Cheyenne Frontier Days

7-24-2010

It was an honor to be part of the Cheyenne Frontier Days Parade, where I rode with the Wyoming Galaxy state queens (teen, miss and Mrs.), Mrs. WY America and Miss WY America were also there. I met State Rodeo queens from all over the country. Cheyenne Frontier Days pulls in international visitors and a woman from Puerto Rico was so excited to have her picture taken with me! She was so sweet even though I didn't understand anything she said her friends interpretted for me. I told her I couldn't pronounce her name and she said for me to just call her "Maria" then!

Speaking of pictures I must say I got a taste of papparazzi life. Just kidding but I sure had fun having my photo taken with all of the little girls and visiting queens.

It was such a great opportunity to explain what the Essence pageant is because everyone asked me. I must say those rodeo queens were most impressed with what the Essence system is all about.

In a chance encounter while walking toward my family at the end of the parade, I met "The Lady In Red" as she is known. She has been riding in the parade since 1948!! Dear sweet woman all decked out in red.

Next up I participated in the Grand Entry. Visiting queens were aboard two old fashioned horse drawn coaches/stages. We rode out into the front of the rodeo grounds and were introduced right before the rodeo began. The stadiums were packed!

The driver of the coach I was on said that in 2009- he applied for his team of horses to be in the Presidential Inauguration parade. His team was selected!! That's right I was being pulled by the same set of horses that were in the inauguration parade. By the way 64,000 horse enteries were received so it was a really big honor for his team to be one of those that were selected.

So, why is Cheyenne Frontier Days such a big deal? It is the world largest rodeo and has been an annual event since 1897. It is a 10 day event that has rodeos, western celebrations and a carnival. It features nightly concerts (this year KISS, Brooks and Dunn and Sugarland are here just to name a few) as well as a show by the Thunderbirds. It is estimated that 300,000 people from across the country and world attend Cheyenne Frontier Days every year.

P.S.- one thing I heard over and over again yesterday was, "I love your crown!"

JULY

July Appearances and Happenings: The People's Choice voting for the National Essence pageant is underway! If you'd like to vote for me go to www.essencepageant.com and click on "contestants" at the top when you get there scroll all the way down to find me. Click "Vote" under my name. $1 per vote.
I will have more exciting appearances and news through out the month of July so check back in a bit. I am thrilled to say that I am now volunteering with the Cheyenne Dog Jog event that will happen Sept. 25th....but there is much to do before the event happens! I will have more info. soon on how you can support the Cheyenne Animal Shelter (CAS)and become involved in the 1 mile walk or 3 mile run. Yay for CAS Dog Jog that shelters and cares for the animals that depend on people's generous giving.
I would also like to mention that I am currently featured in the winner's court on Turn For The Judges (online pageant magazine) check it out at www.tftj.com/news/winners and click on my photo for the bio.
If you are interested in having me be part of an appearance or event please email me at sailorsaidbrandi@yahoo.com

JUNE

June Appearances and Happenings: Oh wow....I don't know about you but June was busy, busy, busy for me and my family! I'm sad to see that June is already over. This past month I was honored to be part of the crowning ceremony for the new Mrs. Wyoming Galaxy, Holley Nicholson. I love that the Galaxy ladies (especially the director Rae Jean) have adopted this Essence Queen into their sisterhood!! I look forward to more appearances and gatherings with them. In fact the Galaxy International Pageant is happening VERY soon and I want to wish the Wyoming and Colorado Galaxy Princesses and Queens the very best of luck as they compete.
Just a few short weeks ago my brother in law found out that he has prostate cancer. This is devastating news for him as well as my sister as they embark on his treatment. God sure works in mysterious ways......very soon after learning about his cancer, I was asked to be a guest speaker at the Thermopolis Relay For Life. Wow, what an honor. In less than two weeks my friends and family pooled together $300 for the American Cancer Society and I was up all night walking for this great cause (ok, so technically I fell asleep from 2am-6am but I was there!!) Thank you to my incredible supporters as I participated in Relay For Life. My mom, Patty Thompson, friends Brad Starkey, Pam Heide, Marcia Biedermann, Val Kleppen and Bill & Linda Greaham. I had a t-shirt made for the event and on the front it read, "I am walking for Greg Anderson." I listed my supporters on the back. The charmingly small town of Thermopolis raised over $29,000 for this years Relay For Life. Isn't that incredible?! WAY TO GO!!!!
Prayers are greatly appreciated for my brother in law, his wife (my sister) and their cutie-patootie daughter.
Also in June, I had an absolute BLAST being royalty at the Butch Cassidy Days in Laramie. Two fun filled days of greeting guests, speaking on my platform and helping out with the Stick Horse rodeo! I also met and worked with miss Butch Cassidy Days, Brittany Richards, who will be competing at Miss Rodeo Wyoming in a couple of weeks!! Best of luck to you Brittany!! I had an incredible time talking with folks from all over the country that were either vacationing in Wyoming, passing through or locals that wanted to check out the event. The staff at the historical Wyoming Territorial Prison were incredible and treated me so well. I must thank Deb, Lynette and Eileen. I think my husband and I will make this an annual family event since we had such a wonderful time....not to mention we filled up on sarsparillas, beef brisket and rock candy. Mmmmmm! Locals, if you have not toured this fascinating place please do...you will learn alot about history and what prison life was like in the late 1800's. It is with great excitment that I tell you I met Sandra Collingwood, the author of the newly released book, Birds Of A Feather- Women of The Wyoming State Territorial Prison. She is such a sweet person and I am currently reading my autographed copy of the book!

MAY

May Appearances and Happenings: I had a wonderful time reading to a preschool class at Make a Mess and Make Believe Preschool. Before I began reading though my 4 year old daughter kissed my lipstick covered lips and then she kissed my sash!! Ahhhh.........what a sweetie but I wasn't sure how on earth I was going to get that lipstick mark off of white satin. When I got home I decided to use an all natural stain stick I had bought at Once Upon a Child (a children's clothing store) and miraculously the stain disappeared!! Not even a trace of it remained. I was so happy that this stain stick worked that I wrote a thank you letter to the company in Canada that makes this stain stick. THEY were grateful for my story and letter and they sent me a goody box filled with other all natural products they make (hand sanitizer, sugar free/gluten free granola and a few more stain sticks!) In addition, the Essence Pageant director and I asked the company if they would like to be pageant sponsors and they said, "Yes!" All of the delegates will receive something from Bunchafarmers at the pageant. So, visit www.bunchafarmers.com THANK YOU, Bunchafarmers!!!
Also, in the month of May I was able to help deliver some gift bags filled with all kinds of fun stuff by members of Spouses Helping Spouses (SHS) a local military spouses support and activity group. These bags went to mother's in the group whose spouses were either deployed or TDY over Mother's Day. I also donated 8 make overs to the gift bags.
In May, I had the most incredible photo shoot with photographer, Kari Neff of Deja' View Photography (Gillette, WY) I had so much fun and she was a joy to work with. Visit www.djvphoto.com to see more of her work. Thank you Kari for an unforgettable "Wyoming Couture" shoot. Ha! These photos are featured through out my blog.