Department L
Southern New Mexico State Fair & Rodeo
Queen & Princess Pageant

Superintendent: Suzy Brown

Committee: Patty McClure, Julie Montgomery and Carol Bacon

Phone: 527-2390

Email: snmsfrqueens@fastwave.biz

About the Pageant

The purpose of the Southern New Mexico State Fair and Rodeo Queen and Princess Pageant is to select young ladies as official representatives of the SNMSF&R. The Queens along with their courts will serve as ambassadors of the SNMSF&R to the general public, exhibiting excelled sportsmanship, high moral and ethical standards. They should be able to speak intelligently, with authority, and with knowledge of the SNMSF&R and Southern New Mexico. Two separate contests listed as follows:

Fair Contest

The Fair contest is a combination of a Fair commercial, demonstration, speech, impromptu question, interview, and written test, along with modeling. The demonstration must be on your Fair entry. Age category for the Queen is 16 to 20 years, Princess 13 to 15 years, Jr. Princess 9 to 12 years, and Pee Wee 5 to 8 years of age. Age category is determined based on age as of January 1st.

Rodeo Contest

The Rodeo contest is a combination of horsemanship and speech, impromptu question, interview, and written test, along with modeling. The Rodeo Queen will represent the Southern New Mexico State Fair at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque the following year. Age category for the Queen is 17 to 22 years, Princess 13 to 16 years, and Jr. Princess 9 to 12 years.

Requirements

Contestants must be a resident of Dona Ana, Luna, Sierra, Otero, Hidalgo or El Paso Counties for one year prior to the contest, and must never have been married or have had children. Contestants must not have and/or had any criminal charges filed against them. Titleholders must sit out one year before being eligible to compete in another category, and may hold the same title only once, except for the Rodeo Queen, who may carry the title twice. There is no entry fee, but each contestant must sell one hundred raffle tickets, one program ad and have at least one sponsor. Two black and white wallet-sized photos, suitable for the newspaper and program, and one 8x10 vertical color photo to be judged for photogenic contest must be submitted at the time of registration.

Awards

The Fair Queen and the Rodeo Queen will each receive a $500 scholarship at the end of her reign and upon completion of her duties. In addition, the Rodeo Queen will receive a trophy saddle and entry fee to the New Mexico State Fair contest. All queens and princesses will receive sterling silver crowns (perpetual), trophy buckles and sashes. Separate awards will be given in all individual categories. All contestants receive duffle bags, t-shirts and numerous other items.

Contestant Sponsorship

This money may come from a business, organization, individual or group of individuals. Your sponsor will receive recognition and publicity in the Official SNMSF&R Pageant Program. Their donation can be used as a tax deduction since we are a non-profit organization. The check should be made out to the SNMSF&R and Queens placed on the memo line.

The money is used to purchase the buckles, belt pins, saddle, official shirts, sashes and the individual awards given at the Coronation. Sponsorship can also be in-kind, ie; items for the silent auction (prints, jewelry, tack, western décor, etc), Xerox copies of fliers etc, goodies for the duffle bags (approx 30) that each contestant takes home (lip gloss, pens, calendars, stuffed animals, t-shirts etc.), or gift certificates from their businesses.

All sponsorship money or items are due at the rehearsal. Sponsorship items need to be for the Contest or for all contestants, it cannot be for a specific individual. When filling out your sponsorship form, you need to list the dollar amount the items are worth so you will be given full credit when calculating for the Sportsmanship Buckle.