today?
Oh, going fantastic.
Good morning, Park Falls and surrounding area people.
No, and actually, Lena just asked, where's Toby the station dog?
Of course, Rachel started her new job this week.
She actually gets to stay home for some training today.
So in future, Toby will be here more often, but it's a chance for Rachel to stick home and keep the dog with her today.
We
That's the radio mascots.
You'll hear him barking in the near future.
I think probably today and tomorrow he's got he's got a couple days off.
Let's put it that way.
But you don't have days off because you don't give yourself days off.
Lena, we know that about you.
And I was warned.
I was told, hey, Lena wants to come on reality radio.
I got an email last night, but I wasn't told why.
And so you get to do whatever big reveal you might want to do or maybe just a regular update, but still fun to hear from you anytime.
Well, it's my pleasure to be here.
Just a little update.
Haven't been around for a while to chit chat with everybody.
Some exciting things going on at the pines.
We've got our deck being built on the on the addition coming on out.
That's exciting.
We got new gutters on the place and another special surprise, but I can't announce it for about
Probably till next month.
Maybe okay really exciting that to help enhance the the pines itself Hey, have you been out there lately?
Have you seen the trees?
They're carved into fish now
as I
that was a two-year process We had to take some trees down on the property back when we purchased it.
We had the ash borer
beetles going on, some of the trees were half dead and the arborist said if you don't take them now you're gonna have to take them in a couple years but in taking that somebody gave me the great idea of save some of them big tree trunks you can get carvings well I saved five of them and now two years later here they are a gentleman from what they call grisworks up near superior Duluth area it actually took me two years to find somebody and he come down this last spring took measurements with his wife asked me my ideas he drew
them up and I chose the ideas and oh my gosh they come out in July and they did
Did a fantastic job between carving, burning, sanding, and then they sealed them.
So and then we'll maintain them on a yearly basis.
But I thought it'd be something neat for the property.
And I'm actually looking here just a quick Google gave me.
They're apparently based out of Maple, Wisconsin up there.
But they've got a Facebook page where people can go and see.
But hey, hold off on the Facebook thing.
Go to the Lenas, check it out firsthand.
What what sculptures do you have exactly?
What are the what are the five?
Well, right.
by the mailbox is the world's biggest musky.
And then I had two trees over in the parking lot on the left.
One's the world's biggest northern, basically.
And then another owl looking down on a nest of owls.
And then out back, we had a tree that could not be carved.
So we put an eagle on top of it.
So it looks like an eagle perching down from a nest type area.
And then number five, I'm saving for next year.
A lot of people here in the area know the Johansson family that come up every July.
Well, we're turning that into something
special and dedicating it to the Johansson family.
Their family's been up here 70, 80 years.
They remember when the floors were dirt out at those cabins at the pines.
Just amazing the history out there.
So I thought it'd be cool to save that last big one next July when they're lodging with us and I'll give you a little sneaky peek.
It has something to do with the bear and fish.
of
to need a whole tab low in your front driveway at that point.
I think I might be overdoing it a little bit in my mind, but I am looking at the sculptures from the Grisworks Facebook page, and I think you guys might have posted some pictures too here and there, but it's actually really easy for me to see.
That said, don't spoil, spoil it for yourself.
It's the perfect excuse to get out there and see Lena.
What, hey, we're, we're, it's fall.
You drove past a lot of orange, red, and yellow trees that were green just a month ago, and I know any change of season means...
pretty often either events or sometimes different food items.
What kind of seasonal delights can we expect from you in the near future?
Well, the same delicious food is going on out there.
Tuesdays is $10, Tuesdays burgers and fries, $10 plus tax.
Wednesday, buy a pizza, get 150% off.
We've now changed Thursdays to a chef's special.
So there's going to be something different every Thursday.
Check out our Facebook page for that.
Friday, fish fries.
Saturday, of course, prime rib.
And you can also order off the regular.
menu.
We still have breakfast going on from nine till noon on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
It's like a Paul Bunyan breakfast and bacon, biscuits, gravy, eggs.
fruit and muffins and it's a great way.
If you're in a hurry or you want to get out on the water yet to get your last fish before the ice comes in, you can stop in.
It's only $12 plus tax and includes milk, coffee, juice and soda.
chef special days?
It was a noodle penne with vodka sauce and sausage.
So there's this thing out there called the frequency.
Which is that when you first learn about something it suddenly feels like you see it everywhere around you like if you learn about a new brand of pants It's suddenly like everybody is wearing them and in some cases it's about trends and stuff But vodka sauce is something for me that I think I learned about vodka sauce a year ago And I don't think a week has gone by because it's delicious.
It's fantastic And I'm thinking I was 30 something before I discovered this I would love to try the Lena's version of vodka sauce I know without trying that it's got to be delicious.
So I don't
want to sell something that isn't necessarily available every week for you, but a good example of the kind of things, those simple, delicious delights that make the perfect special at any local restaurant here in the North Woods.
Well, I can tell you this.
This Thursday tomorrow, our special is going to be the homemade pork and dumplings tomorrow.
So I
there.
But
available?
I
Lost track of the numbers in the description of the food darn it.
It's those classics I was talking with another local restaurant recently about goulash and and stroganoff and things like that It's just yeah, there's some things that you just can't miss with right and of course the Lena version of it always going to be worth a try well, okay, so You mentioned getting to you before the ice hits for your those last fishing things But you guys are gonna be carrying through the cold season and you're gonna be one of the places to be because I know you guys
do a mean, warm meal any time of year, correct?
You
No, a lot of people are getting ready to close down.
I just want the word out there that we're open year round.
Same with the lodging.
Holidays are coming up.
If you have an overflow of people at your house, reach out to me.
The hunters, we have grouse hunters, bear hunters up here right now, but for those of you that are deer hunters looking for a little extra space, come see me.
Celebrations of life.
The holidays are coming.
Book your holiday party now.
with us before the date that you'd like to have it out at the pines is taken up and with that addition out there we have a lot more room we've got the pool tables a lot of nice entertaining can go on out there with that additional space for your party
now for the time
we still have some wiggle room so yeah reach on out to me or go to Lena's northern pines website go under accommodations you can see the layouts the pricing
availability.
And also we are pet friendly.
Bring them puppy dogs.
Well, I happen to know that Lena gets along with dogs very, very well.
I'm very sorry.
Toby isn't here today, but he will be in the next time we see in the future, which is going to be too long from now.
I guarantee you that.
But I know in between when we see you today and when we see you next, you'll have plenty more to tell us.
You always do.
One of those chronically busy people, maybe the poster child of that.
Is there anything else you want to touch on before we give you back your time for
today and you take off into the distance at a legal speed,
but a
Well, I'd like to remind everybody too that we own Lena's Bar and Grill in Glidden.
If you're passing through going on up north to Ashland, stop in for one of our burgers.
Our pizzas at both places, our burgers are at both places, have the same great taste.
My homemade pizza sauce, if you haven't given it a try, it's catching on.
Folks, give us a try.
You won't be disappointed.
I haven't busted out of that phase in my life, and I'm not sure I ever will.
Partially because of great local establishments like yours.
You brought one around one time, and I thought, oh, I hope nobody else is hungry.
I got my fair share of that one, and maybe a little bit more.
But Lena, what is your website so people can save themselves the Google?
What's the URL on
that?
You caught me off guard.
That's like a trick question.
The teacher just pulled in a quick exam on me.
No, I got you.
I got you.
Lena's Northern Pines or Lena's Bar and Grill.
You can just Google both of those.
You've got northernpines.net.
That's that's the whole thing.
Northernpines.net.
And I bet there's about 18 restaurants out there thinking, darn it, Lena got the URL I wanted.
Northernpines.net.
No matter if they've got the same name or not, though, or anything similar, nobody's got what Lena has at Lena's Northern Pines.
to be whether the leaves looking gorgeous like this, w or whether it's snow and always a great time at
one more thing this week wrestling in the bar and come in from around th professional arm wrestling a year they'll be in
It's open to the public.
You can arm wrestle, too.
If you got them big guns, male or female, you just sign a waiver.
And then also, for those of you with Halloween coming up on the president of the Lions Club in Glidden, we're going to have our annual pumpkin roll down the hill on Saturday, October 31st.
But you can come into the bar ahead of time at 11.30 in Glidden and carve some pumpkins.
One of our Lions members has actually grown the pumpkins for us.
And we do this in conjunction with the American Legion in Glidden.
So Saturday October 31st 1130 at Lena's and Glidden for pumpkin carving then a pumpkin roll and then this Saturday at Lena's barn grilled a state arm wrestling happening at noon actually wrestling at one.
And I remember it was you saw my reaction that I was like arm wrestling and oh yeah, I remember we've talked about this before because you do this multiple times a year.
The other thing I have to admit when you say pumpkin roll, I immediately think of cream cheese.
I know you guys are rolling pumpkins.
I'm thinking.
Ooh, it's time for a seasonal treat.
What else have you got for us, Leanne?
I know you're not out.
Just a quick reminder, if you are interested, it's open to all the kids, you know, from 0 to 12 or 13.
And even you, Gray, I know you still have a little bit of child in you.
For kids
say.
We need you, though, to call and sign up at the bar so we can plan accordingly from the amount of pumpkins.
And I'll have a little special hot dog fries and soda for the kids at a nominal price and some coloring pictures.
So yeah, with that said, looking forward to seeing everybody and hope everybody has a great week.
Thank you so much for adding and adding and adding and keeping moving because we all have fun as we follow behind.
You can call Lena's 715-264-6900, 715-264-6900.
Here and gone again, that's Lena of Lena's Bar and Grill, Lena's Resort.
We've got the president of the Glidden Lions here with us, all the same person wrapped up into one.
The chef, the greeter, the smiling face.
Thank you, Lena, for some time.
We appreciate you very much.
Reality Radio continues next with another guest.
Anybody wanna shut up your face now?
Anybody wanna come out now?
Anybody?
That's a fun song to reproduce over local bands and country artists.
It's a good one.
minutes.
pretty much the whole song.
I might have to listen to it a couple of times, but when I was a kid, oh, I had the 45 of that.
I knew every single word, and I still do, kind of, but I, you know, when you don't listen to a song for a while, you get to that one song, that one line, and you're like,
get back into the chorus.
You reach the buzzy spot in the brain cells that hold on, we'll get it back up in just a second, but I love that song, too, because as we talked about off air, it's apparently at least mostly true.
He claims it's about his cousin, and he
change the cousin's name and the state because nothing rhymes with Missouri.
But it speaks to a point that I like to make.
You never know what your kid's going to fall in love with.
And when they
do, nothing rhymes with Missouri.
Now, what?
How about a
Something tells me that he didn't eat much curry.
You know, I had a McFlurry in Missouri.
How about that?
Okay, we've got two percent of a song ready to rock here.
But hey, if your kid falls in love with something that
isn't hurting anybody you stoke that fire man you never know all right it's reality radio time and seriously believe it or not joel karnik on the other side of the interview hey good to be here great thank you so much for joining me today joel why don't you tell the people of 98q country who may not know you very well what you're here to talk about i'm a little bit nervous actually hey don't make fun of people don't make fun of people i'll never i'll never laugh at people for being nervous at least not while they're here in the
building i would be equally as nervous as if i went to
to their workplace
down in a chair in their place.
Hold on, wait, can you do this alone?
Do you need me?
But Joel's actually here today to chat about not just Lord's cupboard, one of the local food pantries that he's been heading up for a while now, but also that there's, you mentioned there's been a dip in donations recently, a bit of an unpleasant surprise, I'll admit.
Yeah, our pantry, even through the pandemic has stayed pretty consistent.
in the number of people who use the pantry for various reasons.
Some people short-term, some people long-term, there's various reasons.
We don't get into that with our people who use the pantry, but it's not something that people should be shameful of.
It's not something that you should feel bad about using because that's why it's there.
It's to help people who just at the end of the month, the cupboards are empty and we run into many scenarios where people
People just say, you know what?
I don't have any money and I got nothing.
So, you know, that's an extreme case.
But yeah, the food pantry has been going for well over 30 years and it's all volunteer driven.
There's never been a check written to someone for payroll in the food pantry.
It's entirely 100% volunteer driven and it's driven by about 60 plus volunteers that it is such a well oiled machine.
Pastor Gwen Downing was just a driving force from Chrysoceran Luther Church.
She was a driving force behind the pantry for many years and made it very financially stable, which is a great thing not to have to go month to month.
Um, but recently we've seen a dip in some of the, uh, some of the donations.
So I want to get back to Pastor Gwen because she did a lot of great work with the pantry and it is such a well oiled machine.
Now I've been president of the pantry for about, I don't know, two years or so.
not quite that, but there's a system in place of volunteers that we have a group of gentlemen who are most retired and they show up, I think it's once a week or once every couple of weeks and they unload a truck and they help stock the shelves.
I've never been a part of that as a president because it happens.
And there's people that set it up and make it happen.
And we have people like Ginger Fight and Diane Brown who handle all of our food down there and all the arrangement, organization of the food.
So it's a well oiled machine.
I'm just, I'm just kind of like the, uh, I'm like the head coach who steps into who, who gets hired by a football team that just won the Super Bowl.
And you're just like, uh, hey Joel, coach this team next year.
Don't screw it up.
All right.
because they're already really good.
So just step in there and just kind of blend in.
That's the way the food pantry is.
It's a Super Bowl winning team every year that we have there.
It's incredible.
But I will say that the donations the last year, year and a half have really fallen off and we're in a food pantry is fine financially as far as if something ever happened in our community where
a lot of the community really needed to lean on the food pantry.
We could help out for probably several months but we're in the red every month right now and that's not a good place to be.
We're more is going out than is coming in and we can handle it for a while but you know after a while the checking account as you know starts to do envelope.
It goes down a little bit so if anybody feels a calling or maybe you have a little
extra.
Maybe you've been blessed with a little few extra funds.
You know, supporting the food pantry is a great way to help people right here because it's the qualifications for the food pantry is you have to be a resident of the state of Wisconsin.
Particularly, particularly we, we help people right here in Price County, but we do occasionally have people from around the area.
It's mostly local people.
99.9% of the people are Price County residents, but we can't turn and turn away anybody as long as they're a Wisconsin resident.
So all the donations that people give are instantly turned into food and instantly go into the cars and into the homes of people right here, right here in Park Falls in Phillips.
It's a wonderful asset that we have for our community.
And like I said, every month, about four to five tons of food every month, about eight to 10,000 pounds of food every month go out of the food pantry.
And plus the backpack program is something that another probably
Probably a ton of food, maybe every month goes out to the backpack program, which gives an opportunity for kids to take a backpack home on a weekend with just some food.
And that's been a very positive thing for our Butternut and Park Falls schools.
So if people are called gray, it's easy.
Forward Bank, Park Falls Phillips, you can just go up to the counter and say,
I'd like to make a donation to the Lord's Covered Food Pantry and they'll automatically deposit whatever you have or transfer from your current account.
That's an easy way to do it.
And we'll send you a receipt if you need to on that for tax deductible purposes.
If you want to donate food or your group wants to have a food drive, yesterday I just got a call yesterday again from Phillips MetaSize.
They did a food drive last year and they're going to do it again for us this year.
The schools do it.
Food drives are awesome.
But if that's not your calling and you just want to help out and you got a little extra money, I guarantee it'll go for a good cause right here with our local food pantry.
It's a wonderful asset for our community and it's so easy on Saturdays.
It takes like literally five minutes, maybe.
If there's a car in line, maybe 10.
But you don't even have to get out of your car.
You drive through the first congregational church downtown Park Falls.
If you're already signed up, you just tell us who you are.
And if you aren't signed up, that takes about five minutes.
We throw some food in the back of your car, about 50 pounds worth of food, frozen and non-perishable.
And there you go, you're gone.
Poof very simple
just like that and you know Joel it stands out to me You mentioned it's the last year 18 months and we won't go there get political or anything like that But it's not hard to imagine you know with affordability being what it is right now with grocery prices being what they are right now the same reason the The food pantry is likely seeing a dip in donations probably the same reason people themselves are are doing things differently at home is as different food items become more and less available and there's Recalls and things like that.
So it's it's easy to kind of look around
and say, hey, things are getting more expensive, and I need to shore up a little bit.
And you're right.
I never want to say people should just keep spending and spending the way they might have been when things were a bit more available.
But it's worth mentioning to oneself, a reminder for me that when my needs get a little bit tighter, there are people out there with less resources available than I have.
And it's easy to believe that things like that may not happen in a small town in a beautiful little spot like Park Falls.
I'm confident to say that there's not a place in the country where this isn't needed at least to some degree, you know?
And perhaps especially in those places where we might convince ourselves, yeah, there's not many people like that around here.
Yeah, and the monetary donations that people make to the food pantry, I mean, if people want to donate food, physical food, that's fine.
I understand that some people like to do it that way, but let's say you give a dollar to the food pantry.
Now, a dollar at a grocery store might get you a can of soup if they're on sale.
Maybe.
But the food pantry, our food pantry here has a relationship with Feed My People, which is a national organization.
Feed My People works with large companies, is able to get food at a reduced price or at cost.
And so that $1 that may buy a can of soup possibly at the grocery store to the food pantry is probably going to get you three.
Kansas soup.
So that's how cheap that the program is.
And the food pantry also works with TFAP, which is a government agency where they provide us free food, which can be a variety of things.
In the years I've been at the food pantry, sometimes we had meat.
We had hamburger for a year.
And that went away.
And then we had chicken.
And chicken.
And now we have fish sticks.
We have fish everywhere.
So you just never know.
There's wheels that work within that government program where they buy excess
from companies.
And that that I don't really need to understand.
I just know that I just I need something here.
I need fish.
I need me something and it shows up.
So, so the monetary donations really, really are a powerful thing.
If, if you're blessed with a little extra money and maybe you've been thinking about a way that you can really make an impact on the community, you know, you can set up a monthly donation through your, through your bank account.
If you're a forward bank customer, you could just say like a hundred bucks every month or 50 or whatever, just automatically transfers.
whatever you want to do.
But I just wanted to come on because I always like to address things before they get
bad because when you're in the red every month, eventually that catches up with you.
It may take a year or two, but it's going to catch up with you.
And the donations have been down a lot to the last couple of years.
So if you're able, hey, help out the food pantry.
You can again, the forward bank, I'm here at the radio station.
If you don't want to drop off a check, I'll deposit it for you.
If you don't want to go to the bank or whatever, or you can stop down every Saturday.
We're there from nine to 11.
We're open usually.
I always kid Mike Modern, Mike Boblick, who are just mainstays of our pantry.
They're usually there like 6.30 with a cup of coffee in their hand figuring out the world's problems and those guys are awesome.
So Saturday mornings, we're there at the First Congregational Church downtown Park Falls.
And I want to mention our board members because we have such good people.
We have Mike Modern, Mike Boblick, who are just driving forces behind our pantry.
Diane Brown, who does all of our food ordering.
Denise Cain, who handles all of our volunteers.
Pastor Steve Jeff...
from Family Worship Center, who has just been awesome in bringing in volunteers and help for our various things.
And Tracy Davis, who is a massage therapist down at North Lakes Community Clinic, she's our treasure.
And I am the dude in charge, as Mike Modern might call me, the president.
I don't think I'm in charge of much at all because there's so many good people and so many volunteers.
Thank you, everybody who comes down on Saturday mornings and just makes the whole thing work on Saturday mornings.
It's just an awesome, awesome, quiet, awesome asset in our community.
I'm sitting here.
I know them from and I know them from and I know them from and these are the chronically involved people who I like to like to highlight so much on reality radio And you can't hide the fact that you're one of them, Joel.
I appreciate the humility I'm sure they all do too, but I know it's one of those situations where every every cog in the machine just as important as the next and The input from outside those monetary donations What a simple fact that makes such a big difference too like you said if I give you a pack of ramen that I paid $4 for that's one thing but if
If I give you $4, you can turn it into much more because you have relationships that I simply don't.
Anybody who's ever purchased wholesale products before or anything like it knows that the numbers are just different and the average person can't just walk up and grab those kinds of prices on things, but you guys have the in.
And so if you can spare 20 bucks a month, what's your Disney Plus subscription cost right now?
How about Hulu?
How about Netflix?
How about you eliminate one of those for a month and sure, redo it the month after.
Throw 20 bucks at the Lord's Covered.
Open 9 to 11 every Saturday.
They want to hook people up who need it most and they've been constantly doing so.
You guys are going to find a way.
But that said, clocks don't stop ticking.
Yeah, and if you
want to see the lordscover.org web page, which was all the time and effort that was donated to put that page together, it doesn't cost us anything.
Thanks to Bill Nemick for doing that many years ago at Mining Your Business.
The lordscover.org is a website.
There's some photos and some general info on there.
If you're not familiar with the pantry and want to know what it's about, thelordscovered.org, we also have a Facebook page.
Follow us on there.
We always, we don't do a lot on there, but we'll do a few things here and there on Facebook.
Like if we need volunteers or if there's something special coming up.
Yeah, so that's the who's, what's, when's, and now I want to get back to auctioneer talk.
I'm going to enjoy that.
I'm not going to be playing Leroy Van Dyke again.
One thing we are going to do for sure, since we actually have no other guests here for the eight o'clock hour, but a jam-packed nine o'clock hour, so stick around.
There's a keyword coming and three guests to rotate through.
We've got perfect time, which we kind of miss often on Wednesdays for some birthdays.
I've got a short stack here of birthdays.
Why don't we get a bottom of the hour update, news, weather, and sports, and that'll leave you time to text me if you've got another birthday shout out.
or call us 7 6 2 3 2 2 1.
Let us know who's celebrating and we'll get those into that cake drawing after news, weather and sports up next on 98 Q.
Kiss and Angel.
Good morning with Alan Jackson.
Hopefully you get to do the very same.
And if not, don't worry, life is still good.
We've got a keyword this hour for go for the green and gold multi-state text to win.
That keyword is ZONE Z O N E. Texted to us before 10 o'clock.
Half of that keyword or so remains ZONE Z O N E. Shout out to D&D Tyronato for bringing that text to win contest here to 98 Q. Reality Radio continues a phrase that occurs to me even outside of Wednesday.
I'm a
afraid.
You can catch me say that on Friday because it feels so good.
We've got people with momentum here planning, doing, and up next, we've got Jonathan MacArthur with the Phillips Area Chamber of Commerce.
It's Harvest Fest weekend coming up this weekend.
Good morning, sir.
Good morning.
How's it going?
Doing fine.
I'd ask how you're doing, but I know the answer is...
busy because it's Harvest Fest weekend.
We are just discussing on air.
You guys are off air.
Excuse me.
We were just about at the same number of vendors as last year already, but we know some people are going to squeeze in.
So that means there's probably going to be even more this year than there was last year.
This Saturday starting at 9 a.m.
right there in Phillips.
If you drive through Phillips and you don't see Harvest Fest, well, you're driving with your eyes closed.
Please don't do that because you guys dominate the whole town, right?
Yeah, it's definitely a huge event.
I think last year.
Anywhere between two and three thousand people were downtown Phillips, which is a pretty large number when you consider our population of 1500
time So there was construction last year.
We have the event on Avon, which is one straight back from highway 13 There's a lot of debate a lot of things in the
works maybe for next year we might see a different location but don't tell too many people
not to worry no no no we won't spread the word too far and why just a hundred thousand watts over the entire north woods but like you mentioned the event itself is technically on Avon one block back but even still you go anywhere in Hayward and there's deals there's racks outside the front of shops even if they're not technically on that stretch the whole town just kind of lights up and it's kind of it's something that we know how it works around here you get that festival same thing with flamborama in park falls you don't have to
be there at the fairgrounds to find some discounts from local businesses and things like that.
And much the same is true.
But boy, if you just see Avon, not to discount the people one block away or further than that even, it's a busy day.
It's a
lot to
There's definitely a lot going on.
The event runs from nine until three o'clock.
We have two different bands.
We've got Reunited coming out.
That's a multi-person band.
And then on the other side of the street, we have Tom Bird.
He's a one man band.
So the event goes pretty much from the prevail side, the bank by the courthouse.
I believe that's like maple all the way down to the firehouse and I think the firehouse is going to be out there doing some things for the kids though They'll be out there as well.
So it's a multi block event Last year.
I think we had 60 vendors as of right now my sign-up sheet I think it's like 55 and there's a bunch that are still pending to come in So yeah, I think I think your spot on will probably see more vendors this year than we did last year It's definitely gonna be a lot of fun.
I think the thing that really kind of
makes this one for me is the charm.
I mean, we really do have a small town.
When we talk about a population of 1,500 people and you're cramming in to 3,000 people, I mean, not to sound cheesy, but it kind of reminds me of a Hallmark movie.
It's just something special about music over that crisp autumn air, the smell of cranberries.
I think the Lions Club's coming out and they're doing like cranberry brats.
And I mean, the whole thing is just, it's...
Unearthly I would even say
I just got a picture this morning for mr. Hoagland of a cranberry harvest happening That's what's on my screen behind me right here He mentioned that cranberry harvest is going strong and boy is it and I can't wait for the items like that You guys are gonna have cranberries and crazens as well as cranberry.
I mean where there's cranberries There's probably cranberry brats and things
like that
Yeah, there is.
We are running limited on spaces.
I think I last year I would have had room for like maybe 10 more people.
Okay, this year we're kind of in that same boat.
So if you're considering being a vendor, definitely contact the Phillips Chamber of Commerce or send us an email.
We'll see if we can get you squeezed in.
The unique thing I found is I'm I'm really trying to be vigilant not to overlap vendors and
With 60 vendors, you'd think that would be hard to do, but surprisingly, it's not.
I haven't had any vendors that are like, oh, man, I'm selling the same product to somebody else.
So when you're coming down there for a multi-block event, you're going to be surprised that it's all unique.
It's all different people.
They're all selling different products.
And honestly, a lot of them are homemade.
A lot of them are Northwoods built.
It's amazing.
Well, and it's something that not just off the back of that, but there was a rule change, I think, in the last five
years or so during the COVID pandemic regarding cottage crafts and things like that.
So people will be able to see products that if you haven't been in the last few years, chances are there are some things that men, you can make that at home.
Yes, you can.
And you can make it really well at home.
Oh, yeah.
So that kind of stuff is absolutely on the list.
But also you've got the Phillips Children's Museum is going to be there.
The Moose Lodge is going to be doing bingo, an art and craft fair.
What's the timing on that,
by
The art and craft fair is the whole event.
That's nine until three.
And yeah, you're right.
It's the kid friendly event.
Bring the family.
There's going to be a bounce house.
Victory Christian Church comes and brings that.
We have face painting available.
That's going to be that's free face painting for the kids, by the way, too.
You want to get there early.
The line was like a hundred person deep last year at one point.
So what's because they're so darn good.
The person that's doing it does a fantastic job.
I mean, truly an artist.
We mentioned at the Children's Museum, there's a lot of things going on.
There's free pumpkin car decorating by.
prevail bank right there by the band.
There's no shortage of things to do.
So the entire Avon Street is just filled thousands of people and then the front row the main street that's highway 13 there.
There are tons of businesses that are open that are shot that have fantastic deals northern merchandise.
If you're looking to get a beer to there's definitely northern lights and Meisters that'll be open down there.
Also later in the day burgers bar and grills doing a rib cook off so the
festival ends and then their rib rib cook off begins and that is something else too.
That's fantastic.
They're they have a lot of these different like rib cookers that go out there to compete.
When you get a little bit of competition, you know that the stakes get raised.
Now, how did you really just make
He did.
He did.
You can look at the flyer.
I'm saying, oh man, that was that was 10 out of 10.
Honestly, I can't just jealous that I didn't think of it.
Check out the flyer that we're looking at here at a Phillips Wisconsin dot net where you can go for all Phillips area Chamber of Commerce.
or you can give them a call 715-339-4100.
Jonathan, you knew I was gonna ask about this.
I'm looking at your list of sponsors at the incredible area businesses that make these events possible and we'll give them a shout out in a second, but there are two on there.
Now,
We do a lot of stuff like this on reality radio.
We do talk about a lot of events and there's gold sponsors.
There's silver sponsors.
There's feature and title sponsors.
You guys have a pumpkin spice sponsor and an autumn leaves sponsor.
Now autumn leaves and man pumpkin spice is everywhere now.
Why don't we give a shout out to the businesses that make this possible?
Yeah, there's so there's 24 unique premier sponsors.
These are people that essentially are funding all of our chamber events.
I mean, these people are.
are putting money into our community in ways that it goes beyond just here's $400 for an event.
It's without that funding, we don't have a band.
Without that funding, we don't have the ability to set any of this stuff up.
So our pumpkin spice sponsor this year for our event is Northwood's Dentistry.
We really appreciate them.
And the autumn leaves sponsors are Savior Lutheran Church.
Aside from those, we have 24 unique sponsors.
And I could I could slew them all off.
Should I fire them off?
And we owe them some gratitude.
Go ahead.
time.
Give him a shout out.
All right.
So we've got AC carpet plus.
We've got Warga, IAP, Northwoods Community Credit Union, JC builders, price electric cooperative, prevail bank, Norvato, Don Johnson Motors, SRC, up north vacation lodging, MMS electric, Phillips plating, Excel energy, pick and save.
Northern comfort, BW paper systems, forward bank, Phillips Senex, that's a Medford co op, freeze firewood, remax, late
gas, Comfort Cove, and Philips Lumber and Hardware.
Without those guys, these events would be very, very hard to do.
Very, very hard to put together.
Well, and they're the businesses that, I mean, in many cases, these are businesses that you might see offering discounted specials and things like that.
I think of stuff like that and what those businesses do that sponsor these events.
They are the wheels and the grease that goes on them.
They're the engine and the fuel that's in the tank.
It's really incredible to see a business.
They've got to keep their lights on.
They've got to
bottom line to worry about, but I think every one of them, and even the ones not necessarily on that list that may be in the future, understand that that giving back is really what makes it possible.
You've got to prime the pump,
basically.
It goes a long way too.
And if there's a business out there that's listening that wants to get involved, understand that as a Chamber of Commerce, we're a nonprofit.
Every dollar that we get that comes in, we put it right back out into the community.
And a lot of people see the events and they're like, okay, the Chamber of Commerce does the events, but there is a whole nine to five grind behind.
that that goes into promoting the county.
We are the tourism wheel, the cog for Price County.
You know, I take it.
I don't take it lightly because there is a lot of responsibility behind drawing as much traffic and tourism to the areas you can while also protecting the natural resources, the the valuable assets that we have.
You know, this this this area is special.
It's like you call it a hidden gem.
You look outside, you look at the water and you see just glass because we don't have people going out there pulling all the fish out of the water.
we have, you know, that handful of people and we want to protect this area.
Uh, but at the same time, we want as much money into the businesses as possible because that goes back into the pockets of the average day, the average day worker out there.
Let's listen to you right now.
market.
Yeah.
So I hit one year in March.
So about a year and a half now, um, I'm approaching my two year mark and I've been in the North woods here, uh, almost two years, actually two years at the end of.
October so
now I know I'm sure you've gotten many and mixed reactions to your entry here on the scene but let me tell you it's pretty incredible and I forgive me I don't want to just get over complimentary but it's been incredible to watch you walk right in and be this guy from day one you're a young guy I'm sure people looked at you like who is this guy coming in to do the leadership of the community and wow I'd like to hear from you what's the difference year one to year two on an event like Harvest Fest is this any easier this year or is it just
you know what knocks are coming.
What's the, what's that feel like from your perspective?
Yeah, I mean, comparing year one to year two is always tricky.
I think I'm so caught up in what year five is going to look like that I don't really have time to go back.
But, um, you know, honestly, you don't really get a whole lot of opposition in this role.
I think people understand that the greater good and people want to see things improve.
Um, that, you know, it's, I feel like most people are just wind in my sail, if I'll be honest.
And I think that, uh, that's a credit to you.
I sense the humility.
there and the forward thi in your position must have and again without going to to the efforts you're put making fall harvest f possible but flourish.
And throw their hat in that ring if you've got a vendor prod like to set up your stan remains, you can find contact dot net, but with only two before we're at saturday
4100 Jonathan will see you there on Saturday.
But is there anything you'd like to touch on before we
wrap up for the day?
Thank you sponsors.
Thank you listeners.
If you guys have any questions, just reach out to the Chamber of Commerce.
We're here and we're always happy to help Phillips
It's year two for you.
You might have been there a few times, but don't expect it to just be the same old thing because they're doing more than ever before live music with Tom Burt and with who was the other group reunited reunited is going to be there as well pumpkin decorating and face
painting and delicious food and cranberry goods and oh my I'll see you there on Saturday thank you Jonathan thank you it's 946 a.m.
I've got a quick word from sponsors before we finish up reality radio for the day but that's plenty of time just under 14 minutes for you to text us this hour's keyword go for the green and gold the keyword is
Yeah.
You got until 10 o'clock to text us the keyword zone Z O N E That is your go for the green and gold multi-state text to win keyword for the 9 o'clock hour We'll have another one at 11 before Joel takes over gives you the 1 p.m.
3 5 and 7 but for the next 15 minutes however long we can go a little late because I'm the I'm the 10 o'clock guy too So no worries.
I can step on my own toes a little bit We've got Cheyenne here with the senior living expo, but you so Cheyenne tell us who you are and who you work with
with primarily please.
Sure.
So I am the community outreach program coordinator for Price County.
I work within the senior services unit and the aging and disability resource center.
So the senior living expo is come as something that comes out of those two entities.
So ADRC was what was coming to mind I didn't want to put words in your mouth, but you guys work with people who are focused on Aging in place and they're trying to be where they are for the remainder of their life or to make plans if those if those original plans Don't become possible.
So you work directly through the county.
Am I correct
there?
address or something like that
So last year was our first Expo, okay?
We ended up securing funding from Aspiris And so we did our first one.
We had about 130 people come through which was pretty good for our event So this year is our second.
Yeah, so kind of the same idea.
Vendors more geared toward seniors and those with disabilities.
So just to name a couple, we have senior Medicare Patrol coming.
The Flambeau River Y will actually be there.
Nancy Demlo, she's doing demonstrations for her exercise classes that focused on elderly.
The Price County Historical Society.
We have some local attorneys that will be
there to discuss like estate planning and those kinds of things so yeah vendors geared towards seniors is kind of the idea.
Now so in the first thing and you mentioned seniors but of course there's going to be people there who are closer to our age for example you know it's people basically if there are extra challenges coming with the hand you were dealt there's a chance that people at the ADRC and with your units in the county can can help with that is that something you see a decent number of at these at these expos?
Yeah so
Seniors for sure, but those with disabilities as well.
So the EDRC that's kind of their service area So we say senior living expo, but certainly anyone's welcome to come and get information
Sure, so we do have live music with red Higgins, which is always a hit He'll be there for about an hour
starting at 11.45.
And then we do have a complimentary lunch as well.
This year we have it from Country Cafe.
Exciting stuff.
October 6th 10 a.m.
To 3 p.m.
Yep.
Everything is free.
Yes
So we apply for the last two years a grant through Aspirus and received funding from them.
You
No, and then my media thought we're sitting here in the Aspirus Health Studio, Aspirus doing a lot to help people in a community where healthcare and similar resources are getting tougher to come by.
And I know without getting political, the uphill battle just got a little bit steeper.
But that's basically what you do all day long is trying to make sure that the people who need a little extra help have that available to them as those resources dwindle a bit.
Am I correct?
And so the idea with the expo is kind of a place where someone can go and kind of get all the resources they may be interested in or curious about.
I think that last year the local attorneys really went over well.
because you can kind of talk with them, ask some basic questions before you know scheduling a meeting or things like that.
Also the senior Medicare patrol is kind of a big draw.
They deal a lot with like Scams and things like that.
So I feel like that's a draw for people as well
Well, I know that you know, I got I got a new form of scam called the other day and it was such a simple thing It was a a number that I believe was out of it said that it was a call from Minong and if people haven't heard Take every caller ID you see from an unknown number with a grain of salt these days.
It's unfortunately really easy for those scammers
is to fake the location that their number is coming from.
So if you see a Park Falls call and you don't recognize the number, they can leave you a voicemail, you can call them back.
But this was so simple and I thought, I almost admire it because it was 40 seconds of noise and bustle as though somebody was at a public event.
And it sounded like somebody was standing in a crowd and it's like, that sounds like somebody butt dialed me.
And that's exactly the point.
My dad happens to be a subscriber for one of those paid services that'll verify phone numbers for you.
So I said, hey, run this number and he said,
not registered to anybody and I thought a completely fake phone number calling from a small local town and it sounds like a butt dial my immediate instinct is I'm gonna call that back and who knows what happened if I do you know I'm not gonna disappear off the face of the earth but I'm gonna end up connected to somebody or somebody's gonna sell my phone number and all the sudden I'm getting 15 calls a day and not to scare anybody but if I've got questions about that kind of thing it sounds like the senior living expo is a good place to bring those questions and to find the people who can answer them
definitely
Yes.
So, uh, well, man, yeah, no, that's that I'm, I'm immediately wrapped up and I, I was, I, I don't respect it, but there was a certain artistry to that that I kind of admired to a degree.
But that said, we're talking about the senior living expo taking place.
This is next week, Tuesday already, October 6th, since October starts tomorrow.
After all, are you, are you a spooky season person?
Yes, 100%.
Are you already
officially here?
I'm actually not, believe it or not.
Fair
I was looking at a poll recently that said something like half of people who decorate wait until October, and it was 3%.
3% of spooky season celebrators do that before Labor Day, which, I mean, I understand before Labor, that's a long time.
But then I think of how many houses have their permanent Christmas lights out there, and I know the ladder is a little bit of a barrier.
But, okay, so we've got, is there, do you guys have,
Food, snacks, drinks, refreshments of any kind?
Yeah, so Country Cafe is doing a meal for us, which will also be free to attendees.
We have enough for about 150 people.
So first come, first
right into the
10 to 3 on October 6th.
Um, so my role is a community outreach program coordinator.
So I do a lot of, um, health promotion, programming and that kind of stuff.
Um, strong bodies comes to mind as the, the largest program that, that I help facilitate.
Okay.
Um, we have other things like, um, eat smart move more, way less, which, which is a health promotion program and mind over matter as well.
So you guys are just constantly battling the things that basically everybody deals with at some point in their life and those with disabilities too that.
may crop up, but I completely understand that it must be really tough, even in a small area like this, to really reach the people who need your services the most, because by the nature of what you do and the situations they're in, there are barriers.
There are extra barriers just to get people in your door.
That's the point of the Senior Living Expo, correct?
To break down those barriers for a day.
Right, one stop shop, everything you might need, get your questions answered, that kind of thing.
What might people do, and I know I might put you on the spot with this one a little bit, but what might
people do if say they can't drive themselves there.
Is this something that the BART bus might be able to bring you to?
Or how can people get there if that's the thing that stops them most of the time?
Yeah, so BART is offering free rides to any of those within the five mile radius.
So you could hitch a ride from Park Falls down to Phillips.
If you're within the five mile radius in Phillips, you can get a ride.
Also, if you're really wanting to go and transportation is an issue, give the county a call and we could see what we could
right there.
That is my favorite part of where I live.
I lived in Eau Claire for a little while.
You know you get 63,000 people at least when I was down there and it's just there are some things you can't do and honestly one of the first things that kind of has to go out the door is common sense call me we'll work it out kind of stuff because you open the door to that in an area like Eau Claire and you're gonna get 120 calls per day of hey I can't quite get there.
One of the luxuries we have is that hey
If you're in that sort of situation, we can probably just deal with it on a case by case basis, which may or may not be your official job description, but that is your description as a person, as a human being, something I just happen to know about you from you.
Well, and you've, you've, I
This isn't the first position you've worked where you are helping people, correct?
That's just kind of who you are.
Am
I right there?
Thank you
The humility is evident, but so is all the work you guys are doing to help the community.
Cheyenne, is there anything else you'd like to touch on with this that we haven't shined a light on that deserves it?
Maybe some people who are involved in making this happen who deserve a shout out or anything like that?
Yeah, it's really just all inclusive of our senior services and aging and disability staff.
So we kind of all work together to have
come to light.
I would like to highlight though we do have some speakers so there's an advanced planning discussion with Christie Spear to start off the day at 1030 and then later in the day at 1 after red is all done singing we have a Badgers talk.
with someone that comes from UW Madison and she's doing a talk on measuring Wisconsin's lake ice.
So kind of just something not necessarily relevant to, you know, senior care and things like that, but something that people might find interesting.
The kind of passions you develop when you got a little bit of free time or like me, when you hit 30 and suddenly realize, oh, I know what bird that is, you know, stuff like that kind of pops up and grabs you those interests.
But we appreciate what you're doing with that.
And I'll admit, I just told
lost my train of thought I had another point to make but that said senior living expo next Tuesday October 6th 10 a.m.
to 3 p.m.
at the Armory in Phillips oh I remember what it is it's not just for the people who need to utilize the services directly one thing I happen to know firsthand a couple years ago I ended up in a situation where a family member needed more care than I'd ever provided anybody before and a couple months into that I'm sitting there thinking I can't sleep I'm not even hungry anymore and
When I heard the phrase caretaker fatigue for the first time, it was like the light bulb lit up and exploded in my mind.
I thought, oh.
That's what that is.
So if you're in one of those situations too, and you can bring that person you're caring for, perhaps, if that's the kind of situation you're in and you can be a ride for that person, this is the kind of place.
These are the people who are working to help you and to help the person you're helping.
So caretakers out there too, right at home at the Senior Living Expo, correct?
Yes,
so?
You can call the County Human Services, so 715.
339 2158 and
we're gonna put this flyer I think it actually might already be on our website 98qcountry.com or you can go to the price county website and find ADRC resources any old time but of course technology might be one of those barriers so stop by the senior living expo and ask how you can break those barriers down get the care for people who need it and help people stay right here in the north woods because it's not always as easy as it is for you and me today Cheyenne once again thank you so much thank you that's how we finish reality radio
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