‘Sad for any tradition to go’: West Texas Fair & Rodeo announces end to multigenerational scholarship pageant
ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – The 54-year long tradition of the Miss West Texas Fair & Rodeo (WTFR) Queen Scholarship Contest has officially come to an end due to disinterest over the past several years.
Miss West Texas Fair & Rodeo Queen Scholarship Contest comes to an end
After being a present part of the annual event, Rochelle Johnson, executive vice president of the Taylor County Expo Center, said she was sad to say goodbye, but it is what is best at this time.
“In many of the previous years, we have not had more than one candidate for each of the divisions,” Johnson explained. “I’m sad for any tradition to go. I also understand that that there are different things for people to be involved in, and when you see a decline in interest in something, you have to understand that that decline in interest means that maybe you shouldn’t be pushing.”
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The contest has been around since 1970, but now only has one to two candidates interested in the contest for the past several years.
Many members of the community also said it was difficult news to digest and they’d like to bring it back to its glory days. Mackynlie Conklin, a co-owner of Midland-based beauty academy, Model Haus, also directs pageants and said she would want to push for a better opportunity to showcase the contest around the Big Country.
“We would love to partner with the Miss West Texas Fair & Rodeo and really draw attention to opportunities for young girls and young women in our area, because there are so few opportunities in the pageant world, in the agricultural world, for young women,” offered Conklin.
Discouraged by the loss of the rodeo pageant which showcases a lesser-known category, Conklin remarked, “The rodeo pageant is completely different than a traditional beauty pageant that many people are aware of, and the agricultural industry is also kind of facing challenges of awareness and understanding.”
The current queens crowned in 2023 will still have a year of reign like normal, barring the crowning of a successor this year.
Although there will not be Miss West Texas Fair & Rodeo in 2024, Johnson said she won’t lose hope of bringing the scholarship program back in the future, “I will never say never. So, you know, there’s always an opportunity to bring things back.”
West Texas Fair & Rodeo 2024 will be held at the Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene September 5 through 14.
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