Some are time we went to a bunch of fairs to amazing all your perspective on
fairs changes because as a kid you're like the fair there's a fair as an adult
you're like that looks dangerous I think looking in that truck we used to go to
the fair to see the biggest pig in the county now we go to the fair to be the
biggest pig in the county some of that food at fairs it's ridiculous
deep-fried Oreos okay deep-fried Twinkies maybe deep-fried butter no you know
occasionally you'll need to stick a butter what if we deep-fried it no it's
wrong I mean it's delicious but it's wrong there's no health inspector at
the fair that's why they can do that because everything at the fair is very
temporary meaning when the cops come they can leave some of those rides don't
look safe I'll just let my kids go first no sense and it's all dying but you
never want to be judgmental at the fair you're always like you know what I'm
sure this ride's fine you know I'm sure I'm sure the guy running the ride
he's probably a structural engineer we don't know that's probably how we lost
his arm you know
tonight we're going to make you happy night we'll put all of the things aside
giving this time and show me some affection we're going for those pleasures in the night
I want to love you feel you let myself around you I want to squeeze you leave you I just can't get enough and if you
feel real strong I let it go I'm so excited and I just can't hide it
I'm about to lose control and I think I can't
get it out of the way to W. R. J. and radio hometown radio refreshed a civic media
station 99.9 FM 98.1 FM and the legendary AM frequency of 1400 and don't forget
everything we do is podcast here so you're both both hours podcasts about 10
o'clock this morning you can listen to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts
Apple Spotify YouTube or wrgm.com or the civic media app just tapping down
rose and show you'll let's see it because you're going to want to re here this
hour over and over again Kelly Cruz is here the executive director of the
downtown we're seeing cooperation we have two ladies with great names as we
got Angela speed in the other day and now we got Kelly Cruz yeah it looks great
grand that put that microphone real close okay okay I got to hear every word
you I don't want to miss a word here that great name Kelly Cruz thank you wow
in high school you must have been that here comes Kelly Cruz Tom Cruise's sister
yeah well you got that name now it spelled differently the time grows but it's it's still a great name
you know when people say to me it's Don Rosen your real name would you make that up for radio
I said this is the name you thought I made up for radio what are you crazy this is not a name
it's a great name but it's not a name you make up for radio what would be your radio name I don't
know it's always been done DJ Don I use the name on my birth certificate people from my old hometown
still call me Donald my brother and my sister must still call me Donald they say Donald is
what's going down it's not calling me Donald right that's the duck is Donald okay down can
we're seeing I pass through every single morning on the way home we're into work this morning
of 5 a.m. and now it's nice I can see it because the sun is coming up and I get that little peak
of the lake right there right by the ram yes and I quit yeah I take a quick look to my left
there before I you know hit another car take a quick look to see the lake and did you notice
all the new summer banners up they're nice bright orange they say historic and hip downtown
recines oh wow yeah yeah Monday this week or a couple days ago got the Christmas tree down yet
oh yeah we're getting ready to put up the big giant flower pot I mean everything is rumbling
ready to go I'm not kidding there is a there's a house on laythrupp when I come in in the morning
so has their Christmas tree up in the front all lit up it's all lit up every morning and I I
know they would be a good day to take it down I mean it's me you could probably remove it now
but they don't I think they leave it a year round there was a house opposite the proceed
theater guild to you just to leave up their decorations through the end of March and they had like
all these gnomes and everything the Christmas stuff all over the lawn and I said you know
do you need help taking it down you an invalid maybe I can help you remove this stuff
although it's kind of nice and then they put it back up in July for Christmas in July
oh my god yeah okay so downtown recine I passed it every morning I love going through downtown
recine then I passed it going home about eight thirty nine o'clock in the morning and you're in
charge of it you're in charge of making sure downtown recine remains downtown recine it's such
it's a historic downtown because it's it you know we my wife and I look through the history of
recine and where we live on Main Street our house wasn't there at my house our it wasn't
considered recine at one time recine just moved up they keep moving moving it up a few blocks
in the 1800s but downtown recine was always there and I have pictures of Haymarket Square which is
Monument Square and you see the Hay wagons out there hence the name Haymarket Square and you see
people walking around with horses and donkeys and stuff and it can't it's hard to believe it's the
same spot it is it is amazing it's so nice that there's those Facebook groups you know
racing history and retro racing where you can really see all of these amazing pictures of
downtown are seen from as old as the 1800s through to the 1920s the 50s 60s the majestic theater
I mean it has how everything has changed but we do have some of the best architecture in the state
I would say well and you're something people don't know we went on a tour my wife actually went
on this one I didn't go when the parade of homes they took it to one of the downtown buildings
and on top it's like the paradise on top of some of these buildings it is you can't see it from
the ground level but it's it's you go upstairs on the top it's like it's like a penthouse suite out
of Manhattan there are some really gorgeous top floors and a lot of Airbnb's that have been
completely renovated gorgeous views it it's a whole other world those second third floors yeah
and you're going the rooftop and oh no because you can't see it from downtown and I said wow that's
really nice she told me she told me pictures of it I didn't she went on that I went on the
brother parade of homes she went on that one without me I don't know why I'm thinking why didn't I
go on that parade of homes the other thing was when we have Carol G and forte and Jim
here they're with scene historians they put on these big shows over at the golden rondale
and they'll do a lot of downtown shows yes and you see downtown on the 50s and early 60s
with these big vertical neon lights and you don't see anywhere anymore they just have these
even when I grew up they have these big vertical signs and downtowns they just don't feel there's
big flashy signs anymore they used to show I used to love the street lights they don't use them
anymore either because they have mercury vapor lights now but these have these street lights
really nice they were like art decal almost they hung over the streets and lit them up but they
they weren't efficient so all the cities got rid of those but it's a love this pictures of
those in downtown that the 50s and 60s era with the scoop the loop theme yeah in August our
first Friday is going to have another scoop the loop theme with a you know 50s 60s car show a
ban that's it's it should be a lot right now you brought that up first Friday's that did
a kick in yet that starts this Friday no one you should mention it yeah we've got a great we
have a theme every every first Fridays go from May through December we actually just won first
first place on the state for the best retail event in the state for our first Fridays and our
reinvigoration of them last year with new themes and just really putting out all the stops this
first Friday is called a foodie first Friday so we're really highlighting do you do you know that
there's over 40 restaurants in downtown receipt I know some of them because I go to some of them
but in other we're 40 yes I started counting and I am just an awe but pretty much as you know as
you know every international cuisine you could ask for so we're really highlighting all of the food
there's obviously first Fridays is always free it always will be but there also is a
ticketed portion of that event of this Friday called feast on the streets where for one ticket
price you get to sample 10 different restaurants which is pretty nice and they're all different
international flavors is chitchat Pakistani nationality yeah yeah yeah why don't you
sign vote episode with the Pakistani have the restaurant and Jerry told him to switch to
Pakistani food even broke well chitchat is always busy that it is so beloved they're always busy I
know that so that is one of the stops so there's going to be Irish cuisine Pakistani desserts what's
Irish I even know I even know yeah a bread bowl like beef stew Irish beef stew I mean can't go wrong
trying 10 different restaurants in one day they're all so get on the scale before you
go and then don't get on the scale until about a week later because whoa where did that come from
well this belt wasn't as tight when I started this thing today yeah it's gonna be fun
so first Fridays now for people that haven't done this before the stores stay open late so you
can go into stores they have everything's open late and on the square you have bands playing you
have it's like a million people mulling around it is it's very local there's you tend to run into
everyone you know X wives X girlfriend you want to tell everybody yeah it is fun it's it's a great
event you know it's just something to do without feeling like you're totally committed because you
can roam and you can do everything at your own pace if you feel like retail shopping you can if
you feel like watching live music there's a plethora of that throughout the the downtown on those
first Fridays or or just walk around you know where you get I get exercised now we can walk
downtown very easily it's not easy it's it's it's it's a walking I bet it's healthy and if it's a
nice day I don't mind doing it and it's the walk home after you get down your time oh man call
an Uber yeah what are going six blocks call an Uber you know but it is really nice and we always
have a good time and let's talk about some of the other event they are first Friday and that runs
it's the first Friday obviously May first Friday and it runs through all the way through December
now so May through December oh really yes so you got a word jacket then later on oh yeah right
now it's very nice out there okay so we're in the month of May May first we talked about
foodie first Fridays yeah that's coming up this for and feast on the streets then you got
the wine walk coming up on the fourth yeah the fourth and the eleventh we have our annual spring
wine walks those are super popular we've got over 30 businesses participating so walk around again
there's live music sample wine sample beers there's food out at every location on court yes
on court supplies us all the wine which is great and it's just a really good time and it really
supports the businesses you can hop into some businesses that you maybe have never been to or
haven't been to since probably holiday shopping right because it's been everyone's been at home
yeah hibernating yeah streaming on TV it's also a great time for mother's day because mother's
day is actually in two weeks so I think yeah honestly you know your mom wants to spend time with
you more than any gift so that's what they say I think it's true also I only get to the
wine walk actually is two weeks in a row yeah is the fourth and the eleventh of May more coming
up with Kelly Cruz from the DRC the downtown Racine Corporation at WRJN hometown radio
refreshed a civic media station
oh
there's a more I know he's the one I dream of
you
look into my eyes take me to the clouds of all
is that control can't seem to get enough uh-huh
when I wake from dreaming tell me isn't really love
oh
how will I know
how will I know
how will I know you'll be to see the how will I know
how will I know if he really loves me I say it breath with every heartbeat
I fall in love with ever with me
at 721 at WRJN we have uh Kelly Cruz is here executive director of the downtown Racine
Corporation and you wanted to talk about the uh the art so let's talk about that yeah so we're
really we're really ramping up our public art we're in our 21st year we're one of the only
downtowns in the nation that has been able to pull off the public art project consecutively
because of our awesome community sponsors um but this year we are doing butterflies
and so it's going to be really fun I think it's fun for kids but it's also fun for the adults
and we've got 26 I'm talking amazing artists um we had so many is this when you put them outside
in front of the stores exactly I have the lighthouse in my house sure yeah if we've done dogs
cats I bought the lighthouse lighthouses birdbass birds I mean benches rocking chairs last year
we did I love Racine and the word love throughout um downtown we did bistro tables but
this year the butterfly wings are really great we um their their metal we actually partnered with
gateway technical students and they made um they welded all the bases their welding class so
that was really fun and um the artists are starting to submit their you know in progress but on the
June 1st Fridays we are going to be unveiling all of those so June 7th 1st Fridays definitely
marker calendar I love those I love when you drive fine to see them all so we have the bet we have
the um the lighthouse ironically it just happened to be the WRJN lighthouse that we sponsored
and get this I'm in church a few weeks ago and I'm introduced to this guy he says my daughter
designed the lighthouse that you bought and how many years ago was that that's a long time ago
and I ran into this guy and he says yeah it was the lighthouse we designed and built you have it
yeah that's how much do you want it back for I bought it for 500 bucks I'll give it to you
10,000 you know yeah it's hard to find something creative and new every year going 21 years in a
row but yeah we've never done butterflies and the dog is in the building one of the dogs is in
that uh first and the main building on Main Street where BMO is oh yeah it's it's it was in front
of my optometrist's office up there it's right by um what's the uh the broker up there um I can't
think of his name that's uh I can't think about I'm just paired paired it's right on his floor
there's a dog the dog in our office if you ever walk by 425 main you'll see a cat a dog a canine
I love very seen a rocking chair we try to a lighthouse we try to keep you have a light
house we do we have pieces from we try to start keeping pieces from past years now we're still
missing some so if you're out there and you have an old public art piece that you just want to donate
back to us please do um we'd love to get that on display just to show how many years we've been doing
this and so that kids can see that it's been going on for so long well mine's in my living room
and it's so worth you plug it in and the light goes around like a lighthouse now you have to know
my wife collects everything lighthouse one of those people might fit for laws the same way we
have lighthouse pictures we got lighthouse everything's light at the wallpaper in the kitchen's
lighthouse everything's lighthouse and so when this came along we went to I think it was um memorial
hall they had the auction and I said how high do you want to go and she said until we buy it oh so
she had it in mind oh yeah we know we knew we were going to buy it we didn't know which one
because you they were like a silent auction bid you know and you write down the bid and you had
a keep going around and there was one woman there I wanted to take her a choker she said okay we
she was on the phone she said we have one we want to get one for each of our each one of the rooms
in the house so we're going to get six of them I said you greedy person let somebody else get it
oh wow so I made a deal with one of the people there that we I wouldn't bid on hers if she didn't
bid on mine she bid on mine and I didn't bid on hers she betrayed you she betrayed me and I did my
five hundred dollars I know it's going through a good cause so but I wanted to you rat I give you
the members stitches have stitches and squealers get the marker cross that you rat anyway so I got
into my living room okay well even though all this went on behind the scenes did you know
I remember the year we did the police canines okay yeah that was a pretty intense year of bidding
we had some people that we even had some of the officers or the handlers that really wanted to
bid on their own replica of their own dog and so bidding got very intense I was sort of fun to
relax fun though when you get now after we got done I had no way to get the lighthouse home
because it's pretty big and then fit in my car luckily my son had a pickup truck and I called him
up and he said you drive it over here we can take this thing home yeah and so we did and it was
good it was fun you know bidding on this stuff is exciting and for years we've had that lighthouse
in there and it's got the little plaque on it that says it was WRJNs that's just coincidence
because we bid on whatever we can bid on that is so there it is and if WRJN wants it back
but I'm not going to get my wife wouldn't let me get rid of it okay so uh and when does that
kick in now this is the first Friday the June first Friday is when we will unveil all of them throughout
downtown so that's June 7th and that's really fun you walk through downtown you see these are
butterfly wings yes they attach to a stand that gave us students maybe so you can take selfies in front
of them which is nice as though like you have the wings and then the auction comes at the end of
the summer yeah and we do it as an online auction now oh okay week long online auction so you can't
make deals with people like I did and they betray you right okay all right so we let's get to
um on our list here all the harbor market oh I look that's where we we met this guy who sells
local honey at the harbor market now year round I buy the honey from them oh yeah now that you've
found him well yeah because I got to get to him year round I mean it's I can't just wait till may
so talk about the harbor market coming up yeah we're excited this is our third year so
beginning at the end of May May Thursday May 30th we're kicking that off again this year and then
it'll be every other week through the end of August and we're bringing back the live music we're
bringing back the honey vendors we're bringing back the food trucks the you know pre-packaged food
and then you know as the season progresses you'll get more and more produce of course so early in
the season yeah you've got strawberries and some you know lettuces and things but it's still just
fun to go down there and peruse um but my wife wants the local honey okay and the honey you buy
in the store isn't local this this one is made in Caledon you weather bees are exactly we're talking
that all right all right Kelly Cruz is here executive director of the DRC the downtown
vaccine corporation we're talking about all the fun events coming up we just got down with
May we didn't start with June yet so keep it right here 729 WRJN sunshine today with a
hundred seventy one right now party cloudy we're in the mid 60s a gorgeous morning
keep it right here civic media radio hometown radio refreshed
the invisible plane two billion dollars for an invisible plane that you can see
of yeah I wouldn't mind if they just showed you an empty field and like hey everybody it's the
stealth bomber you know now I'm getting my money's worth but they don't they fly it over the
Super Bowl you know they're like look it's the stealth bomber I'm like not invisible um
turn it on yeah we would think for two billion dollars they could blink at one time for us
then my friend tells me no it's invisible to radar so we can bomb people as long as they're
not looking up which is tricky um I guess we go in first and throw out a bunch of quarters and then
so
yeah
so
well it was a good song well lasted i know you don't like CDs anymore
but see this is right i got news for your computers failed too
never no they work all the time kelly chris is here executive director of the downtown
received cooperation that was such a good song too
and we'll try to get later all right we're talking about events happening downtown
received we talked about the month of May let's start June because the first fronny summer
bash is here now it's not summer yet but it's close at that point let's talk about the summer
yeah the summer bash so that will be our next first friday but we're gonna have live
DJ we're gonna give away hot dogs and monument square of course they'll be selling ice cream and
snow cones there'll be a bags tournament on monument square what's that like what are the people
called bago bags the cornhole cornhole i don't know i think i called the wrong thing cornhole
so yeah we're gonna kick off the the summer with um you know first friday that's really when
first friday's gets really kicked off into high gear um because we can utilize monument square
the weather's nicer so that's the summer bash and then the following day we've got a really
funny that it's a mini golf crawl yes mini golf mini golf and downtown received so we've got
20 businesses participating so you have to have a four sum and you walk around downtown you can
do as many locations um or all of them are you know you can just do nine or eighteen but all of
the participating businesses have hand built and created their own mini golf putt holes and they
are creative so you actually go and mini golf at throughout downtown so it's funner than going
to a mini golf park and you're supporting businesses you can take as long as you want at each stop
you can skip stops you do it your way but get your four sum together now i'll tell you something
the old windmill hole you know everybody had trouble getting to the windmill when it you know came
down and that's always the last one the 18th hole not me i didn't i timed it perfectly to get
through between the two things on the windmill and i got through every time i never missed i grew up
on putt putt golf on when i was a kid and i never missed that windmill hole so if i go on this
thing do you look out okay i mean there are some really creative holes that are are built i mean
they they they're already working on their their mini golf holes so that's the June 8th and um
yeah fun some of that and mini golf and some of the lighthouse run do you know the course this
here you know what it is they are actually starting by festival park this year okay yeah so it's
because i know five k events exactly is and that's in their name five k uh so they're they're running
it this year do you know if they're running down main street uh i you don't know yet i know they
have to for the ten mile portion because it's well they used to do it and they went back to doing it
and what i'd do in front of my house is i set up a hole it's like a little shower yeah
a mist i get a mister thing on there and people come through and go through the mister
oh people i trust me as a runner i've done it and there has been some very hot lighthouse runs
and those we love people like you because it gets hot and only charged twenty five cents
to run through the mister it's really a bargain when you think about it um there was a guy who
used to run past my house he had to be in his eighties if you know and he just had to be
and it put me to shame because i said i can't run in this thing and there's an 80 year old
guy going 10k past my house and uh and some of the you know it's really great when the race starts
all these fast people are coming by and then the other people that are kind of moving fast
then you got the walkers then you got the people with the strollers pushing their kids
toward the able to come up you know tell when the race is over we see the stroller people
yes it's coming to the end it's such a good community event it really is i think that's going
into its 19th year because next year will be its 20th year now next to a neighbor does the water
concession where she fills up the cups of water and hands about and some people don't want to say
I hate it to them while they're running and it spills all over the place they don't want to stop
for that so that's a lighthouse run that's coming up on the 15th of June this year
Saturday as soon uh the right in Wisconsin what is that they actually ended up changing that
so we're gonna skip over that yes okay uh we have music on the monument yeah this is when
our live uh summer concert series kicks off in June as well we've got well over you know oh geez
over about 30 bands booked over the summer so every Friday and every Saturday from you know
June till the end of August come on down and my name is gray will be hop in from 430 to 7 with
different local live bands and we love this I mean there's tables so you can grab carry out and
you can sit down and actually eat at the picnic tables you can dance there's um a beer garden
so you can grab a beverage if you'd like and listen to live music or walk around downtown there's
just gonna be so much to do it's really gonna be like lively and of course you get run into people
friends and stuff you haven't seen in years and people who owe you money yeah yeah and
and our band lineup is really great if you go to our social media page or um our website you'll
be able to check out all the bands already so that's nice it's right there on monument square it's
such an historic place that's the thing yeah I mean when I go when I first came here there were big
pools of water there you know the the water pools and they redid monuments we got rid of them
because they need the room I mean you put a van sign you need room so they got rid of them and
they put in all the bricks and everything to make it nice but when you think about all the people
that have been there over the past hundred or so year more than the 1800 so I'd be 150 years
I mean even that monument that's there is historic and those cannons those are real cannons they
you know obviously they're not loaded anymore I know Kenosha wanted to get their hands on those
cannons before they were not giving them up yeah then they were gonna plan I heard in Kenosha
that we're gonna plan a nighttime raid to get no they didn't but yeah they're can't well
as if it's real it's so historic and it's I'm it we're so lucky to have such a beautiful gathering
space right centrally located in the heart of downtown you know right on the main in six
seven overlooking the water yeah it's a very walkable downtown there's four parking ramps within
a block of monument square so parking is not an issue I don't care what people say there are
plenty of parking ramps there are there are tons and you know just just get outside this
summer we only get maybe three four months of nice weather and Wisconsin so as Wisconsin I
it is our duty to take advantage of it now here's something I love that I think so historic and
a lot of people know about it a lot of people don't know about it the ram used to be a bank
of course and that's the bank John Dillinger Rob and took a hostage now Tom Carco who is our
news director here interviewed that hostage oh wow I don't think she's with us anymore
but he had her on the air and she was the hostage at Dillinger took from that bank so it's just
to think about it John Dillinger now in the movie with Johnny Depp they portrayed that that he
they had on the you hear it on the radio John Dillinger Rob DeBank and Racine was
constant wow great I wish they'd play it up more with pictures of Dillinger and stuff you
know I mean that's a story and WRJ and head studios in that building two at one time oh wow
the rooms are still there where we used to broadcast before we had this building and yeah so it's
kind of a historic for us but John Dillinger we should have a reenactment of that one day yeah
well you know we are so lucky to have the Racine Art Museum centrally located in downtown
Racine a lot of people don't know but it's the largest collection of craft art in North America
oh wow so people come and bust it just to view our Racine Art Museum and I think it's one of those
hidden gems that we forget that is right there that we're so lucky to have it when we've got
people traveling hours just to come and view it and don't forget on first Fridays the Racine Art
Museum has free admission yes and I know it's open on first Friday because I've roamed around the
lobby and stuff and is the whole building open or just the lobby yeah on first Fridays it's free
admission so you can you can tour the whole museum on all day on first Friday and attention
cheap skates it is open free admission we like to have free things to do in downtown Racine
this is nothing to do with it I was watching this this video and this woman was arrested for
robbing a dollar general store of nine hundred dollars in merchandise what did you nine hundred
dollars from a dollar store you must have twelve shopping carts going out that door I would I
want to know what she she got for nine hundred dollars robbing a dollar general in merchandise
everything's a dollar you put that nine hundred items in that card anyway that was that
I don't know why I brought that up but I did also coming up is the fashion show now this is new to me
yeah we did it two years ago and we are bringing it back it was a lot of fun and it's not just
fashion but we actually incorporate over 10 different downtown businesses everything everything
from jewelry to clothing to catering food any business that wants to participate will be down
there showcasing their goods and services actually on a runway as a fashion show so we are calling
it a fashion show but it's going to it's going to be highlighting oh where's the runway going to be
right on Monument Square yeah yeah we have a stage that can be yeah so it'll be transformed
into a runway and it's it's really cool to see it is it's to music it's fun it's lively
I'm telling you come on down all right it does sound like I like to do lots of different things too
you know oh I just hope you have nice weather for these events I mean you must really be sweating
that out when you see the weather forecast and the biggest one that I sweat about is party on the
pavement because that is one shot deal it is one shot and there has been it it makes a break
that event so we broadcast from that we broadcast from a lot of party on the pavements but the very
first one and for people that don't know they ripped up the entire street they on tired downtown
street they would have repaid it with concrete brand new street and the first thing they did for
this brand new street brand new road the first thing that was close it down to traffic and open it
up to people to walk so cars even though it was built for the first day cars couldn't get
and we used to make fun of that saying what a great way to celebrate a new street not let
anybody drive on it but what a beautiful tradition I know it is it is it is something that
we are so lucky that they built the foundations of party on the pavement and had that vision
because it has become such a great fall celebration I know I just thought it was ironic that
you built this brand new road in the first day cars couldn't do this too but yeah but yes we
reached a broadcast and they're all the time and always have a great time at party on the pavement
the food is great too all these food vendors there's and there's games people can play there's
five stages of live music games yeah big carnival rides that they're small some we've scaled
that back a little ever since the first book I said there's been some insurance things that
maybe came up yeah but you have the dunk tank give all that kind of stuff oh don't oh my gosh
we have over 150 vendors food trucks galore live music galore
demonstrations car shows I mean I know it's everything you know I wouldn't want to be in the dunk
tank but here's a tip if you really want people to get up there you have to really taunt them
say hey fatso get over here but you can't pitch a ball no wonder why your wife doesn't love
you get over and you taunt them to go yeah that's what I would do now they don't do that
and they're nicer than me okay so we got that now we're going to get into July in just a moment here
but we got the big strike up the fourth which is the day before the fourth July parade
it's a preview what that is yeah that is a big fundraiser as you know it's not
of course the parade is free and our fireworks are free for all of us to enjoy in the city of
race scene but the fourth best committee does actually get all of those funds through generous
sponsorships throughout the community and grants so the strike up the fourth is the night before
in Monument Square live music raffles it's really just a pre-party to the next day's festivities
which who does want to do that you talking to me I live on Mainstrick at the parade going to
pass my house that the party began a day earlier and extended a day later and we will be in the
fourth of July parade this year WRJN we got it all set with the fourth best committee we're in
and is the first time in years civic media they brought us back to get in that parade and we're in it
to miss the biggest parade in the Midwest and I love it because right past my house I thought I'd
watch it from the picture window one year it wasn't the same as being outside hi Kelly Cruz
executive director of the DRC downtown Racine Corporation is here 749 at WRJN old town radio
refreshed a civic media station more come
but something a lot don't try to resist me open your heart to me at 751 Kelly Cruz is here from the
downtown Racine Corporation I told you earlier during the Harvard Harbor market event a few years
ago my wife bought local honey she found this local honey vendor and what I did was everything
was a Christmas time where it could have been for her birthday I forgive which one
but you wanted the jar of local honey and so it threw a whole series of circumstances I found the
guy in Caledonia I found him and I met him there and I bought the honey and my wife knew about it
now how did she know about it because the doorbell camera caught me walking up the steps holding
the jar of honey when I came home and she saw it on there being mad something not sneaky technically
but sort of sneaky so she she just told me recently she says by the way I knew you bought it
because you were holding in your hand when you opened it to her I have to think of these things now
now I know but I didn't know then all right you told me something interesting here the day trips talk
about those those are really fascinating yeah so we've created some day trips we've been working
really hard behind the scenes on these because sometimes people maybe you don't want to come down
in big crowds maybe you have somebody in town on a random Wednesday or Thursday or it's a beautiful
day out on a Sunday and you want to do something so we've got different day trips they're sort of
build your own I guess you could say and they've got all these great ideas so the first one we have
is called a history buff day trip and it shows you what's all available at the Heritage Museum
the architectural walking tours the underground railroad all different places that are really
interesting if you love history and then we also have one for the art lovers day trips so it
showcases all of the different places within downtown that you can do to to look view create art
and then we have a kid approved one so if you get some kids you need what the heck can we do in
downtown with kids I'm telling you this kid kid day trip has so many options that you may not have
thought about in a while that you can do with kids and then the recent one that we did which has
gone over very well is a foodie day trip so we've got a vegetarian one and a carnivore one so
whether you like meat or don't we've put together breakfast lunch and dinner options for each
vegetarians and carnivores actual menu items so rather than just saying hey yeah of course go to
chitchat because they've got great no we've dug in we've scoured the restaurants and found the best
menu items for your ultimate foodie day trip so these are great whose idea was this so we've
got a committee is that we've just been working on them so we're going to keep unveiling some more
we've got some really cool ideas that is great just a quick review of what's coming up for May
got the foodie first Friday coming up and that's on that's this Friday a couple days away
well that's the first first Friday okay we got the first first Friday coming up and we've got
the feast on the streets that's this Friday as well there are some tickets still available so if
you want this like 10 restaurants for the price of or 40 bucks and you get 10 restaurants yeah oh
man then you got two weeks in a row for the wine walk that's coming up Saturday this Saturday and
then the following Saturday yes we have two different date options and what a great so a good
friend of mine him and his wife is the one that started in court to meet us and his wife Sherry
Yves yes he just had him on the air with me last week we were talking and they started in
court and he said the owner who took over just did a wonderful job with the place Tony's great
Tony that's a wonderful addition and Tim and Sherry were great every member when they were on six
street is where they started yeah they started on six street and they moved over to Maine yeah
and he said this guy Tony just ran with it and he's done a really beautiful wonderful
business and a good friend of mine Victoria works there yes yeah yeah and so they help out a lot
with this owner sister I think we're yes exactly as they've been there for years so they know all
the customers yes and we my wife needed something for a recipe some exotic beer from a different
country and I called up I said you don't have it to have it to Victoria shoot yeah we do that's
it oh that's interesting they do they don't have wine they have beers they have everything yeah
and they have soft drinks too yeah so if you don't if somebody goes in there to get some wine
and you know I don't like wine wonderful upstairs location so if you have a banquet room so if
you want something intimate for I mean it's great yeah okay and then we've got the
Racine Harbor market which I love going to I love this event it's just it's a great community
event well my wife dragged me to the first one I went to I didn't want to go and then I just you
know I said we're not gonna leave yet are we got you know places to see and things to buy and
and you don't think you're gonna buy stuff but then you see stuff and you say oh wow I didn't know
they sold it it's like the local honey she was shocked to find out they sold it right there
you find stuff you didn't know you needed and people say why do you want local honey
supposedly and I don't know I it's supposedly when it's local it has some immune factors in it when
you drink it when you add you add the honey it's because it is local and the bees were local
and so it's got stuff in it that's healthier for you because it's in your local area oh that's
why people that's why people want local honey they don't want the honey from California yeah they
want the Wisconsin honey so where we buy it from his daughter has all these honey bees and she
gets the honey they jar it up and they sell it and that's where we get it from but we met him at
the harbor market yes and unfortunately we needed it in December he had a September wherever he
sells them in very big jars yes we got a we had a smaller jar and he said how big do you want it
I said well how big can you give me so have that a one big pound or three pound jar whatever
was a guy whoa but you know it lasts forever man she uses it in tea and stuff and she likes it
and when I have a sore throat or something in once every decade I like to use it because I'm
not a big tea drinker but it's better than sugar yes it is yeah real healthy okay now if people
want to check these events out I got it from your website what's the website yeah so just go to
racene downtown dot com or follow us on our social media we are on every platform and we make
sure everything is up to date we post regularly so please follow us and we really hope to see you
downtown this summer we are working hard to to give you a reason to come down and really support
these businesses shut off the TV don't turn off the radio but shut off the TV turn down your phones
get away from the computer get some fresh air take your kids out because sitting in front of
the computer all day watching streaming services is not the way to live your life leaving the
radio on is good though that's always good thank you for coming in I love to see in here we talk
on the phone but I like to see in here that's not coming again and next time you'll be in our
brand new studio yeah wait it's planet date of the art space age thank you so much done all right I'm
down Rosen thanks we'll do it again tomorrow morning right nearly six a.m. hope you can be here we
have six district alderman sandy white news going to be here tomorrow so that should be fun keep
it in WRJN on down radio refreshed