Saturday, July 30th, my royal sisters and I  participated in the Rosemount Leprechaun Days parade. The day was special to me because my dad pulled the float and my little brother came to help with the float set-up and ride along. My court visited with other royalty from Winter Carnival, Eagan, Oakdale, and Farmington. The parade route was packed with families and the crowd was at least ten people deep! It was a warm summer day. We were happy to have sunny skies above to celebrate the day.

Taylor Rose Ambrose

2016 Little Miss Princess of Inver Grove Heights

I am proud to be sponsored by the Inver Grove Heights Animal Hospital. They are always so kind when I come to visit and they absolutely love to help all animals! I am so thankful to have had them as a sponsor throughout this crazy, wonderful year! They are always happy to see me walk in and talk to me about past and future events. They really enjoy knowing what I have been doing the past year! Jessica has been a huge help to me during this year and I cannot thank her enough. Don’t paw around if looking for a vet, The IGH Animal Hospital is amazing!

This past Tuesday, my royal family, as well as dozens of other royalty from throughout Minnesota, came together and supported the Minnesota Twins at one of their games. Every attending royalty was given the opportunity to walk the bases before the start of the game. Before we went out all the royalties had to wait below the stands and it was really cool to see so many visiting ambassadors in one place. There were girls we see regularly, such as the Winter Carnival Juniors and Woodbury, but also girls from places like Winstead and Le Seuer, just to name a few. The weather was nice too, as what first started as a hot day, with the sun beating down on us, turned out to be a gorgeous evening. The Twins were playing the Atlanta Braves that evening, and although they lost, it was so much fun getting to spend time with Steph, Liv, Olivia, Hillary, and Taylor.

Rachel Wanger

2016 Junior Miss Inver Grove Heights

 For my last service project as Miss Inver Grove Heights, I made it a unforgettably  colorful one. Sunday, July 10th, I got a group together to do the color run at the state fair grounds. This run is one of my favorites because it donates the money to local charities in the host city. This year the color run is working with 2 big organizations, Special Olympics Minnesota and the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities. Joining me was our Little miss Inver Grove Heights Princess, Taylor, my sister, Brittany, and A past Jr Winter Carnival King Frost, Nick. We also had 3 more amazing ladies on our team, Alicia(past IGH Princess), her cousin, and a close family friend, Rachel. Last year I fell in love with this run because I saw how many people were there and if you do the math, the charities will get so much help. It is an absolutely amazing way to help the community around us and have fun while doing it. I am so thankful for my team, Colorful Crowns, and will continue in the years to come.

Stephanie Fox

2016 Miss Inver Grove Heights

 I collected fabrics from very generous people in order to make tie blankets for Good Samaritan Senior Living. Rachel, Taylor, my mom and I became very busy one night and we made about 15 blankets! We had pizza too, but the blankets were the best! There were all types of colors and fun patterns to make, I’m sure they would love them! The staff is going to use them as gifts for their Birthday! I’m very happy because they all got really excited and said they wanted one when we brought them in! It is an amazing feeling.

Stephanie Fox

Miss Inver Grove Heights 2016

This week I made my final visit to my sponsor, Greg Kuntz of Remax Specialists. His generosity has made this year-long journey possible for me, as well as other Inver Grove Heights alumni. His sponsorship has allowed me to have an incredible experience. I have met so many new people, attended surrounding cities’ festivals, some of which I had never taken part in before, and at the end of my reign I will receive an educational CD that will go towards a higher education once I graduate. Without sponsors, the program would not be as successful as it has been, and girls like me could not be given such a great opportunity.

Rachel Wanger

2016 Junior Miss Inver Grove Heights

This past Monday my royal family and I attended the Eagan Funfest Ambassador Coronation. We watched a video that showed highlights of their year, as well as the events with their candidates. The background music was patriotic to stick with their Fourth of July theme. In addition, all six candidates answered fishbowl questions that helped us learn a little bit more about themselves. Twice during the coronation, Twirl Minnesota, a dance company, had two brief performances. Some of the girls performing were past Cottage Grove Ambassadors! Then, at the end of the evening, four new ambassadors were crowned. We are excited to welcome Autumn, Eden, Makenzie, and Emma into the sparkle section, and I hope we get to know them better throughout the rest of the summer.

Rachel Wanger

2016 Junior Miss Inver Grove Heights

I spent part of my day today with Mrs. Minnesota, also known as Andrea. We talked about different things that we do to help our communities, and we had a couple of things in common! We both love going to feed my starving children. She said she does fewer parades than we do, but does community service by talking to students in schools about bullying. She can’t stand bullying, and neither can I so we had that in common too! She brought an extra crown and sash from when she was Mrs. St. Paul, and she let my brother put them on. He was very excited. She told me that once her and her mother ran 60 miles in THREE DAYS for breast cancer awareness. I told her they make us run a mile in school and then we did some math, we both think math is important. I had so much fun spending time with Mrs. Minnesota today, I can’t wait to do that again!

The Neighbors tea party was so much fun! I loved meeting all the little princesses in attendance. I truly believe they will all grow up to be royalty one day! At the tea party we did crafts, took a lot of pictures, had brunch (my favorite part) and talked about what it means to be a princess. Every princess, past, current and future, has a unique quality or set of characteristics that sparkles and shines. I am appreciative of Neighbors for inviting us to help with this event.

This past weekend Stephanie, Liv, Olivia, Taylor, and I attended the West St. Paul Kickoff Dinner. We had a great time talking with other royalties such as the Winter Carnival Royal Family, but especially the West St. Paul girls: Tessa, Sam, Ally, and Lilee. Before dinner we socialized and looked around the silent auction (too bad we left our wallets at home), as well as taking silly pictures in the photo booth they provided. Then we had dinner, followed by two different auctions (the dessert auction was my personal favorite thanks to the generous people that shared their cake with us!) and four unique presentations given by the West St. Paul royalty. Each girl gave a speech about their “Hometown Hero,” someone in the community that has positively impacted others’ lives. They concluded the evening by listing their upcoming festivities, all of which I hope we can attend! It is so much fun seeing these girls, and their farewell luncheon is certainly going to be bittersweet.

Rachel Wanger

2016 Junior Miss Inver Grove Heights