Pumpkin Culpepper, South Texas Trail Riders Sweetheart, follows long trail of duty, tradition
By
John Goodspeed
13 Feb 2001
San Antonio Express-News,
Metro,
Page 01D
Copyright 2001 San Antonio Express-News.
Being a trail ride queen is not about glitz and glamour, sequins
and big hair.
It's about duty and honor and carrying on the cowboy tradition,
says 16-year-old Megan Ousley, queen of the 600-plus member South
Texas Trail Riders.
"When I was thinking about running, the ex-queens told me it
would be so much fun," the Karnes City High School sophomore
says. "Every once in a while you start having fun, but it's
mostly been a duty so far."
For Pumpkin Culpepper, 42, the sweetheart of the ride, it's
all work. But work is fun for Culpepper, and the title is a
thrill.
"It's the biggest highlight in my life next to having my
children," says Culpepper, the Karnes City mother of
three teen-age boys who all have a hand in the South Texas Trail
Riders.
Ousley and 11 other trail ride queens rode horseback for a week to
participate in activities surrounding the San Antonio Stock Show &
Rodeo.
All the organizations, with about 4,000 members, have queens and
sweethearts, an honor reserved for older women who work behind the
scenes. Some also elect children as mascots to let them join in the
pageantry.
All the rides have a common goal, too.
"The main thing is keeping the cowboy tradition alive. It's a
dying art," says George Camp of Corpus Christi, trail boss of the
South Texas Trail Riders, who rode to San Antonio from the Nueces
River Bridge on Interstate 37. They followed U.S. 181 through Tynan,
Beeville, Pettus, Kenedy, Falls City and Floresville, with 150 to 200
riders and more than 600 in all, including support crews who move camp
to the next site with trucks and trailers.
Today's trail rides are rooted in the cattle drives, stock shows
and rodeos of the 1800s.
In the old days, heading to a stock show meant riding on horseback
and maybe taking show animals in a wagon - not in a customized trailer
towed by a diesel-powered pickup with leather seats and
air-conditioning.
Along the way, others going to the show would join them and ride
along.
Today, the queens, sweethearts and mascots ride in the front, with
sashes and crowns, during parades and at a number of functions
surrounding the stock show and rodeo, including fashion shows and
dinners.
But they represent more than just their organizations.
"We meet a lot of people, try to get them interested in
joining the trail ride, and try to keep the cowboy tradition
alive," Culpepper says. "It's who I am"...
The queen, sweetheart and mascot campaign for member's votes in
April. They represent their group on trail rides and at other events
all year, culminating with the grand entrance to the San Antonio Stock
Show & Rodeo on the opening evening, along with the trail boss.
When Culpepper was nominated by her sons, no one else dared
to run against her.
"They knew that she was going to win," Camp says, citing Culpepper
's 22 years of working on the ride, driving wagons, helping riders
move their trucks and trailers to the next camp site and serving as
assistant cook for more than a dozen years.
"Pumpkin is just there to help all the time," Camp says.
"She's just, well, a sweetheart"...
