The Jasper Heritage Rodeo has a rodeo queen. It’s tradition. Unfortunately, when considering the criteria used to select this representative every year, the contest is also antiquated and a little chauvinistic.

There’s more to it than glamour, organizers say, and this is indeed the case. With a strong emphasis on public speaking, rodeo knowledge and riding skills, the young women who have been named Miss Rodeo Jasper represent a great deal more than a pretty face. This is not to denigrate them or their accomplishment in winning the title. However, why is it necessary to maintain the glamour element of the competition at all?

Surely, an effective spokesperson for Jasper and the annual rodeo needs to have a strong capability to speak in public extemporaneously and the position also requires a solid working knowledge of the rodeo. Nothing about the job suggests the need for the winner to have the best hair or clearest skin.

Part of the fundamental rationale for the Jasper Heritage Rodeo is that this was a historical activity in this area. In those bygone times, rodeo queens were crowned based on looks, sometimes on this criterion alone. Not everything at the Jasper Heritage Rodeo is done exactly as it was in the 1920’s, when the event was first held in Jasper. If the animals were handled and treated in a manner true to the rodeo’s heritage roots, there would be widespread outrage, rather than the marginal protests of animal rights activists. Concessions have been made, and to bring Jasper’s rodeo more into line with this century, glamour has got to go.

There is an option, one supposes, for those who wish to maintain this aspect of the contest. Run two parallel competitions and crown a rodeo king as well as a rodeo queen. This concept seemed fairly alien to those behind the current event.

“I’ve never heard of it — traditionally, guys who are horsey are supposed to be cowboys, so I don’t know if there would be any interest in that from the male population,” Pattie Pavlov told the Fitzhugh. 

Why not try it out? It might not have been done in the good ol’days, but if the rodeo insists on including a beauty-based element to the selection of a spokesperson, they should at least avoid making it sex-specific.