And good morning. It's 7 on 9. A pleasant good morning. It's a Monday. And what a pleasant
way to start off the morning. Kelly Cruz executive director of the downtown Racine Corporation.
She was telling me they're already working on their 2026 calendar. Or do you have it done?
I'm just putting on the just dotting my eyes and crossing my teeth, but yes,
putting the flowers around the edges. Just, you know, making sure everything is good,
but yes, it is done. Oh, man. It all begins again.
It all starts all over. All right. Now, last time we here, we talked about some new businesses
opening up. I was going to ask you about the chitchat building. They redid the whole facade
of that building. Yeah. Is that nice? Yeah. If somebody moving in there. The one
chitchat estate. Oh, they're staying, but they had the whole facade redone. It does look nice.
Wow. Aren't you lucky? It didn't rain here. Like it didn't know walkie.
Could you imagine 14 inches of rain downtown? Yeah. We had to close up our music, but only a little
bit early, but not bad because we had live music on Saturday, but we stayed open until about
almost seven o'clock. And we had a little bit of rain compared to 14 inches.
Oh, that looked miserable. I saw pictures of state fair. If the parking lot looked like an
ocean, you can see the waves in the parking lot. People were walking through the streets of
state fair. The water was up to this woman. That she wasn't at all woman, but it was up to her
knees. I wonder if the vehicles got ruined too. I've flooded any of those vehicles because that
can't be good. Just do what a difference a few miles makes a difference that difference is
just a couple of miles. Well, anyway, that's all gone. And let's move forward because the events
keep on coming. So I hate to say the summer is coming to an end soon. Isn't that horrible to say
that? I know it's it's it's odd, but my mother always got depressed at the end of the summer.
She said, I can't believe it's gone. Well, mom, you saw this coming, right? That's the weird
thing about August. It's, you know, it's probably the nicest weather, weather wise, but it's also
has this heaviness of sadness like summers coming to a close. You know, everybody posts the same
picture, a meme every August. And it shows Charlie Brown and Snoopy shows their back and Charlie
Brown's got his armor on Snoopy. It says goodbye, August. And they're looking into the sunset.
But I want to cry. It always felt bad for me. We were still going to vacations in August.
My dad took two weeks off at the beginning of August. And then we came back and back to school
and depressed me. I hated to see those signs. Anyway, now I don't care because I'm not going back to
school. Okay, let's talk about some events still coming up. July is in the books, the beginning
of August is in the books. And now we're going to talk about music on the monument, which still goes
on. And that's August 15th. What day of the week is that August 15th? That's Friday. Yeah. So
we have live music every Friday and Saturday now through the end of August. So
that'll be great. We've got a wonderful blues band playing this Friday. Lee Jinx and the fabulous
Bluebirds. I want to say, but it's a blue it's a blues band. So it should be it should be a lot of fun.
Okay. On Saturday, the cosmic called Saturday sounds. What is that? Saturday sounds.
It's again, it's live music. Live music. Yeah. And so not only is there live music down there,
we've got a couple food trucks. We've got some vendors. We've got beautiful shaded
seating so you can grab some food. We've got a beer garden. Oh, really? Where's the beer garden?
It's right there. Yeah. So on both on Friday and Saturday, it's really nice that
I have all that beer garden. That's the latest thing. It always got beer gardens. And
unfortunately, people like me, I never had beer in my life. So I accept it once.
Well, you know, Wisconsin, if you've got live music, a beer garden and some food trucks,
everyone's in a happy place. I know. It's really the key to happiness. I had to go to
Petrifying Springs yesterday or a Saturday to get water from their petrifying spring thing.
Place just packed to see what's going on on Saturday night, the beer garden. Yes.
And it was packed. So, okay, that's big. Yeah. So that's on Saturday, August 9th. Excuse me,
August 16th, then hay market. Now, this is the, this is bringing you back to the old days,
what it was called, hay market square. And I have a picture of it where farmers brought
their hay there for people to buy. And kind of that goes on. It's still like a sale,
maybe a little booth set up all over. Yeah, we have around 50 vendor booth set up. And this
is the final one of the season. So you have to make it out there. You have to stock up because
you don't have any in the fall. No, we don't. So this is the last one of the season. And so
literally you have to come stock up on all of your favorite, jarred canned goods, honey.
They've got so many wonderful, um, some sourdough breads, everything that you're looking for.
There's of course, there's also come hungry because we also have, I think this last one,
we had 11 food trucks down. So there are options. That's the latest thing, food trucks.
I don't know, it really gets people out. Well, first of all, it's easy. You don't just set up a
hole and they run their, their self-contained. Yeah. And then that's great. And there's like,
there's also like live acoustic music going on, a beer garden. So it really has everything
you need for a nice Thursday, you know, evening. Is there a big fight to see who gets the best
space for the food trucks in that involved in that? No, it, um, it, it all works every spot.
My name is Squares, really, it's set up. It's so easy for event planning because it is just so
wide open. So it works out really well. But yeah, please mark your calendar for next Thursday,
not this Thursday, next Thursday. It's, um, August 21th. Okay. On August 22th in 23rd,
we have the music on the monument against Saturday sounds, the 29th music on the monument
and Saturday sounds at the end of August. And then country first Fridays on September,
we need to say that September 5th. I know. Yeah. So this, you know, we always do a theme
last month. We did the scoop the loop theme, which was amazing. We had the Elvis tribute band
and a wonderful car show going on. And oh my god, that was so much fun. So this theme in September
is more of a hold on theme. So we've got, we're going country. Um, and so, you know,
wear your boots and your cowboy hats if you're so inclined, but it should be a really good time.
Really the last, you know, big first Friday of the year. I mean, we still have them throughout
the year. But really, September, I feel like, all right, let's do this. I'm not a hat guy.
I just don't look good in hats. I really don't look good in cowboy hats. I'm just not, I don't
have that look about me. Yeah. I don't look like a tough guy. I don't look like if I wear a cowboy
hat, it can beat the other cowboys out. I just don't look like that. Well, anybody who's got a pair of
cowboy boots in their closet that doesn't have a reason to wear them too often. This is going to be
your day on September 5th. All right. Country music on this monument square or hay market square.
What are you calling it? It's called monument square.
Monument square. Okay. Uh, then on the 12th of September, all feast on the streets. Okay. Now,
this is not pavement party on the pavement. No, this is a really funny event. So this is, if you
are a foodie, you have got to come to this. So we, basically, you explore 10 different restaurants
in one evening. It's on a Friday, September 12th. And we did something a little different with
this one is we're calling it feast, Wisconsin. And we're featuring all foods that originated or
are famous in Wisconsin. So you're thinking about, um, you know, Reef Point Brewhouse is doing a
whisky slider, which is actually like a little burger with a broad slider with like, um, Wisconsin
brick cheese. It's, it's pretty incredible. We've got Lambo stew from the Ivan Ho. We're doing
what's Lambo stew? Oh, it's like a beer cheese soup with broth in it. Yes.
We've got butcher and barrel featuring these cranberry goat cheese balls that are then wrapped in
pistachios. We've got divino gelato doing door county cherry gelato with a maple latte.
Beer cheese with brunch. I know. I mean, so everything is, oh, man, even like,
Mexico Lindo is doing a Usenger sausage wrapped tortilla. It's pretty amazing. Let's go back to
that beer cheese with broth. So yeah, so it's all Wisconsin themed foods. So you get to explore
10 downtown restaurants one night. It's only $40. It's really, uh, we always sell out too. So
if you really want to go to this, definitely get your ticket. No cheese curds.
Somebody, somebody might have them. One person is doing, um, a cheese curds.
It's actually like a tater tot cheese curd, um, on a stick where you, it's also covered,
when you call those, um, you don't like the grill skills skewer. Yeah. So it's like cheese curd,
tater tot, kabob, kabob type thing. And look, yeah. So that's going to be really cool. So
if the whole lineup, um, everything is on our website and our social media. As if you want to
see exactly what food is being served at each place, but it is going to be Wisconsin all the way.
Now, I noticed one thing about cheese curds. Of course, before I moved to Wisconsin,
never heard of cheese curds before, I noticed one thing in all my years of sampling them.
You've got to have grease that's been used for at least two or three years without being changed.
So when you go, no, that's the, that's the secret to it. You can't have fresh oil in there
because that, that, that's not good. So when you go to some of these county fairs,
this is probably oiling that they've used for maybe a year or two when they just keep
and that's what you need the cheese curds and they do taste better in this old oil.
Oh, I'm going to leave it up to the restaurants to do. They're, they're, they're the professionals.
Oh, I'm telling you, that's the best cheese curds before I never, two things I never heard of
before, I moved to Wisconsin, brats and cheese curds. Yeah, I never heard of them before.
And also at this, um, if you haven't tried the new cafe downtown, which is the old dewey,
it's literally that is the name of it, the new cafe. Okay. So you're wondering, what's the name
of it? Um, they're also part of feast on the street. So they're, they're making something
that's really cool to these cheese curds, cheese homemade cheese crisps with Chipotle salsa. He's
got this whole, it looks amazing. One day they're going to get a sign on the restaurant. Yeah,
then I have a sign yet. Sometimes those things take a little longer than you exercise.
I know, I know. And then they're just by the time you get it approved through the council and,
you know, who made the signs when I was growing up, the guy in town made all the signs.
He made the signs for my brother's band. They had these signs on their trailer and everything.
Cal sign fell. Jerry's dad is to make all our signs on the neighborhood. Oh, cool.
Yeah. In fact, if you watch sign fell, you can see when he's walking down the street sometimes,
way in the bag. It's his Cal signs KAL signs. That's his dad. It's a great sign maker.
All right. Uh, when we leave off here, a full feast on the street. And if yeah, hold up for just
eight more days, it's part of the payment. We choose to be in October, but now it's in September.
Yes. Yeah. I changed it to the third weekend in September. So this is the big one, of course.
This was actually voted. It was actually named best event in the state.
And it is the largest street festival in southeastern Wisconsin. We closed down 12 blocks of
road in downtown Racine. So all of Main Street is closed off. All of six street is closed off.
We've got five stages of live music, which is pretty amazing. Um, over 150 vendors,
over 30 different food trucks throughout. We're going to have a BMX show going on. We're going to
have dance battles going on. We've got a classic car show happening. Uh, we have a little part of
it is actually like a little mini German fest that we have knew this year, which we're really
excited about adding. Um, and then I mean, it is just it's the pinnacle of what Racine is as far
as, you know, everything is represented. Everyone's welcome. This is a free event. So you can literally come
down here. It's 100% free. Um, you can park in any of the ramps that day, $4 all day. So that's
still very reasonable. And it is just a party. It is amazing. About 15,000 people will be at this
event. That's one of the first ones. And there I am with a guy named Tom Kramer worked here.
And there's David Mack in the picture as well. Notice we're in winter coats. Yes, that's sort of
why I started shifting it earlier because it just got to be a little bit too, um, too chilly. So
normally, um, at September, it's been really nice. Well, the guy in the picture Tom Kramer who
worked here for years, great guy. He once said on the opening day when he was doing the broadcast
with me, he says, so downtown, when they were putting this before they put the road in,
they were working out. There was dust and dirt everywhere. It was just a mess because they were
putting the road in and they put this new beautiful concrete road going right down through downtown.
And the first thing they did was no cars. Just people. They closed it down to all out of
the bills on the first day. And it was party on the page. Yeah. And this is, uh, we're celebrating
our 22nd year this year. It would be 23rd, but because of COVID, we had to skip one.
So it'll be our 22nd anniversary. Um, and it's going to be rocking. It's going to be on the
pavement. That's true. We're going to be partying on the pavement. Yeah, there'll be over 30 food
trucks throughout downtown. Yeah. Uh, it's pretty amazing. That's great. Definitely come hungry. Oh,
yeah, we always go to party in the pavement. I mean, five stages of live music throughout downtown.
That is pretty incredible to think about. Well, the best part is I get to see people who own
me money. And I can collect right there. There you go. And then you could spend that money on
the food trucks. If they pay up. Okay. So party of the pavement is in September this year. It's
on the 20th of September. October. Can't believe we're talking about that first Fridays on the first
day of October. You do first Thursdays. Well, first, um, second Thursdays anymore. Second Friday.
No, um, just first Friday. Just first Friday. It's okay. Yeah. So that's October 3th is first
Fridays from four until 9 p.m. Most of the businesses and not all of them are open on first Friday.
Yeah. And this one we're doing a Halloween theme. So we're going to have live, um, professional
like pumpkin carvers on Monument Square doing demos, but also kids can actually paint pumpkins and
take one with them. Oh, yeah. They're pretty amazing. We got face painters and then you can take
your pumpkin home. Um, so just it's a really great family friendly day at downtown. So a little
Johnny in school. What do you want to be when you grow up? My way police officer. What do you want to be?
I want to be a professional pumpkin carver. Whatever it takes. You're really busy in the
month of October. The wine walk coming up the next day on Saturday, October 4th. And it's
all another one on October 11th. And this runs from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. The wine walk.
Yeah. So the wine walks have been very popular. We've been doing them for I would say about six
years now. And, um, we, there's 30 different locations that you can stop at. There's, uh,
wine, some of them are beer as well. And every one of them has snacks and apps for you to taste
test. And really all of the merchants really go out of their way at this to make it a VIP
experience for you. I mean, we've got some who do like karaoke, some who do a huge charcootery
trade board. Some, I mean, they've got activities at every place. We've got a new VIP option that we
just started this year. So if you'd like to go VIP, there are only very limited number of tickets
of that available, but it includes some really good perks. The VIP walk. The VIP, the VIP wine
walk. The monument mesh. First time I'm hearing about this on October 18th. Yeah. This is actually an
event that is put on by the Racine Parks and Rec. And they, um, on Monument Square, they have kids
DJ. They've got bounce houses. They're doing, they have a costume contest for different age groups,
which is always really fun. So make sure you definitely come out down in your costume. And
it's just a really fun kids party on Monument Square. This is like a monster man. Except monument
man. Exactly. Yeah. Candy crawl. Oh, yeah. Everything do with candy kids love the candy crawl. That's
a new to two. And that's on October 25th just before Halloween. You know, all the unhealthiest
candy you can think of for your kid. They love it. Yeah. So this is basically just a safe way
for your kids to go trick or treating. And for you to explore all of the shops and restaurants and
downtown are seen. We've got over 40 participating businesses that will be handing out candy. It's
all down Main Street and Sixth Street. And it's, you know, it's just a fun way again. Wear your
costume. Have fun. Go downtown. And, and, you know, trick or treat in a safe and a very safe
environment. I used to get, I have this horrible mask. It's very scary. I bought it years ago.
And I used to wear it on Halloween. Kids came to my door until one little girl got so frightened.
She backed up. Almost went down the steps of the porch. I said, that's it. I'm not going to take
a chance. She was so frightened. Yeah. And she backed up. Oh, you did this as an adult. You were
scaring the kids. Well, I came into the door to hand out candy. Most kids liked it. They laughed.
But this one little girl got terrifying. She started backing up and I had to go quick grab her
before she fell backwards down the porch. And I got the mask. I'm not doing that anymore.
Yeah. So October, we've got quite a few things for the, for the kiddos. So that'd be fun.
On the first day of November, November once, we have the beer and bippity boppity bacon walk.
Oh my gosh. This event. She keeps exploding every year. So this is 20 stops throughout
downtown Racine. And we are talking bacon infused items from all of your favorite restaurants.
We've had some really, really creative bacon items. I haven't always says bacon dipped
chocolate covered bacon is what they do, which is really fun. We've do chocolate donuts.
I mean, bacon, bacon glazed chocolate donuts. Bacon wrapped. You name it. It's sort of like
the state fair of bacon throughout downtown Racine. Here's what they thought. Oh, see,
donuts aren't that healthy. How can we make it unhealthy? Well, bake it in those donuts.
Oh, for sure. I mean, every year we've got some new things to try. But it is just,
man, that event is really fun. And also new this year, we do have, we've never done it before,
but we're going to have a VIP for the beer and bacon locks. Okay. On November 7th,
it's flannel first Fridays. It's not when you come out in your pajamas, is it?
It's where you wear your flannel shirt. Do you have a flannel shirt? Do I look like I have a
flannel shirt? No, I don't have a flannel shirt. What do you have flannel pajama bottoms?
Okay, well, you're not coming. You're not allowed. The only posters out this man is not allowed.
Okay, so that's come with your flannel shirts. Obviously, it's November. You'll want to wear a
flannel shirt. On the 18th, the holiday parade and tree lighting. Big deal. Should we even be
talking about this in August? It feels uncomfortable. It feels like we're pushing it on us. Like, I
think we should, I should come back to talk about that. We'll just mention it. The holiday parade
on the 8th on the 15th ladies day out. Oh, this is a six. That one's a really fun one, ladies.
Mark your calendars now for that 15th is it? That it will be on the 15th of November.
November 15th, mark your calendars and get your group together because we are it's a
fun free day for the ladies in downtown and I'm telling you it just mark your calendar.
Is it going to be bad mouthing men the whole time? Is that it? They can do it. Hey, what
happens at ladies day out stays at ladies day out. The man haters night ladies day out. We get
to be in bourbon black Friday on the 28th, the 29th will be the small business Saturday. That's
big. That's with the grinch too. Yeah, that's small business Saturday. That's big. The Fala La
first Friday's on the 5th and on on December 13th. Chris Kringel tour. One, let's do that one.
What is the Chris Kringel tour? Oh, so not only was Santa Claus, of course, and Mrs.
Claus walking around downtown, but you can sample all of your favorite Kringel flavors. We
partner with ONH Bakery and we've got 20 different Kringel flavors that you can sample for free,
completely free event throughout downtown. Great downtown. So you and your crew you do a great
job. We love you. We have such a beautiful downtown. Great merchants, great stores and
it's a lot of downtowns across America. Just are done enough. Yeah, they went bye bye and that was it.
You guys didn't let it die down. Well, and the only way we can do that is with people
who continue to actually come downtown and support these businesses. I appreciate every single
person who has come downtown this summer and just keep doing that. Remember that it's just can't
exist without everybody supporting it. I think that's a great window. There's decorations going
up downtown. So those stores really do it on all our job on that. I know. Yeah. That's good.
Thank you for coming by. Thank you for having me. And we got that. When are we going to get a
peek at the 2026 calendar? When does that come? Oh, well, I'll probably post it publicly in September.
So I just saw the merchants and things can really get everything together on their end as well.
I want to talk about it first here. Okay. All right. Deal. Yeah. Okay. Kelly Cruz executive
drown, uh, director of the downtown. We're seeing corporation. You say, I miss the beginning.
It'll be podcast tonight or tomorrow morning at wrgm.com. Also civic media. US Spotify Apple
podcast. Where we get your podcast? You'll find it by tomorrow morning. Guaranteed. All right.
No, I shouldn't guarantee it because I don't put them up. Somebody else does. I shouldn't guarantee
they work, but it will be up. Thank you very much, Kelly. Thank you for having me. I will
see you in maybe a month or so. Yeah. It's not too cold in here. Is it? No. Okay. Because I
cranked down the air, you know, see, which is I crank up the air condition. Actually, you crank it
down. That's true. I put it at 68 degrees. I appreciate that. I got some meat hanging on the back of
the room. We got to keep it cold. Thank you, Kelly.
