CONNOQUENESSING TWP - The Butler Rodeo will have a pair of queens this year.

Junior Queen Fontaine Graham and Senior Queen Jillie Bintrim Jones were chosen in April to be the first pair to rule the Butler Farm Show grounds at the rodeo, which is set for June 16 to 18.

It also will have another first, a designated day for children.

Graham, the daughter of Ralph and Billie Graham of Butler Township, is a sophomore at Butler Intermediate and has been riding horses since she was 5 years old.

She started participating in rodeos in 4-H when she was 11 and said she wanted to be junior rodeo queen to promote the sport.

The 15-year-old won junior queen among 13 to 16 year olds.

Bintrim Jones, 18, is the daughter of Leslie Bintrim Jones of Zelienople. She attends Laurel High School and wants to pursue a career as a nurse practitioner and nurse anesthesiologist.

She said she's been riding horses since she was very young and picked up barrel racing at 13 because she liked having an audience.

At her mother's urging she participated in the queen pageant, and though she was nervous about answering questions posed by the judges, she was awarded the crown.

"We're not the models," she said. "There's the horsemanship aspect to it too."

Bintrim Jones, chosen from a group of 17 to 23 year olds, will have a chance to travel to Oklahoma and compete for Miss Rodeo Queen USA.

The queens and children's day were introduced this year after committee members visited the national rodeo in Oklahoma last year and liked the events' success.Children's day will be from 4 to 5:30 p.m. June 18. Events include stick races, calf roping, wagon rides and rides on a straw bale moved to simulate a bucking bronco.These events will aquatint children with a growing sport in the state, rodeo organizer Bob Costa said.He said rodeo attendance has significantly increased on fair-weather days in the past few years, which he credits to televised bull riding."It used to be bull riding was something you might see on cable," he said. "Now, turn on the TV Sunday afternoons and you see it."During the three-day rodeo, events will start at 8 p.m. daily. They will include Brahma bull, bareback bronco and saddle bronco riding; team roping; calf roping, cowgirls barrel racing; and steer wrestling.All events are sanctioned by the International Professional Rodeo Association, based in Oklahoma City.Costa said the interest in rodeo continues to grow."Places like Butler, North Washington and Ford City put Pennsylvania on the rodeo map," he said.Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children. Discounts for advanced purchases are available.The show is produced by Wagon Wheel Rodeo Co.For more information, visit www.butlerrodeo.com.