It's seven away down to Tuesday morning. Thank you for joining us here. Kelly Cruz, executive
director of the downtown. We're seeing corporations here. I feel bad now. I love driving into
December. The wreaths were lit up because I come here in the pitch dark when I get here in the
morning. It's 5 30 and all the wreaths were lit up down main. The Christmas tree with another
roll gone. I know it's sort of the time of years. Not quite as pretty, but that's why we have
Christmas to make it special. I know. People say, well, let's leave it up all year,
but then it wouldn't be special anymore. Yeah. All right. So what we're going to do today,
normally when Kelly comes and we talk about all the events happening, today we're going to do
something different. We're going to take a stroll downtown. We're going to go right down
Main Street and make some turns and find out some of the stores because a lot of people,
they drive through downtown, but they don't know what's here. Now I'm going to tell you what's
here because you always say, gee, I wish there was a place to frame these pictures. Well, I'm
going to tell you about where place to frame your pictures. Everything's going on. It's all as
the song says by Patula Clark. It's all happening downtown. Sure. So let's take you. You want to start
here at what state in Maine? Yeah, I was thinking, let's start at state in Maine and just head south
and see where the virtual walking tour that we're about to do goes. So yeah, that sounds great.
If any of you haven't been down to downtown recently, but if you even notice, even right on
state street, there is a couple phenomenal places. Chitchat, if you are a fan of Pakistani food
or you're a vegetarian, let me tell you, it is such a treat to go there. It is the food is so great.
It's, I don't even know how to explain. Have you ever been there? No, but I listen to our
Alderman Dave Mack. He's been there many times. I always tell me about it. Yeah, I have to go there.
Yeah, really, it is. Is that a little bit of a few blocks from there and it's a couple that owns
it. It's a younger couple and he's from Pakistan and she used to manage a Starbucks. And so when
they met, they decided they always wanted to open up this restaurant and they are just the perfect
combination. What does that remind you? Does that remind you of a side-failed episode when Jerry
this Pakistan comes from Pakistan, open a restaurant to serving American food and Jerry says,
yep, why don't you serve Pakistani food, Babu? If he takes the change of the restaurant to
Pakistani, every time we talk about Chitchat, it was, it was thinking of that Jerry sign fell out
of the show. Yeah, that is, that is funny. And then right next door to that is a place called
the carriage house. And that's owned by Doug Nicholson. He owns quite a few businesses in downtown,
but the carriage house is really a great place. If you are a whiskey connoisseur or a bourbon connoisseur,
they have everything you need. Tons of Wisconsin products too. So if you're looking for like a
really genuine gift basket to send to somebody who maybe doesn't live in Wisconsin, they can put
that together for you. And you can, they even have, you can stop there and they'll pour you a beer too.
So a lot of people don't recognize that it's actually also a little, they have a little mini bar
inside. Yeah, what's amazing, I go through, I pass that every day because I have to go out on
Spring Street a lot and I go to the state. Yeah. And I pass the, you pass it every day when I
grew up in a town, I grew up in your own worst tourist in your own town. It's a really cool store
to be in. And I mean, just really the specialty products that they bring in. Yeah. And then of course,
you got the connoisseur who's actually been in downtown for, we just honored them as a legacy
business. So I think they opened up. It's, I don't want to quote it, but they have been around
downtown for a really long time. They're great supporters. They are, you know, just a really good
locally owned company. They've been around since Gutenberg.
Moveable press. That's when they started going. Yeah. And then as we get onto a lot of people
don't know, but butcher and barrel has now moved to the 300 block of Main Street. So they are,
or 200 block of Main Street. So they're right on the corner. They're right by the shoot parking ramp.
And you can actually park in the shoot second story ramp and walk right into the restaurant,
which is really interesting. And so you don't get wet when it's raining. Exactly. Yeah. So they've
just moved into a larger space so they can now accommodate birthday parties and anniversaries.
And, and, you know, larger special occasions. But as we all know, they are known for wonderful
steaks, gorgeous drinks, specialty drinks. And of course, it's the only place you get to pick out
your own knife. All right. Yeah. That's interesting. Yes. Yeah. You get to pick out your knife when
they serve you the steak. Okay. I never heard that before. That's fun. Yeah. All right. Where do we
go from here? Well, I say we go right across the street to the Ivan Hopah, the legendary legendary.
Again, another property owned by Doug Nicholson. And this one has been around for quite some time.
And it is the quintessential Irish pub and the, you know, great phenomenal food.
Really fun specials at night. They have like bingo. They still have their bacon night
where they give you free bacon for every drink. And of course, the lambo stew that we talked about,
you cannot go there without trying the lambo stew. But if you're just at a great fish fry too.
And you know, they're Irish because right before the St. Patrick's Day Parade, they put this giant
shamrock. Yes. And it always happens like in the middle of the night. I swear because of that
get there really early in the morning. I get there like 6 a.m. to prepare for the parade. I'm like,
I've just left your last night. It was dark out. It's not paid. It's some kind of powder they put
down because it evaporates, you know, when they're there too. It's so cool. Yeah. It is really cool.
So we love the Ivano and then also on that block is of course, Marcy's Unmain, which is a country bar.
And she does a ton of fun stuff. She's got karaoke and on Saturday, she plays 90s country.
She's got, I mean, she's always the one doing super special stuff. And a lot of people also
don't recognize that she has a food there. So she's got a wonderful fish fry. She serves food every
day of the week except for Tuesdays. And also known for their phenomenal loaded bloody Mary.
So every week they have a different theme to Bloody Mary. And it could be like, take me out to
the ballgame where you'll actually get a hot dog popcorn. It is so loaded. It is a meal in and
of itself. If you go to their social media page, you will just see how extravagant their loaded
buddies are. Now we're talking about stores now, locations between state and third. That's
what we're talking about. That is correct. Yeah. If you want to know where we're talking about.
Okay. What do we have next? What about divino gelato? Have you ever had gelato?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Been there. You know what I love about the place.
It used to be a theater. And you can still see the old, you can't go into the auditorium
where the theater was. But if you, you know how they have balcony way you can see?
Okay. You can see where the projector, projection booth was up there. You can see all that stuff.
That used to be the old Beeshoe theaters. Matter of fact, hanging on my wall at home,
we got a print. A gateway had this big art sale on Main Street, where the gateway is.
And my wife got me this print because she knows I love theaters of the Beeshoe.
It used to be there. And it looks like an eight late 1800s early 1900s because our horses in
the street. And you could, it's a movie theater. Actually, it was, it was a live theater then,
but it was also a movie theater later on. And they turned it into gelato. But yeah,
it's here. It always smells so good in there. And even, I know it's a little cold this time of
year for gelato, but never, but they also have ice cream gelato. Yeah, that's true. They also
are known for bubble tea. So people who love their bubble tea, you can't get it very many
places. It's, it has literally these little, but it's bubble tea. I don't know, explain it,
but people who, who enjoy it, they are, they will drive great lengths to get their bubble tea.
When I first moved to Wisconsin, I took my daughter, she was a little pretty months old to the
doctor. And they said, do you have a water fountain? The bubble is down the hall. I say,
yeah, a water fountain though. They said, yeah, the bubble is over there. I don't know what
you was talking about. It's one of those things that it's only Wisconsin. Maybe. Yeah. So,
and they also, they make their own macarons there. So you know, those specialty. Macaroons. Yeah.
Macaroons. Yeah. And also, I like where the seating is that you can spin on, it's like, you
take a step up and you can sit right in the window. Yeah. And once the sun comes right in in the
morning. But you can watch the passing parade go by. All the people walking by and wishing they
were in there having gelato. Hold on just a second. Kelly Cruz is here to executive director of the
downtown Racine Corporation. We're taking the morning stroll down Main Street, tell you what's
available for you to go see and what to do and where to go. That's all coming up. We've got more
we're at the, I think we're going to cross Third Street in just a moment here.
In 722, Paul Harvey coming up in a few minutes, but first we're going to cross the street with
Kelly Cruz, the executive director of the downtown Racine Corporation. We took a look at all the
stores on between state and third. Now let's go between third and fourth street.
And if we need to do a second show on this, we will. Let's just get go. We'll be able to touch
base on everyone. But I a couple of really cool places. Now, this is crowded this street.
This is a great block for retail. One thing that's amazing about this block is there is three
custom jewelry stores that is really unheard of. And in fact, in the next spot, Gold Diamond
and Design. So there's four custom jewelry stores within like a block and a half, which is really
unheard of. And so you have Plum Gold, Plum Silver, Art Metal Studio, and then Gold Diamond on
that following block, which I mean, they all have their own unique vibe to them. And they are
all just wonderful owners, wonderful. All of them have been small business owners for over 20 years.
And just just if you're ever looking to like turn like an old family heirloom into something that
you can wear in a modern setting, go to one of those places. And they're the things that they can
create. And you know, if you have like your grandmother's diamond from her ring or whatever that
might be, they can really turn it into something that very modern and just really to honor the past
but enough. Here's my heirloom story real quick. So my mother gives me this ring. She lives in
Florida at the time. She's no one with us, but she lived in Florida at the time. She sent it to me.
And she had a short and everything. And it was valued at I think it was 16,000. So she sent it to
me. And I didn't want to hold on to it because, you know, by misplaced it. So I sent it back to her
about a year later, I sent it back to him like you take care of it. So she gets the package.
And she's about to open it up and put it in her jewelry box when somebody's rings the doorbell.
She drops it into the trash can. She's I'll get it in a minute. She forgets about it.
empties the trash. My sister-in-law flew down to Florida to help find in a 16,000 dollar ring.
And she's they're looking like I can't find it. My mother says, I throw it out.
$16,000. I should have kept it. At least I had it. I was going to lose it, but I did want to
take the chance. I didn't think she'd throw it in the trash can, but somebody rang the door. And
she forgot about it. And that was it. And they're going, she says, I'm sorry. And so I kept reminding
her of it for over the past years, the last years. And she said, are you ever going to let this
go? I said, no, I'm never going to let it go. That was my 16,000 dollar ring. And you throw it
in the garbage. She goes, well, let's let it go. Never. Okay, go ahead. Oh, boy. I had to pop that
in there. Go ahead. Yeah. So we're still on that block between third and fourth street. And
there's some really cool shops. There's the Main Street bakeries there. Sheep ish is there,
which has a lot of holistic items. Of course, Salute's restaurant. So that is a staple. If you
live in Racine, you've been to Salute's. And it's a, you know, they were, they started in the
70s, actually. And you know, the owner there, he is featured on a movie about we were soldiers.
Oh, yes. I remember that. So if you ever go in there, you'll actually see posters of that
movie. But it was about his platoon or whatever. My wife bought some stuff. I had a sheepish,
a little jar of some kind of thing that makes you healthy. Yeah. Yeah. They got a lot of great
health-inspired items there. And if you go across the street too, you've got Sunshine Daydream,
which has a lot of really fun. If you're looking for cool gifts, they have like every band T-shirt
on the planet. Or if you have a person who is into socks, they have like the funniest socks ever.
They just have plusy toys as well. So it's a lot different than you actually expect. That's
sort of me when you walk in there. There's just so much fun stuff in there. So that's really one
that to explore, even if you maybe wouldn't normally walk by it. Okay, we're taking a stroll downtown
today. We've got the full hour with Kelly Cruz, executive director of the Downtown Racine Corporation.
And it wouldn't be this morning if it wasn't for Kelly Cruz. He's here executive director of the
Downtown Racine Corporation. We're taking a stroll. We're not doing the calendar events. Now we're
taking a stroll downtown. And did we get the fourth street yet? No. We're on the 400 block now.
Okay, we're going to talk about the 400 block of mainstream, which is actually where our office
is also located. Go ahead and take a look, see, take a stapler, take some posted notes off there.
They'll give you everything. Yeah, so the 400 block is another rarely solid retail
block. First off, you have the artist gallery, which has a collection of artists that change their,
they also have a featured artist every month, but just really cool. Everything from 2D to 3D
ceramics, paintings, you name it wood, wood art. The artist gallery is just you can go every month
and you'll see something new, which is really what makes it great. And then of course,
probably one of the most famous stories in downtown is dimples imports. That is been around for
25 years this year, or they celebrated 25 years in December. And every year they're voted,
best place to buy a gift. Best window dressing. Best windows, yes. And one thing if you don't know,
but they have amazing clothing there. Everyone knows they have wonderful jewelry,
tons of sterling silver jewelry. They've got great gifts, but their clothing selection is
amazing for all sizes. So that's something to really check out. RG Natural Babies is down there.
Now, despite the name, that is also a toy store. So people sometimes might drive by and think,
well, I don't have a baby. What does it matter? They actually carry things all the way from
nursing mothers to kids around age 10. So if you're looking for a really quality toys, they are
really the place to go. And then of course, we can't forget about the Racine Art Museum.
Right. So this is the largest craft collection in North America is the Racine Art Museum. It's
world renowned. And we are lucky enough to have it in our downtown.
You know, I went there during the party on the pavement. They have, you can walk
in a free admission that day. And it really is nice. I was never in there before.
It is. And it's, they also changed their, you know, they curated differently every three months
or so and feature different artists. But I mean, people come just for the Racine Art Museum.
And before it was that, it was also the WRJ and studios were there in that building.
And also the place for Dillinger. That Dillinger Rod, there was a bank.
Yeah. And a lot of the, um, the, actually, the Racine Art Museum curated all of the artwork
in the hotel verdict. So every room has, um, different arts that was hand selected by the
Racine Art Museum. Well, this cannot display. Yeah, it is really neat.
And it was very nice. And I'm trying to get the person to come on the air with us. I've left
a few messages because I want to hear about the Racine Art Museum. Oh, good, you're
corrected. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The, um, director, they actually just, um, retired after
50 years Bruce Peppitch. Oh, I'm not crazy. 50 year career there. And he's really what brought
that, um, that organization up to what it is. So if I drop your name, that will get me somebody in
here. I don't want to drop any names. But did I tell you I know Kelly Cruz? What will that get me?
All right. Let's see. We're at the ramp. Let's keep going. All right. So next we're sort of
hitting up on Monument Square, which has really transformed, um, over the last couple of years
because of course, we know that the hotel Vernon is there. There's an Italian restaurant
Margarit, which is connected to the hotel. And of course, everybody's favorite Eve rooftop bar.
But um, Lakeview Pharmacy is if you haven't stopped in there lately, even if you don't want to
change your meds there, they have really, they've got new ownership there. And they have really
changed that into a specialty store for all made in Wisconsin products from jewelry to like
quintessential things about Wisconsin. And they're all made in Wisconsin. So, um, candles and
I mean, you'll be really surprised how gorgeous they've really made that.
Quite a few times recently. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then, um, also of course on Monument Square,
you've got the sugar share in there for ice cream. Oh, yeah. It must my niece's favorite place to
go. They've got all that retro candy. So if you have a candy that you feel like doesn't exist
anymore, if you go there, I guarantee that they will either source it for you or they have it.
Which by the way, it's not old candy. It's new candy with the old name.
The nostalgic. Yes. Yeah. It's not, it's not, well, we still have this candy from Halloween
to 1962. They even have like the candy cigarettes there from back in the day. I remember those.
Yeah, they still sell those. They had two kinds of chocolate ones. You take them out of the wrapper,
the cigarette wrapper, you know, that white wrapper and you eat the chocolate. Or they had the
peppermint ones where you're just, they had a little red tip with the peppermint ones.
It's hard to believe. We used to sell candy cigarettes to kids. When you think about it now,
it's strange. It is kind of weird, but it's like, no, it's just fun and nostalgic. Yeah.
And then, of course, don't you can't forget on Monument Square. You have the maple table.
Yeah. Wonderful breakfast and lunch place there. It was just there yesterday. So good.
You think if I bring them in, they'll bring in some waffles and stuff.
I can make it happen. Okay. Boy, you're connected to everybody.
I like that for us. So. And then also on that block, of course, is everyone's.
There's Johnson Outdoors. So a lot of people don't recognize that Johnson Outdoor has a retail store
open to the public. And now they have all these great like E kayaks and everything, you know,
fish finders and all of that. But it's, it's a really fun store to go into. But now these
kayaks and things are all just like ebikes, right? But so you don't have to, you don't have to
pedal as much as you used to. We just had Jim Searin a week ago. And he said we were lamenting
about the Venetian theater that was there. And. And we're saying, where is it today? We're
crying over the theater. And that's where. Right. But you know, Johnson family has done so much
for our community. And they continue to. So where's the Venetian and the reals though?
I still don't know where people parked when they went to that those two. There were huge theaters
over 1,000 seats. Where were the cars? I still don't know whether you used to park back then.
Maybe at the festival site because there's a lot of parking back there. I don't think that was
a site back in the 50s. I don't think so. I think it was Don Hudson. I think it was a cardio
leadership. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe a lot of people took the bus. That's what they claim.
But we're talking about a lot of people. Yeah. So I don't know. It's one of the mysteries of life.
Nobody's got an answer. Yeah. They basically tell me to shut up and just, you know, move on.
And then if there's some other things, but of course, I can't not mention the red onion cafe.
Always you're not bad food. They have a new soup every day. They've got their new specialty
of the day, a new side of the day. So like you go in there and they have a quiche of the day.
So if you love quiche, I have a different quiche available every day.
Oh, that's great. I know. How unique is that?
Yeah. So that's really cool. And then a little bit farther down on Main Street, of course,
is the Racine Heritage Museum. Just they were nice to me.
Yeah. And so that is, I know a lot of school groups go through there. But also if you're just
taking a stroll, they do the historic walking tours, the guided ones. They do the haunted walking
tours. So it's just really this nice, this great gem in our downtown that sometimes, you know,
we just have to go one more block past six straight. And it's right there. Beautiful building.
And take a look at the mummy in the lobby. And they have a gift shop in there too. So again,
if you're looking for something really cool to send to somebody who maybe used to live in Racine
or, you know, but they have Racine Bell stuff. They've got, you know, the Racine Bell,
you know, yeah, they've got tons of Frank Lloyd Wright stuff that you can purchase.
Check out that mummy. I said, is there really something in that, you know,
cart, you know, that that mummy case? They said, yeah, take a look at the x-rays on the other side
and see him. But there's really was a person in that. Oh my God. Yeah, you see the skull
and everything. There's a mummy in there. Whoa. Got to smoke me up. Yeah. Wonder if it's haunted.
And by the way, on about a year or so, the WRJN 100th Anniversary exhibit will be there at
the Racine Heart Museum, at the Racine Heart Theatre, Racine Heritage Museum. We turn 100 years old
in 2026. And we just met with them the other day. They're going to do an exhibit for WRJN's
100th Anniversary. I love that. That's going to be so interesting. Yeah, we got some old stuff.
We're going to dig out a moth balls and bring them in. Okay.
Oh, so I think that sort of covers Main Street. I know we did skip over some businesses just
because we probably don't have enough time. Should we head on to Sixth Street here? Well,
save that for another day. To give one or two of the businesses you'll have to out. We have time.
Sure. Okay. Also on Main Street, there's some black hand tattoo. So he's the D and his dad
are phenomenal tattoo artists. And also there's a place called Root City 262. And that's D
Hutch is also the same owner. They have created this really modern trendy line of Racine clothing.
So if you're looking for a Racine T-shirt sweatshirt, they also have retro and throwback clothing
there. But it's just amazing. I love that place. And give me one more. Okay. How about we go over to
let's go to Evelyn's Club Main and Hot Shop Glass. I need that one too.
Evelyn's Club Main has been around for a really long time. The owner there is fabulous. And it's
just your quintessential Wisconsin bar. And they have great specials, great bloodies. And then,
of course, Hot Shop Glass. So people literally travel hours to get to Hot Shop Glass. All of their
classes are usually sell out immediately. It is glass. And it's since it's so cold out,
like they claim to be the hottest place in town. Because when you go in there, it really is like
90 degrees. It feels so good. But in the summertime, it's a little warm. But it's,
if you haven't seen live glass blowing, or you can buy, you can actually just buy,
they're custom glasses. They do such an amazing job. They also do glass bead making classes.
But again, what a treasure that we have them in our downtown. Kelly Cruz Executive Director
of the Downtown Racine Corporation taking a stroll downtown with us today. Here at WRJM,
local news, timeless hits. Okay, we got a 10 minutes left. We're going to go down to sixth
street now. We went through, we did state street all the way down to main to sixth. And that's
where we are right now. What do you have for us, Kelly? Yeah, we certainly are. So we have a sixth
street is just a cool vibe to it. It's got this retro feel. And lately, there's been quite a few
new businesses. I do want to mention Vero International cuisine. They did have a fire, but they
are working diligently to reopen as soon as possible. So keep them in your prayers and let them know
that they we can't wait for them to reopen. Of course, you got Miller's flowers, one of the oldest
businesses in downtown. Well, we looked at some old photos of downtown. And it was Miller's
flowers over a hundred years. Yeah, they had actually underneath their name on the outside.
They have the old mosaic up there for the old flower shop. There was their under wow. Isn't
that so cool? By the way, the flowers are new. The building's old. And then as also a brand new
store or brand new restaurant down there is dragon pit barbecue. So I'm guessing many of you have
probably been to their food trucks, but now they actually have a permanent location. It's on in
between college and Wisconsin. I know what I'm having for lunch. Yes, it's so good. If you like
Greek food, also, there's cuisine at 220, which is beautifully interior-wise, looks great,
and wonderful Greek food. And Todd Hall just reopened under new ownership, but has a lot of the
same favorite dishes that everybody kind of came to grow and love. And of course, that's your English
style tavern. And it just has a. I sell it. I can't give you that. I can't give you that.
But the chips and fish and chips. Look at these. I mean, and speaking a six street is just known
for the food. You also have old Madrid, which is Spanish. We get piaya from there all the time.
Whenever I go in there to pick up the pie eggs, they open it. They take your order at four o'clock.
It's always packed. It's so good. They have sticky rice. If you like. My mother, I have a picture of
my phone. My mother always wanted to go to sticky rice. So we owe a couple of birthday pictures
of her. It's sticky rice. And if you want Mexican, you got Mexico Lindo. And also,
Peppies, Pub and Grill. Peppies has wonderful food. And sometimes we forget about that. But they
have, and they've got, you can bring kids in there too, because they got pinball machines and
pool tables and what's that one?
Winball? Not pinball. Fuzball. Fuzball. Okay. Yeah. Fuzball table. Well, my wife works at the
courthouse. They was good for lunch to Peppie you say. Yes. And they have a burger of the week.
Also, they have their, their bloody Mary's award winning in the entire state. So that's
something to try. Now, I can't not mention there's, we've got two newer businesses
called, one is called vintage and modern books. So that's the, you know, we finally have a
bookstore back in downtown. We used to have one on six street. Martha Marles. Yes, many years ago.
So that is really fun. And they can help you find, like, first editions and they'll go above and
beyond to really help you if you're looking for something specific. And then unraveled creative
studio. So those of you who are into knitting, yard, crocheting, they have top the line, great
workspace that you can actually sit there and work on your projects. And yeah, I know you mentioned
something about framing, like where you can get something framed, because that is such a dying
art, but still so needed. Photographic design and framing is a store that's been on six street
for quite a long time. They're in between Park and College Avenue. And they also have
amazing photographs of downtown, of, of Racine County. Like, if you're looking for just a
really beautiful piece of wall art, and you want to have it like Racine inspired, do yourself a
favor and check them out, because they are just, they have so many amazing photos of Racine
and Racine County. It's just, it's incredible. When I needed my woman, my mother's anniversary,
I think it was their 60th wedding anniversary, we had the picture of them on their honeymoon,
this they had up in Canada and this French province up in Canada. And I had them send me the people
at that place send me a current picture. We had them both framed side by side. So in the 40s,
when they got married and the current picture, where they were standing on the steps,
had a frame for them and that we still have it. Oh, cool. And you cannot forget also,
it on six street is Indian motorcycle, which I mean, what they had did such a wonderful job,
you know, really bringing that building back to life and kept so much of the original
passions. And then also the Nash does open up in the summer for live music event. So
the Nash is back opening in. Well, they do for special events like every first Friday,
they're open. They have their rooftop area, they have got, they'll bring in food trucks,
they'll have live music. It's really fun. They're really bidding, coming known for places to,
if you're looking to host a like a high school reunion, they love taking high school
reunions there. And it's so nice because you can have the whole like top part to yourself and
they'll be live music. So it's just a cool place to, if you're a person that's got a plan one,
think about the Nash as an option. I mean, like a hundredth anniversary, like a 25 year high school
reunion. I'm thinking more of a hundredth anniversary party that I hope this company will
grow. Oh, this one. Yeah, that would be like, wait, I don't think anyone's coming to a hundred
year reunion. A hundredth anniversary coming up. All right, go ahead. So Indian is just a really
cool place there. And what else do we have? We have the OS projects, which is another gallery.
So they have beautiful. They feature different artists every month and a half or so.
So a lot of people don't know them. They're on the corner of Villa in Sixth Street. It's that one
really beautiful modern building when you drive down Sixth Street, kind of closer to the courthouse.
Oh, it's sort of fun. And so yeah. And then, oh gosh.
Got the Sixth Street theater. Oh my goodness. How did I forget that?
We just saw a misery there. And the the woman who played, you know, misery. She made
eye contact with me for a second because I was in the front row. And I, yeah, we just got chills.
Yeah, we just awarded them as a Sixth Street standout. It's a at our at our state of the downtown
because what a gem they are as well. I mean, they have new seating now. So updated seating,
updated lighting. They sell all for every show. There's snow dance festival.
Hundreds and hundreds of people submit. And I think they chose the best nine comedy skits.
And those are just, I mean, even to get tickets in there.
Well, you know, it's good because we're seeing it's got two live theaters.
We've got the Racine Theater Guild. Yeah. And we got the Sixth Street theater.
I mean, how many cities the size of Racine have two community theaters?
Exactly. And they do, they put on such amazing productions. I mean, it's just
terrified from misery. Have you ever been to the snow dance? No, no. So that's,
if you're looking to laugh, that's a really cool one. And then I can't forget,
little off of like Sixth Street, but you know, you still have show gun restaurant is still open.
So if you love Habachi, they are phenomenal place to have a birthday party. Get out of that
Habachi Grill. You've got Cupid restaurant, of course. My, my, my, I've always talked about Cupid's.
Let's get a Cupid bar. Let's go to Cupid. Let's go to Cupid. They, they're,
sometimes not open like, they were weird schedules. Well, they open up at nine and
the minute they're out of food, they close. Oh, is that how it works? So they don't,
so when their food is gone for the day, that's when they close. So I would recommend if you
are craving Cupid, come early. My wife is always craving Cupid's. Let's go to Cupid's.
Let's go to Cupid's. Yeah. Some people get frustrated with that. But in hindsight,
that's what makes them popular, right? So when you get in there, you're excited and.
My mother always said to me, when you come, she was a lake oaks. On your way here,
can you pick up a chocolate malt from Cupid's? Yeah. Well, it's not actually on my way, mom,
but yes, I will pick you one up. Yeah. It's a little bit out of my way. But yes,
you always love their malt. I think they've been open over a hundred years, too, right?
The long time. Maybe getting close. Yeah. I've got to figure out what year they opened up. But man,
yeah, definitely a spot. So think about all these great places we talked about today. I mean,
there's so much for everybody. Did you mention Northern Lights? Oh, yeah. They're also a great
company. They have 400 block in Main Street, twin dragon games as well as a little bit off the
beaten path. But if you have kids who like into their like gaming, not on a computer, but actual
like tabletop games, and they actually teach you how to play. I'm like, you know, so it's in toys
and puzzles there. So really great business owners. Yeah, we bought some prints from Northern
Lights because the lighthouse prints. Oh, yeah. Get them my wife for the holidays ones.
And we had them frame nicely. And they're still hanging up in our house. Yep. Yeah. Again,
just so many amazing shops, restaurants, come downtown. The businesses could really use your
support this time of year. Yeah, January's always tough because everybody's very shopped out.
This is true. It's true. It's broke. Now the calendar, the calendar, the map that I'm looking at
is online at the downtown routine corporation website, which is recene downtown.com. And the way
I found it was at the bottom of the page, not on the menu at the top of the bottom. You see
they get the map thing there. And by the time people go to the map thing this afternoon, the 2020
2025 one will be up. Yes. Because I have the ancient one from 2024 from a month ago. I know.
You've got the new one. I need to, I will have that updated by 10 a.m. This morning.
There you go. So that's recene downtown, downtown recene.com, recene down.
I would say it's early, but it's not for me. Downtown recene.com, downtown,
recene.com. I've seen downtown. Did I start up again?
Racene downtown.com. It's opposite of what you think it would be.
Racene downtown.com. Now if you want to hear the podcast of this, we're going to have it up
later this week. So if you missed any part of it, you want to hear it again, you can hear it
with Kelly Cruz. Racene downtown. You know why? Because I don't have it written in front of me.
That's everything's got to be written in front of me. We're seen downtown.com. It'll be a quiz
later on this morning. Kelly, thank you very much. Thank you for having me. This is always fun.
And we're going to be involved with a lot of the events downtown. We're talking about them
to chilly walking all that kind of stuff coming up. Kelly, say executive director of the DRC
at recene downtown.com. Thank you very much for coming. Thank you, Dad.
And thanks for taking the walk down town with us because a lot of people don't know what's going on.
There's just so much, isn't there? We just spend an hour and we didn't we couldn't we can get
all of them. Yeah, well, thank you very much, Kelly. Thank you. All right. Hey, it's eight o'clock
on the nose. Let's check news now. Let's go on.
