The Oregon Queen — March 2023

April 6, 2023 Off By Lois Forester

2023 Miss Rodeo Oregon Zoe Brooks!

February of 2023 will be a month I remember forever! I started my month off in Rapid City, South Dakota for Rodeo Rapid City. We had the wonderful opportunity to attend multiple PRCA Rodeo performances, sign autographs for hundreds of rodeo fans, participate in a fashion show and do some much anticipated tourist activities! The Miss Rodeo South Dakota program kept us busy with a jam packed schedule. We got to visit Mt Rushmore National Park, we got a private tour of the Crazy Horse Memorial Statue, we did an underground cave tour at the Wind Cave National Park, and then we had the wonderful opportunity to tour the Landstroms Black Hills Gold Factory. I had such a fantastic time in South Dakota and I can't wait to go back in the future.

I was home for 5 days before I left again for my next trip, but in those 5 days I was able to do some much needed fundraising for my coronation! I was also able to make the trip up north to celebrate our Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon Morgan Brownell at her Coronation. It was a fabulous evening at a great venue, with good food and a wonderful support group. Congratulations Morgan on a successful evening. After Morgan's coronation I was wheels up heading to Kissimmee, Florida for the Silver Spurs Rodeo!

My week in Florida was an experience I will never forget. I was blessed to have had a wonderful host family, Tony and Patrice. They treated my roommate, Lydia Miss Rodeo Idaho and I like true Queens all week! Some of our activities throughout the week included 9 school visits, airboating, visiting gatorland, hog hunting, blueberry picking and trying lots of new foods! I was so excited to experience the East Coast and the Atlantic Ocean! We got to travel to the beach and let me just say, it was a lot warmer than our Oregon Coast but surprisingly just as windy. We also got to attend the 150th Silver Spurs Rodeo! There were 3 spectacular rodeo performances and an Exceptional Rodeo Performance. My favorite part of the rodeo is when they introduced all of the little and Jr Queens on a Big Blue boot with a giant silver spur on it!

After I got home from Florida, I geared up for the 2023 Miss NPRA Coronation for Abby Torgerson. This was a very special event for me. I held the title of the 2022 Miss NPRA and the NPRA will always hold a special place in my heart.

After a long month of traveling in February, it was nice to stay in Oregon for the month of March! It was the month of coronations! The first coronation I attended was in Eugene to celebrate the 2023 Eugene Pro Rodeo Court. Queen Grace and Princess Grace had a wonderful turn out and it was nice to see so much community support. I look forward to attending the Eugene Pro Rodeo over Cowboy Christmas this year. From Eugene I traveled north to Canby to celebrate the 2023 Clackamas County Fair and Canby Rodeo Queen Alexis. It was so great to see so many familiar faces. I can't wait to be back in Canby August for the Canby Rodeo and the 2024 Miss Rodeo Oregon Pageant! It was also a special evening because it was the first time Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon, Morgan and Miss Jr Rodeo Oregon, Reegan and I got to be in the same place at once! We had so much fun getting to know each other better and we made great memories helping with the Canby live auction. I feel so grateful to have such smart, kind, beautiful and caring cowgirls to spend my year with!

The next two weekends I was thankful to stay close to home! The first weekend was to celebrate the 2023 Wild Rogue Pro Rodeo Queen Laney! This was such a special experience for me as the Wild Rogue Pro Rodeo was the very first rodeo I ever went to and where I started my queening career. To go back to celebrate their Queen as Miss Rodeo Oregon was a dream come true. I cannot wait to go to the Wild Rogue Pro Rodeo in May as Miss Rodeo Oregon 2023.

The last week of March was spent getting all of the final touches ready for my very own coronation! It was a great event filled with fabulous auction items, fantastic food and amazing entertainment. I was so fortunate to have such great support from my family, friends and my community! I can not thank my family enough for all of their help with setting up, taking down and over all helping me plan for such a big event. I could not have done it without them. Now that my coronation is over, I am looking forward to kicking off the first Oregon PRCA Rodeo, the High Desert Stampede in Redmond, Oregon. During that same weekend, we will also be having our Miss Rodeo Oregon Clinic in Madras! I hope to see you all there!

With Thanks,

Zoe Brooks

Miss Rodeo Oregon 2023

Sunday after the Canby Coronation, we made a quick trip to Tillamook to pick up an auction item!

The 2017 and 2019 Wild Rogue Pro Rodeo Queens! They also happen to be my two best friends!

My venue for my Coronation!

Miss NPRA, Abby and I helping with Live auction items! This mirror was donated by Twisted B Trading Co.

This is Shelby Snow! She has taken all of my photos from my senior photos, my first queen title and now as Miss Rodeo Oregon!

My Grandparents surprised me with a pair of earrings in the shape of their brand!

I want to thank Britney for coming down and helping me set up for my coronation!

2023 Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon Morgan Brownell!

It’s official, I had my coronation and am officially crowned as your 2023 Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon!

I’m going to start off with a huge congratulations to Destiny on a job more than well done as your 2022 Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon! She set the standards high and I can’t wait to see what I can do!

Thank you to everyone that helped, donated and supported me leading up to and at my coronation! Even just showing up and giving me your support was more than enough. My coronation was a huge success and a night that was to remember. Also congratulations to my brother Clint on winning the Mr. Rodeo title; he put on a great performance! I would also like to say a big, big, big thank you to all of my sponsors, those that were able to come and those that weren’t. My sponsors trust me enough to let me represent them to the best of my ability and show how truly amazing they all are! Thank you again to everyone that made the night possible!

I want to just take a moment to tell everyone the stories behind a couple outfits I will have the pleasure of wearing throughout my year. The story behind my chaps.The purple ribbon in the tooling on the side is for my grandma Gail Kirsch who passed away in August of 2021 due to Alzheimer's. My beautiful and wonderful grandma was 77 when she passed away and not only meant the world to me but my whole family.

The hair on the back band of my chaps is for my 24 year old buckskin paint gelding Bells Little Badger aka “Tommy”. I had the pleasure of borrowing and riding Tommy for three years before he passed away in March of 2021 due to a neurological issue. Tommy was the first horse I was really able to be competitive on when it came to gaming. Something interesting about Tommy is he was blind in one eye and not only that he was a 21/22 second pole horse and would give me a win almost every time I ran him in poles. With both of these memorial pieces on my chaps I am able to carry a piece of those I love with me and always have them there to cheer me on.

Not only do my chaps have a story behind them but so does my wonderful elk outfit. The base hide itself was given to me in 2019 by a very close family friend who had shot the elk and gave me the hide to make something out of it. Robert was close to me like a grandpa and was always there when I needed him. He sadly passed away in 2022 very suddenly. A few days before my coronation I went to go see his wife and she had given me two pairs of Montana Silversmiths Jewelry that Robert had given her when they had first met. So I decided those earrings were the perfect finish to my outfit. A fun fact about the rabbit fur on my outfit is that it’s from a past Miss Rodeo Washington outfit!

After my coronation I was able to find my way to Canby at the 2023 Miss Columbia River Circuit Coronation and celebrate Britney on an amazing year and support Amber as she heads into a new title! I can’t wait to be able to watch and be with Amber throughout this year and see where she goes!

Coming into March I attended the Eugene Pro Rodeo Coronation. It’s going to be such a fun time being able to see both of the Graces on the rodeo road! Congratulations to the 2022 court and they did such an outstanding job representing Eugene! Just a week after that I made my way up north to celebrate someone who has impacted me a lot in the queen world. Your 2023 Clackamas County Fair and Canby Rodeo Queen Alexis Goughnour! Alexis has helped me every step of the way and been there whenever I’ve needed her. I am so happy I got to help her celebrate such a wonderful night.

My last event of March I was able to make the trip all the way down to Central Point to celebrate your 2023 Miss Rodeo Oregon! Zoe! I’m so excited to see where this next year takes us as we will be able to spend so much time together and get to know one another so much more than we did before!

Now from here we are all off to the Miss Rodeo Oregon clinic and as Custer and I gear up to go to Central Oregon we are so excited to see all the lovely ladies who will be there!!

Until next month,

Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon

Morgan Brownell

ReplyForward

2023 Jr. Miss Rodeo Oregon Reegan Bills!

February was pretty simple for me. My younger brother Fletcher was sick for his tenth birthday on February 5th. So, of course, I got sick too. When I just barely got better, I was struck with the stomach flu. Because of this, I was devastated to miss Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon Morgan Brownell's coronation. It was massively disappointing to miss a fellow Oregon tittle holder's big night. Also because of the stomach flu, I missed Eugene Pro Rodeo's coronation.

Not long after that, I was feeling well enough to attend the Clackamas County Fair and Rodeo coronation. It was a spectacular event that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was also the first time that we got all three 2023 Oregon title holders in one place at one time. Congrats Alexis, I am so glad you can serve another year as the Canby Queen.

So, as you can see February was mostly a bust. However, I survived and went to even more coronations in March! First off being Miss NPRA Abby's coronation way down in Central Point! It was fantastic and I especially enjoyed the trivia game. It was also a pleasure to see our own Zoe hand down the NPRA crown.

Best of all was Miss Rodeo Oregon Zoe Brooks' coronation two weeks later! I loved the detail in her decorations. The center pieces for the tables had Zoes initials on them and the napkins had her name and title on them. It was a privilege to not be sick for that coronation. It was a magical night and I am excited to see what Zoe does with her new title! It was a very long,long drive home for my dad and I. We might have stayed the night at a hotel if there wasn't critters at home who needed us in the morning. Dad and I finally got home at about 12:30 a.m.

Mom wasn't at Zoe's coronation because her horse Pita is pregnant and her foal is due soon. Mom and I are currently at day three of staying on our friends barn with Pita, watching and waiting. Thank you Jennifer for letting us stay in your LQ. This morning Jennifer, who played a huge role in my coronation, helped me with scrap book ideas to chronicle my year. I really hope Pita has Jinx soon so Mom can meet her baby, but also so we can catch up with sleep. I never knew how wonderful sleep was until I didn't have enough of it.

I am excited to see fellow title holders and title hopefuls at the Miss Rodeo Oregon Queen Clinic!

Sincerely, 2023 JMRO Reegan Bills