Ribfest

 I must be bad luck for Ribfest because it rained both days I was there!! I attended Ribfest in Mankato on Thursday night when I had the honor of running into Troy Volk. Troy has been such a huge supporter of mine throughout my reign and I am so grateful for the opportunity to meet him. Shortly after arriving, the skies opened and we had to take shelter for about a half hour. Once the first storm passed we made a run for the car and made it just in time before the second round of storms hit! I also attended Ribfest on Sunday. I had the pleasure of watching Chris Hawkey perform and he even came out in the crowd and took a picture with me. This man has so much talent and he is so fun to watch!

Miracle League of North Mankato

 For the past few weeks I have been attending two Miracle League games per week. I had the honor of meeting almost all of the Miracle League athletes and helping some of them play the wonderful game of baseball! Through this volunteer work, I have met some of the most amazing people in this community and I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with this organization!

Pirate and Princess Party

 I had the honor of attending the Pirate and Princess party presented by the Free Press and Kid-Oh. I was able to meet a lot of kids and help them make pirate or princess hats and pretty princess wands. I also got the chance to meet Elsa and Olaf from Frozen, they were definitely more popular than I was at the party, I mean come on...they came from Disney!!

Until Next Time,
Lauren

Relay for Life

 I had the honor of presenting my platform at the Relay for Life in Mankato on July 17th. I had been working with the Relay for Life committee for a few months now and I was so excited to finally share my message and my story of my cancer scare in order to show the importance of hair donation. I had people coming up to me all night telling me about their donation experiences or when they lost their hair. I was also able to be on KEYC news that night to talk about the importance of starting volunteering at a young age and why I relay!

Love Always,
Lauren

Fun Days Parade

 I had such a blast at the Fun Days Parade in Mankato! I had the honor of going through the parade with Dan from KTOE and we even had a contest to see who got the most shout-outs during the parade.  I happened to win that contest and I also had the pleasure of seeing the Hot 96.7 crew again!

Until Next Time,
Lauren

Red Hot Boom Fireworks with the Mankato Symphony Orchestra

This 4th of July is one I will never forget! I had the opportunity to perform the National Anthem with the Mankato Symphony Orchestra at the Red Hot Boom Fireworks at Riverfront Park! The Mankato Symphony Orchestra is simply fantastic and a true joy to work with. Thank you so much for letting me tag along!

God Bless,
Lauren

Moondogs Game

I'm very glad to say that I have kept myself busy after Miss Minnesota! One of my first duties after the state pageant was to perform the National Anthem at the Moondogs game! I had such a blast and I was able to meet a lot of people from the Mankato community. If you have not been to a Moondogs game yet, I encourage you to do so!!

Until next time,
Lauren

Ready for Miss Minnesota

In just three short days I will be leaving for what could possibly be the most important and life-changing week of my life. I have been so blessed to have had the opportunity to represent the great city of Mankato for the past 6 months and look forward to what the future has in store for me. The past 6 months have been full of platform work, community service, and Miss Minnesota practice. I have been so fortunate to have met so many amazing donors that have contributed to the success of my platform. As of today, I have collected 177 ponytails since being crowned Miss Mankato and 229 ponytails since starting the Miss America Program in August of 2013! I can't wait to see how far I can push my platform and am hopeful to be crowned Miss Minnesota in order to spread the word about my platform to greater distances.

My whole life has been preparing me for the title of Miss Minnesota. I have lived a busy life with a love for community service and I strive to change as many lives as possible. My evening gown is tailored, my talent is perfected, my bags are packed and I am ready to go! Thank you to everyone for your love and support and for those individuals that went above and beyond to help me prepare for this competition. I thought I was ready to be Miss Minnesota last year but now I know that I am ready. I am in the best shape of my life, I am more comfortable speaking in front of others, and I am more confident in myself. My goal is to be your next Miss Minnesota and Miss America, if I am honored with either of these titles, I will spend the rest of my life proving that the judges made the right decision.

I can only hope to do my very best and to make Mankato proud!

Love Always,
Lauren Fellows

New Hair Donation Totals

I am excited to announce that going into the Miss Minnesota competition I have officially collected 171 ponytails since being crowned Miss Mankato in November and 223 ponytails since starting the Miss America Program in August of 2013! I am so excited to share my love for my platform with the judges and share the hard work I have put into it! Thank you to all of my incredible donors!

Love Always,
Lauren

Maple River High School Relay for Life

 This weekend I attended the Maple River High School Relay for Life in Mapleton. I am so honored to have been invited to this wonderful event and have the opportunity to present my platform to the community of Mapleton. I was able to catch up with an old People to People friend of mine, see a relative, and meet the most incredible leaders of Mapleton. Pictured below is a man named Mr. Swanson. He has dedicated many years to the Relay for Life in Mapleton and has taught the students of Maple River High School valuable life lessons. I am also excited to announce that we collected 11 ponytails for my platform!! My new total for my reign as Miss Mankato is 152 ponytails and my total since starting my platform work in August of 2013 is 204 ponytails! I am so blessed to have found so many incredible donors and I am excited to see how many more ponytails I can collect before my year as Miss Mankato is over!
Until Next Time,
Lauren

50+ Lifestyle Expo

 Yesterday I had the honor of attending the 50+ Lifestyle Expo at the Verizon Wireless Center. I spent most of the time greeting visitors at the door and meeting more people from the Mankato community. At that time I was also interviewed on KTOE and was able to talk about what my future goals are. At 3:45 I was able to perform my talent for everyone there. Unfortunately, my talent for Miss Minnesota isn't quite ready yet so I was allowed to bring back my tap dance to "Soul Man" by the Blues Brothers. This event was a great way for me to meet more members of the Mankato community and get to know more of the Radio Mankato family as well.

Race for the Cure

 This Sunday I woke up at 3:45 am to make it to Edina for the Race for the Cure 5k! It was a very chilly morning but it was an honor to join Team Cheryl for this amazing cause. All to many women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and it is time to end it! My muscles were sore and I was very tired by the end of the race but I am so glad I was able to participate.

Raw Fusion 2015

 Yesterday I had the incredible opportunity to represent Hot 96.7 at the Raw Fusion Fashion Show. This fashion show was designed to allow businesses and organizations in the Mankato area to make costumes out of raw materials such as branches, tires, glass, siding, pipes, etc. Every year they pick an organization to raise money for and this year the money went to the Partners for Affordable Housing. Thank you so much to the staff at Hot 96.7 for picking me as your model! It has been a pleasure working with you to put this costume together and I appreciate all of your support throughout my reign! Please come out to Raw Fusion next year and support a wonderful cause while seeing some amazing costumes!!

MACS Night at Loyola

 May 2nd I was able to help out at MACS Night at Loyola High School. They had games, silent auction, a live auction, music, food, and much much more! I spent most of my time greeting people at the door and meeting new people from the Mankato community. This is an amazing event and it was an honor to be able to help out! I almost won the Heads and Tails game but unfortunately I guessed wrong during the last round! I highly encourage others to attend this event next year whether or not you have a connection to Loyola High School!!
Love Always,
Lauren

ABATE Motorcycle Parade

After the Gorilla Fun Run on May 2nd, I got to ride in the ABATE Motorcycle Parade. Every year, they have this parade to remind people that it is "motorcycle season." Every year, too many people are killed or injured in a motorcycle accident. This parade was designed to remind people to pay extra attention on the roads and to be looking out for motorcycles! This parade was such a blast and I plan to participate in the future!

Gorilla Fun Run

 May 2nd I was blessed with the opportunity to volunteer for the Gorilla Fun Run for the Miracle League of North Mankato. I assisted the rest of the crew with participant check-in and registration. I got to meet some of the Miracle League athletes and hang out with the gorillas! The Miracle League of North Mankato is a wonderful organization and I encourage anyone who has a little bit of free time during the summer to volunteer their time to help them out!
Love Always,
Lauren

Winona State University Relay for Life

 Once again, Winona State University went above and beyond my expectations. I had the wonderful opportunity to present my platform at the WSU Relay for Life in April and afterwards I asked the audience if anyone would like to donate their hair in front of everyone. At first we had 10 people (which I was extremely happy with) and it quickly grew to 33 people!! I am so grateful for the opportunity to return to Winona State to promote my platform and I can't thank the WSU Colleges Against Cancer committee enough for bringing me back! It was a late night trying to finish all of the haircuts but thanks to our wonderful stylist, LuAnne, we got it done. Thank you Winona State University for welcoming me back and thank you to all of the donors for participating!!