Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line 08-20-2026: Melinda Jones shares art and music events in Rock Falls

Transcript

Talk Line 08-20-2026: Melinda Jones shares art and music events in Rock Falls · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back, Sock Valley. You're with the Waking Crew here
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  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty WIXN.
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  Speaker 1: It's eight fifteen on your Thursday morning, and that means
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  Speaker 1: it's time for talk line and I'm joining the booth
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  Speaker 1: once again by our good friends from Rock Falls Tourism
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  Speaker 1: Melinda Jones joining us in the studio this morning. How
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  Speaker 1: are you today?
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  Speaker 2: I'm great, sunshine and we're good.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. No rain today. That's a good one.
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  Speaker 2: But I have a day off tomorrow and it's supposed
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  Speaker 2: to rain.
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  Speaker 1: Oh it's kind of off time. Yeah, well maybe it
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  Speaker 1: might be a good day to you know, stay inside,
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  Speaker 1: make some tea, get some projects in, or maybe just
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  Speaker 1: relax even on your day off, right, I think so
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  Speaker 1: many of us on our day's offer, it's like, okay,
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  Speaker 1: what can I catch up on now? And it's like
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  Speaker 1: you got to take a little breather once in a while. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: So speaking of breathers, there's good ways to do that.
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  Speaker 1: You could just chill it home. Okay, that's acceptable, But
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  Speaker 1: there's so much going on in our communities that it's
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  Speaker 1: really better to get.
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  Speaker 2: Out there is there's always something going on between Dixon
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  Speaker 2: and Sterling and rock Falls and rock Falls. We've got
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  Speaker 2: a lot planning in the next couple months. Crazy. We'll
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  Speaker 2: start it off with Rockever Jazz Band this Saturday. They're
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  Speaker 2: going to be at the RBNW Park seven o'clock for
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  Speaker 2: a free concert. And this is their last one for
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  Speaker 2: the season, so I think they have one more in
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  Speaker 2: Dixon to do at Page Park, but this one is
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  Speaker 2: at RBNW at Saturday, August twenty second at seven pm.
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  Speaker 2: And they'll play all your jazz music. Your Duke Ellington
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  Speaker 2: even's throwing some fun stuff in there.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Duke Ellington, Count Basie. I forget who the woman
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  Speaker 1: is now, and I feel so bad because she like,
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  Speaker 1: actually studied under Count Basie a little bit, got to
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  Speaker 1: meet him, got to play with them a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: But she's a jazz legend in her own right, and
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  Speaker 1: it was back when I was an early journalist she
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  Speaker 1: kind of turned me into some of that. It's fantastic music.
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  Speaker 1: If you've not heard it and you're like, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know if I like Jet, get on out there and
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  Speaker 1: listen to it. You will not regret it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're a great band. They do very well
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  Speaker 2: on all their music, So I anticipate a really good crowd,
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  Speaker 2: especially it's going to beautiful and they're great to listen to.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, be in w such a beautiful park. You set
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  Speaker 1: along the river that time of night, this time of
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  Speaker 1: year begins to cool down, you get the nice breeze
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  Speaker 1: from the river. The picturesque, I mean, it's fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: It is beautiful down there.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, I've married a few folks down there. People
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  Speaker 1: love going down there because it's such a beautiful backdrop.
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  Speaker 2: It is when you get married up on that stage
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  Speaker 2: and then near the back top of the river and
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  Speaker 2: the trees behind it's beautiful. And then having the holiday
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  Speaker 2: in next to it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know a lot of them will go over,
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  Speaker 1: they'll sign their thing there and then they've got a
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  Speaker 1: room already, right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So that's cool that we have that there and
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  Speaker 2: they do great business right there along the river. People
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  Speaker 2: love the balconies there, So shout out to Holiday Inn.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you also want to talk about the Rock
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  Speaker 1: River Jazz Band today that yeah, Yeah, sorry, that mixed
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  Speaker 1: around the art and.
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  Speaker 2: The Yeah, art in the park is next Saturday. It's
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  Speaker 2: August or August twenty ninth. That is when we get
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  Speaker 2: into the new sculptures down in the park. So two
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  Speaker 2: of them left yesterday and a few more will leave
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  Speaker 2: next week and then we'll get the new installations put
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  Speaker 2: in on Friday, and then you can come down Saturday
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  Speaker 2: check them out. Some of the artists are actually going
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  Speaker 2: to stay so you can talk to them about their piece. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 2: go to or autocast on your phones and you can
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  Speaker 2: download the app there and then you can walk around
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  Speaker 2: and see the pieces and listen to the artists talk
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  Speaker 2: about their piece and about how they got into art
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  Speaker 2: and stuff too. So we got outdoor art gallery. We've
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  Speaker 2: got twenty five regional local artists from around here. So
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  Speaker 2: we've got jewelry, we've got pottery, we've got paintings, we've
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  Speaker 2: got yard art. We've got a big assortment with twenty
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  Speaker 2: five vendors going to be down there, so come on
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  Speaker 2: down and enjoy them. We have wine tasting. That's the
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  Speaker 2: first one that we've ever had, so we're excited to
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  Speaker 2: have that. That's through Trace Rojas is how you pronounce it.
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  Speaker 1: I think, so that's how I pronounced it when I
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  Speaker 1: talk about it. So we're either both right or both.
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  Speaker 2: So it's a winery from Washington, Illinois, and they're going
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  Speaker 2: to have wine tastings and then actually you can purchase
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  Speaker 2: bottles of wine through them. So we're excited to have them.
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  Speaker 2: So first time for white tasting down there. And then
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  Speaker 2: we will have music all day, so Kurt Tobin, Ellie
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  Speaker 2: trom Or, Eli Trump, excuse me, Eli Trump, Sammy Murrie
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  Speaker 2: and Jay vaugh So everybody knows Javon and so come
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  Speaker 2: on down. They'll each play for about a hour. There'll
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  Speaker 2: be a half an hour break in between. We have
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  Speaker 2: food down there. We've got quite a good assortment of
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  Speaker 2: food down there. And then one thing that we're going
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  Speaker 2: to do this year is we are going to do
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  Speaker 2: a rededication of the Rockfalls Liberty Bell, So that'll be
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  Speaker 2: at eleven o'clock. Rock Foles had the liberty bell out
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  Speaker 2: on First Street, First Avenue years and years ago and
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  Speaker 2: then it was brought back in so that I found
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  Speaker 2: it in the street department one day, so I'm like,
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  Speaker 2: why does this in here? And so anyway, we got refurbished.
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  Speaker 2: It's at the park right now you can see it.
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  Speaker 2: But we want to do a rededication and it carries
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  Speaker 2: off our America two fifty so because they got that
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  Speaker 2: Bell and Rockfalls in seventeen or nineteen seventy six, so
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  Speaker 2: it's been fifty years and so to be bringing that
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  Speaker 2: out through the two fiftieth of the United States, I
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  Speaker 2: thought this was the perfect time. So we'll do a
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  Speaker 2: rededication of that. But yeah, all day ten to four
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  Speaker 2: and it'll be you know, all the art, all the music,
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  Speaker 2: the food, wine tasting. It's just gonna be a wonderful day.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's a fantastic way to spend your day.
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  Speaker 1: I like that. We're big art fans over in my house,
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  Speaker 1: so I love going through the parks and the sculptures.
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  Speaker 1: I love the idea that you guys get to, you know,
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  Speaker 1: change things up every so often and often is our
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  Speaker 1: biggest problem. So I'm curious for you guys as we're
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  Speaker 1: always like, where are we going to have space to
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  Speaker 1: put new art so that we can keep it. Would
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  Speaker 1: you guys like to see more, like I don't know
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  Speaker 1: if they're their bases or installations or whatever, for more
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  Speaker 1: pieces that you can change or has that ever been
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  Speaker 1: talked about?
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  Speaker 2: We actually have added two spaces just in the last
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  Speaker 2: few years. Okay, so we have thirteen sculptures down there
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  Speaker 2: altogether in the district area. So you got one that's
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  Speaker 2: on the east side of the Holiday Inn over there
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  Speaker 2: by Seleti Pavilion, and then we have one that goes
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  Speaker 2: on First Avenue right when you come in from Sterling.
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  Speaker 2: And then we have the other pieces that are in
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  Speaker 2: the park. We have five permanent ones and one of
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  Speaker 2: those is local that's fillmat X with the sculptured Demise,
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  Speaker 2: and we also have Charles Jost, we have Greg Mendez,
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  Speaker 2: Tommy Rife, so all those sculptures are permanent there. Everybody
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  Speaker 2: knows Nemesis, the angel that sets there. But yeah, you know,
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  Speaker 2: every time, if we get extra you know, some that
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  Speaker 2: we really really want to keep, then the city will
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  Speaker 2: purchase them or tourism purchases them and then we'll keep them.
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  Speaker 2: But we can't do that every year. And we want
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  Speaker 2: revolving pieces because that's what's going to make the park
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  Speaker 2: you know, feel different every year. So having those new pieces,
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  Speaker 2: so we'll have eight new pieces this year.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, that's awesome. Yeah, and we're just you know, we're
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  Speaker 1: already getting so further into the year, and I know
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  Speaker 1: we weren't going to go too far into the into
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  Speaker 1: the fall stuff. But I had to ask because I
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  Speaker 1: wasn't sure if I was right or wrong. The I
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  Speaker 1: just love the the event, the skillet throwing competition. I
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  Speaker 1: couldn't remember is this the second or third time?
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  Speaker 2: Second time?
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  Speaker 1: It's the second time? Okay, okay, yes I knew it
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  Speaker 1: wasn't the first, but I was like, is this the
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  Speaker 1: second or the third?
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, that was our women's skillet contest tell Me's
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  Speaker 2: at the Lumberjacks. So it was so much fun. Last year.
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  Speaker 2: We did use regular cast iron skillets. Do you know
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  Speaker 2: they break? I did literally break. We found out after
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  Speaker 2: four broke. Really yeah, we like.
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  Speaker 1: On pavement or on grass, on grass, on grass.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, well, we had some old stuff too, but if
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  Speaker 2: it's just hit right the handle, a break off or whatever,
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  Speaker 2: so we hopefully fingers crossed. We had some that were
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  Speaker 2: actually made okay out of aluminum and stuff, and so
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  Speaker 2: hopefully they.
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  Speaker 1: Will hold up.
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  Speaker 2: We have two of those. If they don't, I don't
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  Speaker 2: know what we're gonna do. Give a prize for who
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  Speaker 2: breaks it.
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  Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was kind of embarrassing because they kept breaking,
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  Speaker 2: but it's just something that you know, we're trial and
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  Speaker 2: air learning, you know, So I.
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  Speaker 1: Don't think anybody would have would have bet on those
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  Speaker 1: things breaking the first time finding it. I mean, you're like,
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  Speaker 1: cast Iron, this is yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well it was funny because when we went out there
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  Speaker 2: on Friday night before the Lumberjacks show last year, Frank
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  Speaker 2: Selmy's like, let me try this. He threw it and
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  Speaker 2: it broke, and We're like, oh my gosh, what's going
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  Speaker 2: to happen? I mean, did he throw it really hard? Right?
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  Speaker 1: You know?
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  Speaker 2: But he just tossed it, and yeah, it broke. So
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  Speaker 2: then I'm on the phone with all these antique places
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  Speaker 2: trying to find some more cast Iron skills because I
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  Speaker 2: had one left, and so I was like, well I
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  Speaker 2: better has extras. So yeah, so we had gotten three
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  Speaker 2: for that day and all three of those broke.
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  Speaker 1: Oh wow yeah, okay, well that's cool. You guys got
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  Speaker 1: a new plan. We live, we learn, and we learned
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  Speaker 1: that cast Iron is not.
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  Speaker 2: In the struy and we do sign up. So I
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  Speaker 2: think we've already gotten four sign ups already for it.
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  Speaker 2: So and if you sign up ahead of time, you
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  Speaker 2: actually get a free pass and to sell me so
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  Speaker 2: it does cost ten dollars for to get in the competition,
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  Speaker 2: but then you get a free pass for sell me,
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  Speaker 2: so either way it's free.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so but yeah, and then they tackling contest. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: so we got that coming out. That's fun. We only
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  Speaker 2: have three spots left for the time leading because we
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  Speaker 2: can only accept ten.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I'm not surprised. The spots are filling up already.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so three spots and then this year, so everybody
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  Speaker 2: knows we are elevating it. It's not give me street
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  Speaker 2: level where the contestants are sitting on the street and
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  Speaker 2: everybody can't see. We have a couple one hundred people
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  Speaker 2: watching this, yeah, and they can't see. They're all dodging
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  Speaker 2: each other trying to watch. So Boss Ruffing, thank you
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: to Boss Huffing. They are going to supply a trailer.
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  Speaker 2: We're gonna put them up on the trailers now everybody
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  Speaker 2: will be able to see them.
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  Speaker 1: Super cool. I love this for that. So yeah, I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: even if you don't win, you got to eat awesome
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  Speaker 1: tacos for a great price.
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  Speaker 2: Twenty dollars all you can eat for in ten minutes.
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  Speaker 2: So the most you can eat in ten minutes. The
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  Speaker 2: record is sixteen and ten minutes.
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  Speaker 1: That's the record.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, so far now in rock that's.
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  Speaker 1: Almost two tacos a minute.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't do it?
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Is that heartshell ar sauce. That's off. It's okay.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Well it's two corn tortillas, just like they make them. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and with meat and onion and there's no a lot
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: of tomato and cheese and all that. It's just eat onion.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, and Britles will make them this year. Last
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: year we Mendoza, so I kind of switched around. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: but yeah, that's tackle throw down. That's September twenty fifth.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, that's so cool. I'm loving it. We're throwing down
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  Speaker 1: tacos and skillets.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: And then we had Chicken George earlier with the George Fest.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was so awesome. I was. I was when
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  Speaker 1: I'm like Chicken George and we're making an event out
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  Speaker 1: of this? Are you kidding me? Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: It was great events.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, well, there's so much more to come. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not going to make a press Melinda go too far
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: into the fall because she will come back to give
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  Speaker 1: us more updates. So thank you for coming in. Go
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  Speaker 1: down to Art in the Park check out the Rock
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: River Jazz Band again. There's always so much to do,
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  Speaker 1: you just got to get out there and do it.
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  Speaker 1: And so, you know, I really thank you and everybody
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: over at rock Falls Tourism for I mean, putting these together.
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  Speaker 2: Otherwise we wouldn't have them right, and we wouldn't have
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  Speaker 2: them except for with our sponsors. So yes, a shout
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: out to our top sponsors. Johnson Oil, Sock Valley Bank, CGH,
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  Speaker 2: Rockfall's Medical Center, Holiday and Express and Suites, Low Sher
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Heating and air Conditioning, River Country one oh one point seven,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Arthur's Garden, Deli Boss Riffing, Siding Experts, Candle Light In, Community,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: State Bank, rock Falls, Extreme Dumpsters, Kunis Auto Group is Strolling,
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Bavelin Express Care, Stelmy's Greenhouse and Family Farm, Sterling, Federal Bank,
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  Speaker 2: Told The Construction Services and United Metal Buildings. So without
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: all of our sponsors, at whatever level you are, we
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be able to put out all these fun events.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, thank you sponsors. We appreciate you so much much. Truly, me, Linda,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on and I look
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  Speaker 1: forward to your next stup.
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  Speaker 2: All right, thank you very much,