It's been a whirlwind year for the Calgary Stampede Queen and Princesses but it's almost time to hand over their crowns.

Queen Mick Plemel says there were many highlights among the over 400 events they attended during the year.

"When we got to go to Berlin Germany, that was a huge opportunity for us and we got to do a little bus tour of the city and see some of the sights, like the history there with the Berlin Wall and all that was very interesting to see," Plemel says. "And then to see a completely different part of the world, we went to Kentucky, down to Lexington for a colt starting competition, called Road to the Horse. Our equestrian coach Jim Anderson was competing in that competition to defend that title so we got to go down to see that."

She says one of her fondest memories of the Stampede was on parade day because she had seen historic photos from the first Stampede in 1912 and the ribbons and decorations hanging off of the Palliser Hotel on 9th Avenue and as she approached the hotel during the parade if felt like she was riding into a piece of history.

Princess Haley Peckham says for her the highlight outside of stampede was on the west coast.

"We were so fortunate to go out to Victoria and go aboard the HMCS Calgary, they were celebrating their 20th anniversary, so we got to go on a day sail out there so we got to go out on the ocean and they had the Sea King helicopter flying over, it was just incredible," she says.

Both said the year was very rewarding and well worth the time and effort it takes to go through the judging process.

The deadline for young women interested in competing to become part of Stampede Royalty is August 28, and the new trio will be crowned in late September.