Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Duane Long, Dixon Park District with park updates

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Duane Long, Dixon Park District with park updates · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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Speaker 1: You've joined the Waking crew here at FM ninety five
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Speaker 1: to one am, fourteen sixty WIXM, where you're never more
0:07
Speaker 1: than minutes away from all the local news, sports, and
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Speaker 1: entertainment information needed to start your day. And now we
0:13
Speaker 1: turn our attention to our talk line segment where I
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Speaker 1: am joined by the director of the Dixon Park District,
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Speaker 1: our good friend Dayne Long.
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Speaker 2: Dwayne, how are you thanks for having us today? I
0:23
Speaker 2: appreciate that.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, thanks for braving the cold. And it's not
0:28
Speaker 1: getting much warmer out there, is it, man? No, but
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Speaker 1: it's warmer today, and it was yesterday. Yesterday it was
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Speaker 1: pretty brutal on maintenance guys that had to go out
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Speaker 1: and do some little plowing at John Dixon Park to
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Speaker 1: get ready for one of our events this weekend. So
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Speaker 1: it was quite chilly for them yesterday. I got to
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Speaker 1: imagine him tipping my hats to them and everybody out
0:45
Speaker 1: there who has to work out doors in this kind
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Speaker 1: of weather.
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Speaker 2: It ain't cup for me, man. Yeah, the maintenance crew
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Speaker 2: has been working hard, you know. You know, they're out
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Speaker 2: all last weekend plowing and then they came in and
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Speaker 2: finished up on Monday and Tuesday. So kudos to our
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Speaker 2: maintenance staff at the Dixon Park District for ten and
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Speaker 2: a half inches of snow and Dixon absolutely well.
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Speaker 1: I know you got a lot of information to share
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Speaker 1: with us today, starting off with a status update on
1:08
Speaker 1: a park.
1:09
Speaker 2: Sure.
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Speaker 1: So yeah, just a couple of things this time of year.
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Speaker 2: The lower level at Low Park is usually closed due
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Speaker 2: to the snow, and Page Park will be closed this winter,
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Speaker 2: so that's kind of big news. We had a meeting yesterday.
1:22
Speaker 2: It's just going to be better for safety to keep
1:26
Speaker 2: Page Park closed during construction. Construction is still ongoing. We'll
1:29
Speaker 2: talk about that in our next segment here. But they're
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Speaker 2: still working down there. You know, they want to get
1:34
Speaker 2: things done. The cold weather they can work up to
1:36
Speaker 2: like twenty degrees, so you know they're going to be
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Speaker 2: borderlining next couple of days. But they've been down there working.
1:41
Speaker 2: The other thing I want to highlight is the sledding
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Speaker 2: hill at E. C. Smith is open and busy. Yeah,
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Speaker 2: capturing the paper about that. And all other parks are open,
1:50
Speaker 2: so we plow the sidewalks and all our parks, so
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Speaker 2: you're welcome to walk through John Dixon Park, walk through Haymarket,
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Speaker 2: they're all plowed for you.
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Speaker 1: I love hearing that, love hearing the sledding. I told
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Speaker 1: my kids were going, I'm never too old to sled
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Speaker 1: though I'm too old to be getting up on one
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Speaker 1: of those like probably cheap snowboards.
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Speaker 2: I would love to go sledding, but the recovery time
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Speaker 2: for me these days is a lot. So you never
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Speaker 2: know what will happen down that hill. But I lived
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Speaker 2: up at that hill when I was a kid, born
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Speaker 2: and raised here in Dixon, that kid, that hill has
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Speaker 2: got a lot of memories and people are still using
2:24
Speaker 2: it to this day and enjoyed.
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Speaker 1: It's great to see. No, absolutely love to see that.
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Speaker 1: That's that's still going on. And you're absolutely right the
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Speaker 1: recovery time for these things. I tell my kids, I said,
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Speaker 1: when you get to a certain age, you fall. You
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Speaker 1: don't bounce, you just skid and grind into the gravel.
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Speaker 2: Well, if you sprang an ankle at my age, it
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Speaker 2: just seems like it's three weeks later and it's still
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Speaker 2: hanging on. When we were young, you know, spring an ankle,
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Speaker 2: you hop home, get some hot chocolate, and go out
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Speaker 2: the next day.
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Speaker 1: So a lot of big difference.
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Speaker 2: So I'm sure you know there'll be a lot of
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Speaker 2: kids up there with some bangs and bruises, but that's
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Speaker 2: the way sledding is.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely what do you got? What else you got? First wing?
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Speaker 1: That's about it for park status. Awesome, yeah, awesome. Now
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Speaker 1: we're you have an update on Project Rock. Yeah, Project Rock.
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Speaker 1: They're working on the gazebo on the bridge. You can
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Speaker 1: see that right in the middle of the bridge are
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Speaker 1: setting trusses for a it's about a forty by forty.
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Speaker 2: Foot shelter basically in the middle of gazebe out there,
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Speaker 2: which is neat, so they're working on that. They're also
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Speaker 2: working on retaining walls up on the trails. There's some
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Speaker 2: quite extensive retaining walls up there with the topography up there.
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Speaker 2: And lights are being installed, so all lights. So they
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Speaker 2: have one hundred and thirty lights in Page parking on
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Speaker 2: the bridge, so it's gonna be amazing down there. Those
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Speaker 2: won't be turned on until the spring, but they're all
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Speaker 2: getting mounted and wired at this point. So, like I said,
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Speaker 2: they're gonna try to keep going construction as long as
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Speaker 2: they can. They're gonna be pulling the barges all out
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Speaker 2: of the river next week before it freezes and get
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Speaker 2: rid of them for the year, So that'll be a
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Speaker 2: week and a half project and then they'll go back
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Speaker 2: to the trails. But as far as Page Park, unfortunately,
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Speaker 2: we're gonna have to cancel our ice skating rink this year.
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Speaker 2: Pages closed. There's just a lot of construction. If you
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Speaker 2: go buy the ice rink right now, there's blocks stacked
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Speaker 2: in the parking spots and there's probably a forty foot
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Speaker 2: high pile of dirt right beside it. So it's just
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Speaker 2: probably better to stay out of there and let them work.
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Speaker 2: So we're gonna delay it till next year. And of course, weatherwise,
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Speaker 2: this will probably be the best year for an ice
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Speaker 2: rink our luck, but we can't control that.
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Speaker 1: But we'll be back strong next year.
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Speaker 2: So what we're gonna do with the funds that we
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Speaker 2: have in our budget for ice rink, we're gonna use
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Speaker 2: that and do some upgrades at the ice rink, Like
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Speaker 2: we're gonna install a hot water so when we refinish
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Speaker 2: the court, it'll be.
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Speaker 1: With hot water instead of cold water.
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Speaker 2: So that'll be a big deal for the finish of
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Speaker 2: the ice So we're not just gonna take that money
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Speaker 2: and put it in other programs. We're gonna put it
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Speaker 2: still into the ice program.
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Speaker 1: And make some improvements down there. Well, there you go.
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Speaker 1: When it opens back up next year, it'll be improved,
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Speaker 1: and thankfully, because we live in the Midwest, old man
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Speaker 1: winter will make sure it's open. Next year, it'll be open.
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Speaker 1: We just know how long. Some weeks. Sometimes it's three weeks,
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Speaker 1: sometimes it's six weeks. But you know we're open that now.
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Speaker 2: When I was twenty five years old working at the Party's,
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Speaker 2: our goal was to get it open for Christmas break.
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Speaker 2: The weather climate back then was different than it is now,
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Speaker 2: so we had no problem getting those things open for Christmas.
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Speaker 2: Now we have problems with Christmas because the weather's just different.
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Speaker 1: Sure, but they love the ice skating rink.
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Speaker 2: It's a free ice skating rank, free skate rental, warming shed.
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Speaker 2: We got lights, we've got you know, music automatically down there,
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Speaker 2: and you go down press lights and skate at night
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Speaker 2: on your own. So it's a great facility. But we're
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Speaker 2: going to take a break this year.
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Speaker 1: That's all right. It's going to be coming back new
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Speaker 1: and improved and well worth the wait. In my opinion.
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Speaker 1: You've got some news on some of your nature Center programs. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: quite a few things going on there. We have some programs, the.
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Speaker 2: Low Park Walking Club Saturday at eight o'clock, Gifts from
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Speaker 2: the Great Outdoor December thirteenth, nine to eleven, Nature Fun
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Speaker 2: for Little ones the first Friday of every month ten
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Speaker 2: to eleven, and off the Nature Center a little bit.
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Speaker 2: Farmer's Market or the Merry Market is gonna be December sixth,
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Speaker 2: four to eight, and that's what I was talking about
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Speaker 2: it John Dixon Park earlier. We had to clear some
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Speaker 2: stuff out for twenty vendors that are signed up for
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Speaker 2: this market that you questioned me last month.
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Speaker 1: It's gonna be.
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Speaker 2: Twenty five degrees, but we've got twenty people signed up,
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Speaker 2: So come on out for that and see what our
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Speaker 2: new event brings to the community.
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Speaker 1: We don't shut down during the winter. We try to
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Speaker 1: expand it. We'll sale goes and that's how that's how
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Speaker 1: it should be. That's why I love events like these
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Speaker 1: during this time of the year, because everybody wants to
6:27
Speaker 1: stay cooped up inside, and it's like, you know, we
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Speaker 1: can we can put on our hats and our coats
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Speaker 1: and enjoy the weather. We're not going to turn into
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Speaker 1: ice cubes. And it's fun. Right, you grab some cocoa
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Speaker 1: or some hot or some hot cider and you go
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Speaker 1: out to these things. So I love hearing that.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it isn't like you're gonna be out there two hours.
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Speaker 2: You're gonna be out there, you know, forty five minutes,
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Speaker 2: Maybe do some shopping, quick sales, get back in your car,
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Speaker 2: get back home to the college. So I think it's
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Speaker 2: a great idea. I think this thing will grow. And
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Speaker 2: of course you never know what the weather is gonna be,
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Speaker 2: but you deal with what you.
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Speaker 1: Have, absolutely absolutely keeping on programs, you have more news
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Speaker 1: in your recreational programs.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we got a few things going on in recreation
7:05
Speaker 2: we have. I just want to remind everybody of our
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Speaker 2: golf room. Our golf simulator is available for rent for
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Speaker 2: twenty five dollars an hour. We have our free walking
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Speaker 2: at the facility, so keep in mind if you want
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Speaker 2: to place the walk, come sign at the facility.
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Speaker 1: It's free.
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Speaker 2: We don't charge walkers, and we have over three hundred
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Speaker 2: and fifty people signed up for that program. Now, of
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Speaker 2: course they don't all come at once. They're sporadic all
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Speaker 2: the day. So anytime we're open you can come walk
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Speaker 2: at the facility for free. But keep in mind there's
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Speaker 2: no walking track. You're gonna walk around the perimeter of
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Speaker 2: the gym space. But it is free and it is warm,
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Speaker 2: so that's the key there. I think that's the most
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Speaker 2: too important as it is right. And we can even
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Speaker 2: put music on in the gym for you, and we
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Speaker 2: have requests that people want to walk to certain music,
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Speaker 2: so that we abide for that Kids table December fifteenth.
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Speaker 2: We have a skills clinic for soccer coming up January sixth, eight, thirteen,
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Speaker 2: and fifteen and open gym weekdays nine to six, weekends
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Speaker 2: ten to three. Pay your three dollars dropping fee. Come
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Speaker 2: and enjoy the worm weather inside our gym, play basketball, volleyball.
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Speaker 1: We got a bouncy house for you.
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Speaker 2: There's a couple a lot of things that we can
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Speaker 2: find to do in that gym and stay warm and active.
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Speaker 1: There you go. There's no excuse not to get your
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Speaker 1: steps in unless you're went in a marching place in
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Speaker 1: the kitchen. This winter, you need to head on down
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Speaker 1: to the Dixon Park District. Oh oh my goodness, I've
8:21
Speaker 1: always wanted to do one of these, the polar plunge.
8:24
Speaker 1: What's wrong with you. Well, I haven't done it yet,
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Speaker 1: so maybe I don't know. Maybe it's just a flight
8:28
Speaker 1: of facin't done one either.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, he's talking about the polar plunge at Rock River Rush.
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Speaker 2: First time ever that I can remember in the thirty
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Speaker 2: four thirty four years I've been here that the party's
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Speaker 2: ever done this. So this is through the Nature Center.
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Speaker 2: Ana's doing a great job out there. This is December
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Speaker 2: thirteenth at Lowell Park. I think it's ten to eleven.
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Speaker 2: I didn't write the time down there, but I think
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Speaker 2: it's ten to eleven. Go on our website and check
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Speaker 2: it out. All donations go right to the Nature Center
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Speaker 2: for a youth camp this summer that they're putting on.
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Speaker 1: So it's a big deal.
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Speaker 2: You know. I don't know if I'll be plunging, but
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Speaker 2: I definitely will be donating. And I think I got
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Speaker 2: a couple other people in the office that are going
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Speaker 2: to donate. But then I have a couple of other
9:08
Speaker 2: people in the office that are going to jump in,
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Speaker 2: so what a mix. But the ultimate goal is donations
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Speaker 2: to build a program for the youth youth program at
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Speaker 2: the Nature Tier.
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Speaker 1: I think it's neat. Yeah. Yeah, well, there you go, folks,
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Speaker 1: whether you want to join the ten degrees Below club
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Speaker 1: or just donate like me and Dwayne will probably do
9:26
Speaker 1: while we stay warm. You know, it's it's a very
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Speaker 1: fun event and and you know helps helps good causes.
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Speaker 1: So sure love hearing that. I cannot get away without
9:38
Speaker 1: talking about some special holiday events that you have coming up.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely, you know this is a great thing to be
9:43
Speaker 2: able to do. You know, before we had our facility,
9:46
Speaker 2: we couldn't do things like this for the holidays, and
9:48
Speaker 2: we're excited to be able to share those with people.
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Speaker 2: So once again, we're bringing back Breakfast with Santa. That's
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Speaker 2: December sixth. We have a sensory time eight to nine
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Speaker 2: in the general public nine to ten, and I don't
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Speaker 2: think they did this last year, but they're serving eggs
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Speaker 2: and bacon at this breakfast instead of just cookies or whatever.
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Speaker 2: So there's eggs, bacon, donuts, croissants. It's pretty cool. And
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Speaker 2: also you can get your pictures with Santa. We do
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Speaker 2: the pictures for you. And I just want to do
10:16
Speaker 2: a shout out to our sponsor, Brett Nicholas from Trinity Financial.
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Speaker 2: He is providing the service for the breakfast, and I
10:23
Speaker 2: also heard that he might be serving it too, so okay,
10:27
Speaker 2: that'll be neat. To get the boss down there to
10:28
Speaker 2: see if he's gonna serve the food. That'll be neat.
10:31
Speaker 2: So that that's exciting. You know, a lot of people
10:33
Speaker 2: show up for that, and it's a great event.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know. I always took my kids when they
10:37
Speaker 1: were little to Breakfast with Santa events. It's a great
10:41
Speaker 1: one now that they're all grown. You had me at
10:44
Speaker 1: eggs and bacon already. I don't know if the big
10:47
Speaker 1: guy is gonna want to try to fit me on
10:48
Speaker 1: his lap, but well.
10:50
Speaker 2: It's a two seat couch you just bought, okay, inside them, So.
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Speaker 1: Okay, there you go. You're never too old for a
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Speaker 1: photo with Santa, and you are never too old for
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Speaker 1: eggs and bacon.
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Speaker 2: No, So every year our staff at the end of
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Speaker 2: the program gets together and takes a picture with Santa
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Speaker 2: and that ends up on social media or on our
11:06
Speaker 2: wall there. But it's still neat to guy to go back.
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Speaker 2: I had to go to the local shopping mall and
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Speaker 2: Stirling to see Santa. When I was a kid, we
11:12
Speaker 2: didn't have Santa coming to Breakfast of Santa.
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Speaker 1: So this is a neat little thing to come.
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Speaker 2: To your community, right outside your back door, come to
11:19
Speaker 2: the facility, walk around.
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Speaker 1: They'll be games set up, just.
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Speaker 2: Kind of a couple hours in the morning, you know,
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Speaker 2: see Santa play some games, spend some family time.
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Speaker 1: Awesome, Awesome, we got a couple of minutes off. Anything
11:29
Speaker 1: else you.
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Speaker 2: Want to shared with Yeah, I highlight the Daddy Daughter Dance.
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Speaker 2: So it's our first time ever doing a Daddy Daughter dance.
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Speaker 2: December twelfth, six to eight at the facility. There's gonna
11:39
Speaker 2: be snacks, dancing, games, pictures. I looked into our storage
11:44
Speaker 2: room the other day and they actually bought a red
11:46
Speaker 2: carpet with the red velvet ropes that you're gonna walk
11:49
Speaker 2: through and get your pictures taken. So I decided to
11:52
Speaker 2: go to the event and invite my twenty six year
11:54
Speaker 2: old daughter with me, so no age limit Daddy Daughter Dance.
11:58
Speaker 2: I'll be there with my six year old daughter. I
12:01
Speaker 2: invited my other daughter, but she's in Florida. I think
12:04
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a neat first time event, and they're
12:05
Speaker 2: really trying to capture making you feel special, glamorous night,
12:11
Speaker 2: a night out with your dad, a night out with
12:13
Speaker 2: your daughter, and in these days, you know, this day
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Speaker 2: and age, that's important and we don't get the time
12:17
Speaker 2: like we used to with our kids. You know, sitting
12:19
Speaker 2: down at the dinner table eating supper together doesn't happen
12:22
Speaker 2: munch anymore. So this is a chance to invite your daughter.
12:25
Speaker 2: And I'm gonna tell you when I text my daughter
12:27
Speaker 2: invited her to it. She lives in Chicago. She was
12:29
Speaker 2: so excited to get the invite and be able to
12:31
Speaker 2: go to the event. So I can't imagine a younger
12:33
Speaker 2: child how they'll feel when they get the invite. So
12:37
Speaker 2: we're gonna do that. It's gonna be a first time.
12:39
Speaker 2: It's gonna be glamorous. They're gonna feel special that night.
12:42
Speaker 2: So sign up and come on out and see us.
12:44
Speaker 1: Where's the Where can they sign up?
12:46
Speaker 2: You can go on our website Dixon Partnerstrict dot com
12:49
Speaker 2: or just call two eight four three three oh six
12:51
Speaker 2: and talk to Jana. She'll guide you to wherever you
12:54
Speaker 2: need to be at the part district. Whatever you need
12:56
Speaker 2: to sign up for, how to pay, She takes care
12:58
Speaker 2: of you and everything else at the partners are up front.
13:01
Speaker 2: She'll walk you through it.
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Speaker 1: This is great, folks. I highly recommend this. I mean
13:06
Speaker 1: because especially I love the no age limit that you've
13:09
Speaker 1: got your adult daughter coming, because you know, most of
13:12
Speaker 1: these kind of daddy daughter dances are usually you know,
13:14
Speaker 1: for like the littler girls. And when you think about it,
13:17
Speaker 1: like if your daughter's already grown past that, you probably
13:21
Speaker 1: not dancing with her again until their wedding. That's correct,
13:24
Speaker 1: you know what? Right? Is a good point. Yeah, and
13:27
Speaker 1: as dads, we missed that. You don't know how long
13:29
Speaker 1: that could be, and you don't want that to be
13:31
Speaker 1: your only one. So I absolutely love this.
13:33
Speaker 2: I love that point, and I love your marketing for us.
13:37
Speaker 2: That's a great analogy. I'm big on analogies. My recorrector
13:40
Speaker 2: knows that that that's a great one.
13:41
Speaker 1: I love that.
13:43
Speaker 2: I just can tell you my twenty six year old
13:45
Speaker 2: daughter was so excited to hear an invite from her
13:47
Speaker 2: dad to go to this daddy daughter dance. Like I said,
13:50
Speaker 2: I can't imagine a fifth grader or something like that
13:52
Speaker 2: getting all excited for the red carpet and the velvet ropes.
13:55
Speaker 2: And you're getting professional picture taken for this, and I
13:58
Speaker 2: believe you get your pictures right there that night, So
14:02
Speaker 2: it's an app that you'll sign up for and get,
14:04
Speaker 2: but it's about being glamorous and treating these people special
14:08
Speaker 2: and making that two hours something to remember.
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Speaker 1: Well, I'm certain you guys are going to hit the
14:12
Speaker 1: mark with that with this event. That is really great. Dwayne.
14:15
Speaker 1: We're about out of time today, but I want to
14:17
Speaker 1: thank you so much, not only for coming in the
14:19
Speaker 1: booth and sharing all this important information, but for all
14:22
Speaker 1: the work that you guys do down at the Park
14:23
Speaker 1: District to make this town beautiful and give people something
14:27
Speaker 1: to do, and to give y'all a reason to get
14:29
Speaker 1: out of your homes because you need to be out.
14:33
Speaker 1: You need to be out in nature, out in the weather,
14:35
Speaker 1: you know, no matter what it is, and enjoying these events.
14:38
Speaker 2: Well, we definitely thank you and definitely a team effort
14:41
Speaker 2: between you and the station and City of Dixon, Schools, Township,
14:45
Speaker 2: and Lee County. It's all a team effort to make
14:47
Speaker 2: this place safe and happy and people come back to
14:50
Speaker 2: this town. We love to see that. We're proud of
14:52
Speaker 2: our talent and we love working for it.
14:54
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for it, and we look
14:55
Speaker 1: forward to future updates for you. Dwayne. Thank you for
14:57
Speaker 1: having us