Now, let's say officially, good morning to give him a good little 5K events.
Thanks for joining us here today, but let's back up a little bit.
Tell people what 5K events is, because you're 5K, you think, oh, they're the people
of the marathon's all over town.
Every time you look at it, you're going to run somewhere, but it's not that.
No, it's much more than that.
And that's how 5K events started doing endurance events, but in promoting different types
of events around the country.
But a couple years ago, when the RFP or request for proposal for those of you who are in
the business went out to take over the stewardship of Racine Civic Center, which is comprised
of Memorial Hall, Festival Hall, and Festival Park, Patrick Flynn, our owner jumped on it
right away.
Something he had his eye on for quite a while, submitted the proposal, got the contract
in March of 2024, is when we took over.
So we manage all three properties and bring in the public and private events, the festivals,
the music, all those types of things, to an extent, yes, we produce our own events,
but we would also prefer to have events come to us to hold them at the park.
So, yeah, we rent the park and host it.
But we do produce a lot of our own events, things like festival of trees, is one of the
things that we produce.
It was, we had over 6,000 people come through the doors for festival trees this year,
which was fantastic after being revived after 20 years gone.
So, we were really happy with the way it came out, learned a few things along the way
that we're going to improve on for next year, but we expect bigger trees more lights.
All those things.
We had, we had 40 trees and some of amazing sponsors and participants and just gorgeous
trees.
All were amazing.
So, we're looking forward to any of them bigger and better.
Why was it gone for 20 years?
You know, that's a good question.
We had heard from some of our volunteers that had been gone for 20 years.
We thought it was around 10, was the best research we could find, but from some of our trusted
volunteers that had been closer to 20, I think a lot of it had to do with the prior management
crew just didn't kind of have the steam and the local connection that we do.
And so, not only festival trees, but a lot of things went away as a lot of people noticed
over the years.
So, that was our main focus when we came back was to bring some of those things back.
We had a hit list of events we wanted to bring back and we've been able to accomplish
most of them.
So, what cities wouldn't give to have a venue like that right on the lake?
Not even, it's not even, it's on the lake, but it's in a breakwater so there's no, I mean,
there's no two Navis coming over.
Exactly.
I mean, it's like the perfect, perfect setting.
You got the outdoors, you got the indoors, it's perfect what they wouldn't give.
And I think a lot of people who have seen who live there are going to take it a bit.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Try living in a city that doesn't have anything.
Yeah.
It is, in my opinion, and I've seen a lot of them.
I think it is the best lakefront venue on the Great Lakes.
It's really tremendous.
Not only Festival Park and Festival Hall, but Memorial Hall is something historic here
and we're seeing that a lot of folks really haven't had the opportunity to experience.
And it really is a historic place and has a lot of, you know, solemn reverence to some
memorial to Racine County's war dad from the Civil War all the way through the Vietnam
War.
There's memorials to all those folks in the foyer.
Now, you can't see this on the radio, but I'll show you.
Memorial Hall was the site of the very, very, very, very first broadcast of WRJN.
Well, we're going to have to have you back there next year, then, if the 100th.
Yeah.
And there we are.
We did a couple of anniversaries there.
But there we are lined up, all the announcers, all the big hitters.
Well, except for the guy in the middle, I don't know, I don't know why you got in there.
Anyway, so we broadcast from there from 6 a.m. all the way till nighttime.
Not only that, we had it catered.
We brought in food, breakfast, and then it switched over to lunch at noon, then it switched
over to dinner at about five o'clock.
And so we fed everybody, it was all day long, you just kept going all day.
And we did that for a 70, I think 75th and 80th.
Okay.
We'll definitely have to do that for your 100th.
Get that going.
Yeah, this is the 99th year.
Yeah.
It'll be 100 years that the orchestra appeared on stage at Memorial Hall and we broadcast
that orchestra.
Nice.
Yeah, we had other scene, Symphony Orchestra and for their Christmas show in December
5th.
That was an amazing show.
They were seen concert band.
Yes.
So this was the first year they were there at Festival Hall.
Yes.
And actually it was actually a festival park.
Yeah.
We had it in the hall one, one week.
One week.
Yeah.
It was coming back again this year.
Here it is.
Yeah, we're working on the dates and the exact schedule, but we will be on the, on the
big stage, the big outdoor stage this year.
So we're working on all the, with Sean and Mark and all the acoustics and everything like
that and making sure that's all set, but it will be on the big stage with in front of
the big, you know, in the big lawn there next to the harbor this year.
So it's one of the things that, you know, we're excited about as well.
So what's the other big stage you have there?
Well, we have the, what used to be what was called the, the cool cats cove stage during
the old harbor fest on the north side on the, on the northwest side.
So that was, that was actually stage that, that we, I say, we, the harbor fest board built
in those days.
That doesn't get used very often.
The venue that gets used the most is when we put staging under the tent, when the big
tent goes up because it, number one, it sounds great under the tent and we're able to,
you know, put the bar service under the tent and the picnic table, serve everybody to sit.
And it's just much more convenient near the restrooms and everything, just a much more
convenient setting, you know, able to load in and out very easily.
So that is the venue that gets the most use at festival park.
You know what the old timer is always saying?
What's that?
Bring back the ice skating ring.
Yeah, there, there have been, there, there's so many things that go into that and there
have been some, you know, you know, top level discussions about what it would take.
It would be a very expensive undertaking and it's something that we still have all the
assets for.
We've got the side boards.
We've got the Zamboni.
We've got.
Zamboni.
Yeah.
You need a Zamboni.
It's a funny name, but it's very useful too.
I know.
All high games here.
Bring out the Zamboni.
And we've got, we've still got all the skates.
So we do.
Yeah, we do.
Where's all that stuff stored?
Yeah.
We've got all the skates there, so now all that stuff and some of them are brand new, some
of them haven't even been used.
When I first came here, I'm pretty sure it was operational.
Then the refrigeration broke and it was way too expensive to fix.
Yeah, not only the expense, but you know, the cost to ensure and that was the thing.
Some of the coils under the, under the rank broke.
And when the estimates were done as to what it would take to fix and then ensure the,
some of the management companies that were running it prior, just were like, yeah, no.
So there is interest in doing it, but how far that will get it's yet to be seen.
Ice skates, ice skates, we're cheering.
We would love it.
We would love to have it done, but it is a daunting financial time.
He talked into a guy who's never been on a pair of roller skates or ice skates in his
entire life.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The last time was on skates was those metal ones with a key clamped onto your shoe.
And even that I was walking with them.
I wasn't skating with them.
I'm really skating.
My mother said you're going to get hurt.
Say I told you with high school sports too, don't, don't play.
You're going to get hurt.
Yeah.
And my mother was probably right.
Is we're going to break it and break the head or something.
Kevin, Kevin McDougal's here from five K events who were talking about the ice skating
rank a few minutes ago.
They never know.
Can't say never.
Yeah.
Maybe it will.
It's tough.
It's a project.
The big, the big thing coming up in 2026 is we had it on the news the other day.
The farmer's market.
Yeah.
The farmer's market.
We're really excited about that.
We'll take place.
The first weekend will be May 9th, Saturday, May 9th.
It'll go through October 24th, so about 24 weeks.
And it's going to be a true farmer's market.
So it's going to be fruits, vegetables, anything done by the vendors has to be made by them.
No packaged goods, anything of that nature, we're not going to do any food trucks, nothing
like that.
So a true farmer's market.
And as some of your listeners may know, there are areas that we're seeing that are designated
as food deserts and there's food insecurity.
So no grocery stores nearby to get fresh produce and things like that.
So that's what we're trying to do.
Security.
I've never heard of that phrase.
Oh, yeah.
That's a big thing.
I don't like security food deserts.
I don't like this sound.
Yeah.
So we're trying to help rectify, we're going to be taking a snap, EBT, WIC, some different
senior programs.
And fun.
Thanks for kids, too.
Where's it going to be?
It's going to be inside Festival Park.
So under the colonnades and so Festival Park is so versatile.
There's virtually nothing that can happen there.
We're probably going to have the first season, probably between 1560 vendors, but really
with the landscape at Festival Park, we could do over easily over 100 vendors.
So it is definitely the greatest place to do it.
Lots of parking nearby.
We always get people that, you know, fret about the parking downtown.
And you know, it's, number one, it's very inexpensive to park downtown as compared to
anywhere else.
I know Kenosha has free parking.
So don't, don't send your cards and letters to WRGN pointing that out.
But second here off is boredom on the year.
Right.
But it is very inexpensive to park in downtown or seen.
And then also that it's not some people have the connotation that there's armies of meter
monitors, just waiting to write you a ticket.
There's not.
So chances are, you're going to be OK.
Yeah, we have a guy here.
Yeah, he's coming up on one minute left.
Yeah, get ready.
Get the SWAT team in here.
Yeah.
So it's, it's really, I know it's a concern of folks when they come to our events, but
we try and lay their fears.
Yeah, it's not an expensive thing to park downtown.
It is fine.
I, when they had the farmers market on monument square, my wife likes local honey.
Yes, it's local life because it's got a lot of it.
It's a better health wise for you.
So we found a guy who sold it and then we ran out and I found a phone number on the
bottom of the jar and I called him and he's in, I think on three mile or four mile road.
OK.
And I went down there.
I called up and I met him in the driveway.
He came out with his bag.
I gave him the cash.
She gave me the bet.
If I was a NARC, I would say what a drug yield is when they got this big jar of honey is
daughter gray.
It's daughter raises bees and to get that money from, but look, I said, I feel this is
I'm looking around.
Is anybody watching me?
I get this bag.
I hand over the cash and I leave it right away and then look at, but that's what we found.
The honey guy at the farm is there'll be, there'll be honey vendors, jam vendors, bread,
bread makers and of course, you know, fruit, sweatsheds, all that good stuff and different
to, you know, artisanal types of foods, but again, nothing packaged, no food trucks,
nothing like that.
There'll be a lot of demos, you know, cooking demos, tasted tents, things of that nature.
So, but that's, you know, recene farmer's market on the lake opens May 9th.
Let's talk about some of the events coming up.
Then we have some stance here.
We want to talk about.
Talk about festival hall first.
You got the youth financial, literally, a literacy, host talk about literacy, host
about youth volunteer core, that's coming up in just a week or so.
Yeah, that's going to be a memorial hall and that's something, just what it sounds.
Youth financial literacy teaching, you know, young people how to be responsible with their
money and, you know, intros to budgeting and things of that nature, things that they
really don't get in school these days.
So, there are certain organizations that will kind of fill that void.
And you got the couple of dinners coming up on the 29th, you got the United Way Victory
Dinner on February 20th, the Heritage Committee, committee Gala, Black History Youth Achievement
Awards coming up on February 20th, I think we have to talk about that because we have
somebody from the library coming up and talk about that.
Yeah, that youth history achievement, the Black Youth History Achievement Awards,
that'll be at Memorial Hall.
That's always a big deal every year.
And then both the United Way Victory Dinner on January 29th and the Heritage Committee
Gala on February 21st, you know, very, you know, great community oriented events that
recognizing the great work they've done over the year.
Shamrock's in shenanigans.
Oh, yes.
Mr. Gala Gala with the shenanigans.
Mr. O'Connell with this, looking forward to that one that, you know, it'll be our second
year for that.
And yet, just everything that it sounds like, it's going to be, we'll get a great line
up of Bourbon's whiskies and liquors to taste, some great food, some Celtic music.
So, that's going to be another exciting event.
Mr. Gagan's going to be there, no, with his Bourbon, okay, I've got QuadCon coming up
in April.
What is that?
Yeah, that's, that is a comic book convention that'll be our third year for that.
Oh, what?
Yeah, that is, that is really growing.
That is a fun event.
How many comic books do you think we're going to, we're going to outgrow Festival Hall
with that, with that event.
So, how many comic books do you throw out when you were a kid?
You know, you probably had some that were pretty valuable all the time.
Yeah.
Mom, what were you doing?
That was my retirement.
I was never a big comic book kid.
I was always into, into the more, more of the collectibles, things like that.
I still have some.
I, I didn't collect, I never realized what, and I did, they're all, they're all gone.
Yeah.
Which is like all my old toys.
My mom gave away to my cousins and stuff, and I'm going back and, and re-collecting
them.
So, my mom threw out, and they've talked about this on here, my high school diploma, and
she threw out when she moved, my beetle ticket steps from Shae Stady when I saw the beetles
in 1965.
She said, if it was important to you, you would have taken him with you, obviously,
it wasn't.
Mom.
Mom, just remember, I'm going to pick out the home for you some days.
Right.
If it was important to you, you would have picked it yourself.
What could you do?
All right.
Let's talk, give me some stats here in the final minutes.
Yeah.
We just had, you know, 2025 was, it was a great year for us.
Just to let the listeners know what they've contributed to over 2025, we had over a hundred
thousand visitors come through our events, and which, you know, is really a great, you
know, surge of local residents and regional tourists that came through.
We had a great revenue growth in, in 2025, an 80% increase over festival park, festival
hall, Memorial Hall's best year of 2017.
And that was our consecutive year we post a huge growth over 2024 as well.
We had some generous contributions from local businesses above just our standard revenue
that we get from tickets and liquor sales and food sales and things like that.
We also had community sponsorship, subsidies, totaling over $74,000 in 2025.
And we're actually very much ahead of the game for 2026 with some great donations that
have come in already for 2026.
So we're really excited about that.
And it's really gone a long way.
The revitalization of festival park and festival hall, Memorial Hall have really contributed
to a lot of economic improvements in downtown Racine, you know, restaurants, retailers, tourism
in Racine County, just in general.
We see great support from, you know, folks at Reef Point, Marina, a lot of the downtown
residents in the condos and break water apartments and things like that.
So it's really been an amazing transformation of the properties in the last few years,
heading into 2026.
I got the mayor coming in two weeks.
You want me to ask him about the ice skating rink?
Please.
Yeah.
I know that he does have an interest in it, but I mean, it's, he will probably give you
the same story I have.
We'd love to see it.
But where's the dog going to come from?
So we can get back on salaries.
We can cut back on that.
No, I'm too weak.
You know, people say one can ask him if you come up with the questions, I'll ask you
with the one thing you do is walk out and say, no, he has been a great supporter of ours.
I can say, I can say that anything that any concerns that we've had, we've had or any
needs that we've had have been immediately addressed by him in the parks department.
So it's been an amazing partnership.
Well, I can't wait for the farmer's market.
I know my wife can't because she loves going to farm markets and she loves getting fresh
produce.
She likes local stuff because it's got the immunity things built.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Anyway, so we've got some great farmers here in the area too that are going to provide
some amazing, amazing products.
Well, thanks for what you do.
I mean, that's a, that's right.
That is a jewel on our, our late friend.
And I don't think a lot of people realize that because they're so used to having it.
Sure.
Try living in a place that doesn't have it.
And there's certainly a generation that, you know, we're of the generation that remember
when Festival Park was vibrant every weekend was something happening.
There was just the place to go, the place to be.
But there is a generation here in Racine, Racine County that have never even been to
the parks because of the, you know, lack of activity over the last 10 years.
So we've certainly changed that.
So come on down and see us.
Nice, Kevin.
Talk to you next month.
You bet.
And I'll be in here talking about some more events coming up.
Kevin McDougal, five K events, if you missed any of our chitchat, you can catch the
podcast.
Tonight, Jacob will post that tonight.
