Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Janna Groharing talks about Sterling Main Street's newest event

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Talk Line: Janna Groharing talks about Sterling Main Street's newest event · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley. You joined the Waking crew here
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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, March
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Speaker 1: eleventh morning, and you know what that means. It's time
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Speaker 1: for talk line and I'm joining the booth for the
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Speaker 1: first time, even though it's not the first time we've
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Speaker 1: worked together. Johnna grow hearing from the Sterling Main Street. Johanna,
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Speaker 1: how are you?
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Speaker 2: Good morning?
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Speaker 1: I am well, and I've got the right Johna on
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Speaker 1: air only because you're nice.
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Speaker 2: Jenna, Janna, Johanna.
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Speaker 1: Okay, see there we go.
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Speaker 2: As my mother said, it's fanatically correct. She used always
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Speaker 2: tell me that.
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Speaker 1: Today is one of those days where it's like you
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Speaker 1: should have stayed in bed. Okay. Not only did I
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Speaker 1: get your name wrong on social media? Okay? And the
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Speaker 1: pronunciation I get in today, I pronounce today's weather forecast,
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Speaker 1: start reading yesterday's like head in the shuffle of papers.
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Speaker 2: It's the weather's got everybody thrown off. We were spoiled
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Speaker 2: by the warm times over the weekend, and now we
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Speaker 2: wake up to this.
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Speaker 1: Boss Man, Sam Ramiers, do I qualify for the rest
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Speaker 1: of the day? Paid off for temporary insanity. I think
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Speaker 1: we all want to know, well before I lose it
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Speaker 1: any further, you have some information that I've been dying
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Speaker 1: for you to share with us since I first got
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Speaker 1: a little peak at what we're going to have a
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Speaker 1: street fest Sterlings first, right.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, I'll talk more a little a little
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Speaker 2: bit more about all the events we got coming up
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Speaker 2: this year, but one of the big things we're doing
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Speaker 2: is a new event this year and Sterling Street Fest.
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Speaker 2: We've actually partnered with the City of Sterling on this
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Speaker 2: over the years, and if you follow social media, you've
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Speaker 2: heard a lot of people talking about, Hey, bring back
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Speaker 2: Newman Fest, bring back the block party, bring back some
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Speaker 2: type of event along those lines, and there's been lots
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Speaker 2: of little groups talking about what that might look like,
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Speaker 2: and nothing has ever really come to fruition. So I
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Speaker 2: got to talk and Terry sayed off, our city clerk
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Speaker 2: sits on my promotions committee, and we kind of were
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Speaker 2: talking about this block party idea in that group. But
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Speaker 2: she's like, well, hey, there's a couple people from the city.
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Speaker 2: They've been talking about doing something like this too. Let's
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Speaker 2: just join forces and make it happen. So we're bringing
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Speaker 2: Sterling Street Fest to downtown Stirling on July twenty fifth.
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Speaker 1: That is so exciting.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, the event is from two to eight in the afternoon.
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Speaker 2: We're kind of starting to start small, figuring out we'll girl,
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Speaker 2: let's see what works this year and if we need
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Speaker 2: to expand hours things like that, but it's gonna be
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Speaker 2: it's one hundred percent free, no charge for anything. We've
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Speaker 2: got arts and crafts vendors, applications are open for that.
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Speaker 2: We're coming up with a bunch of kids activities to
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Speaker 2: entertain families and you know, face painting and obstacle courses
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Speaker 2: and all sorts of things like that. And then we've
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Speaker 2: got a big old stage coming in. Three live band
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Speaker 2: scheduled throughout the day and we've got all the bands
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Speaker 2: booked and I was hoping to announce so it's today, yes,
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Speaker 2: So yes, we've got We're starting off the day with
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Speaker 2: our local favorite, The Solution. They've been playing around town
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Speaker 2: for the last couple of years and they're really popular,
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Speaker 2: so they'll be opening the day at two o'clock for us,
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Speaker 2: and then we're going to a more regional focus for
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Speaker 2: our other two bands. So we've got Loafst Hills coming
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Speaker 2: in from four at fourth they'll be taking the stage.
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Speaker 2: They're a what do you want to call him? Here?
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Speaker 2: The outlaw country with modern pop and hip hop influences
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Speaker 2: is how they describe themselves. So I'm kind of looking
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Speaker 2: forward to that. That's one of the things we were
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Speaker 2: really focusing on is we didn't just want all one
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Speaker 2: genre of music, because we want something for everybody. So
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Speaker 2: one of the little you know, the solution, you know,
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Speaker 2: good old fashioned, you know, modern rock, I don't know you.
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Speaker 2: I don't even know how to describe music anymore. It
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Speaker 2: changes so much, but low sales, great local tie. Alex
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Speaker 2: Fishback Fishback family been around the Sterling Rock Falls, Morrison
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Speaker 2: area for a long time. I remember back in the
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Speaker 2: day when he was on American Idol way back when,
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Speaker 2: which is a big deal. So looking forward to having
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Speaker 2: his new band back then. And they're really bad. They've
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Speaker 2: only been out for like a year or two years,
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Speaker 2: and they they're getting some really good traction. They opened
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Speaker 2: for I remember seeing this on social media. They had
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Speaker 2: opened for Tim McGraw when he was at the Field
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Speaker 2: of Dreams last fall. Really yeah, they were one to
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Speaker 2: open the act. So I'm excited to have them play
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Speaker 2: here in Stirling.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and I love the fact that I
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Speaker 1: completely agree with you about having more than one genre.
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Speaker 1: I'm a huge live, live music fan, so is my wife.
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Speaker 1: It's one of the few things we'll go splurge some
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Speaker 1: money on is going to watch concerts. And one of
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Speaker 1: the big things that I like about festivals is you'll
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Speaker 1: have your your mainliners. But I always tell people go
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Speaker 1: and check out the smaller stages for some of these bands,
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Speaker 1: especially when you can get it local for home exactly. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: because you never know there's talent out there. It just
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Speaker 1: hasn't been as widespread recognized. But it does not mean
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Speaker 1: they're not on par with some of the bands you
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Speaker 1: already know right exactly.
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Speaker 2: And that's a great place to see those bands, like
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Speaker 2: you know, two or three years down the road they're
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Speaker 2: on the headlining stage. Yeah, you can say, hey, I
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Speaker 2: saw them.
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Speaker 1: When great great way to get an autograph early on.
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Speaker 1: Get to one for eBay. You never know when one
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Speaker 1: of them are going to cause you to retire earth exactly. Yep.
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Speaker 2: And then the third band we got closing out the
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Speaker 2: night they'll take the stage of six is called the
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Speaker 2: Breakfast Club. We found them out of the The name
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Speaker 2: kind of says it all what they're doing. Yeah, I
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Speaker 2: mean they're eighties in fluid. They're like a tribute band
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Speaker 2: kind of thing, but eighties tribute band doing that breakfast
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Speaker 2: club kind of alternative era music.
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Speaker 1: So we're really look good.
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Speaker 2: We just figured that high energy. I mean, if you
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Speaker 2: look at our if you look at our planning committee,
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Speaker 2: that is kind of the demographic of our group, those
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Speaker 2: in planning. But we all thought that would be a
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Speaker 2: fun way to close out the night. They really high energy.
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Speaker 2: Who doesn't love that kind of music, even you know
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Speaker 2: the younger set nowadays, I'll know those John Hughes films.
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Speaker 1: So yeah, and if you don't, you're missing out. Go
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Speaker 1: spend the next weekend catching up exactly. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: So we're really looking forward to this and bringing some
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Speaker 2: live music back down to Stirling. We are actually literally
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Speaker 2: closing off the road in downtown Stirling. We're closing Third Street.
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Speaker 2: It's gonna literally be right out the front door of
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Speaker 2: my office. We're gonna be using the light Street alley
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Speaker 2: and really just kind of focusing on Hey, you know,
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Speaker 2: you can go get lunch it, you can grab your
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Speaker 2: food and drink it as a la Kalito or three
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Speaker 2: twelve or you know, and just bring it outside into
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Speaker 2: the festival area and uh, making it a street party downtown.
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Speaker 1: You know, these are the sort of things that are
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Speaker 1: had been missing from from I think from our generation
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Speaker 1: and our childhood or these these block party kind of
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Speaker 1: kind of events, you know what I mean. Uh, and
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Speaker 1: you guys never failed to put on a good time.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it to me, I mean it's free.
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Speaker 2: You don't like all the bands, don't stay you didn't
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Speaker 2: have to pay anything to get in the door. Just
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Speaker 2: come down, check it.
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Speaker 1: Out around, come check out the next one.
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Speaker 2: Walk down the block to Airplange, check out the shops
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Speaker 2: at grandam Plaza, you know, spend the day downtown, check
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Speaker 2: all everything that's down there. Come back and listen to
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Speaker 2: a little music. Just pop in and out as you
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Speaker 2: see fit throughout the day.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, get out and see people.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it's to me that was one of the
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Speaker 2: important aspects of a lot of the events we do.
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Speaker 2: And I can get into that with our car shows
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Speaker 2: and a cruise nights. It's just about community. Get out,
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Speaker 2: get out of your house and just meet your neighbors.
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Speaker 2: Our cruise Nights are a perfect example of that, I'll
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Speaker 2: go into some of our other events. Because our car
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Speaker 2: show is our first big one of the season. That's
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Speaker 2: come up a May third already, so less than two
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Speaker 2: months away. It's kind of scary. And then we've got
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Speaker 2: a Rally on the Rock, a series of cruise nights
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Speaker 2: that we do on the first fridays of June, July, August,
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Speaker 2: and September. We added a fourth one this year due
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Speaker 2: to popular demand. Again, we have live music at those.
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Speaker 2: You don't have to have a fience. You can bring,
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Speaker 2: you know, I always say, whatever kind of car you got,
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Speaker 2: you got a minivan, got a you know, you've got
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Speaker 2: a nice Mustang or Camero or whatever kind of hot
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Speaker 2: ride car you got, bring it down, show it off.
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Speaker 2: There's no fee, there's no judging. Just show off, Come
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Speaker 2: sit for the night. We've got food trucks, drink trucks,
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Speaker 2: live music, bring a lawn chair, hang out.
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Speaker 1: It's a little kid with the hot wheels and me
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Speaker 1: gets so excited for these things.
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Speaker 2: That was the thing that was so cool. One year
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Speaker 2: was the last year or two years, I don't remember
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Speaker 2: if it was the car show or the cruise. One
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Speaker 2: of the cruise nights a couple of guys had brought
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Speaker 2: some little RC remote control yeah cruisers, and they had
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Speaker 2: them run up, up and down inside the pavilion at
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Speaker 2: the marketplace there. It was so funny watching that and
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Speaker 2: they were just having a ball. But you know, we
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Speaker 2: shut down the parking lot. Just come hang out. It's free,
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Speaker 2: free music, free, you know, food trucks, eat downtown, wander around,
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Speaker 2: get to know your neighbors, run into somebody you haven't
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Speaker 2: seen in three or four years and say hi. It
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Speaker 2: just it's a good way to just bring people out
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Speaker 2: and meet new people.
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Speaker 1: It's what I love about the warm weather, getting getting
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Speaker 1: there and these type of things becoming more of a thing. Yeah, thankfully,
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Speaker 1: And I think it's what we really need. We need
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Speaker 1: more reasons to just be out there with each other exactly.
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Speaker 2: Yep. So I'm very excited about that.
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Speaker 1: And speaking of which, you guys have so much planned.
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Speaker 1: What else did you want to shout out to.
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Speaker 2: The main thing I want to bring to you guys
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Speaker 2: today is the Twin City Farmers Market that also falls
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Speaker 2: under the umbrella of Sterling Main Street in our organization,
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Speaker 2: and it's open year round. A lot of people forget
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Speaker 2: that we've been around for twenty years now. But the
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Speaker 2: Twin City far Farmers Market is open year round in
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Speaker 2: the indoor building, the old historic Twinsity Produce Building, eight
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Speaker 2: am till noon every Saturday. It's open year round. We've
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Speaker 2: got twenty six vendors inside. You can get beef, eggs, chicken, cheese,
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Speaker 2: hydroponic lattices. We've got prepared foods, Mexican food, hot sauce, salsas,
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Speaker 2: bagels by toast and plate, all sorts of great bakery
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Speaker 2: items there. It's amazing. There's a fair amount of arts
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Speaker 2: and crafts, some you know, furniture hand and huge furniture,
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Speaker 2: I mean, all sorts of really cool stuff we've gotten there.
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Speaker 2: And then the outdoor market and the Startling marketplace adjacent
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Speaker 2: to us that we opened in twenty twenty that will open.
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Speaker 2: April twenty fifth is our first day in the outdoor market.
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Speaker 2: We do our Earth Day Bash, so we've got a
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Speaker 2: petting zoo coming and some other fun kids activities to
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Speaker 2: mark the opening of that. The outdoor pavilion, so starting
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Speaker 2: at the end of April, we'll have be indoors and
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Speaker 2: outdoors for the summer season.
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Speaker 1: I've really seen that outdoor market grow. Yeah, and if
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Speaker 1: you've never been to the indoor market, maybe you weren't
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Speaker 1: aware of it. Don't be imparissed. I actually didn't know
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Speaker 1: until a couple of years ago myself, and then when
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Speaker 1: I checked that out, I was like, oh my god, like,
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Speaker 1: you guys have been hiding this and here the whole time.
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Speaker 1: There's so many different vendors in there, But you guys
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Speaker 1: have really been The outdoor market has been really filling out.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that really that was a blessing when it came
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Speaker 2: to us. We were able to open it with COVID
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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty was the first season for that thing,
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Speaker 2: and it has really been a tremendous asset for the
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Speaker 2: growth of the market. We had over I think I
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Speaker 2: want to say, like eighty some vendors through there over
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Speaker 2: the course of the year. So there's usually twenty to
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Speaker 2: thirty vendors on any given Saturday out so outside in
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Speaker 2: addition to the indoor vendors. But over the course of
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Speaker 2: a six month season of that outdoor market, we probably
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Speaker 2: have eighty or so vendors through there. Because you know,
10:48
Speaker 2: the blueberry guy is just there for a few weeks
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Speaker 2: with his blueberries, and but this artist or this crafter
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Speaker 2: is there for the entire season. We get some that
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Speaker 2: just pop in and pop out first various weeks depending
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Speaker 2: on their product and stuff like that. But it really
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Speaker 2: has been great growth for our community and the farmer's
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Speaker 2: market and everything that we're able to do there. One
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Speaker 2: of the other things that's helped the market grow that's
11:11
Speaker 2: been really important the last few years is that we
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Speaker 2: now take snap okay, so any of our any of
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Speaker 2: our vendors with eligible food products are well are able
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Speaker 2: to take your link card. We have tokens if you
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Speaker 2: go to the main Street Farmer's Market, both inside the
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Speaker 2: market by the coffee station because you know you've got
11:31
Speaker 2: coffee for you too, you can swipe your link card
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Speaker 2: and then we partner with it's called link up Illinois.
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Speaker 2: It's a matching grant, So if you swipe your Snap
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Speaker 2: for ten dollars, we're also going to give you ten
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Speaker 2: dollars in vouchers from this matching grant we have, so
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Speaker 2: you can use that ten dollars on your Snap for
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Speaker 2: your eggs and cheese or whatever the case may be,
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Speaker 2: and then you've got another ten dollars in basically free
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Speaker 2: money through this grant that we have they can use
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Speaker 2: on fruits and vegetables some and they don't expire, so
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Speaker 2: if you don't spend them on that given week, you
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Speaker 2: can bring them back next time.
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Speaker 1: If you didn't need if you didn't have enough reasons
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Speaker 1: to go see the market. That's that's really cool. Plus
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Speaker 1: you're gonna have what Sterling's new park behind the market opening.
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Speaker 2: We'll be opening hopefully, we're hoping for May and the May,
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Speaker 2: but yeah, it's a great way to just kind of
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Speaker 2: get a glimpse of what's going on over there and
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Speaker 2: watch the action happen. So it'll it'll be a great
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Speaker 2: tie in when it all gets going.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, just so much happening in downtown Sterling, and and
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Speaker 1: your organization's really going to be making so much of
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Speaker 1: a use out of everything. Oh yeah, that's already been happening,
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Speaker 1: just like you always did. We still got a couple
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Speaker 1: of minutes, did you want.
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Speaker 2: To Well, I'll mention our other The other project that
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Speaker 2: falls under Sterling Main Street is the shops at Grandom Plaza.
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Speaker 2: We've got a retail incubator project that we opened a
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Speaker 2: few years back, and it's six little I would call
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Speaker 2: micro businesses. They're small their retail and they're open every
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Speaker 2: Wednesday night and every Saturday noontime for several hours a day.
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Speaker 2: There's actually six small businesses in there. They're open some
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Speaker 2: other hours too. We've got currently Ga Amber and Smoke,
13:10
Speaker 2: Lee Allen Design, Pirate, Moom, Soap Works, College Street Creations.
13:16
Speaker 2: I'm sitting here the Midwest Brocantile and Paper and Hide,
13:20
Speaker 2: sitting here going around the circle of shops in my
13:23
Speaker 2: head if I don't want to forget anybody, but like
13:27
Speaker 2: today's Wednesday, right, so they're open. They're open from five
13:29
Speaker 2: to seven tonight, So if you're looking for something to
13:31
Speaker 2: do after work, stop by and pop in and shop
13:35
Speaker 2: a little bit and check out these budding entrepreneurs. It's
13:38
Speaker 2: a good way for them to kind of test a
13:40
Speaker 2: brick and mortar. A lot of them have been doing
13:42
Speaker 2: vendor shows and things like that over the years. They're
13:44
Speaker 2: thinking about going into brick and mortar. This gives them
13:46
Speaker 2: a low cost way to get their foot in the
13:49
Speaker 2: door to see if it's going to be viable before
13:52
Speaker 2: they grow and get in over their heads. So we've
13:54
Speaker 2: got a great group of tendants in there right now,
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Speaker 2: so you can check out the shops at Grando Plaza,
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Speaker 2: Surley Main Street, the Twin City Farmers Market. We're all
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Speaker 2: on Facebook and Instagram and on our website Sterling mainStreet
14:06
Speaker 2: dot org a whole host of information there on everything
14:10
Speaker 2: going on downtown Sterling.
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Speaker 1: Well, I mean, this is it. It's going to be exciting. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: I just I can't wait. I couldn't wait for the weather,
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Speaker 1: but now we've all got even more reasons to get
14:21
Speaker 1: excited about all of this, and it's just going to
14:25
Speaker 1: continue throughout the year. But we're going to concentrate on
14:27
Speaker 1: this nice, warmaf we've got. We've got plenty to do
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Speaker 1: and unfortunately we're out of time. But Johnnay, thank you
14:32
Speaker 1: so much for having us in.
14:34
Speaker 2: It's good to be back.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and we will have more regular updates now that
14:39
Speaker 1: you've been back on the show. She's going to be
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Speaker 1: a regular guest and you'll let us know what's going
14:43
Speaker 1: down with Sterling Main Street.
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Speaker 2: We sure will