The weekend I spent at the Airdrie Home and Lifestyle show was one of the best I have had this past year. The shopping and entertainment was unreal! Jewellery, clothing, food, arts and crafts, dancing, fashion shows, dog shows… everything you could possibly imagine was packed into Genesis Place for 2 whole days.

My home base was the Airdrie Ag Booth, and I had such a good time with Brenda and everyone else that volunteered their time to be there. I was sad not to be able to make it out to the seeding demonstration they had on Saturday afternoon, but glad that it was a successful event for them.  

Brenda Moon and Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess

Another booth that I spent a lot of time at was Park Lane Jewellery, new sponsors of the Airdrie Rodeo Royalty and new to Canada! Park Lane has only been available in Canada for a few weeks now. They gave me a beautiful, matching set of pearls. I was so happy I could have cried, and then contemplated sleeping in them that night because I didn’t want to take them off. We are so appreciative of their support and look forward to working with them in the future.

Damien from Mark’s also took very good care of me this weekend. He gave me the opportunity to be in what turned out to be a very successful and popular fashion show. I sported the latest and greatest trends from Mark’s, Cream Body and Bath, and Pharmasave (The Store Upstairs). Instead of using professional models, the models he chose for this show were everyday Airdrie citizens, and what a fantastic idea. Everyone had tons of fun and I think this is an event that people will be talking about for quite a while.

Mark's Clothing

For the remainder of the time I was honored to do a quick little interview for Air 106, signed ALL of the autographs I had with me (which was fantastic!), and of course did a little shopping. Unfortunately Miss Rodeo Airdrie, Nicole Briggs, was fighting with appendicitis this past weekend, so we wish her all the best.

Last but not least I would like to mention my ‘foster family’ for the weekend. The Brietzke family took me in and treated me like ‘royalty’. I can’t thank them enough; having a place to stay and relax during a busy weekend really makes the difference.

Thanks to everyone for their help and support this weekend!

See you down the trail,

Sam Bilsborrow

Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess 2012

Rebecca Mckay, Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess, Miss Rodeo Canada, Damien and Miss Teen Airdrie

April 21st. Cheers for Volunteers!

Nicole and I were invited to the Cheers for Volunteers event this past Sunday, April 26^th at the Rocky View Schools Education Center. We were asked to give a little speech about our year and how we contribute to the volunteering community. I have included our speech in this blog post for those of you whom were not able to attend.

On July 1st 2012, we were crowned as Miss Rodeo Airdrie and the Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess. Along with those titles comes a year long commitment to volunteer out time to help and promote the Airdrie community. In the past few months we have attended approximately 90 events and put on almost 30,000 kms. In the end we don't do it for money or to get something in return, we do it for the love of rodeo and the Airdrie community. That is what makes a great volunteer, help out for the good of others.

Since we are both from the Edmonton area, we were not too familiar with Airdrie when we started our reign. But we have been able to make a smooth transition into our new family thanks to its very unique and loving community. It is a community that supports and recognizes volunteers, a community that rallies together when someone is in need, and a community that focuses on the proper up bringing of their children. The Mayor and MLA's are regular attendees at community gatherings. Whether it be at the Airdrie Rodeo, or strapping on some skates and playing hockey with a young team. We have found that if you have a connection to Airdrie, you have a certain demeanour about yourself. You want to help out and be a part of everything, or you say hi to a stranger walking down the street. It seems so simple right now, but you don't seem to find things like that in other communities.

Let's talk a little bit about our year so far. After the Airdrie Rodeo, we were pretty much non stop until October. That was a challenging 3 months, especially for me. If I wasn't sweating through my shirt, thanks to the plus 30 weather, my hair was going flat thanks to the humidity. I think that hottest day of the year was the visiting royalty day for the Calgary Stampede. We picked the heaviest shirts to wear that day, and we watched the rodeo standing on the black asphalt. So needless to say that was a very uncomfortable day, but so much fun and something we will remember for the rest of our lives. We were accompanied by 20 other visiting royalties from around the world! We also got to participate in the centennial stampede parade, and there were people everywhere. The streets were absolutely full and there people were hanging out of windows cheering for us as well. After that we went to the Strathmore Rodeo, the Cochrane Rodeo, the Okotoks Rodeo, the Millarville Rodeo, the Medicine Hat Rodeo, the Canadian Finals Rodeo, the Denver Stock Show, the Calgary Police Rodeo, and the Airdrie Ranch Rodeo just to name a few. We also have gone to many community events including multiple visits at the Bethany Care Center, the Hair Lounge Event, ARTember, Airdrie fest, Diamonds and Denim, the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, and some Airdrie Food Bank events as well. Outside of Airdrie, some events we have attended are the Leduc Santa Clause Parade, the ‘Heaven Can Wait’  fundraiser, the Ranchman’s Bull Busting and Mutton Busting, Bass Pro Events, and Blue Grass Nursery events as well. 

During the winter we did slow down a bit, but as spring finally starts to get here our events calendar is really starting to fill up. Then just like that it will be over and we will be passing our crowns on to a new pair of girls. This experience has showed us the beauty of helping out in your community and I am sure that we both will be volunteering our time after we pass our crowns on, partly because we won't know what to do with ourselves! But also because that is what the Airdrie Rodeo Royalty Program does to you. It creates socially confidant, helping, and amazing women. And those skills can be used throughout your life.

We would like to leave you with a few words from Margaret Mead, 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.'

Thank you for having us speak today and we hope to see you at the 2013 Airdrie Pro Rodeo!

This event was a great way to say thank you to the many volunteers of the Airdrie Community. They are what make Airdrie truly unique from other communities and we are so glad to be a part of that.

See you down the trail!

Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess 2012
Sam Bilsborrow

April 13: Aggie Days & Miss Rodeo Sundre Fashion Show

This past weekend Sam and I had the opportunity to attend Aggie Days at the Calgary Stampede Grounds along with Gillian Shields, Miss Rodeo Canada, and Erica Lee, Miss Rodeo Okotoks. We began our morning signing autographs, taking pictures and talking with both kids and their families who arrived early for the Aggie Days Showcase for children with special needs. The kids were all extremely excited to have the chance to interact with so many different farm animals which were on display during Aggie Days. It was a great event giving people the chance to interact and experience such a large array of farm animals including: dairy cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, horses and even rabbits! We had a great time taking in all the different interactive display's they had. The Airdrie Royalty took on Miss Rodeo Canada and Miss Rodeo Okotoks in a friendly competition to see who could pull the most weight, much like a heavy horse pull. In the end, Sam and I came out as the champions and were the two who could pull the most weight!

Thank you to the Calgary Stampede Queen's Alumni for hosting us!

 

Miss Rodeo Okotoks, Miss Rodeo Canada, Miss Rodeo Airdrie, Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess

That evening we attended the Miss Rodeo Sundre Fashion Show held at the Arts Centre in Sundre. It was a great night and were accompanied by Gillian Shields, Miss Rodeo Canada, Becca Walters, Miss Strathmore Stampede along with Cayley Martyn, Miss Rodeo Sundre and Mackenzie Henn, Sundre Rodeo Princess. All of us royalty helped welcome guests and sell tickets at the beginning of the evening. It was great to see the slideshow from the Sundre Rodeo Royalty's year along a little video we all put together during our trip to Denver! During the Fashion Show, Sam and I got to take a bit of a different role than we are used to. We were the judges for the Sundre Rodeo King Contest! It was great to see so many "king" competitors and was definitely a harder job than I expected! Sam and I had a great night visiting with those from the Sundre community and would like to thank the Sundre Rodeo Royalty and Committee for inviting us to such a great event!

Miss Rodeo Airdrie, Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess, Miss Strathmore Stampede, Miss Rodeo Canada, Sundre Rodeo Princess
 

Happy Trails!

Nicole Briggs
Miss Rodeo Airdrie 2012

March 31st to April 6 th

On March 31st Nicole and I headed down to Bass Pro to help out with their annual Easter activities. The store was packed with eager kids and their families ready to participate in the Easter egg hunt and get their pictures taken with the Easter bunny. We got to run the picture booth for a few hours and we were busy the whole time, the line for the photo booth went half way around the store! It was great to see the kids so excited about Easter and like always we had a lot of fun.

Thanks for having us!

On Friday April 5th I got to go to an event a little closer to home, at the Edmonton Expo Centre. The Canadian National College Finals Rodeo ran from Thursday to Saturday and featured some of the best competitors and stock. The rodeo hosted different royalty every night. Thursday night was Miss Rodeo Canada, Friday was me, and Saturday was the High School Rodeo Queen and Princess. It was nice to be at a rodeo for a change, a sure sign that spring is here! Our Airdrie Rodeo Queen, Nicole Briggs, (who is also the president of the CIRA) was competing at the finals in goat tying and team roping. She supplied me with a wonderful horse, Hoolio. I had the honour of carrying the Canadian flag as well as the school flag of each of the go round winners, which kept me busy pretty much all night. I like to watch the college rodeos because you get to see the upcoming talent and the future of Pro Rodeo. Those kids gave it their all and put on an awesome performance! Another highlight of the rodeo was the Young Gunz trick riding team, 10 year olds Cooper and Avery, and 7 year old Cora. They put on a very impressive performance and I look forward to seeing them at rodeos throughout the year.

Thank you to the CIRA for having me!

On Saturday April 6th it was back down to Airdrie for a Miss Rodeo Canada fundraiser. The Roper Stetson warehouse hosted a sale open to the public and the proceeds went towards the Miss Rodeo Canada program. This turned out to be very successful bringing in between 80 to 150 people, and hopefully it becomes an annual event.  I got to see Gillian for the first time in about two months and heard about the amazing time she has had as Miss Rodeo Canada so far. I also got to see my fantastic rodeo committee, Miss Rodeo Okotoks, Miss Rodeo Sundre, and Miss Rodeo Hanna. It was great to see everyone there in support of Gillian and her committee.

I felt very privileged to be invited to this event and hope to return again next year.