Garner's Sporting Goods

February was here and February was gone, just like that! It was a busy lil month in February, starting the month off with an all day basketball tournament and then the next day traveling up to Pendleton to The Wildhorse Resort to celebrate the coronation of Miss Rodeo Oregon Taylor Skramstad! The weather decided it needed to dump a bunch of snow that weekend, unfortunately making travels difficult for some people to attend. I was glad that we had no problems, made it safely, and got to enjoy in her amazing coronation. Congratulations again Taylor! I am looking forward to following in your footsteps. We picked up some supplies for my coronation and headed back home the next day for more basketball games that following week. Between school, basketball, woodshop projects, and visiting with potential sponsors, collecting donations for auction at my coronation and some sleep, my weeks were very busy!

We then loaded up and traveled to to the Milton Freewater Community Center for the coronation of Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon Meredith Moore. Travels were a lil less snow covered this time and it was also a nice venue and great turn out. So much fun getting to see and visit with everyone and watch both Miss Teen Rodeo Oregons of last year receive their saddles from Bob Roy Custom Saddles. Then the snow started to fly that night and travels home for many were slow and snowy. We grabbed some more supplies for my coronation the next day and made it home safe. Then just like that, the week was here… the week that I had been waiting for… it was time to start setting up for my coronation! The snow continued to come down, day after day. We got a couple snow closure days from school that week but it was worrisome for everyone that was going to have to travel to get to my coronation. We kept watching the weather and road reports and decided to keep on schedule with my coronation and boy am I glad that we did! Unfortunately not everyone could make it due to the weather (from the roads to a hard calving season due to the weather) but thankful for everyone that was able to attend. Can not wait till next month to tell you all about my coronation, March 2nd! I could not make my travels and coronation such a success without the support from my amazing sponsors, family, friends & supporters! Thank You to all of you for everything you do!

Flashback to The Oregon Queen April/May 2005

Almost fourteen years ago, Steve Kenyon wrote this article for the Oregon Queen newsletter.  Back before he became famous with ProRodeo Live, he was "our" Steve Kenyon, a Pendleton native and rodeo announcer.  In 2009 he was awarded the PRCA's Excellence in Broadcast Media Award.  The words he wrote then still hold true and serve as a reminder of "Arena Etiquette for Queens from a Pro!"

Some thoughts on your time in the arena.....

As a rodeo announcer I spend a lot of time dealing with rodeo's royalty.

I've had the chance to see a lot of young ladies make everyone's life pretty easy, and occasionally to make a few people's lives more difficult than they need to be.  I've been asked to share a few thoughts....

Your relationship with the announcer at any rodeo you go to is pretty important because when it comes time for you to be introduced, the announcer is the person doing the introducing.

Please make his life as easy as possible.  This is really a pretty simple thing to do.  Get there on time, which means get there early.  If the performance starts at 7 and you would like to make a run-in in the grand entry, you should be there early enough to find the arena, to find the person coordinating the opening, and to ask what else you can do, be it signing autographs or chasing cattle or helping out in some other way that puts both you and your rodeo in a positive light.  In Flagstaff, AZ a couple of years ago a visiting queen showed up at 7:05 for the 7:00 rodeo.  Her mom came running to the announcer's stand literally expecting us to stop this hundred thousand dollar event for her little girl.  All she accomplished was creating havoc in announcer's stand during the grand entry.

You need to make sure you are checking in with the right person.  Most well run events have someone who is coordinating the visitors and who will then give that list and their information to the announcer in the proper order.  Work with that person and his or her system.  I once had a queen's advisor try to skip by the proper order of things and come straight to me, thinking it would get her girl some extra exposure.  All it did was irritate a lot of people.

I can't tell you how important it is for you to make whatever you are going to provide as easy to read as possible.  If you can produce something printed in large type with the essential information about you and your rodeo, that is best.  Don't scribble something hard to read at the last minute.  If your name is frequently mispronounced, you might spell it phonetically on your card and point out the correct pronunciation to the queen's coordinator or the announcer himself if you have a chance to talk to him.

Remember too that your first priority is to represent your rodeo.  I've probably only got a very limited amount of time to introduce you.  I need to know your name, the name of your rodeo, what city it's in and when it takes place.  If there's extra information like a special event that accompanies your rodeo or your parents name or the name of your horse, you can include it and I'll get to it if I can, but please make sure you put the important stuff first.

Always be prepared, particularly if the announcer is horseback, to say something about your rodeo if you are asked.  I like to try to ride up to the queens and give them a few seconds to invite people to their rodeo during a slow spot in the team roping or the calf roping while they are running cattle.  The question will be simple and painless, and the microphone I'll shove in your face for the answer won't bite.  You should always have a quick 15-20 second answer about your event in your mind that you can grab ahold of when you need it.

If you are in the arena chasing out livestock, remember to get your job done and then get out of the way.  You'll start in a corner where you don't interfere with the roping box.  In the calf roping, wait until after the run is completely complete, including the judges six second count after the cowboy has gotten back on his horse.  When the untie crew moves in, then you can too, and after the calf has left the arena, come back down the side, not down the middle.  In the bulldogging don't interfere with the horses; bulldoggers spend hours teaching their horses to go to the end of the arena and don't like other people getting in their way.

A final thought for you.  You should always know our sport, our history and our heritage.  I think it's as important for a queen to be able to speak clearly and to tell our story as an articulate representative of rodeo as it is to look good in the arena.  You need to understand the rules of our sport, the animal welfare concerns that we address daily, and have a good grasp of current events and what's going on in the world.

If someone from a TV or radio station or newspaper asks for an interview, try to find out what they would like to know so you'll be able to prepare your answers in your mind.  Remember, the interviewer probably won't have a good understanding of rodeo, and you might have to give a good answer to a dumb question.

Hopefully these tips will do you some good.  I really respect how hard all of our royal ladies work on behalf of our sport, and look forward to seeing many of you down the road.

Steve Kenyon, PRCA Announcer.