Wednesday, July 27th through Sunday, July 31, 2011.
Welcome to Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo - the "Daddy Of Them All".
After packing up the MRU truck to head to Cheyenne and also packing our personal truck and trailer that headed back to my home in Pine Valley, we were finally off on our long drive to Wyoming. Mom, Sarin and I were all excited to go to the rodeo touted as “The Daddy of them ALL”. I was even more thrilled about being there as Miss Rodeo Utah. I would be staying at a host home with Miss Rodeo Texas, but my mom and Sarin needed to find a hotel. As we got closer I started calling around to see where they could stay. I had no idea it would be so difficult. Every hotel was booked, and if they did have a room available, it was at a cost of a couple hundred dollars per night. Some of the hotels that I called laughed at me. The biggest rodeo around was in Cheyenne, so of course the hotels were all booked! It was the middle of the night before we finally found a room at a Super 8 motel.
Hanging out with my roommate during my stay in Cheyenne - the amazingly gorgeous Lauren Graham, Miss Rodeo Texas.
On Thursday I went and checked in with my host home and then went to meet the legendary Arlene Kensinger at the rodeo grounds. While I had met Miss Arlene several years before, it was just during a casual meeting with a bunch of other queens, so it wasn’t even really much of an introduction. I think I was as much looking forward to being in the presence of Miss Arlene for four days as I was excited to be at the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo – the best part was that I got to do both!
Lauren (Miss Rodeo TX) and myself, posing with some volunteers during the Challenge Rodeo at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
I was able to attend Cheyenne Frontier Days from Thursday the 27th to Sunday the 31st. There were double performances of rodeo every day beginning at noon. It was neat to experience a rodeo during the day because rodeos I have gone to in the past have customarily been held in the evening. Before the first performance each day, as part of the grand entry, the visiting royalty did a “fly-by” on horses provided by the Harry Vold Rodeo Company. Harry Vold is another one of those names that every queen should know – he is an 11-time PRCA Stock Contractor of the Year and PRCA Hall of Famer (just a tiny few of his accolades.) Mr. Vold was definitely a commanding presence on his horse in the arena during every performance – leaving no doubt as to why he had the nickname “Duke of the Chutes.” Between him and Miss Arlene, I felt I was in the company of royalty (and truth be known, I was!)
Now back to those fly-bys. “Fly-by’s” are just what they sound like. Instead of doing a presentation ride around the arena like queens traditionally do, we literally flew by the audience at lightning speed on the race track that went straight in front of the outside of the rodeo arena. I had heard stories about queens falling off those horses during their fly-bys before, so while I wasn’t sure what I was yet in for, I was determined that as the new Miss Rodeo Utah, I was NOT going to embarrass myself or Utah by falling off my horse at Cheyenne Frontier Days – and I didn’t. Miss Arlene said the term “fly-by” came from her husband decades ago when he would watch the queens ride and wave to the audience. He would say, “Wow, look at those queens fly-by!”
Performing a "Fly-By" on one of Harry Vold's incredible horses during the grand entry of the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.
During this rodeo was also the first time that I got to meet some of the state queens I would be competing with at Miss Rodeo America in December. I got to share my week with the state queens from Texas, California, Idaho, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Nevada, and Florida.
Posing along with the other state rodeo queens, Miss Wyoming and also the Cheyenne Frontier Days royalty.
Standing behind the state seal at the Wyoming State Capitol Building.
On one of the mornings we got to be a part of a HUGE pancake breakfast. This breakfast is absolutely FREE to the public and was held three times during the week. About 10,000 people show up for each breakfast. They were served flapjacks, ham and coffee or milk. I was absolutely amazed at the setup. They had to mix 5,000 pounds of pancake batter, use 650 lbs. of butter, 450 gallons of syrup, have 4,000 lbs. of ham, 8,000 pints of milk, 520 gallons of coffee, 125 pounds of sugar, and 12 gallons of cooking oil for each breakfast. It was truly, truly quite the production. Where do you mix 5,000 lbs. of pancake mix? In a cement truck, of course! The visiting royalty got to help flip pancakes and catch pancakes. Yes I said, “catch pancakes”. There were several cook stations set up in chuck wagons. As pancakes were ready the cooks would flip them up in the air and out the chuck wagon to where people with flat cookie sheet type pans would catch them. I got to be on both ends of the deal, cooking and catching. I was not a very good pancake catcher at first. Most of the flapjacks ended up on the ground, but I finally caught the knack and became a pro-pancake catcher. After the breakfast we went around to several different places to sign autographs for those who came out to eat breakfast.
Pancake Chefs - Miss Rodeo Nevada (Ann Clemmitt) and myself.
Learning to flip and throw pancakes at the Cheyenne Frontier Days breakfast.
Catching pancakes at the Cheyenne Frontier Days community breakfast.
During each rodeo performance we signed autographs in sponsor box seating around the arena and then also signed autographs on the race track after the rodeo was done. I went through literally hundreds of autographs sheets each day. At one point I ran out and had to quickly go get more printed. It was crazy how many autographs we all went through.
Signing autographs with the other state rodeo queens in front of the "Cowgirls of the West" gift shop.
Standing in front of the "Cowgirls of the West" museum.
Display honoring Mrs. Arlene Kensinger at the "Cowgirls of the West" museum in downtown Cheyenne, WY.
Each evening we got to attend a different concert put on in the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo arena. That was a fun and relaxing experience. I was able to see concerts performances by Toby Keith, the Zac Brown Band, Darius Rucker, Eric Church, and Kevin Costner.
I was also able to ride through one of the Frontier Day’s many parades. The parade started and ended directly in front of the Wyoming State Capitol Building. It was fun to have people in the audience clapping and shouting out their favorite states as we queens rode by.
Cheyenne Frontier Days parade.
Cheyenne Frontier Days parade.
The queens and their chaps.
After the parade, we attended another rodeo performance (with of course more autograph signings) and then we went over to Miss Arlene’s house/museum for a small party and dinner sponsored by Taco John’s. (Miss Arlene’s husband was one of the original founders of Taco Johns.) Her house is filled top to bottom with memorabilia and history of Cheyenne Frontier days and is a literal museum. She has rooms full of pictures and antiques that tell amazing stories not only of the history of this great rodeo, but also Arlene’s life. My favorite was all of her “Dandies” hats and pictures. The flag girls for Cheyenne Frontier days are the “Dandies” similar to Ogden Pioneer Days “Whoopie Girls”. Arlene has been in charge of the Dandies since their inception and keeps one of their cowgirl hats every year from that year’s rodeo (every year the Dandies get a different colored hat.) She has them all hanging from her ceiling. While we ate lunch, Arlene told story after story of her life and adventures. I could have sat and listened to her for days! She is an absolutely amazing woman and icon, with such a positive attitude and outlook on life. She absolutely adores taking care of all the state queens and spoiled each of us.
Looking at all of the memorabilia at the home and museum of Arlene Kensinger.
Looking at all of the memorabilia at the home and museum of Arlene Kensinger.
It was such an honor to be in the presence of the legendary Arlene Kensinger.
Miss Rodeo Utah (Jamie Udell) and Wyoming Governor (Matt Mead)
I think my time at Cheyenne was quite a blur. I was still a little tired coming directly off my pageant competition week and trying to soak in just being crowned the new Miss Rodeo Utah, plus then taking in all of the sites and experiences of the “Daddy Of Them All” at Cheyenne Frontier Days. That week went by so fast, but it will definitely be a week I will never, ever forget. I owe so much thanks to the city of Cheyenne, Miss Arlene, the Cheyenne Frontier committee, Harry Vold, my host family and the chaperones that drove us around – and all of the hundreds of amazing volunteers that come together to make Cheyenne a truly great rodeo experience.
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