Alexia Colton
Special to The Tribune
Hello everybody! I, Alexia Colton, Miss Cariboo Spurs Apparel and Tack, along with Bobi Bracewell, Miss Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association, and Davana Mahon, Miss Macon Construction, would like to inform the community of what we have been doing the past few weeks.
Starting with April 24 Davana and I were invited to the swimming pool for the event “Easter at the Pool.”
While we were there we played with the children and families and helped out the Easter Bunny.
On April 27, Bobi, Davana, and I started with the horsemanship portion of the competition. This was held at Eagleview Equestrian Centre.
We continued with our weekly lessons until our horsemanship finals on June 15.
April 29 and 30 was a fun-filled weekend for the three of us along with the current Stampede royalty.
On that weekend, we were invited to Eagleview Equestrian Centre’s “Horsing Around in the Cariboo.” Here we introduced trainers for the event’s first ever Trainer’s Challenge, collected admission fees, and sold 50/50 tickets.
On May 3, we three contestants were invited to a breakfast with the Rotary.
On May 6 and 7, we helped out at the concession for the (regional) High School Rodeo. On the morning of May 8 Bobi, Davana, and I helped out the Lions Club in the Save On Foods parking lot for their annual Mother’s Day Breakfast.
We collected money for breakfast tickets and also sold raffle tickets for two beautiful hanging flower baskets.
We have helped clean up the Stampede Grounds for the Williams Lake Stampede.
On May 10, contestants and royalty started practicing for a fashion show called Ladies’ Night Out put on by the Royal Canadian Legion on May 26.
The night of May 14 was a lot of fun for us contestants and the current princess. We were invited to the Lions 400 Club dinner.
Here we sold 50/50 tickets, horse race tickets, and also helped out with the horse race itself. On May 14 and 15 we were helping out at the Home Show, delivering coffee and water to all of the vendors and visitors.
Finally, on May 21, we were invited out to Likely for the Likely Day Parade. At this event we participated in the parade, helped hand out ribbons and trophies for the parade participants, and handed out door prizes.
We would like to thank everyone who invited us to any of these events.
And thank you to all of the sponsors of this wonderful program.
Many people have been asking us how the queen and princess are chosen so I have decided to put that information in here.
The three of us are secretly judged at the events that we attend as contestants.
But aside from that, we are studying all of the time because we have two written exams in this competition which are based on horsemanship, rodeo, and local knowledge.
The speech craft finals were held in April. We also have a personal interview in front of a panel of judges, and horsemanship riding finals on June 15.
Bobi, Davana, and I, Alexia, are having a lot of fun in this competition; we have made many new friendships, and are learning so much.