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Miss Rodeo Michigan to visit U.P. for this year’s event

IRON RIVER — The U.P. Championship Rodeo will welcome Miss Rodeo Michigan 2023, Khalilah Smith, to the 55th U.P. Championship Rodeo this summer.

After many years the Miss Rodeo Michigan Association has been relaunched. The first Miss Rodeo Michigan was Jan Porath Thompson in 1957, who went on to be the third Miss Rodeo America the following year. The Upper Peninsula Championship Rodeo was the host of the Miss Rodeo Michigan pageant from 1957 to 2007.

Detroit native, Khaliah Smith is the 24-year-old proudly wearing the Miss Rodeo Michigan crown. Though Khaliah did not grow up involved in rodeos, her love for it quickly grew after participating in the National Little Britches Rodeo of Michigan. While attending Michigan State University pursuing her Bachelor of Science, she was involved in the MSU Rodeo Club.

This is where she got her start in rodeo queen competitions and reigned as the Miss Michigan State University Rodeo Queen in 2018. She went on to represent Michigan by competing in the Miss Rodeo USA pageant held in conjunction with the International Finals Rodeo.

Khaliah’s year has already been off to a busy start as she traveled to Colorado for the National Western Stock Show and Cowboy Downhill in January.

Khaliah just returned from Florida where she was attending the Silver Spurs Rodeo, the largest rodeo east of the Mississippi. While she was there, she went to many school visits and explored the sights with her fellow state rodeo queens. Khalilah has many rodeos and events that she is looking forward to on her schedule this year. One of those events being the U.P. Championship Rodeo, Michigan’s only PRCA Rodeo, located in Iron River. In December Khaliah will be traveling to Las Vegas, Nevada and competing for the title of Miss Rodeo America 2024. Throughout her reign Khaliah will be promoting her platform of Building Diverse Bridges. She is looking forward to school visits where she can implement her platform and educate youth on agriculture and the western way of life.

For more information on how to support Khaliah contact missrodeomichigan@gmail.com.

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