Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line 08-12-2026: Janna Groharing shares upcoming Sterling Main Street events

Transcript

Talk Line 08-12-2026: Janna Groharing shares upcoming Sterling Main Street events · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley, and welcome back to the Waking
0:03
Speaker 1: crew here on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen
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Speaker 1: sixty w I x N. It's eight fifteen on your
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Speaker 1: wet Wednesday morning, and that means it's time for talk
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Speaker 1: line and we're joined in the booth once again by
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Speaker 1: our good friends from Sterling Main Street. Janet grow Hearing
0:18
Speaker 1: braving the weather today.
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Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
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Speaker 1: It's probably a little anxious to make sure it doesn't
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Speaker 1: get any worse on your way back out, But thank
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Speaker 1: you for coming in person into the studio today.
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Speaker 3: No problem, it really isn't wasn't too bad out there
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Speaker 3: on the way on my way in this morning. But
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Speaker 3: we'll see what it looks like when I'm done here.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, we've had all the bells and alarms and whistles
0:39
Speaker 1: going off in the studio, so that's okay. We're going
0:43
Speaker 1: to keep things exciting. We kind of want to start
0:46
Speaker 1: it off recapping, Yeah, yeah, a little bit.
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Speaker 3: I just want to say thank you to you for
0:52
Speaker 3: being our MC for the day at Streetfest.
0:54
Speaker 2: No, I want to thank you for we do it.
0:56
Speaker 2: It was so much was a fabulous day.
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Speaker 3: We kind of had a wrap up meeting committee committee
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Speaker 3: wise last night yesterday afternoon, I guess I should say.
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Speaker 3: We got so much positive comments coming out of that event,
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Speaker 3: so we're definitely doing it. Bringing it back next year.
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Speaker 3: We are changing the date up a little bit. Back
1:13
Speaker 3: when we started planning this early this year, we really
1:16
Speaker 3: kind of went back and forth between a couple of
1:18
Speaker 3: date options on earlier June date or the late July
1:20
Speaker 3: date that we held it on just to give ourselves
1:23
Speaker 3: a little more planning that later in July date. Looking
1:27
Speaker 3: at it now, I think with the amount of community
1:29
Speaker 3: events going on between strolling Rock Falls Dixon even some
1:32
Speaker 3: of the outlying communities and Fear starting and things like that,
1:35
Speaker 3: and some feedback we've gotten, we're gonna move it up.
1:38
Speaker 3: We're gonna go back to that June date we were
1:40
Speaker 3: originally looking at. So street Fest twenty twenty seven will
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Speaker 3: be on Saturday June twelfth. So hopefully that second Saturday
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Speaker 3: of June is going to be our permanent home moving forward,
1:49
Speaker 3: and we'll keep this going for years to come.
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Speaker 2: That's cool. That's that's my boys' nineteenth birthday. Yeah, so
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Speaker 2: you'll remember. Yeah, it's super cool.
1:57
Speaker 1: But I mean it was such a blast and you
2:00
Speaker 1: could tell yeah, I mean it was the first one,
2:03
Speaker 1: and it was like, depending on how this goes, of course,
2:05
Speaker 1: you know your.
2:05
Speaker 2: Review when you're gonna do it.
2:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you could tell probably within like the first
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Speaker 1: thirty forty minutes, the way everything had swelled in the
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Speaker 1: crowd was there, and the response that it was like,
2:15
Speaker 1: oh yeah.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, we pretty much knew within the first hour or
2:18
Speaker 3: so of it starting that Okay, yeah, this is this
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Speaker 3: is gonna this is gonna work.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
2:23
Speaker 3: We're gonna tweak a few things layout wise, you know,
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Speaker 3: nothing major, but just based on feedback from some of
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Speaker 3: the vendors, the activities and things like that, just shuffle
2:31
Speaker 3: things around a little bit, just for a little bit
2:33
Speaker 3: better flow, but really not looking at any major changes.
2:38
Speaker 3: We're gonna extend the time a little bit. We're gonna
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Speaker 3: go from one to eight instead of two to eight.
2:42
Speaker 3: We're gonna start a little earlier. We were plenty of
2:44
Speaker 3: time setup. That'll give us three bands two hour sets.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great.
2:50
Speaker 3: We don't want to extend later in the evening. Brinks
2:54
Speaker 3: had had after party so to speak, and had a
2:56
Speaker 3: band on their patio that went over tremendously. Well, we're
2:59
Speaker 3: going to continue that part moving forward, so you know,
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Speaker 3: we bring the people downtown into the bars and restaurants
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Speaker 3: in the area and the businesses and stuff. That's really
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Speaker 3: one of the goals of the event. So it worked
3:11
Speaker 3: out just like we had hoped, and we just hoped
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Speaker 3: to keep growing it.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was.
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Speaker 1: It was fantastic and I can't wait till we hit
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Speaker 1: like big number ten.
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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, So.
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Speaker 3: Hopefully I'll still be around for that.
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Speaker 1: That was very cool, But I mean that's only one.
3:27
Speaker 1: There's still the summer's not over, and of course we're
3:29
Speaker 1: going to be getting into into fall and all of
3:31
Speaker 1: those events.
3:32
Speaker 2: Hops on the Rock yeah hop So yeah.
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Speaker 3: We had right coming round off to the Hills, the street Fest.
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Speaker 3: We had hot Dog Day last weekend. Sold out of
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Speaker 3: our seven thousand hot dogs. We had some early early cells.
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Speaker 3: We had a couple of venues that were out by
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Speaker 3: some like twelve to fifty new like quarter after twelve,
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Speaker 3: twelve thirty, they were out already, so it was crazy.
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Speaker 3: So we're gonna have to figure out how to bring
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Speaker 3: in some more cooking sites next year to maybe keep
3:54
Speaker 3: having some hot dogs up until about noon because we
3:56
Speaker 3: had people looking at them looking for him like one
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Speaker 3: one thirty and most of the places.
4:00
Speaker 1: Were out, so any any word, whether the cops or
4:03
Speaker 1: the firefighters sold out first, they.
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Speaker 3: Really I don't know specifically, base they're both estimating they
4:09
Speaker 3: were out by about twelve thirty, so exact timing, I
4:12
Speaker 3: don't know, but they were both out early about.
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Speaker 1: The even Pat, you were both talking some smack. I
4:16
Speaker 1: don't want to know who won. Y'all better message me.
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Speaker 3: They Yeah, I don't. I don't know if they They
4:21
Speaker 3: probably need to start an actual timer on that one happens,
4:24
Speaker 3: but yeah, I know, well, Angelica, the staff of the
4:28
Speaker 3: fire department got that call out to self help about
4:30
Speaker 3: the same time too, So okay, I don't know how
4:33
Speaker 3: much of the crew was actually I guess, I guess
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Speaker 3: families and all that stuff, so they had a lot
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Speaker 3: of helpers. That's the one thing before I let him
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Speaker 3: agreed to let them be a cooking site, is like, Okay,
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Speaker 3: if you guys get a call.
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Speaker 2: Who's going to cook?
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Speaker 3: Because we really can't cancel you as a cooking site
4:52
Speaker 3: last minute based on calls. So they always have a
4:54
Speaker 3: good team in place to make sure that if the
4:57
Speaker 3: guys get called out for a fire or whatever they've got.
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Speaker 3: The station manned to be able to still offer the cooking,
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Speaker 3: so they got a good group of volunteers to help
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Speaker 3: them out with that event.
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Speaker 2: Awesome, awesome.
5:08
Speaker 3: So yeah, we've got one more Rally on the Rock
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Speaker 3: coming up, so we still got a little bit of
5:11
Speaker 3: summer left. I don't know, it's back to school today.
5:13
Speaker 3: It was different driving in going past high school and
5:18
Speaker 3: the kid school on here on seventh. I don't know
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Speaker 3: my names of my school, so Dixon, No Dixon High
5:24
Speaker 3: School and then the Saint the Catholic one, the Catholic
5:26
Speaker 3: school down here.
5:28
Speaker 2: See man, I didn't go.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I know, I know many people were.
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Speaker 1: We were either in the public school, we were over
5:35
Speaker 1: in the private So yeah.
5:36
Speaker 3: So anyways, we've got one more Cruise night coming in Saturday, Friday,
5:41
Speaker 3: September fourth. We added a fourth event this year, so
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Speaker 3: that'll kick off your Labor Day weekend. We got Howard
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Speaker 3: and the White Boys planning playing our music for that night.
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Speaker 3: They were here a couple of years ago, tremendously popular,
5:52
Speaker 3: so we're excited to have them back. We've got planning
5:54
Speaker 3: underway for Hops on the Rock or Craft Beer Festival
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Speaker 3: that's coming up on Saturday, October tenth. Well, tickets will
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Speaker 3: go on sale for that here probably around September first,
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Speaker 3: just getting going, get in the breweries and all that
6:06
Speaker 3: stuff lined up, so we'll have more details coming on
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Speaker 3: a website for that yesterday. It seems crazy to say
6:11
Speaker 3: this since it's still August and school is just journed,
6:13
Speaker 3: but we had our first sights and Sounds planning meeting,
6:16
Speaker 3: so getting the ball rolling on the Christmas wak.
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Speaker 2: It always gets here before you know, I know.
6:21
Speaker 3: It's insane how quickly this year is going. That'll be
6:24
Speaker 3: on Friday, December fourth, so that's kind of our year
6:28
Speaker 3: in Main Street wrapping up. But we've still got you know,
6:31
Speaker 3: the farmers Market is still going great guns. The outdoor
6:35
Speaker 3: market is open until the end of October, so you've
6:38
Speaker 3: got a long time yet. I mean, this is really
6:40
Speaker 3: peak produce season, so lots of good stuff happening at
6:43
Speaker 3: the farmers Market. We'll have a Harvest Moon festival that
6:45
Speaker 3: we do every year. We kind of broke that up
6:48
Speaker 3: this year as well. That'll be in the end of September.
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Speaker 3: We wanted to separate it a little bit from the
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Speaker 3: Halloween activities that we do at the market and Harvest Moon.
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Speaker 3: It really needs to be a little bit more around
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Speaker 3: harvest time. By October, it was kind of late in
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Speaker 3: the season for that, so Harvest Moon Festival will be
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Speaker 3: coming up at the end of the end of September.
7:05
Speaker 3: And then we've changed since the last day of the
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Speaker 3: market this year is actually Halloween proper, October thirty. First.
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Speaker 3: We it's always a last Saturday of October. We're having
7:14
Speaker 3: a bit of a monster market. We usually do a
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Speaker 3: tricker Treat event with our vendors that last day, so
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Speaker 3: kids can come and costume and trick or trading. So
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Speaker 3: we're just calling it'll be a monster market this year
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Speaker 3: to close out our season.
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Speaker 2: I like that.
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Speaker 3: I like that You've got some shifting going on inside
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Speaker 3: of the market. Gales Handcrafted, our coffee vendor that had
7:35
Speaker 3: been kind of towards the back corner in the middle,
7:38
Speaker 3: they've moved into our kitchen proper, so they got a
7:41
Speaker 3: better area to serve coffee from, and they're also offering
7:44
Speaker 3: hot breakfast and gluten free items now too, So that's
7:47
Speaker 3: created some openings with some other space within the market.
7:50
Speaker 3: So we've got some new vendors coming inside as the
7:53
Speaker 3: outdoor season ramps down, so look for a few new
7:56
Speaker 3: faces inside permanently, just kind of shifting around. You know,
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Speaker 3: We've got like Gail was taking up two spaces, so
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Speaker 3: they moved into the kitchen. So now we can add
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Speaker 3: two vendors where they used to be in the outside.
8:06
Speaker 3: So as the vendors move around in the inside of
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Speaker 3: the market, it creates more space. So it's good things
8:13
Speaker 3: are happening at the market. It continues to grow. It's
8:15
Speaker 3: it's pretty awesome.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's just bigger and bigger all the time.
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Speaker 1: And you know, with all these events happening, and then
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Speaker 1: the park back there, it's just becoming a big hub exactly.
8:27
Speaker 1: And sooner or later, I don't know who's what committee
8:31
Speaker 1: needs to get created, but sooner or later, you guys
8:33
Speaker 1: are going to have to look at the next space
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Speaker 1: to keep it growing out.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we have.
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Speaker 3: We've been actually doing that, are we. Yeah, there's a
8:40
Speaker 3: little bit more space.
8:41
Speaker 2: I'm always trying to tease something out of her.
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Speaker 3: No, there's there is actually more space in the back
8:45
Speaker 3: of the building there. We've already pushed the wall back
8:48
Speaker 3: a couple of times, but there is some space back there.
8:51
Speaker 3: The City of Stirling actually owns the building, so that
8:54
Speaker 3: back half that you can't see is actually a police
8:58
Speaker 3: and fire department have been using it for storage for
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Speaker 3: a number of years. So I know the police department
9:02
Speaker 3: is looking for a new storage facility. They've got some
9:05
Speaker 3: crazy stuff they've got to basically keep forever evidence and
9:08
Speaker 3: stuff like that, so they are looking for some additional
9:12
Speaker 3: storage space for some of that kind of stuff. Once
9:14
Speaker 3: they secure that, and we're hoping later this year or
9:17
Speaker 3: you know, they've been talking about it within this budget
9:19
Speaker 3: cycle at the least once it's cleared out. We've had
9:24
Speaker 3: an architect in there. One of my board members is
9:26
Speaker 3: architect with Will Hoffman, so she's I've taken her back
9:29
Speaker 3: through there. We're trying to figure out what do we
9:31
Speaker 3: need to add? Do we need our way to have
9:33
Speaker 3: to add another bathroom? Where we're gonna have to is
9:35
Speaker 3: add another entry point of entry for fierygress and all
9:38
Speaker 3: that stuff. What are we gonna have to What are
9:40
Speaker 3: those big cost items that we're gonna have to do.
9:42
Speaker 3: So we're gonna have some plumbing we're gonna have to do.
9:44
Speaker 3: We're gonna have add another furnace for heating and stuff
9:48
Speaker 3: through the winter, So we're gonna have some big ticket items.
9:50
Speaker 3: The city has already replaced the windows and tuck paid
9:53
Speaker 3: point of the building last year. It's gonna need some
9:55
Speaker 3: work on floors and stuff like that. So now that
9:58
Speaker 3: we kind of have an idea of some of the
10:01
Speaker 3: things we need, we've got to get some more people
10:03
Speaker 3: in there to start really kind of getting quotes to
10:05
Speaker 3: figure out what it truly is going to cost them
10:07
Speaker 3: and starts some fundraising. But ideally i'd like to be
10:10
Speaker 3: able to push that wall back a little bit, and
10:12
Speaker 3: we're hoping to be able to get depending on how
10:15
Speaker 3: much space, you know, ten to fifteen more vendors in there.
10:19
Speaker 3: There's a fair amount of space back there. Yeah, but
10:21
Speaker 3: I know like the health Department's going to want to seed.
10:24
Speaker 3: We'll have to add another bathroom. I know they want
10:26
Speaker 3: more hand washing syncs because of all the food providers
10:28
Speaker 3: things like that.
10:29
Speaker 2: So yeah, we're going to have.
10:31
Speaker 3: Some price the improvements we need to do. But really
10:34
Speaker 3: it's it's going to be a good thing. If you
10:36
Speaker 3: look at the fact that the market's been around for
10:38
Speaker 3: twenty years already and how much it's grown from starting
10:41
Speaker 3: with just three or four vendors that first year to
10:44
Speaker 3: the twenty five to thirty that we service indoors year round,
10:48
Speaker 3: plus we've got another forty to fifty that come through
10:51
Speaker 3: the outdoor market any given season.
10:55
Speaker 2: We need the space.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and the waiting list of people wanting to be
10:58
Speaker 1: a vendor, I have to imagine. And so yeah, the
11:00
Speaker 1: only thing that could keep this thing from growing is not.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're yeah, not trying.
11:04
Speaker 3: To just happace because you know, and we've got big,
11:06
Speaker 3: good vendors. You know, they're they're selling out by like
11:08
Speaker 3: nine thirty, ten o'clock in the morning, and they can.
11:11
Speaker 3: Some of our bakers can only produce so much comfortably.
11:14
Speaker 3: They're one person operations, maybe have some family and friends
11:17
Speaker 3: helping them. They can only bake so much in a
11:21
Speaker 3: given week, so and they're selling out quickly. So we
11:23
Speaker 3: definitely have room for growth there.
11:26
Speaker 2: Well.
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Speaker 1: I love hearing that, and I love the fact that
11:29
Speaker 1: I'm going to be around long enough to watch it happen.
11:31
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, And then I'd be remiss if I didn't mention
11:35
Speaker 3: the shops at Granda Plaza. The girls over there are
11:38
Speaker 3: going well, they're actually tonight, depending on hopefully the weather cooperates.
11:41
Speaker 3: Forum and clears up later today, but they're having a
11:43
Speaker 3: farewell to summer little shop hop this evening. They'll all
11:47
Speaker 3: be open from four to eight tonight. The Municipal Bank
11:50
Speaker 3: concerts are done for this season, so Wednesday nights are
11:52
Speaker 3: there are big things during the summer while the concerts
11:55
Speaker 3: are there, so this is their little farewell to summer.
11:58
Speaker 2: Summer. They'll continue to.
11:59
Speaker 3: Be open up Wednesday nights, but they wanted to do
12:01
Speaker 3: a little shop op special as kids go back to
12:04
Speaker 3: school and all that stuff. They're one thing that did
12:07
Speaker 3: last year that went over really really well and they're
12:09
Speaker 3: doing it again this year is they're having a wicked
12:11
Speaker 3: good time. They've got a little Halloween themed event coming
12:14
Speaker 3: up on October twenty eight, so that'll be fun. But
12:18
Speaker 3: the one thing I wanted to mention is, I know
12:19
Speaker 3: we've got a couple of our vendors and I'm not
12:22
Speaker 3: going to say who was all announced it in their
12:23
Speaker 3: own time that we'll be leaving us at the end
12:26
Speaker 3: of the year. They are going to fly the nest
12:28
Speaker 3: and move into their own spaces, so we're super excited
12:32
Speaker 3: about that. But in planning for that, we're going to
12:35
Speaker 3: have a couple of vacancies, So we are starting the
12:39
Speaker 3: search for potential new businesses that would be interested in
12:43
Speaker 3: incubator space at the shops at Grand and Plaza. Most
12:47
Speaker 3: like you, moveing date would probably be, you know, you'd
12:49
Speaker 3: have January or whatever to set up. I think they
12:51
Speaker 3: a lot of them take January off just it's a
12:53
Speaker 3: slow time for retail and stuff like that. They just
12:55
Speaker 3: kind of regroup and stuff like that. But if you'd
12:58
Speaker 3: be interested in launch your business, maybe you're a home
13:02
Speaker 3: based business, you're online only, you're doing lots of vendor
13:04
Speaker 3: shows that have been really popular this summer, and you're
13:06
Speaker 3: looking to maybe try a brick and mortar location. I mean,
13:11
Speaker 3: we've had a lot of vendors through our as pop ups,
13:14
Speaker 3: but you know, we're always looking for new ones. Maybe
13:16
Speaker 3: there's somebody that we haven't reached yet. But the shops
13:19
Speaker 3: are really growing get great guns. So if you're interested
13:22
Speaker 3: in potentially moving into some space early next year and
13:26
Speaker 3: want to try the shops Grand applause that reach out
13:28
Speaker 3: to us, you can always reach out to Sarah amber
13:31
Speaker 3: and Smoke. She is our shop's manager. You can reach
13:35
Speaker 3: her or you know, message the shops at Granted and
13:37
Speaker 3: Facebook page or email shops at sterlingmainstreet dot org, or
13:42
Speaker 3: just reach out through the main street page main street page.
13:46
Speaker 3: However you want to reach out to us, if that's
13:47
Speaker 3: something you'd be interested in, we'd love to hear from you.
13:50
Speaker 1: Now's your chance, if if you've been waiting, or if
13:53
Speaker 1: you weren't aware before, you want to jump on it,
13:56
Speaker 1: because yeah, these it's just such a popular thing and
14:00
Speaker 1: people are wanting to get in there. So congratulations to
14:03
Speaker 1: those businesses that'll be flying the nest. Yeah, you know,
14:06
Speaker 1: and where one door closes, another one open, so contact
14:10
Speaker 1: the shops and multiple ways to do it, get it done.
14:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, we had really good look when Sarah
14:16
Speaker 3: Sarah left us earlier this year, she was papered high.
14:19
Speaker 3: She moved over to the store front and fold and
14:21
Speaker 3: then bond Baby Teak moved in right behind her. That
14:23
Speaker 3: was a fabulous That was fabulous. Macy's doing great, you know,
14:28
Speaker 3: having kids items and that kind of stuff has been
14:30
Speaker 3: a great add to the shops. So she'll be there
14:34
Speaker 3: for a while yet. But you know, like I said,
14:36
Speaker 3: we've got a couple of them that'll be flying the nest,
14:38
Speaker 3: so we're looking for more. We'll have a couple openings,
14:41
Speaker 3: so we'd love to have you fill the space.
14:44
Speaker 2: There you go, get at it.
14:45
Speaker 1: Unfortunately we're out of time, but as always, if anybody
14:47
Speaker 1: wants any more information on anything we've talked about or
14:50
Speaker 1: anything else going on with Sterling main Street, what's the
14:53
Speaker 1: best way to do it.
14:54
Speaker 3: Website Sterling main Street dot org or catch us on
14:57
Speaker 3: social media Facebook, Instagram, And we have a new TikTok page.
15:01
Speaker 3: There's not a whole lot on it just yet, but
15:03
Speaker 3: hopefully that will be growing here shortly. I can't believe
15:06
Speaker 3: I did that, but yes, we've got TikTok now.
15:08
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Sam, they've got TikTok. You guys got
15:13
Speaker 1: to do a collab now. I'd love to see it. Well.
15:16
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for once again coming in in
15:19
Speaker 1: person no matter the weather, and sharing these updates and
15:23
Speaker 1: all the great things that you all do over there
15:26
Speaker 1: at Stirling Main Street to have so much fun. And
15:28
Speaker 1: thank you again so much for inviting me to have
15:31
Speaker 1: MC the first ever Shilling Street.
15:33
Speaker 2: It was a blast. I loved it, so thank you,
15:36
Speaker 2: thank you,