Let's have some fun. Let's find out what's going on in this beautiful town of Racine. It's
a city of Racine. And with me from the downtown Racine Corporation, Yolanda Coleman is here,
the events manager. And usually we have, what's your name? She's Kelly Cruz. Yeah, I couldn't
try. Yeah, one time you're not here, we forget who you are. Kelly Cruz. We can never forget Kelly.
But we invited you and I'm glad because you said like a nice happy person. That's the time.
You got to be happy and good, you know, happy in this job. Yes. Because what you're doing is
you're serving the people of Racine who want to have fun and you're going to design their fun for them.
And there's a lot of events here coming up this year. Yes, we have a lot of good events done.
You don't even need to leave town to go on vacation. You can have what they call a staycation.
Yes, you can't staycation right here in Racine. I came up with that. Don't be familiar with that.
It's really the same. And I'll tell you here in Racine, you can really come up a lot of great
events. We have a lot going on this summer. Well, actually not even summer. This whole year
we have a lot of great events going on. Let's start in with January. It's cold. What can you do in a
cold month? On January 24th, you've got the bird crawl. That's the way you did that bird crawl.
Yes. So bird crawl is happening. January 24th. Come on down. We are having. It's kind of like
a pub crawl done. So it's basically you come and you get to sample over 10 different
hot spiked beverages. So and then the great thing about it is that you will be shuttled around.
You get a free shuttle to go to all the different locations. We're not going to leave you out there
in the code to, you know, walk it. We will actually have a shuttle that will loop around those 10
locations and shuttle you back and forth with all that alcohol in you. It's not going to be cold.
That is very true. But then also on the bus, we will have prices. We have giveaways. We'll have
trivia. We'll have a lot of fun on that bus while you go from point eight to point eight.
That's great. Okay. So that's coming up January 24th. You have to register for anything or
just show up. How does it work? Just show up. Now the other part to this is is that there is
if you bring a donation, new pair of socks or and or agently use coat. If you donate any one of
those, you will be put into a drawing to win a price back over 200 dollars. So that's a plus
to come on down and donate to help someone else that's in need. You know, at the Golden Global
Awards, you have a day, all the presenters and also the, the people who won got a little package,
you know, the little, we'll ask them what they call those bags. The little swag bag. Yeah,
their swag bags were valued at one million dollars. Can I have one, please? I don't want to win
the award. I just want to present the award. Did you want to imagine what is in that bag?
I could possibly be unless there's a million dollars in jewelry in there is something,
but a million dollars in that. I would like to find out, Don. But you can get a $200 one.
Yeah, but hey, you know, come on down. There are crawl happening on January the 24th.
Burr crawl. Okay. Now in February, it's also another cold one, the chili ice walk.
Yes. Yes. So chili ice walk. So chili ice walk is all about coming downtown racing and sampling
a lot of different chilies. Okay. So come hungry. This is a really fun family friendly event
happening on February the 28th from noon to four. You come down, you sample a bunch of different
chilies from a lot of different participating locations. And then also you will be able to see
we have ice carvers. So they're all. Yes. Yes. I've seen them before where they were
downtown in Monument Square. Yes. But they also do them on all the corners all around the streets too.
Exactly. So you will be able to walk around, of course, sample your chili, but also get to see
these artists create out of a block of ice. A wonderful, beautiful, creative sculpture. So
that's fun to come on down and check that out. They interviewed one of them. I said, what if you know
they were doing these things with arms? I said, what if you make a mistake and something breaks
off? He says, well, then we make something new out of it. There you go. They are creative. They
can, you know, act on the spot. And so it's really great to come down and actually see them
literally form this block of ice into something really good. I love chili. Now my wife is vegetarian
chili, which I don't, I'm not a vegetarian chili person. And I don't know if she eats it,
but she does. She loves it. Makes it herself. I got to have some kind of meat in there.
So you will love this. And I want to, I want to hot, not hot where I need to call an
ambulance. I don't want to burn your tongue. But listen, let me tell you this chili ice walk,
the chili that is actually being presented, you have all kind. You do have the vegetarian
chili out there. But then there's also ones with meat just for you, dog. Thank you very much.
You're very welcome. We, we love to please. So my son for Christmas, got me this array of hot
sauces. Now I like the, the fire sauce from Taco Bell, not even the, the oblo. That's the
hottest one from Taco Bell. The fire sauce is good. He brought me these. These are like ghost
pepper type ones where you, you know, you got to have a nurse standing by. I don't think I can
use that. It's so hot. What am I going to do with that burn my gizzard? Yeah, I think you would.
But no, this chili, there's so many different flavors that you will actually be allowed to sample.
So this event, get your little hot stuff, some chili in you. Go outside and see a nice little
ice sculpture being made. So we, at the, at the, we're seeing library once, they had a hot sauce
tasting on a constant hot sauce tasting. And we had about, there was about 12, 15 people there,
whatever. And they had 10 hot sauces, but they were covered. So you didn't know what you were
using. And they had chips. And the first few were fine. You know, then, then we got to number nine.
And I took a chip full. And I said, I gotta put the fire out. I gotta put the fire out. I gotta
go to the doctor. I gotta put the fire out. I was burning. I was banging against the wall.
What did you use? I hear milk. Is that right? They had, they had a picture of milk there. It still
didn't put the fire. And it was one other guy, too. He just couldn't deal with it because we took
a big, heaping thing of it. It turns out when they told us what they were, that hot sauce was
cooking hot sauce. You have us to use a drip in your, they one little drip. And I took a whole
spoonful of it with the chip. And I couldn't put the fire out. It's funny. He never
forget what number it was. Number nine. Number nine. And it was a cooking one, but they didn't
realize it. And, but there were a whole bunch of available. Didn't bother them. But they just
took a dip of it. I took a whole scoop of whole scoop is up till then it was fine. Anyway,
so that's the chili ice walk. Then March, famous for Saint Patrick's Day and Saint Patty's
pup crawl is coming up on the seventh. Yes. So listen, so come on out Saturday, March 7th,
3 p.m. to midnight, 3 p.m. to midnight, you guys. So again, that's going to be another good one.
If you are a one who loves to try different Irish themed drinks, come on out to that one.
You will be shuttled around on that one as well, too. So don't worry about how the weather is
outside. We have your back. We will shuttle your round to all the different participating locations
for this one as well. So we're all of your best green. And I love this event because I love
the way when people come out, they'll have all of the different green outfits on. They'll have
lights. They'll have the little flashing glasses. It's a really fun fun time and really fun event.
I love this one. Then one week later, it's the Saint Patrick's Day parade.
All right. So listen, so applications for that will be going out and open. I should say starting
the beginning of February. So please, if you are an organization that would like to participate in
our Saint Patrick's Day parade, happy March 14th, please look forward to that. And you can
find those applications starting the beginning of February on our website.
This was in the same Patrick's Day parade, years ago, says 2010 here on March 13th, 2010.
This is my beagle. We were in the we had the van for WRJ and he's wearing those things. Well,
there he is. There he is in the back of the van getting ready.
Darling. No, I am sure he said, get this off my hand.
I'm sure he did, but he looks very, very, very cute.
And he was in all the parades we were in. And he was in for fourth July parade. We had him in
a, you know, those fourth July, the Uncle San hats in one parade. We actually had him in a Derby,
a green Derby. I don't got to say something. This dog went along with it in good sport. He went
along with it. And it looks really nice on there. Yeah, he just there he is getting ready.
My wife was holding him. Oh my goodness. I'm sure this was like getting me out of this.
I'm sure he probably was saying that in his head, but he really looks nice on there.
Same Patrick's Day parade, yes. And then you get in front of Ivan,
how does they chop up the whole street? Yeah. It's like that for about a month after
the same Patrick's Day. Well, that's good. No, that's coming in March 14th.
Yes, it's coming out really quick. I'm telling you so any organization, like I said,
who wants to come on down and participate in this parade, applications are going to be opening
the beginning of everyone. It's two months from yesterday. Two months from yesterday. Wow.
Okay. I'm telling you, 2026 is moving. Your line of Coleman is joining us this morning. She's
your event manager for the downtown Racine Corporation. Those are the people that put on all
these great events in downtown Racine. By the way, I got to say Christmas downtown Racine was
like a postcard. You get those nice wreaths, which are on all the light post all lit up. Yeah,
that beautiful Christmas tree, which is gone already. You have the Christmas tree set up,
the Nativity scene was down. It's just like a postcard because I have to travel coming in going
every morning. And when I travel like 515 in the morning going through downtown, it was really
nice. You know, it's really bleak and everything when you're traveling at five in the morning at
dark outside, but it was nice going through downtown. It's beautiful to actually be able to see
all the lights and everything lit up downtown. Yeah. I love this. You guys have a beautiful
downtown. You just you guys do a great job. Where is it? Where are you located now? Do you move
around downtown the DRC office? Nope. The DRC office is still at 425 Main Street downtown.
Okay. Maybe I'm maybe my eyes are getting old. That's okay. I got old eyes.
All right. We left off at St. Patrick's Day, which is coming up on the 14th.
Big St. Patty's Day parade. I always love that. Then you got April, the candy hop.
All right. Now we're talking. I don't need candy anymore, but because I just lost 22 pounds and
candy doesn't really fit into my diet. Well, congratulations on that. Thank you. Got rid of
candy, a little Debbie cakes and all that stuff and all the good stuff. Yeah. Yeah. The candy hop
April 4th. What is that? So the candy hop is for those little kiddos of ours, right? We have
the love them. So that's happening April 4th. Like you said, Don, and it's just basically bringing,
you know, the young ones in young at heart come on down to actually feel your bags up with
wonderful candy. So yeah. So hop on down. So hop on down. We love to see the little kiddos in
their costumes too. That's always a plus. So put your ears on your bunny ears on and hop on down
to downtown racing on April the 4th for the candy hop. Get all the good candy. I tell you,
it's we give out a lot of candy. A lot of candy. Then a poll they said is is the Easter bunny a
male or a female? And the poll was kind of split evenly, but wasn't it Peter cotton tail who's
the Easter Bunny? Isn't he Peter? I mean, how could that how could you not know? Right. Peter
cotton tail. Isn't he the Easter Bunny? Peter cotton tail. I'm going to say he was.
I don't know. I don't think it's important. Exactly. All right. April 11th.
Soup and Steins. This is exactly what it sounds like. Soups all over. Different kind of soups
and you get them in a Stein, right? Exactly. Oh, I love it. So you get a Stein. So we love to give
away things during our event. So soup and Steins. So soup, you got to of course come out and
actually sample over probably 20 plus different soups. Okay. So again, we want you to come hungry.
We're going to feed you plus give you some really good beer. So definitely come on out for that
one Saturday, April 11th. Soup and Steins. A bunch of different soups and you can actually
receive a nice little Stein to take home with you. I love beer cheese soup. Beer cheese soup.
I love that. I'm going to I'm going to say, okay, I have not had the opportunity. You've never
had that. I have not. What are you from Chicago? I am. The beer cheese soup, I love. My wife
makes mots of all soup and it is we have friends come over from mots of all soup. It is so delicious
and I'm, you know, I love soup of all kind, but that one is really good. But beer cheese
never had beer cheese soup. I have not. I'm going to have to come and get it from. If you're going to
die, it's you don't want it. But if you're not on the diet, it's fine. All right. Well, I'm going to
have to you take it for your work. All right. We're already in May. Hopefully by May, the cold weather
will be gone or the snow and ice will be gone because first Friday's kicks in on May 1th.
May 1st. So first Friday is an event where we do every single first Friday of the month.
There's a different theme and we are kicking it off with, of course, the creative crawl.
And so that's just a wonderful way of giving the artists of racing a way for them to show their
creative. I love first Fridays. I get to see people who want me money all the time. And
what do they pay you at that time? I'm going down there. Oh, there's Dave. He owes me money.
Oh, look at those other guy. He owes me a couple of boxes. Okay. So our first Friday is
Don's pay week. And then there's those people you own money too. You don't want them to see you.
But you always get to find those people. That's nice. That's first Fridays. And you say, well,
what other days does it happen? Happen to the first Friday of each month.
It happens every single first Friday of every single month. And there is a different theme
on every single month. So creative crawl is the first one. And I believe we'll be talking about
the next one when we get to June. Okay. And when you go in like one of the first Fridays,
we went into the rain. They get let you in free on first Fridays. And I was never in the
rain before. The racing art museum. It's really good to walk through there. And you should make
a point of it. It was very good. And also, I want to say one other thing for first Fridays
is that the stores stay open late. They stay open until 9 p.m. And a lot of the stores have
wonderful sales. So that's another reason to come on down. That's past my bedtime. Oh no.
Nine o'clock. You're too young to have a bit time at night. I got to get up at four. What do you
talk about? You'll be okay. Why won't you two wine walks coming up in May the ninth and the
sixteenth was that? So the wine walk, one of I would say my favorite event. And so that's
where you come out. You get your friends, bring your family, your loved ones, your best friend.
You guys come on together as a group. We love to see you come out in your wine t-shirts with all
the wonderful scenes. But that's where you come over 30 plus wine participating locations. And
you get to sample 30 different wonderful wines from your red to your white to your dry to your
sweet. You get an opportunity to walk downtown with your best bud and enjoy some wonderful wine.
And finally wrapping up May of the 29th, the spring feast on the streets. What is that? Is that a
new one? That is a new one. We started that one last year and it was awesome. So feast on the streets.
So that is if you are a foodie, if you love food, that is the one for you happening May 29th.
And I believe it's going to also be in the fall as well. So we have two of those. We have one in
the spring and one in the fall as well. Just looking ahead here on the schedule. You got the
hay market, you've got the mini golf, a crawl, you get the lighthouse run. Don, we have a lot.
Yeah, look at this here. Fourth of July parade, one of the biggest in the Midwest. Yes, it is.
I mean, it's like three and a half hours. Three and a half hours?
It is. When they start with the sirens and the pre parade until they get to the end.
So that's the fourth July parades on the list. Here's fish fest salmon arama.
Mm-hmm. Anything that was called that fish fest. We have a lot for everyone.
Wait a second, I'm still looking ahead here. Oh, I know, because it's a lot.
River fest and the cardboard boat race. I remember that. That's good.
Sadly sounds music on the monument. Wow, we got a ton of stuff here. And we all come down to
Christmas time. The Chris Kringle tour. That's where we started.
Right. We started. Well, this is great. Now, if somebody wants to see this list of that,
the actual one I'm looking at, uh, go to the website, which is racing downtown dot com.
Racine racing. You say racing or Racine? Racine?
You can say we want to know. I don't know if I'm right. I'm going to say both.
Racine downtown dot com. Okay. And listen, or racing. Racine.
And it's right there on the page. Just click the events. You'll see a little
thing says events on the events tab. And I ran this on on my bosses printer this morning and
used up a half a ton of being called goodness. Just together. Well, thank you for coming in this
morning. Thank you so very much for having me. And again, I just want to say before I leave,
if you do not have anything to do, look at racing downtown dot com under the events tab and
let me tell you, we have a lot of events for you to come on down. Even if you do have something
to do cancel it. Cancel it. Cancel it and come on downtown. Well, my daughter's getting married.
Cancel it. We got the pump for all that day. But it's my kids graduate. Forget about it.
We got the can. That's right. Forget about this stuff. Bring the kiddos down because it's a lot
of fun. My kids graduating college forget about the graduation. I'm going to teach her the
forget about it. Forget about it. Just come down there. Exactly. Forget all that stuff. You can
always do it some other time. Thank you, Yolanda. Very good. Thank you, Don. I appreciate it.
Yolanda Coleman event manager for the downtown Racine Corporation. If you missed any of this
chitchat we had, you can go on our podcast. You can check it out there. It'll be on there,
but sometime late afternoon and early evening at w r j n dot com civic media dot us. Also the Apple
podcast, Spotify wherever you get your podcast. Just search Don Rosen show and you'll hear and you
can hear Yolanda over and over and over again tonight. Thank you very much, Yolanda. Thank you,
Don. It's so very nice. It was nice having you.