Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Dixon Park District updates with Duane Long

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Talk Line: Dixon Park District updates with Duane Long · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley. You've joined the Waking crew here
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty WIXN
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: And it just struck eight fifteen here on your Tuesday morning,
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  Speaker 1: and that means it's time for talk line. And I'm
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  Speaker 1: joined in the booth once again by our good friends
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  Speaker 1: from the Dixon Park District. It's the executive director himself,
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  Speaker 1: Dwayne Long. Sir, how are you?
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for having us today? Doing well, weather shaping up.
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  Speaker 2: We're getting those parks ready to go for the public.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, I had a lot of excitement out there. This
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  Speaker 1: is the time of year to be outside. People definitely
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: getting back up there. We're talking a little bit about
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  Speaker 1: that off air, but we're we're gonna start and keep
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  Speaker 1: on track today because I like to take us off
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  Speaker 1: the rails everywhere if given the chance. And you've got
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  Speaker 1: some updates on park status, Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Just a few updates. Boat docks are hopefully going in
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  Speaker 2: this week. We pulled them out because of the high water.
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  Speaker 2: Hopefully get those back in. Splash pads are not turned
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  Speaker 2: on yet just due to the weather. But surprisingly had
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  Speaker 2: a couple of people come in yesterday and ask when
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  Speaker 2: they're going to be turned on already. Little chili yet,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: but we'll get them going here. All parks are open.
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  Speaker 2: A little update on Project Rock on time. The celebrations
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  Speaker 2: July fourth on the bridge and paving a Page Park,
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  Speaker 2: which will really shape things up, will be May eighteenth,
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  Speaker 2: and then landscaping will be after that, so it's on time.
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  Speaker 2: Everything's looking good down there. All our parks are looking good.
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  Speaker 2: We got our third mowing in all the parks, so
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  Speaker 2: they're shaping up really good. So get out there and
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  Speaker 2: use them. They're your parks.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. That couldn't say it better myself. They They do
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  Speaker 1: such great work to go out of their way to
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  Speaker 1: make these parks beautiful for us. As he said, they're
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  Speaker 1: your parks. Use them, couldn't.
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  Speaker 2: I absolutely love that. You need to trademark that. Well.
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  Speaker 2: I use that a lot because you know it's easy
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  Speaker 2: for government to forget. You know, you take pride in them.
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  Speaker 2: You work on them every day, and you know you
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  Speaker 2: forget that whose park they are, and the people pay
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  Speaker 2: for them. The people help us maintain them, believe it
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  Speaker 2: or not. They keep their garbage clean and everything. So
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  Speaker 2: they're your parks and that goes back to helping us
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  Speaker 2: maintain those parks. People respect them more, they take you know,
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  Speaker 2: ownership of them. It just helps out overall. But they're
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  Speaker 2: your parks absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: If this is somebody, you know, this might be somebody's
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  Speaker 1: first time either listening in or having heard about it
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  Speaker 1: for you know, or maybe somebody just needs a little refresher.
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  Speaker 1: Give the details again on Project Rock.
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  Speaker 2: Project Rock is basically, you know, it's a pedestrian bridge
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  Speaker 2: coming over the river on the old railroad trestle. And
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  Speaker 2: in order to win the grant, Page Park was included
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  Speaker 2: in the grant, which is park District property. So about
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  Speaker 2: four point three million went into Page Park alone. On
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  Speaker 2: repaving the streets down there, new bike trails up to
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  Speaker 2: the woods, all lighted, curb and gutter. The list goes
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  Speaker 2: on and on, new trash cans, benches, you know, dog
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  Speaker 2: stations along the trail. It's just a neat project. But
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  Speaker 2: more importantly, it's a project that the city and the
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  Speaker 2: partnerstrict worked on together. They partnered it up on the
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  Speaker 2: same grant. The city covered all expenses. The partnership has
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  Speaker 2: been asked for zero dollars on this project. It's great stuff.
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  Speaker 2: It's partnership and who benefits from partners not the partners,
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  Speaker 2: the people. So it's neat that the people are going
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  Speaker 2: to see this transform park here in about a month,
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  Speaker 2: and it's gonna be game changing. It's gonna be something
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  Speaker 2: you've never seen in Page Park. You're gonna have lined
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  Speaker 2: the parking stalls for El Morrison. We just added thirty
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  Speaker 2: seven more stalls down by El Morrison Baseball for parking
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  Speaker 2: and tennis down there, so it's transformed. There's gonna be
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  Speaker 2: trails down there. It's gonna be awesome.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been such a big thing, such a big
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  Speaker 1: to do in the anticipation waiting for it to come.
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  Speaker 1: So you know, if you've driven through Dixon at all,
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  Speaker 1: you can't help but have seen what's what's been going
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  Speaker 1: on and wondering, and it's just all been worth it.
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  Speaker 1: And the future of you know, how much even further
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  Speaker 1: this could go is also outstanding. When I was talking
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  Speaker 1: with Mayor Hughes about that, and it would be cool
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  Speaker 1: to one day see a branch off to the Souck
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  Speaker 1: Valley Community College leaving there and you know, riding your
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  Speaker 1: bike from Dixon to Sterling and back and all. I
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  Speaker 1: mean talk about making a day of it.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and one of the projects we're working on down
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  Speaker 2: there is Uh, we didn't get the oslevant for the
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  Speaker 2: restroom bathroom or a restroom shelter, but I think we're
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  Speaker 2: going to tackle that this fall. So we've saved enough
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  Speaker 2: money at the park district, we're gonna see if we
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  Speaker 2: can get that done this year along with tennis Core project,
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  Speaker 2: along with an Easy Smith new playground. So we're doing
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  Speaker 2: quite a bit this year.
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  Speaker 1: You guys always make the most of your dollars, and
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  Speaker 1: you guys are are very savvy with getting with with
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  Speaker 1: with finding grants and getting that. Not every community is
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  Speaker 1: as lucky to have people that you know have have
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  Speaker 1: the experience and and the h It really does come
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  Speaker 1: down to experience as good as you can write it.
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  Speaker 1: It's such a competitive process that once you've really found
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  Speaker 1: out how to you know what to go for and
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  Speaker 1: and and how to get that. It's great and you
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  Speaker 1: guys do a great job of that. Let's get into events.
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  Speaker 1: Events are my often my favorite topic because there it's
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  Speaker 1: just such a fun time that you guys always put
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  Speaker 1: together no matter what's going on, and there's just a
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  Speaker 1: lot happening this year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we got a small event coming up this Friday,
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  Speaker 2: we received a phone call from a family member that
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  Speaker 2: would like to see an expression swing at the Dixon
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  Speaker 2: Partner Circond. For people that don't know what an expression
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  Speaker 2: swing is, it's basically a swing that your child can
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  Speaker 2: sit in and you can get on the swing on
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  Speaker 2: the oppo side and swing together with your child. So
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  Speaker 2: it's kind of neat. So that family member is gonna
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  Speaker 2: meet us at E. C. Smith Park this Friday at
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  Speaker 2: one pm and we're gonna have that expression things installed.
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  Speaker 2: And it's Sophie, So Sophia. So Sophia's swing is gonna
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  Speaker 2: be an E. C. Smith Park. We're gonna have a
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  Speaker 2: little name plaque on the swing itself for her, and
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  Speaker 2: that's gonna be a neat thing for her. So it's
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  Speaker 2: exciting to more importantly listen to the public. And Hey,
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  Speaker 2: I saw this on vac and this was really neat.
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  Speaker 2: I saw this in Florida. Why can't we bring it
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  Speaker 2: back to Dixon. Well we can. Yeah, it was a
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  Speaker 2: fairly cheap apparatus and it's going to be installed. E. C. Smith.
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  Speaker 2: We're excited for that. The other one is just you know,
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  Speaker 2: throw out a tennis court dedication. Remember we got that
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  Speaker 2: fully funded one hundred and twelve thousand dollars project. We're
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  Speaker 2: looking at June twenty fourth at noon, and our very
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  Speaker 2: own Steve Marco will be m seeing that event, and
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  Speaker 2: DHS Tennis Club, Dixon Partnerstrict and the grant people will
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  Speaker 2: be speaking at that event and these lighter freshments, So
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  Speaker 2: it's going to be a great day June twenty fourth.
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  Speaker 2: All of our courts will be done by then. We'll
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  Speaker 2: open them up right before four July, right before the
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  Speaker 2: OSF tournament coming in there. So exciting little events going
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  Speaker 2: on here, absolutely up to our big summer.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and a big summer's going to be, and
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  Speaker 1: you guys have already had a big spring. I you know,
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  Speaker 1: I'm too excited about it. I can't congratulations on the
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  Speaker 1: Farmers' Market, not just slip servers. I had so many
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  Speaker 1: people talking to me about having gone down there. I
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  Speaker 1: was busy and I couldn't. But I definitely will be
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  Speaker 1: making my way down there. But again, as I was
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  Speaker 1: telling you, one lady telling me she's spent three hours,
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  Speaker 1: and that made me smile. I'm like, you know it's
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  Speaker 1: going right, and that it's just grown into this thing
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  Speaker 1: where you can spend an afternoon at the farmer's market.
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  Speaker 1: People are having a blast.
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  Speaker 2: It's great. So a little backstory that Brittany runs our
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  Speaker 2: farmer's market and she came in over the winter and
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  Speaker 2: she'd already been preempted by my staff that I'd probably
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  Speaker 2: say no to the question she was going to ask,
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  Speaker 2: so she was all prepared for a no. And she
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  Speaker 2: asked me about moving at the John Dixon Park. And
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  Speaker 2: I've been asked this before and there was no real
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  Speaker 2: reason to move at the John Dixon Park. She gave
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  Speaker 2: me a good reason. We're out growing Haymarket Park. We've
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  Speaker 2: got thirty five people on a waiting list. We can't
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  Speaker 2: get him into the size of park. What do you
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  Speaker 2: think about moving it? And I thought she was going
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  Speaker 2: to drop out of her chair when I said, yes,
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  Speaker 2: I think that's a great move. So we went to
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  Speaker 2: the board. The board approved it. Here we are with
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  Speaker 2: eighty five vendors, live music, bouncy house. Jana helps out
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  Speaker 2: a lot with that. She had the cheerleaders down there
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  Speaker 2: face painting. So the whole goal of it is make
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  Speaker 2: a family event, not a farmer's market. Yeah, and I
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  Speaker 2: think that's what we've done by you saying three people
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  Speaker 2: are spending three hours of there. Yeah, I was down
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  Speaker 2: there Saturday. It's just hustling and bustling. Parking is always
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  Speaker 2: a problem, but I keep using your statement is what
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  Speaker 2: park doesn't have a problem with parking. If you have
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  Speaker 2: an event, just be patient, driving around a little bit
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  Speaker 2: like you do at Walmart. Find a spot. But it's
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  Speaker 2: been great. We got a lot of different vendors down there.
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  Speaker 2: You can rent that by going to the park District
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  Speaker 2: and talking to Jina, and you can rent it by
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  Speaker 2: the week, the month, the season, however you want to
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  Speaker 2: do that, we got a spot for you still, so
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  Speaker 2: come on.
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  Speaker 1: Down, absolutely, come down, get you a spot, even if
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  Speaker 1: you're not a vendor. This is just the thing to do.
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  Speaker 1: Bring the young ones. Like you said, you got bounce houses,
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  Speaker 1: live music, and so many vendors. I love that that
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  Speaker 1: you were just so quick to say. It's not that
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  Speaker 1: I was surprised you. You've always been a guy who
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  Speaker 1: listens to ideas and tries to find something. But also
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  Speaker 1: good on her for you know, you miss one hundred
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  Speaker 1: percent of the shots. You don't shoot. Yeah, and yeah,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and despite anybody saying, well, there's probably enough
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  Speaker 1: She's like, no, I'm gonna go ahead and see. And
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  Speaker 1: I mean that was a great reason. Yeah, it's a
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  Speaker 1: great reason.
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  Speaker 2: And before when I was asked that three or four
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  Speaker 2: years ago by another director, I just couldn't get a reason.
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  Speaker 2: You know, why are we moving this? Oh I thought
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  Speaker 2: it'd be better. Yeah, you know better. You gotta have
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  Speaker 2: a reason. And our reason is we outgrew it. We're
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  Speaker 2: at eighty five vendors and we could only hold about
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  Speaker 2: forty seven at Haymarket and it was packed in there,
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  Speaker 2: and you had the playground equipment right there and kids
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  Speaker 2: are trying to play it. Just we outgrew it. What
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  Speaker 2: a good reason to move to another park is you
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  Speaker 2: outgrew that park. So that's exciting. It's exciting down there.
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  Speaker 2: The atmosphere is perfect. I'm not a coffee drinker, but
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  Speaker 2: I was down there at six point thirty helping set
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  Speaker 2: up and she's got the coffee pot going in the
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  Speaker 2: shelter already, and I like the smell, but not to drink.
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  Speaker 2: So she's got it going wrong down there. And Brittany
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  Speaker 2: and Jaina do a really good job down there. Well,
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  Speaker 2: thank you to Brittany and Jana. Thank you Dwayne for
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  Speaker 2: saying yes and being open as always. Anything else you
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: wanted to share this morning. Yeah, I've got a few
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  Speaker 2: rec programs and I just want to hit on this
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  Speaker 2: one is we have Spark Camp coming up and that's
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  Speaker 2: a big one for us too. Re expecting over four
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  Speaker 2: hundred kids and that's June sixteenth through the eighteenth, and
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: then July fourteenth through the sixteenth. We got that forty
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  Speaker 2: foot slide, lunch, kickball, everything you can think of. There
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  Speaker 2: quite a few programs. We got adult softball coming up.
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  Speaker 2: Don't forget to get your park for Paul Passes, your
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: HGV stickers and your tent camping in the meadows. We've
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: got Bracelet Buddies program, Dixon Soccer Club, Panther Club is
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: through the park district kids, table golf lessons, cheer clinic,
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  Speaker 2: basketball camp, volleyball camp, the OSF Tennis Classic, got tennis lessons.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: And we can't forget about that Reagan run coming up.
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  Speaker 2: And the best thing about the Reagan Run this year
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: is they're gonna be running over the new pedestrian bridge.
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  Speaker 2: Are down in there and there Jim Bullyman, bless his
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: heart's been waiting for five, six, seven, eight, ten years
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  Speaker 2: for this to happen. It's gonna happen this year. The
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  Speaker 2: Reagan Run is gonna run over the brand new bridge.
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  Speaker 2: It's exciting. July fourth on Saturday. So you know, if
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: you want dates, times, prices, cost people to get old
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  Speaker 2: called the Dixon Partners or I'm not going to go
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: through all those because the list is so long, but
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: you know, it's good to see a long list of
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  Speaker 2: the Dixon Partners. We're doing our job and these are
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  Speaker 2: requests from the public. They want to see a cheer camp,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: they want to see basketball, they want to see a volleyball,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: they want to see tennis lessons. They want to see
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: this stuff. So we provide.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, an excellent job provider. I mean, that's just a
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: summer of fun. You cannot say there's nothing for your
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: kids to do. You're just not looking hard nothing. The
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: truth is you don't have to look that hard. You
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: go online, or you go down and walk through those
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: doors and give us a call.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Jana will guide you to wherever you want. She'll ask
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: you questions. What's your kids like to do, what are
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: they intern? Are they interested in the nature center? Do
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: they want to go that direction? Is there a project
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: they like to do. Are they athletic? Are they you know,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: do they do cheered you know, stuff like that. She'll
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: ask those questions if you're struggling, and we'll find a place. Yeah,
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: we'll find a place for your children to be at
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: the Dixon Park District.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: We'll find your child's place this summer. Call them now
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: find out. Dwayne, thank you so much for all the
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: hard work that you guys are doing down there, all
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: the events that are going on. It's just going to
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: be a fantastic summer.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having us. And we're ready for this summer.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: We did a lot of planning over the winter. Mean
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: you've talked about it. This is when we perform and
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: we're ready.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: We're ready to hit the stage, baby, Dwayne good Avingue,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: thank you.