The Don Rosen Show (Hour 2)

Now you know my mom doesn't know my mom calls me every day. I was married for eight horrible years

My mother called me every day because I had the longest marriage of anyone in my family. How sad is that my mom would call me every day

She'd go like this is everything still all right

Which is kind of insulting because I was married eight years. I had two kids is everything still okay

Like one day she's gonna call I'm gonna go

Thank God you

Everything's all wrong

It's horrible

Come and pick me up

And that's her dream that she'll come and pick me up and we'll spend the rest of our lives together

Just tap dancing from one room with a house to another. Hey mom

What's for supper I

Made your favorites

I

Just see the face on the TV screen

Coming at you every Sunday

See the face on the billboard

On the color of the magazine

There's no question why I'm smiling

If I piece of paradise, you buy a piece of meat

I'll get you everything you want

I'll get you everything you need

You don't need to believe in me right?

Just believe in me

Because she just knows me and he knows I'm right

I've been talking to Jesus

All my life

All your sin knows me and he knows I'm right

And he's been telling me everything is all right

I'm leaving the family

If I ever love and want to be a sign of me

Or she don't know about my girlfriend

For the man I met last night

Do you believe in God?

Because there is a war I'm selling

And if you want I get to heaven

I'll see you right

You won't even have to hear your house

Or get out of your chair

You don't even have to touch that guy

Because I'm everywhere

And Jesus he knows me and he knows I'm right

I've been talking to Jesus

All my life

All your sin knows me and he knows I'm right

Where he's been telling me everything is all right

At 709 WRJ and thank you for joining us here

We'll have local news from Stuart J. Wattles

Coming up in just a few moments

But right now we're going to talk

Sam and Arama coming up this summer

You know all these big events

We're talking about the state fair

All these events are coming up now

And this was not a bad winter

But it's always nice to have this warm weather we're having

And just a quick reminder sunny today

With a hundred or sixty three

Clear tonight lows 44

Chance of showers and thunderstorms tomorrow

But you get that with warm weather

Highs near 55

Right now it's sunny clear

Gorgeous the birds are singing out there

The woodpeckers are knocking down trees

I can hear them out there

46 degrees

And my guess is John Soapchuk

He is the president of Salmon

Unlimited the people who run Salmon Arama

And the good morning my friend

Glad to have you bored

Good morning. How are you?

The first time here

Yes, first time in the station

It won't be the last time

Trust me. Great. We're going to work with Salmon Arama

Now this is the festival is back

Now the fishing contest never ended

It was always on

No, it's been fantastic

We've had great turnout over the last few years

I think last year might have been a record record participation

In the actual fishing event

And we had unbelievably good weather last season

So years ago when I first came here

To the rate of station 1991

They said we were part of Salmon Arama

We broadcast from there

Says Salmon what?

What are you talking about Salmon Arama?

I was new to the area

Now I lived in Wisconsin but I was new to

It's a scene

They said oh you won't believe this

We broadcast there from I think it was 11 days

And every night from 7 o'clock until closing

We broadcast from there

And said oh, okay I guess I'm part of that

And we had a boat

Sitting right there by the way

With the ice skating rink used to be

We had a boat and we used to set up in the boat

And I said this thing moves

How are we going to set up equipment?

And well they kind of lock it in

So I was not going to move that much

So we broadcast from there every year

And I gave you a couple of pictures

Yeah

Of a very young rookie congressman joining me

It was Paul Ryan

He was sat there with me at Salmon Arama

And our broadcast area

And stayed with us for a couple of hours

And talking about the photo right here

Yeah talking about fish

Okay so it was a fishing festival

And it was a regular festival

Where fun they had games

They had mini fishing

Where little kids can fish in a fake pond

They had a lot of food

Drinking an entertainment on the stage

And that all ended all of a sudden

Why did that end?

Well I'll be honest with you

I can't tell you why it ended or why it paired back

But the sights moved a few times

And with any event

It's really driven by those volunteers

That organize that plan

That fundraise

That implement

And at some point it seems like that had faded away

I mean the event wasn't ours to begin with

If you're aware of the history

The fishing contest was

The whole thing

Oh really?

Yeah the whole thing was started by Tuesday

Optimus Club of Racine as I understand

And I've only been a part of it for

A part of this organization for about four years now

So I'll you know

Please, please the fifth of my information

As accurate it's what I've learned from people

But Tuesday Optimus Club of Racine started in 1974

A year after salmon unlimited of Wisconsin formed

As a non-profit in 1973

And we were just one of five non-profits

That were involved in the time

And running that

Quote and Quote festival as you said

Well and by the way if you have a question for Josh

Anything about salmon or ammo

Or if you want to just bring up an old memory

You can text us

Go to the civic media app download it and go to WRJ

Or you can just text the phone number

262-300-745-262-300-745

Now we'll put you comment on the radio

But I just learned the other day how to actually answer it on my cell phone

There's a whole app I had to go to do that

I just learned about it the other day

And we have this company is based on geniuses

Who know how to do all this stuff

I'm not one of them

But they did tell me about how to do it

So we can't answer you

So 262-300-745

Now the fishing festival

People will realize big prices

They have big prices and cash money too right?

Yes, you know this is a derby

And it's a nine day event starting at midnight

On Saturday, July 12th this year

We're going to kick it off a little early

Being our 50th anniversary of the event

It was a really 50th

Yes, 1974

That was before me

Not before me

Before I got here

I got in Wisconsin in 1980

It was just a few years before me

Yeah, so we took the ownership of the event

Some years ago

As Tuesday Optimus transitioned out

And some of the other groups I think as well

We had the opportunity to buy the naming

And the rights to running the fishing tournament

The derby

And so we picked that up as a club

And we've run it ever since

But the festival portion has been

You know, we'll say on and off

Depending on a number of people involved

And location we've bounced around

Do a couple of different sites over the years

Had a really gracious host in Racine County

And Reefpoint Marina

Down on the peninsula for about the last 10 years

But anybody who's been down to our event

Particularly on the final Sunday

The same parking was tough

There's only so many spots on that peninsula

So we were looking to get somewhere

That was more cohesive, more inviting

For more people to attend and have more parking

And that's what we're looking to set up this year

Festival hall

Festival hall

Rotary park at festival hall

And we're going to have the new management team

On the air with us

From 5K

They're going to be on the air with us

This week next week

It's so lucky here in Racine

Because you got a lakefront

You might as well take advantage of it

It is incredible, it's the reason I was attracted to live here in the first place

Yeah, but you're from

Not far from the area here

Just down the road in Waukegan

But take a drive on the lakefront of Waukegan

And look at accessibility

You're not seeing you from Illinois are you

I'm a convert

I'm not really very either

But okay, so

So we're very lucky to have festival park

It was relatively new

It was there, but it was relatively new

We started before festival park existed at that spot

I heard it was at Don Hudson

Automobile dealership at that spot at one time

Part of it

And then they built festival hall

And we've had many events there

We've had our bridalikstravaganza fairs there

We had a diamond

We did this with Raspussen diamonds

We hid diamonds somewhere

And people had to go look for them

And it was a whole big thing

We had a lot of fun at festival park

But this is part of the history of festival park

And that's why I like it

Now, do you get fishermen from all over the country coming in

Or just over the Great Lakes cities

I wish I'd brought that step

But it's three countries

Whoa

And I kicked me for

Not remembering the number

Get the boot

We had a number of states too

Something in the range of like 20 or 30 states

Head representation

We are a fishing destination

Not just regional but national

For our Great Lakes and Lake Michigan in particular

Is an unbelievable salmon and trout fisheries

You say from different countries though

Yes

I think Australia

And I don't know where the last one was

But I recall hearing there were three countries represented

So it's again, it's a great event

To our knowledge

We are the largest

For one of the largest freshwater fishing tournaments in the world

Whoa

I think well maybe people come from Michigan

And they come down a minute

But I didn't realize they came from different countries

To come fishing this festival

Well, and don't forget it's not just this location

Racine weighs in

Roughly 50% of the fish

Because this is the home

This is where it all began

But we have weigh imports

Roughly 12 or 13 other sites around the lake

In Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin

And so there's participants in this

So they can weigh in down there for this festival

Correct

Yeah, you said it started

Originally it was purely recene

Back in the day but as technology is allowed

It is now a lake wide event

Is the weigh-in station still the same one

I've always remembered it right over there

It's right there right festival park

It moves with the festival

So the last 10 years

It's been out at Reef Point

In the parking lot right next to our tent

Of course it will be in Rotary Park

Where our site is

I remember we brought cash from one time from there

Got real busy so we were getting in the way

So we were coming in with all the fish

Getting him weighed

And it's an exciting thing to watch

Because these people are coming in

They want to win the big, they gave away boats in the past

They gave away big cash prizes

Yes

And people come down

They want to have fun doing it

But as long as you're down there doing it

It is what they are

Is partially a yield of how many people sign up

It's also partially a yield of what we get for sponsorship

And this year we have done a lot better

I'm focusing on the sponsors

It's allowed us to have this great

Itinerary that we have for events for the week

And we'll talk about that in a minute

Yeah, it's just it's going to be a fun year

Okay, all right

Josh Subject is here

He is the president of salmon unlimited

Of Wisconsin, those of the people

Putting on salmon aramah this year

And a fun festival this year

To bring back the fun part of the festival as well

So it's not just fishing

So if you're like me and you don't fish

I eat fish

But I don't catch them

I did once, I told you

On the phone, I called one

One fish and out

You get yourself hooked up to a screamer

You'll never forget it

That's screamer

More coming up in just a moment

There we are

Yeah

Oh

Oh

All the money is for you

That every heart ride

All the money

All the heart

All the money

She went home

All the money is for you

That every heart ride

When you eat

That's all men gonna

Read a lot of news

All the money is for you

That every heart ride

When you eat

That's all men

They really seem to need her bail

That's all

They need to be

They don't love it

They're just not paid

But it's worth it all

To hear this day that they get it

They were all

All the money

All the heart

All the money

They were all the listeners

sent me a question before

An answer

I was talking about

I have to get my driver's license renewed

This next month coming up

Every eight years you gotta get it renewed

And they said you could do it at home

Just send it in

Send in your thing and you don't have to come into

Renew it

I said well, how do you take my new picture

And people told me they used the old one

I always thought you had to go in

So

So, uh, yeah, the, um, you do it from home now. I didn't know that. I thought you had to go in. I spent my entire life going to the motor vehicle, uh, bureau and, uh, who knew?

Anyway, so, uh, yeah, I guess you can do it at home. Uh, the other thing was I was going to do something about it. No, I didn't write. I write down, usually write down questions if I have more of tough in my head.

But you do have the light. Now, Sam, we're talking to, uh, Josh, uh, uh, so Chuck here. He is the president of Sam and unlimited putting on Sam and Ramma. Once again, this year, it's moving back the festival park.

Or what, what's it, uh, Rotary Park now, right? Rotary Park festival. I want to get the names.

No, I've had to practice that one over the weekend myself. Yeah, I gotta, I gotta get the names right. Okay. So it's coming back this year with the fun festival for the family. So we live. You're not a fisherman.

You can still enjoy Sam and Ramma before when they got rid of the festival. He had to be a fisherman to enjoy it because that's what it was. It was a fishing contest only.

It's funny. I mentioned that last year in the fourth of July parade, my daughter and a few other volunteer friends of hers. And I handed out about 4,000 leaflets to advertise last year's family day and the events. And boy, there were a couple things that just resonated through the crowd.

Everybody remembered the old festival and we're celebrating it. Everybody told us about the cheese curds that they remember. They remember the kids fishing pond.

Yeah, it's fishing hot. Some of those beloved items. So that that we brought back to the board and just discussed how impactful those items were to people.

We were coming up on the 50th this year. And yeah, we're trying to integrate some of those back. And if you want, I can actually go through a list of some of the things. Let's do that. Yeah.

We might have to cut you off in the middle of it because of our break, but don't start doing it. Sure. So Friday, July 12th, the day before the actual fishing event starts.

We are going to have the 50th event kicked off with fireworks and live band called the breakfast club.

And those are probably going to start. They're going to start I think at seven o'clock for the music will probably be open an hour or two before that to get the festival going.

And then of course fireworks at sunset probably. Oh, fireworks 92930. Yeah. Yeah. First, I don't know that we've ever had fireworks. No.

I know Italian fast and a lot of the other ones that we saved down your head. But for the 50th, we we took a shot at bringing those out.

And those are not cheap. There are not cheap. We have to give credit to a few places on that.

First of all, Kelly Cruz downtown for seeing corporation was a great resource for helping us. They utilized a firm and we happily joined them with them for our show.

You know, we had partnership or sponsorship on the fireworks from visit Racine County and then also town bank carried the way for us to get those out there for the public.

I'd say what a great name Kelly Cruz. If I had to be a female star in Hollywood, Kelly Cruz would be the name I'd take.

Well, she's kind of got a PR role. So I know, but still Kelly Cruz. I mean, just it's even better than Tom Cruz. That's his real name.

But Kelly Cruz's roles with Kelly Cruz get those two things going on there. What else we have?

You know, we're moving into Saturday then with our family day. So last year we put out a family day event in which we had a free fish boil.

And again, we'll predicate that to wall supplies last. We had two bands on that or we all had one band last year.

But this year, we're going to have two bands, one early afternoon, which is Brian Daniels band. And then in the evening, we're having cold training.

Oh, okay. And we're going to have meat raffles, the fish boils, some kids games. Just again, like you said, a great family oriented environment.

That's our whole goal with this whole festival event is we want this to be a place where the community comes down and feels like the whole family should be there.

I get to do it on the grassy area or the ice rink used to be the ice rink or the tent is. And then, you know, we will have a lot of other vendors down there, including Riverside Marina.

We'll be bringing down some of their boats that they sell. So there's going to be a nice line of boats from them and Lynch GMC Lynch display or sorry, Lynch Superstore.

Yeah, they're bringing down some of their vehicles to put on display as well, because they're both the tenured partners of the event for the fishing tournament.

Sounds like a lot of fun. It's a lot of work.

Yeah, well, that sounds great. I'm glad the festival is coming back again because it was gone for a number of years.

And, you know, people always say, you know, just I wish you would come back again. First of all, it's an astrology thing for a lot of people.

It is. And they went down. There was kids. And now they have their own kids to bring down.

They do. And, you know, I mean, the event, but again, the fishing tournament has been run by our committee chair, Jim LaFortune.

And his team of which I said on that committee is a volunteer as well, but Jim has led the fishing tournament for probably.

I think it's been ten years now that he's been doing this. And he works his butt off.

It is practically a part-time job during the fall after the event. And then a full-time job from now forward in terms of the amount of hours he volunteers and we volunteer to put this together.

What are the dates? When does it start?

Friday, July 12th is the kickoff.

Okay.

The fishing tournament starts at midnight, July 13th. And it ends on Sunday, July 21st with our big final day event.

Guys, Subjuck, Salmon Arama, Salmon Unlimited. We're talking with us this morning. We're coming up at just a moment here.

At home-town radio refresh, WRJN, a civic media station.

We're very trusting of elevators. Well, what is this? A casket on a string? Let's hop on.

I don't know, it works. But if it shakes, we'll giggle.

We giggle because we realize no one's driving the elevator, right?

We're all gonna die.

So we press one of these buttons or climb through the trap door in the ceiling that leads to every Bruce Willis movie. What do we do?

We also giggle because there's no talking on an elevator, right?

You get on an empty elevator, you and a friend, and you're like, I'll tell you later.

It's like a den of awkwardness. You just stand there like, are we supposed to kiss? What are we doing?

It's very strange. Not as awkward as a stairwell.

You've been in an abandoned stairwell by yourself. You encounter strangers coming the other way.

There's always that moment where you meet eyes, you're like, uh, if you don't rape me, I won't rape you.

What are you doing in this? What am I doing in this? Are we in an episode of Law and Order?

I'm trying to catch your heart. It's like trying to catch the star.

I wish I didn't feel so strong about you. Like, I've been missing love and fall around you.

Trying to catch your heart. It's like trying to catch the star.

Somebody please love you, baby. I must be what you are.

736 at WRJ and I'm John Rosen and John Sofjack is here. He's president of salmon unlimited,

putting one salmon around this year at festival park, which is actually rotary park.

We get that in there. We're talking about elevators during that bit with Jim Gaffigan.

My brother once did something. My brother is not a jokester, so I was really surprised that he did it.

He got into an elevator, a crowded elevator, and you know how people turn around and face the door and an elevator.

He turned around with his back to the elevator and started looking at people with a smile on his face.

Now, elevators are scary to begin with, and he is in front of the door, so they can't make a quick getaway.

And he's just facing them, smiling with us like sardonic smiles on his face.

And people are looking down. They're looking up at the ceiling. They don't want to make eye contact.

That's terrible to do that to people with an elevator. It's a scary place to be to begin with.

But all right, let's get to our news headlines here, Stuart Jake Wattles in our news center watching the news for us this morning.

Last week, it was a bank in Pleasant Prairie over the weekend, a banking connoisseur's north side was hit.

Connocia police say they're still looking for a suspect in connection to the bank robbery at the US bank branch on 22nd Avenue in on Saturday.

It happened in the morning. It's a second bank robbery in about a week in the county.

There was an arrest in the previous incident.

No suspect that was accused in calling in the threat to a Costco before the robbery as well.

A lawsuit was filed against the Raymond School Board for allegedly violating open meetings laws.

The lawsuit claims that the board did not properly notify the public about it December 2022 retreat.

It did not hold a meeting in an open session and failed to provide notice about what the meeting was about.

The lawsuit was filed by Mitchell Burman, a parent in the district.

The school board has 20 days to respond to the allegations and a prank could overturn a could turn deadly police in south of the state line issuing a warning.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office says there has gotten several 9-11 calls regarding the senior assassin prank.

And above teenagers scaring their friends with water guns or realistic looking fake firearms,

while wearing masks and camouflage, the incidents are taking place in public spaces and officials say they pose a serious risk.

It could potentially lead to tragedy. Authorities are urging parents to have conversations with their kids about the dangers of the prank.

Whoa, pranks are changing still with Jay Wattles watching the news for its in our news center this morning.

We're at WRJ and hell of updates throughout the day for you.

Why isn't that a prankster I never did any of that stuff.

They had a thing the other day that cops shot this teenager. He had a look-alike gun.

He was waving it around to people in the neighborhood.

Wasn't real, but I saw the gun. You can't tell the difference. It was a look-alike gun.

When I was a kid, we had cap pistols. We used to bring to school. One was a realistic looking gun.

And we used to bring them for show and tell, I mean, times of change. You couldn't do that today.

But we used to bring all this stuff to school and nothing was ever said about it.

You could bring anything to school. What was the kid? Nobody cared.

Because there was nothing like there was today. They didn't have school shootings or anything like that.

But yeah, I got to be careful out there today. I remember having a cap pistol.

And all the kids would have their, and we aim at it.

Shoot each other. There's the cap pistol, but some of them look real.

And nobody ever there would be, oh, look at that. They're ready to gunfight in the street.

Oh, well, times of change.

Josh Sopchuk is the president of salmon. I'm limited talking about salmon around me.

If you have a comment for him or any comments, you can text me.

262-300-7445-262-300-7445.

I'm trying to come up with a name, an acronym, or just a name that's 7445 stood for.

And I came up with Phil, Ph.I.L.

Or shill, H.I.L.

I'm trying to come up with what is 7445 staying for?

Because our regular phone number is 634-WRJN-9756.

Sure.

But that's what this number is. It's odd. It's hard to remember.

262-300-7445.

We did the whole lineup yet, weren't we?

No, we just got through and do a Saturday with the family day.

Sunday and Monday, just continuing on from that.

We have too many tournaments that are going on.

So if you like watching weigh-ins, those are great days to come out

because you'll have 20, 30 boats each day

at the completion of the event midday weighing in the fish.

Getting into Tuesday, we have a very special event.

We bring out a group of paralyzed veterans in participation

with the Paralyzed Veterans Association, PVA,

and bring them out on charter boats.

That one we had some great help last year

from the City Racines Fire Department and Paramedics

for assisting people in and out of the boat.

Wednesday is going to be our kids' day this year.

In that particular case, we're, again,

we're just waiting on buttoning up our contract

with festival parks for the site.

But once we get that done, we hope to have a free fish day

on that day at the fish pond.

Every other day, the pond will be there,

but potentially Wednesday, we would have it be free for the kids.

Thursday, tentatively at this point,

we've got a pull tab tournament being hosted by a third party.

We're waiting to get the details on that setup.

Friday, again, every one of these nights

is going to have a band live from six o'clock

until nine o'clock during the weekdays.

So we've got bands every night of the week.

And then Saturday, we're going to have a big cornhole tournament.

I got corrected on this.

I called it Bago, but apparently there's a difference

between Bago and Bags.

Never heard of Bago.

Correct me for being wrong on it.

And I only play as a casual person

at a family barbecue or per day.

And here's something I bet you didn't know.

There are some colleges that are giving scholarships.

Yeah, we have the story on there.

Well, you can play video games and get one too.

I know.

When I went to college, you really had to get...

If you didn't have the grade, you didn't get the scholarship.

Now, who know?

I would have waited and played cornhole.

If your beer lifting arm is good,

you're probably right for that scholarship.

But we have a great tournament organizer

for a cornhole tournament

that's going to be held at the site.

I believe that one's like 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

They're talking a couple hundred teams.

Traveling teams that play in these tournaments are coming to Racine.

So we're going to have a large draw coming in for that

in terms of population to experience our area.

And then it all caps off with Sunday's final day event.

And if you haven't been there for that, you're missing out.

We always did that.

And we always brought our news department

at our Sunday to announce the winners.

Yeah.

We always waited for that winning announcement

and Tom Carco used to come in on a Sunday

and just wait.

And we broke into programming.

Here it is.

It got the winners.

Now, I mentioned to you this on the phone

where we were talking.

This was on court cam, I think.

They caught these two lunatics.

Oh, boy.

We're putting lead weights in the fish

and winning these fishing festivals.

And they were like $10,000 prices.

They weren't cheap.

Yes.

And they were cheating.

And one day they suspected.

And the guy, I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know what you're talking about.

They cut the fish open.

And they were these lead weights inside.

They said we got weights.

Yeah.

And I can't believe somebody would do that.

But obviously these two guys didn't know.

They went to prison because it was a robbery.

They basically took money for something

that they didn't deserve the money for.

But that's, that happens, I guess.

That happens.

One of the guys was also a couple months later.

You remember the story?

Arrested.

Yeah, the Lake Erie walleye tournament.

But one of the two guys was also arrested

with his son for producing counterfeit money as well,

shortly after that.

I guess if you're no good Nick,

you're no good Nick, no matter what.

There are good people all over this world.

And unfortunately, there are people

that will push the limits or break the limits as well.

And it happens.

So we do our best to mitigate that

through different exams.

It's not just lead weights.

There's other ways the guys try to cheat.

I think you cheat on a fish.

I'm not going to go share the,

this isn't a top 10.

Come on.

Now, it's, it's all a weight thing though, right?

It is with exception to,

I believe the Perch division is measured by length.

Oh, okay.

Just because of the size of the fish.

So nobody ever put a fake fish up there.

They're all real fish.

You could tell.

They're all real fish.

Yes.

No, no, no.

Yeah, we actually try to get all of the winning fish

down to our site as you know.

We have the freezer down there and have them on display.

Yeah, yeah.

Remember the freezer, yeah.

Yeah.

So we'll have those out there.

But we do examine in multiple ways.

And again, this is where I tip my cap to Jim

as the tournament director of the chairman.

And some of the other more experienced members

who've been around for years.

They know what to look for.

There are telltale signs.

I know some of them,

but I do not know many.

It is just something that over the years,

you see what's going on.

That's supposed to know what to look for.

Yes.

We'll leave it at that.

So I went fishing once in my life.

And it was right before salmonorama.

They took radio people or anybody out there to go fishing.

And I didn't know anything about fishing.

I had never weighed my life.

Yeah.

So I did go fishing once on the Great South Bay on Long Island.

I put a rod in the water.

Didn't catch anything.

But we just put it in there because we were bored

on the summer afternoon.

But I went fishing and I caught a fish.

And pretty fast, too.

I think there was some guy in a scuba suit

putting it on my hook.

I can't swear to that.

But I caught a fish.

He said, well, you want it?

I said, I'll put it back.

I feel the poor thing.

It probably has a family and everything.

Put it back.

So I did, but I did catch a fish.

And it was pretty well about, you know,

wasn't small.

Oh, that's modest for here.

Yeah.

I kind of like some fish.

And he put up a little fight.

Here, check out some of these.

These were from yesterday.

Okay.

I'm looking at photos about that.

Yeah.

You've got my two kids.

Oh, it's you.

And then we brought in a couple of our friends' kids as well.

Yeah.

And this is just outside Racine.

This is down in front of the Decoven Center.

This is down in front of Hershing Park.

Yeah.

But we're talking, you know, three foot long brown trout.

We're talking.

Actually, I don't think we took a picture of the coho.

Because they're a little smaller.

But they're absolutely fantastic eating.

People don't catch salmon, though.

Yes.

Oh, they do catch salmon.

King salmon, coho salmon.

Okay.

I did.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

That's the winner of the event is typically a king salmon just because they are the largest.

In general, they're the largest and most voracious eaters.

But we also a few years back.

Boy, I think it was 2010.

We had a world record brown trout win the event caught just off win point.

He's a 40 pound brown trout.

Who was another fishing event not far from your coho ram?

I remember that in Kenosha.

Yes.

They don't do that anymore, do they?

No.

No.

In fact, as you were sharing some of these great photos with me of the past that you had.

And we started talking about our 50th.

Some guys in the Kenosha club started posting photos of theirs.

And there was a little bit of a fervor from the public in Kenosha.

Same.

Bring coho ram up back, too.

And we'll see there.

You know, again, it's all in the volunteers.

Is that why these festivals end?

They can't find people to volunteer to run it anymore.

None of us are paid.

I guess I don't know if that's publicly aware, too.

But salmon unlimited is a 501c3 nonprofit.

I'm the president.

We've got a full board.

Jim is our chairman for the event.

None of us are paid.

None of our committee volunteers are paid.

So it's like radio.

Not underpaid.

Not paid.

Something like radio.

Yeah.

Okay, we're talking to John Soapchuk.

He is the president of salmon unlimited.

Who put on salmon arama.

Not only is the fishing tournament going on again this year,

but this time they're bringing back the festivals you remember.

Maybe when you're younger as a kid,

you used to go with your parents.

Well, now you can bring your kids along this year.

748.

WRJ.

I'm looking for sunshine today with a hide here 63.

Clear tonight.

Lose around 44.

Showers and thunderstorms likely tomorrow with a hide here.

55 degrees.

Get the current temperature here.

It's gone up a little bit.

It's 49 degrees with beautiful sunshine.

The birds are singing.

Enjoy your day today.

WRJ at hometown radio refreshed us.

Civic media station.

Don't forget.

262-3-007-445.

We have a question for our guest.

749-0.

WRJ.

749-0.

WRJ.

WRJ.

949-0.

WRJ.

949-0.

WRJ.

949-0.

WRJ.

949-0.

WRJ.

949-0.

WRJ.

949-0.

WRJ.

949-0.

WRJ.

949-0.

WRJ.

949-0.

I tried to hold you,

but you were stronger.

Oh yeah.

And now we see my only chance

is to give this up the fight.

And I will never refuse.

Like I've been when I lose.

I was defeated by the war.

Ah, the first hit, the song that put up on the map.

This is the song they sang in the Euro competition

that they won.

And of course, the rest is history with AvA.

752-WRJN,

hometown radio refresh,

Pacific media station.

I'm Don Rosen.

And Josh Sopchuk is here

spending the morning,

the president of Salmon Unlimited,

putting on Salmon Arama.

And we talked briefly,

Salmon Arama did change their name one year.

The festival is called The Big One.

I heard it.

You don't.

I don't remember it.

That was definitely before my time.

I remember when they changed.

And it was scary because they, wow!

Yeah.

But it went right back to Salmon Arama.

Yeah.

I think I heard there was some pushback

to get it back to Salmon Arama.

And they also have the,

the float.

Yes.

The big fish.

Everybody's,

it's got a hook line and thing.

And it's a big fish as Salmon Arama.

But we came up with an idea

for the Fourth of July parade this year.

Have someone dressed in a fish outfit.

You guys trying to catch him and reel him in

and he's fighting for the full four miles.

Yeah.

Can't have the public do that, though.

They have, you know,

the Fest has got some safety rules and restrictions on.

Oh.

Yeah.

There are certain things you can't and can't do

as we learned last year.

Well, we knew I learned last year

as my first year being involved in the parade.

I know.

You can't throw candy along the parade route.

You can't do anything to get,

but people do it anyway.

They're told not to do it,

but they do it anywhere.

Yeah.

I guess if you hear the back stories or the risks,

you get a kid that runs out in front of a vehicle

to grab a piece of candy that's on the ground.

Things happen.

And I live right on Main Street.

So the parade goes right past nine.

We used to broadcast the parade every year

for my front lawn because it goes right past my house.

Well, they are working you for every penny then.

Well, this year we're not broadcasting it.

But yeah, we used to set it up on our lawn.

We brought all the equipment down.

We had two of our announcers come down there.

Sure.

And they gave me a wireless to walk the parade route.

Okay.

And in front of the house,

and we interviewed everybody that came by,

but we did it for years and years and years

and then a new owner took over and he didn't want to do it.

I was going to let him use my house.

Anyway, but even if he wanted to, I would let him do it.

Well, in downtown, I know two years ago,

they had that live interview spot right at Monument Square

on like Sixth Street.

And I think that's Sam Johnson.

Yeah, he tried it for one year.

Yeah.

It didn't do it last year.

No, he didn't eat.

Well, he stopped doing it all together.

Okay.

Yeah, I think it just, oh, I meant,

I think the parade itself had their own two years ago.

Well, they still do.

They have, they do TV coverage in Channel 24.

Yes.

Yeah.

They have it down there.

And they should have,

and this is I'm not knocking anybody,

but they should have somebody who's a local yoke

down there doing it.

They have people from Milwaukee come in

and they're not that familiar with Racine

and some of the people in the parade

and they have their sheets of paper.

They do a good job.

It's just you should have a local yoke

and not me, by the way.

But they should have a local yoke

in there doing the,

yeah, someone with personality like a Doug Nicholson

or somebody who knows Racine.

Yes.

And it's familiar with the history

of the parade and so forth.

You know, the parade used to go the other direction one time.

I did not.

Yeah, there's pictures of it.

I didn't know it either.

Tell us other pictures.

I think it's easier to walk south

because it's downhill.

Well, Jim Messier and Carol G and forte

did a whole thing at the Golden Rendell

on the 4th of July parade.

And they did,

and my house was in there for years

from the 1940s, 50s, 60s,

and it gets you my house in the background.

But it used to go one time

for a couple of years they had

to go in the other way.

And it looks odd because we're so used to

see it march toward downtown,

not from downtown.

Sure.

And it was really weird.

But I wonder if it had to do with staging,

perhaps with the SEJ parking lots

they had more room and tried it that way

because obviously we staged right up

by the zoo on the main street area

and some of its ancillary roads.

Or maybe somebody was dyslexic

and they didn't realize

they were doing good.

That could be true.

Hold the map upside down.

So there's still a quick review here.

So the salmonorama fishing festival

has been going on has never stopped.

But it was at the Rift Point Marina

for a few years.

Now it's coming back

to Rotary Park Festival Park.

Started down at that festival park area.

Went to Pershing Park for a while.

Went to Reef Point,

which was a wonderful site

just limited on parking

and wonderful team to work with.

And now we're back to where it began.

And we have a lot of parking accessibility.

But the festival,

they actually a fun festival

part.

Not for the fishermen.

That's fun for them.

But for the public,

come down there.

That's coming back this year

with the kids fishing pond,

with the food,

firework,

cheese curds,

cheese curds,

cheese curds,

fried cheese curds.

We have,

we have folks on the parade route.

You heard,

you told me last year,

you told all of us last year

by the hundreds,

by the thousands.

We spent this winter

trying to find that

famous Koani's recipe.

And we had some individuals

who were able to help us out

with that Dave Brinkman

and his wife,

Kim did a great job

in testing multiple recipes

until Jim was given

what we believed to be

the true recipe.

And it was very similar

to the ones we were given.

Boy, I'll tell you,

testing those,

cheese curds at our meeting nights,

it's been tough.

But we did it for you folks.

I'll tell you what,

the secret is,

using oil from the years past

without cleaning it.