Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk-Line: Matthew Lenox, Visit Northwest Illinois Executive Director

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Talk-Line: Matthew Lenox, Visit Northwest Illinois Executive Director · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: Order past the hour. This is Tuesday, It's July fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: The year is twenty twenty five. At it's time for
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  Speaker 1: another informational edition of tuck Line here at AM fourteen
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  Speaker 1: sixteen FM ninety five to one wis In. Good morning.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Steve Marco. It is time for a look at
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  Speaker 1: news and information from Visit Northwest Illinois travel and Tourism
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  Speaker 1: information today with our good friend, the executive director who
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  Speaker 1: joins us live and the studios this morning on a
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  Speaker 1: very busy day that he is conducting across our Stock
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  Speaker 1: Valley area, so we only get to hold on to
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  Speaker 1: him for about ten to fifteen minutes this morning, but
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  Speaker 1: we're going to try to get as much out as
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  Speaker 1: we can the low down with Visit Northwest Illinois. Our
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  Speaker 1: good friend Matthew Lennox is live with us this morning
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  Speaker 1: here at wis In.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, sir, Good morning, Steve. How are you?
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  Speaker 1: I am fine. A busy day for Matthew today, so
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  Speaker 1: we want to again get the news and information in
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  Speaker 1: before the bottom of the hour because Matthew has to
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  Speaker 1: hustle off to some duties that he needs to perform
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  Speaker 1: across our Stock Valley area. So Matthew. We're going to
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  Speaker 1: get right to it today and talk about some office
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  Speaker 1: activity going on. First of all, you got some changes
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  Speaker 1: going on in your office.
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  Speaker 2: We do, yes.
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  Speaker 3: One of the big things that we've done for this
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  Speaker 3: new fiscal year. Our fiscal year starts in July. First,
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  Speaker 3: we're on the state fiscal here and we've made the
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  Speaker 3: decision to relocate our office. We are no longer in Polo.
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  Speaker 3: We are actually here in Dixon at the Riverwrook River
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  Speaker 3: Works coworking Location, Suite two oh four. If you want
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  Speaker 3: to stop by and you know, give me some fan mail.
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  Speaker 2: Steve, I know how much you love doing that.
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  Speaker 1: This is great though you know you're closer, you're closer
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  Speaker 1: to home, but you know, the Polo area, you know
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  Speaker 1: it was great.
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  Speaker 2: You know it was.
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  Speaker 3: I have to I have to be honest, it was.
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  Speaker 3: It was incredible. In the Polo Historical Society, I have
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  Speaker 3: to give them a special shout out because it was
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  Speaker 3: our home base for over twenty years and they were phenomenal,
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  Speaker 3: amazing landlords if we can call them that, but they're
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  Speaker 3: just amazing partners with us, and I want to just
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  Speaker 3: give them a special shout out. The Polo Historical Society
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  Speaker 3: and the historic Burns House that we were in. They
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  Speaker 3: are looking to rerunt that. So if anybody's looking to
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  Speaker 3: be in that historic building on the corner of Polo
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  Speaker 3: Kitty corner from the Casey's Gas station, it's a great
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  Speaker 3: location and it's a beautiful building, and I think anybody
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  Speaker 3: that would be there would be very, very happy in
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  Speaker 3: that location. But for us, it was just a little
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  Speaker 3: bit too big our operations because we cover four different counties,
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  Speaker 3: we travel a lot, and just having a small or
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  Speaker 3: more modular office just made more sense for us.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, okay, River Works in Dixon is the new
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  Speaker 1: location now for Visit Northwest Illinois. And they're located in
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  Speaker 1: an office in that River Works building. Then, and where's
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  Speaker 1: that located again, Matthews.
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  Speaker 3: So it's located right over by the YMCA and the
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  Speaker 3: lly Bank South Branch.
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  Speaker 1: Very good North branch, Yeah, very good in that area
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  Speaker 1: of the Galina and Evertt very good in that hot
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  Speaker 1: corner area there. That's where again Matthew's office is located
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  Speaker 1: now for Visit Northwest Illinois. So move there, and also
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  Speaker 1: a move with your connecttions as well. Right, you have
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  Speaker 1: a new phone numbers.
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  Speaker 2: We do yes, we have a new local number.
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  Speaker 3: Trying to you know, say save some money. So we
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  Speaker 3: switched our phone provider and our new local phone number
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  Speaker 3: is again an eight one five number, but it's eight
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  Speaker 3: one five two one zero three two.
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  Speaker 1: One zero three two one. And we got that pretty
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  Speaker 1: easy number. Okay, eight one five two to one zero
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  Speaker 1: three two one. That is your new connection with Visit
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  Speaker 1: Northwest Illinois. So if you want to querry or have
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  Speaker 1: questions that you want to again call Visit Northwest Illinois
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  Speaker 1: with use that number eight one five to zero one
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  Speaker 1: zero three two one. So some new again accomplishments with
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  Speaker 1: physical works with Visit Northwest. It's exciting, it is.
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  Speaker 3: My arms and legs are a little source of all
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  Speaker 3: of the movie. Ye know, we have you know, about
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  Speaker 3: forty years worth of paper documents that all had to
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  Speaker 3: be moved and was not super super fun. But it's
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  Speaker 3: all almost done now. And again I'm just very thankful
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  Speaker 3: for my board, the community support within this move and
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  Speaker 3: just all the understanding of why we're doing it.
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  Speaker 2: So it's been great, all right, very good.
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  Speaker 1: So again that move accomplished during the twenty twenty five
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  Speaker 1: and so new Dig's new phone number four Visit Northwest
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  Speaker 1: Illinois before we get to the event list, and Matthew
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  Speaker 1: has a couple of major events that he wants to
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  Speaker 1: talk about. Just a little bit about the upcoming annual dinner.
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  Speaker 1: We just briefly wanted to talk about this because the
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  Speaker 1: next time that we chat will be in the month
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  Speaker 1: of August, July, August, well September, actually August September. We
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  Speaker 1: will be chatting with Matthew as our bi monthly look
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  Speaker 1: at information for Visit Northwest Illinois continues, but just briefly,
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  Speaker 1: because that takes place during.
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  Speaker 3: That month, right it does. It takes place in September.
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  Speaker 3: So September twenty fifth will be our annual meeting this year,
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  Speaker 3: and I'm so excited that we're able to host it
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  Speaker 3: in rock Falls this year, and not only will we
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  Speaker 3: be hosting a Rock Falls, but we will be hosting
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  Speaker 3: it at the McCormick Events Center in rock Falls.
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  Speaker 2: I'm just I'm so.
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  Speaker 3: Thrilled the work that Linda and her team in Rock
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  Speaker 3: Falls is doing. They're doing an incredible job of not
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  Speaker 3: just making Rock Falls a place that I think people
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  Speaker 3: are want to be able to call home or proud
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  Speaker 3: to call home, but also a place that people when
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  Speaker 3: they come and visit, they're like this, this.
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  Speaker 2: Has this is cute, this is fun.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, from the riverfront development that they've been
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  Speaker 3: doing to you know, working on beautification and street skate
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  Speaker 3: projects and kayak rentals and the outdoor recreation. You know,
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  Speaker 3: they are just doing everything right. And I just I
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  Speaker 3: feel like I give them a shout out every time
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  Speaker 3: I'm on the radio, but I want to continue to
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  Speaker 3: do that because they really are doing great work, and
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  Speaker 3: I think we should all be incredibly proud of the
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  Speaker 3: work they're doing. And I'm grateful that we're able to
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  Speaker 3: show that on September twenty fifth at the McCormick Events
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  Speaker 3: Center in Rock Falls.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and hopefully before that time we'll have Matthew on
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  Speaker 1: the air with us too, tell us a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more about the amenities going along with the annual dinner.
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  Speaker 1: But operations are being made for that dinner to take
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  Speaker 1: place once again on September the twenty fifth. Obviously, probably
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  Speaker 1: tickets will be going out to those that will be
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  Speaker 1: receiving them shortly then, and yeah, we.
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  Speaker 3: Should be sending out invitations by the first of the
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  Speaker 3: next month. Again, the event is a little bit different
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  Speaker 3: than what we've done in past years. We're keeping a
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  Speaker 3: format similar to what we did last year, which is
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  Speaker 3: about a two hour overall event with about an hour
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  Speaker 3: hour and a half of kind of social cocktail hour
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  Speaker 3: with the presentation, and then we encourage people to actually
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  Speaker 3: go out after the event and patronize the local restaurants
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  Speaker 3: and businesses.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely so again that will be in Rock Falls at
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  Speaker 1: the McCormick Center in Rock Falls, that beautiful facility there
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  Speaker 1: on September the twenty fifth. We'll have more from Matthew
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  Speaker 1: again on our next report on the annual Dinner through
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  Speaker 1: the Visit Northwest Illinois group right here on WIXM. With
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  Speaker 1: our latter portion of the talk line, we always like
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  Speaker 1: to again talk about some events and activities on the
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  Speaker 1: Visit Northwest Illinois agenda. And you talked about Rock Falls
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  Speaker 1: and they just had their river over this past weekend.
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  Speaker 1: I know that that took place in Rock Falls. They
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  Speaker 1: had their eats and beats. That is an event that
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  Speaker 1: has really grown and really caught on. So they had
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  Speaker 1: bands playing, they had boat races, they had all kinds
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  Speaker 1: of water activities in rock Falls this past weekend. So,
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  Speaker 1: like you talked about it.
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  Speaker 2: You're killing it. They're killing it. They really are doing
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  Speaker 2: great things.
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  Speaker 3: And you know we're going to talk about events, So
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  Speaker 3: why don't we just keep the train rolling or I
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  Speaker 3: guess you know, rock Falls boat rolling.
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  Speaker 1: We'll keep them ball very good and at the end.
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  Speaker 3: Of the month, July twenty sixth, this is an event
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  Speaker 3: that I am so excited for. I have been dreaming
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  Speaker 3: of this since I was just a tot or maybe
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  Speaker 3: a chicken tender myself, and that is George Fest in
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  Speaker 3: Rock Falls, a celebration of all things Chicken George. Obviously,
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  Speaker 3: listeners of this station are probably local, so they know
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  Speaker 3: Chicken George, you know everything, But really this item is
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  Speaker 3: almost a cultural touch point at this point. Chicken George
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  Speaker 3: with Jan Sauce. Every restaurant around you has their own
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  Speaker 3: version of it, but I think everybody in the area
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  Speaker 3: would consider Chicken George to be the original.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm really great.
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  Speaker 3: I'm just I'm so excited about this event, Steve, I
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  Speaker 3: really really am. There's gonna be a Chicken George eating contest.
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  Speaker 3: I kind of want to enter it, but I know
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  Speaker 3: that's a bad idea, Steve. If you do it with me,
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  Speaker 3: I'll do it and then they're also going to have
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  Speaker 3: live music downtown on West Second Street. They have the
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  Speaker 3: Royal Hounds and Jet Huffman from Nashville, Tennessee that will
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  Speaker 3: be playing. And I just again, I'm so excited for
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  Speaker 3: this event, Steve. I hope everybody comes down and shows
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  Speaker 3: their support because it's the first year that they're doing
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  Speaker 3: this event. They're trying it out, and we need to
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  Speaker 3: make sure that there's a second year so I can
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  Speaker 3: get some more chicken George.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, this is along the riverfront.
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  Speaker 2: This will be along the riverfront.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, it'll be right down there downtown Falls in the
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  Speaker 3: date of this right at RBNW Park on July twenty sixth.
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  Speaker 1: Very good. So again July twenty sixth in Rock Falls,
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  Speaker 1: it's called George Fest. It's their first annual. They've kind
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  Speaker 1: of unwrapped it forest. The Rock Falls Tourism Group is
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  Speaker 1: again organizing and presenting this event in Rock Falls on
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  Speaker 1: July the twenty sixth. So the events just keep coming
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  Speaker 1: out of Rock Falls. As Matthew mentioned again with that
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  Speaker 1: George Fest event, what other events though, you wanted to
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  Speaker 1: mentioned a couple of others.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, there's really kind of two more that I
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  Speaker 3: really want to make sure I hit on. One is the
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  Speaker 3: Bows Brothers Historical Farm. They are doing an old fashioned
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  Speaker 3: threshing me from July twenty fifth through the twenty seventh.
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  Speaker 3: It's eight to five at Friday through Sunday, and I'm
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  Speaker 3: gonna read off the location.
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  Speaker 2: People can google it. I'll read off the locations.
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  Speaker 3: Eight one to five spring Hill Road.
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  Speaker 2: And that's an eerie okay.
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  Speaker 3: And what caught me about this event is not only
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  Speaker 3: do they do, you know, tractor polls, but it's very historic.
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  Speaker 3: So harvesting wheat, baking bread from milled grain, plowing, rock crushing, sawmilling, blacksmithing,
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  Speaker 3: rug weaving, basket weaving. I mean, just cool, interesting and
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  Speaker 3: very unique, something that you're probably not going to see
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  Speaker 3: very often, especially anymore. So head on over to Bow's
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  Speaker 3: Brothers Historical Farm on July twenty fifth, or you know,
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  Speaker 3: through the twenty seventh, that whole weekend. They have a
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  Speaker 3: lot of cool stuff going on, and you can also
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  Speaker 3: find out more information on our website a visit Northwest
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  Speaker 3: Illinois dot com. These events are all listed absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: That's one thing that we really wanted to promote. It
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  Speaker 1: was the fact that you can catch all these events
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  Speaker 1: by going online again, there's a full listing of events
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  Speaker 1: and activities across our entire four county visit Northwest Illinois area.
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  Speaker 1: At that location that Matthew just mentioned, this is one
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  Speaker 1: of them again and Eerie again on spring Hill Road
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  Speaker 1: the end of July. Then for the first part of August,
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  Speaker 1: I think there's an event that you wanted to do, yes.
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  Speaker 3: Last one before before we say goodbye, Steve, and that's
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  Speaker 3: Venetia Knight here in Dixon on the Dixon Riverfront.
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  Speaker 2: And the reason that.
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  Speaker 3: I want to bring this up is because I think
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  Speaker 3: it's really unique something that they're doing this year. And
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  Speaker 3: typically Venezia Knight always ends with fireworks, a fireworks production,
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  Speaker 3: but this year, Discovered Dixon is doing the area's first
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  Speaker 3: drone light show, right so that will be on August ninth,
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  Speaker 3: starts at five get down there, a lot of same
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  Speaker 3: stuff that you're familiar with, great family friendly event, but
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  Speaker 3: a drone light show at the end of the night.
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  Speaker 3: And I know that's something from my days when I
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  Speaker 3: worked at Discover Dixon that people were asking about, especially
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  Speaker 3: for noise and people that have PTSD type issues. So
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  Speaker 3: I think it's a really great thing that they're doing
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  Speaker 3: and something that they're bringing in to the area that's
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  Speaker 3: new and I really hope people get out and support
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  Speaker 3: it absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: That's through Dixon Chamber, Dixon Main Street, and Discovered Dixon.
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  Speaker 1: As Matthew mentioned, that is Venetian Knight on August the ninth. Again,
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  Speaker 1: it will be along the riverfront here locally in Dixon
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  Speaker 1: starting at five o'clock. So a couple of major events
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  Speaker 1: George Fest again, the Erie event in July and then
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  Speaker 1: the Venetian Night event in August. We wanted to spotlight
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  Speaker 1: those events as we tail out of our talk line
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  Speaker 1: with Matthew Lennox today here at w Bison. Once again,
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  Speaker 1: the new phone number for Visit Northwest Illinois is eight
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  Speaker 1: one to five two zero one zero three two one
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  Speaker 1: again call that number if you have questions for Visit
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  Speaker 1: Northwest Illinois. Always hop aboard their website at visit Northwest
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  Speaker 1: Illinois dot com. It's busy again. They've got their their
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  Speaker 1: guide up or their travel guide up online. You can
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  Speaker 1: catch that all year long. But again for any kind
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  Speaker 1: of events and activities go there because they have a
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  Speaker 1: full listing of events through Visit Northwest Illinois dot com.
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  Speaker 1: We'll let you go. This is this is one of
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  Speaker 1: the very few times that we let Matthew Murry go shortly.
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  Speaker 1: But again, Matthew has business to take care of, so
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  Speaker 1: we're going to let him do that today here at WIX.
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  Speaker 1: When I was a pleasure chatting with you, Steve.
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  Speaker 3: I greatly appreciate spending my mornings with you. It's kind
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  Speaker 3: of a tradition I always I grew up waking up
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  Speaker 3: in the morning to the radio with your voice waking
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  Speaker 3: me up, and so now as an adult, it's really
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  Speaker 3: nice to be able to still spend my mornings with you.
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  Speaker 1: Well, now you're closer to home here, right Dixon. So
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  Speaker 1: again with the new officers, Matthew Lennox, thanks for joining
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  Speaker 1: us today. That's our talk line for today here at
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: wu ACCENT. Let's go to press next with Tim Lee
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  Speaker 1: at eight thirty