Fair Ambassador gig has unexpected perks

Annika Redell applied to become a Spokane Interstate Fair Ambassador to help pay her way through college at Eastern Washington University.

But the member of Medical Lake's class of 2017 found there were some unexpected perks along the way during her 10-day stint.

The duties included being an official representative of the fair and working at different activities.

Redell joined Maggie Bailey from Freeman, Mead's Maddie Gendreau and Taylor Johnson of Deer Park as the faces of the fair.

Redell said she did not know how many apply, but out of the pool a number of applicants are chosen for interviews.

What convinced judges Redell was one of the final four?

"I really felt it was my people skills, I'm really good at talking with people and public speaking," Redell said. "I think that's something that made me stand out."

Particularly interesting for Redell were duties that centered around entertainment, this year including country music acts Old Dominion and Josh Turner as well as comedian Jeff Foxworthy.

"We didn't get to talk to them a whole lot," Redell said. "Out of all of them, my favorite concert was Old Dominion, but my favorite person to meet was Jeff Foxworthy because he was a really, really cool guy. He's very humble."

Ambassadors had to go on stage prior to the performances and introduce both themselves and the entertainers.

"That's something you can't really do if you are a shy person," Redell said.

Wearing similar attire, ambassadors are the people that get asked questions by fair visitors.

"We looked official so whenever people had questions they asked us," during the fair 10-day run of the event, Redell said.

Their fair days lasted up to 12 hours from 9 a.m. to as late as 9 p.m. with pay in the form of a $500 scholarship, plus meals.

"(I ate) lots of fair food," Redell said."What beats it all was being at the fair for 10 days, I love the fair," Redell said. "Meeting all those celebrities is amazing."

The ambassador group got to do a meet-and-greet backstage and shook hands with those in the acts.

But that little shot of college money will come in quite handy for Redell, who is a sophomore at EWU.

"Right now I'm studying biochemistry because I want to go to med school and become a cardiologist," Redell said.

She always wanted to pursue a degree that made her proud and personally feel accomplished, Redell added.

Previously she considered going to Washington State University to become a veterinarian. Redell even went as far as to work in an area veterinary clinic.

"After working there for a while, I found maybe it wasn't for me," she said.

Her next move was to nursing, but then it was "If I'm going to do something in the medical field, if I'm going to do something medically-related, I'm going to be a doctor," Redell said. "Go big or go home, right?"

In a previous life, the ambassador's program was known as fair royalty, Redell explained.

Now, "Guys can apply too," she said of competition that begins when applications begin to be accepted Dec. 1.

The process involves visiting the website for the Interstate Fair (www.spokanecounty.org/1077/General-Information) and finding the Ambassador link on the left side of the page. Candidates must be at least a junior in high school. up to 20 years of age.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].