May 25-26: Bonnyville Pro Rodeo

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Bonnyville Pro Rodeo in Bonnyville, AB. I began my journey north on the morning of Saturday, May 25th and arrived in Bonnyville at 8:00 am where I attended the pancake breakfast at Brosseau's Deparment Store. Here I met the 2013 BPRCA (Bonnyville Pro Rodeo and Chuckwagon Association) Queen Contestants and helped serve breakfast with Miss Rodeo Canada, Gillian Shields and the 2012 BPRCA Queen, Amanda Griemann.

Bonnyville Parade with Miss Rodeo Canada, Gillian Shields

Soon after the breakfast was over we headed to the rodeo grounds to get horses ready for the parade!  I was fortunate enough to have a horse supplied for me by Luc Tellier named Joe. Although a very windy day, Bonnyville had a great turn out for the parade.

                         

BPRCA Queen and Princess Crowning Ceremony

Before that evenings rodeo performance we stopped at Express Pizza for some supper. It was great to sit down with Gillian, Amanda and the 2013 Contestants and talk about our year and answer any of the questions the contestants had for us! The rodeo performance began at 6:00 with grand entry and the introduction of the rodeo royalty and contestants. I also had the chance to help with chase out of the livestock during the tie down roping and steer wrestling. The entire day we were lucky and the rain managed to hold off! 

Miss Rodeo Canada, Miss Rodeo Airdrie, Stephanie and Becca with Luc
and his horses he brought for us for the weekend

We made a quick appearance at the rodeo dance before heading back to our wonderful host family's house to spend the night. Thank-you to the Vallee's for your hospitality and giving Gillian and I a place to stay! 

 

Sunday morning we arrived at the rodeo grounds at 10:00 am for Cowboy Church. After a great service we began getting horses ready for the rodeo. At the 1:00 performance we were again introduced during grand entry and helped chase out livestock during the tie down roping and steer wrestling. The crowning of the 2013 BPRCA Queen and Princess took place in the arena during intermission. Gillian and I presented flowers to the newly crowned rodeo royalty as well as the other contestants. Congrats to the newly crowned 2013 BPRCA Queen, Julie Jodoin, and the 2013 BPRCA Princess, Becca Winchester. 

 

Miss Rodeo Airdrie, Miss Rodeo Canada and BPRCA Queen, Amanda Griemann
with our Dodge trucks!


 


I had an absolutely amazing time in Bonnyville! The weather held up and it didn't rain once during the two days I was there! Thank-you to the rodeo and queen committee for hosting me, Luc for the use of his horse for the weekend and the Vallee's for being such wonderful hosts! Also, thank-you to Amanda Griemann, 2012 BPRCA Queen for everything! Couldn't have asked for a better weekend! 

 

Happy Trails! 

Nicole Briggs

Miss Rodeo Airdrie 2012

Balzac/Carstairs & District 4-H Beef Shows and the High River Little Britches Parade and Rodeo

This past long weekend was another busy one for the Airdrie Rodeo Royalty! We started off our weekend in Airdrie for the Balzac 4-H Beef Club's Achievement Day. It was great to be out helping the 4-H by awarding members with ribbons and banners for their achievements and placings in each class. Showing beef cattle is something Sam and I were very unfamiliar with but by the end of the day we were beginning to understand what to look for. Following the show we took part in the steak dinner and visited with those from the Airdrie and Balzac community. Congratulations to all the members on a great show and best of luck at 4-H on Parade!


Sunday evening Sam and I made the journey to High River with the horses for the Little Britches Parade and Rodeo. We spent the night at the Mills farm just outside Okotoks. We would like to thank them for their hospitality and giving us and the horses a great place to spend the night. Early Sunday morning, Sam and I were up and headed to High River for the Little Britches Parade. After watching the forecast carefully for the few days leading up to the Sunday and expecting rain, we were pleasantly surprised to see sunshine and heat! We rode alongside the Calgary Stampede Royal Trio, Jessica Williams, Danielle Kakoschke and Catherine Morneau, the Calgary Stampede Indian Princess, Amber Big Plume, Miss Rodeo Okotoks, Erica Lee, Miss Strathmore Stampede, Becca Walters and the newly crowned High River Little Miss Britches Rodeo Queen, Chase Robinson. It was great to see a huge turn out for the parade!


Sam and I taking part in the Little Britches Parade!

That afternoon we headed down to the High River Rodeo Grounds to take part in the Little Britches Rodeo Grand Entry. The Little Britches Rodeo is for kids 14 years old or younger. After taking our presentation ride around the arena we made our way back inside to sign autographs. We had the chance to meet many future pro rodeo cowboys and cowgirls who came up to meet us. It is great to see so many young kids taking part in rodeo, it definitely shows that our sport will remain strong as many of these youngsters will continue to compete as they grow. We even had the chance to meet and spend time with a young girl from Airdrie who told Sam and I that she was going to be an Airdrie Rodeo Queen when she is older! Thank-you to the High River Little Britches Rodeo Committee for inviting us to take part in such a wonderful event!

Sam and I with a future Airdrie Rodeo Royalty title holder!

Miss Rodeo Okotoks, Miss Rodeo Airdrie, Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess, Calgary Stampede Indian Princess, Miss Strathmore Stampede and the High River Little Miss Britches Rodeo Queen

The visiting royalty with two of High River's RCMP!

Our last stop this past weekend was on May 21st, where we helped present ribbons and awards at the Carstairs and District 4-H Beef Show and Sale. We had a fantastic time watching the members show their 4-H steer projects and congratulations to all members! Everyone did a great job!


Happy Trails!

Nicole Briggs
Miss Rodeo Airdrie 2012

Airdrie Rodeo Royalty's Travels from May 8-10

The past few weeks have been busy for the Airdrie Rodeo Royalty! On May 8th we started our month off with McHappy Day. Sam and I spent the afternoon helping take donations for the Ronald McDonald House Charities. We spent time at both the Edmonton Trail and Yankee Valley Blvd. McDonalds locations interacting with the customers and we even had the chance to help take money and serve food through the drive thru! During our time at the Edmonton Trail location, Sam and I helped hand out "smiles" and stickers to all the kids while they were enjoying lunch. We are happy to have had a small part in helping the Airdrie McDonald Restaurants in raising over $29,000 for the Ronald McDonald House Charities.



Taking a photo with our "smiles" with one little boy who was very excited to meet us!

Our help with fundraising for the week didn't stop there. On May 9th we spent the evening at Mark's for their Mother's Day Sale and helped take donations for the Breast Cancer Society of Canada. Sam and I helped sell socks and wristbands to help bring in money for the society.


On Friday, May 10th, we were off to Stavely for the Stavely Indoor Pro Rodeo, our first pro rodeo of 2013! We arrived in Stavely after a 5 hour drive and headed off to the Steak Supper. Here we met up with Miss Strathmore Stampede, Becca Walters, and Miss Rodeo Stavely, Kaitlan Schlosser. Sam and I put together our BBQ skills and cooked up our steak with the other royalty. Following the supper we headed off to the trailer to get horses ready for grand entry! After a long winter season, it felt great to be back on a horse at a rodeo representing the Airdrie Pro Rodeo! Sam and I spent the rest of the night with Miss Strathmore Stampede watching the rodeo performance.


Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess (Sam Bilsborrow), Miss Strathmore Stampede (Becca Walters), Miss Rodeo Airdrie (Nicole Briggs) before grand entry!

We spent the night in Stavely and had the whole day to ourselves as the rodeo performance did not begin until 7 and the dinner was not until 5. Sam and I don't spend much time South of Calgary so we took this opporunity to do a little shopping at some of our favourite western stores in both Claresholm and Nanton. We even made a quick stop at the Nanton Rodeo Grounds to watch and cheer on some of my good friends and 4-H members at the Alberta Jr. High Finals Rodeo before heading back to Stavely to get ready for that evenings peformance.

Before Saturday Night's Grand Entry!



The Visiting Royalty.
Cochrane Lions Rodeo Queen, Miss Rodeo Okotoks, Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess, Miss Rodeo Airdrie, Miss Strathmore Stampede, Hanna Pro Rodeo Queen, Miss Rodeo Taber

We spent that night with many other visiting royalty. Miss Rodeo Okotoks, Erica Lee, Miss Rodeo Taber, Tianna Meier, Hanna Pro Rodeo Queen, Nichole Martin, Miss Strathmore Stampede, Becca Walters, and the Cochrane Lions Rodeo Queen, Lexie Courtney, all put our BBQ skills to work during the Steak Supper! It was great to be able to spend some time with the other Alberta Rodeo Royalty after the winter season and you could tell we were all excited to be back together at a rodeo! Following the supper we participated in grand entry and then took in a bit of the rodeo before heading to sign autographs. We had many people come over to visit and it was great to see so many rodeo fans out at one of the first Pro Rodeos of the year!

The visiting royalty with Dennis Halstead during the Saturday Night Rodeo Performance.

The visiting royalty enjoying the steak supper!

 

 

 

Happy Trails!

 

Nicole Briggs

Miss Rodeo Airdrie 2012