Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Melinda Jones, Rock Falls Tourism Director

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Melinda Jones, Rock Falls Tourism Director · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Air with us this morning here at w i X
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  Speaker 1: and that's the topic of our talk line today as
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  Speaker 1: we invite in the director of Rock Falls Tourism, she
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: has lied with us this morning to tell us more
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  Speaker 1: about a very important event connected with that famous drummer,
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  Speaker 1: Melinda Jones joins us this morning here at w AX
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  Speaker 1: and Melinda, good.
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  Speaker 2: Morning, Well, good morning everyone, Nice.
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  Speaker 1: To have you with us. Thanks for joining us. Please,
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  Speaker 1: I want you to introduce our special guest that you
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  Speaker 1: brought with.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, well we have John Watts and he is the
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  Speaker 2: coordinator for the toucha truck that's coming up in Rock Falls.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, how are you John? Good to see John
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  Speaker 1: was with us earlier in the year. Earlier in the
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  Speaker 1: month he was over here for kind of a special
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  Speaker 1: presentation that we received. Right.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, we had the opportunity to go out and
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  Speaker 3: think all of our sponsors and we want to appreciate
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  Speaker 3: you guys for being one of our sponsors for event.
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  Speaker 3: We couldn't do it without all of you guys. And yeah,
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  Speaker 3: just stop and give your guys a little appreciation a word.
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  Speaker 1: And here it comes again, and John's gonna have information
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  Speaker 1: about that. We're gonna we're gonna have John on to
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  Speaker 1: tell us about that activity coming up. We've got lots
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  Speaker 1: going on in this month of June. Dur occuragy of
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  Speaker 1: Rock Falls to busy month of June, and we kick
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  Speaker 1: it off with a little fanfare from a legendary drummer
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  Speaker 1: who is a native of our northern Illinois area exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Louis Belsay was born right here in rock Fall, that's.
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  Speaker 1: Right, and here it comes this weekend. It's the fourth
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  Speaker 1: annual Belson Music Fest being organized by Rock Falls Tourism. Alinda,
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  Speaker 1: you been at this, you know, for the past three years.
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  Speaker 1: This is year number four for the music fest, and
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  Speaker 1: seems like it gets bigger and better every year it does.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's really exciting to bring in different bands
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  Speaker 2: and the drum clinic and you know, just pay tribute
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  Speaker 2: to the legacy of Louis Belson has done.
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  Speaker 1: What a marvelous musician. I mean, that's just a snippet.
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  Speaker 1: I was lucky to find that snippet of him playing
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  Speaker 1: and he was just you know, his drum you know, ensemble.
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  Speaker 2: Was huge too, double bass drops, oh my gosh, you know,
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  Speaker 2: just looky to have been played a huge drum ensemble.
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  Speaker 1: Of course he had his orchestra behind him as well,
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  Speaker 1: and he played for us this morning here at Wacson.
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  Speaker 1: That's what it's all about. Louis Bell being honored once
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  Speaker 1: again during the music fest this weekend in Rock Falls.
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  Speaker 1: It's the Belson Music Fest. It's the fourth annual. Well,
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  Speaker 1: let's let's talk about the event itself.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So we're going to start off that day at
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  Speaker 2: the McCormick event Center. We'll have a drum clinic by
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  Speaker 2: Greg Potter. He is the current drummer for the Buddy
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  Speaker 2: Rich Big Band Machine. Greg Patter's out of Chicago, but
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  Speaker 2: you can come to the McCormick event Center between eleven
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  Speaker 2: thirty and twelve thirty for that drum clinic. You'll get
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  Speaker 2: trip tips on drumming. He's a very comical person. So
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  Speaker 2: it's going to be a really exciting day. We've got
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  Speaker 2: giveaways for that. We've got some raffle tickets. We've got
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  Speaker 2: Louis Belson's drumsticks or autograph that we were reselling. There's
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  Speaker 2: a limited supply, so if you're a drummer, you're gonna
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  Speaker 2: want these drumsticks. And I heard from a famous drummer,
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  Speaker 2: Josh Stuffy, that these are excellent sticks. No, yeah, that'll
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  Speaker 2: be there. Yeah, So that's what we do again. That's
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  Speaker 2: Greg Potter eleven thirty at the McCormick event. Sir, I've
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  Speaker 2: heard drum clinic.
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  Speaker 1: Saturday Jey Saturday June the seventh. This is all Saturday
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  Speaker 1: June the seventh. It's one day blowout really in Rock Falls.
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  Speaker 1: And again that takes place again at eleven thirty, and
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  Speaker 1: that will be at the McCormick Center, not at the riverfront.
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  Speaker 1: This is at the so we want to make sure
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  Speaker 1: we direct people over to that area. Of course it's
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  Speaker 1: all connected in that vicinity, but it's nice to have
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  Speaker 1: that center. And that's what that's what we'll be hosted
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  Speaker 1: at eleven thirty. Then we move it down.
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  Speaker 2: Then we move it over to the rbn W Park. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: and that is where we'll start off our music. At
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  Speaker 2: one o'clock we have the Yorkville Big Band, Three o'clock
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  Speaker 2: we have Abby Grouse Band, five o'clock we have Josh
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  Speaker 2: Stuffy and the black Hawk Broadcasters. And at seven o'clock
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  Speaker 2: we have a Rare Element. So we got four great bands,
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  Speaker 2: all different varieties of music. We've got funk, we've got
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  Speaker 2: r and RMB, we have soul, we have JS, so
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  Speaker 2: all types of music. Big band of course, the Yorkville
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  Speaker 2: Big Band. So you're going to find all types of
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  Speaker 2: different music over there. There'll be a merchandise tent there
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  Speaker 2: that you can get pick up T shirts, whatever, commemorative
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  Speaker 2: t shirts, Louis Belson CDs there, there's a Louis Belson
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  Speaker 2: poetic book there, so all kinds of stuff that you
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  Speaker 2: can pick up there and everything. The whole event is free.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, This is a free event. Again. It takes place
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  Speaker 1: at the riverfront location in Rock Falls. The bandshell will
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  Speaker 1: be busy, uh and I gotta believe drums will be
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  Speaker 1: featured with most of these ensembles that are gonna be Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta, you gotta get it light if
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  Speaker 1: you like drums, if you like the sound that it's
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  Speaker 1: gonna be featured with all of these bands taking part
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  Speaker 1: in the Belson Fest this weekend. Melinda Jones is here
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  Speaker 1: to tell us about it. John will be along there
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  Speaker 1: very shortly with a couple of really neat events coming
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  Speaker 1: up this month of June that we're also going to
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  Speaker 1: spotlight today with our good friends from Rock Falls Tourism.
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  Speaker 1: But getting back to the Belson Fest again. There'll be
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  Speaker 1: food and refreshments along with Yes.
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  Speaker 2: We will have food there. Our Rah Barbecue will be there.
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  Speaker 2: The Eagles Club out of Rock Falls they'll be there,
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  Speaker 2: and Main Squeeze will be there.
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  Speaker 1: Good okay again. It all starts at eleven thirty though
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  Speaker 1: with the clinic, and then it moves out of doors
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  Speaker 1: starting at one with the Yorkville Big Band, and again
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  Speaker 1: that will kick off the music lineup that Melinda spotlighted
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  Speaker 1: this morning during the fourth annual Belson Music Fist. There's
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  Speaker 1: also going to be tell us about the special dedication.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, so there's a bench dedication. This is Belson purchased
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  Speaker 2: a bench down at the RBNW district and that bench
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  Speaker 2: is to commemorate last year's one hundredth celebration of Louis
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  Speaker 2: Belson Belson Music Fest. And so at two thirty we're
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  Speaker 2: going to do the bench dedication. We buy everyone down
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  Speaker 2: come to come listen to Josh Stuffy and myself speak
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  Speaker 2: about Louis Belson as well as any other family and
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  Speaker 2: friends that might be showing up to speak to us.
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  Speaker 2: We've heard a few here and there something we're going
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  Speaker 2: to show up.
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  Speaker 1: So oh so there may be there may be you know,
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  Speaker 1: some special treatment in line. You never know who's who's
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  Speaker 1: going to be on hand at these types of dedications,
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  Speaker 1: but there may be some special people down there taking
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  Speaker 1: hard in that. And you yourself are going to talk
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  Speaker 1: about the history. Yeah, we'll talk a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: Between Josh and I. I'll probably talk more about Belson
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  Speaker 2: music fast and why we do it. Josh Stuffy, who
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  Speaker 2: is a very good historian of Louis Belson and knew
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  Speaker 2: him personally, he will talk about you know what his
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  Speaker 2: full name is, and you know where all I traveled from,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, he's just got likes. He's like the
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  Speaker 2: history book of Louis Belson.
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  Speaker 1: Excellent, excellent, And he's also going to be your MC right.
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  Speaker 2: For most of the day we see, and then he's
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  Speaker 2: got his band six years and they'll be performing.
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  Speaker 1: Too, so so he's going to be very busy. Josh
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  Speaker 1: Stuffy and Melinda will be talking about, you know, and
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  Speaker 1: learn more about the history of Louis Belson if you
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  Speaker 1: don't know a lot, and tell you what I know
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  Speaker 1: enough about this gentleman because I saw him play on television.
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  Speaker 1: Obviously he was in a lot of you know, television shows.
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  Speaker 1: He was featured, you know, all over the country. And
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  Speaker 1: again you get to know an artist by his appearances
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  Speaker 1: and by his great talent that he was able to
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  Speaker 1: air and again bring to not just northern Illinois, but
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  Speaker 1: to the entire nation of the world. Louis Belson being
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  Speaker 1: honored once again this weekend at Belsonfest. That's what it's called,
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  Speaker 1: the Belson Music Fest. Louis Belson Music Fest this weekend
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  Speaker 1: courtesy of Rock Falls Tourism. It's a one day again
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  Speaker 1: activity taking place on Saturday, June the seventh. As Melinda
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  Speaker 1: talked about lots of activity taking place, anything else connected,
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  Speaker 1: I mean anything else. We talked about the dedication and
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  Speaker 1: all that. The history. I'll be fascinated to learn more
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  Speaker 1: about the history because Louis Belson, you know, actually born
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  Speaker 1: in Rock Falls, but then kind of made his way
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  Speaker 1: to the Quad Cities, right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, his family travels. He was about four years old
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  Speaker 2: and then off to Rock Falls. They went to you know, Galesburg,
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  Speaker 2: and then anyway, they ended up at Mullein and that's
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  Speaker 2: where you graduated from Moulaine High School.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and the rest is history. Kind of took
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  Speaker 1: off into music after his graduation from high school because
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  Speaker 1: he's I know, he started at a very young age
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  Speaker 1: as a musician right and again was able to you know,
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  Speaker 1: show off his talents at a very young age and
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  Speaker 1: then carried him on for decades.
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  Speaker 3: Again.
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  Speaker 1: So again, the Belson Music Fest will be this weekend
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  Speaker 1: in great sponsors.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, we have awesome sponsors, So I'm going to highlight
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  Speaker 2: some of them for us take out for everyone. So
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  Speaker 2: these are our premier sponsors for the Belson Music Fest.
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  Speaker 2: Johnson Oil Company, Sock Valley Bank, CGH Rock Falls Medical Center,
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  Speaker 2: Holiday and Express and Suites, WLT ninety four point three
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  Speaker 2: and White Rabbit Broadcasting, Arthur's Garden, Deli, Candlelight in Community,
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  Speaker 2: State Bank of Rock Falls, Locure Heating and air Conditioning,
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  Speaker 2: Midwest Disposal, Pittstock Car Care, Selmey's Greenhouse and Family Farm,
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  Speaker 2: Selme's Commercial or Sorry, Sterling Commercial Roofing and Sterling Federal Bank,
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  Speaker 2: the Murders Law Firm, Total Construction Services, United Metal Buildings,
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  Speaker 2: and WDCB ninety point nine FM. Jack.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all of those contributing. You know, it be
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  Speaker 1: for those sponsors we probably wouldn't have, you know, the
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  Speaker 1: Belson Fest.
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  Speaker 2: I appreciate their support because it does cost money. One
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  Speaker 2: of these bands in the drome clinic. I mean we're
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  Speaker 2: talking thousands of dollars with this stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolute, and again to offer it at no charge,
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  Speaker 1: you know, on Belson Day. So again thanks to all
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  Speaker 1: the sponsors that contribute. And again the Belson Music Fest
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  Speaker 1: again Saturday, June the seventh in Rock Falls again, starting
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  Speaker 1: with the again drum Clinic at eleven thirty McCormick Event Center,
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  Speaker 1: than moving out onto the grounds of the Riverfront again,
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  Speaker 1: great bands that will be appearing all through the day,
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  Speaker 1: Food and refreshment all through the day. Advice to bring your.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Lawn chairs, bring a lawn chair, maybe an umbrella, just
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: a black Beest son yep. Because we're gonna have a sunny.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: We're gonna have that's the forecast is already already forecast. There.
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  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: That's all right, That's okay, because that's it, you know,
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  Speaker 1: that's that's gonna be the weather forecast doesn't matter what
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  Speaker 1: it really is. It's gonna be nice for the Bells
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  Speaker 1: and Music Fest on June the seventh. It's gonna be
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  Speaker 1: a great name. And thank you Milinda for a spotling
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  Speaker 1: a great, great event to kick off the month of
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  Speaker 1: June and Rock Now. John's gonna tell us about some events,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: and we're gonna hold John for a again. After news
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: first at the eight thirty, we're going to expand the
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  Speaker 1: talk line. John is going to come along and talk
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  Speaker 1: about some activities going on later on in the month
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  Speaker 1: of June courtesy of Rock Falls Tourism. Some really neat
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  Speaker 1: things that are happening, and we're going to spotlight that.
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  Speaker 1: But we're going to take time out for five minutes
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  Speaker 1: of news at the half hour, so stay with us.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: More from Rod. We continue with our conversation today with
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  Speaker 1: our good friends from Rock Falls Tourism. Melinda Jones is
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: the director there. She joins us live this morning at
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the microphones here at wix in. The weather forecast for
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Saturday Belsonfest day partly cloudy with the high of seventy nine.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: There you go. I love that, There you go, So
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: there you go. Belson Fest looks good, in good shape
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: for this outdoor activity to take place this weekend, and Melinda,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: of course spotlighted that in our first portion of the
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: talk line today here at wix in. Now John Wats
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: is also along with our friends from Rock Falls tourism,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: and he's ready to been chopping at the bit, ready
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: to go with his activity that he wants to talk about.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: But just briefly, Melinda, a couple of other things happening
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  Speaker 1: in June before we get to John's activity that he
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: wants to spotlight today and of activities in July as well.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: First of all, in June, you've got a black party
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  Speaker 1: coming up we do.
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  Speaker 2: It's an awesome block party. If you like cars and
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: you like burnouts, you got to come to this. So
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: it's our Rock Falls Black Party. Was Stick the magazine,
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: so we had it last year. Over three hundred cars
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: showed up in Rock Falls. It was a crazy, crazy
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: day and it was so much excitement. We had a
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: burnout fund. We're going to do that again. So the
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: epic burnouts will start about six thirty pm across from
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: the rbn W District. And then we also have a
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: live concert with a Solution ban from h ten at
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: the rbn W District Amphitheater.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Okay, now, now, then, Young you were kind of a
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: party connected, you know, with the with this event as well,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: and this is kind of a traveling event, is it.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: It goes This is the one that goes from community to community.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I was fortunate enough to volunteer and help
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: out with that, you know, the day of a little
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: bit there and kind of reap the rewards of what
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: Melinda had planned. But what a what a great event. Yeah,
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: they do. They travel around about five to four or
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: five different city yeahs, I believe, And yeah, we fortunate
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  Speaker 3: enough to Falls to be one of the stops in
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: between them and show off their cars. Three hundred plus cars,
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: I believe, it's what the numbers are expected, and uh,
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: you know, just the opportunity to see them. Even some
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: some YouTube celebrities I believe will be there in attendance
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: as well.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: McFarlane. Yeah, which is which is really okay scheduled as
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: long as this car doesn't break down before.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Okay. So that's Jill again, June the nineteenth again in
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Rock Falls. Kind of the hoods will be up on
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: a lot of these vehicles, right, I mean, this is
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: this is the kind of the display that's that's got
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: to put together right when we're when we're talking about that,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: but again, it's driving drag street cars from all over
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the United States, and I mean they travel with this
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: show across the country. And they're making to stop in
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Rock Falls, so put it on your calendar. June the nineteenth.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: It's Sick the magazine block Party. It's in downtown rock
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Falls and its courtesy of Rock Falls Tourism. They've again
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: brought about this you know, traveling show along with the entertainment.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, the Solution ban. Yeah, they're awesome too, so
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: you got to come and see them.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, that's June the nineteenth, and that is that going
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: to be on the river roof that'll be on the
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: riverfront there. Okay. The entertainment will be on the riverfront then,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: along with the car entertainment as well. If you're a
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: car enthusiast, you've got to make this a part of
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: your plans for the mid part of June. Now, a
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: couple of quick events in July. Quick event in July okay, yep,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: quick event of julight before we get John going here.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: July third, we have the Ore Independence Day celebration. So
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: we will have the Evergreen Band, which is sponsored by
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Boss Roofing, and we will have the Baja Band, So
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: two bands at night starting at five o'clock and then
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: we all have fireworks in Sterling Rock Falls jc's at dusk,
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: so come down. Lots of food trucks are going to
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: be down there, other business vendors, organizations, going to be
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: a great time, great family event, all free. And then
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: July twelfth will be eats and beats up the district
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: and that will be with the Big Hair Mafia band
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: that's an eighties tribute band, hair band and they come
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: from the Quad Cities. Again, lots of food trucks and
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: we're thrown in a couple other little things in there,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: but we've got to work things out before I actually
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: announce him there. So if he posted, to visit Rock
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Falls Facebook page and you'll find out all the details
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: right again, that's July twelfth and July third, so you
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: don't want to miss sell state.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: We will be, of course, when Melinda sends us all
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: of the details and all we always of course forward
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: them on air right here on WYX. And so again
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: we'll keep you posted on all of these upcoming activities.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: I've got the calendar right here in front of me,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: so we'll be informing you of the good things going
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: on in that capacity right here on WYX. Now, John,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: let's go to again the activity that John has been
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: one to talk about and that comes on when what
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: date is.
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  Speaker 3: This, because that'll be June twenty eighth, Saturday, June twenty
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: eighth coming up, and that is the Touch Struck of
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: Rock Falls event kind of in its second year. We've
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: had it several years before with some different organization stuff there.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: Kind of what it is today is what started last year.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: Last year we had just under one hundred vehicles. The
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: event had been absent for about five or six years
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: here in the area, and then brought it back just
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: under one hundred vehicles. It rained on Saturday, we moved
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: to a Sunday. We lost a few vehicles there. This
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: year we're set to double the event. We are planning
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: right now expecting around one hundred and seventy five vehicles
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: and attractions. And these are not just standard vehicles. These
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: are big vehicles, anything from a small golf cart all
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: the way up to these huge, massive cranes that you
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: see driving down the road or erecting buildings or whatever
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: the case is. All the emergency vehicles you can think of,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: from police, fire, ambulance, etc. Municipal vehicles, from dump trucks
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: to snowplows to just anything you can think of locally
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: that you kind of see going up and down the
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: road with a company name on it or a city's
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: name on it. We're going to have boats, helicopters, by air,
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: by land, by sea. You're gonna see it all at
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: Touch Truck.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, this is June the twenty eighth, same location. Then
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: are you gonna be on the river front?
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: So we are. We are just south of the RBNW district.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: They're kind of the we advertise the riverfront, but you
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: won't be able to miss it if you're anywhere in
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: the area. Again, you're gonna you're gonna see it. Like
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: I said, so many, so many vehicles. You know, they're
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: on display. Touch Truck's mission is look, touch, learn and inspire.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: We want kids and adults to be able to come
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: out see these vehicles, look at them, touch them, learn
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: about them, learn what they're doing, maybe inspire them to
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: go into a certain field. You know they're in their future.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: But tons of activities planned I know that you know.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: We have. One of our famous ones is Paint the Plow.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: We have a snowplow down there from Rock Falls Street Department.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: Kids get a chance to put their hands in paint
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: and put their hands on and see that thing. We
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: got a little bit different design than we've had in
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: previous years planned for that this years, so again just
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: trying to switch things up a little bit. I know
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: that many of these organizations have vehicles coming out and
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: activities planned with those vehicles. There'll be demonstrations that they've
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: got planned. And I just can't say enough about the
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: companies that are coming out. I'm talking about, like I said,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: one hundred and seventy five vehicles. That is with one
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: hundred and twenty different companies. Many are doing multiples. Nobody
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: comes out to this event to see myself. Nobody comes
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: out there. I'll be out there, I'll be walking around,
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: Nobody will know who I am. And that's fine. If
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: it wasn't for these companies coming out and donating their vehicles,
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: donating their time. It's a community event, and without them
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: coming out and doing it, we wouldn't be able to
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: do what we do. And that event is going to
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: go from nine am to two pm. I'll just keep
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: talking here, don't worry about don'torry about questions.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: I got.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: One thing We're doing this year differently. We are adding
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: an extra hour the beginning of the event from so
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: nine to ten will be no sirens, no lights, no horns,
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: kind of a quiet time there. Any kids or adults
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: there with censorary issues or concerns or whatever, they're going
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: to have an hour. But once at ten o'clock hits,
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: it all goes. It all goes crazy from there. So
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: the sirens start, the lights, the horns, everything like that
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: go and then we will go until two o'clock with
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: that on Touch Truck, I said, we're doubling the event
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: this year, and we're actually doubling the time frame two.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: At two thirty, we move across the street over to
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: the RBNW and we go to kind of the Touch
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: Truck after party where we will have live music from
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: thirty to eight o'clock with two different bands going there.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: We have a country cover band coming out of Rockford
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: called rolland Whiskey. They run from two thirty till two
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: four thirty. We'll have half an hour break following that
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: is a real high energy nineties cover band. They're called
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: Run Forest Run. They're out of Chicago and just a great,
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: great time everyone's gonna have with with both of them
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: bands there too. So Touch Truck, all the vehicles, all
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: the activities, all the horns, all the sirens, all the excitements,
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: over two thousand giveaways that we're doing while there too.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: That's a whole nother story getting through there. But between
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: all of that and then again then there's the music
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: side after that, and the live music and and just
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: a fun filled family all across the board. We have
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: a new price this year of free.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: No.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: The best part about Touch Truck is again with without
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: in addition to the obviously the organizations that bring their vehicles,
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: we have a ton of great sponsors and without these sponsors,
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: it would not be possible to bring some of these
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: attractions in, not only on the music side, but we
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: do have attractions on the Touch Truck side. Things there too.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: We have a monster truck coming down from Madison, Wisconsin.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: We've got those that are uh, you know from my area.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: Remember the movie Wayne's World and everything came with that.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: The the Pacer gar Pacer from Wayne's World that'll be their intendants,
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: Jurassic Park people that uh you know, Jurassic Park fans.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: We've got Jurassic Park Land Cruiser that will be there
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: on displaced, so the dukes of Hazard fans, so many
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: really uh not generally we've had We've had the general truck. Yeah, yeah,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: we touched truck is just using there by all means,
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: but uh yeah, we will have Sheriff Frosco's car.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: So again something a little different there on that one too.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: So yeah, convertible Yeah yeah, a lot of the a
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: lot of the movie stuff, a lot of the municipality,
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: the emergency. Again, we try to hit every single category
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: there great.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: And in all unfolds. On June the twenty eighth, it's
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: a one day event again in that area as John mentioned,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: they'll encompass yeah, that riverfront area. Uh maybe a little
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: bit further back she talked about because they had to
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: have the room, you know, to put out all these
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: vehicles and all. But again it will be in that
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: same vicinity as we're all familiar with in Rock Falls.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: It's Touch of Truck Day on June the twenty eighth,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: and again, as John mentioned, a great one day event
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: for everybody. Everybody, family and friends come out and take
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: advantage of what the city of Rock Falls. And again
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: the great organization that John Helm's up and brings to
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: our area. And this is how many years have we
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: done this?
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: This is the second year of kind of what it is. Yeah, Now,
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: it was way back when, probably going back to two
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: thousand and fort sure kind of started it with the
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: Optimist Club of Rock Falls, was a great partner with that,
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: did it for several years and just kind of ran
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: the course of a couple of different things there and
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: it just kind of when twenty twenty kind of came around,
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: like a lot of things kind of went away and
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: me and the group of volunteers just decided, you know what,
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: last year, we missed doing this event, We missed missed
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: having in the community, and several people came together and
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: made it happen last year, came back together again this year,
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: and again with the help of the wonderful sponsors and
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: the help of Rock Falls Tourism of course, the City
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: of rock Falls, and again even the surrounding communities. We've
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: got profits town going to be there. We're getting a
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: lot of support from Sterling and it's different departments and
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: stuff like that too. Just just a great all around
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: community event happens to be located in Rock Falls with
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: vehicles coming from the Tri state area.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Absolutely it's a great area to put this event on.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: And again it's part of the Rock Falls Calendar of
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: busyness for the month of June. We start with bells
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Infest this weekend. We've got Sick the Magazine Black Party
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: also in June, and then Touch a Truck to end
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: up the month, and then we launched right into what
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Melinda talked about before with those July activities, all taking
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: place courtesy of Rock Falls Tourism and participating organizations. Guys,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: we thank you so very much for stopping buying telling
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: us all about it. It's going to be a great month,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: it really is. It's going to be a great month
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: of Rock Falls again with all of what's going on,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: and we thank you guys so very much for joining us.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: John Wats, Melinda Jones from Rock Falls Tourism, thanks for
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: joining us today. And Telly this we thank you for
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: having us. I always appreciate a visit. We'll go to
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: sports first next