I added another 700 miles to my car's odometer in the last week. I am having so much fun exploring our state!
Photo courtesy of www.paulapreston.com
On Wednesday, I had my official photo shoot with our wonderful sponsor Paula Preston. As always, she was a pleasure to work with. I'd like to thank Rod and David for taking so much time out of their schedule to be there! Keep checking the Miss Minnesota Facebook page and the Miss Minnesota website to see the new photos.
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!
On Saturday, I was in the Mankato Fun Days parade. I road in a snazzy Volkswagen convertible donated by Mankato Motor Co. with KTOE radio hosts Pete Steiner (who was my judge at Miss Mankato) and Red Lewis (who has also served as a Miss Mankato judge in the past). This parade was huge! Over 20,000 people were there! It was great to hear the applause and excited chatter when people found out that Miss Mankato was now Miss Minnesota. Kids liked seeing "the princess," but they liked me even more when I threw candy to them! I also got to sing "Happy Birthday" to Pete Steiner's mom and sister-in-law. I love the community of Mankato. It is another home for me in the state of Minnesota. It has been a pleasure representing the Mankato community for the past 7 months.
From there, I traveled to Owatonna to meet with several autism advocates involved with the Boy Scouts of America. Big things are in the works! I am so excited to advocate for people impacted by autism this year! Stay tuned!
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