Welcome to the 2026 Gilroy Rodeo Queen Competition!

The Gilroy Rodeo celebrates the tradition of having a dynamic young lady serve as Miss Gilroy Rodeo. Candidates who compete for the coveted title must not only display exceptional horsemanship skills but speak intelligently and display dignity in all situations. During her reign, Miss Gilroy Rodeo represents the Gilroy Rodeo and our community at events and rodeos throughout California.

The Gilroy Rodeo Royalty Committee encourages you to read this manual in its entirety. As it contains an in-depth overview of the competition and scoring.

ELIGIBILITY

Contestants must:

• Attend all events outlined in the Miss Gilroy Rodeo application guide
• Dress in rodeo queen attire during competition and ALL rodeo performances and events you attend.
• Be between the ages of 17-26 years of age as of June 1st
• Be a resident of the following counties: Santa Clara, Contra Costa, San Mateo, San Francisco, San Benito, Monterey, Alameda or Santa Cruz
• Be single and never have been married or entered into a marriage contract that was annulled.
• Not be, nor have been, pregnant.
• Conduct themselves in a ladylike behavior in every situation.

• Failure to do so, may result in removal from the Miss Gilroy Rodeo Queen competition at the discretion of the queen committee.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

All Miss Gilroy Rodeo Pageant Events to take place at the Gilroy Rodeo Arena 2365 Dunlap Ave. Gilroy, CA

Friday July 24th, 2026

5:00 PM- Applications are due and horsemanship pattern and finalized contest schedule will be handed out at the welcome reception.

6:00pm - Welcome Reception

Come meet the other contestants and the Gilroy Rodeo Board of Directors! Enjoy  refreshments, see the rodeo grounds, and get your questions answered before the big day. Parents are encouraged to attend. This is not a judged event, casual attire is suitable.

Friday July 31st,2026

4:00pm- 4:45pm- Open arena and pageant check in

4:45pm - Arena drag

5:00pm - Horsemanship

Time TBD - 30 minute break to change and unsaddle (at conclusion of horsemanship)

Time TBD - Personal Interview

Time TBD - Knowledge Test

Saturday August 1st, 2026

3:45 PM - Check In Time, Judging begins

4:30 PM - Start of Gilroy Rodeo Big Cowboy Dance

6:15 PM - Impromptu Question

6:30 PM - Dinner Served

Approx. 8 PM - Announce Miss Gilroy Rodeo 2026 and presentation of awards

Each contestant will be allowed two tickets for dinner and the presentation of awards.

Miss Gilroy Rodeo 2026 must be present at ALL rodeo performances and events during August 7th-9th. All other contestants will receive a ticket for the rodeo performances of their choosing if they would like to attend and will be offered opportunities to help carry flags, bring back cattle, etc. if they’d like.

EXPLANATION OF EVENTS

Horsemanship

The purpose of this category is to select the young lady who rates the highest in:

• Control of mount, proper arena etiquette, and the way each situation that may occur is handled on both personal horse and draw horse.
• Balance, ability, and position of hands, feet, and seat when riding at a reasonable rate of speed for the activity.
• Contestants will ride with one hand on the reins.
• Understanding of leads and proper execution of specific patterns.
• Mounting and dismounting
• Presentation ride (Queens Run / Wave)
• Ability to carry a flag from horseback with grace
• Knowledge of horsemanship and horse science
• Showmanship: How the contestant projects her personality to the audience from horseback

At the start of the contest, the contestants will be evaluated at the walk, trot and lope in both directions. At the completion of the rail portion, contestants will line up in the center, and wait for the judge to acknowledge them. Once acknowledged, contestants should dismount, present their bit, and introduce themselves to the judges. Horse and rider will then be evaluated for appearance. During this time, judges may ask questions about equipment or horse science. Riders will mount their horses and exit the arena once all contestants have been acknowledged. Horsemanship pattern to be completed based on the number drawn at check in.

Contestants will then swap horses based on the numbers drawn at check in and repeat the pattern on their draw horse. Riders will have 10 minutes to swap tack and get to know their new animal before completing the horsemanship pattern again on their draw horse.

Attire: Blue western style jeans, plain white western top, western boots, hat and accessories

of choice. No chaps are allowed in this portion of the competition. Hair should be pulled back into a ponytail.

Note: Contestant’s must provide their own horses and equipment (flag boot is needed),

excluding a flag and rod.

Personal Interview

Contestants will be individually asked a series of questions by a panel of judges. This portion of the contest is meant to provide the judges with an in-depth look at the interviewee’s values and experiences, much like a job interview.

Attire: A complete outfit consisting of western cut jeans or skirts of any style or color with a coordinating long-sleeved blouse that should be worn with the shirt-tail tucked in. Accessories (western hat, boots, belt, etc.) may be any color. Western blazers or vests are acceptable.

Knowledge Test

For this portion of the contest, candidates will complete a 50-question written exam covering the following topics:

• Gilroy history
• Horse science
• Rodeo knowledge (rules, history, etc.)

Attire:  A complete outfit consisting of western cut jeans or skirts of any style or color with a coordinating long-sleeved blouse that should be worn with the shirt-tail tucked in. Accessories (western hat, boots, belt, etc.) may be any color. Western blazers or vests are acceptable.

Public Interaction

At the Big Cowboy Dance, contestants will be evaluated by a secret panel of judges (3) for their ability to interact with the public during the sale of our 50/50 raffle tickets and other tasks as assigned such as escorting VIP guests to their tables and more. Successful contestants will be friendly, approachable, knowledgeable about the Gilroy Rodeo and excited to step out of their comfort zone.

Then during the dance, the candidates will have a maximum of 5 minutes to answer a series of questions. These questions are aimed to assess the candidate’s reaction in an “on the spot” or potentially uncomfortable situation. Questions will be drawn at random and can encompass any of the following topics:

• Rodeo awareness and controversy
• Animal rights/animal welfare
• Gilroy and World news
• Agriculture literacy

Attire:  A complete outfit consisting of western cut jeans of any color and a coordinating long-sleeved blouse that should be worn with the shirt-tail tucked in. Accessories (western hat, boots, belt, etc.) may be any color. Western blazers or vests are also acceptable.

SCORING AND JUDGING

The Gilroy Rodeo Royalty Committee will use the following procedures for judging:

• Judges are selected for their experience and qualifications

• There will be three judges used for Day 1 of the contest and a different set of 3 judges used for Day 2 each with their own qualifications in the areas of community, horsemanship or rodeo lifestyle knowledge.

• Decisions of the judges are final. All judges' notes will be made in pen.
• In the event of a category tie, the judges will make the decision to break the tie based on their notes. However, no points will be added or subtracted from a contestant’s score.
• In the event of a tie for the title of Miss Gilroy Rodeo, the pageant judges will make the decision. Again, no points will be added or subtracted from any contestant’s scores in any part of the competition.
• The head judge will collect the judging sheets and put them into an envelope, seal and sign the envelope. The sealed envelope will be delivered to the Miss Gilroy Rodeo announcers.
• Appearance and personality points are included within each category
• Each portion of the contest will have 100 points allocated to the total score, with the exception of horsemanship which is weighted at 200 points.

• At the conclusion of each category, the 2 judges scores will be averaged to receive a final score out of 100

• Example: Judge 1 score: 90, Judge 2 score: 80. the contestant will receive a final score of 85 for that category

• Then, these individual category scores will be summed to receive a total score out of 500
• The woman with the highest number of points out of 500 will receive the title of Miss Gilroy Rodeo
• The contestants will receive deductions for failure to follow the guidelines in this manual.