“What’s News”?
At the AELC?

  The fair is over and for those of you who didn’t get a chance to see the AELC booth, well, there’s always next year! We had a booth in the Number Two building. Which is the building right next to the industrial building; it just doesn’t have a name. Kirsten and I set up on Wednesday morning, carrying the heaviest table we could find from the Nature Center. The display board had been finished; however, the pictures didn’t want to stay on it so everything needed to be stapled in every corner. Once the table and board were set up, Kirsten went to work and I ran back to the Nature Center for everything I’d forgotten.
  My dad came to the booth at 8:00 am to tell me how it looked. I wasn’t there. Kirsten and I arrived at the fairgrounds a little after 9:00 am. He was very helpful. I’d remembered stuffed animals for the drawing, but I’d forgotten pens to write with and a bucket to put names in. He was most helpful in reminding me of a few other things I’d forgotten as well. So despite my boasting of doing the booth on my own, I had some help. Thanks dad.
 All week I was at the fair on the grounds walking the kids around. We had a system, two laps on the midway then we check the booth. My sister-in-law, 8 years old, had her own system. Every time I’d check the AELC booth, she’d visit with the other vendors and get free stickers, candy, whatever they would give her. Finally, after catching on, we had to tell her “no more”.
 Every night on one of our rounds, we drew a name for a stuffed animal wearing an AELC t-shirt. I called the winners to let them know, but never seemed to have a camera on me when I needed one. My favorite winner was an 8-year-old girl who had to come out to the nature center to pick up her prize. Her grandparents brought her out without telling her where they were going. I had the privilege to tell her she won the body pillow dog. She then screamed, jumped all over the place knocking down a chair and grabbed that dog like she would never let it go. The drawing was a success.
  On Saturday, I brought the Safari Tour Van to the fairgrounds so that interested fair visitors would be able to get a tour of the Fertile Sand Hills. I had lined up drivers for Saturday and Sunday and brought the keys to the fair office so that our drivers would be able to get the keys without having to worry about finding me. Well, I forgot to tell anyone where the keys were. So the unfortunate driver, I was told, searched for the keys for an hour.
 So I had a few bumps throughout the fair and am ready to wait all year for next time. I am excited, though, that there was a lot of interest in the Agassiz ELC booth. It shows that people still have an interest in nature. We still care what happens to the forests that some of us can see from our homes. Thank you for you interest and support. To contact the office for more information about the AELC, please call 218-945-3129 or e-mail aelc@gvtel.com Thanks.