Merritt Art Walk 2015

After our interviews came time for a fun and unique way for us to spend some time exploring the city of Merritt as we embarked on the Merritt 2015 art walk. Lucky for us we had two fabulous women who helped organize the event to take us around Merritt to 16 of the 17 locations in just over 2 hours. Which was an incredible feat and an extremely enjoyable way to see our host city. 

For those who don't know Merritt is known as the Country music capital of Canada and has a country music walk of fame similar to the Hollywood stars. Only these are strictly country music stars who had been to the city during one the legendary Merritt mountain music festivals. 


So we got one of the very best ways in which to experience Merritt by walking around th city, learning about the architecture and community as well as embracing the local art culture and stick our hands in countless hand prints (and boot prints) of the rich and famous country music stars. Or at least I did as I tried to high five every hand print. 

During our adventure we not only got to meet several artists one of whom was Lin Sherwood with whom I reigned with in 2009 when she was a Merritt ambassador! 

We also were able to explore the Merritt Museum whilst on our tour and it was as I said my favorite way to become better a quaint ed with the host city of the annual British Columbia ambassador program. 
During our walk we met many people interested in what we were doing or people who just wanted to say hi and good luck. We also had lots of people honk and wave at us. 

As I said I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to go on the 2015 Merritt art walk and collecting stamps in our art books. I also was intrigued by the way art was mixed into local shops providing for some very unique artistic atmospheres. There were displays in stores that I                                                                                            would've probably never visited otherwise! 

After the art walk I continued to have a fabulous day because.... 

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Interviews with Shaw TV Merritt

In the afternoon of August 12th we spent some time doing practice interviews where colleen and Teresa came to talk to us about our community table presentations. In order to prepare for our on camera interviews with Shaw TV Merritt! Once again we went in order and this time everyone got to watch each other as we all stood by our tables whilst we waited our turns to be interviewed.

It was my first interview for TV and first time having a mic attached to me. However I felt fairly confident as I had plenty of media interviews leading up to the pageant. Plus with my time on YouTube and attending Toasmasters I am fairly capable of speaking off the cuff. 

Also we were going in our candidate orders Which for me meant I had basically memorized the interview questions once she got to me #9 lucky last. I had wanted to emphasis that Osoyoos earned the title of having Canada's Warmest Welcome not only by our warm weather but the warm community spirit. I also wanted to emphasis my artistic ability showcasing my Photography, painting En caustic Art, and crafting skills. As well as incorporate the homemade Sunscreen I had made for my fundraising efforts. I also used the bags donated by Watermark Beach resort to decorate the space below my table. 

First Morning in Merritt stressing over the Knowledge Exam

My First Official Morning in Merritt

Taking the British Columbia Knowledge Exam on August 12th

Tuesday started in mass confusion and slight chaos when both Tasha and myself passed out with setting an alarm for the morning. #pageantrookie mistake. Luckily Tasha woke up around 10 to 8 a.m roughly just over 20 minute before we had to be ready to go for the day including having everything we may need with us. 

So as I said it was a flurry of activity as we got ready and threw stuff into day bags. Lucky for me I had passed out in my contacts and instead of dealing with it before I just took my entire toiletries bag with me as you never know when you might need to brush your teeth. 


So alas on our journey to the Merritt civic Centre Tasha and I were silent in the car alongside our British Columbia Ambassador coordinators Colleen and Teresa. Naturally it was a mix of nerves for our British Columbia Knowledge exam and being still half asleep. 

When we arrived at the civic Centre we were treated to the official Welcome to the British Columbia Ambassador pageant banner strung up along the front entrance. 


After breakfast which I don't even remember they moved our tables apart and alas it was time for our 3 hour BC exam. Which was what I was always considering to be the most daunting part of the pageant. 


I've never considered myself and in school I typically would struggle with the exams and always felt incredibly stupid. There have only been one or two exams I walked out of feeling good about. So naturally this knowledge exam terrified me from the very start. 


I worked as hard as I could trying to learn the material including attempting to read our study guide once a day sometimes even reading it backwards. I also went through and typed up a historic time line as well as wrote blogs and trivia posts. 

I also used outside material from watching YouTube videos to reading non fiction and fiction books about British Columbia including a BC Bathroom reader and several dear Canada BC based diaries. 


I also wrote flash cards but didn't use them instead using my time to just read the study guide cover to cover as much as possible! Lastly I also made copies of the study guide and used white out and didfill in the blanks. I even created full color sketches of our Provincial coat of arms and flag. I even made knowledge exam vision boards and goal plans. 


So I literally studied harder than ever before!!!! And i walked into the exam absolutely terrified but decided to let the pressure go as soon as we got our exams and simply promised myself i would be proud no matter what so long as i tried my best. 

Slowly one by one My fellow candidates handed their exams in and left the room. Until it was myself and another girl before finally it was just me. After leaving many blanks and simple guesses i eventually reminded myself that i wasn't focusing on horrible pressure and after one last review i declared to myself that i had done my absolute best and handed it In. 

I am extremely proud of how much i accomplished and spoiler i received one of the top 3 highest scores on our exam and was given a medal for my effort. Which was a total shock for me and an extremely proud moment. 


Anyway after I left the exam room I headed straight for my table to finish it before..... 
and you have to tune in for what we did that afternoon! !!

First Night in Merritt During the BC Ambassador Pageant Week

First Night in Merritt on August 11th

During the 2015 BC Ambassador Pageant Week

After Dinner it was finally time to get our Hotel rooms at the Ramada Limited Merritt  and learn who our Roommates would be during our week in Merritt. I learned that I was too room with Latasha Webster from Lytton  in our fabulous room #107 

We were finally given some downtime before our First trip into Downtown Merritt. I spent the time filling Tasha in as she had missed our candidate meeting. We decided to keep our schedule posted on the t.v Dresser so we could both see it. Meanwhile I settled in apparently making myself quite at home. Having even brought my vision boards with me. 

I have to admit I once again slightly over packed and spent quite a bit of time organizing my room and fully taking over the closet & all 10 hangers plus using several of my own. Luckily Tasha was a sweet & chill roomie and didn't complain. 

During our downtime I also spent time counting out all of the money I had raised through out my 6 month candidacy. As we were to submit it to Teresa and Colleen before taking off for our first Mystery trip on the Town! During which time I counted out that I had managed to raise over $1000 for the British Columbia Ambassador Program!

 As I was Candidate #9 and therefor lucky last, after I had submitted my money it was time to go to..... WALMART for the first of our daily Walmart runs. 

During our time at Walmart Tasha and I were smart and grabbed plenty of drinks including a case of ice Tea and a Case of water. However we didn't really think of snacks and since I had to ditch a vast majority of my snack bag [the whole over packing thing] we stock piled whatever treats I did throw in my bag to tide us over whilst we spent the evening studying for our BC Knowledge Exam! 

I studied for awhile with Tasha before we were invited

to a study session at the room next door. I decided to go although tasha was too tired to join us. 

I really enjoyed myself during our study session which included my fellow Osoyoos Candidate Viveka , Kelsey from Oliver, Tea from Keremeos and Ethan from New Denver. The three other candidates were studying in their own rooms. It was the first time I had really had the chance  to get to know everyone besides Viveka, which was really nice as a vast majority of everyone in our group had reigned together & seemed to know each other really well. It was also the first time I felt like I had a good grasp on the material as everyone borrowed the Historic timeline I had typed & printed out going from 10,000 BC to 2015 and adding fast facts. 

After I left them I studied a bit more on my own as Tasha and I watched the  night news, before we both ended up passing out to the food network. Which may have set us up for an early morning disaster right before taking the knowledge exam..... 

Lastly, I have to say thank you to the Merritt Ramada LTD for having such heavenly mattresses for us to sleep on. I HIGHLY Recommend this hotel in Merritt! 

First Day of Pageant Week In Merritt

First Day of Pageant Week in Merritt

How we spent our first afternoon in Merritt on August 11th

After signing our contracts we set up our Green room space before being told it was time to set up our Community Table Displays. Which frankly did not go so well for me. I was extremely stressed out from a lack of sleep, food, and over all concern about my mom having to see a mechanic to have the van checked out. Which by the way my mom doesn't have a cell phone so I couldn't really communicate with her as to what was going on. 

So naturally I struggled with setting up my community table quite a bit. Meanwhile my fellow candidates seemed to have their tables set up instantly. 

Meanwhile after all the other tables felt as if they had magically appeared and were completely finished this is what I felt like I had managed to accomplish, which was not a super great feeling. 

On a Slightly happier note as we were setting up our community table displays our two British Columbia Ambassador Program Coordinators Colleen & Teresa came around and presented us with our community banners! 

This naturally helped with my stress level a bit as  I did feel like I had at least accomplished one thing. After we were given our banners I briefly got to see my mom who came to tell me the mechanic was currently doing a test drive on the van. Which helped with my stress a bit before I headed off for dinner. 

After I had been presented my banner I kept working hard at my table but after what seemed like only a few minutes to work on it, had turned into over an hour of our afternoon it was time for our first meal! Which was cooked by the fabulous Anna Brown & Her team of cooks.  We had Nachos & a few other things [wish I had taken pictures at every meal!!!!] but basically we were fed like royalty the entire time whilst in Merritt and were treated to these fabulous home cooked meals each day! 

After this it was time to check into our hotel & Find out who our roommies would be for the week! Alas you will have to await this cliff hanger as I will be doing Day One part three about the first evening in Merritt for the next post! 

Leaving Osoyoos & arriving in Merritt for Pageant week

BC Ambassador Week Day 1 ~ August 11th, 2015     Leaving Osoyoos & arriving in Merritt 

Early on August 11th I alongside my Mom set out for the what seemed like a very short drive to Merritt [as compared to when we set off for the journey to get to the Candidates Meeting.]

We had to stop just a few doors down the street from my house to pack up my Community table where one of my neighbors had kindly allowed me to set up and continually work on my Community Table display on a table in her garage. Which was immensely helpful!

After we went back to my house to grab my suitcases & Say good-bye to my Dad and my dog Thomas we were off. Slightly latter than we had hoped to be on the road but never the less we had assumed we had plenty of time!

During the car ride  I stayed in the backseat re-packing [I had over packed as per usual] as well as studying & going over my speeches. It was a car ride where I did not listen to music and remained focused. The trip went well even though it was quite a blur & I didn't really take note of very much.

That is until we got towards the top of the coquihalla Highway when weird lights started appearing on the car. Unfortunately one evening the car manual was stolen when someone broke into the car. So to decipher the weird lights I was using google wherever there was service as well as getting important phone numbers if we needed them. This tiny incident ended up seriously stressing me out as the time crunch to get to Merritt by 1 p.m started creeping faster.

However when it was all said and done the car got us to Merritt just a few minutes after 1 p.m when we were supposed to be there. From this point on  I honestly don't remember much about the afternoon only that our Candidate Meeting discussing the schedule & signing Candidate week contracts is an extremely fuzzy memory....