Latest / Sidewalk Talks / Kristen Squires & the Dow Event Center

Transcript

Kristen Squires & the Dow Event Center · Sidewalk Talks

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Can I have you just yammer at me for a second? Can you first and last name, your official role or position at Dow?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Sure. Tristan Squires, director of marketing, Dow Event Center. Hi.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Come on, director of marketing. Tell me about what you did this morning.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, I dropped my kids off at my parents' house because it is freezing out.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Was tempted to tell you just to bring your kids and they could just like how many kids you got? Two. How old are they?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Eight and 10. So I mean, I coulda
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I coulda brought them but they like Yeah. But we all need time away from our kids.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, and I I'm a creature of habit too, so I'm like, I had things planned today, you know. Mhmm. And they're ruining my plans.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: You know, I I was just thinking about that too. I was driving in the car and, like, some part of my schedule changed. And I it just made me so angry. And I was driving in the car and thinking about how ridiculous it was that how, like, how angry I was. Like, Phil, this is not it's not a big deal, man.
• 1:06
  Like, it's gonna be another thirty minutes of your day. Not a huge deal. Like, why are you freaking out? But it was just the fact, like, I had it did not confine itself to the sched the plan I had for the day. It just infuriated me.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I know. I I who knows what's gonna trigger us sometimes? We're parents. We're overwhelmed. Yeah.
• 1:25
  There's a lot of inputs coming at us all the time. But you know what? If you want me to yammer at you, I just learned have you heard about frost quakes or trees exploding before I
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: I heard about trees exploding because I went to school in Minnesota.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: So, like, that was always the thing. Like, it's like, 20 below zero was was just kind of a thing. And so yeah.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, you already knew. But I didn't. My son came home yesterday, and he's like, mom, I learned at school today about frost quakes and trees exploding. And I was like, what? Yeah.
• 1:56
  Tell me more.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: What is the frost quake about?
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: So apparently, it's like just a loud crack or boom in in the air Yeah. When there's like quick expansion of moisture in the air. Okay. I don't know from See,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: I've heard that before. Like, I've heard the booms, but I I didn't know they were called frost quakes.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Oh. Yeah. Because apparently, if they're loud enough, it'll like rattle your windows or whatever.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: So I've also heard trees explode. I haven't seen the trees explode.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah. That would be crazy to see. Just to start to crack right down the
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Have you ever been to Minnesota? I have not. No. It's kinda nice. It's very remote.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Okay. I like the outdoors. Yeah. I like camping.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Up north, it's got like 50,000 lakes or something like that.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, nice.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Are you
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: up? The UP?
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: I don't know. The I mean, the UP like, there's only one. True. Right? True.
• 2:52
  There's only one UP. Because you I mean, in Minnesota, you can't just, like, walk to the edge of a cliff and see Lake Superior just churning in all of its angry glory.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I've I've cliff jumped into Lake Superior. Oh, really?
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: How high was the cliff?
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I was little, but my parents took us hiking and, apparently knew of this spot. And they were like, yeah, let's just jump off of this cliff into Lake Superior. It was great. It's one of
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: those Go children. Memories. Go.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Well, my dad jumped off first, you know, just to make sure. But
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: He had to be the first one to hit the rock at the bottom. Like, don't
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: jump. Like, make sure you jump far out, not just like a little
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Send help. Yeah. Send help. Yeah. That's one of the things that I'm trying to grapple with as a parent is, like, go pre parenting, I was very much, like, yeah, kids kids should take risks, and we're gonna be, like, be outdoorsy, and we're gonna, like I'm gonna put them in situations of safe safe risk because that's so important.
• 3:54
  And then when you have, like, three beautiful little girls, you're
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: like, no.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: No. I I need to keep them. I need to protect them from every everything. Like, I do not wanna see them sad or hurt or anything like that. And so you're constantly, like, saying, like, don't don't don't balance on the back of the couch.
• 4:09
  Like, you're gonna fall off. Like, maybe they should. Like Right. Maybe they should.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: It'll be okay. It'll be They're landing on carpet. But How
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: old are your
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: kids? They're eight and 10. So 10 has hit me hard this year. Let me tell you what.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Like In what way?
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: I just a whole decade has gone by, and I'm like, how has it been a whole decade? Like, I have this book of and it it's a decade of holidays. So it's like Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, birthdays, you know, and it's you fill it every year with pictures and memories from each year.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: And Mhmm.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: I opened it up this year, and I was like, I'm done? It's already been ten years?
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It's true.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: How how did that happen? And it's just like and then I start thinking about the next decade for my son. And, like, when you're 20, you're like, man, ten years took forever. Like, that that was a lifetime in those ten years. Right?
• 4:59
  And I think about how different it's gonna be from the first decade, and it just gets me so emotional. I don't know. My friends asked me about how ten has been going, and I instantly started crying. So I was like, if this comes up today, I will not cry. So
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna zoom into your face as you weep.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: There yeah. There's a little tear already started. Is there really? Can you see it? No.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: If I was recording in four k, I could zoom in all the way. Yeah. I could I could see that with the decade thing because you you got kinda zero to three. It's just mindless desperation. You're just trying to survive every day, and you you most of that time, you're sleep deprived, so you don't remember any of it anyway.
• 5:45
  And then from, like, my experience, three to seven so far, it's, like, you never know what kind of child you're gonna wake up with. Yeah. And that kind of thing. And they're also little and, you know, whatnot, but confronting the fact that they are now 10 and, like, that phase of life is now over, and now you're in that really all very apparent 10 to 20.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Know. Gets you. It did.
• 6:13
  It has.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you're doing great, though. I'm sure you're great, mom.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you. Yeah. I try all we can do is do our best. Right?
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah. What's been the the hardest thing about parenting? What has been the best thing about parenting?
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: The hardest thing for me, especially in this kinda next phase, next decade, has been watching my kids fail and letting them fail. That's, I think, been difficult because you can't always be there for them, especially at school and when kids are being mean or Yeah.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Running into that.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Yes. It's awful. And it's like you can't take that away.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Mhmm.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: You know? So you you can be there to help guide them, but you can't always be there to tell them what to do and what's right for them to handle that situation. And then also responsibility. And that's kind of what I meant by letting them fail is, you know, they they have Chromebooks that they have to take to school every day, and they have to make sure they're charged. And Uh-huh.
• 7:14
  They're the ones that, you know, really keep track of what they're supposed to be doing now because they're older. And it's like, if they don't, bring their their Chromebook or do their homework, I'm not gonna be there to save them. Like Yeah. They gotta they gotta learn those lessons. So watching them fail, and then also, they're both into sports.
• 7:33
  We're a sports family, and so, they have to be the ones to want to practice and want to learn and grow and get better at it. We're not gonna be the ones to force them to do that. Yeah. So, you know, if their peers are practicing and getting better, but they're not, that's you know? Yeah.
• 7:53
  They gotta they gotta be the ones to realize that. So I think that's been the hardest part. What and then what's been the best part?
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Best part.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, man. So many so many good things about parenting. But I would say just seeing things through them that make them happy and, like, watching them grow and evolve as as people has been super fun.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: But when they get that light in their eyes and they have their true laugh and their true smile and, you know, you can just tell that they come alive, like, witnessing those moments just makes me so happy. Makes my heart full.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm just thinking about, like, what has been the hardest best.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I was gonna say, what about for you? Our daughters have the same name, which I think is fun. Evelyn? Evelyn.
• 8:41
  Oh, yeah. Yay.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: It's such a good name.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah. We call our daughter Evie, though. Do you have
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: any We're Evie.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Okay. I know. I I don't know why. I just have always liked Evie.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: I think I think we were on the fence, and then we just chose.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: And we're just like, well, let's just go Evie because it sounds the same. Evie is the same. And my wife's a kindergarten teacher, so she's very phonetically correct. She's like, hey, it's gotta be the same.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: I get it. I get it.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: I want so I'm gonna kind of riff on this. I I two sides of the same coin almost. So, like, the hardest thing is, I don't wanna say the hardest, but one of the hardest things. Because like parenting, let's let's face it, it's just hard all around. Yes.
• 9:23
  Like one of the hardest things is like denying yourself. So pre yeah. Like, even even after we we got married, like it like it's just it's you as adults and like you've you're you have the things that you wanna do and and you can do them and you can do them for as long look, I I can work a sixteen hour a day, or I can you know, what what whatever it is. Like, you have that kind of freedom to relentlessly pursue whatever it is you want. Yeah.
• 9:54
  And it it really struck me, not even right at the beginning, because at the beginning, you're still like, it for me, it didn't click right away. Like, oh, man. Like, life is different now. Like, it was like, yay, babies. Welcome to my life.
• 10:10
  Yeah. Yes. And what was not apparent to me until later on was like, oh, no. Like, that whatever life you thought you had, like, this is completely different. This isn't just like now your life with kids in it.
• 10:24
  Like, you there's a line in the sand that you have crossed that you will never go back to. And for as like a very independent minded person to a very much a fault, very much a fault. Like it is still a constant grappling to say, like, I can't do that right now because my kids need me, or like, I really would rather you guys just go away so that I can do this thing. You know, like you're constantly grappling with the selfishness of yourself. And so in that respect, that's very difficult.
• 11:00
  But at the same time too, like that has also been one of the best things is, like now you have three human beings who are forcing you to be a better human being. Mhmm. You know, like, their presence and their personality and the things they need and, you know, all of these things, like, it's forcing a different a better kind of development where, like like, Phil, not everything's about you, and what you want and what you want to achieve, and, you know, all of these things. Like like, you gotta check yourself, and and there's so much more to to feel as important. So I so I I also think that that's kind of the one of the best things.
• 11:41
  It's like, I don't know what kind of person I would be with without having kids. Yeah. And I think I'm better for it. So I I like that.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: No. I totally understand it. That transition from no babies to babies is like crazy. Like and nothing can prepare you for it. No.
• 11:57
  People can say, oh, your life is gonna change forever. And it's like, I know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 12:01
  But until you experience it, you're like, woah. Yeah. It is a
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: And maybe other humans are better than me. And they they they it clicked for them right away, but it didn't really click for me right away. Because, like, also, it's a the it's a baby, and they're sleeping a lot. And, you know, I had lot I was very fortunate to have lots of help. And so you could still kind of hang on to the remnants of whatever you thought your life was, and then then you have twins and be
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: like, okay.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Like, God said, you didn't understand the first time, bro. So I'm I'm sending in the reinforcements.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: I I don't know anything I don't know about having twins, so I can't imagine.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: It's wild.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: I'm sure it is. I've seen people go through twins, and I'm like, you okay?
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: This so my I have a twin brother and Yes. Oh, he also has a beard. And my beard is very much more gray than his.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Well, I see you though, I see your brother and then I see you and I'm like, which one is that? I don't know. Yeah. We're very identical. Yeah.
• 13:00
  Matt. I yes. I have to take a second to make sure I know if it's you or Matt.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: I had to do I had to do do public service announcements every once in a while because, like, there was one day last year, folks were, I actually got two messages the same day from different people saying, hey, Phil. I saw you at Redeye, and you acted like you didn't know me. I just wanna make sure, like, we're cool or, like, did something happen? And then somebody else saw him at, like, Big 0 or or something some other place, and they sent me a message. Like, hey, Phil.
• 13:32
  I tried to say hi to you, but and and we talked, but it looked like you didn't really know. And I had to explain, like, publicly, like, I here's a picture of Matt, and here's a picture of me. We we go to the same places.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: That's so funny.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Have you ever, like, played the switcheroo trick where you've done There anything like
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: was once in third grade we did, and then in high school, we went to Michigan Lutheran Seminary boarding school. And so you if you had to be if you were sick one day, you had to go to the nurse. And Matt, grew up a violinist. And then when he got to high school, electric guitars were cooler than violins, so he started playing the electric guitar. And so he all he wanted to do was practice all day.
• 14:16
  And so he would go to the school nurse and act like he was sick so that he could sit in his dorm room and play guitar until the nurse caught on and said, like, you're I'm not giving you any more sick days. And so then he started going and saying, my name's Phil Ike with my ID card, and then so that he could continue skipping school to play guitar.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. How long did it take for you to realize what he or did you know what
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: he was doing? Until, didn't find like, after we had graduated that that's what he was doing. Wow. Or or it was something it was either that or it was like once where I I was legitimately sick and I went to the nurse and she was very skeptical of me and I wondered like why? Like, I've never been sick at school before.
• 15:02
  Like, why are you giving me such a hard hard time about this?
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, I love that. He was very motivated.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: He was very motivated. Yes. I mean, paid off. He he makes guitars and stuff now for a living, so I guess. Yeah.
• 15:13
  It's the right choice.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: That's so cool.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Do you wanna talk about Dollvan Center?
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Sure. I'll talk about Dowell Event Center.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: What what exactly is your job there? What do you do?
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: I'm director of marketing there. So I get to do all the fun stuff and tell people about all the cool things we got going on.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: And we were talking about about this before we started recording that, like, our first meeting was at Midland Center for the Arts, and you're in marketing, and then you followed me to Bay City, and now you followed me to SAC. I've been
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: following you around. Here, where where's Phildo? That's me in my entire life.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I'm like, where is Phil Doe? Kristen's, like, right over my shoulder somewhere. Like, she's she's somewhere around here. So you ended up at the at Dow Event Center a year ago, almost a year
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: ago. Almost a year ago now.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Coming up to a year.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Congratulations. Thank you.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Twelve months.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Yeah. It's been a great twelve months.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Well, so tell me a little bit about Dahl Event Center. I mean, people people might have gone to an event there, but they might know might not. So tell me about what goes on.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Sure. So, I I think the building is super unique. Really cool.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: It is.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: Because under one roof, we have an arena that seats about 6,000 people depending on the event in there. So in the arena, we're able to do tons. We have lots of different things that go on in there. We'll do everything from a chamber breakfast to, obviously, hockey with the Saginaw Spirit to we just had bull riding, and we have monster trucks where we can bring in
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Thousands of pounds of dirt and fill that whole arena floor with dirt. I took my daughter monster truck
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: thing in Grand Rapids once. It was awesome. Nice.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I was like I know. It's really cool. I mean, you're so close to those things, and they're obviously huge.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So yeah. Monstrous, one might say. Exactly. So that's kind of fun.
• 16:59
  You get to like, all all of these different events going on. You're not just necessarily marketing. I mean, you're obviously marketing for Dowell Event Center, but you're like, one week it's bull riding and the next it's monster truck or a comedian the next. Or
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Because then on the other side of the building, we have a theater that seats about 2,200 people. So Yeah. We'll have concerts in there, comedians.
• 17:20
  We have Broadway shows. So, I mean, the different offerings that we have, there literally is something for everybody there. So that's why I love it. It keeps me on my toes. It keeps me learning.
• 17:31
  It keeps me, you know, energized because there's just so many different types of things that people do and Yeah. They're always learning. And I it's just so cool what people do and their talents.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So You're so cool. I I feel like we have we have similar brains in, like, there there has to be some kind of new element to something consistently to, like, keep it interesting. Like, like, you're always in marketing and you're always doing the thing, but there has to be some kind of new twist to it, and this kind of seems like that.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And that's something I had to learn about myself because, like you've mentioned, I was at Midland Center for the Arts for a while, and then, I got into, some different type of work with family owned businesses and doing marketing still, but it was a different kind of marketing. And I just I realized I was like, oh, that's that's not for me. And what I really loved was the event space. And so that's kinda how I got to where I am today.
• 18:24
  I manifested that. It's like, I got to a point in my career where I was like, I I knew I needed the next chapter, and I was ready for my next chapter. But I was like, I don't want it to just be anything. I want it to be the right thing, and I want it to be my passion, something that I feel fulfilled by. And, so I really sat down and was like, what what do I really love to do?
• 18:44
  Because I want my job not to feel like work. I wanna wake up excited every day. And I went back to my time at Midland Center for the Arts and that whole experience and everything
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: That I learned there. And I was like, I wanna get back into that. And so it wasn't long after I made that decision that I saw this job, and I here
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: I am. Oh, wow.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: I know. It's so cool. Like, I've manifested a couple of things over my career. And, like, to see it actually happen and come to fruition when I make a decision, and then I'm like, that's what I want, and I go and get it. It's like the coolest thing.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: That that does sound cool.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. I love it. So when other people manifest, I'm like, yes. You go do the thing. I love it.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm I need to work on my manifestation.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: You can make anything you want happen. I know you can.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I want a slice of pizza from Old World Pizzeria in one hour.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: I was gonna say, guess what? You can probably make that happen.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Oh, I'm gonna make that happen. I'm definitely gonna make that happen. I I'm happy for you because because, I mean, you have followed me around. So so I'm I've been aware of of what you're doing. So to have a kind of come full full circle.
• 19:54
  And I think that's such an important part of of figuring it out. Like, sometimes you like like, you're you're in the thing that you should be, but you you wanna either chase the shiny thing or it looks like a better opportunity or your life changes and you're like, man, like, I gotta do this not necessarily for me, but for my family or, you know, whatever reason. Yep. And then you you you kind of experiment and years go by and you're there's more experimenting, and then you you I I love I love the intentionality of what you did, like, sitting down and saying, like, what what is the thing that I love or what what did I love about the thing, the situation I was in that I loved most? And he said, it's the events.
• 20:35
  Mhmm. And sometimes we just we look at jobs and say, well, I I want that job or I want that job without ever thinking about, like, what do I need from a job Yeah. And then using that.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Because I'm I'm not a person that's necessarily fulfilled by title or paycheck or things like that. So it it really is important for me to match, like, my values and my passion to my my work. So but I when I was thinking back at Midland Center for the Arts and why I left, it was just because going back to the whole parenting conversation, I was that was only my second job out of college, and I became a mom there. And so the the mom guilt of always being away, being at events and traveling and things, it was it was difficult, but I'm at a a different place in my life now, and I am confident when I do have to be away from my kids.
• 21:23
  I know it's just for the for the evening or for the weekend or whatever it is. And it it ebbs and flows. Right? And my kids know that I'm coming back and that I'm not gone for forever or anything like that. And they're older now too, so they get it.
• 21:37
  It's easier. They're not just, like, crying, standing there, watching me leave. Like, that's the hardest thing when they're little because you know they don't understand it. So Mhmm. That was that was always a push and pull for me when I was at the Center for the Arts being a new mom.
• 21:50
  So Yeah. That was that was tough and ultimately why I left.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: But Mom mom guilt is real.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: It sure is.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: And I'm just gonna say mom moms who are feeling mom guilt, you are amazing moms. Yes. Like, that guilt is is a sign that says that that you care and that you love and that's what your kids need. So 100%. I just wanna say to you moms that feeling that mom guilt like you're doing a great job.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Yes. You're not alone. We all feel it at some point. Yep. But it gets better.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. You get less guilty as you
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: You do.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Grow up and you fight feel, like, jilted against each other. Make me tired all the time. You used to be cute. What what's wrong with you? My seven year old, she's she's going through, like, she's trying to decide.
• 22:33
  And, like, you can see it almost in real time, like, she's trying to decide what kind of, person she wants to be. Whereas, like, why there's two days of just infinite sweetness. It's like, oh my goodness. Like, you were like, why are you being so nice? And then day number What do you want?
• 22:48
  Yeah. Day number three, it's like nothing but, like, war. Like, I want war, and I want fighting with you. It's like, what's going on? You could just see day to day, like, she's trying to, like, feel things out.
• 23:00
  Like Yeah. Am I Yeah. Am I snarky and mean? Am I sweet and wanna cuddle? Like, I don't know.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, gosh. What a roller coaster for you, though. Yeah. You're like, wait. What?
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: What? My house is full of emotions. Yeah. So many emotions.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: I can imagine. I only yeah. I have a boy and a girl, so I get to see just little bits and pieces of, you know, I don't have the full one or the other.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: So We're all in on girl dad.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah. You are a girl dad. All in.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I love it, though. Yeah. For sure. What what's coming down the line at at Dow? I mean, I should do a better job of looking at the calendar and stuff, but we're like, what are we looking forward to in the next couple months?
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Or should I do a better job marketing to you?
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: No. That's marketing guilt. Like, Phil, you should know. I should be implanting information into your brain.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: No. Sometimes I'm just you know, we can't be everywhere all the time. Right? So people do have to if they really wanna come support, come look at our calendar and come see. We have our website, and it's on social media.
• 23:54
  It's everywhere. You know?
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: But I've said that in previous episodes too. It's like we yes. Marketing, messaging, information, commune like, all of that stuff. Organizations, governments, whatever. Like, we always have to do better jobs.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, if if I if I'm a person that's like, oh, there's nothing to do here, you the first check is, are you looking for something to do Like, you looking at the temple? Are you looking at the Tao event center?
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Because Taylor Swift night at Hoyt Park.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: You know? Like, there's so many things.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You you have to be intentional about looking at it. Like, I I think social media trains us that that everything that we're interested in or whatever is gonna be served to us when I open up my phone, and that's not it. Like, you've got 6,000,000,000 people all competing for your attention. Yeah.
• 24:45
  And if you're not looking, especially locally now in kind of the country culture that we have, like, you're stuff is gonna be missed because you're not looking for it.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: So Exactly. Yeah. So that's
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: my and go to the website.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: It's my soapboxes.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And that I mean, like, for for city of Saginaw, Temple, such an amazing resource, such an amazing asset. Dow Event Center. I mean, like like, you've names like Jerry Seinfeld coming to Saginaw, and it's just like that that that is an amazing gift that we have to give credit to that if we did not have the Dow Event Center, the Saginaw spirit, like, such a big deal. Memorial Cup tramps, baby.
• 25:25
  That's right. Like, never would have happened had we not had the Dow Event Center. And, also, before we talk specifically events, just wanna throw credit to the folks in the community that really rallied to save that place because it would have been a parking lot at the end of a downtown, and we would have been a a a less great community had that happened. And it really took a lot of people with faith and vision in the community to say, no, like, no, we got we have to save that because once it's gone, it's not coming back. So A
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: 100%.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Paying off.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, that that is aside from my passion and purpose and connecting those two things, that was another thing that brought me here was looking at the community and how much energy there is
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Y'all be
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: here in Saginaw. I mean, the the number of businesses and people that I've reached out to, have just instantly been willing to partner and been like, yes. Let's do this. And it's such a refreshing thing to to just be able to collaborate and and feel that energy and people who want to make this the best place it can be. It's so cool.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah. There's no people like Saginaw people.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: That's right. That's right. So, yeah. I mean, the the the momentum here is just phenomenal. I'm just excited to be a small part of it.
• 26:35
  But quality of life is huge, and so we're excited to connect people with making more memories together and experiencing things that they might not otherwise right here in their hometown. So speaking of, legendary people coming, we have Bob Dylan coming in April. Wild. I know. I And this
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: is just to underline this, this is not like like This is not a tribute. Tribute Bob Dylan. This is not not Bob Dylan the experience. This is the
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: This is the Bob Dylan. I know that's one of the first questions that people ask. Because we do have tribute bands and things, you know.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: But And those they're great. I'm not hating on tribute bands. Right. Like, nobody come for me in the comment section. Like, get it.
• 27:14
  You guys are awesome. I love you.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: 100%. But, no, just to be clear, this is actually Bob Dylan
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Himself coming. So, I mean
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Crazy.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: To have someone who's won the Nobel Prize for his his work in music in that industry is is just crazy, and we're so honored to be able to have him on our stage in the theater. So, that's April 3. So definitely, there's still tickets available. Kinda surprised it didn't sell out instantly.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: People.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, it will eventually where it's getting it's getting there.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Now is the time to get those tickets because if you if you hear that, he's he's gonna be there like, oh, I'm gonna wait two weeks. You're gonna you're gonna feel sad about your choices. Yeah. So buy those tickets.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Definitely. So, and it'll be a cool intimate it's, you know, a smaller theater. It's not like a huge arena that you're gonna see them in, so it'll be really, really neat. But, on the other end of the spectrum, we have some awesome comedians coming up too.
• 28:04
  We've got Ali Sadiq on February 6. We've got, Brad Williams on February 15, and then we have Bert Kreischer. He'll be in the arena, actually, March 19. So if you need some laughs and, you know, some fun times
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Three good options.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: So I was I I've always been one of those sticks in the mud who's like, I don't know what I think about comedy shows. And then I I went to one and because my wife really wanted to go, and I was sitting there. I was like, yeah, you you're you make me laugh. Like, you you you earned my laugh.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: You try.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: And about, like, half a half half hour in, they started to find the groove and and I was laughing. And it was a a really great experience. So so folks, if you're like me, if you're one of those sticks in the mud and you're like, I don't laugh at comedy shows, like, give it a shot. Like, you got some funny folks coming.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: I I feel like you would love Ali Sadik. He's known for his storytelling and he's very real. He talks about parenting a lot. So he's got kids.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Heard the name. And and right now, people that are more, like, socially, social media minded than me, they're probably all groaning. Like, Phil, you're so old. I'm out of touch.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah. He's oh, he's if you wanna, like, test him out before you come, like, he's on Netflix. He has a couple Netflix specials. Okay. So you can see him on Netflix first.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: But Okay.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: As you know, there's nothing like experiencing it live in
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: my opinion. Do you think he's gonna earn my laughter?
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: I 100%. I didn't know who he was prior to this, so I watched his Netflix special, and I was dying the whole time.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Really? Okay. I'll give it a shot. You should. I'll trust your judgment.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Okay. And then let me know
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: what you Bob Dylan coming. We got some comedians coming.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: Yes. And then tons of family friendly shows too.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: So true. I gotta take better advantage of those.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. So we've got monster trucks coming. That's March. 06/07.
• 29:59
  I'm sorry. That's the phase of life I'm in right now. I had to say it.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Right now, my daughter's giggling when she's watching.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: I hope I made Let's somebody that go. Six seven. When my when I say it in front of my kids, they're like, ugh.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It's that one too. She's like, you can't say that, dad. I was like, everybody else is
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: like, I'm cool. Right? I'm cool enough. I'm just trying to be hip in the trends. Right?
• 30:24
  We're so old.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: So I'm so old.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Don't even get me started. But I still feel
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: like I'm in my
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: twenties sometimes. So Do you really? Sometimes. What were
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: you like in your twenties?
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Well, I was an athlete, so I had a lot more energy than I do now.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: I hear you there. Yeah.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: So I was a lot more fit and, you know, but I still
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: I was so naive in my twenties. I was just like I just I feel so much shame, like, thinking back to my twenties going like, Phil, like, you
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: You think you know it all.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: You think you know it all, and you think you're so smart, and you think, like, you can change the world, which I guess is important.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: Like Yeah.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Is it important to have that kind of, like, gusto and passion because the world's gonna squash it out of you in a decade anyway? So you might as well have it where
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: Or is it children that
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: squash out like, gonna just erase any sort of motivation. Children are great, by the way. You you might be getting the impression from this conversation. So bad for anybody listening to not good, and they are. They're really good.
• 31:27
  They're cool. My children so much.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I do it all over again. Anyway Yeah.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: So monster trucks on March.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: We do this all when you and I talk, I feel like we just go all over the place.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: It's so fun. I know. I love it too.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: That's why you follow me around all across the Great Lakes Bay region. We're just like little rabbits going like, what are we gonna do next? What job are
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: we gonna do next? I
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: like this over here.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: I hope we stay in Saginaw for a long time.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: That's will. I I just I I I think you're feeling it too there near you're a year in. Like, there's just no again, no shade to all the other communities. Like, anytime I talk great about Saginaw, folks are like, yeah, but you're not saying good things about me. And, like, you guys are great.
• 32:12
  Everybody's everybody's great. Absolutely. I I think a part of it is, like, like, I think kinda like a puzzle piece, and I and I talk about this with all of the communities that I work with, across the country. Like, it's it's not it's not just about attracting people. It's about attracting the the people that fit with who you are.
• 32:32
  Like, you're not trying little little old rural South Carolina town, you're not necessarily trying to get the developer from Silicon Valley to come over and move to Walterboro, South Carolina. Like, you're trying to find the the people that fit.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: So Absolutely. There's a place for everyone.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Place for everybody.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. So, okay.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: Monster trucks.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: To what you
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Family friendly.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Asked me. Family friendly. So we, brought back our Broadway series this year, and so we have the show Clue Live coming in February.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: Oh, fun.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So just like the movie and the board game, where is it, you know, colonel mustard in the library with a wrench or missus Peacock with the candlestick, you know, type of thing. So it's only eighty minutes long, so it'll be quick, good for kids, you know.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Super fun. Is there an intermission?
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: No intermission.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Like, I love all the family friendly stuff, but as soon as you throw an intermission in, it's like, oh, man.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: I hear you.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Like, especially with three kids, like
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: It interrupts the flow. Like, you're like, we just got settled in our seats sitting, you know, everybody's happy, focused, and then it's like, well,
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: now we gotta do it all over again. Yeah. Those lights come on, and your three good kids go like, can we go? No. We've still got a half morning.
• 33:47
  It's like, why? Yeah. So the night is over. Yeah. Okay.
• 33:51
  So clues so do you, like, play along with it in Clue? No. Cool line?
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: There's no audience interaction
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: or anything. That'd be kind of fun. That would be sure it will be fun.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: But Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm sure somebody has redone it and, you know Yeah.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: Some kind of
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: cool audience participation in it.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: But Okay.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: And then our last show in the series is Riverdance 30, the new generation. So Oh. If you haven't experienced Riverdance before, I mean, to see that live is incredible. The first time I saw it, I was I think you feel it in your soul. It's one of those shows that you
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: just stomping around on stage.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah. That Irish step dancing is pretty incredible when you get all of them out there together. Uh-huh. You really do feel it right in there. It's pretty cool.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: I've only seen it. I've only seen Riverdance on VHS. When back when the original Riverdance came out with I think it was it like Michael Flatley was like the lead guy with blonde hair?
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Uh-huh. Oh, yeah. In his tight pants. A Morgan.
• 34:51
  Wow. You should take up Irish step dancing.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: You know, I grew up in Alma, Michigan. And you come in growing up, you come into Alma, you had total petroleum on the the right side, the petroleum factory, and on the left side was the water tower. And on the water tower, it said Scotland, USA. It's Alma Alma College, home of the Scots. Oh, yeah.
• 35:13
  Yeah. And, evidently, the founders of Alma were Scottish. There I mean, there's, of course, no Scottish lineage in Alma. I shouldn't say that. I'm like, all the Scotts are coming for me right now.
• 35:24
  But they had, like, the Highland Festival, and one of my friends was a world champion Highland dancer.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah. That's so cool. Scotland's different than Ireland. Just I know that. But But
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: still, I I mean, I can see how we got there.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I got the kilts and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. That'll be fun.
• 35:40
  River dancing.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: Yes. So thirtieth anniversary of that. So they're touring.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: And then Thirtieth anniversary of the anniversary. Okay. I'm feeling old now.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: I well, especially that's why I was like, on VHS. Oh my gosh.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. We had it on VHS. We're there.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: We're there.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: My family used to you know?
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: And then we in July, do you remember Weird Al? Oh, yeah. Weird Al Yankovich? He's coming.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: Wow. Cool.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: I know. So another another kinda iconic,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: yeah. Like
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: People love him, and it's he's great because multi generations can appreciate him and come and experience it together. Right? It's one of those cool shows that you can bring your grandparents, the parent, and the kids.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: I had a I had a a weird album on CD in my compact disc player.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: Compact disc?
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah. That was a portable? That was a whatever album. Yeah. I remember.
• 36:30
  It was silver. It was like this little Sony guy that popped open.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: Oh,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: yeah. It was whatever album had Amish Paradise in.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes. One of his classics. Yep.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Wow. We're really throwing it back right now.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: I know. I know. But he's still around.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: What I love about weird weird al is, like like, nobody comes for weird al. Nobody is like like like weird al at a time where our culture and society is so contentious. Like, weird al is the common ground. Like, either you you think weird al is really funny or you're like, I like I'm not into Weird Al, but I love that he's doing his thing.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Yes. That's what that's what we're trying to do here. Bring people together.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: Right? Uh-huh.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: Unite around Weird Al.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Everybody of any political spectrum. Like Come on in. What what is the date for the Weird Al show? Do you know off the top of your head?
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: It is July 7.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: July 7. Let us reunite America by watching the Weird Al show at the Dow Event Center.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: We're just we're making change.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Maybe we we could save the country through Weird Al and his parody songs.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: I think we could. And he's got Puddles Pity Party opening for him, so it's an
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: op What is ed that? Clown. Oh. Oh, the tall the big big clown guy.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: Yes. Really? Yeah. I know. Isn't that, like, a perfect
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: kind of combo? Yeah. He sings, like, all those, like, kinda jazzy covers on YouTube. Yeah. Hit publish.
• 37:53
  Yeah. Oh.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: I know. So that'll be I it'll just be a fun night where you're gonna be laughing the whole time and reminiscing.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: I might have to go to this show.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: I love it. I can help you get tickets.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: I know somebody who could
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: sell I know somebody.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: Kristen from the Doll Vans Center, it's been absolutely a pleasure as usual to have you have you and and talk about this conversation. What where where do people go? Like, we got them all jazzed up about Dowell Vinson or all these shows. Like, where do they go to buy tickets and keep in the loop and get the information?
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. So we have a box office right inside our atrium. So right when you come in the main doors is our box office. Our box office is open Thursdays and Fridays only.
• 38:38
  So a little limited, but Thursdays from ten to two, Fridays ten to five. We've got people who can help answer questions in person over the phone. So it's always nice to talk to someone. Mhmm. Right?
• 38:49
  In the day and age of chatbots and things.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: We've got people you can talk to if you have questions. Or our official ticket seller online is ticketmaster.com. So we recommend always going to our website or going to Ticket master for your tickets. Cool. Yeah.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: Go to that website. Follow them on social media. Keep in the loop because you guys are bringing in some really, really incredible experiences and they're right literally right down the road here here in Saginaw. So, Kristen, I wanna thank you for the work. I wanna thank you for joining me on this conversation today.
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. Love having conversation with you.
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: Yay. You're awesome.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: You are too.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: Heck yeah. That was
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: super fun. Oh my gosh. That was so fun. I knew it would be fun.