Latest / 2MC / 2MC Podcast Eps 58 - Let's Talk Tourism!

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2MC Podcast Eps 58 - Let's Talk Tourism! · 2MC

• 00:00:06:07 - 00:00:07:16 MAK Hey everybody, it's MAK 00:00:07:19 - 00:00:10:25 Courtney And I'm Courtney. Welcome back to 2MC 00:00:10:25 - 00:00:13:23 MAK I'm all hopped up today. I feel two feathers and a lot. 00:00:13:23 - 00:00:15:19 Courtney Of sugar, but we didn't. 00:00:15:22 - 00:00:16:09 MAK Know. 00:00:16:11 - 00:00:18:19 Courtney Which is shocking because I feel like we're like. 00:00:18:21 - 00:00:21:10 MAK 00:00:21:12 - 00:00:22:13 MAK Yeah, I don't know. 00:00:22:17 - 00:00:24:00 Courtney Well, you just unlocked yourself. 00:00:24:00 - 00:00:26:18 MAK Think it's so cool. Guest today. 00:00:26:21 - 00:00:32:04 Courtney Oh, maybe that's why. But also, before we jump into that, this is our weekly podcast. 00:00:32:08 - 00:00:33:00 MAK Of course it is. 00:00:33:00 - 00:00:34:16 Courtney And, you can check it out. 00:00:34:16 - 00:00:36:01 MAK We will see. 00:00:36:04 - 00:00:39:27 Courtney Yes. Martin county government, local events, happenings. 00:00:40:00 - 00:00:43:20 MAK Yeah. All right. Here we're highlighting departments and projects and services. 00:00:43:20 - 00:00:47:28 Courtney And you can listen watch whatever other thing. 00:00:47:28 - 00:00:48:15 MAK That's it. 00:00:48:18 - 00:00:52:14 Courtney Yeah. Okay. Back to our. We have a visitor today. 00:00:52:17 - 00:00:53:02 MAK Yes. 00:00:53:02 - 00:00:56:04 Courtney Special guest. And award winning. 00:00:56:06 - 00:00:57:10 MAK Okay. 00:00:57:12 - 00:00:59:24 Courtney Nerissa she is our tourism director. 00:00:59:27 - 00:01:14:22 MAK Yeah. They have a tiny, tiny team, but a very mighty team. Yep. And they're part of. They're part of the board of county commissioners are part of the county? Yeah. I think people, don't necessarily think about that or understand that. Yeah. 00:01:14:22 - 00:01:21:18 Courtney So let's tell them why they should know. Let's go. Because Nerissa's got all the answers. She does. 00:01:21:20 - 00:01:22:07 MAK We're back. 00:01:22:14 - 00:01:26:09 Courtney We are. And we are here with Nerissa She's our tourism director. 00:01:26:13 - 00:01:28:24 MAK Yes, Nerissa. Okay. She's an award winning. 00:01:28:24 - 00:01:29:04 Nerissa She and her. 00:01:29:04 - 00:01:30:28 MAK Team. Oh, our award winning. 00:01:30:29 - 00:01:31:23 Nerissa Thanks for having me. 00:01:31:23 - 00:01:35:06 Courtney Award winning. That should go up in the sky. 00:01:35:09 - 00:01:37:08 Nerissa On the work. Very hard for the county. 00:01:37:11 - 00:01:44:21 MAK We do. We do talk to us about travel dollars and tourism and what why is that important to our community? 00:01:44:24 - 00:02:03:15 Nerissa So tourism is part of the county. A lot of people don't really realize that, but we are a department within the county. It was brought in several years ago. And that's really important because although we're part of the county, we're completely funded separately. So we're funded off of bed tax. So visitors who come and stay pay a bed tax, you pay that wherever you go. 00:02:03:15 - 00:02:11:03 Nerissa But that bed tax goes to our office and we use it for marketing and promotion. But we also use it for, things that directly benefit our residents, which is kind of cool. 00:02:11:10 - 00:02:16:16 MAK So, some of those things are like beach nourishment. Oh, you have money that goes to parks. 00:02:16:16 - 00:02:17:01 Nerissa Yes. 00:02:17:01 - 00:02:17:13 MAK Right. 00:02:17:13 - 00:02:36:23 Nerissa So every year $500,000 goes to our coastal program for beach and inlet dredging for the inlet dredging. Okay. And then 400,000 goes to parks for beach projects. And that can be beach cleaning. That can be any work that Kevin and his team are working on. So that's $900,000 every year. Goes to beach projects. 00:02:36:29 - 00:02:37:21 MAK That's incredible. 00:02:37:21 - 00:02:38:12 Courtney That's awesome. 00:02:38:15 - 00:03:03:14 Nerissa And then we have an additional, 12% that's used for sports marketing, but that's used for enhancements to facilities that our residents get to use. For example, we put in, scoreboards at Sailfish Splash. We put in the speakers at how Patio Key, we put in high speed internet at the Sailfish Ballpark in Stuart, and we did it at Pineapple Park in Jensen Beach. 00:03:03:16 - 00:03:13:20 Nerissa We have temporary fencing. Yeah, because we bring, anything that will enhance the venue for a sport event. We make enhancements to those facilities or docks, parks, etc.. 00:03:13:20 - 00:03:19:26 MAK So we're talking, swim meets. Correct. Softball tournament, like travel teams. 00:03:19:26 - 00:03:22:05 Courtney Yeah. Travel teams. That's so. 00:03:22:05 - 00:03:22:21 MAK Cool. Yeah. 00:03:22:21 - 00:03:27:18 Nerissa Marathon's the marathon of the Treasure Coast is coming up. So, those events. 00:03:27:18 - 00:03:29:10 MAK Are fun running right? 00:03:29:12 - 00:03:30:19 Courtney Yeah. 00:03:30:21 - 00:03:32:17 MAK Just shoot a slide in place. 00:03:32:20 - 00:03:44:19 Nerissa I was going to say, really? But yes, we have a reimbursement program that goes towards getting those events here. And then we do facility enhancements that people Year-Round can use even when they're not being used for events. 00:03:44:24 - 00:03:49:21 Courtney So it's a benefit to visitors, but also to residents that live in Martin County. Yeah. 00:03:49:24 - 00:03:56:07 Nerissa And in the last ten years, we funded the, expansion of the US selling center there, classrooms. 00:03:56:10 - 00:04:00:08 MAK We had a big, regatta. Yeah. I mean, this weekend I've. 00:04:00:09 - 00:04:05:16 Nerissa Yeah they do. They have forgot us all the time. That's international regattas comes incredible. And Martin County. 00:04:05:17 - 00:04:09:11 MAK Can be perfect weather for it. I know you ordered that. Yeah. 00:04:09:14 - 00:04:24:29 Nerissa Love to order the great weather. Actually, we really do like when the weather's good. And then we funded, we gave some money that went to Florida Oceanographic for their beautiful coastal center. If you haven't been there, it's really nice on the summer. It's great because it is one of the air conditioned places, which we like that. 00:04:25:01 - 00:04:33:29 Nerissa And then we gave some money for the wildlife center. And then years ago, money had gone to the Elliott when they moved their location. So tourism help funds these things that we get to enjoy year round. 00:04:34:02 - 00:04:41:06 MAK And not only just funding those projects and services, but you're talking jobs right here in our. 00:04:41:06 - 00:04:43:26 Nerissa Community. Yeah, over 8000 jobs are supported by tourism. 00:04:44:00 - 00:04:44:19 MAK 00:04:44:22 - 00:04:46:12 Courtney Well it's amazing. 00:04:46:14 - 00:04:47:16 MAK How. Yep. 00:04:47:16 - 00:04:50:15 Courtney That's so economic benefits. 00:04:50:15 - 00:04:51:01 MAK Yeah. 00:04:51:03 - 00:04:52:06 Courtney To the community. 00:04:52:06 - 00:04:52:27 MAK Projects. 00:04:52:27 - 00:04:57:25 Courtney Projects providing jobs I mean there's like a lot that goes into tourism. 00:04:57:27 - 00:04:58:25 MAK Just don't think about. Yeah. 00:04:58:25 - 00:05:26:09 Nerissa Wait we track that. So on an annual basis there's almost $600 million of tourism spending that comes into our community. And so that's really important for, for us with everything that we do, we have 67,000, 67 million, dollars worth of state and local tax that comes in because of the tourists that come in. And we're talking not the in-state Floridian traffic, which increases that we're looking at. 00:05:26:12 - 00:05:30:20 MAK Do look at local the state of Florida. 00:05:30:22 - 00:05:31:16 Nerissa Very differently. 00:05:31:18 - 00:05:34:12 MAK Staycation type thing. Yeah. 00:05:34:12 - 00:05:44:17 Nerissa So we do visit Florida and their measurement is all out-of-state okay. So out-of-state individuals coming in. So any of the numbers you see we use for tourism are out of state funding that comes in to the community. 00:05:44:19 - 00:05:45:17 MAK And that was oh go ahead. 00:05:45:24 - 00:06:00:23 Courtney Well I was going to say. So when you guys have the the funding come in and you guys use it for different projects, that ultimately saves the taxpayer dollars, right? Because you're putting money into projects that ultimately like taxpayers would have to pay for or whatnot. Yeah. 00:06:00:29 - 00:06:16:07 Nerissa And you could see that the influx of spending that comes in like your favorite restaurant, like, I love to go out to eat, but I can't go out to eat every night. But if there weren't visitors coming in and other people coming in and eating at those restaurants, how are they going to survive? Sure. I mean, we like to talk about some of the smaller things, like dry cleaner. 00:06:16:07 - 00:06:36:27 Nerissa You don't necessarily think of a dry cleaner being impacted by tourism, but if people are going to the restaurant, the linens need to get cleaned and then that benefits the dry cleaner. But if the tourists aren't coming, you don't need to do as much laundry. So then the dry cleaner isn't making as much to support their family. Yeah, so you got to look at it from the direct spending and then the indirect. 00:06:36:27 - 00:06:40:29 Nerissa And then we call it the induced spending or the induced benefit that comes through. 00:06:41:01 - 00:06:43:19 Courtney Okay. I never would have thought of it that way either. 00:06:43:24 - 00:06:45:10 MAK Yeah. Yeah. Cool. 00:06:45:13 - 00:06:54:25 Courtney That is really cool. And you guys also, I know not just you guys also have like arts or natural money. Yeah. 00:06:54:28 - 00:07:18:02 Nerissa So that is a great direct if you want to talk direct resident visit. Yeah. Resident benefit we created Explore Natural Martin I think it was about three years ago and we developed it with Leave No Trace, the center for outdoor Exploration. It was really important that we build the program first, following those principles before we invited anybody into our conservation area. 00:07:18:02 - 00:07:22:06 Nerissa Sure. Because those are environmentally sensitive. So explore Natural Martin was created. 00:07:22:06 - 00:07:23:18 MAK And we're all about conservation. 00:07:23:19 - 00:07:39:27 Nerissa All about conservation. We love the sales tax that's coming through because we're acquiring more land. And that program takes place, year round. There's events weekly and they're for visitors and residents. So there's dedicated spots for residents and dedicated spots for visitors. 00:07:40:00 - 00:07:56:02 MAK And one of my two of my favorite programs, I would say, let's talk about accessibility first. Yes. Because that's something that you guys have been heavily invested in. Yes. Seeing the value and travel for all. Yes. And what does that look like? 00:07:56:02 - 00:08:14:22 Nerissa So we worked with a partner or a company. It was a visit Florida co-op that we did about three years ago. And that company is called Wheel the World. And it's great for any of our listeners, if you have any kind of mobility issues, if you're on a scooter, maybe you broke your leg. Check out wheel, the Worldcom in general for wherever you're going to be used. 00:08:14:22 - 00:08:16:13 MAK That so yes. 00:08:16:16 - 00:08:38:28 Nerissa Mobility comes in all shapes, sizes, forms, and duration. Yep. Yes. But will the world cams in. And they've done several of our hotels, our restaurants, even our, our environmental preserves are on will the world and they measure everything from how how tall is the bed, what is the length, of the door. So if you have a scooter, you have any mobility issues. 00:08:38:28 - 00:09:00:10 Nerissa You know exactly what you need, right? For your for your comfort. Right? Right. And it's not a yay nay ada accessible. It's. Here are the facts. This is what the place looks like. They're very technical pictures. And you can make your own decision. And they went out and they did several of our parks as well. Like this is the type of, ground covering. 00:09:00:10 - 00:09:21:02 Nerissa That's the why these are the this is a boardwalk. It's best suited for these type of wheels. If you have, you know, like mobility assisted device, if you have a wheelchair, scooter or something like that. So we did that with Will the world, our children's museum, the Elliot, all of those attractions as well. Florida Oceanographic are also measured into part in that program. 00:09:21:02 - 00:09:23:02 Nerissa So accessibility is really important that way. 00:09:23:02 - 00:09:27:09 MAK People just don't think of everything that you guys are touching. Yeah. 00:09:27:11 - 00:09:40:20 Nerissa Then the other thing we are our entire office is autism certified. So we are autism certified and we work with, especially the Children's Museum and Florida Oceanographic is doing but accessible, travel for anyone who's on the spectrum. 00:09:40:20 - 00:09:44:19 MAK And I think you were saying that the Children's Museum has recently installed some. 00:09:44:19 - 00:10:10:02 Nerissa They have a quiet room, they have additional exhibits. They have, sensory friendly our every month. And we really leaned in to doing accessibility based on how successful they were with their program. So that's really important as well for us. And then we have for anyone who's got any visual impairments, it's a program called Aria. And basically it's like you're FaceTiming with somebody and they walk you through. 00:10:10:02 - 00:10:31:22 Nerissa So Martin County CEO yeah, Martin counties geofencing. So if you're searching online, Aria has X amount of hours free for any user who needs it. Oh that's amazing. And then after that it's pay to play. But Martin County has covered the cost of if you're searching for Martin County or once you're inside Martin County, everything is covered. If you use the Aria app because we're one of their partners. 00:10:31:24 - 00:10:32:24 Courtney Oh that's amazing. 00:10:33:01 - 00:10:49:15 Nerissa And it's simple things like you have your phone, it's like FaceTime, like step to the right, step to the left. This is what you're looking at. This exhibit is of, you know, right now the Elliot has the King Tut. Yeah. So this is what you're looking at. So you have a real life person who can guide you through, if you have any visual, impairments. 00:10:49:15 - 00:10:52:22 Nerissa So, yeah, we do, we touch a lot of things. We really try to do a lot here. 00:10:52:28 - 00:11:00:04 MAK And, I believe for our four legged friend. Yeah. The bark ranger. Park ranger? 00:11:00:04 - 00:11:00:14 Courtney Yeah. 00:11:00:14 - 00:11:10:01 Nerissa So that is. And again, we have an incredible eco team, that's doing that. Emily, who is split between ecosystems and public works, is actually right. 00:11:10:03 - 00:11:11:01 MAK It's a perfect company. 00:11:11:03 - 00:11:30:26 Nerissa Perfect combination. Yeah. She's out in the field right now with public works, and they're scouting the locations for the Greenway Trail, which connects from Maine all the way down to Florida. So we are part of that. But they worked with the East Coast Greenway Trail, the MPO, public works to get signage to determine what that route looks like. 00:11:30:26 - 00:11:39:06 Nerissa And she's going to be installing signs all along the way. So you'll see the signs of the East Coast Greenway that pop up and tourism was involved, that you guys. 00:11:39:08 - 00:11:39:21 MAK Paid for those. 00:11:39:21 - 00:11:40:11 Nerissa Signs and everything. 00:11:40:15 - 00:11:42:16 MAK Hey, what about the the Bark ranger? 00:11:42:20 - 00:11:56:07 Nerissa So you mentioned park ranger. So Bark rangers done with our eco tourism program and we thought it was really important that, you know, people have for babies. They love to travel. This is true with their four legged friends. And we don't want to. 00:11:56:10 - 00:11:57:20 MAK You want you want to encourage you. 00:11:57:20 - 00:12:06:01 Nerissa You want to encourage that. And you want to make sure that rather than scolding somebody, if they're doing something that's not best for our land, that you're rewarding. 00:12:06:01 - 00:12:10:01 MAK It, right? Again, the conservation like making sure that we're protected. 00:12:10:03 - 00:12:24:11 Nerissa Right? Yes, exactly. So park rangers actually based on a national parks program, it's badger waste always unleashed. Respect wildlife and know where you're going. So you can sign your four legged friend up to be a little park ranger. It's free. There's no charge for that. Cute. 00:12:24:16 - 00:12:25:16 Courtney And they get a little. 00:12:25:16 - 00:12:27:22 Nerissa Bandana, and then they get a one. 00:12:27:23 - 00:12:28:11 MAK This one? 00:12:28:14 - 00:12:29:11 Courtney Yeah. One does have. 00:12:29:11 - 00:12:29:27 MAK One. Yes. 00:12:29:27 - 00:12:39:27 Nerissa Then they get a little, park ranger dog tag that was made locally, and it has the little logo on it. So we're rewarding them for being respectful to the environment when they're out with their dog. 00:12:39:29 - 00:12:42:24 MAK Yes, yes. But nothing for cats. 00:12:42:26 - 00:12:43:12 Nerissa Well, I. 00:12:43:12 - 00:12:44:14 MAK Mean, I mean, you're a cat. 00:12:44:14 - 00:12:58:10 Nerissa Lady. I do have cats. I mean, if you could get them on a leash, I wouldn't call her a crazy cat. And I said, you know, I got that a while ago. Yeah. The cats really aren't out in the environment. Not so much. Not so much as dogs. And, you know, we travel as much with your cat. 00:12:58:10 - 00:12:59:01 MAK I don't that's. 00:12:59:01 - 00:12:59:20 Courtney True. 00:12:59:22 - 00:13:01:09 Nerissa They don't. They like to be left alone. 00:13:01:10 - 00:13:06:24 MAK Yes I do, mine is comes to me for food. Yeah, that's about it. And, the occasional pet. 00:13:07:02 - 00:13:07:27 Courtney And they independent. 00:13:07:28 - 00:13:13:00 Nerissa For those who have children. Children. We have the Treasure Coast kids quest. 00:13:13:01 - 00:13:14:03 MAK I forgot about them. 00:13:14:06 - 00:13:33:15 Nerissa Yeah, ours are getting older, so. Yes. They're not cute and little. That's for the younger kids. Yeah. They go to several locations along the Treasure Coast Kids quest, and at the end, they get a little swag bag. And we have a cute little activity book for them to do to keep them, you know, active and busy. And it's a good thing, like go to the children's museum, you go to the Elliott, you go to Sailfish Splash. 00:13:33:15 - 00:13:36:16 Nerissa These are things you can do and you get a reward at the end of it. 00:13:36:18 - 00:13:37:16 MAK So fun. 00:13:37:19 - 00:13:38:24 Courtney I wish we could do it. 00:13:38:27 - 00:13:40:16 Nerissa You can, we can. 00:13:40:19 - 00:13:41:06 Courtney Yes. 00:13:41:12 - 00:13:43:12 MAK Right. Yeah. I'm going to go to the lobby and get my. 00:13:43:12 - 00:13:45:12 Courtney We could just borrow my nephew. 00:13:45:14 - 00:13:46:04 MAK Yes. 00:13:46:07 - 00:13:49:09 Courtney Here, come with us. We're going to take you to all the fun places in Martin County. 00:13:49:09 - 00:13:51:00 Nerissa And then at the end, he gets a little bag of stuff. 00:13:51:06 - 00:13:57:12 MAK Yeah. What else? What? I've only covered. I feel like we've covered a ton, and I learned a lot. I didn't know about the. What's it called? Aria. 00:13:57:13 - 00:14:00:00 Courtney Aria. Yeah. Wow. That is really. 00:14:00:00 - 00:14:01:02 Nerissa And will the world is. 00:14:01:02 - 00:14:02:17 Courtney And we'll do that. When I knew. 00:14:02:18 - 00:14:25:07 Nerissa All the sensory friendly events that we have here. And then to support the businesses with tourism, we have an entirely separate website. Protect our paradise.com, which is our advocacy website, and that has more of the factual information, like we were the first, tourism organization. I want to say in the United States, definitely in Florida, that signed the sustainable pledge. 00:14:25:07 - 00:14:41:14 Nerissa Yes. So it has information about that and what we've done in the steps we're taking to make sure that conservation and we're protecting the area and that we're being responsible when we're inviting people into our our homes. Yeah. Outdoor homes. So that has all the technical information, but it also has training programs that we've done for businesses. 00:14:41:14 - 00:14:46:01 Nerissa So if you are anything that's tourism facing and is. 00:14:46:03 - 00:14:48:01 MAK Working on some, I we. 00:14:48:02 - 00:15:05:10 Nerissa Created an incredible eye training. Some of that information is on there as well. And that's just how to be businesses can be more savvy with different programs. We had a Google program like how to optimize your listing, how to respond to negative reviews. So that's really important as well. We're getting ready to roll out some additional program. 00:15:05:10 - 00:15:15:02 Nerissa So we're always trying to keep the industry, give them as much information as a as we can because the better they're able to market themselves it helps all of us. Sure. 00:15:15:04 - 00:15:15:21 Courtney Yeah. 00:15:15:23 - 00:15:16:00 Nerissa Work. 00:15:16:00 - 00:15:36:23 MAK Really well. I feel like we talk about our legacy industries, marine and aviation and tourism. I consider it as well. I do too. Yeah. I mean, I think it it adds a ton of value. And when we speak with Andrew at the airport, he talks about, you know, people coming in and the economic impacts of the flights coming in and clearing customs and all. 00:15:36:23 - 00:15:42:15 MAK But it always has that additional piece of they're coming out into our business community. 00:15:42:15 - 00:15:43:02 Nerissa 100%. 00:15:43:02 - 00:15:45:16 MAK Going to our restaurants or staying in our hotels. 00:15:45:19 - 00:15:50:13 Nerissa They're out exploring. They're yes, yes, they're getting to really enjoy what makes us so special. 00:15:50:15 - 00:15:54:28 MAK And makes sense that you guys are part of Martin County. Like when you look at the county. Yes. 00:15:55:00 - 00:15:57:18 Courtney Yeah. Like whole picture. Yes. Yeah. 00:15:57:20 - 00:16:15:01 Nerissa The other cool thing is for any business that is tourism facing, if you have any events you can just go on discover martin.com which is our website. There's an event tab. Click that and then you click submit an event and you put your event on there. There's again we're part of the county so there's no cost for that. 00:16:15:04 - 00:16:21:21 Nerissa Some organizations our membership isn't driven. When we look at tourism destinations or dmos. 00:16:21:21 - 00:16:22:02 MAK We call. 00:16:22:02 - 00:16:26:02 Nerissa Ourselves how they're set up a destination marketing organization. 00:16:26:04 - 00:16:27:05 MAK Yes. 00:16:27:08 - 00:16:42:14 Nerissa But it's free to add a any event if you're doing a special offer, if you're running a happy hour or whatever it may be, you know, you can add that under submit an event or add a special offer. And we send a newsletter out every month to over 40,000. 00:16:42:15 - 00:16:43:16 MAK You just send it. Yeah. 00:16:43:19 - 00:16:54:08 Nerissa Yeah yeah. And we we have two newsletters. We have one that's solely eco phase. So if you're only interested in the eco tourism programs that are coming up and then we have the main Discover Martin one, which is just a little, 00:16:54:10 - 00:17:11:03 MAK Collection of everything going on. Yeah. Well, I love I love their website for the you know, you said like all the events that happens and things that are going on and we use that in our program. Yeah. To for people who are just living here or if they have friends and visitors coming in. So it's a great value. 00:17:11:09 - 00:17:11:16 MAK Yeah. 00:17:11:16 - 00:17:23:29 Nerissa A lot of what we do people don't see because unfortunately, while we do have our residential component Explorer, Natural Martin is for residents. We definitely impact the residential quality of life. Yes. We're not marketing to our residents. 00:17:23:29 - 00:17:28:09 MAK No, but but our residents are seeing the benefits. The benefits. Yeah, I realize. 00:17:28:09 - 00:17:29:28 Nerissa Evelyn. Yeah. How you. 00:17:29:28 - 00:17:30:12 MAK Guys. 00:17:30:17 - 00:17:52:24 Nerissa Write like a duck. You know, you're just gliding along, but underneath where, you know, we're paddling furiously. And then we do a lot of different campaigns to tie into different things. We always have a Martin memories, which is our winter campaign. And then, Ian, who's incredible on our team, does a experiential guide. So it's about giving the gift of experiences and then we tie that into, you can get a membership here. 00:17:52:24 - 00:18:11:08 Nerissa You can do that. So that has a residential component really. Right. You know, join the Martin Arts right. And join an organization. You know, become a founder or not founder but a member. Yeah. Different partnership level. And that benefits them. So there's programing going on year round. So we do do a lot with that. And then we have our no. 00:18:11:08 - 00:18:18:10 Nerissa I campaign, which we actually love, unboxed. We were very excited. We unboxed two awards for that. We love awards do and 00:18:18:12 - 00:18:26:01 MAK Talk about the awards. We can I mean we said award winning at the beginning. I am talking like a full page over like. 00:18:26:07 - 00:18:28:20 Courtney 3636. 00:18:28:20 - 00:18:31:14 Nerissa And 2025. 00:18:31:14 - 00:18:33:14 MAK I mean, these are international awards. 00:18:33:14 - 00:18:40:20 Nerissa So we've been, recognized as being a sustainable destination. We love we beat out California. We love when we beat out the big guy. 00:18:40:20 - 00:18:41:09 MAK Yeah, right. 00:18:41:11 - 00:19:05:07 Nerissa Tiny budget. And we're working really hard. We won for our Explorer Natural Martin video series. We have one for the. No, I just, which is no, I needed.com. Which is a funny play, but that'll get you specifically to like certain locations on our website. We won for that one. We've won for our missed milestones, but last year, it's a list. 00:19:05:07 - 00:19:18:15 Nerissa And they're they're on that Protect our Paradise website. Of the 36 awards we won, we won for Flagler I it's just yes. Which is a big, we won for we did a fishing campaign that had goldfish cards. 00:19:18:17 - 00:19:30:25 MAK And so, that was a part was that the partnership with FWC? Yes. Yeah. So I mean, your partner. Yeah. You know, not only local businesses but also statewide and. Yeah. Yeah. So again, conservation, conservation. 00:19:30:25 - 00:19:48:18 Nerissa And because FWC gave us the season like when you should be fishing for certain fish and the artwork. And so then we created Go Fish card so you can play Go Fish. So people really like that one. Yeah. So little fun things. We've won different awards from its print, web, digital video. There's a bunch of categories and stuff. 00:19:48:21 - 00:19:52:29 Courtney Yes I know, yeah. You know she's kind of a big deal. 00:19:53:00 - 00:20:02:08 Nerissa Not really like I say under the radar, but yeah, more than half of us because Emily's split four and a half. Four and a half. Okay. And we do, we do. I do a lot of work, tiny. 00:20:02:08 - 00:20:03:07 Courtney But my team. 00:20:03:07 - 00:20:04:26 MAK 100%. Yeah. Very much. 00:20:04:29 - 00:20:05:28 Courtney Yeah. I'm not. 00:20:06:00 - 00:20:07:20 Nerissa And funded completely by visitors. 00:20:07:20 - 00:20:09:15 Courtney So yes, we love. Yeah. We love that. 00:20:09:15 - 00:20:18:20 MAK We're very affordable. Yeah. Very affordable. Well, thank you so much for an informative and fun for people listening. 00:20:18:20 - 00:20:22:28 Nerissa I especially for the locals. Last year we did a locals only campaign that. 00:20:23:00 - 00:20:24:20 MAK Back I used that. 00:20:24:22 - 00:20:46:04 Nerissa And that was a Treasure Coast wide so that the three counties will be doing that again and that you show your Martin County ID and there's deals in Martin Saint Lucie, an Indian River County. Yes. So that's coming back. And then keep an eye out because we have some other campaign stuff we're looking at. And then if you're a business, check out Protect Our Paradise or email us because we have a lot of information and we're always trying to roll stuff out to assist everyone. 00:20:46:07 - 00:20:50:27 Courtney Yeah. Well, thank you so much. I feel like that was jam packed full of great information. 00:20:51:00 - 00:20:52:26 Nerissa Well, hopefully it was. Yeah. 00:20:52:28 - 00:20:53:18 Courtney It was. 00:20:53:19 - 00:20:58:25 MAK Great. I was like, hey, let's just talk tourism. And you're like, okay, let's talk benefits to our entire community. 00:20:58:25 - 00:21:01:17 Courtney Yeah, yeah. Cool. Yeah. Thank you so much. 00:21:01:17 - 00:21:03:05 MAK Thanks for having me. 00:21:03:08 - 00:21:04:26 Courtney Okay. That was so much. 00:21:04:26 - 00:21:17:26 MAK I'm like the I like I feel like I know Nerissa and her team and the things they do and the the programs they have. Yeah, there was stuff in there I didn't know. I know it was amazing. 00:21:17:28 - 00:21:25:01 Courtney It was truly mind winning. It was award winning, mind blowing, all those things. 00:21:25:01 - 00:21:27:16 MAK Yeah. But we got to get, get after some other work. 00:21:27:18 - 00:21:33:16 Courtney Oh well yes we do. Right. Okay. Let's go into that board meeting is on zoom. 00:21:33:16 - 00:21:55:22 MAK Come our March 10th. Yes, yes. Yep. You can. Did you know you can find those agendas on our website also. Yeah I'm going to forget this name the go. What's it called. Oh here we go again. Go. Delivery gov. Gov delivery gov delivery. You can get the the agendas emailed right to you. 00:21:55:24 - 00:21:57:05 Courtney You can yeah. 00:21:57:08 - 00:21:59:02 MAK Gov delivery I feel like it's go. 00:21:59:02 - 00:22:01:22 Courtney You thought it was go. But I was like no it's gone okay. 00:22:01:22 - 00:22:05:18 MAK We're going to drop it in the show notes so that people know anyway board meeting happening. 00:22:05:24 - 00:22:08:18 Courtney And speaking of board meetings. 00:22:08:24 - 00:22:09:24 MAK Yes. 00:22:09:26 - 00:22:12:03 Courtney There is board and committee vacancies. 00:22:12:03 - 00:22:13:20 MAK Is there or are there some vacancy? 00:22:13:21 - 00:22:15:03 Courtney There are some vacancy rates. 00:22:15:03 - 00:22:16:01 MAK Thank you for fixing that. 00:22:16:01 - 00:22:29:21 Courtney You're very welcome. So the library Board of Trustees and neighborhood advisory committees and NACs are looking for people to volunteer their time to serve on them. Yes. 00:22:29:21 - 00:22:33:08 MAK And Donna was looking for us to get that information out. 00:22:33:08 - 00:22:36:18 Courtney So here you go, Donna. We're telling people about it. 00:22:36:20 - 00:22:38:07 MAK Yeah. 00:22:38:09 - 00:22:41:27 Courtney We'll put that down in the show notes for how you guys can apply for that. 00:22:41:29 - 00:22:45:02 MAK Library board of trustees. That's a that's a cool board. 00:22:45:02 - 00:22:48:03 Courtney It is a cool board. The nieces are pretty cool, too. 00:22:48:05 - 00:22:53:05 MAK Well, they're really helping shape. Yeah. What's going on right in your community? 00:22:53:05 - 00:22:56:12 Courtney Yes. Yeah. So they're both cool. They're both pretty cool. 00:22:56:16 - 00:22:57:00 MAK 00:22:57:02 - 00:22:57:16 Courtney Check them. 00:22:57:16 - 00:23:04:09 MAK Out. Yep. Sure. You you windy day. We we really wish. 00:23:04:12 - 00:23:05:22 Courtney Wow, that was beautiful. 00:23:05:22 - 00:23:06:19 MAK Right? 00:23:06:22 - 00:23:09:00 Courtney It was great wind effects. 00:23:09:03 - 00:23:12:07 MAK Yeah. Yeah, it was a windy day. 00:23:12:09 - 00:23:23:17 Courtney They would never forget. Yes. It's a new art installation by our art in public places. And it's an internationally acclaimed artist. They're from Australia. 00:23:23:20 - 00:23:27:02 MAK Yep. Yep. Okay. Not going to do your accent. 00:23:27:04 - 00:23:29:07 Courtney No I'm not, I just that's not a good idea. 00:23:29:07 - 00:23:32:23 MAK You're going to go right in and say their names even though you didn't practice. 00:23:32:26 - 00:23:40:20 Courtney Nope. I'm not doing that either because I feel like I'm going to mess it up. I want to say it's it's Julie, but it's probably Gilly. Jillian. Mark. 00:23:40:20 - 00:23:41:08 MAK Yeah. 00:23:41:10 - 00:23:45:14 Courtney Yeah, that was my first initial gut way to say it, but then I rethought it. 00:23:45:14 - 00:23:49:17 MAK And where can we find this playful bronze statue? 00:23:49:19 - 00:23:54:28 Courtney Okay, I love this piece of art because if you haven't seen it, you should go. 00:23:54:28 - 00:23:56:22 MAK See, it's like this. 00:23:56:24 - 00:23:58:21 Courtney Oh, well, in the trees like this. 00:23:58:21 - 00:24:00:07 MAK Right? Because it was a windy day. 00:24:00:08 - 00:24:05:24 Courtney It was a windy day. And that there's like too. It's like an A rabbit. Yes. And something elves. 00:24:05:24 - 00:24:06:09 MAK Are flying. 00:24:06:10 - 00:24:09:08 Courtney Holding on to the tree like, it's really windy. 00:24:09:09 - 00:24:11:17 MAK But again where could they find it? 00:24:11:19 - 00:24:15:09 Courtney At the palm. At the patio, at Palm Tree Place. 00:24:15:13 - 00:24:16:20 MAK Yes. 00:24:16:22 - 00:24:19:29 Courtney Yes. And it's really it is a really cool. 00:24:20:01 - 00:24:23:08 MAK Yes, yes, it's a new addition to our, 00:24:23:10 - 00:24:31:16 Courtney And in case you don't know, it is our 25th art installation in Martin County that. Yeah. 00:24:31:18 - 00:24:39:27 MAK 25 again, I think it's just like our little community. We have so many amazing things right here. 00:24:40:00 - 00:24:43:25 Courtney Yeah, I agree. 00:24:43:28 - 00:24:45:12 MAK We should go by and take a picture with it. 00:24:45:18 - 00:24:46:02 Courtney We should. 00:24:46:06 - 00:24:49:06 MAK Okay. Let's do that today. Okay. 00:24:49:09 - 00:24:52:27 Courtney Sounds good. We'll see you guys out there if you're checking it out, right? 00:24:52:29 - 00:24:54:29 MAK Yes. 00:24:55:01 - 00:24:57:03 Courtney Speaking of. 00:24:57:06 - 00:24:58:16 MAK You can not make a connection there. 00:24:58:17 - 00:24:59:25 Courtney Checking things out. 00:24:59:26 - 00:25:03:09 MAK Okay? Okay. 00:25:03:11 - 00:25:08:12 Courtney The library is looking for people to volunteer to help shelve books that people can check out. 00:25:08:12 - 00:25:09:27 MAK Oh, I thought you were going to the lifeguards. 00:25:09:27 - 00:25:13:26 Courtney No, I changed it because of how I was going into that. Got it? 00:25:13:28 - 00:25:14:29 MAK Yes, I know that. 00:25:14:29 - 00:25:17:03 Courtney Yes. So if you want to, you can. 00:25:17:03 - 00:25:17:27 MAK Just go shelve. 00:25:17:27 - 00:25:26:16 Courtney Books. Yes. On Friday or Saturday afternoons at the Robert Morgade Library if you're interested. You just have to submit a volunteer application online. 00:25:26:19 - 00:25:30:13 MAK That's so cool. Where'd you find that? 00:25:30:16 - 00:25:33:12 Courtney I just Dana sent me information. 00:25:33:15 - 00:25:36:07 MAK Thanks, Dana. Oh. 00:25:36:09 - 00:25:42:24 Courtney Yes. So if you're interested in doing that, that would probably be very, like, just. 00:25:42:26 - 00:25:52:24 MAK That's like my dream job, right? Just like it. You're back in the stacks just shelving books. Everything's by numerical order. Like the Dewey Decimal System. 00:25:52:26 - 00:26:01:04 Courtney It's very, very nice. Calming, relaxing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, if you're interested in doing it check it out. 00:26:01:05 - 00:26:03:04 MAK You know. 00:26:03:07 - 00:26:05:07 Courtney Saturday afternoons you could do. 00:26:05:10 - 00:26:06:23 MAK I'm going to submit okay. 00:26:06:23 - 00:26:15:21 Courtney Perfect. The water park is about to be open for spring break coming up. And they are looking. 00:26:15:23 - 00:26:16:16 MAK For lifeguards. 00:26:16:19 - 00:26:17:19 Courtney For lifeguards. 00:26:17:20 - 00:26:19:08 MAK That's a that's a great summer job right. 00:26:19:08 - 00:26:26:14 Courtney It is a good summer job. So if you have people that you think would be interested in that, you should definitely send them to Sailfish Splash to get well. 00:26:26:14 - 00:26:32:08 MAK Not to they shouldn't go to Sailfish Splash. They should go to our website. Yeah, drop that on the slide. Right. Yeah. 00:26:32:14 - 00:26:33:19 Courtney To be a lifeguard. 00:26:33:22 - 00:26:37:12 MAK Were you a lifeguard? No. Where are you? Of course. 00:26:37:14 - 00:26:38:27 Courtney Yeah, my dad was a lifeguard. 00:26:39:03 - 00:26:40:03 MAK He was. I can see that. 00:26:40:05 - 00:26:42:02 Courtney Yeah, on Daytona Beach. 00:26:42:05 - 00:26:43:10 MAK On Daytona Beach? 00:26:43:10 - 00:26:46:15 Courtney Yeah. Yep. 00:26:46:18 - 00:26:47:27 MAK Yeah, I where were. 00:26:47:27 - 00:26:48:22 Courtney You a lifeguard at? 00:26:48:24 - 00:26:53:07 MAK Well, at the, local pool. Denison, Iowa. 00:26:53:09 - 00:26:55:08 Courtney Oh, was it year round? 00:26:55:10 - 00:27:04:20 MAK No, no, just in the summer. And then I did lifeguard in Panama City at Tyndall Air Force Base. Wow. Yeah. 00:27:04:22 - 00:27:05:26 Courtney That's really cool. 00:27:06:01 - 00:27:11:05 MAK No one's cool. That's some good jobs. 00:27:11:08 - 00:27:13:05 Courtney She does everything. 00:27:13:07 - 00:27:24:20 MAK Yeah, well, I don't lifeguard anymore. I mean, I do watch. You have to be a watcher. Yes. Right. You have to watch if people are in the pool. And I could I can probably save you. 00:27:24:22 - 00:27:25:09 Courtney Good to know. 00:27:25:15 - 00:27:27:08 MAK Yeah. 00:27:27:10 - 00:27:31:21 Courtney All right. So that's all we have this week. It is. And we will catch you. We should thank. 00:27:31:21 - 00:27:35:26 MAK William. You think like behind the camera. 00:27:35:26 - 00:27:47:23 Courtney William for all you do. Wow I don't know what we would do without you. 00:27:47:25 - 00:27:49:09 MAK Thanks, everybody. Yes. 00:27:49:09 - 00:27:55:07 Courtney Okay, good. Don't forget to like. Subscribe. Follow. Come here with a friend. Yes. Comment. 00:27:55:09 - 00:27:56:01 MAK All that. 00:27:56:04 - 00:27:59:05 Courtney All the things. All right. Bye bye.