Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Parks and recreation updates from Dixon Park District's Duane Long

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Talk Line: Parks and recreation updates from Dixon Park District's Duane Long · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: Hey, they're Waking Crew. You're back with us on FM
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: ninety five one and A fourteen sixty WIXN. It's eight
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  Speaker 1: thirty six on your Friday morning, and we're back as
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  Speaker 1: promised for a double dose of talk line. I'm joined
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  Speaker 1: in the booth once again by our good friends from
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  Speaker 1: the Dixon Park District, the man himself, Dwayne Long. Dwayne,
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  Speaker 1: how you been?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, thanks for having us Doing well? Like we just
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  Speaker 2: talked about off air, everything's busy right now and here
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  Speaker 2: we are prepping for July fourth kind of and getting
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  Speaker 2: ready for the big part of the summer in Dixon.
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  Speaker 3: So just excited, ready to be.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is you know, not that you guys are
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  Speaker 1: ever not busy, but this is definitely when overdrive probably.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is where planning in the wintertime comes in,
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  Speaker 2: so you don't get stressed out, you don't mess things up.
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  Speaker 2: This is where our planning in the wintertime for this
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  Speaker 2: particular month and the next month is what we do
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  Speaker 2: in the winter.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we've got some some big events coming up,
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  Speaker 1: some big, big plans in the work. But we're going
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  Speaker 1: to start with a status on our parks first.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, park status, everything's open, boat ram imps as the
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  Speaker 2: river's rising. Of course, we got our splash pads both open,
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  Speaker 2: very busy. Kayak Rental, Little Park, Page Park. We'll talk
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  Speaker 2: about that. That's still a construction zone, but there's a
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  Speaker 2: lot of people going through there and walking and driving.
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  Speaker 2: That's fine, but just be aware it's a construction zone.
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  Speaker 2: But we're ready for the public. Everything's open, ready to go.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're ready for it. Kayak Rental. I'm glad you
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  Speaker 1: actually had brought that up. My wife and I were
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  Speaker 1: talking about that. We said we got to get some
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  Speaker 1: more information on it. We would love to either one
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  Speaker 1: of these nights when we close the shop or maybe
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  Speaker 1: have our daughter come in to take over. It would
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  Speaker 1: be nice to just leave and go rent some kayaks
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  Speaker 1: and get out on the water.
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  Speaker 3: It's a great thing.
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  Speaker 2: You go out to Little Park, you use your phone,
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  Speaker 2: you do an app, you scan it, you get your
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  Speaker 2: kayak for one, two, three, four hours, You go out,
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  Speaker 2: then you put it back.
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  Speaker 3: You're done. You have to load it in your car.
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  Speaker 3: You want to do nothing.
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  Speaker 2: There's a ramp out there, like an actual ramp that
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  Speaker 2: takes it right from the rental right down.
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  Speaker 3: Slides right in the river for you all done with
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  Speaker 3: my phone. You scan it with your phone. You love it? Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: it's awesome.
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  Speaker 2: It's you scan it, your life jacket, your order and
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  Speaker 2: your kayak and you go out and kayak and then
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  Speaker 2: you return it.
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  Speaker 3: Don't have to load it in your car, don't have
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  Speaker 3: to make a big day out of it. In and out. Honey.
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  Speaker 1: You know what we're doing this week, and I got
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  Speaker 1: the information for it. It's all on my phone.
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  Speaker 3: Love it.
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  Speaker 2: Project Rock, Yeah, real quick update. We got a lot
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  Speaker 2: of you through. But Project Rock we had the lights
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  Speaker 2: on for the first time last night.
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  Speaker 3: It looks beautiful.
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  Speaker 2: Basically, they're just landscaping and doing seating and dirt work
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  Speaker 2: and hitting that punch list off.
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  Speaker 3: You know. Of course it's there's two celebrations.
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  Speaker 2: One on July fourth and one on July seventh for
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  Speaker 2: the grand opening.
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  Speaker 3: It's coming down and they're on time. This rain has
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  Speaker 3: slowed them down a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: But they figured that in get some dirt, get some sea,
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  Speaker 2: get some blanket down there will be good to go.
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  Speaker 2: But Project Rock is it's unbelievable when you start to
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  Speaker 2: see it, when you start to go through Page Park.
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  Speaker 2: Me and my wife are down there last weekend and
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  Speaker 2: the people just walking by us that know me, and.
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  Speaker 3: This looks great. Driving by, this looks great.
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  Speaker 2: It's pretty unbelievable what happened down there, and what wouldn't
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  Speaker 2: happen if it weren't for the city winning that grant.
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  Speaker 2: That would have never happened at the Dixon Park District.
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  Speaker 2: And it's unbelievable. You got to get down the Page Park.
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  Speaker 3: Just walk through it. Walk the new trails. They're lit
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  Speaker 3: up at night right now.
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  Speaker 1: Take a look. It's awesome there. You go, get your
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  Speaker 1: butt down there. You can walk through, no excuse. I
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  Speaker 1: love hearing that. What else we got going on, Dwayne.
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  Speaker 2: We got a tennis court project that's well underway, one
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  Speaker 2: hundred and twelve thousand dollars resurfacing project. The courts are
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  Speaker 2: all prep They spent four days scraping them all off.
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  Speaker 2: And just to let it be known, there's a grand
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  Speaker 2: opening June twenty fourth at noon light. You know, food
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  Speaker 2: will be prepared, drinks for speakers. It's gonna be a
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  Speaker 2: great day, big project for the park district, fully funded
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  Speaker 2: by donations and grants, nothing from the taxpayer.
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  Speaker 1: Love hearing that, all of you out of love here
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  Speaker 1: in that especially as much as I see those tennis
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  Speaker 1: courts get used. I mean, people love them, so to
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  Speaker 1: now have this done is just a treat and a
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  Speaker 1: real great upgrade for them. What else, Dwayne sure is
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  Speaker 1: we have a lot of wreck programs going on. I
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  Speaker 1: just want to throw out a shout out for Nancy.
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  Speaker 1: The Reagan Run. I'm sure you've hearn a lot about that.
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  Speaker 1: The sign ups are now July fourth race. Hey, there's
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  Speaker 1: something about the Reagan Run. I've been involved with them
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  Speaker 1: for years and years and years. They're running across a
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  Speaker 1: brand new bridge for the first time. Be part of that.
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  Speaker 1: Be part of the first time going over that bridge.
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  Speaker 1: That's exciting. And during America's two hundred and fiftieth I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you're getting to be part of an event that's a
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  Speaker 1: first in history for our little area and then a
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  Speaker 1: major milestone that none of us are going to be
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  Speaker 1: alive for in the next two fifty have your name
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  Speaker 1: as part of it.
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  Speaker 3: And Reagan Run's going nowhere.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's not going away, So be part of
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  Speaker 2: history that's going to keep going. It's just something special
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  Speaker 2: this year, and they're excited. It's been a rough go
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  Speaker 2: on the course in Page Park with all the construction,
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  Speaker 2: but they've navigated. I think it's gonna work. OSF Tennis
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  Speaker 2: Classic July second through the fifth. We're starting our tennis
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  Speaker 2: lessons July sixth through twenty three. Just to let you
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  Speaker 2: know our facility hours. We're open weekdays eight to six,
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  Speaker 2: Saturday ten to three. We got little sparks June seventeenth.
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  Speaker 3: We having a.
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  Speaker 2: Blood drive July twenty ninth, and here we are next
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  Speaker 2: week already we have our.
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  Speaker 3: Famous Spark Camp.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, so we have a forty foot water slide if
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  Speaker 2: you can imagine forty feet in the air water slide
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  Speaker 2: for these kids, biggest one we've ever had.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not going to tell you how much it costs
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  Speaker 3: because it's.
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  Speaker 2: But it's huge. Get out there and do that. We
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  Speaker 2: have two hundred and fifty kids signed up already. We're
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  Speaker 2: taking sign ups. That's June sixteenth through the eighteenth, ages
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  Speaker 2: seven to twelve, and then we do another one in
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  Speaker 2: July fourteenth and sixteenth for ages seven to twelve. SoC
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  Speaker 2: Valley Bank is our sponsor. That's a big deal. The
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  Speaker 2: Spark Camp. It's like I've told you before, our whole
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  Speaker 2: office clears out. We go out and help the kids
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  Speaker 2: feed them, snacks, hang out with them, play kickball. So
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  Speaker 2: if you want something from the Partner Trick office next week,
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  Speaker 2: it's gonna be rough because we're all out there with
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  Speaker 2: the two hundred and fifty kids enjoying ourselves and having
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  Speaker 2: a great time.
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  Speaker 1: But I mean, what a great reason, you know for
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  Speaker 1: if anybody needs anything, get on out there and just
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  Speaker 1: have some fun with them and the kids. And I mean,
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  Speaker 1: get your there's still time for kids to sign up.
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  Speaker 3: Sign up. Please come in and sign up. Call Janus.
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  Speaker 3: She'll navigate you right to where you need to go.
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  Speaker 3: It's an exciting day.
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  Speaker 2: There's nothing worse than I can remember when I was
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  Speaker 2: a kid that my friends went to a camp.
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  Speaker 3: I didn't get to go. Friends come back and talk
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  Speaker 3: about it, and then my mom and dad are like, well,
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  Speaker 3: we probably should have put you in that camp.
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  Speaker 2: Don't be that. Get them in the camp. It's a
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  Speaker 2: cheap camp. I think it's thirty five dollars. Don't quote
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  Speaker 2: me on that. I don't do pricing, but get out
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  Speaker 2: there and do it. It's a it's an experience that
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  Speaker 2: you'll remember.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, your kids aren't sitting in front of a screen.
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  Speaker 1: They're going to have an awesome time. They're gonna be
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  Speaker 1: worn out as a bonus when they get home, and
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  Speaker 1: they're gonna sleep really well for you. And this is
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  Speaker 1: the kind of thing they talk about. When my kids
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  Speaker 1: were younger, I would always put them in like some
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  Speaker 1: kind of summer day camp like that, And I mean,
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  Speaker 1: they just have a fantastic time. They're they're not cooped
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  Speaker 1: up in the house watching endless.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what kids watch now. It's not cartoons,
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  Speaker 1: it's these weird videos. It's getting to be an old man. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: well we'll skip past that and uh and keep it,
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  Speaker 1: keep it going. The Nature Center, Yeah, we got a
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  Speaker 1: few things going with the Nature Center. Pages in the
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  Speaker 1: Park Tuesdays at nine thirty, Junior Master Naturalist Camp June
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  Speaker 1: twenty second to the twenty fourth. Nature Center Crafts Fridays
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  Speaker 1: ten to twelve and here you go. Guided Tour of
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  Speaker 1: the River June twelfth, twenty third, and thirtieth nine am.
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  Speaker 1: Get your kayako patable from the Nature Center will take
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  Speaker 1: you on a guided tour of the Rock River.
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  Speaker 2: So I don't know what those dates are going to
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  Speaker 2: look like. Now, the river's coming up. Just call us
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  Speaker 2: if you want a guided tour. She's very educated on
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  Speaker 2: what's going on nature wise around the river, what's species
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  Speaker 2: and everything. She's a great guide for that. So that's
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  Speaker 2: kind of cool that she's doing that as soon as
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  Speaker 2: she can. So if you don't have a kayak, you
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  Speaker 2: can go to our kayak thing and rent to kayak
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  Speaker 2: and go out with her for the day.
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  Speaker 1: There you go, a fun, informative way to get out
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  Speaker 1: on the water. Especially you know, if you're a newbie
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  Speaker 1: and you're feeling a little bit apprehensive, that's a great
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  Speaker 1: way to get out there and be a part of it. Because,
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  Speaker 1: as I'm always telling you, as part of the Sauk
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  Speaker 1: Valley Summer of Fun, as I've dubbed it, make sure
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  Speaker 1: somebody venmos me a bucket. They use that trademark because
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  Speaker 1: there's just so many events going on, and they're all
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  Speaker 1: going on outside and there's no reason to say there's
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  Speaker 1: nothing to do out here.
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  Speaker 3: That's for sure.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, some of us between like part District
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  Speaker 2: Discovered Dixon City, we got to coordinate some of these events.
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  Speaker 2: We don't want to overlap. There's so many things going
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  Speaker 2: on these days. Yeah, not the overlap, Oh yeah, it's
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  Speaker 2: it's It's used to be a good problem event one event,
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  Speaker 2: one event. Now it's you hit one in the morning,
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  Speaker 2: one in the afternoon. So there's a lot going on
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  Speaker 2: and I love when that happens. It's just a full day.
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  Speaker 2: It's a full day. And if I can, we'd mentioned
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  Speaker 2: one more thing, yes please. I've been preparing for the E. C.
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  Speaker 2: Smith Playground that we're going to do this fall. We've
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  Speaker 2: added a few things. We've added a complete rubber surface
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  Speaker 2: to everything, and we've also added a new swing now,
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  Speaker 2: so whole new swing set.
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  Speaker 3: We're going to use the old one before.
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  Speaker 2: But we're going to combine the swing and the playground together,
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  Speaker 2: put a whole nother rubber surface up there. Adding that
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  Speaker 2: rubber surface to the swing is another thirty thousand dollars.
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  Speaker 2: That rubber is expensive, but it's a one time thing,
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  Speaker 2: no wood chips. We're excited to see that playground. It's
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  Speaker 2: going to be a great playground. It'll be one of
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  Speaker 2: the bigger playgrounds we've done at the park district in
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  Speaker 2: that park, so it's exciting. We want a grant for that. Also,
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  Speaker 2: this wouldn't be possible, so it's one hundred and thirty
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  Speaker 2: thousand dollars playground. So we're excited that's going to move
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  Speaker 2: into the fall here and we'll get her dedicated this year.
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  Speaker 1: That's awesome, And I mean, you guys just have an
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  Speaker 1: awesome way of finding these grants and securing those and
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  Speaker 1: saving money in that manner. It's like you said, so
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  Speaker 1: many of these things wouldn't be possible without it.
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  Speaker 3: It's not easy.
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  Speaker 1: It's not like going out and filling out a simple application.
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  Speaker 1: These things are competitive and the requirements in there just
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  Speaker 1: speaks to the work that you guys do being dedicated
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  Speaker 1: to bring these things to our parks.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, we wouldn't.
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  Speaker 2: Function without grants, and the staff writes a lot of
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  Speaker 2: the graphs in house, the grants in house.
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  Speaker 3: That's to save money too.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, we've done a lot of projects like this
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  Speaker 2: tennis tennis court project. When it first came out, the
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  Speaker 2: partnership goes on the hook for one hundred and twelve
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  Speaker 2: thousand dollars.
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  Speaker 3: Now we're on the hook for zero.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we want a grant of forty eight thousand
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  Speaker 2: dollars for tennis courts. It's unheard of, So we just
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  Speaker 2: look for grants. The high school helped us find that grant. Actually,
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  Speaker 2: Roger Sigan, we work as partners. He said, there's a
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  Speaker 2: grant right there. We don't know if we're going to
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  Speaker 2: get or not. We applied and want it, so you
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  Speaker 2: got to take the time and apply, and you got
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  Speaker 2: to do the efforts you got of engineering.
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  Speaker 3: You got to have all this done ready to go.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, we do a lot more on We call
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  Speaker 2: it the two for one, so we get two for
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  Speaker 2: one of the text dollars, you know, So you know,
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  Speaker 2: if we got to match fifty percent, you're getting double
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  Speaker 2: the playground.
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  Speaker 3: For the same amount of money because we win grants
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  Speaker 3: and that's what we'd like to do.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's why we have such beautiful parks and programs.
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  Speaker 1: That's exactly right. I love it, Dwayne. We still got
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  Speaker 1: a few minutes. Anything else you want to share.
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  Speaker 2: Just a little bit about the Project Rock celebration July fourth,
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  Speaker 2: You're welcome to come out for that at eleven o'clock.
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  Speaker 2: It's going to be exciting. So July fourth is more
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  Speaker 2: of the two hundred and fiftieth celebration. July seventh is
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  Speaker 2: going to be the dedication of the bridge, So kind.
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  Speaker 3: Of two different things there.
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  Speaker 2: It's two different scenarios, they're all happening at once, like
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: you say, Dixon, so they kind of split those up
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: a little bit. But the July fourth one is going
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  Speaker 2: to be exciting for two hundred and fiftieth. They're going
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: to hang a huge, huge flag over the bridge. It's
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: gonna be neat. It's going to be an exciting day.
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  Speaker 2: It'll probably be hot, but it'll be exciting. So is
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  Speaker 2: Page Park is going to be a busy place with
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: the Petunia Fest, the carnival, and now a speak at
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: July fourth down there at eleven. Don't forget about the
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Reagan run that morning also at eight o'clock. So busy, busy, busy, that's.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: What we'd like to see. Yeah, we love it. Yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: You see everybody out bustling all outside, all over the streets,
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  Speaker 1: through the parks. It's it's a fantastic time.
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  Speaker 3: I love it. Duining.
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  Speaker 1: If anybody wants any more information on anything we've talked
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: about today, what's the best way to do it?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's two ways.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: You can call us at eight one five two eight
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  Speaker 2: four three three oh six or Dixonpartnerstree dot com. If
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: you call us, ask for Jana. Jana will navigate you
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: to wherever you need to go. You can go to
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: my rec to sign up for a shelter, dog park
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: pass anything.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: She can guide you there.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Don't get frustrated with a website if it doesn't work.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: I mean it's gonna work, but I'm not technical like that,
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  Speaker 2: So I'm just gonna call Jana and let her navigate
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  Speaker 2: and sign me up. So that's what we do. So
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: give Jana a call. We're excited to hear from you.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: We love it when the phones ring off the hook.
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  Speaker 2: That means we're doing something right. People want to be
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  Speaker 2: involved and that's what we want. So you know you
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: got your tennis lessons coming up. If you have any
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: trouble sign up for a tennis lesson online, just call Jana.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: She'll navigate it and sign it up for you.
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  Speaker 1: There you go, no excuse, multiple ways to get involved,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: to get all the information you need to get signed up. Dwayne,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: thank you for coming in sharing these updates and for
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: all the hard work that you and everyone at the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Dixon Park District does. We certainly appreciate it well.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, and thank you for your excitement for the community.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: That's a big deal to do an interview with somebody
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  Speaker 2: that understands and uses the community.
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  Speaker 3: It's great.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's absolutely fantastic. And just happy to promote
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the work you guys get to do. I just get
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: to sit in the booth, play music and have great
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: conversations with folks like you.
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  Speaker 3: So awesome. A little more than that, but be humble
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: with you, sir,