The Oregon Queen — June 2022

The Oregon Queen — June 2022

July 11, 2022 Off By Lois Forester

Miss Rodeo Oregon 2022 Avalon Irwin!

Boy howdy has this month has been action packed!! We started the month at Union and Sisters rodeos. To say it rained would be an understatement. It poured all four days but the athletes competing still did an incredible job. I'm happy to say that myself and my gear was all dried out by the time we headed to Crooked River Roundup... well mostly dry at least.

Once we got to the Crooked River Roundup in Prineville we kicked things off with a cattle drive through main street. Don't worry, all the cows eventually got home. A few took a detour through a couple nice looking lawns though. After the cattle drive I got to attend a sponsor dinner, 3 nights of rodeo performances, the parade, and of course the queens luncheon where I had the privilege to speak to my fellow queens about the key to success both inside and outside the rodeo queen world. If you missed the speech, don't worry, we will post it for you later!

During Crooked River Roundup weekend our Junior and Teen were busy hosting their pageant in Tillamook. I had the opportunity to swing over that way and spend the day with the girls. I was so proud of everyone who put themselves out there and competed for those titles. It takes a special young woman to put herself in front of an audience and ask them to judge her. All of those young women are incredibly strong and should feel so proud of themselves for their accomplishments. Their futures are bright and I can't wait to see where they go!

Next on my schedule was a well deserved weekend off, which I spent working to put on a bridal shower for baby sister. As they say, I can sleep when I'm dead! It was wonderful to get to celebrate my sister with some of the most prominent women and influencers in my life. This weekend reminded me of just how important it is for us to surround ourselves with women of all generations that can pour out wisdom and influence our lives. It was a much needed refreshing weekend.

In the blink of an eye June was over and it was time to celebrate Cowboy Christmas!! What a weekend that was, but you'll have to wait till next month to hear about that adventure.

Before I leave you, I wanted to take a moment and encourage all of you readers. With school out and summer in full swing you are probably either feeling really busy or really bored. Either way I know that as humans we have the tendency to spend our time focusing on the next thing in front of us, whether it's coming too fast or not fast enough. I want to encourage you to take the space you need to breathe and be thankful for where you are right now. You only get this one moment here and now, tomorrow's is not promised so immerse yourself here and find gratitude in this space. I promise the joy you will feel after doing this will be worth the effort it took. See you all down the road!

Blessings,
Avalon Irwin
Miss Rodeo Oregon 2022

Getting ready with Mr. T

With Miss Columbia River Circuit, Britney Norby, at St. Paul

First perf of Sisters, before it rained.

 

Darby helps her mom shoe T when I'm on the road. The future is bright with this young cowgirl.

Getting ready for the cattle drive down main Street in Prineville, OR

We lost a few cows along the way at the cattle drive in Prineville

Ran into my Farrier and her daughter, Darby, at CRR!

Cattle drive

Sneak peek of my session with Art of Aperture

3 pairs of Stringfellow Tailored chaps made an appearance at the Mollala Buckeroo Rodeo

 

On my weekend off, I hosted my sister's bridal shower

Headed to the Crooked River Roundup parade

MC for Junior/Teen Pageant Horsemanship

Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon 2022 Destiny Wecks!

“True cowboys are the ones who aren’t afraid to get dirty.”- Lane Frost

Well that's one way to describe the rodeos this past month. No matter what side of the country I was on, I always greeted each rodeo with rain. Starting off the month of June, I was in Florida for the Silver Spurs Rodeo and attending the annual Teen Queen Week. Being surrounded with 13 other state rodeo queens my age was one of the best experiences of my reign so far! Being in Florida for the week we got to experience things like Wild Florida AirBoat Tours, GatorLand, Daytona Beach and Speedway, and their Miss Silver Spurs Rodeo queen pageant. On the last day of the trip I was able to hang out with Miss Teen Rodeo Minnesota, Summer, during the rodeo performance, do a grand entry for the rodeo and sign autographs. Coolest thing about meeting these girls is learning more about their home states and how their state and rodeos operate or look different then Oregon or nearby states.

After I got home from that long trip in the beautiful sunshine state, I didn't even make it all the way home but instead I turned right and headed an hour south to Union for my last 4h Eastern Oregon Livestock horse show. My best friends, Addie and Eva, were the superstars like they are and washed my horse Whisper and hauled her all the way to the show for me. For my last show, Whisper and I showed how to go out with style and a bang!

Intense rainfall led to a very deep and muddy arena for the show, so being the crazy horse people we are, the show moved into the grass parking lot. With trailers acting as the fence, we did our Showmanship, Western, English and Novice classes all in a very small area. I was excited to win the Senior Champion Showman then after the Grand Champion Showmanship class, I was shocked to also win the beautiful Overall Champion Showman buckle!

Getting to have a few days at home, I prepared for the 115th annual Eastern Oregon Livestock Show Rodeo and parade that weekend. After a short and sweet queen's coronation on Tuesday evening, I prepared my horse Opie for the rodeo's run-ins on Friday. We did one of the coolest and most looked forward to things for my year, a no hands track run! Opie and I also took home the second place award for rodeo royalty in the parade. After the grand entry and rodeo, sash sister mishap (little broken nose didn't stop that queen!) We headed to Sisters for the 3 rodeos and parade.

Trying to escape one muddy arena just led to me finding yet another muddy mess of a run in at the Sisters rodeo. But of course a little mud never stopped anyone, definitely not rodeo competitors either! Even JJ was having a great time in the mud with his mud angels and face dives. The parade was rainy but I learned that rain ponchos work great to keep my flowers dry before the parade. After both Saturday rodeos were over, the mud was too much and I decided to save my horse some uncomfortable hours home with mud in all places, and miss the last performance on Sunday. But I did stop in for the Buckaroo Breakfast that morning before heading home.

The 3rd week and weekend in June consisted of many hours in the saddle but not for queen laps or parades; this time, it was for the Drill Team! My hometown rodeo, Mountain High Broncs and Bulls, was held on the 18th, where I have been an active drill team member for 8 years. I crafted 2 drills for the team this year as well as mixed the music and wrote up the script for the announcer to use during the rodeo. Once again this rodeo was also in rain and mud but the energy was high and the mood was all full of good vibes. I had the best time with the other 5 girls on drill and interacting with the rodeo fans who filled the stands!

Time really seemed to fly when I came back to Tillamook for the Jr and Teen Pageant. Being back so soon was definitely an odd feeling but I was so overjoyed to see all the girls competing for the titles and positions they wanted. Doing interviews, speeches, modeling, impromptu questions, mock tv interviews, horsemanship and of course the parade and grand entry for the Tillamook County Rodeo really helped show these girls skills and talents at work. I was able to loan my horse Kyra for both the horsemanship patterns and parade to a junior contestant when her horse was being naughty and that really meant the world to me. My year's platform is to make a difference and leave a legacy, and that small gesture really made a difference for that rider to help boost her confidence and show the judges she wasn't going to give up.

After the pageant I loaded up all my trailers and horses and headed back to the valley for St Paul! Thanks to my great sponsor St Paul Rodeo, I was able to unhook my trailer at the grounds for a whole week while we stayed with friends in town. Thank you to the Drescher family for allowing us to stay with you! The first performance of the rodeo was also the last day of June. I had a great time with the queens and courts that attended the rodeo performance that evening where we celebrated the life of a firefighter, Austin Smith, whose life was lost in the line of duty this year. With a riderless horse and saddle covered in the flag, tears fell and hearts were heavy as they made their way around the arena.

This next month is going to be rodeo filled with planned rodeos of Eugene Pro Rodeo, Molalla Rodeo, Elgin Stampede, Columbia Country Fair and Rodeo, and my hometown rodeo of the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo. I'm excited to attend parades and meet new people and get to share my passion with them all!

“Most competitors never realize what their true potential is. Don't sell yourself short.”- Trevor Brazile

Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon- Destiny Wecks

Flying home from Florida we flew right over the mountains of my county and I could even see our lake; they should have just dropped us out the back!

 

Our 6-person drill team consisted of Addie Royes, Mia Salerno, Celeste Bauck, Rylee Wilcox, and Maddie Bazer, all led by my mom Vixen Radford-Wecks

 

Piper Armstrong, Carrie Woods, and I had to get silly before horsemanship to get the good vibes going for all the competitors.

Coolest thing was to see the Daytona Speedway where the grandstands were almost completely up and down!

 

Carrie and I left after breakfast in Sisters before the storm! Great time and memories even in the rain and mud!

 

First performance of St Paul and we got the iconic queen photo with JJ Harrison

I wanted to host a movie and ice cream social for the girls at the pageant and I bought Carrie and I matching Pjs to wear!

I was able to do a little shopping while the rodeo was going on and I found my new favorite ring but I didn't have enough money. Carrie gifted me the ring but really, it was just the 5 bucks to go buy it.

You know I had to bring something home from Florida, why not it be sand! Even bottled it up tight and taped it shut for the flights home.

Junior Miss Rodeo Oregon 2022 Carrie Woods!

What a month! This month I've traveled about 1,400 miles just from traveling to Klamath Falls, Sisters, Glenwood, and my short 20 minute drive to Tillamook.

I started off the month by making the quick decision to go to K Falls for the Great Northwest Pro Rodeo. I got to hang out with MRO Avalon since we were the only queens there. Then I made my way to Sisters.  I got there just in time for the parade and got to do my trot in for both of Saturday's performances and got to help push cows. Then we made the decision to pack up and head home on Sunday after going with MTRO Destiny to the Kiwanis Breakfast. Then we made the drive to Washington for the Glenwood Ketchum Kalf Rodeo. I got to do my hot lap, then packed up the trailer to head back home the next day.

Then the next weekend I made the "super long" 20 minute drive to Tillamook for the Jr/Teen pageant. We started the weekend with our get acquainted party where we had ice cream and got to watch a movie and talk to all the contestants. Then the next day we started out with personal interviews, written tests, mock TV interviews, and horsemanship where I got to carry the Oregon flag, then ended the night with our grand entry run ins. Saturday, we started the day off with the parade and then we came back and had the luncheon where we then went into speeches and impromptu questions. There was the live auction and then I got ready for grand entry and coronation. I am so excited to announce that your 2023 Jr. Miss Rodeo Oregon is Reegan Bills! And your 2023 Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon is Morgan Brownell! (JMRO 2020-21). Congratulations to Reegan and Morgan; I can't wait to watch you guys next year!

Until next month!

Carrie Woods 2022 Jr. Miss Rodeo Oregon

All ready!

With MRO Avalon

The official gates!

Run Sue Run!

Mock TV interviews!

Crowning Reegan!

Your 2023 Jr and Teen Miss Rodeo Oregon title holders!

Ready for Grand Entry!

Helping in the arena with Avalon

Pre-rodeo selfie with JJ!

Destiny and I cruising down the streets of Sisters

With Miss NPRA Zoe Brooks and Jr. Miss TCRA Piper Armstrong

Under the Glenwood sign

Our iconic pose!

It felt good to be in my home town!

Before coronation

With MRO Avalon

 

Junior/Teen/Sweetheart Pageant Update!

Thank you to these judges--Marissa Marjama, Teri McGettigan, and 2014 MRO Sara (Marcus) Deraldine--who generously gave their time to support the Junior/Teen Program and judge and give feedback to the contestants.
All Jeff Wong photos have been posted to the website!!  Not seen on social media are all the award photos!

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