Moses Lake Roundup queen makes the best of a challenging situation
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Moses Lake Roundup Queen Mykiah Hollenbeck found ways to stay busy even with most events canceled. She delivered t-shirts commemorating the cancellation of the 2020 rodeo to sponsors.
Courtesy photo Moses Lake Roundup Queen Mykiah Hollenbeck pauses for photo before riding in an event. Despite the lack of activities in 2020 due to the coronavirus, rodeo participants are making the best of it, she said.
Courtesy photo Moses Lake Roundup Queen Mykiah Hollebeck with her horse prior to an event. The coronavirus outbreak has led the cancellation of a number of events in 2020, but Hollenbeck said rodeo participants are making the best of the circumstances.
Mykiah Hollenbeck (right), 2020 Moses Lake Roundup queen, presents a check to Angel Ledesma of the Columbia Basin Cancer Foundation. The rodeo was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak, but Hollenbeck has continued to perform her duties as queen.
MOSES LAKE — Mykiah Hollenbeck had it all planned out, as evidenced by a weekend in early March. As the 2020 Moses Lake Roundup Queen, she had two or three events that weekend, and that was just the beginning of what was supposed to be a very busy year.
There’s always somewhere for the Roundup queen to be. On a typical summer weekend in a normal year, “I’m at a couple parades in the morning, and in the evening I’m at a couple rodeos,” she said.
Hollenbeck is a Washington State University junior, and there’s a slight overlap between the academic year and the rodeo year. Her major is animal science and agribusiness economics.
“My end goal is to be an animal nutritionist,” she said.
A rodeo queen is busy even without college. There are civic events and fundraisers, rodeo banquets and queen coronations in other communities. “My planner and I have become best friends,” she said.
So things were ramping up in March with a weekend of events, followed by a return to Pullman for class. “We were going strong, and then the next weekend — nothing,” she said. The coronavirus outbreak led to planned events being postponed.
Before long it became clear that 2020 was not going to be a normal year. Events that had been postponed were postponed again, and eventually canceled. As the year went on, events got canceled, one by one.
The spring and summer have been short on events, and the few events that occurred have been modified to take into account restrictions required to combat the pandemic. Hollenbeck said the lack of rodeo action and other events left her “a little bummed.”
The restrictions haven’t stopped everything. “We’ve kind of found a way to abide by the rules and do things,” she said.
She cited the example of the annual parade in Ritzville. Rather than have everybody gather on Main Street, the parade route wound through every neighborhood.
“We walked up and down every street in Ritzville,” Hollenbeck said, about nine miles.
And while it was a long walk, the parade participants got the chance to talk to residents all over town. “It was a lot of fun,” she said.
She has visited Moses Lake Roundup sponsors, to thank them for continued support in a tough economic environment. She delivered a check from the Columbia Basin Rodeo Association to the Columbia Basin Cancer Foundation.
Hollenbeck is a former queen of the Othello Rodeo. “And I loved it,” she said. She planned to run for Moses Lake Roundup Queen during her senior year at WSU.
But she changed her mind after participating in the 2019 Moses Lake Roundup. “I forgot how much I missed it,” she said. She took a queen competition application with her back to Pullman and thought it over. “And I said, ‘I’m not sure why I’m waiting,’” she said.
Her mom and dad, Vicki and Ryan Hollenbeck, were supportive of her decision. “They’re with me at every event,” she said.
It hasn’t been the year she was expecting, but that’s OK. “It’s turned out to be kind of good,” she said. “We’ve made the best of the situation.”
A year without rodeos and parades has made fans more appreciative of them, she said. “We’ll all look forward to going to a rodeo so much more,” Hollenbeck said.
Her contract as Moses Lake Roundup queen has been extended through 2021. “I’m very excited. I have been waiting for rodeo season,” she said. “I can’t wait already.”
