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.
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