visiting state rodeo queens and myself. During the stock show, we were able to tour the factory of Landstrom’s Original Black Hills Gold Creations. A huge thank you to Kenny Thompson for taking the time to provide us a detailed tour of how Black Hills Gold is made and for his part in the creation of my unique, Miss Rodeo South Dakota buckle.
During the second weekend, we ventured to the annual Heritage Awards Breakfast, where several recipients were honored for their accomplishments in keeping our western heritage alive and strong. I enjoyed meeting many cowboy "greats" from South Dakota and listening to all of their own special stories. The weekend also brought us to the beginning of six sensational PRCA performances produced by Sutton Rodeos. These rodeos are very special because they are apart of the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour. Thank you to the Sutton Rodeo Company for providing their dependable sorrel flag horses and Amy Muller, Sasha Yackley, and Tricia Luckett for organizing the sponsor banners during the rodeos. Another monumental event that I was able to attend was the Tough Enough to Wear Pink Champagne Brunch. I was thrilled to speak during the opening of the brunch, as all of the brunch’s proceeds will benefit John T. Vucurevich Regional Cancer Care Institute. On the final day of the stock show, I could not let the visiting state queens leave without a trip to Mount Rushmore. The prevailing wind did not detour us from posing for pictures with the national monument as our backdrop.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo
Visiting state queens and me at Mount Rushmore
Proud to represent South Dakota!
Visiting state queens and me pose at the FootHuggers booth
where we were each given a pair of amazing boot socks.
Visiting state queens and me signing autographs in
the RODEO ZONE!
Visiting state queens and me after our tour of the Landstrom's
Original Black Hills Gold Factory courtesy of Kenny Thompson.
Jerry Westphal and me at the Stockman's Ball and Banquet modeling my mink fur coat
Badger Clark Elementary School Visit
Steve Ferley and me after my speaking engagement
for the Cosmopolitan Club of Rapid City, SD
Black Hills Stock Show Queen Contest
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The beginning of an amazing year as Miss Rodeo South Dakota 2009!
My year has definitely started with a “bang”. I was officially crowned on January 10, 2009 at Stagestop Receptions in Black Hawk, SD. A very heartfelt thank you goes to all that attended and donated so graciously at my official coronation celebration especially Stagestop Receptions, the South Dakota Beefman, and the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. Dale Christensen did an amazing job as the official coronation master of ceremonies and auctioneer.
My first official appearance as Miss Rodeo South Dakota was at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo. I was honored to carry the National Western Stock Show flag during the opening ceremonies of the January 18th PRCA rodeo performance. Thank you to the Cervi Rodeo Company who provided fabulous horses to carry all of the sponsor and event flags during the rodeo. Jennifer Workman also deserves a huge thanks, as she did an exceptional job keeping all of the event and sponsor flags organized and keeping us company behind the scenes. A special thank you goes to Jodi Witt-Martin, the National Western Stock Show queen coordinator for all of her hard work organizing all of the state queens during our stay at the NWSS. She did an amazing job!
After spending time at the stock show and rodeo, I ventured to the Denver Market, also known as the Denver International Western/English Apparel and Equipment Market. RCC Western Stores of Rapid City, SD donated my guest passes for the Denver Market. I enjoyed shopping and visiting with several wonderful sponsors of rodeo, such as Wrangler, Bailey Hats, Tony Lama Boots and Montana Silversmiths. My trip to Denver was also a great opportunity to get to know many of the other state queens that I will spend my reign with during the year. Many of these same state rodeo queens will be attending the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo.
I’m looking forward to spending some quality time in my hometown at the BHSS & Rodeo. I will be carrying flags for all of the Extreme Bulls and PRCA performances produced by Sutton Rodeos. During the Black Hills Stock Show I will also be selling raffle tickets at the Pennington County 4-H booth for a Bernina Activa 210 Sewing Machine donated by The Sewing Center of Rapid City. They donated the sewing machine to help raise funds for my year and it is a great value with raffle tickets only $1 each and you can win a sewing machine retail priced at $999. I hope to see you all at the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo!
God Bless,
Courtney Smith
Miss Rodeo South Dakota 2009
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