Michelle Ball
Miss Clusko Logging Enterprises Ltd.
My name is Michelle Ball. I am 19 years old and I was born and raised in Williams Lake.
My family held and still holds several box seats at the World Famous Williams Lake Stampede.
Every year I have sat in excited anticipation of the Grand Entry and the exchanging of crowns to the new Royalty. The girls were always so beautiful and proficient in horsemanship and I often dreamed that I could enter the competition and inspire young girls to compete and represent our city and our Stampede.
I have always loved horses, but was never fortunate enough to have one of my own. I learned to ride when I was six, but that was just riding for pleasure. In 2012, Ashley Fadenrecht taught me about reining and becoming a better rider.
I appreciated her instruction and patience and I loved working with her and her beautiful bay, Shiloh. The three of us developed a strong bond and Ashley’s encouragement strengthened my resolve to run and help other girls to ride and compete.
I feel that it would be an honour to be the Ambassador of the Williams Lake Stampede. I would love to travel to other rodeos in B.C., Alberta, the rest of Canada and the U.S. I enjoy promoting our city and the Stampede and have done so on numerous trips around B.C. and beyond.
I played rep soccer for six years and attended many provincial championships. I also played in the Hawaiian Invitational. I curled at the Northern Winter Games in Prince Rupert and the Junior Provincials in Victoria.
These occasions gave me the opportunity to tell others about our beautiful city and our world famous Stampede.
Although I was unavailable in 2013, I volunteered with the Stampede Association the previous four years. I enjoyed working with the directors and the Stampede committee and it was always fun interacting with our rodeo competitors.
I look forward to the 2014 royalty competition, the new acquaintances I will meet and the opportunity to represent the Williams Lake Stampede and hopefully inspire more young people to become involved in rodeos and our community.