I have brought you the story of my DC Experience with the MREA Youth Tour. Now I bring you the story of my latest adventure The Minnesota State Fair. I went up to the fairgrounds two days before the fair officially started and stayed their for a total of fourteen days. In those fourteen days I had another "Once in a Lifetime Experience" as I enjoyed making new memories with a lot of my new friends on the Minnesota 4-H State Ambassador Team. Some of those include: Attending dances, having the State Arts In hosting a open mic night, going to a grandstand concert of a band you have never heard of before, shelves collapsing, watching a Jack Black movie, and having a night out on the fair. But I also saw a recurring cast of some of my friends from the MREA Youth Tour also. I also saw one my most favorite people of all Marshall Pederson from Freeborn County, I had not seen him in over a year and half. That's just a small part of the story!
Back in May I decided I would try and apply for a position on the Minnesota 4-H State Ambassador Team. I filled out a application online and was offered a interview in Morris. Yes, Morris, Minnesota. I decided that I would make the three hour drive up their and do my interview and I'm glad I did. It wouldn't be until the middle of June until I found out and I was getting anxious to know. When I found out that I had gotten one of the twenty eight positions on the team I was excited. The team wouldn't officially get together until the beginning of August for Orientation. Well as many of you know, I on a tour to check out some of the county fairs in Southern and West Central Minnesota. It was good that I did because I got a better understanding of how participation in Minnesota 4-H is doing. What I have to say is that it is doing great! I saw a lot of participation at every county fair that I went to.
Then in August all the members of the Ambassador Team meat at Orientation on the University of Minnesota Campus in Saint Paul. We met a lot of people that work for the University of Minnesota Extension Service and got to do group activities including a service learning project at Bridging Minnesota, which helps families that are in tough times get furniture for their home that was provided for them. What we learned at Orientation was basically our role as a Minnesota 4-H State Ambassador and how we represent Minnesota 4-H. It would then be a few weeks until we would meet again at the Minnesota State Fair.
On August 25, I left for the State Fair with it in the back of my mind that I was going to be there for two weeks. I thought to myself about what was going to happen and how it was going to be a great time. The first two days of the experience were basically just training on what we would need to expect and how to handle our positions with in the 4-H Building. When Day 3 rolled around (the official start of the fair) it was livestock encampment weekend. I had brought a market goat up to show and I received a blue ribbon for it. Sadly though the goat show took about 8 hours so I was very tired by the end of it. When we approached the final night of livestock encampment they had the first of five dances. The livestock dance is the biggest and it was held on the second floor of the 4-H Building. Rumor has it that the floor was shaking and I believe it. As livestock encampment came to a close then we got ready for the first of four general encampments. As the first night of general encampments the State Arts In hosted a open mic night for residents of the 4-H Building. It was a lot of fun to see what talent we had and showed it to everyone. A few nights later I went to a Grandstand Concert with a couple of the other Ambassadors and the tickets we got were free! The band was R5 a last minute replacement for Meghan Trainor who had voice problems. The tickets were for row 14 from the stage, we had a great view! The thing was is that I had never heard of the band before that night, they were okay. In the last few nights we had at the fair we went out and sang for food. I didn't know if it would work but, like usual I was wrong. We got free pizza, onion rings, mini donuts, and cotton candy out of the whole deal. We also watched the movie School of Rock, staring Black Jack. If you haven't seen it then I would suggest that you check it out. One of the biggest frustrations of the whole fair was the shelves collapsing in the Clovermart. The Clovermart is a store that sells 4-H apparel and is run by the Ambassador Team. A man had walked into the store area and had pulled out a shirt and the shelves just imploded on themselves. What the man did after that was he just put the shirt on top of the pile and left. It turns out that the man was a chaperone. Yes, a chaperone, one of the Ambassadors had spotted him the next day in the cafeteria. It took us about two hours to set the shelves back up, but we got to work on team building so it was a win-win.
When I brought you the DC Experience I told you how great it was and how it had impacted me. Well luckily I was able to see a few of my friends from that trip it was great to see them and catch up. Gayle Karol was the leader of the trip I went on to DC back in June I got to see her and I was able to see what she had been up to since the trip. I can't express how awesome she is! Lukas Swenson was a guy from the trip also he is in 4-H we meet up and caught up. He always knows how everyone from the trip is doing. Surprisingly he saw another one of the Youth Tour Alumni Matt Breuer and he saw him two days in a row by accident. Lukas said that he could tell by his hair. Luckily I was able to see him also. When I think of Matt I think of Dominos because we ordered Dominos two different nights in DC. Last but not least you can't forget about Thea Richards. I met Thea on the trip and learned that she had applied for a State Ambassador Position also. She got the position and is a current Ambassador. Luckily I have gotten to see some of these again that mean a lot to me. I also don't think I have seen the last of them.
When I think about friends I can never forget I think of Marshall Pederson. Marshall is one cool guy, and I am serious. He has written a series of books and loves to be part of Civil War reenactments. I met him about three years ago at a 4-H Youth Conference called BLU which is put on by Minnesota 4-H State Ambassadors. I hadn't seen him in over a year and a half and when I saw him again it was great. If your looking for a buddy to rock with it's definitely this guy. He is awesome no doubt indeed!
As this experience came to a close I realized that it has changed me for the better and I am happy to be a Minnesota 4-H State Ambassador. I would like to thank the Ambassador Supervisors Jacquie and Joshua for being awesome and the rest of the Ambassador Team also. Many people may ask this question: "What is next for Walker Regier?" Well all I can say is this "The only thing for sure is nothing is for sure." Stay tuned the next adventure is coming soon!
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