First up, Poultry. One of the previous entertainment coordinators in Minnesota now works for a promotional company. At this year’s Minnesota State Fair, Gold’n Plump chicken was having a contest to crown the poultry prince and princess. Basically it was a contest for young men and women to test their knowledge of the poultry industry. The prize was a $1000 dollar scholarship. Karen hired me to Host/Emcee the contest. There were two other contest categories that had already occurred previously. This part was just question and answer. I introduced the contestants and guided them to the judges that asked the questions. It was an easy gig. It even paid fairly well. Once again proving I’ll do about anything for a buck!
Next… weddings. This year the Minnesota festival held a contest to have a couple get married at the fair. They chose our stage to do the ceremony. Of course that meant that we were going to lose a show. Figures. Anyway, since they were doing this big event they spruced up our stage quite a bit. Extra decorations, flags and plants were just a few of the nice upgrades they did. The event was huge success! Tons of cast and patrons showed up for the wedding. I helped with sound for the wedding. They asked us if they could use our mics, so I hung around to make sure everything worked and nothing disappeared. During the wedding the entertainment director leaned over to me as he looked at the huge crowd and said “Wow, it looks like a Tortuga Show!” It really did.
September also is a big birthday month in my world. Sharon and my birthdays, as well as some of our closest friends are in September. Since my 40th I decided to stop with the crazy giant parties. I think I wrote about it in a journal. It was quite amazing. Anyway, I don’t really need the attention anymore. Let’s face it… I get enough of that every weekend. But I have to say, my 50th will probably be EPIC!
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Since I wasn’t planning anything for my birthday, some of my friends in Minnesota did some very nice things for me. Cakes and alcohol abounded! Special thanks go out to Dennis, Liz, Larry, Tracey, Bob, Sandy, Dani and all the fans that helped get me inebriated for my birthday. Of course, thanks to Ronn and Riki too. I can’t forget my boys.
With my birthday past it’s time to move on to death. Don’t worry it’s not as foreboding as it sounds. The couple I stay with in Minnesota are Jan and Bob. One Sunday on the way home from the festival Jan called me. She told me she hit a deer on the way home. Apparently it really messed up the front of the car. When I got home I could tell she was pretty shaken up. Shortly after that Bob came home and asked me to help him with something. I walked out to his truck and found he had recovered Jan’s obstacle. It was a two year old buck by Bob’s estimate. Believe me when I say that I am no hunter or outdoorsman. He said we had to move the deer quickly so no one saw. I helped him covertly carry the deer into the garage. I felt like I was helping a serial killer dispose of a body. That night Bob stayed up late to dress Jan's kill. The next week we had the best Venison Stew! And it only cost whatever the deductable was on the damage to Jan’s car.
No trip to Minnesota would be complete without some heavy drinking. As a matter of fact I completed my first beer tour while I was there. I am a member of Old Chicago’s world beer tour. If you’re familiar with the restaurant they have this “club” where if you drink all 110 beers you get your name added to a plaque on the wall. It’s called the “Wall of Foam”. Along the way you get shirts, sweaters, watches, coolers and other fun odds and ends. I figured I’m gonna drink the beer anyway, I might as well get some free stuff for it.
During one of my other “outings”, I met my friends Jenn and Scott in a town on the outskirts of the Minneapolis area name Albertville. We had a great time. I probably had more shots that night than I have in the last two years. I guess that’s just what you do when you’re snowed in 8 months out of the year. Something that’s also popular in the great white north is Pulltabs. It a form of gambling that is somewhat akin to the lottery. There’s a big container of these slips that have three tabs you can pull off and reveal if the ticket is a winner or not. In each container there are a certain number of winning slips. They usually range from $1 to $500 bucks. So, mathematically it’s possible to actually win some money. I don’t usually play since my biggest win ever was about $20 bucks. And, that was about 5 years ago. But, since Jenn and Scott were paying for all the shots I figured I’d drop $20 bucks on 20 pull tabs. I went thru about 18 of the pulltabs with no luck but on number 19… BOOM! $100 dollars! Thank you! So free drinks and $100 bucks. I’d say that was a good night.
Next up… October. Time to drive to Kansas City for a weekend with the Blue Team. Then off to North Carolina to visit my friends there and start gearing up for Decorating Elves season.
