The crowning of Miss Rodeo Montana and Miss Teen Rodeo Montana was the culmination of a week full of excitement during the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals in Great Falls. The Finale was crown­ing Audrey Sholty as 2008 Miss Rodeo Montana and Jennifer Marshall as the 2008 Miss Teen Rodeo Mon­tana. The six contestants vying for the titles started at the contestant registration meeting on Wednesday evening. Dining on pizza and beverages supplied by Pizza Hut of Great Falls, introductions were made, horsemanship horses were drawn for by the contestants, Miss Rodeo Montana Pageant jackets were passed out, the contestants checked into their rooms and the horsemanship test with Miss Rodeo Montana Megan Hardy and Miss Teen Rodeo Montana Lorissa Harris proctoring, then the ladies retired for the evening.

Thursday brought the Ladies to the Cattleman’s Cut Restaurant for the get acquainted luncheon and introduction of the judges Mr. Gil Roberts, Ms. Amy Robbins and Mrs. Bobbi Levine. Following the brunch was the popular horsemanship competition, interviews, the Chamber of Commerce Mixer and re­hearsals.

Friday the ladies awed an audience at the Miss Rodeo Montana/Miss Teen Rodeo Montana speech competition following a luncheon at the Hampton Inn and, of course, more interviews. The viewers were kept entertained by Megan and Lorissa and watched intently their Silent Auction items hoping to be highest bidder. After a dinner at the 3D Restaurant, the ladies were off to the first night of the Pro Rodeo Finals.

Saturday brought the highly acclaimed Pro Rodeo Fashion Show. Executive Board Member Kate Ruland and emcee Kyle Shobe were our Rodeo Fashion Show announcers introducing a plethora of visiting royalty as well as the contestants and Megan and Lorissa to the theme of Montana Rodeo. The ladies were also hostesses for the Kiddee Rodeo, read contracts and attended the second round of the rodeo.

Sunday was the anticipated Coronation with Pro Rodeo Announcer Will Rasmussen serving as our Master of Ceremonies. Many of our distinguished sponsors were on hand to receive recognition plaques and accolades; lucky sponsors “Jimmy” the Hat Man and Dr. Billquist were also escorts for the ladies with one last question presented to them for the last judged event. To relieve the tension in the air, author and storyteller Skip Halmes entertained… and lighten the mood he did! A big congratulations to all of the con­testants for their hard work throughout the week, we believe we have the very best contestants here in Mon­tana and once again you proved it!

We pack a lot of excitement, emotion, and entertainment into just four days, and we owe a heap of gratitude to all of our generous sponsors, from meal sponsors, to award sponsors, room sponsors, vehicle sponsor, to all of the volunteers that assist us throughout the week… we couldn’t do it without you! All of us involved with the pageant truly believe that rodeo pageants not only pro­vide opportunities but build character, self-esteem, and poise in a young woman’s life. Thank you to everyone who helped to make this year’s pageanta success!

Laura

As the newsletter goes to print the 2008 Executive Board gets ready to meet and start the plans for the 2009 Pageant. We’ll go over each of the committee chairs’ critiques; discussing what worked well and what we can improve on… and so it goes for another year!

Thank you to everyone who was involved with making the Pageant a success this year, and especially to Megan Hardy and Lorissa Harris. I think we’re all amazed at what our small organiza­tion can accomplish each year. We had a great group of contestants and judges who helped us all to smile, to laugh, and bond together—special memories for all of us. We were honored to have so many of our treasured sponsors with us at the Coronation, even though at the same time we were dearly miss­ing our friend Virgil Hershberger. I’m very happy to report that Virgil is back home now, still wear­ing a neck brace but counting down the weeks until he’s done with that too… getting better each day. He asked me to send along his heartfelt thanks for the visits, cards and letters he received while he was in the hospital. No doubt we’ll see him down the rodeo road this summer.

We were honored to have 15 visiting titleholders join us at our Speech Luncheon and for the Style Show… and word that Helena will most likely be starting a Pageant this year as well. Good News! Our silent auction raised $687, our raffle brought in $1,950, and the style show door prizes brought in $460. We awarded $3,375 in scholarships.

If you haven’t been to the web site lately, check it out! It’s got a whole new look and feel and the entire site has been updated. You’ll notice that we also have a link to Sheplers at the top, and if you go to Sheplers website by clicking on that banner and make a purchase, a small percentage comes back to us! That’s exactly how the MRM Mall works, too… and there’s a link on our website to that as well—so let’s get shopping! Here’s to a GREAT year in 2008!

Jody

Well, I thought it was about time we did something a bit different for the MRM website for announcements and any other info you’d like to pass along.  You’re more than welcome to post pics, video, have discussions or whatever.

Please make sure that if you’d like to post at any time, you’ll need to sign up with wordpress.com to receive an account.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please let me know….

Ed