She likes to talk and meet people. That’s why Amanda DeBrie wanted to be the next Calapooia Roundup rodeo queen.
The Calapooia Roundup Rodeo Committee crowned her on Sept. 30. She will reign over the 2001 Calapooia Roundup.
DeBrie, 16, is a sophomore at Sweet Home High School. She is the daughter of Carol and Mike Carlin and John DeBrie. She has lived in Sweet Home her whole life.
She was involved in leadership in junior high and in high school has been on the dance team. She has worked at Figaro’s Pizza for about six months. She maintains a 3.4 grade point average.
“I wanted a horse ever since I was real little,” DeBrie said. When her dad remarried, his wife had a lot of horses, and she began riding at the age of six. She went about a year when she didn’t ride at all but took it up again at age 12 and has been riding ever since.
She enjoys the “companionship that you just have with an animal like that,” she said. Right now, she rides a 15-year-old registered Arabian, Willy.
“I love to go out in the fields and just ride,” DeBrie said. “It has a lot to do with people too.”
Different events, such as play days, have surrounded her with people she enjoys hanging out with, DeBrie said. Meeting people is one of the reasons she wanted to be the rodeo queen. She often competes in barrel racing, poles, jumping and other races during play days.
Her dream is to be a professional barrel racer “because you don’t have to sit down and work” but outside and in the country, DeBrie said. “It’s a rush. Being on horseback is fun. The amount of power you have underneath you, you have to respect that.”
“I always wanted to be a queen when I was little,” Debrie said. “I like to talk.”
Being queen, she will have a chance to get closer to Willy, she said, and “I want other kids my age to see … there’s other alternatives (rather than drugs and other negative behavior) to finding things to do and to be happy.”
At the same time, “my horse and I are learning,” DeBrie said. “I get to learn new things I didn’t know before.”
This includes more riding techniques, she said. “There’s so much to learn about horses.”
She is looking forward to different queens’ ceremonies and seeing people.
“I just want the public to know that even when I go to other rodeos, I’m going to represent Sweet Home, and I’m proud.”
Among her duties will be selling raffle tickets, signing autographs at five different Coastal Farms stores through the Northwest, participating in nine different parades and answering questions about the rodeo.
The last two years, DeBrie has helped out with parking as a volunteer at the rodeo.
DeBrie wanted to thank all of her sponsors. To date she has received approximately $1,500 in sponsorships.
“I’m looking forward to seeing everybody at the new rodeo ground,” DeBrie said.
“The major, number one thing we liked about her is we feel she’ll represent Sweet Home perfectly,” Wanda Wolfe, a member of the rodeo committee, said. The committee is confident that she will be able to answer questions of the public or find the answers without difficulty. “She’ll represent us well. She’ll represent the rodeo well, and she’ll represent our community well.”
With riding, “she handled Willy very well,” Wolfe said. “He respects her well enough to listen to her.”
Other candidates included Jennifer Kiezer and Leissane Norris, and they have been invited to help out with the rodeo.