NDSF: Parade and Rodeo Queen - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

NDSF: Parade and Rodeo Queen

The first day of the 2012 North Dakota State Fair brought a huge crowd to the fairgrounds.
Attendance for day one was reported at 34,289 --- that's over 3,000 more than the attendance numbers for day one of the fair in 2010.
That big number was helped by a good crowd for the opening night concert.
Kid Rock and Uncle Kracker drew a crowd of 14,887
Tonight's main stage attraction, the Zac Brown Band will likely lead to another big day of attendance here at the fair - we'll have the numbers tomorrow.

The North Dakota State Fair parade ushered in Great. Big. Fun. this morning.
There were about 200 float entries in the parade this morning which was smaller than last year's parade, but coordinator Jim Clifford says that was to be expected in this "rebuilding" year.
And as mentioned earlier, almost 15,000 people filled the Grandstand for a high-energy rock concert last night.
Kid Rock and special guest Uncle Kracker kicked off the first of many concerts to come in the Grandstand entertainment lineup this year.
Tonight's concert --- as you can hear in the background --- The Zac Brown Band is playing live and tomorrow-Sunday night --- Luke Bryan will take center stage.

The State Fair recognized it's newest member of Rodeo Royalty during yesterday's pageant.
The Miss Rodeo North Dakota State Fair Pageant crowned 20 year-old Kayla Heilman of Center, North Dakota as the new Miss Rodeo North Dakota State Fair Queen.
Heilman will go on to compete in the 2013 Miss Rodeo North Dakota Competition.
The Competition consisted of a modeling show, speeches and impromptu questions, and private personal interviews with the judges.  
Miss Rodeo North Dakota 2012, Sadie Wardner, says part of the job is to promote the Western lifestyle.
(Sadie Wardner, Miss Rodeo North Dakota 2012)"As a rodeo queen, a lot of your job is to educate people and to get people excited about the sport and the lifestyle and to try to share that with them so, you make a lot of rodeo appearances, but a lot of just general things."
Last year's Miss Rodeo State Fair Queen, Kayla Kessler will go on to compete in this year's 2012 Miss Rodeo North Dakota pageant in October.

If you are looking for something to do with the kids that is both fun and educational... you can check out the Agrium Seed Survivor Center brand new to the North Dakota State Fair this year.
Agrium offers an interactive experience teaching the whole how to live a healthy lifestyle by putting healthy food on the table.
Agrium is a seed and fertilizer company based out of Canada.
Activities both on screen and on display let children get a hands on experience learning the roles the sun, water, soil, and nutrients play in the life of a seed..
They will then have the opportunity to plant their own seed to take home and care for with what they've learned.
(Stephanie Sevigny, Independent Contractor, Agrium Seed Survivor) "They love the planting the seed thing. So we get to tell them that they get to water it and grow it at home but they have been really excited about everything and getting to play and interact is really the big thing. They are interacting with everything and that's really how kids learn."
The Agrium Seed Center is located in the lobby of the State Fair building and will be there for the duration of the fair.