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Talk Line with Duane Long on Dixon parks · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: It's eight sixteen and it's time for talk line in
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  Speaker 1: this morning. I'm joined, of course by our good friends
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  Speaker 1: from the Dixon Park District. Dwayne Long is in the
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  Speaker 1: booth with me this morning. Dwayne, how are you today, sir?
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for having us this morning, doing well? Thank you,
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  Speaker 1: And I've been a whole year since I've seen you. Man,
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  Speaker 1: it seems like it too. It does, it does, but
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  Speaker 1: the work never stops, of course, for the for the
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  Speaker 1: park District, and you've got some updates on some statuses
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  Speaker 1: for some of the parks in the area.
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  Speaker 2: I do some of our you know planning and getting
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  Speaker 2: ready for the parks. Yeah, all parks are open except
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  Speaker 2: Page Park of course for construction, and then Low Park
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  Speaker 2: the lower part is closed. But you know, get out
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  Speaker 2: there and enjoy the parks. It's a different type of
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  Speaker 2: park this year. A lot of people still walk Low
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  Speaker 2: Park and there's still you part of your parks and
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  Speaker 2: we take care of them. We do the sidewalks for
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  Speaker 2: you so you can walk in the park, so still
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  Speaker 2: enjoy them. I know it's been really cold here lately,
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  Speaker 2: but we'll get out of the snap and you get
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  Speaker 2: out a little bit and do some walking. In the
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  Speaker 2: parks and the trails.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and we're Midwesterners, We're not only used to the cold.
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  Speaker 1: But you see those video it was over and you know,
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  Speaker 1: over across the pond and in some of the colder
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  Speaker 1: nations where they've got kindergarteners running around at recessing this
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  Speaker 1: weather and I'm like, just throw on an extra extra
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  Speaker 1: scarfre We.
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  Speaker 2: Have noticed uptick in the facility with the youth coming
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  Speaker 2: in there lately, so I don't think the youth likes to.
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  Speaker 3: Be outside of a bit lest even here.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, we're averaging forty to forty five kids a
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  Speaker 2: day after school there since the weather's broke here. So
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  Speaker 2: exciting stuff to bring, you know, the facility to life
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  Speaker 2: with this weather for.
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  Speaker 1: Sure, good good way to have your kids be active. Absolutely,
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  Speaker 1: And recreation and facility programs you also wanted to talk about.
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  Speaker 2: This, Yeah, we got quite a few programs. Little Sparks
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  Speaker 2: is Tuesday and Thursday. Nine to ten kids table is Tuesday,
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  Speaker 2: January twenty seventh. The golf room, I just want to
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  Speaker 2: stop here and pause them. But the golf room rented
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  Speaker 2: for twenty five dollars an hour. It was rented Saturday
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  Speaker 2: and Sunday non stop all day long. So the golf
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  Speaker 2: room is like that hidden gem at the park district.
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  Speaker 2: Great golf simulator, brand new simulator in there, got a TV.
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  Speaker 2: You can watch the game, whatever you want to do
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  Speaker 2: in there. So what a great place to rent dog
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  Speaker 2: park passes, OHV passes and Farmers markets are right around
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  Speaker 2: the corner, I believe or not. So I just want
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  Speaker 2: to throw those out there and just keep in mind
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  Speaker 2: we will host your field trip at the facility. And
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  Speaker 2: once again, birthday party rentals are a big hit. We
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  Speaker 2: had nine birthday parties last weekend alone, so oh my good.
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  Speaker 3: Big deal there.
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  Speaker 2: It's that time of year when people want to stay inside,
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  Speaker 2: have a nice birthday party outside of their house, come
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  Speaker 2: on up to the facility.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely great way to get out again. You want your
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  Speaker 1: kids to be running around. I mean you want that
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  Speaker 1: most days anyways, but especially during the winter when a
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  Speaker 1: lot of those opportunities are cut off. This is a
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  Speaker 1: great These are just great ways to do that. And
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  Speaker 1: then I mean to have a birthday party and to
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  Speaker 1: be able to go there and just you know, kind
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  Speaker 1: of run wild and you know, and burn off that
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  Speaker 1: energy that that's absolutely phenomenal. You also have some information
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  Speaker 1: on your nature center.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, obviously this time of year it slows
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  Speaker 2: down a little bit out there, but we have Nature
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  Speaker 2: Fun for little ones out there February sixth. And there's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of stuff going on the Nature Center that
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  Speaker 2: you've seen online. Rebranding, new website, new programs coming out.
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  Speaker 2: So they're in a deep and we'll talk about that.
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  Speaker 2: They're in a deep planning period right now and getting
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  Speaker 2: ready for.
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  Speaker 1: Their spring in nature spring is a little more important
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  Speaker 1: than her recreation, so they're really doing some planning, doing
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  Speaker 1: some remodeling to the Nature Center.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm excited to see what's going to happen out
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  Speaker 3: there in another month.
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  Speaker 1: And did I see and maybe I've got to confuse
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  Speaker 1: there's a new director as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've had a new director in there probably about
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  Speaker 2: four months now, okay, and she's doing a great job
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  Speaker 2: out there.
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  Speaker 3: Anna's just doing great.
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  Speaker 2: It's at our Christmas party I was talking about a
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  Speaker 2: couple weeks ago. I said to the staff that it's
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  Speaker 2: probably the best the Nature Center has been in thirty
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  Speaker 2: five years since I've been at the park District.
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  Speaker 3: So just a lot of things going on.
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  Speaker 2: We're doing extra adventure things, canoe trips, kayak trips, walking trails.
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  Speaker 2: They're taking a trip to the Eagle nesting. I think
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  Speaker 2: it's a suvan exciting things that haven't happened.
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  Speaker 3: Here in a long time.
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  Speaker 1: The partistrict, so Partstrick's running all cylinders, recreations, going maintenance,
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  Speaker 1: is going, Nature.
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  Speaker 3: Center's going, our office, going facility. So we're running all
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  Speaker 3: cylinders right now.
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  Speaker 1: I love hearing that. My wife and I are planning
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  Speaker 1: on getting some mountain bikes this spring. We really really
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  Speaker 1: want to hit the trails. You guys have done such
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  Speaker 1: a phenomenal job. I mean, you always dose such a
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  Speaker 1: great job at the parts, but I've always heard so
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  Speaker 1: much about the trails. We've been talking for the last
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  Speaker 1: couple of years about getting bikes. You get busy and
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't happen. So we have a lot of bike trails,
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  Speaker 1: so you know, the extreme trail along the main bike traim,
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  Speaker 1: watching it and then what was it probably three or
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  Speaker 1: four years ago, we opened up a bunch of trails
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  Speaker 1: in Low Park for bikes too. And there's some trails
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  Speaker 1: out there that I probably wouldn't even ride on. There's
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  Speaker 1: pretty steep out there.
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  Speaker 2: There's some terrain out there, so exciting stuff for bikes
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  Speaker 2: and walkers on the trails here at the Dixon Park District.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's even some groups on Facebook. I've seen
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  Speaker 1: people getting together to hit your guys's trail. So if
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  Speaker 1: you're not a solo writer, some friends, there's groups out
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  Speaker 1: there going get online, hit them up. Your planning period
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  Speaker 1: is coming to a close and getting ready to finalize
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  Speaker 1: your budget right now, right, Yeah, we use.
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  Speaker 2: This time for planning period. There's no time to plan
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  Speaker 2: when it comes time for people want things, so you know,
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  Speaker 2: ideas for events, brainstorming sessions, scheduling of you know years,
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  Speaker 2: events and new ideas is what we go through. And
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  Speaker 2: that's kind of winded down pretty soon. And I just
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  Speaker 2: talked to the staff the other day. You know, when
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  Speaker 2: the people are ready and the weather breaks, your planning's
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  Speaker 2: over and it's decided by them and the weather. It's
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  Speaker 2: not decided when you're done with planning, so get it
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  Speaker 2: done early, so you're waiting for things to happen instead
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  Speaker 2: of all of a sudden it's here. So it's a
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  Speaker 2: tricky thing. In the partners business, we're dependent on weather
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  Speaker 2: a lot. When the weather breaks, the tennis nets go up,
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  Speaker 2: the trinky fountains go on, the boat docks go in,
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  Speaker 2: and you don't dictate that.
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  Speaker 3: And with this weather is goofy as it is, you
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  Speaker 3: don't know what it could be.
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  Speaker 2: So get your planning done and get ready for the
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  Speaker 2: season for the people of Dixon.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely couldn't couldn't agree more. We went from like fifty
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  Speaker 1: to like single to date.
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  Speaker 2: I know we were supposed to do this last week,
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  Speaker 2: but you were out and I had wrote on my notes,
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  Speaker 2: enjoy the warm weather, and I can't say that today.
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  Speaker 3: I can no.
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  Speaker 1: Well, today might qualify as warm weather prior to what
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  Speaker 1: we're coming up against. That's true, that is very true.
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  Speaker 1: But no, that's wonderful. Always great things come up. Anything
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  Speaker 1: else you want to talk about today doing?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the budget, the projects that are coming up. We
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  Speaker 2: did not win the OA Slade grant for the shelter
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  Speaker 2: restroom in Page Park.
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  Speaker 3: We found that out last week. E. C.
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  Speaker 2: Smith Playground is still on the turntable to maybe get
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  Speaker 2: that done this year. Erosion control at Low Park. We're
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  Speaker 2: gonna try to finish that. And something that just came
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  Speaker 2: up I added to your list is the tennis court.
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  Speaker 2: So we went out last week. I had an estimate
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  Speaker 2: done by US Tennis out of Chicago, and they come
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  Speaker 2: out and said that we have major problems with our
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  Speaker 2: tennis court surface. The price came in at one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and twelve thousand dollars. So I hurried up and we
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  Speaker 2: wrote a grant with the office help for sure. We
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  Speaker 2: all rode a grant and hopefully that grant will bring
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  Speaker 2: in forty eight thousand dollars. We'll know in a couple
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  Speaker 2: of weeks and then we're gonna do some fundraising and
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  Speaker 2: then see what we can do for operational budget. It's
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  Speaker 2: in desperate need and it just happened this last three
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  Speaker 2: months over the winter. The actually the paint bubbled off blacktop,
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  Speaker 2: So it didn't happen overnight because we would have been
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  Speaker 2: out planned for it. But when these things happen, you
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  Speaker 2: have to put pause on things and get the things
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  Speaker 2: done that have to be done. We can't have four
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  Speaker 2: point three million dollar page park down there brand new
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  Speaker 2: and then come up to bad tennis courts, so we
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  Speaker 2: got to get those fixed and we got to find
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  Speaker 2: a way.
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  Speaker 3: So we will find a way.
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  Speaker 2: We're gonna need some community help when that comes time,
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  Speaker 2: but we're kind of waiting on this grant to see.
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  Speaker 3: Where we're at for money for the one hundred and
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  Speaker 3: twelve thousand.
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  Speaker 1: Well fingers crossed on that grant. I know those are
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  Speaker 1: always such crucial parts of funding for for so many organizations,
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  Speaker 1: you know, certainly for part districts, and so it's it's
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  Speaker 1: always kind of rough, you know. I know that that
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  Speaker 1: Oslot grant you're talking about. Didn't get that, but you know,
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  Speaker 1: there's always always better that next time.
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  Speaker 3: You guys, just move on to the next. Yeah, what
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  Speaker 3: we did one right away?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, yes, we as a small part district, we
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  Speaker 2: totally depend on grants. We've won fourteen grants in the
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  Speaker 2: last eight years for different projects from playgrounds to trail
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  Speaker 2: endorsement to a basketball court. So we depend on it.
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  Speaker 2: It's a as a taxpayer, it's two for one for
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  Speaker 2: your money. Most grants are fifty percent, so we try
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  Speaker 2: to double our money and try to use our money
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  Speaker 2: like that instead of paying for the full project. In
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  Speaker 2: this case with the tennis courts, we don't win the grant.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know what we're gonna do right now. We
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  Speaker 2: still need to get this done somehow, some way, because
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  Speaker 2: we're in a position where this just happened.
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  Speaker 3: We didn't have time to plan for it, so kind
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  Speaker 3: of in a predicament.
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  Speaker 2: But we can work through it and navigate like we
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  Speaker 2: always do and find a way to get it done
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  Speaker 2: with this great community we live in.
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  Speaker 1: Well, if anybody's going to figure out a way, it's
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  Speaker 1: going to be you guys. You're doing Dwayne and the
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  Speaker 1: staff are doing their part, writing these grants, being creative
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  Speaker 1: with any way they came with fundraiser. But us in
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  Speaker 1: the community, we got to help out too, and we
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  Speaker 1: enjoy these things. You know, even if even if you've
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  Speaker 1: just got a couple of couple of bucks, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: anything helps these and it's you know, it's not just
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  Speaker 1: for you, it's for everybody in the community. I you know,
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  Speaker 1: you always see these tennis courts full when when when
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  Speaker 1: the weather's nice and people are out there enjoying them,
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  Speaker 1: so you know, kind of help support this.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I agree with you, and everything makes a difference.
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  Speaker 2: I remember when I first got into the director and
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  Speaker 2: we did the water Wonderland and three young boys did
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  Speaker 2: a lemonade stand and brought their one hundred dollars to
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  Speaker 2: the partnership during the board meeting and and you know,
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  Speaker 2: people gave thousands and thousands of dollars, but I just
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  Speaker 2: can turn back to that one hundred dollars. So it's
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  Speaker 2: the lasting impression of it showed everybody that anybody can
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  Speaker 2: help at any time.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's it's for your community, it's for you,
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  Speaker 1: it's for generations to come, and these are just wonderful things.
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  Speaker 1: So i'd best of luck on all this. But if
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  Speaker 1: I know you guys doing, it's not luck so much
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  Speaker 1: that you need. It's just the perseverance. And every time
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: you come in here, it doesn't matter what the new
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  Speaker 1: news is. You're always smiling, you're always looking forward to
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  Speaker 1: the next thing. Man.
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  Speaker 2: I hope I got good news for you next month
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  Speaker 2: on the tennis court then, because you're kind of setting
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  Speaker 2: me up.
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  Speaker 1: Only for good things doing anything else.
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  Speaker 3: When we've got a fut.
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  Speaker 2: Should be it for the part district for this month
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  Speaker 2: and we're looking forward next month. We'll have some ideas
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  Speaker 2: out of that planning, Perry Bale share with you.
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  Speaker 1: Awesome, we'll look forward to to that update. You stay
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  Speaker 1: stay warm and bundled up this weekend and uh and
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  Speaker 1: best luck on all those doing. Thank you so much
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  Speaker 1: for joining us.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks for having the Dicks and partnerser. We appreciate your
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  Speaker 3: time