Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Sterling Main Street updates from Janna Groharing

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Talk Line: Sterling Main Street updates from Janna Groharing · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: All right, Sog Valley, You're back with the Waking Crew
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: here on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty WIXN.
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  Speaker 1: It's just about eight and nineteen on your Wednesday morning,
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  Speaker 1: and it's time for our talk line and I'm joining
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  Speaker 1: the booth once again by our good friends from Sterling
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  Speaker 1: Main Street. Channa grow hearing.
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  Speaker 2: How are you good morning? I am, well, I'm over
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  Speaker 2: this humidity though hotly yeah, I mean I love the heat,
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  Speaker 2: I love summer, but this is a little crazy.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a little early for that kind of mugginess.
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  Speaker 1: I exactly.
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  Speaker 2: I walked, I took the dog out about quarter after
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  Speaker 2: five this morning. I'm like, oh, it's already, you know,
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  Speaker 2: hard to breathe kind of weather.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is. It's that difference when you step outside,
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  Speaker 1: you can kind of just cut through the air.
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  Speaker 2: Yep.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm hoping we're going to get a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of break for that this weekend, exactly. But we both
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  Speaker 1: know now that it's here, right, it's coming back.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's here to stay. But you know, I'm hoping.
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  Speaker 2: I know the weather's kind of iffy today, but I'm
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  Speaker 2: really hoping we get a break because we've got so
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  Speaker 2: many cool things that happen in Sterling on Wednesday nights.
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  Speaker 1: Now, yeah, yeah, And the cool thing is you're here
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  Speaker 1: to tell us about all of it, and we're gonna
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  Speaker 1: start with something that if you haven't heard about it,
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  Speaker 1: this is one of the maybe the coolest secrets that
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  Speaker 1: we're getting out and that's the shops at Granted.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the shops at Grandon Plaza. It's our retail incubator
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  Speaker 2: space that we started a couple of years ago. But
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  Speaker 2: though we've got six small business startups basically in these
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  Speaker 2: little incubator spaces and they're doing amazing things this year
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  Speaker 2: every Wednesday night through the summer especially, and like they're
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  Speaker 2: doing it year round now, but it really blows up
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  Speaker 2: in the summertime because the Sturly Municipal Band now in
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  Speaker 2: this ninety eighth season, it started their Wednesday night concerts.
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  Speaker 2: So Wednesday night, the Grand and Civic Center, which is
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  Speaker 2: right behind the shops hence the name, are doing their
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  Speaker 2: concerts in the park. So they're their festivity started around
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  Speaker 2: six o'clock. So the shop girls are open every Wednesday night.
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  Speaker 2: They open between four and five as they leave the
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  Speaker 2: other jobs and stuff like that. So somere open at four.
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  Speaker 2: Some we're open at five, but they're often bringing in
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  Speaker 2: guest vendors and other pop ups throughout the night. Shops
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  Speaker 2: are open all the time, but they've often got several
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  Speaker 2: other vendors. They've got the roaming mayor coming tonight to
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  Speaker 2: do like mocktails and things like that crazy daisy flower
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  Speaker 2: farm here, a little flower truck is going to be there.
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  Speaker 2: But we've got two new shops with us this month.
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  Speaker 2: I think last month I may have touched on Paper
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  Speaker 2: and Hide, who was leaving us at the shops and
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  Speaker 2: opening our own storefront over in Fulton, So that was awesome.
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  Speaker 2: It was nice to go over and visit her on
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  Speaker 2: her grand opening weekend. So she's doing well over there.
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  Speaker 2: But we've got two. Basically we're given like a test
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  Speaker 2: run for a month kind of thing to see how
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  Speaker 2: it goes, and then we'll look at do we stay
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  Speaker 2: on long term. They need a little more time to
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  Speaker 2: get ready for our permanent space. So we've got with
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  Speaker 2: us right now, the Cozy the Cozy Jar. She's a refillery,
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  Speaker 2: So think like I don't want to not necessarily all organic,
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  Speaker 2: but more environmentally conscious soaps, laundry, soap, hands, soap, she
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  Speaker 2: oh conditioner, home cleansing products, the household cleaners and things
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  Speaker 2: like that, environment of friendly things, and they come in
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  Speaker 2: like big bulk containers and basically you can bring in
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  Speaker 2: your own container and refill, so it's, you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: environmentally friendly because you're reducing all the plastics and all
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  Speaker 2: that kind of stuff, and the product themselves are a
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  Speaker 2: little more environmentally friendly as well. So she's a refillery,
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  Speaker 2: so she's given it a go. And then we also
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  Speaker 2: have with us this month still Story kitchen. She's a
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  Speaker 2: sourdo waker. Okay, so Sovardo is all the rage, but
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  Speaker 2: oh my gosh, she was there for the first time
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  Speaker 2: last week and she'll be with us all month. She's
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  Speaker 2: not just soured oat breads, but bagels, cinnamon rolls, cookies, pasta.
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  Speaker 2: I bought some fetichina noodles from her last month and
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  Speaker 2: our last week and I went home and made them
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  Speaker 2: for dinner. Was you know, fantastic. So she's really kind
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  Speaker 2: of growing great guns. And then we're in the process
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  Speaker 2: of bringing somebody new in and she'll be starting in July,
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  Speaker 2: so I'll talk more about that next month. But we've
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  Speaker 2: got a new tenant lined up for for July. That'll
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  Speaker 2: be joining us for them for the foreseeable future as well,
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  Speaker 2: so we're really excited about that. So we've got some
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  Speaker 2: really good momentum going at the shops. So they are
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  Speaker 2: open every Wednesday night and not just the six of them,
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  Speaker 2: but often with some other pop up vendors as well.
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  Speaker 2: So it's a great night to come shopping downtown Stirling
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  Speaker 2: and then wander over to the municipal Baying concert next door,
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  Speaker 2: or just float back and forth between the two of them.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And I mean this incubator space is it's so cool.
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  Speaker 1: If you've never heard about it before, it's just a
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  Speaker 1: it's a fantastic way to start a business and get
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  Speaker 1: your feet wet and kind of you know, see what
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  Speaker 1: it's about and kind of grow in a safe and
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  Speaker 1: support of an environment.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's really most of the girls that
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  Speaker 2: are most of the shops. I shouldn't say girls because
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  Speaker 2: they're all women owned businesses right now, but that doesn't
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  Speaker 2: have to be, but they a lot of them are
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  Speaker 2: doing the pop up vendor shows things like you know
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  Speaker 2: the Dixon City Marker or former pop up markets or
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  Speaker 2: maybe just farmers' markets, things like that, and they're looking
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  Speaker 2: to like, hey, I want to do this on a
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  Speaker 2: more full time basis. I'm tired of hauling my stuff
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  Speaker 2: and keeping my car packed and moving from show to
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  Speaker 2: show to show. I'm really thinking about I want a
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  Speaker 2: brick and mortar, like a permanent storefront kind of thing,
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  Speaker 2: and this is a safe way to really kind of
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  Speaker 2: do that, to really grow a physical presence somewhere and
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  Speaker 2: kind of just refine, refine your merchandising skills, making sure
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  Speaker 2: you're reaching customers so they know where you're at, and
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  Speaker 2: you know, we kind of help you along the way.
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  Speaker 2: We make sure you're connected with the SBDC out of
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  Speaker 2: SoC They are an amazing resource for our community and
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  Speaker 2: more people should use them because it's amazing the number
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  Speaker 2: of people I talk to that are in, you know,
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  Speaker 2: looking to do get into the incubators. Have you heavy
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  Speaker 2: do you have a business plan? Have you talked to
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  Speaker 2: the SBDC. Now, Okay, first things first, that's number one
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  Speaker 2: I need to do list get a hold of them.
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  Speaker 2: But then also, you know, we've brought in like bankers
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  Speaker 2: and lawyers and accountants and marketing specialists, and you know
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  Speaker 2: we kind of say, you know what, what helped. What
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  Speaker 2: resources were What resources do you need? How can we
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  Speaker 2: help you? Is there something you want to learn more
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  Speaker 2: about to be able to grow your business and we
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  Speaker 2: try to connect them with those resources.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really fantastic. There's a lot of support here
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  Speaker 1: in the Sauk Valley for doing it. Chase your dreams,
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  Speaker 1: get a hold of them. You won't regret it. We're
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  Speaker 1: gonna there's too much going on in what I have
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  Speaker 1: dubbed the Salt Valley Summer of Fun, and Sterling's just
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  Speaker 1: another part of this, and so we're going to transition
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  Speaker 1: to what I've been excited for my time as a
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  Speaker 1: reporter before here. Oh, is finally the opening of the
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  Speaker 1: new Riverfront Park.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, we kind of did a soft, very quiet, soft
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  Speaker 2: opening on the Northwestern Steel and Wire Park. You've been
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  Speaker 2: watching it grow for like the last year or so,
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  Speaker 2: but right at the end of Walla Street you can
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  Speaker 2: kind of see it from our Farmers Market area, the
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  Speaker 2: new splash pad and fully accessible park. The big grand
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  Speaker 2: opening ribbon cutting for that park is this coming Saturday
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  Speaker 2: at eleven am. You know there'll be a lot of
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  Speaker 2: pomp and circumstance involved. You know, we've got music we've
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  Speaker 2: got donors. We are, you know, all are. We'll be
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  Speaker 2: recognizing a lot of our donors. I mean, a lot
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  Speaker 2: of this project was privately funded. You know, the city
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  Speaker 2: did the project. It's been it's been years and making
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  Speaker 2: decades and making truly, but this is the big kickoff.
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  Speaker 2: The park is open to the public. You know, we
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  Speaker 2: open We got the fence down last week. We wanted
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  Speaker 2: it to be open when Big Boy Train came through
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  Speaker 2: last weekend so everybody could see it in action. It's
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  Speaker 2: been really popular. There's been tons of kids down there,
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  Speaker 2: especially with this hot weather we've been having it. But
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  Speaker 2: we're doing the formal grand opening ribbon cutting for this Saturday,
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  Speaker 2: eleven o'clock. The public is invited. We've got lots of
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  Speaker 2: giveaways and things like that to promote the park. We've
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  Speaker 2: got some food trucks lined up. Like I said, we're
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  Speaker 2: playing some music the you know, we'll be down there
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  Speaker 2: bright and early, setting up and stuff like that. But
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  Speaker 2: the formal ribbon cutting event will be eleven o'clock. So
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  Speaker 2: we'd love to see the community come out and enjoy
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  Speaker 2: the park, you know, today, tomorrow, Saturday, for the rest
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  Speaker 2: of the summer and you know, it'll be open for
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  Speaker 2: ice skating and stuff this winter, so we are good
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  Speaker 2: to go. Yeah, we're so. I mean, it's been such
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  Speaker 2: a long time coming. We've still got more work to
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  Speaker 2: do as far as like the parking lot in the
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  Speaker 2: Amphitheater area. We've got a veterans memorial planned that work
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  Speaker 2: will start up again this fall. But you know, the
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  Speaker 2: park is open and enjoyable for the summer now.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's just been a really exciting thing.
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  Speaker 1: I've seen some people have posted some videos online of
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  Speaker 1: i mean for a soft opening loo. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: As soon as people realized the fence were down and
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  Speaker 2: the fountains were on, they're like, wait, what, we can
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  Speaker 2: go down there now? Yeah, you can. You could absolutely
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  Speaker 2: go down there now.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I've seen them with the water cannons and the
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  Speaker 1: big buckets splashing down. If you've not seen it in person,
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  Speaker 1: you have to get over and see it. This event
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  Speaker 1: is going to be a fantastic way to get to
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  Speaker 1: experience that. And then the park's just going to be
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  Speaker 1: part of I'm sure so many other events, you know,
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  Speaker 1: going into the future. So yeah, like you said, years
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  Speaker 1: in the making, a great moment here. Love it and
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  Speaker 1: of course it's in close proximity. It's just what it
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  Speaker 1: is already a regular, fantastic part of Sterling. And that's
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  Speaker 1: the farmers market.
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  Speaker 2: The Twin City Farmer's Market again open every Saturday, eight
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  Speaker 2: am till noon. We're indoors and out right now we
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  Speaker 2: have got we are at capacity. We keep getting every day,
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  Speaker 2: every almost daily. Now is a room for me at
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  Speaker 2: the farmer's market. This Saturday, we're gonna have to have
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  Speaker 2: some serious conversations about how can we continue to grow
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  Speaker 2: the market. I mean under the pavilion right now is full.
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  Speaker 2: I mean every once in a while you might say
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: blank because somebody had emergency cancelation or something like that.
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  Speaker 2: But the outdoor markets full. The indoor market's full. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we've got some that set up tents in the walk
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  Speaker 2: area between the like, so how many you know, do
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  Speaker 2: we you know, how do we figure out letting more
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  Speaker 2: people in?
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if you who owns behind, maybe people can
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: set up with awnings and.
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  Speaker 2: The thing, But do we take our where do they park? Then? Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: the parking lettue is full. A lot of times I
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  Speaker 2: got there, like I had to work the market. This
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  Speaker 2: past Saturday, LORI star went and opened it and I
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: got there about quarter after eight, and I'm like, we
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  Speaker 2: opened it eight, it's quarter after eight. The parking lot
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  Speaker 2: is literally full. There's like two spots, you know, and
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  Speaker 2: that's the front parking lot and the back parking lot.
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  Speaker 2: It's crazy, but it's it's fantastic all in the same.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's just a it's a it's a wonderful thing.
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  Speaker 1: It's it's just been doing nothing but growing over the years, exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and we've got some tremendous it's awesome that we
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  Speaker 2: have got produce already. We've got some Garmer family farms
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  Speaker 2: specifically starts our tomatoes early. They got hoop houses and
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: renolds and greenhouses and all that stuff. We've got fresh
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  Speaker 2: tomatoes already. I mean it seems really early in the
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: season for a lot of growers, but we've got all
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  Speaker 2: the fresh greens coming in. We still got asparagus, Cole Robbie.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: I've got my first Cole Robbie this past weekend. We've
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: got Coster family farms, so we've got the hydrochronic greens
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  Speaker 2: there all the time. So lot lots of great lettuce
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  Speaker 2: and spinach and things like that. Up an amazing array
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  Speaker 2: of bake goods, cheeses, eggs, chicken, beef, I mean, so
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  Speaker 2: much good stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. My wife really loves the cheese.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I mean it's great.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, just another part of you know, what's so great
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  Speaker 1: about this time of year and everything getting out and
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  Speaker 1: while we still got a few minutes I've been telling folks,
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  Speaker 1: but you know, so much more about it. And that's
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: cruise Nights back Yes Instagram.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Rally on the Rocks. We had our first one
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  Speaker 2: this past Friday. It's the first fridays of June, July, August,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: and September. We kicked it off last weekend. The weather
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: was looking iffy all day, but we had a window
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: clear up. It was a fantastic night. We had over
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: one hundred cars, which was great for our first event,
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: or first event the season, should I say. We averaged
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: probably eighty to ninety for the most part. Last season
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  Speaker 2: we had one over one hundred, but we started out
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: over one hundred cars on what started out as a
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: really rainy day. So we're only hoping it'll grow from here.
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  Speaker 2: So we've got Rick Lindy, Rick Lindy and the Hillbilly
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: and Rockabilly Trio is our.
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  Speaker 1: Times.
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  Speaker 2: Rick Lindy in that rockabilly trio I believe is our
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  Speaker 2: our musical artist for July. Dan and Robin Duncan are
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  Speaker 2: two of our long time time committee members to help
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: with our car Knights and a cruise Cruise Knights and
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: a Car Show. They kind of I turned them loose
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: on fighting the music for the events because that's one
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  Speaker 2: of the things they're passionate about. I don't know where
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: they found these guys, but they're a nice rockabilly kind
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: of that that really goes over all with the car
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: car show, cruise. You know, the cruise nights are free.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: We've got food trucks down there, six to eight, live music,
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  Speaker 2: come check out the cars. It's just a great night
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: community to just come out and enjoy the just enjoyed
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: the evening.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. You usually have me with food trucks and music,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: throwing some cars in there, and that's just it makes
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: it even better.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's it really is. You know, all ages,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: family friendly, lots of families, lots of dogs on leashes,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: things like that. Bring a lawn chair. That's one thing
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: people don't remember to do because we set up under
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: the pavilion so their shade just bring lawnchair and enjoy
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: the music, enjoy the night.
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  Speaker 1: Well this is just again another small slice of what
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: I have dubbed the Sock Valley Summer of Fun, and
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: there's so much more, don't We don't have time tonight,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: but we will have you back for another update. But
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: if anyone wants any more information, they can't wait, and
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: they want to know, where's the best way to get that.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: The best way to get that is our social media
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: and our website, so Sterling mainStreet dot org. And we're
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: on Facebook and Instagram, so those are the best places
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: to get all the information. All the detail on all
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: our summer events are on both, so just check them
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: out and come and join us.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: That's right, get your butt out there and join us.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: That's what I've been telling everybody. Thank you so much
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: for coming on the show, for all the updates, and
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: for all the work that you guys do over there.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate it, because, as I've said, there's no
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: excuse to say there's nothing to do in the Sock Valley.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: They're working on it. Thank you so much.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you