Sonoita's "Little Miss," Brielle Boisvert, was remembered this weekend at the 92nd Annual Sonoita Labor Day Rodeo.
The curly-haired 5-year-old was riding her gray pony at the 82nd annual La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Rodeo Parade in Tucson Feb. 22 when she was killed in a freak accident.
Two horses pulling a wagon behind her bolted and bumped into Brielle's horse. Though family members said she was a skilled rider, Brielle was thrown from her horse and run over by the wagon.
It was the first fatality in the 82-year history of the Rodeo Parade, parade officials said. More than 600 people from the tight-knit Sonoita-Elgin community, 40 miles southeast of Tucson, attended Brielle's funeral.
"The whole rodeo was dedicated to Brielle this year," Santa Cruz County Fair & Rodeo Association volunteer Nancy Hadden said. "She was our Little Miss. We have a Queen and a Princess and a Little Miss. She was royalty."
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During a tribute Sunday in Sonoita, the arena at the rodeo grounds was dedicated to the girl who loved horses, music and the color pink.
Her parents, Tom and Linda Donnell Boisvert, were given a portrait of their daughter painted by Tucson artist Harley Brown.
Though hers was the first fatality in the parade history, the accident that claimed Brielle's life was the second serious incident in two years at the parade, billed by rodeo promoters as the nation's longest nonmechanized parade. In 2006 the crash of a runaway wagon carrying Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup and his wife, Beth, left Beth Walkup with painful injuries.
To date, the Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee has not announced what safety precautions will be implemented to prevent future accidents.
