The outgoing Calgary Stampede royalty handed over their crowns to three new young ladies Monday, September 24.

It was the final leg of the competition at the Stampede Grounds where the top six up for this year's crowns demonstrated their public speaking and horsemanship skills before the 2019 royal trio was selected.

Chanice Tarasoff from Cayley was among the group of impressive girls to make it to the final night after a month long competition which started off with 17 contestants.

"We had various different parts of the competition," Tarasoff said. "Of course public speaking, where we had to do a prepared and impromptu speech, we had a riding competition and we have various mix and mingle events."

Tarasoff completes the riding portion of the final competition.

She says, they were given the reins when picking their pattern to ride on the final night of competition.

"We got the opportunity to create our own pattern, we got to pick a song, and then we drew our royalty horse, and then we got to preform it."

At the end of the evening, it was Carly Heath who was crowned the 2019 Stampede Queen along with Princesses Keily Stewart and Courtney Dingreville.

Heath, is 23 years old and has achieved a Land Agent Diploma at Olds College and a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Environmental Science from McMaster University.

"This past month has been super busy for us," Heath says. "But I think it's good because it sort of preps us for the next year to come because we're going to be swamped with stuff for the next 365 days."

Heath says, she looks forward to her journey with the three other royalty girls.

Astokomii Smith, from Siksika was chosen as the 2019 First Nations Princess earlier this week.

Smith is 19 years old and a Fancy Shawl dancer from the Siksika First Nation. She recently graduated from Siksika Outreach and received the Governor General's Award for Highest Academics and is currently the Indigenous Liaison for the Town of Strathmore.

(L-R) Stampede Princess Courtney Dingreville, Queen Carly Heath, Princess Keily Stewart, and First Nations Princess Astokomii Smith.

 

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