MISS RODEO LENOX

Hello again devoted blog readers!

As some of you may know, on April 8th -11th I competed in the Miss NFPB Pageant.  I had a wonderful time in St. Joe and at the NFPB Finals.  The NFPB stands for National Federation of Professional Bullriders and has been going strong for the past 15 years.  They are the only bullriding federation that has a queen to represent them.  Since it was a national pageant, the contestant were from different states.  There were four constantants: Micki Musick (Arkansas), Rachel Kelderman (Colorado), Sunnie Paintin (Colorado) and myself.  Sadly to say I didn't win but I had the time of my life and met so many wonderful people.  I must give a huge congratulations to Rachel Kelderman for earning the title of Miss NFPB 2010 and also to Micki Musick for Miss NFPB 1st runner up.  I didn't walk away empty handed though, I won the categories of Most Ads Sold, People's Choice (don't count towards any of the judges scoring) and Photogenics.  I have to send a huge thank you out to my mom.  She was such a tropper for taking a few days off of work, driving me down there and staying in the hotel room all by herself.  She did get to come shopping with us, we didn't leave empty handed there either!  THANK YOU so much mom for supporting my rodeo queen dreams!  I also have to give a huge thank you to everyone who sponsored me to go to this pageant.  All the contestants had to raise at least $350 for a full page ad in the NFPB program.  My sponsors were: Creston Livestock Auction, Dean & Karen Fife, Brian Johnson, Extreme Images by Ashley, Corning Meat Processing, Curry Ranch, Scott & Traci Johnson, Danyel & Sam Foreman and Donnie & Jan Willet.  With out all of this support from home I wouldn't have done so well at the Miss NFPB pageant.

I also have to give a shout out to Kelsea Walker-Dodd, Paula Jameson and Rachel Burton (Miss NFPB 2009), these ladies are the ones who put the pageant on, it was such a great time.  With out them, the pageant would have been very stressful and scary - Rachel was always willing to answer any of my questions before and druing the pageant.   She was sad  to give up her title and the Federation was sad to see her go.  (This got me to thinking of how hard it's going to be to give up my MRL title in July!)  All contestants got some great prizes just for competing such as a pair of jeans, a Cowgirl Trailer Trash

T-Shirt, a Cowgirl Couture T-Shirt, a Justin Boots baseball hat and the list goes on and on.  I really had a blast at this pageant and will maybe run again next year!

During the pageant there was a "special rodeo" for all handicapped people of St. Joe.  It was so much fun!  There were horse rides around the arena given and there was even a place to practice roping.  I helped give a few horse rides and then I helped with roping the dummy, although some people thought it would be funny to rope me as well ... I met so many great people there!  During the performances, the contestants got to walk around the crowd and collect money for their People's Choice Award.  During this time I got the opportunity to visit with a group of people that raise money for familes that have lost or are struggling with family members that have cancer.  They were called Never Weaken, they taught me a new slogan that I would like to share with you.  "Winners are not those who never fail ... but those who never weaken".  I encourage you to check them out at www.neverweaken.com and help them spread the knowledge of their cause.

As for Miss Rodeo Lenox, we are in search for contestant's to run for this years pageant!  I'm so excited for this, if you have any questions please feel free to look me up on facebook or shoot me an email.  My next appearance will be in June for the Lenox Calf and Lamb Show.

See you down the trail  ~  God Bless

Suzy Fife, MRL 2009