“Man, it’s really crowded!” I exclaimed. “Well, I mean, what do you expect? The State Fair opened yesterday,” replied Olivia. On August 23rd the Inver Grove Heights Royalty had the awesome opportunity to be in the Minnesota State Fair’s Daily Mall Parade. It was quite a hot day but how fun it was!! Not only was actually being in the parade at the Fair a first for the Inver Grove Heights Royalty, but it was a first for us to ride on someone else’s float (provided by the Fair). The minute the parade started it was non-stop smiles and waving. It was so much fun! I would like thank the Minnesota State Fair for letting us appear in the parade. Thank You.

Mihad Semir
Inver Grove Heights Junior Princess 2013

As a part of the Inver Grove Heights Royalty program, we get to do some volunteer work and service projects.  At Christmas time I decided to do a Can Food Drive. Over the course of a month I stood outside our light-decorated house, passed out candy canes, met lots of new people, and saw lots of limos with people light-gazing.  I was able to collect 118 lbs of food for Neighbors Inc.!  When I delivered the food they told me that it will supply a lot of families with some very nice meals for a long time. It made me so happy to know that my work would provide for so many people. I hope to continue to do this every year and hope with each year it grows more and more.

As part of my Royal reign, community service is my way of giving back.  On Saturday, February 23rd my Princess Gina and I participated in the Step Up for Juvenile Diabetes Walk at the Mall of America.  This event was pretty important to me because I was walking on behalf of my cousin Alex who was diagnosed with Type 1 a few years back, and my family has a history of diabetes.  Almost my entire family walked with him in support.  I was amazed at how many people participated!  The actual walk only lasted about an hour, but that was only a small portion of the event.   Around the mall were fun things for the kids to do like dancing, face painting, and hair styling.  At the close of the event there were a few speeches and a band that played.  Suddenly this meaningful day became a giant dance party.  We had so much fun!

On Saturday, March 9^th my Royal Family and I jumped in a time machine and landed at a 1950’s sock hop. The North East Minneapolis Royalty hosted this dance complete with root beer floats, yummy cupcakes, games and plenty of great photos. After dancing to some classic 1950’s music and some group dances, there where a few games including a bubble gum blowing contest (which I almost won), a limbo contest won my our own Kassi Giles (Miss Inver Grove Heights), and a hula hoop contest. We all had so much fun in our 50’s outfit.  I loved every minute of this event!!

On Saturday, March 23rd we participated in the Inver Grove Heights Parks & Recreation Egg Hunt sponsored by Heartland Credit Union.  The fields at the Rich Valley Athletic Complex were still covered in snow.  It seemed a little backwards that we did the Candy Cane Hunt in the rain and now the Egg Hunt in the snow.  It was all good though.  The sun was shining and the eggs looked bright and colorful against the white snow.  There were lots of kids and tons of eggs for them to find!  To add to the fun, Kassi (our Queen) started the wave while the kids waited for the egg hunt to begin.  But there was a little confusion when she used the word “go” for the wave.  Some of the kids thought she meant to go collect the eggs and took off running.  Oops!  Oh well, it did add to the excitement and it was kind of funny.  It was a really fun event and we enjoyed cheering on the egg hunters!

On March 23^rd, 2013, the Inver Grove Heights Royalty volunteered at the Food Allergy Awareness Walk at the Mall of America. We were excited to cheer people on as they walked for this cause. The money raised during the fundraising walk will help AFAA (Anaphylaxis and Food Allergy Association of Minnesota) continue the mission to educate, advocate, and support those with life-threatening food allergies. Since its inception in 2001, AFAA has been on a shoestring budget and run entirely by volunteers. It was great to see how many people of all ages supported the cause!