Talking food.
Love it.
Fresh food.
Don Carrillo is here.
She is the market manager for the Racine Farmers Market at the Festival Park, aka Rotary Park, either one.
And thanks for coming in again.
Yeah, good morning.
I like the hat.
Thank you.
Yeah, that's you look good in that hat.
That's how
people can find me.
I always have a hat
on.
Yeah, see, I'm not a hat person.
I just don't look good in hats for some reason.
Maybe because I'm tall.
I don't know.
This doesn't look good.
Especially baseball caps.
They don't look good.
Yeah, but you look good in that you had your hair
curly hair.
That's why
yeah, you're a half person though I Want to talk about before I because I have short memory You have sweet corn.
I love sweet corn.
I love it.
Just a safety for my teeth though It's hard to you know, I crank it around I was in a corn eating contest and I see if I can find the picture this is what I worked in other radio station that had us on stage and The late Vince Gibbons who used to be a newscaster channel six.
He emceeded
And there were six of us on there.
And it was from different radio stations and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
And they had all these years of corn and they were hot.
So, you know, you know, so they were all but they dipped them in the butter and you go, how many can you eat in 10 minutes?
And I'm jumping on, I'm looking to my right.
And this guy is like turning it around like it's, you know, a rolling pin and one down one.
Holy mackerel, how did he do that?
And I'm looking at it and I'm like, wow, what's he do?
And he just cranked it around like a real rolling pin turning around.
And he throw it in, take another one, throw it in.
And you had to shuck it yourself.
I mean, it took time to do that, you know.
And he was turning around.
And of course he had like 12 years of corn or something in a few, and I'm like, you know, Don, three, that's good, Don.
Because I'm taking one by swallowing one.
This guy wasn't there, he was cranking it around.
I'll put a photo on the picture for you.
All right, the Racine Farmers Market, they have vendors down there, all kinds of vegetables, fruits, even more than that though, you've got a whole bunch of them.
What do you have down there?
We'll close out.
Everything you have to say.
We have a little bit of everything there.
And we have vendors that rotate in and out like every other week.
So we have peanut butter.
And one of the new things that we have is a brand new vendor that sells pizza crust.
So we started kind of a pizza contest.
So if you come to the market and you can use any pizza crust and create a pizza using things from the market, we put a little prize, $100 prize on it and we'll see who can create the most unique pizza using items from the market.
We're not talking about pickle pizzas or
anything.
Anything
you want, of course.
So
sacrilege has got to be sausage and pepperoni.
But we do.
We have vendors that sell cheese and meats.
And so you definitely can do the original.
But we just got one sent to us that used the fresh potatoes, thin sliced potatoes on their pizza.
So tons of different options, especially at the market.
And it really promotes all the different vegetables that are in season right now.
It, yeah, and we'll do it all on social media so you can follow us on Facebook and we'll post the winning and we'll post all of
them so you can get an idea.
What kind of toppings did people put on there, do you know?
You know, I made one just the other day.
Don't tell me that.
It was cornfest and I put fresh corn on
it.
Well, I can live with it.
Not my favorite, but I can live with that.
Right.
My favorite topping is green peppers.
Yeah, and they're in season right
now.
I know, I love green peppers.
I can eat them.
I eat them just, I slice them up.
eat them.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I put cream cheese on it.
Then my wife said, you don't know how fattening that is with that cream cheese on there.
You're eating it because it's healthy.
You stick a load of cream cheese on there.
Absolutely.
So I stopped doing that.
But yeah, the possibilities are endless.
And then we have the salsa showdown.
All right.
Well, hold on.
OK.
We have something.
The salsa showdown is coming up,
right?
Yeah.
What would they have salsa on the table?
What do you need salsa for?
Salsa is now the number one condiment in America.
Do
you know
why?
Because people like to say salsa.
Excuse me, do you have any salsa?
We need more salsa.
Where is the salsa?
No salsa.
Yeah, it must be impossible for a Spanish person to order salsa and not get salsa.
I wanted salsa, not salsa.
So do
you know the difference between salsa and salsa?
Do you have the salsa after the salsa?
There you go.
I had
to play
the Jerry Seinfeld bit on salsa.
Yes,
yes.
It's hot.
It's hot.
So what the salsa showdown coming up this weekend?
Yeah, we're going to have eight participants.
We'll drop off gallons of salsa.
We'll put that in individual cups.
And so when you visit the market, you'll get a bag of chips.
And you'll get
all eight and then be able to vote at the end of the after you've tasted them all.
I told you, did I tell you about my hot sauce eating contest last time you were
here?
You do a lot of contests.
Well, this was my wife and I, she got me involved in this at the Racine Public Library.
Okay.
They had a hot sauce eating thing.
And they were like 16 people there or something like that.
And they had 10 hot sauces lined up, sauces and hot sauces.
And they were covered so you couldn't see what they were.
And you had a thing of chips on the table and you would rate them.
So I won through seven.
Okay.
He's good.
Yeah, it's just good.
He's good.
Got to number eight.
Take me to the hospital.
I'm on fire.
I can't put the fire out.
Quick, my mouth is on fire.
One of the guys too, we're standing against the wall, banging on the wall.
Put the fire up, put the fire up.
Now they had a big picture of milk there just to do that.
It didn't put the fire out.
And then they had a little bit of bread.
No, it's not getting, I can't put the fire out.
This was unbelievable.
And nobody else seemed affected, just me and this guy.
Got to number 10.
Put the fire.
I can't put the fire out.
The fire turns out they were all regular hot sauces, except eight and 10 were cooking hot sauces.
Were you supposed to put one little drop?
Sure.
I took a scoop of it in my mouth.
I couldn't put the fire out.
But we had a good time.
You know, one, one through seven and nine were great.
It was that.
I couldn't believe it.
And
we will not have that issue.
Well, no, because that was cooking.
Right.
That wasn't that was meant for chips and different stuff.
So that's good.
So that's coming up this weekend
this weekend.
Yeah.
And so we'll have judges trophy and then we'll have people's choice trophy.
And this is for people making the salsa get the trophies.
Correct.
The
winners.
So we'll have right.
So everybody will vote and then they'll get a trophy.
And six of them are vendors that we have and two of them are from the community.
But like the new cafe, they'll be part of it.
And they're a vendor at the market.
So.
You didn't bring a sample in here?
I didn't.
You don't want me to cook something.
Is it in your car or something?
You want me to take a break so you can run out and get the chips and dip?
I will
definitely, I could drop them off on Monday.
No, don't drop them off.
No, don't do that.
Unless you want to.
No, don't do that.
We don't like food in the studio because it makes crumbs.
But you can stop it off in the office.
No, I'm all again.
Especially
of the winners,
right?
Let's find out who the winner is.
I don't go through that, but you know, next time.
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay, next time, let's go happen.
Don Carrillo joining us this morning from the Racine Farmers Market.
Always love talking fresh food.
Oh, I love it.
I'm not a big vegetable and fruit eater, but when it comes to the farmers market, there are things I love, like green peppers.
I love lettuce.
There are all types of peppers that I love.
You can only get them fresh where you are.
And the safest way to buy right from the farmer.
Because they put up a sign in the field, stay away parasites.
Exactly.
Well, I think we're okay now because all that vegetable, they're gone already because... Now
it's the meat.
They
got a
meat problem?
There is a meat problem.
What's with the meat problem?
I don't know specifically, but there is a meat problem.
They're phasing me out.
So our meat is coming right from the farmers that harvested it.
I didn't know there was a meat problem.
Yeah,
there is.
Oh man.
All right, I gotta buy it from you then.
Yes,
please.
Meat problem.
Okay, so this is at Rotary Park Festival Park on the Lakefront.
It's every Saturday from nine to one, nine to one, nine a.m.
to one p.m.
Get the farmers out there.
And even if it rains, you get some under cover.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So it doesn't
matter.
Yeah.
Right.
OK.
So after these salsa, salsa, I guess, like Jerry Seinfeld, salsa, September 12th is the Dockside demo.
What is that?
So Manny, the chef and owner of Old Madrid comes out and does chooses proteins and products from.
the vendors and then makes a meal for all of us.
Really?
It's
amazing.
He's done it a couple of times and we still have two more on September 12th and then on October 10th.
Is Denny out in the lobby waiting for us so we can make that?
You didn't bring him?
I did not.
Man, no salsa, no chips, no Denny.
I know.
Manny, Manny.
Manny, but you got a hat and everything.
I know.
That's all you brought up with you.
Okay, so the show, the hot side demo is coming up September 12th.
We're not done.
September 19th, Spudfest.
I love potatoes.
Right, and Wisconsin potatoes, especially this time of season,
are amazing.
But I love every way you can cook them.
Yeah, and you're going to
celebrate that.
Oh, I love baked potatoes.
I love french fries.
I love twice-baked potatoes.
I love hash browns.
I love everything you can do with potatoes.
I love them.
It's even like eating potato skins.
Well, yeah, I do too.
The Wisconsin Potato Association will be out there.
They bring in a huge RV, and they have a whole history of the Wisconsin potato.
And the little Spudfest guy will be there.
We'll celebrate all things.
He's not dressed like a potato, is he?
He
is.
Okay.
Yes, he is.
And we'll give away free potatoes.
Oh, would you bring any?
I did not bring those.
I know, we gave away 350 cobs of corn for Cornfest.
And then four bushel, huge bushels of apples for Applefest last week.
You gave that in your trunk?
So, yeah.
So, no.
So then Spudfest will give away potatoes.
It would have been nice if we could have really talked about it.
Had you bring in twice baked potatoes, potato skins.
Clearly, I did drop the ball.
You dropped the potato on this one.
Yeah.
No, I love potatoes.
I really do.
Yeah, I do too.
And my wife cooks them all these different ways.
I don't know how to make twice baked potatoes.
I know how to do it.
I can't do it.
And there's so, you know, I
can't speak.
But you put cheese in it.
Right, right, right.
And I can speak to the toppings, of course.
But there's so many different kinds of potatoes.
And so that's what's cool about a farmer's market.
There's just that variety that you can talk to the farmer directly
about.
You know, I know, I know like red potatoes and fake potatoes, spuds and everything.
That's about it.
Yeah, Larryville Gardens, I know, has a purple potato and it looks purple and it looks very odd.
But when you cut it open, it is snow white and probably the best potato I've ever had.
I'm going to... By far.
When is this now?
This is September 19th.
Yeah.
I'm clearing my calendar.
I had a couple of weddings to go to.
Now they're gone.
Forget those.
It's
Saturday morning.
You'll be all
done.
I'm going to Spotify Fest.
Okay.
Another Dockside demo coming up, which I'm in October, October 10th.
This is sponsored by Local 118.
What is this?
Yeah.
The same thing.
Mani
comes back out and just chooses now all the fall products that are available at the market and then cooks a new...
I
was going to have you back in, but I think I should have Manny instead.
Maybe you should.
I can hook you up.
Yeah, you're not bringing anything.
Yeah, maybe he'll
bring some food.
And coming up October 24th, Fall Fest.
See, I didn't grow up in a farming community.
I grew up in a big farming state.
New York is a huge farming state, but we didn't have any of this stuff because there were no local farmers.
Sure.
So we just didn't enjoy this kind of stuff, but here.
So Fall Fest is what now?
So that'll be the very last market of the season.
So October 24th, we'll invite every single vendor that came the entire season, and we'll celebrate all the fall produce, have kids' activities, and really end the season with a bang.
So the Stockside demo, you have three of them this year, coming up September 12th, this one will be now, what is he putting on demo?
So
he really doesn't give us a pre-determination on what he's going to
cook.
What's his phone number?
Yeah.
But he does as he buys the produce that morning or organizes it with the farmers.
So it's whatever, yeah, whatever is in season.
And what he's done in the past has been so incredible.
And he makes so much of it so everybody gets samples.
You don't have his phone number?
We can get
it.
I know.
It's exclusive.
I'm
not sure he'll be up at this time.
He runs a restaurant.
You do other farmers markets, too, right?
I do.
I have the winter market.
So
we'll
go right from this to all these vendors will follow me to the to Oak Creek,
which is kind of
the same.
And we have it then an indoor market for the entire winter.
And that's only two times a month.
So the first and third of every.
So what do you have in the winter because you can't get fresh vegetables and stuff in the winter?
You know, there is.
There
are.
So a couple of the vendors, the farmers have hoop houses.
So they are starting to now plant hoop, hoop houses.
And so they're kind of indoor.
Oh, okay.
And so they're starting to plant those with winter crops already.
So we will have produce and we also will continue the match program.
So right now at the farmer's market, we have, if you have snap, we give you $20 extra free to buy produce.
as part of the Snap Double Up Food Bucks program.
So that will continue through the winter as well.
I think we had one farm where I grew up.
It's not here anymore.
It wasn't a big farm, it's small.
But Guido Foglia had the farm.
I spoke to his son recently.
I was a little kid back in the early 60s.
My father was friends with him.
We used to go there.
And they picked, it was a big Italian dinner, you know, the big pots of pasta and everything.
But then they sent the kids into the field.
They go, so go pick some corn.
and we used to pick all these ears of corn, and they used to boil them, they didn't roast them, boil them, and then we had that in the dinner.
And I remember running through those cornfields, trying to get the biggest ones and picking them out, and that's it.
That was my whole farming experience growing up, going running through Guido Foglia's cornfield.
And when I spoke to his son a couple of years ago, I said, what's with her now?
I said, houses.
His
father passed away, and they sold it, and the housing development is there.
And I wanted to go back.
My brother said, don't do it.
Don't go back.
It's not going to work out well for you.
You
go back.
Right.
And that's why a farmer's market is so important, right?
To support those farmers.
And we have the best vendors that come into the market, truly.
And when people come out and purchase from them, yeah, it really stays in the local economy.
It's amazing.
When I was driving to Coloma, Wisconsin over the weekend, I could not believe the size of those fields.
And they're all, the corn hasn't been picked yet.
So as my father said, you know, as high as an elephant's eye by the 4th of July, and now they're huge.
And I said to my wife, maybe we should just pull alongside the road and take a couple of years.
That's stealing.
But I don't know if it's field corn or sweet corn.
Right, do not try that.
No, it's
definitely not worth it.
When we used to go on trips as a kid, my dad used to pull over and eat it raw.
Well, eating it raw is really good.
Yeah, if you don't mind
losing your teeth.
No, no.
No, no, no.
But if you cut it off and put it in a salad, it's amazing.
It's super sweet.
Yeah.
But he just ate it
right.
Cranked it around and.
Yeah.
I don't know why he did that, but he did it.
So, OK, so we're talking to Dawn Carrillo.
She is the market manager for the Racine Farmers Market.
They're in business at Festival Park, which is also Rotary Park in Racine.
It starts at 9 a.m.
runs to 1 p.m.
every Saturday, right through October 24th.
And this Saturday is Sasa.
Sasa.
You got to say it like Jerry Sunbelt's salsa.
The salsa showdown.
And it sounds like fun.
Yeah.
Of course, I'm starving right now.
So anything with food sounds fun.
It's a great
opportunity to try all the salsas that are available at the park or in this downtown city of Racine.
And it'll be a blind taste test.
And so then you'll find out which one you voted for.
Well, good for you if you're doing this in Racine.
This is really great.
It's a little different.
Yeah.
So show up.
And it's not with mission fee.
Just go in there and buy what you can.
And there's other things besides food, by the way, there.
because my wife bought some stuff there.
Yeah, come and have.
It wasn't food.
I forgot what she bought, but she bought some other stuff.
She bought food because it wasn't the food stuff that she bought.
I forgot what she bought, but it wasn't food.
And we have, so we bring in two vendors, two or three vendors that besides food, crafters.
That's what she bought.
Yes, and those rotate.
They're different every single week, but the majority of it is all the original kind of farmers market
items.
We're seeing farmers market right there in the Lake Festival Park, Rotary Park, and
Stop on by Saturdays from 9 a.m.
to 1 p.m.
right through October 24th.
Gonna have you back.
Yeah, I would love
to.
Don Carrillo, Market Manager for the Racine Farmers Market.
Sounds good.