Woodward, Okla. — When Kristi Brown, of Canton, won the title of 2008 Woodward Elks Rodeo Queen, she didn’t know she was also winning the title of The Last Woodward Elks Rodeo Queen.

In 2009, the Woodward Elks Rodeo had to call off its rodeo queen contest because of a lack of interest.

This year the tough decision was made to discontinue the Woodward Elks rodeo queen contest for good, ending a tradition that was almost as old as the rodeo itself.

“Girls these days are wanting to be the athlete,” said Lynette Balch, who was the chair of the queen contest for its last 12 or so years.

“They want to do breakaway roping and barrel racing” instead of competing for rodeo queen, Balch said.

In addition, she said rodeo queen competitions can be quite expensive, with all the travel that can be involved as well as the elaborate costume dresses for the contests.  Besides difficulty in finding the money to compete, girls are also having trouble just finding the time to compete, being busy with college and other responsibilities, she said.

This “sad” phenomenon isn’t isolated to just the Woodward Elks Rodeo, though, Balch said.

“It’s a national thing,” she said, noting that she has heard about how rodeo queen competitions across the nation are “slowly winding down; there’s just not the interest in queening anymore.”

“It’s the end of the era,” she said.

As a way to pay tribute to this “dying art,” as Balch described it, she invited The News to sit in on a meeting between Brown and one of the first Woodward Elks rodeo queens, Marcella Fuller Plank Bynum.



MARCELLA BYNUM - RODEO QUEEN 1937

Bynum, who will be 90 next month, was the Woodward Elks rodeo queen in 1937.

While she wasn’t the very first rodeo queen here, Bynum said she “was the first rodeo queen to wear a costume.”

“There were a couple (queens) before me and they just wore blue jeans,” she said.  “But I told my mother that if I was chosen as rodeo queen, that I wanted a rodeo outfit.”

“So when I won, we went to Trego’s and they made me a split skirt of white corduroy with black and white trim,” she said.  “My entire outfit was all black and white.”

Bynum said that a couple of years ago she ran into a lady at the Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum (which she helped establish), who remembered seeing her lead the Elks Rodeo Parade back in 1937.

“She told me, ‘I will never forget you coming down the street, so beautiful in your costume,’” Bynum said.  “That just goes to show you never know what kind of impression you will have on others.”

But back in her rodeo queen days, Bynum was making quite an impression wherever she went.

“Since we didn’t have TV back then, the Elks got together in caravans and went on tours to Wichita, Dodge City, Amarillo and Oklahoma City,” she said.  “They went around promoting the rodeo and trying to get people to come to Woodward.”

As rodeo queen, Bynum went with them to help represent the rodeo, and she said she got her photo taken for the paper wherever she went.

“I got fan mail and even got some marriage proposals because I got my picture in the paper,” she said.



‘A LOT HAS CHANGED’

However those Elks Rodeo caravans are a thing of the past.

  And it isn’t the only thing that has changed for rodeo queens.

“When I was a rodeo queen it was entirely different than it is now,” Bynum said.

For example, when she was named queen, she said, “I was the first queen to ride a horse in front of the stadium.”

However, Bynum said she wasn’t that familiar with horses and because of that, she said, “My mother just knew I’d fly off the horse and into the concrete, but I didn’t.”

Back then knowing how to ride a horse wasn’t essential to being named a rodeo queen.

But as rodeo queen contests progressed, “it got more professional,” Bynum said, noting the girls were expected to know more and more about horsemanship and be more accomplished riders.

When Brown won her title in 2008, she said she not only had to prove to the judges that she new how to ride with a riding horsemanship demonstration, but she also had to wow them in a horsemanship interview.

In addition, she participated in a personal interview and had to give a 2-minute personal speech as well as compete in a modeling contest.

Bynum said to win rodeo queen, “I just had to look pretty and smile.”



SAYING GOOD-BYE

Despite all the changes over the years in the rodeo queen tradition, there was a lot that was the same about Bynum’s and Brown’s experiences.

For example, both said being the Woodward Elks rodeo queen gave them the opportunity to interact with others, which they both enjoyed.

Brown said she has especially enjoyed “meeting new people,” while Bynum said her favorite part was “probably all the attention we get, especially from the boys, because that’s important when you’re young.”

Both women also said they enjoyed the important role they were able to play in representing the Woodward Elks Rodeo and helping it to be a success.

Brown is still doing her part, having agreed to come back and represent the Woodward Elks Rodeo again this year as its last rodeo queen.  

You can catch her carrying the American flag in today’s rodeo parade, which will be held along Main Street at 10 a.m.  And you might also see her at the rodeo events at Crystal Beach Stadium tonight.

“I’m usually out there on my horse, I help push calves for the roping events,” she said.

And while Brown considers it a special “privilege” to serve as the last Woodward Elks rodeo queen, she is also sad to see the Elks saying good-bye to this rodeo tradition.

“It’s sad because the rodeo queen has always been a big part of the rodeo and brining in the crowds,” she said.  “And it’s been going on for years, so it’s sad to see it kind of going out.”