The annual Oneida County Queen contest was held June 14 and 17 to crown the 2024 royalty.  Beginning with the young hopefuls Friday evening, the Oneida County Fair Board led by Lacey Clark presented the judges with their contestants.  

The Mini Miss category, set for ages five years old and younger, included six

contestants—Charlotte Werk, Ember Howell, Hazel Hollingsworth, Lucy Lake, and Rosie Lake.  Competing in the Little Miss Cowgirl age group were Kymber Howell, Timberlyn Barnes, and Aspen Booth.  Dressed in their very best cowgirl attire, the little royalty chatted with the judges and rode their pattern in the arena with the help of their parents.

Charlotte Werk -This little darling doesn't need an introduction as her reputation precedes her with that twinkle in her eye, bounce in her curls, and a spirit so fierce and bright you need shades! Protocol requires an introduction, however, so it is my pleasure to introduce Charlotte Werk, Age 6 on her trusty sidekick, Penelope.  Hold on to your hats ladies and gentlemen because this girl is out to give us an unforgettable show! Yeehaw!

Ember Howell - Ember loves to ride her horses. She enjoys trotting and just playing around in the round pen. Ember also enjoys playing outside.  She likes to play in the water with her sister. Ember is a great helper with whatever is asked of her. She enjoys getting ready by being able to have her hair and makeup done for Queening contests and to ride her horse all prettied up. 

Hazel Hollingsworth - Hazel is the daughter of Jeff and Mekelle Hollingsworth. Hazel is best known by her nickname, "Hazey". She lives in Malad and attends Tiny Tots Preschool. Hazey loves to learn, read books, and color. She also participates in Studio A dance group and Tiny Tumblers gymnastics. She hopes one day to become a dancer and cheerleader where she can always wear makeup and pose for a picture. Hazey is riding her pony, Spirit. Her favorite thing about him is being able to hug and kiss him. She also enjoys being able to help feed him and pet him while doing chores. Hazey is so excited to be able to represent her hometown in this year's Mini Miss Cowgirl.

Lucy Lake - Lucy Lake lives in Malad Idaho and is the daughter of Justin and Harli Lake. She just finished kindergarten and absolutely loved it. Lucy is the most hardworking and motivated 6 yr old out there. She loves waking up early to feed her bottle calf and tend to her kittens, and she especially loves when she gets to go do any type of work with her dad. She loves her cows, riding her bike, making art and riding her horses. She has a heart of gold and loves to make friends. She is so excited to participate in the Oneida rodeo queen competition.

Rosie Lake - Rosie is 3 years old and is the life of the party!  She is funny, kind, and so loving. She loves to ride her horses, play with her kittens and ride her bike.  Rosie has a brother and a sister and loves to follow them everywhere and do what they do.

Kymber Howell - Kymber loves to play in water, she enjoys playing outside with her sister. Kymber also is very crafty, she enjoys stamping, coloring, drawing and making cards. She loves to ride her horse brownie, she has been building her confidence back up from having a few incidents last year. Kymber loves to spend time with family and friends. She also loves all her baby farm animals and is very mothering. Kymber has a passion for queening contests, being able to get her hair and makeup done and ride her horse. 

Timberlyn Barnes - My name is Timberlyn Barnes, I'm 6 years old, and I live in Downey. I have two older brothers and together we enjoy riding bikes or hiking. I love riding horses as often as possible, and spending time with my family. I graduated Kindergarten this year and I love learning. I like participating in the queen contests for the experience and to make friends.

Aspen Booth - Aspen Booth lives in Stone, ID. She is 7 and just finished the 1st grade at Stone Elementary. Her favorite subject is reading and loves playing with her friends. Aspen is the oldest and big sister to Timber and Jayde. She loves coloring and creating arts and crafts. Aspen loves music and dance parties in the morning. One of her favorite songs is Wildflowers and Wild Horses by Lainey Wilson. She especially likes to ride her horse Smoke with her mom and dad to move cows. She is learning the pattern for barrel racing. Aspen takes joy in feeding her bottle calf Ferdinand morning and night. She likes being her dad's co-pilot when he hauls cows. In the different seasons, she looks forward to branding season and warmer weather. She loves swimming, riding her bike, camping with her family and watching the sunset. She loves playing in the snow, sledding and helping pitch the hay off the truck for the animals. Aspen has started learning how to play the piano. She has achieved medals in softball, wrestling, basketball and dance. Aspen loves learning new things, going on adventures and being with her family.

Monday, June 17 featured the royalty divisions of the Oneida County Queen Contest.  Braving the long cold evening were twelve contestants in the Princess (ages 8-10), Jr. Queen (ages 11-14)and Sr. Queen (ages 15-18) classes.  After checking in for the event, the contestants participated in interviews, modeling and a written test.  They were then excused to tack and warm up their horses in preparation for their horsemanship pattern.  In addition to the horsemanship pattern, the Jr. and Sr. Queen divisions had an additional pattern to perform that included carrying the American flag.

To conclude the competition of the royalty divisions, a coronation and awards ceremony was held to announce the winners of each category and the overall winner of each class. 

The winners of the Princess division were Princess- Brindle Anderson, 1st Attendant- Austin Shrenk, and 2nd Attendant- Payzlee House, 3rd Attendant- Rickell Call, and 4th Attendant- Indiana Earl.  Brindle Anderson won the modeling, interview, horsemanship and congeniality categories with Payzlee House scoring the highest on the test for the Princess class. 

The winners of the Jr Queen division were Jr. Queen- Samantha Shrenk, 1st Attendant- Oakley Jones, 2nd Attendant- Paislee Davis, 3rd Attendant- Bryten Bastian, and 4th Attendant- Paige Eliason.  Samantha Shrenk won the modeling, horsemanship, and high test score in the Jr. Queen division with Oakley Jones winning the interview category and Bryten Bastian winning congeniality.   

The winners of the Sr Queen division were Sr. Queen- Charley Kwapis and 1st Attendant- Brylee Jones.  Brylee Jones won the modeling, horsemanship, test high score and congeniality categories while Charley Kwapis won the interview and speech categories.  

Indiana Earl - You can always count on an adventure with Indiana Earl. She lives in Beaver Dam, Utah with her parents Clay and KaeDawn Earl and her brothers, Braxton and Dallas. She is very smart, creative, fun and always looking to help. You will find Indie outside helping on the ranch where she loves to gather sheep off the mountains on horseback and take care of all the little lambs and puppies. She loves animals especially her horse Sneekers and dog Zip but makes friends with them all. She also plays soccer, goat ties, and loves art. She just finished up 3rd grade and has been working hard the past few months training her horse Sneekers how to do rodeo and 4-H events.

Rickell Call - Rickell Call is a horse riding, bow shooting, ballet dancing all around girl. She has been in the Malad Idaho queening contest since she was 2. Rickell is riding Sissy and they are quite the team. Together they have done 4-H, Rodeo Queening and Parades. Her and her family hope to do some trail riding this year and Rickell wants to start barrel racing with her mom. Rickell hopes to get good enough at barrel racing to someday ride in the Wilderness Circuit.

Payzlee House - Hi My name is Payzlee House I have one brother Austin, a sister Rhylee and brother in-law Chase and they have my nephew Rownan. My hobbies are riding my horse (60) and clogging . When I’m not doing that I am playing soccer or playing with my chickens. This year I will also be showing my sheep in the Morgan Fair. I want to also thank my family for helping me and to tell all the contestants good luck.

Austin Schrenk - Austin Schrenk is the daughter of Derek and Alaina Schrenk. Today is her 9th birthday and she is excited to share her birthday celebration with all of you. She loves to dance and play basketball. This last winter you would find her on the wrestling mat every weekend. She loves to spend her summer days on the trampoline and showing off her backhand springs. She is excited for her first year of showing market lamb and chickens at the Oneida County Fair. She also LOVES to ride horses and hopes to one day carry a flag at the Oneida County Rodeo. She would like to thank all of the sponsors and committee members for putting on the contest.

Brindle Anderson -Brindle Anderson Is 9 years old from Plain City Utah. She is the daughter of Justin and Shantel Anderson. Brindle has two older brothers that she spends a lot of time with riding bikes, scooters and exercising their goats. Brindle spends most of her time dancing and tumbling where she enjoys doing Jazz, Lyrical, hip hop, cheer winning many awards for her solos. Brindle enjoys spending time on top of her horse Reo. She competes in Barrels, Poles and goat tying at the youth rodeos. Brindle was last year's 2023 Weber County Jr. Posse 2nd princess, 2023 Plain City Jr. Princess, and 2023 Grouse Creek Queen. She has enjoyed attending many rodeo events representing all of her titles. Thank you for everyone's time today and Good luck to all the contestants.

Oakley Jones - Oakley is the 13 year old daughter of Luke and Brianna Jones she attends school at Malad middle school and will be in the 8th grade she is cheerleader and loves all sports she wrestles, plays softball and soccer she also tumbles Oakley has been apart of Many royalties and is also a part of the Malad rodeo team for the NHSRA where she competes in barrels poles and goat tying she is also apart of the 4-H club due to a broken elbow after being kicked by her 3 year old she took some time off from riding and is looking forward to being back.

Paislee Davis - Paislee is the spunky daughter of Ginger and Tracey Davis. She is a lifelong resident of Oneida county. She is involved in the Malad High School drill team and FFA . Paislee is a cowgirl at heart and loves animals and working on the family ranch. She enjoys showing both horses and cattle in 4-H. Paislee is not only tough, but kind and loves making new friends. She would love to represent you as the 2024 Jr. Queen.

Samantha Schrenk - Samantha Schrenk is the daughter of Derek and Alaina Schrenk. Samantha is always willing to help and loves to service others. She has many older role models and hopes she can be a positive example to those around her. Last year she was honored to be selected as the Malad Middle School Student Body President and enjoyed her hours spent planning events and activities for her school. She loves dancing and expressing her feelings on the dance floor and is excited to be part of the Malad High School Drill Team next year. Samantha loves running hurdles and cross country for Malad Middle School and helped both the girls track and cross country teams bring home the district championship title this year. One of Samantha's greatest passions is riding her horses and has spent countless hours working with them. Her greatest accomplishment was competing with her Palomino horse Vegas in the snaffle bit class at the Eastern Idaho State Fair and placing first. 

Bryten Bastian - Bryten Bastian is 11 years old. She was born and raised in Malad, ID and loves her hometown. Bryten loves anything outside, hiking, hunting, boating and of course riding with her best friend Critter Blue Moon. Bryten enjoys drawing, gymnastics and making tiktoks with her sisters. Bryten just finished her 5th grade year at Malad Elementary where she received 2nd place in the Veterans Essay Contest, she was also a member of the Lighthouse Leadership Team at her school. Bryten was recently elected as the 6th grade secretary for the next school year. Bryten is happy, energetic and loves life.

Paige Eliason - Paige is proud to once again participate in the Oneida County Queen Contest, something she looks forward to each year. Paige has just completed her final year attending Malad Elementary and is anticipating an exciting year  as she jumps into middle school. She has enjoyed summer thus far as she works with her dad on the ranch, rides around on her horse and motorbike, and cools off with a little fun in the water. She also has fun taking time in the kitchen baking with her mom or grandma. Her favorite thing to bake is cupcakes. This summer Paige has been working with her 4-H steer, Bingo, that she says is very friendly and loves to eat. When she grows up, Paige wants to be a vet. She hasn’t quite been brave enough to preg check a cow, but she does love to take care of all the critters she comes across on the ranch.

Brylee Jones - Brylee is the 15 year old daughter of Luke and Brianna Jones. She is a soon to be Jr. at Malad high school and maintains a 3.8 GPA. She is a member of the Malad rodeo club High school rodeo. She has held many titles in Idaho and absolutely loves the beautiful scenery and the people of Idaho. When she graduates she wants to go to school for equine science and to get her DVM.

Charley Mae Kwapis - Charley Mae is the daughter of Bryan n Sheri Kwapis from Deweyville, UT. She has two younger brothers, Blake & Wesley. She is a junior at Bear River High where she plans to finish her senior year this summer and start the Vet Tech program at Bridgerland Tech in the fall. She currently holds the, That Famous Preston Night Rodeo Queen title. She is currently on her high school rodeo district royalty and competing in breakaway on her roping horse Tater. When she’s not roping or queening, Charley Mae likes to be dirt biking with her brothers, hunting with her dad or traveling with her mom or grandma. She enjoys competing on her high school FFA horse judging team, showing lambs in the county fair with her brothers, trail riding and swimming with her horses. She loves animals of all shapes and kinds and hopes to work as an animal chiropractor after finishing school.

The newly crowned royalty will be featured at the annual favorite Pari-Mutuel Horse Races, Oneida County Cowboy Classic Rodeos, and Family Rodeo held during the Oneida County Fair.