Rodeo royalty will be crowned this weekend

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo rides into town next month, but this weekend's rodeo pageants will serve as a kickstart to the main event.

"Our rodeo pageant -- and like most rodeo pageants -- is different than a beauty pageant," said Rodeo pageant organizer Mallory Cowger James. "In rodeo pageants, you wear jeans, cowboy boots and a cowboy hat."

The Junior Miss -- for ages 14 to 17 -- and Miss -- for ages 17 to 25 -- pageants begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with the horsemanship portion, which makes up 45 percent of the scoring. The public can watch as this year's seven Junior Miss contestants and six Miss contestants complete various laps and patterns in the arena.

"The queens have to carry a flag and push cattle while they ride and control their horses, too, during the rodeo," James explained about why the pageant includes a horsemanship portion.

The personal interview, which is not open to the public, takes place mid-morning and is worth 30 percent of the scoring.

After competing early in the day, the Junior Miss and Miss Sikeston Rodeo queens will be crowned at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Sponsor Building on the rodeo grounds, where the 2015 Miss Rodeo Kaitlyn Ayers of Sikeston and Junior Miss Rodeo Summer Weldon of Tennessee will end their reign as queens.

"The evening includes a speech by the contestants, modeling and an impromptu question," James said.

This portion is worth 25 percent of the contestant's score.

"As a rodeo queen, you're talking to people and getting into the community, and you need to be able to speak in public," James said.

According to James, the speech topic for Junior Miss is "Our hometown" or "What rodeo means to me." For the Miss, the topic is the "Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo."

Then, at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, boys and girls ages 3 to 6 years will participate in the Little Mr. and Miss Western pageant at the Sponsor Building.

Boys often wear long-sleeved shirts, jeans and cowboy boots and hats, she said. Girls may also wear long-sleeved shirts, jeans and cowboy hats and boots while others might wear a dress with cowboy boots, she said.

"The main thing is the kids have fun," James said.

James is the only person to win all three rodeo titles -- Little Miss Western in 1997, Junior Miss in 2009 and Miss in 2013.

"What's neat, especially as a Junior Miss or Miss, is you're an ambassador in the sport of rodeo, and you're not only representing the sport but the Sikeston Jaycees and the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo," James said.

For the complete story, see the Friday edition of the Standard Democrat.