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

Transcript

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

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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley. You've joined the Waking crew here
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty w
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  Speaker 1: I x N. It's eight fifteen on your Wednesday morning,
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  Speaker 1: and that means it's time for talk line and I'm
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  Speaker 1: joined in the booth once again by my good friend
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  Speaker 1: from Sterling main Street, Janet grow Hearing. Jenah, how are you?
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  Speaker 2: I'm well, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: It's it's feeling more like spring, isn't it.
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  Speaker 2: It is after the first time I was up here
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  Speaker 2: was gloomy and rainy, and I had to put the
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  Speaker 2: visor down on the way up here because the summer
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  Speaker 2: was in my face so much different climate.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, much warmer, A lot of rain we've been getting,
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  Speaker 1: but that's good for spring, right exactly.
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  Speaker 2: I keep saying I hate the rain, but we need it,
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  Speaker 2: so I'm not gonna complain.
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  Speaker 1: No, that's been the attitude I've been trying to take. Yeah, well,
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  Speaker 1: it's perfect for this and what you're coming to share today,
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  Speaker 1: because as the weather gets nicer, we get outside. Sterling
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  Speaker 1: main Street always has so many great events plan and
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  Speaker 1: I love when they get to be outside. So that's
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  Speaker 1: what we're going to kind of start with.
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  Speaker 2: Today, exactly. Yeah, I was thinking basically, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: sun shining, the temps are getting warmer. That means event
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  Speaker 2: season is getting started. So we got lots going on
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  Speaker 2: here in the next few weeks, so we're ready to
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  Speaker 2: go for the season.
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  Speaker 1: And what are we is it earth they were starting with.
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  Speaker 2: Actually, the gals at the Shops at Grand and Plaza
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  Speaker 2: are starting with another event that they're doing there just
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  Speaker 2: to kick off the spring season. But April Wednesday night,
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  Speaker 2: April twenty second. The shops are always open on Wednesday evenings,
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  Speaker 2: but April twenty second, they've got a special event coming up.
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  Speaker 2: They're calling it the Bloom Event, so appropriate for springtime.
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  Speaker 2: And they've just they've got I think six or seven
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  Speaker 2: guest vendors that will be joining them for the night
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  Speaker 2: there at the Shops at Grand and Plaza. They've got
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  Speaker 2: roaming Mary think doing some mocktails and stuff like that.
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  Speaker 2: So it'll just be a fun little girls' night out
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  Speaker 2: shopping event that they've got going on at the Shops
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  Speaker 2: at Grand and Plaza.
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  Speaker 1: Love hearing about that. I love the shops. But for
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  Speaker 1: those who who may not know that as well, I
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  Speaker 1: have heard of it before. Tell everybody, what are the shops.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So the shops at Green and Plaza are our
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  Speaker 2: retail incubator space. It's meant to basically give entrepreneurs a
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  Speaker 2: small scale space to test a brick and mortar location
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  Speaker 2: for a retail shop. There's six units at the space.
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  Speaker 2: It's located at three ten Second Avenue, so it's right
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  Speaker 2: between the two one ways in downtown Sterling, kind of
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  Speaker 2: right behind the Grand and Civic Center and across the
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  Speaker 2: street from the big red Church. Those you're kind of
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  Speaker 2: in right next to True Smile, so those big building milestones,
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  Speaker 2: but right between the two one ways there.
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  Speaker 1: You go kind of I think some folks had even
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  Speaker 1: pointed out to me they thought they were like tiny homes,
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  Speaker 1: and I was like, well, you're not far off their
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  Speaker 1: tiny shops.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're tiny shops. They're each unit's about twelve by sixteen,
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  Speaker 2: so they're not real big. But it gives our entrepreneurs
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  Speaker 2: it basically a low cost place to start up and
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  Speaker 2: test a brick and mortar location. And along with that
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  Speaker 2: we provide them some monthly education and training and mentorship
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  Speaker 2: type things on how to grow that brick and mortar
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  Speaker 2: aspect of their businesses. But it's going really well, we've
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  Speaker 2: got six businesses right in there right now. They've been there,
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  Speaker 2: all of them have been in there since last summer,
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  Speaker 2: so they'll be all in there at least probably the
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  Speaker 2: end of this year. But there's some of them I
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  Speaker 2: know that are taking those next steps and starting to
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  Speaker 2: look for other spaces and things like that. So it's
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  Speaker 2: going to be an exciting next six months watching these
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  Speaker 2: businesses grow in there. But they're doing fun little activities
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  Speaker 2: every once in a while to try to just build
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  Speaker 2: some momentum, and we're looking for the next crop of
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  Speaker 2: tenants to move in there. So with this bloom event,
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  Speaker 2: like I mentioned, we've got I think six or seven
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  Speaker 2: different other small businesses that we'd be doing like a
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  Speaker 2: pop up having tables outside our tents on the grounds
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  Speaker 2: and you know, kind of give them a little teaser
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  Speaker 2: taste of those shops. And you know, as we try
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  Speaker 2: to cultivate who's going to be the next line and
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  Speaker 2: line of tenants as these gals move out and on
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  Speaker 2: to grow, who do we have next that wants to
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  Speaker 2: take that step to try to grow their brick and mortar.
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  Speaker 1: Well, if that's you, if you you are listening and
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  Speaker 1: you've got that idea, you're not quite sure if you're
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  Speaker 1: ready to expand this is the perfect way to be
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  Speaker 1: supported while getting that test runt out there exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, like I said, the spots for the Bloom event
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  Speaker 2: are full, but basically we're doing a little through the
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  Speaker 2: warmer months here, be doing like monthly pop up type events.
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  Speaker 2: I know we've got one in June. We still have
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  Speaker 2: space available. So if that if you are a online
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  Speaker 2: business or you just do vendor shows and things like that,
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  Speaker 2: and you've been questioning, Hey, Tweter, I really want to
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  Speaker 2: do this full time? Do I want to go brick
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  Speaker 2: and mortar. This is a great opportunity to kind of
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  Speaker 2: get your foot in the door, So you know, give
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  Speaker 2: us a call, stop by the shops when they're open.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes if you stop by Amber and Smoke, Sarah Coyle
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  Speaker 2: is also serves as our market as our shops manager
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  Speaker 2: for us. So talk to Sarah and Amber and Smoke
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  Speaker 2: if that's something you're interested in, or give us a
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  Speaker 2: call to the office. Like I said, we're trying to
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  Speaker 2: cultivate that list of who that next crop of tenants
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  Speaker 2: might be. So it's a great opportunity to get your
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  Speaker 2: foot in the door and just tested out this summer
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  Speaker 2: a little bit and maybe it's something you want to
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  Speaker 2: grow into.
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  Speaker 1: This is the best way to pull the trigger on
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  Speaker 1: your dreams without having to go in so far for
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  Speaker 1: those of you who are hesident, I love it, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of spaces for commerce, our next event leads us
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  Speaker 1: to the farmers Market.
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  Speaker 2: Yes it does. So that following weekend, Saturday, April twenty
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  Speaker 2: fifth is well our Farmer's Market. As you know, the
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  Speaker 2: Twin City Farmers Market is open your round, so the
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  Speaker 2: indoor market is still is still open right now. But
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  Speaker 2: April twenty fifth will be our earth Day Bash, which
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  Speaker 2: also serves as the opening day of the outdoor market season.
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  Speaker 2: So just a couple of weeks away, we've got a
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  Speaker 2: celebrating Earth Day down at the Farmer's Market. We'll have
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  Speaker 2: P and C little rascals petting zoo there for the
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  Speaker 2: day for the kids, Master Gardeners University of Illinoi Extension
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  Speaker 2: with some Earthday activities and things like that, just to
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  Speaker 2: make more fun. But that's when the basically the market
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  Speaker 2: doubles in size because we add those vendors to the
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  Speaker 2: outdoor space for the season. That outdoor season runs from
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  Speaker 2: April twenty fifth through October thirty first, so it'll be
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  Speaker 2: open through the end of October. So basically for six
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  Speaker 2: months of the year, we're double the capacity of what
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  Speaker 2: we normally are. So we're going from you know, twenty
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  Speaker 2: five vendors now to forty five to fifty vendors on
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  Speaker 2: any given week.
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  Speaker 1: I love that. I mean the outdoor vendor space has
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  Speaker 1: really grown.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it has. I mean we're there's a handful of
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  Speaker 2: weeks already this season that we're full, We're booked at capacity.
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  Speaker 2: We are still taking applications because we do still have
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  Speaker 2: some openings. But again, you know, it's a great space
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  Speaker 2: if you're an entrepreneur. Obviously, it's a farmer's market, so
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  Speaker 2: we like the produce, farm goods, anything hand crafted. That
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  Speaker 2: is the caveat of the farmers market versus the shops
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  Speaker 2: at Grandon Plaza is for the farmer's market, it must
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  Speaker 2: be homegrown, hand crafted, handmade, not anything like whereas like
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  Speaker 2: at the shops that can be more wholesale, small business,
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  Speaker 2: curated kind of items, things like that typical retail, but
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  Speaker 2: the farmers mark, it's got to be original product. But
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  Speaker 2: still a great way. We've got some are that are both.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we've got some that do handcrafted at the shops.
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  Speaker 1: But.
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  Speaker 2: That's really where the farmer's market focus is and and
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  Speaker 2: where year round two. So it's a great another entrepreneur entrepreneurial.
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  Speaker 2: I always struggle with that word space in Sterling to
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  Speaker 2: kind of work and grow in your businesses.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's going to be a really you know,
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  Speaker 1: exciting year. The weather's getting nicer, the new park is
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  Speaker 1: going to be opening up right behind the Farmer's Market.
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  Speaker 1: You know, all these vendors getting in there. You're really
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  Speaker 1: going to see downtown Sterling just buzzing this.
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  Speaker 2: I really think so too. I mean it's gonna be huge,
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  Speaker 2: you know, talk about entrepreneurial success. The one that was
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  Speaker 2: scrolling my phone this morning our coffee when I got
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  Speaker 2: up and h the one thing I noticed is on
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  Speaker 2: the newspaper side of Shaw an article popped up about
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  Speaker 2: busy Bee Bakery having opened up in Amboy. She is
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  Speaker 2: a perfect example. She started at a farmer's market three
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  Speaker 2: years ago. She took over like our kitchen. She came
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  Speaker 2: in as a baker and then the opportunity came up
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  Speaker 2: to use our kitchen space at the market. So she's
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  Speaker 2: still there every Saturday with a plethora of bake goods
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  Speaker 2: and pies and stuff like that. She also does some
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  Speaker 2: hot foods like biscuits and gravy and breakfast cast roles
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  Speaker 2: and things like that. And now she has taken that
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  Speaker 2: next step. She's from a boy lives there. She's opened
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  Speaker 2: a bakery in Amboy, so she also sells her product
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  Speaker 2: there several days a week. So I mean, to me,
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  Speaker 2: that is just the epitome of success stories as you
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  Speaker 2: just start small and keep creeping up and growing. You
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  Speaker 2: started at a farmer's markets and you kind of then
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  Speaker 2: you you know, edge into brick and mortar and then
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  Speaker 2: you go full time. So I'd love to see that
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  Speaker 2: article this morning about Michelle.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, and and how ironically cool, right she was
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  Speaker 1: a busy bee who's now opened her busy.
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  Speaker 2: Bee right exactly. You know, she you know, had that
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  Speaker 2: day to day job. Baking was always her dream. She
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  Speaker 2: you know, bit the bullet a few years ago and
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  Speaker 2: kind of took that leap of faith. And yea, so
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  Speaker 2: far it's it's going well for it, and I'm excited
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  Speaker 2: to see how that continues to grow.
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  Speaker 1: For yeah, and you got to take that leap of
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  Speaker 1: faith if you have an idea and in your want
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  Speaker 1: and whether it's going full board applying over to the
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  Speaker 1: shops at Grand and you got to pull the trigger
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  Speaker 1: center later.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, at some point, you know you really it's it's
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  Speaker 2: it really is a leap of faith. But you know
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  Speaker 2: the whole part of that is that hopefully we're here
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  Speaker 2: to help you along the way. We've got the Small
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  Speaker 2: Business Developments Center out of Sock, which is a tremendous
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  Speaker 2: asset for our community, and being able to provide those
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  Speaker 2: resources to help you grow. You've got a whole team.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, whether it's strolling Main Street, the Sock Valley Chamber,
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  Speaker 2: discovered Dixon, you've got a team in this community of
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  Speaker 2: support to help you grow your business to be successful.
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  Speaker 2: And we're really blessed in this area to have those resources.
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  Speaker 1: We really are. And it's it's not just being blessed,
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  Speaker 1: it's it's the hard work that y'all are doing down there.
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  Speaker 1: So that's appreciated. And one thing I appreciate the next
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  Speaker 1: event because I always love these. You always see great
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  Speaker 1: turnouts for it. Even when I miss knowing that it's coming,
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  Speaker 1: I know when I se see the streets, it was
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: with them the car show.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so now we'll get to the fun stuff. Sunday,
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  Speaker 2: May third is our car show. Here it comes again.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I can't believe we've been doing this for
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  Speaker 2: this song. We started the car show in twenty fourteen.
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  Speaker 2: It was one of the first new events that we
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  Speaker 2: brought to Sterling. When I started in this position, and
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  Speaker 2: I was, you know, skeptical at first. Okay, we'll try
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  Speaker 2: a car show. And it's kind of rolled my eyes,
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  Speaker 2: you know, that first year where I think we had
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  Speaker 2: seventy three cars show up, which is still really well,
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  Speaker 2: still really really good from what we understand for our
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: first time show. And it has just continued to balloon.
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  Speaker 2: We've had an average the last couple of years one
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  Speaker 2: hundred and eighty or so. We're if the weather's good,
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: we're on tapped. Probably hopefully we should come close, if
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: not break two hundred this year.
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  Speaker 1: I would not be surprised. People love this event and
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  Speaker 1: you get more and more of these car enthusiasts that
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: either they didn't know about it before and they learn
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: about it, or maybe their ride just wasn't ready yet,
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  Speaker 1: you know what I mean, they needed another.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean it just continues to grow, and
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  Speaker 2: I mean people, it's one of the first show, official
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  Speaker 2: outdoor shows of the season for this region. But we
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  Speaker 2: have cars as far as like Iowa City Corarel Ofville,
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  Speaker 2: Iowa area, all the way into the Chicago suburbs. I
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  Speaker 2: think we've got one car from Peoria already registered, so
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  Speaker 2: they're coming from a good one and a half two
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  Speaker 2: hour radius, if not further for our show. And now
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  Speaker 2: on top of that, just you know, a ton of
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  Speaker 2: local regional areas from you know, just around the area.
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  Speaker 2: But it's always a good turnout. It's Sunday, May third.
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  Speaker 2: It's down at the Sterling Marketplace, which is where we
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  Speaker 2: also have the Farmers Market starts. Registration starts at eight am,
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  Speaker 2: so eight to noon is registration, so you if you
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  Speaker 2: want your vehicle judged in the show and to display it,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: coming any time between eight and now. Obviously the earlier
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  Speaker 2: you get that, the better parking you're going to get
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  Speaker 2: because the parking lot fills up quickly. It's fifteen dollars
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  Speaker 2: at the door to register, it's twelve dollars in advance.
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  Speaker 2: You can register right now if you go to our
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  Speaker 2: website online, go to the Stirling Main Street dot or
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  Speaker 2: backslash car show. All the registration forms are there. You
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: can either register or online or you got there's a
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  Speaker 2: formucon prints nail mailing if you want to get registered
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  Speaker 2: before then. We usually get a couple dozen of early registrants.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of them are last minute early registerrans. They're
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: waiting until that forecast comes out they know what the
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: weather's going to be for the day. But the majority
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  Speaker 2: do register. Day of the show itself goes till about
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: three o'clock. What noon, we cut off registration. The judges
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  Speaker 2: go out and start doing their their thing because it
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  Speaker 2: is a judge show. There is there are no classes. Also,
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  Speaker 2: any kind of vehicle is welcome. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, if
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  Speaker 2: it's got four you know, if I shouldn't say, if
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: it's got four wheels. If it's got wheels, bring it,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: you know. Any any type of vehicles welcome. They're all
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  Speaker 2: judge and I love that.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's what makes this event even better is
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  Speaker 1: it's not just pigeonholed the one one time. Yeah, and
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: so you get to see all these really cool vehicles,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: which really opens it up because you don't have to
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: just be like a classic car you know, hot rod
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: enthusiasts to enjoy this show.
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  Speaker 2: No, we've had some really cool rat rods over the years,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: had some really cool motorcycles over the years. You know,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: anything from really old classic you know, my l A
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: type vehicles to brand new hot straight off the line
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  Speaker 2: top corvettes and things like that. You know. So we've
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: got everything from you know that are really really old
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: to really really new and everything in between.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Love it, love seeing what they have out there. We're
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: about out of time. Anything else you wanted to share
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: this morning.
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  Speaker 2: No, just a big thing. Spectators are free for the
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: car show. It goes toll about three in the afternoon.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: We do run a fifty to fifty with that you've
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: got to be present to win, so just to a nutshell,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: we do. We started about two o'clock. We start doing
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: the awards and all that stuff, and then we'll draw
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: the fifty fifty winner as soon as the awards are over.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: So just coming out and it's a beautiful day. We've
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: got food vendors, food and beverage vendor for all ages.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: It's a fun day to kind of kick off the
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: summer season.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for for any age. You know, you bring the kids,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that's my excuse, right, I'll drag the kids
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: because it's for the kids.
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  Speaker 2: It's fully yeah, I mean it really it's a it's
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  Speaker 2: a fun day to just watch the families. It does
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: bring a lot of families out. You know, bring your
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: dog as long as it's not a leash and well behaved.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: You know, pets are welcome too. But it's it's a
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: it really is a fun day. So we've got a
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: lot of cool things coming up here and strolling. Now
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: the weather's getting nice.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: And they they will continue, but folks, you're going to
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: have to wait for the next time that Chana comes
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and visit. Channa. Thank you so much.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Thank you