Kickoff dinners are one of my favorite events. It’s the start of a new year for royalty programs and the official start of candidacy for many excited young ladies. On June 16^th, the Inver Grove Heights Royalty attended the Kaposia Days Kickoff Dinner at the Clarion Hotel in South Saint Paul. It was exciting to learn more about the candidates and their sponsors. They are all wonderful ladies and we are very excited to see who will be representing South St. Paul as the 2016 Kaposia Days Royalty at their coronation on June 25^th! I would also like to congratulate, Carol Swenson, who received the Nancy Fisch Spirit Award. The Spirit Award goes to a community member who has demonstrated outstanding community spirit and involvement. Carol Swenson, along with her husband, Dan, have been involved with community scholarship programs since the 1980’s. They even had a large role in starting the Miss Inver Grove Heights Scholarship Program. Carol is a current board member for the Miss IGH program as well as the Kaposia Days program. We are so proud of her and deeply appreciate her commitment to our community.

Liv Swenson

2016 Miss Inver Grove Heights Princess

On June 4th, the alumni and my current royalty court volunteered our time to Feed My Starving Children from 7pm-9pm. We worked fast and efficiently getting all the bags filled, weighed, and sealed to put them in a box! Along with all the other volunteers, we were able to fill enough to feed 43 people for a whole year! I love to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children because not everyone has the nutrition they need, especially when the children are so young and in need of attention. With the help of the nonprofit organization, they can live a more healthy life.

Stephanie Fox

Miss Inver Grove Heights 2016

Dan Grevas Photography has been a long time sponsor of the Miss Inver Grove Heights Scholarship Program. For over ten years, Dan has taken pictures for our royalty groups and they always look phenomenal. I would like to take this opportunity to say that we are so fortunate to have him and thank him for his support of our program. If you are looking for family pictures, senior portraits or anything in between, look to Dan Grevas Photography to preserve your best memories. Find him on Facebook or visit his website: dangrevasphoto.com 

Liv Swenson

2016 Inver Grove Heights Princess

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

Wednesday, April 20th we helped with the Seniors Day performance of “Into the Woods”.  We served coffee, water and cookies.  The cookies were amazing if I do say so myself, and I do say so myself.  Loved the event, loved the cookies.

On Saturday, March 19, 2016, my Royal sisters and I kicked off a celebration of Spring with a community Easter egg hunt at Rich Valley Park. We enjoyed meeting the sponsor of the event and staff from Heartland Credit Union. The kids attending were so exciting to begin the egg hunt. The best part was the use of the bullhorn to start the hunt. The girls were excited to receive the candidate information baskets we handed out throughout the event and we hope to see some of them again this summer as candidates.

Taylor Ambrose
2016 Little Miss Inver Grove Heights Princess

Today I went to visit my sponsor.  I was so excited.  I got there and asked for Tom Leonard, the owner.  He was not there but Red, his father was.  He is the actual owner of the business and still works.  He was so nice and we took a great picture.  Fury Motors has so many cars.  I saw this one and thought, “This is my future ride!”  Perfect end to a perfect visit.

Olivia Aura-Juarez

2016 Inver Grove Heights Junior Princess

On January 4^th,2016, I met with Dan Grevas of Grevas Photography. Dan sponsored me throughout my candidacy for the Miss Inver Grove Heights Royalty Scholarship program and he is one of the kindest people I know. I was so glad to be able to go visit him again and thank him for supporting me and the program. Dan has donated a lot of time to our program by taking our formal pictures each spring. They always turn out wonderful and we are so fortunate to have him as party of the Royalty Scholarship Program.

Liv Swenson

2016 Miss Inver Grove Heights Princess