Miss Rodeo Colorado Celebrates 50 Years!

The Miss Rodeo Colorado (MRC) pageant is celebrating its 50-year anniversary in 2005, and is one of the inaugural pageants in the national program. In the early years, the Miss Rodeo Colorado Pageant moved to different communities within the state, and ladies from all over Colorado have worn the crown. The Greeley Independence Stampede has been the host rodeo of MRC since 1989. To celebrate this great event, the former queens have been invited back to the Greeley Independence Stampede for their 50th Anniversary.

MRC has a history of promoting the love of horses, rodeo and the western way of life. That represents the work and dedication of hundreds of people who have worked to make the pageant a success, hundreds of parents and friends who have helped and encouraged the young ladies. The pageant is a continuing legacy of life in the West, the spirit of the settlers, the traditions of ranching, the excitement of rodeo. Miss Rodeo Colorado epitomizes the sportsmanship and camaraderie of the American cowboy and their sport.

The pageant began in 1956 and to celebrate this great event, the former queens have been invited back to the Greeley Independence Stampede for their 50th Anniversary. Barb Seitz Williams, Miss Rodeo Colorado 1978, has been working since the fall of 2004 to track down the former queens. The present MRC committee had most names, but few addresses or phone numbers. Barb, using the internet from her home in Texas and her committee in Colorado, has been able to use friends, libraries, alumni associations, and newspapers to locate all 47 living former MRC queens and the families of the 3 deceased women. Pictures and newspaper articles have been collected and put together for the reunion program as well as a DVD for the queens to have for their own libraries. Over 25 of the former queens have responded to the invitation to come and enjoy their memories and meet old friends once again!

During the 2005 Greeley Stampede celebration, the MRC Committee will be hosting the former queens at various functions like an FAC at Old Chicago's, the MRC Pageant Brunch & Coronation and the Stampede Pro Rodeo on Saturday and a special luncheon at Kershaw's Bayou Restaurant on Sunday. The former queens have also been invited to ride on the MRC float during the Stampede Independence Day parade on Monday.

For more information about MRC and this year's queen's reunion, contact Sue Isreal at 970-353-8314 or Nyla Bristow at 970-356-1757.

The Greeley Independence Stampede is the "World's Largest 4th of July Rodeo & Western Celebration" and a Top 10 Pro Rodeo. 2005 marks the 83rd annual celebration bringing the communities throughout Colorado and Southern Wyoming together. Along with Pro Rodeo and the PRCA Xtreme Bulls Tour, concert entertainers include Brooks & Dunn, ZZ Top, Montgomery Gentry, LeAnn Rimes, Collin Raye, Dierks Bentley, Chris Cagle, Jimmy Wayne, Kelly Clarkson and more! For ticket or general event information visit the Stampede web site at www.GreeleyStampede.org online or call 800-982-BULL (2855).

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