Legends, Life Lessons, and Live Music (Hour 3)

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Coming to Northeast Wisconsin live from the Civic Media Studios, this is Mino and the Mayor.

And

here are your hosts.

John Minow, and Jim Schmidt.

Hey, thank you very much.

Welcome back.

Minow and the Mayor are here on a beautiful, beautiful Friday morning.

Let's go to the great city of Toledo, Ohio, and talk to one of our great friends, former UW Green Bay head coach and D.P.R.

Redbird extraordinaire.

In fact, a legend, a legend in D.P.R.

circles.

Todd Kowalczyk, Coach K.

You're going way too far on the legend, way too far.

I got I got to tell you something though when I was up at Mary Jane Herber's office in the Brown County Public Library and they had the old yearbooks and I pulled out I believe it was homecoming Queen Todd or excuse me homecoming King Todd to all check and That puts you in legendary status my

friend

I was not a homecoming king, just so you know.

Well, you were something.

You were something there at homecoming and whatever.

All right.

Coach, move on.

Coach, he uses that legend hoping it's going to be reciprocal.

Yeah.

Well, he is a legend.

There's no question about it.

Legend is on line.

Good to talk to you, John and Jim.

Yeah,

great to talk to you, coach.

The person we want to talk with, of course, is somebody that was so near and dear to us.

The man who and this is no lie coach and I've been with some of the greats yourself coach Bennett coach Heidemann and and and the whole bunch and we just go on and on but I'll tell you what When it comes to just cutting through the BS and sitting around a couple of cold Bud lights and talking basketball Nobody cut to the chase more than a gentleman by the name of Dale race and we lost him recently and I felt horrible I couldn't come to the to the tribute because of that little surgery I had and everything but

Coach Todd Kowalczyk, wouldn't you say Dale race was, was legendary, um, in the game of basketball?

He was, uh, it had an unbelievable impact on, on so many people, uh, that he coached, that he mentored, um,

and

had a very unique ability to, I know kind of Duke talks about like their brotherhood.

Yeah.

Uh, I think, I think coach race did that long before.

And trust me on this now guys.

I've been involved in athletics my entire adult life It does not happen at most places.

It does not have that brotherhood and the player still staying in touch and What would he how he impacted the guys you played for you?

He was our coach.

He was our mentor and then after you graduated he was he was a friend for life He was not your friend when he when he when you play for me was stern.

He was tough

At time, as you can imagine, was abrasive.

But you always knew that he cared about you.

He cared about your family.

He made you better.

And at the tribute, there was a lot of former Duluth players.

There was a lot of Green Bay players.

And all of us are better today because of him.

And then some of us are where we are today because of him.

There's several of us.

They got our entire jobs and careers all because of him.

Who

yelled at you more as a player your dad who is also a legend or Dale race That's

pretty cool, but just you know these great coaches and we've had a number of mine here and of course you read about them too They are so much more than an X's and O's

coach, you know, they really take an interest in not just you as a person, but I think what what coach just said about even after the game, the years down the road, they call you to see how you're doing, how your family is.

I just think I think that's terrific that you guys do that.

Yeah, I've never made a professional decision without consulting coach race.

I haven't.

I mean, yeah, and then when I was going for the Green Bay job, he was kind of trying to help, you know, prep me.

and prepare me for the interview process.

And I told him, I said, coach, I'm 36 years old.

This is my one and only chance at a division one head coach.

If you don't do it your first time, you never get a second opportunity.

You just don't.

That's just how coaching works.

So I didn't want to be that 36-year-old that thought he had all the answers.

So I wanted to hire a veteran coach that would tell me when I was screwing up, because you're going to make some mistakes.

And I wanted to learn from those mistakes.

who better to hire than, than, than Dale race.

I got him out of retirement, uh, looking back at it, John, and you were, you were there during those days.

He was only 56 years old when I hired him.

He sure as hell looked a lot older than that.

Hey, hey, I roomed with them for a while.

Trust me.

He looked a lot older.

Hey, remember that as one of our friends called him the pluck chicken.

Oh yeah.

Frog horn, leg horn.

Yeah, I got a text here, Todd.

Race car was my fight and advisor at UW Eau Claire.

He would always be in his office watching film on an old film projector, old school, quite the guy, Terry.

Yeah, he was quite the guy.

And, uh, you know, but having him having him by my side, uh, those for any that, you know, talking, he really missed coaches.

So talking him out of retirement.

was really easy.

Talking to his wife Margaret to come down to the Green Bay and leaving her home in Duluth was extremely difficult.

And then she finally said, hey, listen, I'll do it for two years.

And they stayed for six and they never left.

They had a great community.

I mean, they absolutely loved the people at Royal Scott.

That was kind of his second family and made a home there.

And then after he, you know, get out of, you know, when Brian Mordell left Green Bay,

You know, really, he followed three programs.

You followed Bradley.

He followed Toledo.

But his main team that he followed and had a passion for, and I want to give him a shout out because I know he's a friend of yours.

That's Michigan State and Tom Izzo.

That was the team he had a passion for.

He would follow Toledo and Bradley, but not, you know, his team was Michigan State.

And what Tom Izzo, how Tom Izzo took him in as a friend and as an advisor to Michigan State was tremendous.

And he didn't have to do that.

You know, but he, you know, Tom has a really made Dale feel a part of it and part of their family.

And I know he went down there several times to watch games and practices.

But that was clearly, to end his, you know, the last 20 years to be a big Spartan like that was huge for him.

You know, Coach, just when I underscore something you said as someone who was the leader,

to go back and talk to these guys who retired, that's like really good advice because they're out there.

And sometimes it's the spouse you got to sell it on, but we brought some people back like Molitor.

And it just, you're bringing back wisdom, you're bringing back someone you really respect because even though you're the top of the food chain, it's like, okay, this is good, but I could use some help here.

That was very wise on your part.

And I would suggest people to look at that, you know,

Don't not everybody but to get one of those people back and and they do kind of want to come back a little bit Oh, yeah, but not not right away.

Yeah, right.

Get a work on them.

Get a work on them.

What did

you go ahead Todd?

I Still do that.

I you know Steve Clifford who you know got fired last year as the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets He's gonna come spend a couple days with us in July.

I mean I Though those types of guys are invaluable.

They got so much knowledge that they can share with you and as a

leader of a business organization if you don't you know want their advice i mean shame on you yeah

that's great

but you know another thing too with with somebody like dale like again you know practices are practices but when we would sit around and i'll be honest with you Todd i've covered sports you know for 50 years or whatever some of what some of the things i look back at most finally in my entire 50 year career

We're sitting around in a hotel room the night before a game having a couple of Bud lights and just letting Dale kind of expound on philosophies or individual players or whatever.

Cause what he was saying, you knew was really legit.

It wasn't somebody just spewing to, you know, try to make people think how much they know.

It was like he cut right to the core on things and no BS filter.

Wouldn't you agree?

Those were just insightful get togethers.

Well, I still do to this day, the night four games.

I have a hard time.

You're nervous.

You're uptight.

Having a couple beers with guys like you and Dale was what I always did and always will do.

But you're right.

I don't know.

There wasn't a whole lot of gray in Dale's race.

It was black and white.

And one of the things I talked about at the celebration,

Foxhole guys and you were a foxhole guy to him.

He if you were in his foxhole He you you were in that for life, you know and and he didn't have a whole lot of tolerance for fence sitters Yeah guys ever wish he was here and would like you when you won But if you had a tough game where it would jump like he he had zero tolerance for a fence sitter But a foxhole friend man that that's what he was looking for and that's what he was

You know, I got a little altercation on time at a three on three basketball game in Manitowoc.

Um, cause they had asked me if I could get somebody there as, you know, as a referee and to kind of do things.

And it was Dale, Dale volunteered.

Come down.

You know what I mean?

It's like, Oh man, thank you, Dale.

And some guy was given him.

crap about, you know, his officiating and stuff.

And I said, do you have any idea who that guy is?

No, I have no idea.

But I don't know why you're bringing these.

And I went off on this guy, I'll be honest with you.

And Dale actually took off his whistle.

He was where he goes handed it to a guy.

You probably know basketball a little bit better than I do.

I'll let you handle this.

I'm not quite sure about the rules and everything.

And I tore into that guy.

But isn't that something?

But

which is hard to believe back in those days, right coach?

But Dale was one of those guys that was unassuming, but underneath was just incredible knowledge and, and, but here's the other thing too, incredible care for his people.

Oh yeah.

Wouldn't you say coach?

Yeah, absolutely.

And that's why he impacted so many of his players.

And that was his, you know, they were part of his family.

And yeah, I do, do, do, do.

The amount of laughter and stories and tears that happened last Friday was really kind of cool.

Yeah.

Well, what are the things that you still incorporate day to day when, you know, the basketballs roll out next season?

What are some of the things in the back of your mind that you probably don't even, you know, you don't even think about, but that came from Dale Race and all your experience of playing for him and then coaching with him.

What are some of the things that you probably bring into your day to day life as a coach that were instilled somehow along the way from Dale?

Most of it's just you know, how you know, just blue collar getting guys.

He wasn't that into the X's and O's.

He was recruiting high character men who would play together and wouldn't play hard and play unselfish.

That was his strength as a coach.

But there are certain slogans that I find me saying all the time to my players that he used to say to me, you know, like,

you know, for example, open shots of maidshot early, you know, at Toledo, we don't do shooting drills.

We do making drills.

I mean, it's, you know, things like that.

And he also had one that my wife put on a koozie for all the people at the celebration that I cannot say over the over over radio because it just makes so much sense.

Well, he's one of those guys though that has impact so many kids over the years I mean you got to remember to you know These are 18 year old kids

a

lot of times first time away from home And I mean even for you you went to Duluth and then Dale the way the way guys could talk to players back in those days That had to be a little bit of a shock to the new world of college basketball your first time at Duluth, right?

Yeah, and he can be a very intimidating guy.

He's six nine.

He's kind of grouchy

but when you get the chance to peel off the layers and get to know him, he's got the heart of a, you know, this is a huge heart and just a very, very gentle, kind man who, it was very, one of the lessons that we always learned as players from him is how to love and honor your mother and your wife and your kids.

He talked about it and you could see how he treated Margaret and the girls and he'd always talk about loving and honoring your mother.

Yep, that's great advice.

So coach, update us on your life, haven't?

Talk to you a little while.

How things going?

How

are you doing?

We all love you.

We miss you.

And we want to talk about your son.

That's not

a bad

basketball

player.

So

can you stick

around, Todd, for a minute?

We guys said to a quick break.

You got time?

Yeah.

You're not out of the

pot.

You're not out of the pot too, are you?

No, I was getting ready to go to yoga, bro.

I'll push that off.

Okay, I gotta be honest

with you.

I'm sure you're gonna miss that.

When I heard

you were huge into yoga, I thought, no, that must be the wrong Todd Koalcheck.

Hey, and what's the secret to having a happy wife at home?

Buyer a pontoon.

Yes, correct.

We got a quick break.

Todd Koalcheck, back right

after this.

But what do you expect when some old trucker's heart

gets broke?

Yeah, trucker's hearts get broke.

Hey, welcome back.

We're a very special guest.

Todd Kowalczyk, former UW Green Bay head basketball coach.

Now the head coach of the Rockets of the University of Toledo.

Coach, I want to talk about the young son of yours who is a heck of a basketball player.

Could you give us an update on him, please?

Well, it's kind of fitting that we're going to talk about him because I named him after Dale Race and Margaret Race.

I shouldn't say I. It was Julie's idea.

Really?

His first name is Race.

Isn't that cool?

That's great.

My son is named Race.

And he's, yeah, he's, he's just committed to a school two weeks ago, John.

Was it

Bradley?

And it's going to Brad.

He's going to go play for Brian Waldo, one of the best coaches there is.

And as you guys know, he was a great coach at Green Bay, my assistant coach.

When I left to come to Toledo, he got the job at Green Bay and did a great job at Green Bay.

And it was just kind of a family decision that, you know, we didn't feel.

You know, he didn't, everybody, it'd probably be best if he didn't play for dad.

Julie will tell you, we're too much alike.

Well, you played for your dad, so you

know everything that comes with playing for your dad.

I mean, you experienced it personally.

College is so different than high school in that regard.

You know, he gets...

So much you know with social media now that he's got these you know college scholarship offers because of his dad No, he doesn't it's because of his because of him It's really more of my wife and because but him and his work ethic and how hard he's worked and I'm proud of him because he's gonna be a good player for Bradley and I hope he's that unicorn that stays there for four or five years and never leaves.

That's awesome.

How tall was he?

He's six six and he's long

That's awesome.

His cousin, his con Canipple, who you guys all know, that's Sherry's son.

And he saw how hard con worked and really tried to emulate that.

And he's worked extremely hard to get where he's at.

And I think he'll do well at Bradley.

You know, you talk about a family atmosphere with Coach Wardle and his wife and kids and Wardle's dad and mom and the whole thing.

He's, you know what I mean?

He's walking into a great situation, just environment of who's going to be around you.

And it's, I'm not trying to offend the Green Bay program or Clutle program.

It's a better situation.

It's just, you know, they'll get on a Saturday night.

They're gonna have to play against Drake or they're gonna get 8, 9,000 people.

Wow.

That's awesome.

And now part of it is they don't have football.

They don't have, you know, minor league baseball or something like that.

In Peoria, Illinois, men's basketball at Bradley is the ticket in the show.

And they put out a great product.

Brian's won a lot of games, won championships there.

And

they have a tremendous following in the institution.

is all 100% backing of the men's basketball program.

That's awesome.

That's terrific.

Do you get back here

much?

Coach?

I do.

I was just back last week.

I was back Wednesday through Saturday.

Love Green Bay.

Love coming back.

I actually walked around the campus.

I hadn't been on campus since I left 15 years ago.

And that was neat.

I actually walked into the tunnels and walked around and went into, it's amazing how, you know, the Kretsch Event Center, but when we were there, John, we had the Phoenix Sports Center.

I mean, I walked in the old, the old Phoenix Sports Center, the old gyms that we used to practice and the women used to play at.

And it's like, man, we, we, we did some pretty cool things in the, in a, in a facility that was God awful.

It was bad.

It wouldn't even be considered division three facilities now, would it?

Oh, no, I'm not even

high school.

No.

Yeah, you're right.

Not even high school.

Wow.

I mean, if you go to West, you peer right now and look at their facilities and their indoor football

field.

It's

unbelievable.

It's unbelievable what these schools have.

Nina, you should see Nina's facilities coach.

It's amazing.

Yeah, it's college stuff, but it's actually.

Some of that stuff is pro stuff.

It's unbelievable.

Nina's weight room is 10 times bigger than the Green Bay Packers weight room when I started in Green Bay.

It's unbelievable.

Coach, I got to ask you one thing though, man.

The NIL, how is that affecting the world of college basketball coaches?

Oh, it's real.

It's there.

I mean, it's not going to change.

It's, you know, and I get to be honest with you.

I, you know, I'm not at the end of my career, but I can, you know, probably see it from here.

You know, I find it fascinating.

I do.

I think the recruiting has always been a big art in some science.

Now it's much more science.

You're looking at a salary of a worth of a player, and you plug it into that.

And we got two rules in our program.

We can never overpay somebody, hopefully, because that affects the rest of the roster.

And you cannot miss on character.

You just can't.

And that's what, you know,

We won four straight championships here.

No one in our league has ever won three.

We won four in a row.

And last year, we finished fourth.

And it feels like we were God awful.

And in our terminology, we were fourth.

It simply isn't good enough.

But I made some mistakes in character in the transfer portal.

We cannot do that.

It's amazing how one mistake won.

I mean, you've had that show.

We talk about that.

Right.

It's.

That's got to be the driver and a but I mean you've talked about that in the business world Oh, yeah, you tell you what the best thing you can do for your organization is a good hire the worst thing you can do is a bad hire and boy It's a cancer and oh, yeah that character thing and I I'll give the Green Bay Packers some credit for the character I think they really vet these people and And I obviously you do too, but yeah, you don't want to miss on that because that's not just a not good player That's pretty team down.

Yeah.

Oh

And the worst of the worst is when they're actually likable.

No, no, no, they get the other guys to follow.

Yeah,

that's

the truth.

That's the truth.

You bet.

Well, Coach Kowalczyk, what a pleasure and honor it is to have you on my friend and all our condolences to everybody that knew and loved deal race like we all do.

By the way, you know, I had a great friend, Larry Eps.

He just passed away at 96, I think, but he had been sports editor at the Menominee and Marinette newspaper, Eagle Harold Ledger, I think it was for like 60 or 70 years.

And I asked him to put together his

all-time starting five basketball team that he ever watched in high school.

And Dale Race was on that starting five as a player.

That's cool.

I thought

that

was cool.

Yeah.

Coach Kowalczyk, miss you, buddy.

Great talking to you.

It's you, too.

OK,

my friend.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

We come back.

Pat Tracy discovering Oshkosh right

after this.

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Jump in, leave a comment and be a part of the conversation.

Now, back to Mino and the Mayor.

Here's John Mino and Jim Schmidt.

Hey, thank you very much.

Man, we've had some great guests today.

Keith Pamper and Challenge The Outdoors.

We want to keep talking about them and all the great things they do and how we can help them.

Joe Harlow, cheese fest coming up in Little Shoot.

Man, that just sounds phenomenal.

It starts tomorrow night.

It's going to be fantastic.

Todd Kowalczyk, head coach at the University of Toledo.

So great, great guests all day today.

But now we turn the page and talk to Pat Tracy.

The even greater guest.

good morning.

How are you buddy?

Well is I'm listening to the show this morning and all of your fascinating guests and and you know deciding not to go to yoga because I have to come here

instead.

All I can think about is how am I in this.

uh, radio snow with all these other amazing people.

We were one of them

talking about the same thing.

Todd actually brought it up here.

You are one of them.

Even yesterday with your ears ringing, we had, um, uh, Jeff Merkis, who's our downtown Green Bay event and spoke very highly of you after I spoke highly of you, but it just, it, you guys really.

Work well together and you're the ones who make the communities happen and I told him I just I'm really impressed with you I wish when I was mayor I would have hired you you are just doing such a good job.

I wish you did too, Jim.

Oh my gosh, if you could have turned me loose into that world I

don't I don't I don't say a lot of great things about your pad even though I do feel great things about you because I like being snarky just like the way our people are touched But I will say this if you were let loose during his reign here in Green Bay, man, it would have been incredible.

Yeah

You just you bring it all.

You just

bring it all.

So

what are you going on?

We'll go ahead.

Okay.

So listeners, if you are, you know, coming on Facebook, because today I'm sporting the gift that Discover Oshkosh gave me to kind of rock off my summer.

It's a amazing trucker cap with my own why I love Oshkosh logo on it.

Come on.

That's awesome.

Why don't we have those

Todd?

I

don't know.

Next

Friday or next.

When is it?

Yeah.

Next

Thursday.

Next Thursday.

Look at this.

Love it.

Oh my gosh.

Thank you.

Discover Oshkosh.

I love you too.

Looks cool, buddy.

You guys.

We so I'm glad that I really prepared for the show today because I didn't want to let the listeners down after the roller coaster that they've been on.

Oh, Todd, did we did we get the water fest tickets?

We've got

them.

I'm going.

Yes.

Amy's got them for us.

All we need to do is get some winners.

Oh, cool.

So I don't I don't know what your procedure this our first first square dance on the waterfest ticket giveaway.

So

tell us what we got to give away Pat and then I'll give the instructions on how people can win them this morning.

We've got a pair of waterfest tickets.

Waterfest Oshkosh is like, oh my gosh, it's like our 35th year.

Don't quote me on that.

But it kicks off.

next, next Thursday, June 12th with a hairball.

Oh my gosh.

Okay, hairball.

I mean, amazing.

Absolutely.

So you so you can go to that show.

And I believe that that's what we're giving away.

All right.

So I haven't seen the actual tickets.

But if they look like my tickets,

That's what we're doing.

Hey, Pat, we're talking about here.

I have my granddaughters in town a week or so ago and the different things in Green Bay.

There's, you know, the great things to do with kids these days.

And I said, you know, you take about a 50 mile radius or 50 mile drive, 45 minutes, whatever it takes to get from, you know, Green Bay to Oshkosh and all the different things.

I don't know if people realize it.

All the things, you know, you don't have to go to the Wisconsin Dells.

I talked to my granddaughters at Crocs and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

And they live in Madison close to Wisconsin Dells.

The great things we have up here, but that 45 to 50 mile radius between Green Bay to Oshkosh, all the different things.

Like if we had nothing to do in Green Bay tonight, so I got my three granddaughters here, what can I do if I bring them to Oshkosh?

What would you tell me?

Oh my gosh.

Well, you've got it.

You got to go to the Monomony Park Zoo, John.

Yeah.

It's right on the lake.

You'll see the animals.

They're, you know, they're in their little cages.

They got beavers, foxes, elks, a bear, and wolves.

Yeah.

They're otters.

Amazing.

Do they have otters there?

Ours escaped.

We're

missing an

otter.

He's hooking up.

He's hooking up.

I'm not sure I know the difference between an otter and a beaver, to be honest with you.

Oh, otters are a lot smaller.

Okay,

that's not as angry, right?

Beaver scared.

I was in a beaver pond one time as trout fishing and I'm just sitting there just kind of casting, you know, reeling realism and all of a sudden there is some like a rifle shot behind me and was a beaver coming up behind me and he didn't like it that I was near his den and he slapped his tail down on that water and he it sounded like a rifle shot and he looked at me like

I'll go underwater and I'll nod your ankle for a while here and there's nothing you can do about it.

And they're huge.

Beavers are huge.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They're nasty.

This is we have otters.

Okay.

All right.

Cool.

I would bring the kids for the otters or I'd bring the kids to the zoo, John.

Okay.

Um, hey, what about I'm just throwing this out here for kids.

What about the biggest fishing tournament in the country, which is next weekend?

Uh, June 14th and 15th.

It's here in Oshkosh in the country.

Yeah.

In the country.

We're actually in the Guinness Book of World Records for most boats on the lake at the same time.

Wow.

That's

incredible.

300, 320, I believe.

Yes.

That is a fact.

Todd, we need to get the, the Otter Street fishing guys in here again, right?

Let's do it.

Um, that's awesome.

So here's the thing.

Go ahead.

So here's the thing I love about it.

It's based right out of Monomony Park.

So you can come down, John pack up a picnic lunch.

Amazing picnics.

The train is back.

The Monomony Park train.

Talk about an amazing triumph.

You know, the the city is going to close it down.

It's kind of in disrepair.

It's this little choo choo train that runs around, you know, two mile long track.

We've been riding on it for 40 years.

A high school senior got up her dander.

about closing this thing and like single-handedly marshaled the community and now it's reopened and we're actually in fundraisers and putting the thing back together from a high school.

Tell us a little bit more, Todd.

Do you know more about that?

So it was amazing.

That sounds like something we'd love to talk to.

Big story in town of the train possibly going away and people were like, no, we can't do this.

This is a part of our community and people stepped up and got it done.

It was cool about

that story is...

It was this high school girl.

I did

it.

Not that some rich guy that said, Hey, look, you know, let's stop this thing.

I mean, she did it.

She built the team, showed some leadership consensus.

That's awesome.

I want to get her on here.

Absolutely.

You start that at a young age.

She's going to go places.

And, and so now, um, one of the events, oh geez, I can't see to my nose, but one of the events this weekend or all the proceeds go to benefit the Monamony Park.

amusement center.

So now we're actually doing fundraising drives to benefit and keep that thing going.

That's fantastic.

And you know what we never talk about when we have you on but I was behind a bus yesterday, UW Oshkosh bus, one of their teams, and it had all the different national championships and national competitions and sports wise over the years.

Man, UW Oshkosh plays some great sports.

Yeah, we're, we're slaying down here, John.

We're

slaying.

It's the culture.

It really is.

It's the culture of that athletic department.

They're just like first class ballers, every one of them.

They're softball team, they're women's softball team, baseball, different things.

It's amazing what they do at UW Oshkosh.

John, let's get back to you and the girls though, right?

So you're coming to Oshkosh for your day.

Yeah.

You're coming to the biggest, the biggest fishing tournament in the country.

The nice thing about it is that it's a catch, record and release.

Oh, fun.

So they started doing this.

Oh my gosh.

15 years ago.

That's

great to keep the fisheries strong.

So we catch the fish, they have a little thing they measure them on and, you know, get a picture of them.

And that's how they, they do it.

So there's not all the fish back in the, you know, in the well at the end of the day.

That's awesome.

I've all that's always bothered me, Pat.

And I'm not even joking about that.

When I first started covering the fishing tournaments around here, it's like,

Man you professionals just took a lot of fish out of our water and they weren't going back in because it had to take them to the weigh-in and then whatever whatever the and a lot of them would die then there the mortality rate was really really high

so yep they started doing that in 2010 and I just love it and I think it's it really is reflective of what Otter Street fishing club and the battle on bagel people are

They're really in it for all the right reasons.

That's great, man.

That's fantastic.

So I

would do that.

Okay.

Okay.

You know, grandpa needs to eat.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

So would you be able to point us in the right direction?

Take him to Artie and Ed's, right?

Oh, that's right.

Take him to

Leon's.

Artie and Ed's.

What was I thinking?

Yes.

Come on.

Absolutely.

The roller skating.

The roller skating ladies.

Yeah.

Pizza

burger.

Yeah.

You're right.

You're right.

You're right.

You're right.

Don, Don, Saturday is our

farmers market, right?

Yeah.

Well, okay, it, Oshkosh is, well, Oshkosh, like every other town in Northeast Wisconsin, probably, it's going to explode this weekend with activities.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think this is the greatest

weekend of the entire year, living up in Wisconsin, where we battle through the winters.

I think this weekend right here, these next is the greatest little segment of the entire year.

And you're right, Pat, there's a lot going on.

And people, you know,

There's a lot of graduation parties too, but if you're not going to one of those, man, you can be busy all weekend, starting tomorrow until Sunday night.

And so I'm really trying to get more into the farmer's market vibe.

You know, instead of just like going down and walking through it, I'm trying to participate more.

Check this out.

This is on my list for this weekend.

Knife sharpening.

Oh, yeah.

You bring your knives.

There's a sharpener.

You drop them off when you get there.

You stroll around, you have your coffee, you pick up some wagyu beef, some egg rolls, maybe get your face painted.

And then by the time you're done, your knives are sharp.

I like that.

That's pretty cool.

Yeah.

And I think about this stuff, you guys.

Yeah.

Is there a cost to get in your night?

What is the cost to get

in your night?

Yes, it is a cost.

Well, it's the normal life sharpening cost.

All right.

It's going to be like some 70 year old guy.

He's going to charge you like $4.25.

Right.

That's awesome.

I used to try to.

Do you know that I used to try to make knives?

I believe it.

You know

what?

You know what?

You know what I made?

Try to make them out of lawnmower blades.

It sounds like that could be dangerous.

I take the lot.

No, I

did it.

I did it on my garage.

I took the lawnmower blade, and I'd cut it to get the tine.

You know, you have to have a tine.

But those are pretty beat up.

Well, you have to sharpen the heck out of them.

Have

a

grinder and do the

whole thing.

Oh, yeah, you gotta grind those.

Yeah, and then you have

the tine.

And I wanted to make it out of antlers, but they were too big for antlers, so I was making them out of wood.

Didn't turn out great.

Didn't turn out great.

But it was still a lot of fun to do, trying to make a knife out of a lawnmower blade.

And when I retire, I'm going to go back into that.

Take them two weeks to make

a knife, or you could go buy one for $19.

But it's the experience I know visual on this of mino in his garage at night with the grinder blade He's got the like welding goggles on and the sparks are flying over.

I did that is one of the times I set my granola region on

fire True story leave that use

the grinder on that honest to God true story.

I want to throw out there too at at the at the farmers market

Our friend Reggie is going to be down there with Caribbean taste.

So he's got all the food you want.

And pie on the porch is something really cool, Pat, because you can buy a slice of pie down there and it helps the historical society in Oshkosh.

So you have a piece of pie and you help support what they do.

Love it.

Perfect.

That is a good

match.

Yes, I'm a huge pie on the porch with Pat Guy, because then you get to sit and talk to the historical people.

Oh yeah.

That's fantastic.

And I'll tell you what Oshkosh is just loaded with history, huh, Pat?

I

mean, it just really is.

Okay, so now it's before we leave, though, I got to tell you about the night because so I've talked about the gallery walk.

You know, the gallery walk was huge before COVID.

It's kind of waned.

And so I've been thinking and paying attention to the people that put this together and they've stumbled on something that's amazing.

The gallery walk, you know, you go out and see I think we have 13 galleries.

Okay.

And downtown that open up this Saturday night from 6 to 9 p.m.

A lot of them, you know, have a little wine or something you walk around.

Okay.

But to Pat, the marketing guy, gallery walks been done.

Guess what they did?

What?

That cool alley, that Algoma alley that we've been in, then we love it up.

They're lighting that alley up.

They're putting a half a dozen artists set up their display hang on hang on we're

gonna go to a

break.

We gotta take a break great This is too good.

This

is too good.

Stand

by back with more patrician

You're listening to civic media find the latest news information and archives of all your favorite shows on the civic media website civic media dot US

Beautiful Thursday morning heading into a fantastic weekend.

We're with Pat Tracy discover Oshkosh Pat pick it right up where you left off my brother

So we're at the

the gallery walk.

Yes Saturday night.

It's between 6 and 9 p.m.

We found our way to the Algoma art alley and Now we've reinvented it and here it comes.

It's not the gallery walk anymore.

It's the

Night gallery.

Oh,

nice.

All right.

Nice.

Nice.

Nice.

I like the way you're thinking.

Right.

Okay.

We just took a tired gallery walk home and transformed it into the amazing possibilities that are the night gallery.

I like this.

Guys,

I like what you're

doing.

That's a great

area.

You still have a little wine there.

It's

kind of

spooky, cool place.

Right.

That's it.

It is night.

Yeah.

It is.

It's spooky, cool.

It's like, it actually, it's cool because you would, you would not take your kids in there.

Well, that's

the thing.

It's like, you

know, the old talk about if you had to walk down a dark alley at night.

So it's got that kind of a flair and feel to it, right?

Yes, it does, but it's totally safe.

And yeah, so they put like a little string quartet in there.

We've got craft beer, wine, and all of a sudden we've taken this back alley and made it the focal point of the night gallery.

Love it.

And it didn't cost a fortune to do that.

It's not like you did any major construction.

It's just imagination.

You

just took it right.

You just

took it in the area

and got creative with it.

That's great.

Yeah.

A little, a little downtown business improvement group did that.

And, you know, they're engaging all the artists.

So the artists are out, you know, paying the murals and you get to talk to them.

And to me, it's a love fest.

So come on down to Oshkosh.

We'll be there.

That's when is that?

That's Friday, Saturday?

When is that?

That's Saturday night.

That is this Saturday night.

All

right.

Fun.

I love it because I never know that place existed before that back gallery type thing.

And that could be

You know, just a typical alley with dumpsters and whatever, whatever.

But you got this really eclectic artwork back there that, and it's got that gritty sort of, you know, Soho, New York kind of, you know, neighborhood feel to it.

That's a cool little niche you got there, buddy.

And like, like, who thought of that?

Like, I've got to talk to that person.

Yeah.

You know.

Why

aren't you just taking credit for

it?

Why don't you

just tell us?

The other thing, Pat, is that Oshkosh, I mean, you share everything you do there, but other communities should and could do that.

You know what I'm saying?

It's not, it wasn't like you built something.

You'd use something that

was there and a

lot of cities have, you know...

Allies that are under you that aren't utilized at all.

I should say it but to put some lighting in there clean it up few murals think

even behind like Angelina's absolutely right there Wouldn't that be a perfect alley to do something like that in Green Bay?

But you know the thing is that the I feel like the rising tide lifts all boats and John you said it earlier in this 50 mile region

We are so blessed to live in there is so much neat little stuff and entrepreneurial stuff.

And when I was so when I was thinking about what I was going to talk about, one of the things that I've really noticed is all the live music.

It has totally come back.

And everywhere you look, there's a little duo or a trio someplace.

And is did I miss something?

Or did that just like come out of

nowhere?

I don't know when it came, but it is there.

Restaurants just...

Well, I But I think the

thing is we had the gentleman on here for a music thing about three weeks ago And he said when he was first starting out there only a couple of bars in Green Bay that really so it's kind of like you know what was the deciding factor But it's like once the venue, you know the musicians wanted to play and people wanted but they didn't have a lot of places to do it Well now these other places are like hey, we have to compete with somebody else It's not just gonna be on you know $2 beer night.

How else do we get faces in our place?

So I give a lot of credit to these

small bars and everything around here, you know, opening up their doors to local musicians.

Would

you agree?

The musicians were always here.

Right.

That's

what I mean.

But they didn't have any place to play.

And that's where competition is good.

Yeah.

It just, it just is an acoustic, different kinds of music and no cover usually.

And yeah, I'm so glad.

I agree with you, Pat.

Appleton, I think had a lot to do with.

showcasing original music with the music

of the

mile.

And I just think people, restaurant, entrepreneurs are like, hey, let's bring that to our place.