Tis the Season: Bell Ringing and Nisswa City of Lights

Happy Holidays! I'm so happy to be able to ring in the season with snowfall, hot coco, and classic Christmas tunes! After enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving at home with my family I was able to kick off the Christmas season with Salvation Army Bell Ringing and the Nisswa City of Lights celebration!

On the Friday after Thanksgiving I decided to skip the black Friday chaos and trade in the customary shopping bags for a bell! Along with my mother I spent the first portion of my day bell ringing for the Salvation Army in front of the Baxter Cub Foods grocery store. It was great to spend some quality time with my mom while doing some good for the community.

After bell ringing, I headed over to one of my favorite little towns Nisswa, Minnesota to celebrate the City of Lights! Nisswa City of Lights in an annual Christmas lighting ceremony where the whole town; buildings, streetlights, fences, and even trees light up the town after dark. I helped kick off the evening by selling blinky necklaces in support of the Nisswa Chamber of Commerce along with fellow royalty, Nisswa Princess Claire Erholtz and Little Miss Nisswa Carly Maine. I had such a great time braving the cold windy weather with these girls, we had a blast catching up as we roamed around town selling our lights…we even had time to duck inside and grab a cup of hot apple cider! Thanks for a great evening girls!

Nisswa Pricess Claire Erholtz and Little Miss Nisswa Carly Maine

With Claire and Frosty!!

I've also been very busy on improving the reach of my platform and information. I've added not only a series of video blogs, but a website and twitter account…feel free to follow me and check it out!

http://marengoff.weebly.com/

 

https://twitter.com/MissBaxter2012

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more exciting news soon!!

Maren Goff

Miss Baxter 2012

 

 

Pageant, Presentation, Vlog!

Hello again! I must concur with the saying “time flies when you’re having fun”, not only have I been having a great fall, I’ve also been having a busy fall! Everything has seemed to fall into place for me in my new home away from home; Moorhead, Minnesota. So far I have been loving life at MSUM (Minnesota State University Moorhead) as it is filled with great people, both staff and students alike. I’ve spent my first few months of school meeting those who I know will become lifelong friends, enjoying campus life, and I even survived midterms! Here’s what I’ve been up to as your Miss Baxter…

On October 13^th I made the scenic trip to beautiful Bemidji, Minnesota for the first ever Miss Northern Lakes Pageant. Upon my arrival I was so pleased to see my good friend and fellow queen, the lovely Miss Thief River Falls Bailey Sorvig! I know that I’ve discussed the feeling of sisterhood between girls in this organization already, but I really don’t think that I can emphasize it enough. I’m so very fortunate to have met so many wonderful young ladies throughout this journey so far; these girls have truly served as both mentors and friends. I am so excited to see how our bond grows as we move towards Miss Minnesota week. I have to offer a great big congratulations to the first ever Miss Northern Lakes Kayla Brown, and the first Miss Northern Lakes Outstanding Teen Maggie Wothe! Congrats Ladies!

The Lovely Miss Thief River Falls, Bailey Sorvig!

 

Congrats Kayla!

Congrats Maggie!

On October 24^th I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to give a presentation on the Miss America Organization, my personal platform and how we can put an end to negative pageant stereotypes to my freshman speech class at MSUM. My speech was a huge success … I really relished the opportunity to speak in front of my peers about topics that I am passionate about, and I believe that I may have inspired some girls to pursue competing in local Miss America Organization Pageants in both Minnesota and North Dakota!

discussing pageant stereotypes

As another point of interest, I recently signed the Cure Pity pledge. Cure pity is a campaign of Gillette Children’s Hospital that is built around the premise that “Children who have disabilities don’t need pity. They need hope, expert medical care and a world that gives them a chance.” (CurePity.org) I encourage everyone to sign this pledge so that we can remove pity from the lives of these children and work to seek action and for their future.

 

http://curepity.org/

And lastly I am excited to launch my series of vlogs (Video Blogs) “Miss Baxter’s Book of the Week”; I will be posting these here along with my regular blog posts. The videos will also be available on my new YouTube channel and on my website which will be launched very soon! Here is video number one, enjoy!

Until next time,

Maren Goff

Miss Baxter 2012