Published: March 26, 2009 10:35 am      

Rodeo Gainesville looking for queen, princess candidates

Area girls from Cooke, Grayson and Love counties will get the chance to be the first ever queen and princess for Rodeo Gainesville.

The Gainesville Riding Club will host Rodeo Gainesville during May 7-9 at the Gainesville Riding Club Arena.

Known as rodeo royalty, the queen and princess candidates will be judged on two separate divisions: tickets sales and a riding pattern.

Sixty percent of the girls overall score will be based upon their ticket sales, said Whitney Lemons, rodeo queen/princess coordinator. The other 40 percent, will be scored from a riding pattern the girls will be given before the rodeo.

“The riding pattern has not yet been released,” said Lemons. “We won’t release that until two weeks before hand, maybe even a week until the rodeo in order to give them a little bit of time to get familiar with it and to practice. At the same time, we don’t want to give the girls enough time to practice it everyday because we want to know how they work under pressure and on the spot.”

Queen candidates must be between the ages of 14-18 and princess candidates must be between the ages of 10-13, added Lemons. All candidates must have their own horse, have never been married or have any children and must have permission to compete from a legal guardian.

Prizes for the crowned queen and princess will include a trophy saddle and other prizes to be donated by local merchants such as a belt buckle and sash.

The girls will have six weeks to sell tickets, said Lemons. Ticket sales will begin Monday, March 28. However the deadline to apply for queen or princess has been extended through Friday, April 3.

Interested girls can receive an application for queen or princess at Landmark Bank in Gainesville, 1110 E California Street; American Bank in Whitesboro, 851 Highway 377 N; or by contacting Lemons at (940) 736-8059.

As part of the application process, Lemons said the girls will have to complete a short questionnaire to give the judges an idea of each candidate’s personality.

The winning queen and princess will get to ride nightly in the Rodeo Gainesville as part of the grand entry, said Lemons. Not only will they be featured nightly, but a special crowning will take place during Friday night’s performance. The girls will also get the chance to ride and participate throughout the year as Rodeo Gainesville’s queen and princess at other rodeos and parades of their choice.

While the competition should be taken seriously, said Lemons, the main goal for the queen and princess competition is to give area cowgirls a moment to shine and to have fun.

“We’re pretty easy going,” said Lemons. “We want to make it something that anybody can participate in. You don’t have to be in the horse industry as far as showing or having real high-end horses. We just want it to be something that someone who has a horse for every day riding can compete in and to give all the young cowgirls in the counties a chance to compete.”

Lemons, who was the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce Rodeo Queen in 2001, described her experience as rodeo royalty as a great honor.

“It is a great thing to be involved in and a great honor to hold,” said Lemons. “The best advice I can give to girls competing, I would have to say, is to just work your ticket sales and know your riding pattern. You just really got to work for it but it’s worth it.”