
On Friday night, I headed up to Detroit Lakes for the Miss Northwest pageant. Congratulations to Melissa Paakh on an incredible year of service. I enjoyed paging through her book Sparkle Lake, which was illustrated by the fourth and fifth graders of Detroit Lakes. By publishing this book, she sought to increase awareness of the importance of protecting Minnesota lakes and to raise money for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Well done Melissa! Also a big congratulations to Siri Freeh, the new Miss Northwest! Thank you to Cindy and the rest of the Miss Northwest committee for being such wonderful hosts! They run a phenomenal local program!