Grangeville Border Days Queen Photos
These photos were put together by Harold and Eldene Wasem and date back to 1924. I think we've got every Rodeo Queen photo in this wonderful collection! Here is Reed Wasem's information that I feel is important to log with these photos: In 2006, and the first half of 2007, my Dad and Mom ( Harold and Eldene Wasem ) took on a project of compiling photo’s and records of all past Grangeville Border Day Queens. These photos were on display in the windows of the US Bank building for Border Days 2007. All the original photos were scanned and returned to the families. After scanning and sizing all the photo’s they were each labeled so that the information would not be lost in the future. This part of the project was done by my brother Vaughn.
Many of the current queen photos and names were fairly easy to acquire but tracking down photos and names on many older ones back to 1924 required a lot of time and effort. I’m not sure if 1924 was the first time a queen was chosen or if it is just as far back as they could confirm the history. You may want to call my Mom if you want more details on the history.
They were able to acquire photos for nearly every year by contacting the actual queen or by tracking down surviving relatives in the case of many of the older queens. If you look at the second photo (1925) you will see that from 1925 to 1929 there is no record of a queen but they have recorded what happened in those years. The year 1931 is still a mystery to be solved. Also, it is interesting to note the photo 1942. This of course was the year we entered World War II. Because of this there was no Rodeo or queen from 1942 to 1946. In fact, as noted on the 1942 photo, $1,400 dollars that would have gone to the rodeo was invested in War Bonds instead.
Anyway, I thought these would be a great addition to your Grangeville Border Days website.
THANK YOU HAROLD AND ELDENE (and REED TOO!) We will all enjoy the tribute to this historical collection of all Grangeville Border Days Queens because of your efforts.
