HISTORY
BUCKEYE’S BEAUTY QUEENS BRIAN PETERSHEIM JR. H elzapoppin’ started at a time when shaving was a finable offense in Buckeye. The event, launched in 1935 to celebrate the city’s rich cowboy legacy, brought rodeo contestants from far and wide. But it also brought competitors of other ilks. Buckeye’s Whiskerino contest brought men and women together to compete and decide who had the best facial hair. In the event’s second year, 88 men and two women competed. Another contest took place during Helzapoppin’s Cotton Carnival, where women, sponsored by cotton growers, competed for the title of the Cotton Queen by a popular vote. The Cotton Queen’s coronation ceremony was described as a “very impressive affair” in a 1936 edition of the Buckeye Valley News provided by the Buckeye Valley Museum. Her throne was decorated with flowers and mounted on a pyramid of bales of hales of cotton, and she was gifted a gown and 17-jewel Elgin wristwatch. In 1936, there were an estimated 20,000 people in attendance.
A 1935 newspaper shows the candidates competing for the Cotton Queen crown.
InBuckeye.com | Winter 2025
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