MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — This year’s Middletown Days Queen and Princess contest had a big turnout, with 13 talented girls coming out to participate in the two-day competition after months of practice.

This year’s Royal Court includes Queen Emalee Pickens and Princess Rylie Slaight, and Kaitlyn Counter, Jadyn Owens, Emmy Hayes, Ciara Francis, Gracie Schnabl, Kailey Snell, Lynzi Snell, Payton Schuster, Faith Crawford, Emilia Lord and Stella Brand.

They will be participating in this year’s Middletown Days Parade at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 19.

The parade will be followed by food, Kids Playday, vendors, and more at the Middletown Central Park stage and arena. Visit the Middletown Days website for a complete schedule of events.

Organizers said the group of 13 did not disappoint during the competition.

Day one took place at the Central Park Arena on Saturday, June 12, where they had to show off their skill with their horses.

The following day they had to switch gears and clothes for the final three events.

In addition to mastering each skill, the girls are responsible for selling 500 beef raffle tickets each. But, it’s all for a good cause. Middletown Days is the single largest fundraiser for the Middletown Central Park Association and the money from each ticket sold goes toward maintaining the arena.

This year the beef is donated by Benjamin Ranch & Mobile Slaughter. First place is half a beef and a second and third ticket will be pulled for a quarter beef each. Tickets are a dollar and you need not be present to win. So, if you see one of the girls this weekend at the park, buy a ticket.

Greg Evans, real estate agent and horseman, has been working with the girls to prepare them for the first day’s six events. They worked on horse mastership which includes haltering, grooming and explaining what’s in their caddy; showmanship and halter which involves walking and maneuvering the horse through patterns and inspection; Western pleasure which measures skills while walking, jogging or loping; and the reigning pattern, controlling and guiding the horse.

They also practiced barrel racing, basically maneuvering in a clover leaf pattern on their horse (their time serves as the tiebreaker).

Lastly, they worked on the queen’s waive, which several of the younger contestants said was their favorite event. It involved riding one and a quarter laps, while waving, in a safe and controlled manner.

There were 11 girls vying for princess, and the competition was stiff with several strong contestants.

In fact, no one girl swept the competition on Saturday: Stella Brand, 7, won showmanship and halter and also the reigning pattern; Jadyn Owens, 11, won the horse mastership category; Rylie Slaight, 8, took Western pleasure; Payton Schuster, 9, won the barrels; and Kailey Snell, 9, won the queen’s waive.

For the queen competition there were two contestants. Kaitlyn Counter, 15, made a strong showing on her quarter horse, Levi. But, Emalee Pickens, 18, had an excellent day showing her horse, OG (Original Gangsta) and won all six events.

Day two started out with the girls actually taking a written test to measure their horse knowledge and Schuster got the highest score. After that, it was all about poise as each girl presented a speech for the judges and modeled western wear.

Owens won for western wear and Emilia Lord, 6, won with her “All About Me” speech where she revealed the age of her mother and stated that her two younger brothers’ job is “being trouble.”

Queen contestant Counter gave a beautiful speech about the history of Middletown Days, Middletown Central Park and Hope City. She began by asking members of the audience a series of questions and to stand if they had ever run for queen or princess, helped out at the park, or been grand marshal. She won for speech in her division.

In keeping with Counter’s theme of community, all of the girls bonded and helped each other throughout the competition. A former queen even stepped in to help.

Alisha Mackey, the 2014 queen, lent Schuster her horse, Chicken, a few days before the event because Schuster’s wasn’t cooperating. She also lent her saddle to Counter.

Alisha Mackey’s mom, teacher Michelle Mackey, came down on Sunday to help the younger princess contestants read their tests. This year there were six contestants who were aged 6 to 8.

At the end of the hard-fought competition, Rylie Slaight was crowned princess. She is a third grader at Middletown Christian School. Her favorite rodeo event is steer daubing. She enjoys showing goats and chickens for Middletown 4-H, playing soccer and spending time with her friends.

Emalee Pickens was crowned queen. Pickens just graduated from Middletown High and enjoys pole bending and goat tying, but her favorite event is barrels because “it's fast and it’s just you and your horse.”

Neither girl had ever competed in the Middletown Days competition before.

Evans was proud of all the girls for sticking with the long process and improving so much.

The girls have already stated that they will be returning for next year’s competition and several new girls have expressed interest, as well.