If you want something to be organized, fair and by the book, give it to a schoolteacher to complete.Dolly Gregory has been running the Deschutes County Fair Rodeo Queen program for 10 years and her lifelong career as a teacher and school administrator shows in her no-nonsense attention to detail.
“They’re even given points for their application – it needs to be neat and organized and believe me, I notice those kinds of things,” she said.
The rodeo queen position is more than a title, it’s also a scholarship program – one that doesn’t pay out until the second semester of college.
“We want to make sure they’re going to stay in school,” said Gregory. The program is open to girls ages 17-20.
After retirement in 1993 Gregory said she was bored and looking for something to do. Her husband Elton, past Redmond School District Superintendent (and namesake for one Redmond middle school) was newly elected to the Deschutes County Fair Association. His discovery that the selection of a rodeo queen had no set criteria or policies led Dolly to the position of organizer and general Royal Wrangler.
Her selection was not an obvious one. Although Gregory could claim college homecoming queen as one of her titles, as a kama 'aina -- being born and raised in Hawaii -- she had never sat on a horse and was not familiar with rodeo traditions. She interviewed neighboring rodeo organizers and attended trainings at national rodeo events to learn the ropes.
For several years now the Deschutes County Fair Rodeo has only had a queen but no court, a change Gregory was relieved to see.
“You’ve heard three is a crowd? It’s true. With girls it’s two against one, and one against one and mama gets involved and aunties get involved. It was too much trouble.” Before the change to a single queen, which Gregory said is now typical for most area rodeos, one year a modified restraining order was even brought into the mix of royal dissent.
To insure a lack of bias during queen selection the tryouts use separate groups of judges for each event: horsemanship, interview, and speech. Nine judges total see the girls, with one Fair Association Board member on each of the three panels.
“The Fair Board members know the policies and rules and its helpful for the new judges to have them participate,” said Gregory. She asks members of the business or general community to round out the judging panel and requires them to serve two years so she’s not constantly recruiting.
Queens are required to attend all the regional rodeos: Sisters, La Pine, Crook and Jefferson counties, and the Fair Board pays for travel to two state-wide events as well.
Several years ago Gregory accompanied a court to the Rose Festival Parade in Portland, a trip she’d rather not repeat.
“We had to wake up before 4 a.m. and spend hours putting fresh flowers on the horses, then wait in line and the parade was so long,” she said with a laugh.
Four girls tried out for rodeo queen this year, an average number according to Gregory, although 13 tried out the year the fair moved to its new location in 1999.
“Sometimes its hard to find contestants; the kind of girls who might be interested are very involved in rodeo and other sports, 4-H, school. I can’t schedule them for an appearance during fair week if they’re busy cleaning a pig pen.”
Every year Gregory says this might be her last with the rodeo queen program but then she wonders what she would do instead. It keeps her summer full of Royal Wrangling and her winter full with planning, shopping, and sewing costumes.
PHOTOS: (Top) Dolly Gregory, right, and longtime assistant Rachel McIntosh have run the Deschutes County Rodeo Queen program for many years. (Above) Brandice Durfee of Redmond shows her horsemanship for judge Jerry Bannon during the tryouts Sept. 13. Jenna Jacbonsen of Sisters was selected for 2010 Rodeo Queen.
-- story and photos by Leslie Pugmire Hole
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