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

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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley. You've joined the Waking crew here
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty w
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I XN. It's eight fifteen on your Tuesday morning, and
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: you know what that means. It's time for talk line
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and this morning I'm joining the booth once again by
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  Speaker 1: my good friend from the Dixon Park District, Dwayne Long. Dwayne,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: how are you, sir?
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Good? Thanks for having us this morning here. It's good man.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: It almost feels like it's been longer than usual.
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  Speaker 2: Since I've seen you.
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  Speaker 3: Man, it has, and a lot's happened at the Park District.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, I'm happy to be here. The weather's looking
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: good this morning, so it's a good day.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, gonna warm up, but be a little bit wet,
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  Speaker 1: and at least you folks will get some warm weather
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: if you're you're having to work outside, because sure, as
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: you said, you've got some big updates with the park
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  Speaker 1: and their statuses.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to start out with this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, So you know, like I said, the weather's getting warm,
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: get out there and enjoy the parks.
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  Speaker 2: They're yours to enjoy. You know.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously, Page Park is still going to be closed and
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: the Lower Parlow Park is still closed and people ask
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: why we do that, and because there's no snow. The
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: reason is the ground is so soft. You get off
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: the side of the road, you leave big ruts. We've
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: had people get stuck out there. So we wait till
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  Speaker 3: it dries out a little bit and then we'll open
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  Speaker 3: that park up. But you're welcome to walk down there
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  Speaker 3: those nice days. A couple weeks ago, I was told
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  Speaker 3: that we had families walking down the main road just
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: to go to the playground and they walked all.
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  Speaker 2: The way back up. So good news.
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  Speaker 1: People are wanting to get out a little bit on
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  Speaker 1: those nice days, but we just keep it closed because
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: it's soft, and we'll tear up the park. Yeah, it's
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: like you said, get out on foot. That's going to
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: be the mission anyways. But the last thing you want
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: is to have a nice day going for a walk
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: through the park only to not be able to get
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: out right without a tow truck. That has happened. Yeah, yeah, sure,
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  Speaker 1: I have to imagine. So what else we got going on, Dwayne, Well.
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  Speaker 3: We've had a couple of things come out facebook the
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  Speaker 3: selling of the property of the part district, and we
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  Speaker 3: had some questions if we could clear those ups. I'll
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  Speaker 3: just go through some bullet points with that. So we're
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: selling the part district is selling eleven point seven four
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  Speaker 3: acres of property deemed not in for the Dixon Partner
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Strict and this property is out behind that place on
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  Speaker 3: Pamaira the reference. It's a referendum question. So it's on
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  Speaker 3: the ballot this April, and we're going to ask the
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  Speaker 3: taxpayers if they want to sell that property. If the
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  Speaker 3: taxpayers say yes, it goes to a sealed bid, and
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  Speaker 3: then the president of our board opens it at a
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  Speaker 3: public meeting. So we had a few questions, you know,
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  Speaker 3: how is this done? Is there a buyer already? There
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: is no buyer. I have no control over that. It's
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  Speaker 3: a sealed bid. The board decides if we sell it
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  Speaker 3: or not. They don't have to accept the bid or
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  Speaker 3: any bid or anything. But it's all a process of government.
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  Speaker 3: So I have nothing to do with it. It's just we
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  Speaker 3: put it on the ballot and see if taxpayers want to,
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  Speaker 3: you know, sell it. It's deemed necessary unnecessary. But what
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  Speaker 3: we want to do with that money, whatever we get out,
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  Speaker 3: we want to put it in the U Sports and
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  Speaker 3: capt improvements such as playgrounds and so forth. That gives
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: us extra money. The property description there's only an easement access.
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  Speaker 3: It's in a floodplane, it's wooded, there's no aag on
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  Speaker 3: it and no utilities on it. So I'm I mean,
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  Speaker 3: it's tough for the partnerstrict considering we have six hundred
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  Speaker 3: acres in the metals for hiking and horses and trails
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  Speaker 3: and so forth. If we didn't have that, I'd be
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  Speaker 3: second guessing myself on getting rid of this property. But
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  Speaker 3: we have that for that small for this small partnerstrict,
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  Speaker 3: that's a lot of room for the people. So we're
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  Speaker 3: looking to sell that off here. We'll find out after
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  Speaker 3: the election here process and see if we can sell it,
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  Speaker 3: and then we'll go through the process. But it's a
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  Speaker 3: strict government process. It isn't It isn't sold in the
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  Speaker 3: back door already or nothing like that like the comments
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  Speaker 3: on Facebook.
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  Speaker 2: So it's straight open. But if anybody's gotting questions, give
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  Speaker 2: me a call.
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  Speaker 1: Well there you go. You know, if you've got a question,
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  Speaker 1: you can call Dwayne. If you have an opinion, go
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  Speaker 1: share it. When the park district asks you what you
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  Speaker 1: think should be done, with this. But I can see
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  Speaker 1: why this is being put up right. It sits in
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  Speaker 1: a flood area. You got no utilities, So if you're
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  Speaker 1: going to overcome any of that, that comes at a
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  Speaker 1: price tag and then a decision of what's the best
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  Speaker 1: use for this area. And then, like you said, you
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  Speaker 1: already have so much land that's beautiful that doesn't have
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: these things that's already established, whereas you could sell this
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  Speaker 1: and then just improve.
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  Speaker 3: What we already have absolutely and the access to get
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  Speaker 3: in you actually got to go down through a creek
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  Speaker 3: to get to our property. There's no bridge, no culvert.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, if we didn't have that six hundred acres
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  Speaker 3: out there, I'd be like, well, let's see if we
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  Speaker 3: can develop this. But we have such a beautiful meadows
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  Speaker 3: and unfortunately a lot of people don't know about the medals,
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  Speaker 3: so you know. But yeah, I just want to give
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  Speaker 3: an update on the selling of the property.
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  Speaker 1: Well there you go. You know, Cal Dwayne, for any questions.
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  Speaker 1: More importantly, go out there and let the park district
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  Speaker 1: know when you think when it's time for that. And
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: something that we've been sharing here a little bit, but
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: you're going to expand a little bit more now is
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: the EBBA Hubs Tennis Court restoration project.
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  Speaker 2: While what a project.
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  Speaker 3: So we were sitting here last month and we didn't
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: know what was going to happen. We didn't have no money.
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  Speaker 3: We were looking at one hundred and twelve thousand dollars. Well,
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  Speaker 3: I'm very happy to announce that. You know, the project
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  Speaker 3: is one hundred and twelve thousand and where. Our start
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  Speaker 3: date is June sixth and Dixon High School donated fifteen thousand,
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  Speaker 3: the tennis club donated ten thousand, and to date, we
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  Speaker 3: have twenty four thousand dollars in private donations already and
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  Speaker 3: we won the grant for forty eight thousand dollars. Yeah right,
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  Speaker 3: we're talking about that. I hope I can report to
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  Speaker 3: you next month. It went through. We got the most
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  Speaker 3: we could get out of that grant. That's a big deal.
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  Speaker 3: So we're removing all the paint, fixing all the cracks,
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  Speaker 3: repainting it. Donations can be made by going on to
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  Speaker 3: dixonpartnerstrict dot com on our main page and donate to
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  Speaker 3: tennis and the community has been very grateful. We're looking
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  Speaker 3: to finish up around another ten thousand so we can
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  Speaker 3: get this thing going. It's scheduled, but we got to
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: get that ten thousand to get this thing going. But
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  Speaker 3: what a great community response. The tennis Club's always been
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  Speaker 3: in my heart for thirty four years. At the Partnerstrict.
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  Speaker 3: It's a unique group. They take care of their sport,
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  Speaker 3: they take care of their families, and they take care
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  Speaker 3: of their courts.
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  Speaker 2: So we're finding that out.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, it's really a loved court. I
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: mean that that court stays busy. I mean the moment
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  Speaker 1: that you can use it, you always see somebody there when.
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  Speaker 3: You're drying does I mean we see people at eleven
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  Speaker 3: o'clock at night with the lights on. And ironically, the
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  Speaker 3: person that granted the grant worked with Emma fifteen years
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  Speaker 3: ago on this stuff too, so that's he blurted out
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  Speaker 3: in email. I worked with Emma, and I'm like, I
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  Speaker 3: knew Emma for thirty years. So yeah, there's a lot
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  Speaker 3: of history down there.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 3: With Page Park getting done in July, we're going to
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  Speaker 3: try to dedicate this the end of June we get
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  Speaker 3: it done. A lot going on in that area, but wow,
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  Speaker 3: Emma would be so happy with the new parking down there,
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  Speaker 3: the new street lights, new bike trail, brand new courts.
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  Speaker 3: It's looking up and up down there in Page Park
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  Speaker 3: and especially around Tess Courts.
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  Speaker 2: Well there you have it.
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  Speaker 1: You know, there's enough of us here in Dixon, between
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  Speaker 1: Dixon Nights, between Dixon owner business owners. If everybody chips
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  Speaker 1: in a little bit, that's a that's an easy goal
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  Speaker 1: to finish that that rounding right right.
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  Speaker 3: And when we went to the school rules and the
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  Speaker 3: tennis club, we did it on paper what our ask
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  Speaker 3: was going to be. No questions from the school, no
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  Speaker 3: questions from the tennis club. We ask a fair amount
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  Speaker 3: and they were excited to donate to it.
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  Speaker 2: They even thought it would probably be more.
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  Speaker 3: But we have to take the burden as the part
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  Speaker 3: district too, and these donations coming in take that burden
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  Speaker 3: off of us. So what a group effort. What another
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  Speaker 3: partnership with Dixon Public schools in the Park district. We
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  Speaker 3: just did one last year with our road swap in
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  Speaker 3: Page Park, and this is our second partnership and that's
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  Speaker 3: never happened in thirty years I've been here at the
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  Speaker 3: partnerstrict that the schools and the partnerstrict actually have written agreement.
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  Speaker 3: So that's a big deal to develop partnerships. When things
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  Speaker 3: come up like this, you reach out, you develop relationships
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  Speaker 3: and good partnerships, and that's what we did.
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  Speaker 1: Also, absolutely I love hearing this. The school they did
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  Speaker 1: their part. The tennis club folks did their part. There's
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  Speaker 1: no reason you can't do yours. There's no amount too
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: little that can't help when it comes to things like this.
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  Speaker 1: And the best part is is you're helping everybody yourself.
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  Speaker 1: All you have to do is pick up a rent
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  Speaker 1: and a tennis ball and you're gonna be able to
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  Speaker 1: enjoy the improvements over there. You wanted to speak a
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  Speaker 1: little bit about some of the recreation programs doing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll go through the recreation program.
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  Speaker 3: So we got kids table from three thirty to five Tuesday,
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  Speaker 3: March seventeenth. Our big spring break Spark camps coming up.
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  Speaker 3: It's March thirty first through April second, eight to twelve
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  Speaker 3: years old, ten to one and that's at the facility.
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  Speaker 3: And guess what it's Easter egg hunt time. Yeah, twelve
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  Speaker 3: noon ages up to ten Saturday, March twenty eighth. It's
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  Speaker 3: outside of the facility at thirteen twelve Washington Avenue. Also
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: a couple other things, Farmers market's a big deal.
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  Speaker 2: This year.
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  Speaker 3: We're switching locations at John Dixon Park, so we're gonna
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: give it a whirl over there. And the reason for
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: that is we had twenty five people on a waiting
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  Speaker 3: list that Hey market.
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  Speaker 2: We just couldn't get him in.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm telling you, Jana is busy taking applications in
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: at the facility.
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  Speaker 3: I expected to be seventy five vendors at John Dixon
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  Speaker 3: Park this year, which we can have there May second
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: through October tenth, Saturdays eight to one, there'll be theene days.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: There'll be a.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Bouncy house down there. It's gonna be more of a
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: family farmer's market like other towns are doing, instead of
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: just a farmer's market.
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  Speaker 3: I know when my mom took me, the farmer's market
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  Speaker 3: was of a kid. It was boring. Now it's not
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: gonna be boring. There's gonna be a bouncy house down
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: there's new playground equipment in that park and things for
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: kids to do face painting. Cheerleaders come in and face paint,
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  Speaker 3: so it's more of a family event. So I'm excited
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: about that stuff there.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and I've been seeing more and more
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: and more vendors. I mean not just here in Dixon,
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  Speaker 1: but in cities all over. When it comes to the
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: city markets and the farmer markets, it seems to be.
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  Speaker 2: Growing more over the last couple of years.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Vendors needing to get their applications in as soon as possible. Yeah,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: but I think this is gonna be a cool move
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: having the market in this new location, and then, like
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: you said, it just makes it even more family friendly.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: You're able to bring your littles along. There's something for
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: them to do, So get out there, check that out.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: It's always a good time.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: Just keeping mind parking is probably gonna be an issue
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: as it was it. Hey, market, let's see if we
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: can navigate come up with solutions. It's a two year
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: pilot program. We know parking is an issue, but any
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: park in Dixon except Page Park that's not open is
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: going to have a parking issue. When you have successful
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: events like this, then you're gonna have parking issue. So
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: be patient with us. We'll take all your comments and
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: suggestions and we'll try to navigate through this.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just plan ahead, no park and hold everybody in
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the city.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: So that's correct. That's a good analogy. I like that
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: for sure.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: You also want to talk about the museum programs. Yeah,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: quite a few programs. We have the Rock River Rush,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: which is the polar Plunge. We rescheduled that. That's March
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: twenty first at Low Park and Dixon Roll Fire departments
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: helping us out with that. We're gracious for that. Pallettes
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: in the Park March thirtieth through April third, April seventeenth,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: turn your pallettes in Earth Day Celebration April twenty second,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Nature Fund for Little Ones the first Friday of the
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: month ten to eleven and Sculpture Spring Thursdays ten to
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: eleven thirty.
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  Speaker 2: A lot going on. We're getting ready for spring.
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  Speaker 3: We're planning periods over, We're ready to roll, and we
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: got a little taste of it a couple of weeks
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: ago when the weather broke. We were out putting pick
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: a ball nets up and getting the Reynolds field drug
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: for infield practice. So we're ready. We're ready to go
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: in the spring. For everybody in Dixon here, I'm excited
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: for spring. I mean you mentioned the Easter eggin of earlier.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: Is there an age limit, because while I don't have speed,
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: I have size over these kids.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: There is an age limit and you just missed the
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: up to ten years, so you just kids.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: You're lucky. I would have smoked you.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Oh man, anything else you wanted to share, we got
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: a little twenty that should cover it.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, we're looking our budgets kind of set for
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: the next year. We got a couple projects. I'll just
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: be the first to announce here with you is we
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: are going to do a playground at E. C. Smith
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: this year. So we got an incentive grant once again.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: The partner's another grant. We survive on them, so it's
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: one hundred and ten thousand dollars playground. We got it
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: for sixty thousand dollars, so we're eligible for an incentive grant.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: And I know it's a tight budget ear but I
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: thought we can't pass us up. So come late fall,
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: we're gonna hopefully have you at our dedication for our
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: playground Old C.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Smith.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: It's gonna be a good time. We did it at
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: Bail Park two years ago late in the fall, but
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: that park's needed. Most parks we wanted to put a
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: new playground. This one needs it. The structure is not
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: in the best shape, so we're gonna get a nice
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: new playgrounds.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: You got climbing webs My.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Rec director Seth Nicholas just picked out the colors last
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: week because I'm colorblind.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: So it's all ready to go. It's all order, So
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: that'll be a.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: Big announcement coming out, but I thought i'd drop it
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: here first with you. And we're gonna have a new
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: park this year again. It'll be our fifth playground. We've
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: redone in the last eight years.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Wow, that's amazing.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: You heard it first right here in WIXN New Park coming.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: I absolutely love hearing these things. And you guys really
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: make the most out of this grant money. And folks,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, for the if you're not familiar
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: with it, it's not like they go to a website and
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: you click on a box and they say, here's your money.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: You have you have to write for these grants. They're
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: they're competitive. Everybody wants this money with within the state
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: and whatever else you're applying for. And you guys just
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: really seem to do a bang up job grabbing as
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: much money that's available to the park district so that
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: you're not having to ask for more money than what's needed.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, like the tennis grant and these
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: playground grants, I just we write those in house.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: The bigger grants we get help with great gates, but
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: the smaller grants here we write in house. So our team,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: I send an email out, our team comes together for
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: the week, gets this done and gets it out. So
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: we won the max. You can win grants, but you
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: hardly ever win the max. We won the max on
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: the tennis court. Want all forty eight thousand max, you know,
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: And we did that in house, and we did it
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: in a week, got it all together, pictures, information, quotes.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: There's a lot to a grant, but it's like gambling.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: You gotta you gotta do it to win it, right,
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: So you've gotta apply. You may not win everyone, but
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: you've got to put the time, hire the engineers and
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: put the.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Effort and spend a lott of money because that money
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: comes back.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: But I mean, as you can see, yes exactly, it
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: comes back. It's well worth the time. And you guys
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: are gonna be speaking of we're out of time today, Dwayne.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: But I appreciate you coming in and all the work
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: that you guys are doing down at the Park District.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much great and looking forward to the spring.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: And thanks for having us