SALEM, Ore. (AP) — At 4 a.m. on a Saturday morning in early June, three young women woke for an epic day.

Melanie Atchison, Morgan Spear and Britney Norby spent an hour applying makeup and getting their matching outfits looking perfect because thousands of eyes would be trained on them.

The three traveled to Portland with their horses to ride in the Portland Rose Festival's Grand Floral Parade — smiles ever present and not a curl of hair out of place — then drove three hours to Sisters to ride in that night's Grand Entrance of the Sisters Rodeo.

They were announced over and over as the Royal C...