Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Discover Dixon's Jennifer Lang on 2026 events

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Talk Line: Discover Dixon's Jennifer Lang on 2026 events · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: You've joined the Waking crew here on FM ninety five
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  Speaker 1: one and AM fourteen sixty WIXN, where you're never more
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  Speaker 1: than moments away from all the local news, sports, and
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  Speaker 1: entertainment information needed to start your day. It's eight fifteen
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  Speaker 1: and that means it's time for talk line and today
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  Speaker 1: I am joining the booth by Discovered Dixon's Jennifer Lane. Jennifer,
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  Speaker 1: how are you this morning?
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  Speaker 2: I'm well, Happy New Years.
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  Speaker 3: I know it's been a year since I've seen.
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  Speaker 4: It's been a year, and you know, I was just talking.
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  Speaker 4: I didn't know when do you quit saying Happy New Year?
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  Speaker 4: Because I just love saying it, Like, Ill January?
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  Speaker 2: Am I safe to say it?
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  Speaker 3: I think so? Yeah, I think so.
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  Speaker 1: It's the first month of the new year. I think
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  Speaker 1: we have every right. I think for the first week.
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  Speaker 1: I reminded everybody when I was giving the date when
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  Speaker 1: I'd come online and I'd say, on your twenty twenty six, yeah, because.
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  Speaker 4: It's the new year, it is, and what today is
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  Speaker 4: the thirteenth, So I mean, we're still fresh, and I
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  Speaker 4: know I'm still trying to get in the groove of everything.
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  Speaker 4: So Discovered Dixon office was closed for a couple of
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  Speaker 4: weeks and we just got back at it last Monday,
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  Speaker 4: and here we go. We're excited for a twenty twenty
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  Speaker 4: six year here in Dixon.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely same here.
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  Speaker 1: I got my tree put away last week, so it's
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  Speaker 1: officially twenty twenty six now that the tree's done here.
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  Speaker 2: There you go.
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  Speaker 1: But speaking of twenty twenty six, you guys are already
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  Speaker 1: on the ball with your calendar of events.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, we are. So everything's up in line, ready to go.
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  Speaker 4: We're still doing all those favorites that our community loves.
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  Speaker 4: We didn't take anything off, added a few little things
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  Speaker 4: here and there, but you know, we have our calendar
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  Speaker 4: events that is available here at our Discovered Dixon office
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  Speaker 4: as well as we're getting it out and about throughout
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  Speaker 4: town into people's hands. But yeah, we're ready to go
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  Speaker 4: and hitting the streets getting those sponsorships and then of course,
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  Speaker 4: you know all these events that we do, it takes
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  Speaker 4: a committee. So you know, I want to tell that
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  Speaker 4: Radio Land if you are interested in getting involved Discovered Dixon,
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  Speaker 4: whether it is financially getting that sponsorship, getting your name out,
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  Speaker 4: or even volunteering, this is a time to reach out
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  Speaker 4: because I can't do all this without the help of
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  Speaker 4: our great community here in Dixon.
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  Speaker 1: You mean, you don't do this all on your own
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  Speaker 1: wand and make these things happen.
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  Speaker 4: I know, right. I always say I'm the chaos coordinator,
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  Speaker 4: but ultimately I might have, you know, the say and
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  Speaker 4: a lot.
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  Speaker 2: Of stuff, but it takes the community.
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  Speaker 4: There's so many great people out there with all these
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  Speaker 4: great ideas, so please come, let's talk about those and
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  Speaker 4: get them involved in our events. You know, just so
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  Speaker 4: much going on, you know, I just want to highlight
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  Speaker 4: some you know, we just got done with Christmas. It's
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  Speaker 4: still kind of in our brain as we just talked about,
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  Speaker 4: you know, the tree.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm already starting plan stuff for the Christmas Walk.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 4: The committee hasn't gotten together yet, but there's stuff I
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  Speaker 4: need to plan, Like I need to make sure Santa
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  Speaker 4: is going to be here, so he's the never a
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  Speaker 4: one guy.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's got a lot of spots and appearances to make, he.
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  Speaker 4: Does, and he loves coming to Dixon, so we get
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  Speaker 4: him lined up of course, And like Scarecrow Festival, we
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  Speaker 4: have some street performers that come in, so it's getting
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  Speaker 4: them booked. And let's not forget our mettle Music Fest,
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  Speaker 4: which you know, that's one of our ticket to music events.
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  Speaker 4: You know, I'm getting the stage book, the generator, the
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  Speaker 4: band's booked. You know, there's just a lot of moving parts.
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  Speaker 4: And again, while I try to coordinate all of them,
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  Speaker 4: it takes the community to step up be on that committee.
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  Speaker 4: And you know a lot of people ask like what
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  Speaker 4: what part of the committee? You know, sometimes I need
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  Speaker 4: people to be banned host you know, the band comes in,
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  Speaker 4: make sure they're okay, call me if there's a problem.
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  Speaker 4: You know, I need people to help with the volunteers.
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  Speaker 4: You know, we take tickets and that money. Sometimes I
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  Speaker 4: need volunteers just to take care of that. So there's
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  Speaker 4: all different ways to get involved, and you know, all
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  Speaker 4: ages too, you know, I love when the kiddos get involved.
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  Speaker 4: Of course, discovered Dixon could not be successful without the
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  Speaker 4: Impact program. Yes, I love that program. So they help
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  Speaker 4: us out a lot. And of course we use other
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  Speaker 4: organizations to help us to different bank groups step up
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  Speaker 4: and do different events.
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  Speaker 2: But again, it really just takes everybody. So give me
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  Speaker 2: a call.
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  Speaker 1: No, it absolutely does, and it's such a great thing
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  Speaker 1: to be a part of. I mean, I look forward
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  Speaker 1: to these events every year. My son has not missed
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  Speaker 1: a Christmas walk since he was able to go out
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  Speaker 1: on his own. I swear he'll be sick and he'll
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  Speaker 1: be at your Christmas walk.
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  Speaker 3: Good.
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  Speaker 2: We like to hear that, as long as he doesn't
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  Speaker 2: spread those germs.
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  Speaker 3: But no, no, he keeps in cover. But he's like,
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  Speaker 3: I don't care.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not there.
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  Speaker 3: He's not missing his Christmas Walk.
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  Speaker 2: All good because we do.
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  Speaker 4: We have a great lineup of stuff. I know everybody's
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  Speaker 4: itching for the Dixon City Market, So save the date.
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  Speaker 2: It's going to be the last Wednesday in May.
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  Speaker 4: And May twenty seventh. There it is, go booking all
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  Speaker 4: that musical lineup. As soon we'll be open up for
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  Speaker 4: the vendors. And you know it's gonna be a spring,
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  Speaker 4: it's gonna be summer before we know it. It's crazy
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  Speaker 4: how the year just goes my so fast.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, it absolutely does. And I mean this weather fifty
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  Speaker 1: one to day twenty five tomorrow, and that's been the
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  Speaker 1: yo yo all year long. I mean, I'm not going
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  Speaker 1: to complain, but like I practically was about to drag
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  Speaker 1: my grill out of the garage on Christmas Day and
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  Speaker 1: my life was like no, and.
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  Speaker 4: I'm like, I don't know, Brandon, it is always grilling weather,
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  Speaker 4: okay always, so don't stop that.
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  Speaker 2: There is nothing like that burger on that grill. So
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  Speaker 2: you do it no matter what.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely and what you guys do best is a best
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  Speaker 1: of in Dixon that you wanted to talk.
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  Speaker 3: About, we do.
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  Speaker 4: It's that time, friend, So our Best of Dixon gala
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  Speaker 4: is April seventeenth.
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  Speaker 2: It is a ticketed event.
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  Speaker 4: We will send out invitations to our investors here soon.
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  Speaker 2: But this is a great celebration.
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  Speaker 4: We have so many amazing individuals here in our community
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  Speaker 4: and this is the time friends, that you get to
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  Speaker 4: nominate those wonderful people. So all the information can be
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  Speaker 4: found on our Facebook page, social media Discover Dixon or
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  Speaker 4: discovered Dixon dot com or contact me and I'll send
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  Speaker 4: you the link. But nominate that Citizen of the Year
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  Speaker 4: last year was Chris Hammett, so that was fun to celebrate.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 4: We are looking for the nominations for Business of the
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  Speaker 4: Year also. Four hundred forty so that's our movers and
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  Speaker 4: our shakers under forty years old here in our community.
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  Speaker 4: And we have a lot of vibrant people who are
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  Speaker 4: moving and doing things, and you know, a lot of
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  Speaker 4: people are like, well, I just don't have a lot
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  Speaker 4: of information, Please submit it, okay, because you know what,
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  Speaker 4: you might not have a lot of information, but the
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  Speaker 4: next person has some more pieces to the puzzle, and
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  Speaker 4: the next person who does so, so go ahead and nominate,
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  Speaker 4: get that information to us. And then we do have
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  Speaker 4: a committee, a nomination committee that will sit down with
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  Speaker 4: all those nominations and then pick that person that we
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  Speaker 4: are going to highlight, and we always try to surprise
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  Speaker 4: them and get them there, so that's always fun. Our
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  Speaker 4: success rate is probably fifty to fifty, but it's just
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  Speaker 4: great because we do just have some really great people
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  Speaker 4: in our community. And all that information information again is
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  Speaker 4: on our website with the details of the requirements Citizen.
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  Speaker 2: Of the Year and you know, four under forty.
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  Speaker 4: But look around at your peers and talk to your
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  Speaker 4: friends and spark that conversation because there's just a lot
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  Speaker 4: of great people in our community and we want to
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  Speaker 4: celebrate them.
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  Speaker 1: There really is, and you'll see and hear people talking
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  Speaker 1: about them all year long, and this is the time
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  Speaker 1: to like, don't just stop just talking about it. Let
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  Speaker 1: people know who you think deserves these words, because these
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  Speaker 1: are people who are really working hard towards making this
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  Speaker 1: community great.
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  Speaker 4: Really, you're you're so true, and you know, I'm more
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  Speaker 4: than happy to sit and talk.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know nominate anybody.
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  Speaker 4: But I definitely put those seeds in people's minds, like
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  Speaker 4: have you ever thought about so and so, Like they're
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  Speaker 4: just a great individual and you know, just yeah, start
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  Speaker 4: having those conversations and getting those nominations and so it's going.
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  Speaker 2: It's live right now.
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  Speaker 4: You can also reserve your your table at the Best
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  Speaker 4: Addictson gala, and of course more information will be coming
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  Speaker 4: out there.
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  Speaker 1: You go, those nominations are open, nominate your person of
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  Speaker 1: the the the year, and make that get your spot
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  Speaker 1: for the gala.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it definitely is a good time, and we are
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  Speaker 4: going to have a dueling. Pianos will be at our celebration.
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  Speaker 4: So it's it's on a Friday night, so it's kind
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  Speaker 4: of great. You can come right after work, you know,
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  Speaker 4: enjoy some heavier dures. We do that awards presentation, which
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  Speaker 4: takes about an hour, and then we literally just celebrate
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  Speaker 4: because we have all these great people in one room,
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  Speaker 4: so we just celebrate until until we kick everybody out
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  Speaker 4: of the elks.
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  Speaker 1: I love that dueling pianos has been something I've I've
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  Speaker 1: always wanted to see, So I'm glad that you guys
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  Speaker 1: have that for the event. That's something to check out.
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  Speaker 1: Anything else you wanted to share this morning, Jennifer, Well, I.
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  Speaker 4: Just encourage everybody just come visit us on our social media,
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  Speaker 4: our website. We do have our new community guide out
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  Speaker 4: which I'm gonna leave some for you, Brandon as well,
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  Speaker 4: but great information on Dixon, our investors kind of what
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  Speaker 4: to know.
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  Speaker 2: It's right in this in this guide.
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  Speaker 4: And you know, I always talk about our website and
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  Speaker 4: I can't talk about it enough because you're gonna learn
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  Speaker 4: so much information on our own community as well as
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  Speaker 4: share that if you know a visitor come into town,
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  Speaker 4: we have great visitor information on there as well. And
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  Speaker 4: then as everybody is planning their year out, let's not
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  Speaker 4: forget our community calendar. We are trying so hard to
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  Speaker 4: be that hub of a calendar right that everybody can
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  Speaker 4: go to and find out when the next bake sale is,
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  Speaker 4: when the next fundraiser is. It also helps with your
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  Speaker 4: planning while you're trying to have a fundraiser, to know
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  Speaker 4: who's doing what so you're not competing. So check out
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  Speaker 4: that community calendar. Put your events on that calendar. Because
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  Speaker 4: I can't tell you how many times we have visitors
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  Speaker 4: that come into our office, Hey, what's going on. We
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  Speaker 4: can push them to that community calendar. We can look
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  Speaker 4: at that community calendar and see what a vibrant There
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  Speaker 4: is always something to do in our community. And it's
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  Speaker 4: just a great wealth of information.
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  Speaker 1: There really is. And that's I can't stress that enough
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  Speaker 1: and agree with you more enough. There's always something going on,
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  Speaker 1: and I just don't think some people realize it because.
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  Speaker 3: You gotta look.
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  Speaker 1: Look, yeah, you can't just sit in your living nothing's
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  Speaker 1: going on.
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  Speaker 3: There's nothing going on in your living room.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, there's something going on out in the community.
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  Speaker 4: In the community. You know, besides what discovered Dixon. Does
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  Speaker 4: you know our Park District? Check out their Facebook page?
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  Speaker 4: And you know, I might just say Facebook because that's
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  Speaker 4: only social media that I have.
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  Speaker 3: Sure, but you know, our.
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  Speaker 4: Library is doing great things and there's just abundance. You know,
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  Speaker 4: our Lee County Historic Society, Gosh, you know they're given
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  Speaker 4: all these great presentations. Tom Wadsworth, you want to know anything, Dixon,
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  Speaker 4: I tell you what that's the man. Right. Uh, he's
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  Speaker 4: putting on a lot of great stuff. But you know,
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  Speaker 4: there is just so much going on. And may I
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  Speaker 4: add that a lot of the stuff is free, you know,
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  Speaker 4: free or even in low cost. There's great things to do.
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  Speaker 4: A majority of our events that we put on are
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  Speaker 4: are free.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 4: Of course there's extra expenses maybe if you want something
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  Speaker 4: to drink or eat, you know, but for the most part,
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  Speaker 4: a lot of our stuff is just free. So get out, explore,
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  Speaker 4: go to the Discovered Day website.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, check it out. And better yet, if you have
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  Speaker 2: any questions, give us a call.
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  Speaker 4: Let us help navigate some of those questions that you
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  Speaker 4: might have in our community.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, there you go. You have no excuse to say
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  Speaker 1: you don't know what's going on in Dixon. Jennifer's done
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  Speaker 1: the work. You've got a website, you can call her,
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  Speaker 1: You've got a booklet there. Listen, people, I was a reporter.
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  Speaker 1: I used to have to do the research and found
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  Speaker 1: out how much was going on. She's doing the work
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  Speaker 1: for you. Okay, you don't got to go to Jay School.
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  Speaker 1: Just go over to the Discovered Dixon website, or pick
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  Speaker 1: up one of these calendars, or give Jennifer a call
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  Speaker 1: and she's going to.
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  Speaker 3: Let you know what's going on. We do.
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  Speaker 4: We're here to help and you know better yet stop
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  Speaker 4: in our office. A lot of times people realize you
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  Speaker 4: know your office. So we're a hodgepodge, right. We are
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  Speaker 4: a chamber of commerce, We're a main street. We deal
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  Speaker 4: with economic development. We're terrorism. You know you're looking for
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  Speaker 4: that magnet mug, sweatshirt, t shirt book. I mean, we
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  Speaker 4: have a little bit of everything. We have Tom wats
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  Speaker 4: where it's a news book there. We also have the
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  Speaker 4: Petunia for Us book Jeff White put out last year.
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  Speaker 4: Come check us out. We have postcards, we have free
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  Speaker 4: maps of Dixon's, the community of Dixon, the community guides.
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  Speaker 4: We just have a hodgepodge of great information for the
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  Speaker 4: community and visitors alike. So I hope to see you.
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  Speaker 4: We're normally open Monday through Friday nine to five, but
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  Speaker 4: give us a call, stop and visit.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, people do it.
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  Speaker 1: Jennifer, thank you so much for coming in and sharing
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  Speaker 1: the information and for everything that you do and discover
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  Speaker 1: Dixon and all your volunteers and staff there due to
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  Speaker 1: make these these things possible.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 3: It makes the community great.
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  Speaker 2: We love it.