This summer has been the ride of a lifetime! The months of July and August have kept me busy! I have crisscrossed this great state of South Dakota and have traveled to the surrounding states. What an amazing journey this has been!

After the Miss Rodeo South Dakota pageant, the month of July took off and I hit the road. I had the opportunity to attend the Burke Stampede and had a great time. Burke is close to home so it was great to see local fans! I was then headed to Colorado Springs, CO and I was there for nine days. I attended the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo. It was a silver stop on the Million Dollar Tour and I had a great time interacting with the people and helping with the mutton bustin'! While I was in Colorado Springs, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the PRCA Hall of Fame Inductions. What an experience that was! It was neat to see the inductees and their families as they were all so proud and happy! Following the Hall of Fame Inductions, I took part in the Miss Rodeo America pageant seminar. I learned so much from attending and had fun as well! Miss Rodeo California, Markie; Miss Rodeo Nebraska, Michelle; Miss Rodeo New Mexico, Kelli; Miss Rodeo Utah, Chris and I were all roommates and some of the most fun times of this long stay in Colorado were times spent with these girls! We definitely know how to make each other laugh!

When I got back from Colorado it was time for the Winner Elks Rodeo. I have been attending this rodeo since I was a little girl and being there as Miss Rodeo South Dakota was such an honor. I was glad to be there to carry the American flag and to speak to friends and sign autographs!

Cheyenne Frontier Days, "The Daddy of 'Em All", was such a sight! My favorite thing about going to the "Daddy" was being able to do the queen fly-bys! I have always heard that they were sooo much fun and being able to actually experience them for myself was amazing! No queen introduction will ever be the same after doing a Cheyenne Frontier Days fly-by! In Cheyenne we were able to sit behind the chutes while they bucked out the barebacks, be introduced at the concerts and PBRs, sign autographs, do rodeo commentary for a radio station and we enjoyed each other's company! Thank you to Arlene Kensinger for coordinating my stay in Cheyenne!

I left Cheyenne and went right to Deadwood, SD for the Days of '76 rodeo. Deadwood is such a cool town and when you host a rodeo there...it only gets better! The Days of '76 rodeo has always been one of my favorites and being there as Miss Rodeo South Dakota was even better than every other year! They had a queen contest for the first time this year and congrats to Kristina Maddocks for being the first Miss Days of '76! I understand why this rodeo continues to be an award winning rodeo year after year!

The month of August came and went in a blink of an eye. The first week of August I had off and it was nice to catch up! I went to Onida for the Catfish Stampede and had a great time. Thank you to Steve and Kim Sutton for letting me stay at your house! I have a great time with them and enjoyed carrying flags with some local girls!

I went straight to Aberdeen, SD for the Dakotah Stampede. I went up a day early and watched the Miss Rodeo Aberdeen pageant. Krystal Carlascio was giving up the title and it was fun to watch her and hear her stories. Krystal did a fantastic job during her year as Miss Rodeo Aberdeen and I am so glad that we have grown as friends during this past year.

My next adventure took me to Yankton, SD for Riverboat Days. There were so many queens there to help and it was great to see young, local girls take such an interest of going to rodeos and helping out any way they can!

4-H finals in Ft. Pierre, SD has been something that I have been attending since I was a young 4-Her. Last year I started announcing at this rodeo with my Grandpa and I went back to do the same thing this year. It was fun to watch the Ambassador contest and to talk to the contestants. They all did a great job and congrats to all of you! Hayley Smith came away with the crown and I know she will do a great job! Congrats Hayley!

Thank you to everyone who has helped me through these two very busy months! I had a blast traveling in the heat of the rodeo season in South Dakota! These next three months I am back in Rapid City getting ready for Miss Rodeo America!

Until next time.....

God Bless and see ya at the rodeos!

McKenzie Haley

June began and I hit the road! To start off the month of June, I made a trip to North Carolina for a Wrangler photo shoot! It is always fun to see the new, up and coming Wrangler styles! The first weekend of June was the Casey Tibbs Match of Champions Bronc Match which was in Fr. Pierre, SD. Teri Jo Weidner, Miss Black Hills Stock Show, joined me during the day to sell tickets and to join everyone at the branding party. That night we carried flags at the bronc match and we had the opportunity to watch some excellent saddle bronc riders.

The very next day, Winner, my hometown, had their regional high school rodeo. My grandpa, Keith Gebhart, was announcing and he asked me to help him. Grandpa announces rodeos in the area and the State 4-H finals and I will be joining him at that rodeo to help announce as well.

I was asked to come and help out for a week at a rodeo bible camp in Sioux Falls, SD. I stayed with the girls in the expo building and it reminded me of my days of staying up all night and being bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning! The camp was for ages eight to thirteen years old so it was great to be able to help the campers with rodeo events and being a better christian. I gave my testimony and asked questions about faith. It was a great week and I am so glad that I went!

In Mid- June, I headed down to North Platte, NE for NebraskaLand Days. The Miss Rodeo Nebraska pageant was during our stay and it was fun to watch Becky Grimm be crowned Miss Rodeo Nebraska 2011! There were 18 state queens and Miss Rodeo America there and we were kept busy with many autographs signings. My host family was Grant and Wendy Schramm who are from Winner as well. It was great to stay with family friends and catch up on what is going on in Winner! Thank you for being great host parents, I had a great time with you!

My next trip was to the Crazy Horse Memorial Rodeo. It was such a beautiful place to have a rodeo. Crazy Horse Memorial was in viewing distance and the beautiful black hills were surrounding the arena. Kristina Maddocks, South Dakota 4-H Ambassador, joined me and we had a good time catching up and we enjoyed the view that we had!

The Crystal Springs Ranch Rodeo in Clear Lake, SD was my next stop. This rodeo was so much fun! The fans that were there were incredible and made this rodeo one of my favorites! It was so awesome to see such fantastic rodeo fans and see them so enthusiastic about the sport! Krystal Carlascio, Miss Rodeo Aberdeen, and Courtney Peterson, Jackrabbit Stampede Ambassador, were there with me and we had a great time!

The 4th of July can only mean one thing, the Black Hills Roundup and the Miss Rodeo South Dakota pageant which were held in Belle Fourche, SD. The pageant started June 29th and continued to July 2nd. Vanessa Ternes was crowned Miss Rodeo South Dakota Lady-in-Waiting 2011 and I know she is going to do a great job representing rodeo and South Dakota. Congratulations Vanessa! The three days of rodeo were great and I was very honored and proud to present the great American Flag on the 4th of July as there was a B1 flyover! Thank you to the Black Hills Roundup committee and the Miss Rodeo South Dakota committee for all the encouraging words and advice. It is so nice to know that I have so many people believing in me! Thank You!!

The month of July is going to be exciting as I am doing a great deal of traveling! This year is flying by and I am soaking up every bit of it! I am truly having a blast and the goal of becoming Miss Rodeo America is growing nearer and nearer!

God Bless and See you at the Rodeos,

McKenzie Haley

Miss Rodeo South Dakota

   Summer and the nice weather has finally found its way here! I am loving the beautiful weather and not having to ride every day with a sweatshirt and a coat on! 

   The first weekend of May I, along with Miss Rodeo Aberdeen Krystal Carlascio, went to the Tri-State Expo in Belle Fourche. We had a fantastic time visiting with people, hanging out with kids in the kid's room, signing autographs and getting to venture around the booths! Thank you to everyone who made us feel welcome and made our two days at the expo great!

    During May, I spend a great deal of time preparing for Miss Rodeo America. This summer I am going to be busy on the road and having this open month to prepare has been very helpful! May also bought my birthday! I turned 23 during Memorial Weekend! I had a great day and weekend! It is crazy to think that I am already 23! Happy Memorial Day to all as well! I would like to thank the military for all that they have done, are doing and will do! Our country is lucky to have the wonderful service men and women that we have! 

     I am getting excited for what this summer is going to bring. There are many fun, exciting and wonderful things planned for this summer! I will be attending the Casey Tibbs Match of Champions in Ft. Pierre tomorrow! 

      Hope to see many of you on the rodeo road this summer! 

    God Bless and See You at the Rodeos,

            McKenzie

     

Wow, how time is flying by! I am having a blast and seriously enjoying every second I am having as Miss Rodeo South Dakota! I was so glad when I got the phone call that I was invited to attend and help out at the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Pocatello, Idaho. Michelle, Miss Rodeo Nebraska, and I drove to Pocatello and got caught in the snow storm that took place across the whole state of Wyoming. It was quite an interesting trip as we weaved in and out of semi-trucks parked on the interstate and our supposed to be 7 and 1/2 hour trip turned into a 12 hour trip. It will definitely be something we will never forget! We kept on trucking and made it to Pocatello just in time for the kick-off party! We were kept busy during the week visiting hospitals, schools, a beef jerky plant and having autograph signing sessions. The rodeo was fantastic and I was so glad I was there to experience the DNCFR for the first time! I was a proud and loud cheerleader for the Badlands Circuit!
The very next weekend I went to the Kid's Fair in Rapid City. I was at the Kick 104 radio booth and we were helping the children rope dummies. It was really fun to help and I signed a great deal of autographs! The next week I did a few school visits in Rapid City and had so much fun! I love going into classrooms and doing school visits. The children are so curious about rodeo and who I am and I love sharing my love for rodeo with them!
I was so happy to be able to help out at the Black Hills State University rodeo. I have been helping out the team for a year now with certain things and love being able to help. The week before the rodeo I did a radio interview and signed autographs at RCC to promote the rodeo! The rodeo was great and the first night of the rodeo my sister, Mallorie, was there and she sang the Anthem! It was great to have her there singing while I carried the American flag! After the rodeo, the team had a Cowboys and Candlelights dinner, auction and dance. The team and I were introduced, helped show auction items and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. I have had a wonderful time getting to know the team members and coaches and appreciate the opportunity to help out!
I traveled the short trip to Belle Fourche to attend the Tri-State Expo the first weekend of May. Krystal Carlascio, Miss Rodeo Aberdeen, came with me and we visited with many people and signed autographs. We were able to visit with children in the kid's room and had a great time getting to know the people of Belle Fourche! Thank you to everyone who made our time there great! We had fun!
The upcoming month of May is not very busy for me so I am looking foward to preparing, studying and getting things ready for Miss Rodeo America! I am having a blast and enjoying every single second of this year!


God Bless and See You at the Rodeos,
McKenzie

This year is flying by and I am finding myself almost finished with another semester almost done and enjoying the spring weather! I had the opporunity to travel to Winner, SD (my hometown) to do some school visits, speak at a PEO meeting and get started on my scrapbook for the Miss Rodeo America scrapbook contest.

I was able to visit Pre-K through 4th grade at Winner Elementary school and it was quite fun and interesting! I did this in a two day span and I had so much fun presenting my coloring book to the children. They loved it and I heard many stories about them sharing the jokes with their family and friends. It is cool that they love the coloring book that I have made for my school visits this year! Being in the same elementary school that I attended was fun and I was able to visit with teachers and coaches that I had growing up. Children say the funniest things sometimes and I had some students really crack me up! I was told by a little boy that I remind him of Sandy off SpongeBob Squarepants, I was asked why my pants were so high and I was told that I was not real by one student and the student next to him said that I was definitely real because I was talking! Children are always fun and school visits are always on the top of my list of fun things a rodeo queen gets to do!

When I was in Winner, I also spoke at a PEO meeting. It is fun to speak at these things because being a rodeo queen and rodeo is new to some people and they ask fantastic questions and it is fun for me to be able to share my passion of rodeo and representing it!

I had the opportunity to speak at a 4-H club in Rapid City this month. I got involved with
4-H at the age of 8 and loved every second of it. 4-H had such a positive impact on my life and it was such a great opportunity and experience to speark with young 4-Hers about what 4-H can bring to your life and how much it has to offer. I encouraged each and every one of them to stay involved and take advantage of all the wonderful activites, events and experiences that can be gained through 4-H.

God Bless and See Ya at the Rodeos,
McKenzie

This amazing title of Miss Rodeo South Dakota has taken me to a great visit in Kissimmee, Florida. WOW, is my definition of my experience in Florida. The 18 rodeo queens, including myself, were given the opportunity to experience Florida, participate in an excellent rodeo and try new things! I had the opportunity to watch the Silver Spurs pageant and I must say the young ladies who competed were very impressive and they should all be proud of themselves! It was an honor to watch them.
During the week we visited many schools and talked to the students about rodeo, the events and the Silver Spurs Rodeo that they could attend. All of the rodeo queens who attended these visits really had fun as we demonstrated the events and even took turns being the roping steer! We made fantastic cattle!! We were taken on two really excited hog hunts! The first one was with huge, 12 feet tall swamp buggies. We did not see any hogs but saw some deer, an armadillo, some cattle and a raccoon. It was quite exciting! The second hog hunt was an exciting, fun and quite hilarious all night hunt. We did not get back to our host homes until 8 AM, but it was very fun, interesting and something us girls will never forget! I will have to take more trips to Florida so I can see these famous "invisible" hogs!
Trying new foods is something that I love to do and I was able to try alligator! It was really good and if given the chance, I would eat it again! Some of the other girls ate frog legs, turtle and catfish for the first time! We were also blessed with a trip to the ocean. It was my second time to the ocean and I must say that it was fantastic. A few of us were brave enough to actually get into the cold water and I was happy to come back to South Dakota with a tan!
The Silver Spurs Rodeo is the biggest rodeo east of the Mississippi and it was very fun to participate and see a Florida rodeo! In the opening, all of the state queens were able to carry their state flag and I was a very proud South Dakotan carrying our beautiful flag! I met so many people from all over the world and it was fun to explain and answer questions about rodeo and the livestock to rodeo first-timers.
During the Special Kids Rodeo, I was partnered up with Mallory Lewis and her wonderful parents offered to take some of the girls to Disney World. We were so very blessed to meet this beautiful family and had a fun time running and skipping through Disney World! It was a treat and a perfect ending to a memorable trip!
A huge thank you goes to Laura and Mark Kessler for having me and for such a GREAT time and wonderful experiences. I will never forget my time in Kissimmee. I also want to thank the Roberts family for housing me! You were all so welcoming and I appreciate everything you did!

God Bless and see ya at the Rodeo!
McKenzie

This amazing journey that I am on has finally began! My coronation was beautiful and the support was overwhelming. My hometown, Winner, was very encouraging and I appreciate everything they have done for me over the years. I know that the support, encouragment and advice will continue to be there throughout this year. My first official trip as Miss Rodeo South Dakota was to Denver, CO for the National Western Stock Show. Driving in the big city was quite interesting and I found myself missing the one stop light, one main road, easy to get around in small town I am from. I now have a GPS, so future driving in unfamiliar places will be much easier.
I went to the Denver Market and fully enjoyed my shopping experience. Erin, my aunt, went with me to Market and I am so glad and thankful I had someone with me to shop because there was so much to look at and so many floors to cover! It was very fun though and I am glad I got there in time for the Market.
Everyone at the Stock Show was very welcoming and made me feel like I belonged. It was so good to see all the girls and get to know each other a little better! 2010 has a great group of state queens and I am so lucky they are all my friends! I really enjoyed my time in Denver and they had several things that we could do at the rodeo and I stayed very busy! At the rodeos, we were able to participate in many things. We could carry sponsor flags, help with mutton bustin', be introduced, give away gift certificates during before the barrel racing or interact with the crowd!
My next and first in state stop as Miss Rodeo South Dakota was at the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo in Rapid City, SD. I was so excited for the Stock Show because I have been attending it since I was a little girl and being there as Miss Rodeo South Dakota was very fun for me. The first weekend was the second stop of the Xtreme Bull Riding Tour and South Dakota bull rider, Clay Hindman, took home the first place prize.
During the week, there were eight state queens who came to help out and I am so thankful that they all came! We went to several school visits, went to Mount Rushmore, visited a hospital, swam at Watiki Waterpark and had many autograph signings at the Rodeo Zone. On Thursday, the first stop of the Million Dollar Tour rodeos started. Suttons provided us with their wonderful horses and we had five great rodeos. I was honored to carry the American flag! Suttons' always have wonderul openings and I was so priviledged to be a part of them! The Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo had yet another successful year and always has great entertaining options for people.
I am getting ready to go to Florida and am very excited to go south for awhile and enjoy some nice and warm weather! My year is getting off on the right foot and I can tell this year is going to be amazing, exciting and fun filled! I plan on embracing every single moment!

God Bless & See Ya at the Rodeos,
McKenzie