Market Day Pictures!

Clan of kids playing with a vendor's finger puppets.

Peonies and more. If you try hard enough, you can smell them through the picture.

Helped at the food demo-serving the samples and stirring the sauce. The whole time I was terrified that I wouldn't stir the chutney enough and it'd burn and I would ruin the demo.

Discover You Can kickoff event and demo's rhubarb sauce. Later this week I'll be writing a press release for our Discover You Can series!

Snap peas!

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and soaking in the laziness that is Sunday before heading back to the work week!

-Edwina

Happiness is an Organized Inbox

Confession: Balancing being an orientation leader and having the marketing internship is tough.

See Gmail currently...

Just pitiful. Google alerts. So many labels.

It's hard especially with the internship because as the cliche goes, "you get out of it what you put into it." I want to put my time and energy into it because I love the market's sustainable mission but it's hard when I am not held to specific responsibilities/duties. I make my own rules.

This is completely different from being an orientation leader at the U. They have orienteering down to an art. I was creeping on their website and found their annual report. Did you know there is a National Orientation Directors Association? Yep me neither. We're kind of a big deal. But my duties, down to the minute are scheduled-when to mingle with nervous parents, when to tell first years about the joys of residence halls, and when to bring up serious issues like sex, drugs, & rock and roll.

This weekend I met with the other market intern, Stephanie, who is also a student at the U and is the Education/Outreach intern. Our role is to collab on an event geared for college kids to learn about how to be sustainable, why you should be, and why the market is awesome. SO pumped for this.

And last update, check out MCFM's Facebook album of the pic's I took during the GrazeFest. All on my iPhone too...best impulse purchase.

SO crowded.

Loved these smart girls-great location during the busy market.

Reminded me of my orchestra fundraising days.

Well, going to enjoy my night off and prepare for my 12 hour + day tomorrow. Fingers crossed my CFANS students are just as enjoyable & talkative as my first group was!

-Edwina

First Mill City Press Release

ER Grazefest Press Release

Rainy Farmers Market

(One of the first pictures I sniped of my favorite, CARBS)

This morning I headed out to Mill City decked out in my raincoat, yoga capris, and my watermelon colored crocs (did my dreams come true and I found a work place where it is socially acceptable to wear my favorite outifit?! I think so!)

My job today was to manage the day of event twitter (first time @mcfarmersmkt tweeted pictures! check 'em out), take photos of the market, and help out where needed.

(Best raincoat award goes to this cutie)

(One of my favorite pictures of the mom and daughter watching our food demo. Just epitomizes what the market is all about)

Who would of thought that "helping out wherever needed" would have meant the craziness that was a huge rain and thunderstorm that swept through MPLS. I helped the volunteers, managers, vendors pack up everything, break down tents, and high tail it out of the monsoon. I have never been so soaked.

Before the torrential downpour I really did have a great time getting to know vendors, find out about their newest product, why they love the market, and even exchanged some twitter tips!

(WANT this dress. Workers get a discount...)

(Here's me cheesing! The balloon art guy comes every week right outside the Guthrie and gave me this beautiful piece of art)

-Edwina

Bittersweet Goodbye to K102 and Clear Channel

I just finished my first semester long internship with Clear Channel where I was the promotions intern for K102 and KOOL108.

For our last day, all eight interns and our bosses went out to Rojo-where the atmosphere, margs, and vegetarian tacos were to die for.

My semester working with my favorite country radio station had some ups and downs but I learned so much about myself and the radio industry as a whole.

(Gretchen, another intern, made us all personalized cookies!)

THE PERKS

• Bragging rights to all my fellow country music lovers.
• Worked with one of the largest media companies out there-CLEAR CHANNEL.
• Had informational interviews with the Public Affairs guy for Clear Channel, sat in on a Marketing Mash/social media discussion, and my boss set me up to get coffee with her aunt-who is the PR person for MOA.
• I loved driving the huge Tahoe around that had Taylor's face 10x bigger than normal on the side.
• Saw The Band Perry, Luke Bryan, and Tim McGraw for FREE!

(The boy and I before Tim came on stage)

THE WORK

• I organized all of the prize packages-mailed, called winners, etc.
• A big part of my job was to represent the station at events with clients across the Twin Cities. One of my favorite events was the Snobowl at Hamlake-I was by myself with all my KOOL108 gear and witnessed people being pulled by sleddogs, a vintage snowmobile contest, and did I mention the whole event was on a frozen lake? Oh, how I love Minnesotans.
• Responsible for taking pictures of our onsight set up to show to clients.
• Worked with other interns where you quickly find out to if you clash or work together seamlessly.

SKILLS

• Interacting & engaging with people in person. You had to be stellar at this to rock this job. Sometimes it was a blast to randomly bond with a stranger about the newest Lady Antebellum song (listen here and thank me later) and sometimes it was just a pain to force people over to our beautiful K102 table at events. WHAT?! Who wouldn't want to register to win tickets to WeFest?!
• Learning to work with whatever is thrown at me. During office hours, I experienced a lot of ambiguity (aka random) tasks that had to be done fast and efficiently. I learned what it meant when people said interns must "wear many hats." I helped create a comprehensive list of karaoke bars in the MPLS area (my personal favorite is still good ol Blarns), updated the "Midwest Family Fun" events for the website, and organized applications and due dates for parades around the cities this summer.
• Working well with others is a must. My personal mantra is that you can make anything fun. As Honest Abe once said, "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." I try to make any job, event, office cubicle as fun as possible. If you are going to be sitting with someone for an hour to drive out to Watertown or walk in the St. Paul Parade together-just share random stories, laugh, and have fun.

(Annie, me, and Gretchen working a promotional event for Winstock)

I overhead this at the station during office hours once and it really stuck with me-

K102 needs to have a consistent image-whether you are listening to it on your radio on your commute to work, blasting it out of a boom box at a backyard BBQ, or while talking with some interns at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar.

I am so happy I had the opportunity to help build relationships with listeners with a great station like K102 and help maintain their image to what a great country radio station should be-happy, fun, and all about the listeners :)

(Only the cutest little cowboy ever)

-Edwina