Phyllis Dahl (left), Miss Rodeo Canada 1959, and Jaden Holle, Miss Rodeo Canada 2019, both from High River, Alta,, met a recent photoshoot. 

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

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A very special meeting of the eras took place during a recent photoshoot in the lead-up to the 2019 Canadian Finals Rodeo in Red Deer.

Rewind to the 1950s and High River’s Phyllis Dahl had duped judges and competitors into allowing her to show her steer riding prowess against the boys.

Friends recommended she pull her hat down, tuck her hair in and enter under the name ‘Phyl.’ Lo and behold, Dahl won. She was given the winner’s buckle, but the next year’s program read ‘absolutely no girls allowed’ next to the boys steer riding category.

“When I was 17, High River asked me to run for their rodeo queen, but I had to be 18. They said ‘Well will you come and run for rodeo queen for us next year?’ So I did. I turned 18 on June 27, then the rodeo was July 1 weekend and I happened to be able to win that one,” she recalls.

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Dahl went on to become Miss Rodeo Canada 1959, and runner-up at Miss Rodeo of America the same year in Las Vegas. It was there she and fellow competitors met a “handsome” 29-year-old Clint Eastwood, she remembers fondly.

Fast forward to the present and another High River woman is carrying on Dahl’s legacy as Miss Rodeo Canada 2019.

Jaden Holle says meeting Dahl was a true pleasure.

“Phyllis told me she’d seen an article my local newspaper had done on me. She cut out this article and saved it,” says Holle. “When I met Phyllis at a Miss Rodeo Canada alumni clinic, she showed it to me and said ‘I’d been hoping to meet you.’ I thought ‘this woman has been hoping to meet me? I’ve been hoping to meet her. This is incredible.'”

Holle, who is Métis, got her start as Calgary Stampede Princess in 2017, and then was named Miss Rodeo Claresholm at the Chad Besplug Invitational.

On what advice she would offer to the next Miss Rodeo Canada, she says, “Just take every moment by the horns. There will be some times where maybe you feel a little shy, or maybe you’re tired or you don’t want to say hi to another person, but if you do, you’ll never regret it. The reward from giving that little bit extra is always worth it.”

The contestants for Miss Rodeo Canada 2020 include Alicia Erickson (Miss 2018 Ponoka). The other four at Alisa Brace of Sundre, Brittany Doyle of Moose Mountain, Haley Schlenker of Medicine Hat, and Jessica Craig from Hanna.

Competition is happening throughout the week, with the crowning scheduled for the 7 p.m. main performance on Nov. 1.

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