The second night of the Junction City Rodeo Saturday night produced the choice of the Rodeo Queen Junction City 2018, good bareback riding, mild weather and a big audience at the fairgrounds arena.

Daryl Blocker, Junction City Rodeo Association President, said it was a successful year for the rodeo. “Well the weather finally cooperated with us. it’s rained down here a couple of  times but it rained during the day where we didn’t have to worry about it. Arena has been dry enough, good, anyway.”

Cowboys and cowgirls competed in events ranging from bull riding to team roping during the rodeo, which was held for the 25th consecutive year in Junction City.

Zoe Bean, 20,  was named the Rodeo Queen. “This is something I’ve worked on for a long time. I’v been queening

since 2015. it feels really rewarding to finally get a title. ” She had to compete in a number of different categories to become the queen. “We had to do horsemanship where we did a reining pattern. And then we had to do a queen’s run and a flag run. And then we did our speech which was over the topic of “What Old Glory Means to You.” The five contestants also had to do modeling and do a personal interview with the judges.

Bean is currently attending Kansas State University where she is a junior studying animal science and industry with a production management option. She is also working toward getting an equine certificate and is a member of the Kansas State University Marching Band. Bean is originally from the Wichita area.