Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this November 28th, 2023.
Got your host, James J. Mailoff here at 330. You're going to welcome in Amy Shide,
administrative development and volunteer coordinator with our Wisconsin Rapids Family Center.
Right now in studio, we've got our good friend, Lacey Ailing from the Heart of Wisconsin Chamber
Commerce, events and engagement director over there. Lacey, good to see you.
Good to see you. And you brought in the friend Lacey.
I did. Do you want to introduce who we have with us, sir?
Well, I'll let her introduce herself.
Please, you know.
She is such a wonderful, I love her voice, so I just love it when she's hot.
Well, she could speak for herself. I should have let her just talk for herself.
I'm sorry. Go ahead.
So I'm Carrie Edmondson. I'm an associate planner with the City of Wisconsin Rapids.
Carrie, thanks a lot for being here.
I'm glad to be here. Thank you.
I am very interested in your job. So I'm looking forward to talking with you a little bit about that.
It's going to be an interesting conversation.
Looking forward to that. Lacey, if you don't mind, though, I would like to start off
rewinding a little bit and talking a little bit about small business Saturday and how that went.
Yes. So today is the last day.
The last day, yeah.
So yeah, so hopefully I'm still going to stop at some places right after this.
So I'll be visiting. We have 38 businesses.
It was so much fun. We, so we say see myself and Laura all went out on Saturday.
And we, I think we, we almost went to 20.
So when we ran out of time, but yeah, we, it was really, really fun.
We, we got to get out there, meet a lot of people.
It was funny because you would see some of the same people.
You'd keep running into them because there was a lot of people participating.
And it was, it was really fun. I, I love, I love shopping.
So any way that I can like secretly like, okay, I'm also supporting small business.
But yeah, a lot of great deals out there.
There was a lot of places that were offering special deals that they typically don't do.
So that was really fun, but a lot of handmade things, which I love.
Definitely, it was, it was fun.
Like we, we got to go to so many places that I was like,
I was sad that we ran out of time on Saturday.
Did you get to, you don't have to be too specific here,
but did you get to go to places that you haven't maybe gotten to in a while
or haven't gotten to check out, maybe?
So milkweed market. I had not, I, I love ODC.
I've been there for things, but I had not been in that part of it.
So that was really fun to get to go in there.
I bought some like little things for Christmas.
So it's definitely fun.
I love the handmade things.
I, I just think the quality is just out of this world.
It, it holds up, you know, it definitely,
especially with like trading postplaces like that.
They have all the things that have been there for years and they hold up.
They're not falling apart, you know, the next Christmas you have to rebuy it.
So it's definitely great to get out there.
Obviously those people, that's local.
So we're shopping local, supporting local sportsman's pub.
I had actually never been in there.
And they have wonderful chicken Caesar wraps.
Oh, yeah.
So we got those and cheese curds.
So we, and we kind of like, we like ate our,
our, our ate our airway through the day.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But like, blah, blah, blah.
That was so much fun.
I love, they like the little, I love dogs.
So yeah, the little outfits for animals.
The people there are so awesome too.
Yeah, they work with you so well.
Yeah.
We, you know, especially if you're unsure of something with your new friend
or you know furry friend or something like that,
they work with you really well.
All those places is so great.
Sportsman's underrated food.
They don't talk about the food over there now.
Absolutely, for the price.
Yeah, yeah, we were, we were all full.
And we still had probably each one of us had our,
we all got a wrap.
So we all got different wraps.
But we tried like half our wrap left.
And we were like, um, we need boxes.
Yeah.
But it was so, so good.
And then also Latakaria.
I mean, Stacy went there last night.
Gotta love their food.
Yes, it's so good.
And the, I love that around, like around here,
you get so much for your money.
Like the quantity that you get, you can take, you know,
you have to take the, you know, take the other half home.
So it was, it was really good.
I loved it.
You brought up two other places.
I want to shout out the trading posts.
We don't get to talk about nearly enough.
Gotta love that place.
Great people running it.
And, and just one of those places.
If you have like, especially like ants,
like I do or a mother, like I do,
that I can't go into the local business
and just buy a product that anybody else can buy.
It's got to be something unique and something local.
It used to be just Coca-Cola things.
Now it's that kind of stuff that I had to fight for my mom.
The trading posts are for a perfect place.
And the next best place, if not just as good,
is a milkweed market,
which got you walking to milkweed market
and immediately you feel a vibe from there.
And it feels good and it's a nice atmosphere.
This smell and the wood and all that.
I just, I, I love that kind of stuff.
It's a great place to go.
And again, just like Lacey told you,
you're not only going there and getting some great stuff
and maybe checking some things off of your Christmas list,
you're buying local supporting local.
Your money stays in this community.
All these places that we talked about
are businesses and organizations
that put back into our community.
Yes, I mean, we went to,
I mean, I can, I'll give a shout out to some of them.
So Paul grows jewelers.
You got chocolate the second that you walked in the door.
Nice.
Which I mean, that's, that's smart.
It's smart. You, you're going to go in there
and then it had like a percentage off
based off of the chocolate.
And an institution in the Serie of Paul grows jewelers
very, very forever.
Shoes sensation.
They have insane deals right now.
I mean, they were like $70.
She was for $17.
And as well as like Prairie Sage home,
we all got the same ornaments.
We were like, the tree was full.
And we were standing in line.
And then we were like, oh my goodness,
they're handmade for $4.
Plus, they took a certain percentage off
for anyone that shopped on Saturday.
So we went there, sweet tea.
We ran into people from community leadership.
So that was really fun.
Obviously, we got to, we got to go to a lot of places.
But love it again, thrift store.
They were giving out free cake pops as well.
So I think, yeah, it's definitely a great idea
to have things like that there.
I'm excited to stop at some more today.
Even like Goodwill, they were, they were very busy.
I felt, I sometimes I felt bad
because the lines were so long.
And then we were like, hi, we're from the chamber.
Do you need any help?
And they were like, oh, that's why.
Oh yeah, I forgot.
But yeah, it was really, really fun.
I mean, even hometown pharmacy.
I think it's not just a pharmacy.
They have so many cute, like the trees, the decorations.
I got so many good pictures.
And I did tag a lot of the businesses out there as well.
The Awakening Collective.
Obviously, got a shout out to them.
Promise from our marketing also works there too.
So she was there.
So we got to, you know, harass her for a little bit.
Right, right.
And then, you know, it's just, it's fun.
It's, it's nice to get out there.
And then you're not only, I mean, you're not just shopping.
But like, you're driving to these places.
We're going to cravings, you know,
we're doing things that it's just like, okay,
we're making memories, like as a team, you know,
and obviously, like, we're bonding.
And it's funny to see that we all have the same, like, taste.
We were going out to eat.
We were all ordering the same things.
Just like different variations.
Yeah.
So it's nice to see, like, no wonder why we get along so well,
because we literally all like the same things.
Even though sometimes we were like fighting for the same decor
in places or like one of us would set it down
in the other one to grab it.
Right, right.
But yeah, it was so much fun.
Shout out to all the community members out there
who bought local, supported our local businesses
over the weekend.
And you got one more day to do it and fill out that passport.
Absolutely, drop it off or leave it with the business
that's there also with the shopping.
And some of them you don't have to make purchases.
But we definitely encourage you to support those businesses.
But then also you go in for raffles.
So then you can win from those businesses as well.
So it's fun.
It's like a double win.
So I love it.
I had such a great time with Stacy and Laura.
I'm really good to hear.
Very, very happy to hear that.
It was fun.
We have the Nikus Ari hometown Christmas
right around the corner.
Very excited about this.
One of our bigger events here in such a Wisconsin.
And Nikus, it does this right.
They do Christmas right over there.
I mean, who doesn't want to finish a parade with fireworks?
Yeah, right.
I mean, you're looking, you're looking,
I think it's good for your neck.
I mean, you're looking straight.
You're looking up.
It's good stretch.
It's good stretch.
From looking at your phone all the time.
You've touched on this a couple of times
that your excitement about fireworks in the winter.
And you've got, it's infectious.
Because now it's gotten to me.
Now I'm excited too.
It's fun though.
If you've never seen it before,
it's kind of fun to see fireworks in the winter.
Yes.
And I think when I was telling my daughters about it,
they were like, what do you mean?
I'm like, it's just like the heat.
The way the heat changes,
I'm like, to listen to someone
who is educated in fireworks.
And to hear how passionate they are,
I'm like, now I'm excited.
I'm excited for my parade.
But I'm like, can we,
I'm like, I want to see the fireworks.
So I'm definitely excited.
We're still taking registrants.
We want, we want it to be big.
Yeah.
Rekindal was huge.
I loved it.
And I really, really want this.
I want Nikusa to have the same kind of atmosphere.
Absolutely.
This is going to be a fun event.
What are the details of the parade?
What time will that kick off?
So if I 15, we'll be down there.
I'll be down there early to line everybody up.
But absolutely come.
It's going to go all the way.
So it kind of like, it's going to go from Mueller
to Point Bass.
I don't want to say that wrong.
Back to Maine and then to all the way to Goodfellas.
And then from that, then we'll go directly to Riverside
and light off fireworks.
So it's really fun.
You're kind of like working your way through
Nikusa, you know, seeing everything.
And it's definitely, it's a fun time.
When I lived in the area, it was one of these days.
Even if you didn't have a radio or a TV, you knew this was coming
because everybody in town was talking about it.
It's such a fun event.
It's one of those ones that brings everybody out
in the community to come check out
and support a lot of these businesses
and encourage you to be a part of this too.
It's a great advertising tool for your business
and a fun way to be a part of things in the community.
Absolutely.
Emerge, Ho-Chung, Solaris, Alliance.
A lot of them even have floats in this.
So very exciting.
Erko, Mid-State, Paper City Savings, Dam-Tar,
US Bank, Trichor, Express Recycling,
Wisconsin Rapid City Times, Becker and Coom.
And then Highland Fireworks is going to put this on as well.
And then Ysaki Farms even wanted to jump in on the excitement.
So yeah, it's really, really fun.
My mother, since I was a little kid,
has had a tradition of watching the Macy's parade,
everything's giving.
It's got to be on.
It doesn't even, if she's, she's usually busy,
but it's got to be on in the background,
the white noise of it and everything.
And this year it was on and got me thinking
more and more about this.
Next year, we've got to be a part of Rekindler something.
I want us to have a parade,
be a part of the parade WFHR.
I want us to have a float or something.
Even if it's just something like Rinky Dinky.
I just, I want to be a part of it so bad
that we've got to be a part of the parade next year.
We're going to talk about that.
Absolutely.
And you can be a part of this for years, Rekindler.
I'm sorry, this year's Nukusa hometown Christmas parade.
If people want to be a part of this,
Lacey, how can they get in touch with you?
Yep, they can reach out at communications
at WisconsinRapidsChamber.com.
If they want, I can just send them a parade
Registrant form from there, or as well as calling me 715-422-4859.
They can also stop in the chamber where they're 8 to 4,
Monday through Friday, 1120 Lincoln F.
So definitely come in.
If you can't get me, if you can't make it in,
we want to encourage as many places to,
I would love to have a marching band.
Yeah, oh, that'd be cool.
Oh, good idea.
Someone, I really, really want a marching band.
I just love it.
I love the sound.
We tried really, really well to like kind of separate sound,
non-sound, so you could still kind of always hear things.
Good idea.
But it was, it was really fun.
And I love, I love getting the kids involved.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We are going to put Carrie to work in a moment
and talk a little community leadership and team leadership.
But before we do that, I did want to mention coffee
with the chamber.
Got a really good one coming up here.
This is a great one coming up tomorrow, the 29th from 830 to 930.
This one in Lacey too is going to be in person.
It sounds like you can do.
Yes, you can, obviously, you can always do virtual.
We don't want it.
I think a lot of people will get discouraged.
They're like, oh, I have to be there.
But you do not.
You can absolutely send, when you register,
you'll get the Zoom link as well as coming there.
It's free for chamber members.
We definitely want people to come.
Chamber of boardroom, 1120 Lincoln F.
But yes, service above self.
So I love that because I am huge in serving.
I'm huge in giving back, doing things with the community.
It's huge to me.
So I think that the fact that he's going to come talk about it,
obviously, the schools are not profits.
So it's great to hear, obviously, from someone who is,
I mean, he's the principal of Lincoln, or my daughter
who goes to school.
So I'll make sure I talk to him and find out if he knows her.
But it's definitely fun.
I'm excited.
I love the coffee with the chamber stuff with regards
to like, you get to sit there.
Obviously, we're going to have the coffee,
sponsor by Ho Chiang Nakusa, and Carrie Bucoffee.
So they just became a chamber member last month.
And they're right away jumping into it.
So very excited to have that.
But it's great to listen to someone who, obviously,
in a place where he can make change.
And he's going to listen.
We love having those.
They typically do like a Q&A session after.
So it's definitely fun to get to listen to his perspective
where they want the school district to go,
where we're kind of headed with after, obviously,
COVID affected some stuff for Wisconsin.
So hearing his plans, how we can get more active,
we definitely want to be more with the school.
One of the things I love about this series,
if you will, coffee with the chambers,
the idea of being able to highlight and bring people in,
talk about subjects that may not always be at the top of the mind,
but it's important and stuff that is insightful for people.
Something like this is even bigger,
where you're getting a chance to talk to,
write a face-to-face with a principal
of one of our major high schools in this area.
I say that not just as a link in a lump.
I'm not just being biased already.
Well, a little bit maybe.
But it's in truth, it's a chance to do that.
And encourage people to take this event in,
certainly like to remind people to be an adult.
When we're doing this, we've gotten better about this as a society,
but a lot of our school systems and teachers and principals
and superintendents have dealt with a lot of barking
and a lot of whining.
Your opinion matters, your opinion is important.
And certainly if you care about your children,
that is very important.
But act like an adult.
That's all I'm talking about.
Present it in a way that it can be received.
I mean, yeah.
And hopefully like kind of ran with.
Yeah, yeah, you know, I don't think it's asking a lot
when you're talking about your children to act like an adult.
I don't think that's asked you too much.
And it's an opportunity to be able to speak with somebody
and not just ask questions, but take in information
that may not get otherwise.
And good coffee.
Good coffee.
I don't want to escape past that, really good coffee.
Well, that's a fun event.
If people do need, do people need to register for this event?
Yes, registration is required.
That is at WisconsinRapidsChamber.com.
If you are struggling to register, please call.
Holly would love to walk you through it
or anyone at the chamber.
But definitely reach out.
We want attendance.
We want people to come to these, especially
when they're informational.
And you can learn things about where
the school district is going with safety,
with things that are happening.
Obviously, we definitely want to make sure
that our kids are learning from the best, having the best.
And I think it's important.
I'm definitely excited because I like
to be a little fly on the wall and my daughter.
Sometimes the kids don't tell you the information that it's happening.
So it's nice to hear it.
We're hearing it straight from the source.
We're not getting some third party
or information from a 15-year-old.
Ask a kid how their day at school was.
Usually you get a fine.
What did you do that day?
I don't know.
You just left.
What did you learn?
Nothing.
I don't know.
Yeah, so you're so right about this.
It's a great opportunity to actually get some answers.
That you don't always get from kids.
Absolutely.
It's that they're fault.
I mean, they're kids.
That's what they do.
And the first four businesses that are registered
will get a chance to feature updates on their own business.
Fantastic.
And doing that as a way to not only your networking as well.
And then you're getting information,
but also getting your business out there,
getting your information out there,
maybe some press release, things like that.
That's a really good idea.
That's a really good way of bringing more
more businesses into an event like this.
That's smart.
I like that.
I really enjoy and appreciate the community leadership
and teen leadership programs.
I think it's one of the cooler programs
we have in this area that really gives an opportunity.
Not only to bring out leadership in people,
but I do believe everybody has a leader inside of them.
And what true leadership is,
I think it also defines that a little bit better,
which I think is a really cool part of our community.
But it's also a great networking opportunity.
There's so many different layers to this.
As we bring in Carrie Edminson from the leadership class,
let's get into this if you don't mind, Lacey.
Yes, absolutely.
So at first, I want to touch base with,
I want to thank Walmart and Mariani.
They have been huge supporters in community and teen
leadership, as well as being, you know,
sometimes sponsoring food, sponsoring snacks.
So that's been really, really great.
As well as the teen leaders, they went to,
it was their day where they went to revision eye care,
River Hill, Dundal, a Spiris hospital,
and they had some speakers, and they had a blast.
So getting to hear about different, you know,
the science of going in a medical,
because I think a lot of kids are like,
oh, I love science.
Right.
But I don't really want to be around blood.
I don't want to do that kind of stuff.
So I think just hearing all the different things
that Mid-State has that you can go to school for,
that have nothing to do with that.
But I think it just gets them talking,
gets them thinking, obviously there are future.
So if we can educate them to where they know,
okay, there is opportunity here.
I don't have to move.
I think when we went to the training yesterday,
they were talking about how we create such hard workers.
And a lot of them leave.
They think that the opportunities
are only in the big cities.
So I think it's great to keep them here.
I don't want to be selfish, I have children.
But I would love for them to have opportunities,
you know, the big city opportunities and pay
and things like that.
But being able to have that small town feel
where they can still drive 15 minutes
and get to Walmart, not five hours.
So I think it's great.
I, they loved it.
A Spiris put on the lunch as well for the kids.
So I think that's really great.
But I love getting to hear Laura come back
and she's so excited because they're so excited.
Just even riding on the, you know,
on their little bus that they've been shuttling
to go to these places.
It's been great to get to listen to like how they feel
and how they perceive it.
Because even if we're all taking the information
and at the same time,
they get completely different things.
Each one of them, it's like, oh,
I never, I could never touch someone's eye.
Oh, I can never, you know, and then other ones are like,
yep, I know what I want to do.
Like they, they immediately are like,
now I want, now it's like the way that they just,
something clicks, like Bob goes on.
And now it's like, you just inspired someone to,
maybe that's going to be the next doctor.
Carrie, if you wouldn't mind,
remind our audience again,
what you're, where you're coming from, what you do.
And if you wouldn't mind also touching on
how the leadership class has benefited you,
how you, what you've gotten from it.
Yeah, so I'm an associate planner
with the city of Wisconsin Rapids.
I've been there a little over two years.
And I am based out of the community development department
at city hall.
So that department focuses on economic development,
permits, planning and zoning,
kind of an array of land use related activities.
And I have been, I just started the leadership program
and it's a great way to network and just meet people
and it's been just already a really great opportunity
to kind of get exposed to different, you know,
the history of the area
and just different, different aspects of leadership.
Yeah, Carrie, if you don't mind, are you from here?
I'm not.
I'm actually based in the wasa area and I do commute, so.
So that history end of things really is beneficial.
Definitely.
I'd imagine it would be for anybody from this area as well,
but just you tend to learn a little bit more
through something like that.
So that's a unique part of this.
I think that I don't always think we get a chance
to think about either with it.
Absolutely, yep.
I'm fascinated by your job.
I want to talk to you so much about just your job
and just nitpick, not nitpick,
but just pick your brain a little bit about that
and the logistics of what and doing it,
being a position like that.
But in a position like that, I think that, you know,
anybody from any business could be benefited
from being in this leadership program.
Boy, you work for the city and the connections
and the people that you meet
and the things that you can learn from something like this,
I can imagine the benefits are just endless, I would imagine.
Absolutely.
I mean, so a few things with community development.
So we're always looking at, you know,
thinking about talent attraction, like Lacey was talking about
or, you know, businesses that are just core businesses
in the community helping shape the community.
And I know a lot of times in economic development,
they talk about how a lot of cities are trying
to land the whale.
You know, everyone wants to get like that company
that everyone's seeking to find
and it's just going to change everything.
And doubling down on the businesses that are here
is really the way to build, you know, build your community.
And I think, I think even when we were talking
about the history of Wisconsin Rapids is, you know,
kind of its roots in a more industrial kind of community.
A lot of times I think leaning into those strengths
really makes you the best you can be.
You know, versus trying to create something
that maybe isn't even really reflective
of the people who live there.
Yeah, well said.
So I mean, the leadership program is great
because it's a way to tap into different businesses,
you know, what different businesses are doing,
what different people are doing, what people are thinking
about, it's good.
Once a month, we have Wisconsin Rapids Mayor Blazer
join us.
Yeah.
And in once a month, they usually get at least a month,
once a month, I'll talk with our mayor and Steven's point,
Wasom, Marshfield, talking with them.
And the biggest thing they think we talk about,
the most consistent theme is being able to keep people
in town, keep talent in town.
And the other one, of course, is attracting new businesses.
Yes, certainly.
So many areas are begging, you know,
Amazon's in places like that to move to their town.
And they're bending, they're breaking their backs
to do this, no taxes, things like that,
different things that they're doing.
Whereas, so that business, say you do land that big whale,
it comes to your town, yeah, it brings you some jobs,
but it's not really putting back into the community.
It's certainly not putting into your taxes
in the community and these things.
Whereas your local businesses, your mom and pops,
your shops that have been here around here for many years,
sometimes decades, that's all they've been doing,
is putting back into their community,
paying taxes, doing these different things.
You are so right about this.
And then the people that know a lot more than I do,
that are a lot smarter, like you're Warren Buffett's,
your people like that, they'll tell you this too.
They've been preaching this for years,
to put your money and put your time into your local businesses.
And your businesses that have already been there, really.
Yep, yep, definitely your people, your industries,
you know what people get excited about.
I mean, finding out what people get excited about
and leaning into that.
And one of the ways of doing that as well
is those businesses putting into their employees
and putting investment and time and money into their employees.
And one of the ways you do that is the leadership program
that exists, it really is a great way of,
see how I tied that all together.
Yeah, I did, that took some work, but we got there.
But it's true too, and it was easy for me to get there
because it's all fact, it's all true.
This is a great way, this, you know,
by empowering and giving your employees that much more,
you're making your business that much stronger,
which may, if not, keep your business in this area,
bring in new business or bring a new talent to this area.
Yep.
If people want to be a part of the,
or learn more about the leadership program,
how can they do this lazy?
How can they be a part of things with this?
So that's, I mean, it's gonna go September to,
I don't wanna say September.
September, I think, is the deadline.
Yeah, I, I meant to say the next one, sorry, yeah.
So definitely reach out.
That's gonna be Laura Bonner Ridgeway.
So that's gonna be Workforce at Wisconsin App
is chamber.com, or always call.
We can always get you over to her.
But yeah, I love it.
Carrie, you're gonna have to come back.
I wanna talk to you about your job sometime.
I wanna have a good half an hour,
just to talk with you about your work.
Yeah, that would be great.
That would be wonderful.
Thanks a lot for being here, though.
I appreciate the time.
Absolutely, thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Lacey, as we're wrapping up,
we always like to mention our investors
at the month and some of those details.
Yeah, so the December investor
at the month, which is right on the corner,
is Edward Jones.
They just actually remodeled their entire space
and we just had a ribbon cutting for them.
It looks wonderful.
They have like little private areas,
as well as like some open areas.
And I love the architecture, I'm big on that.
So like the whole ceiling is wide open.
And you can look up and it's like almost like,
I don't know, it's like domed.
It looks really cool.
It's a really cool place.
I love it.
Yeah, and definitely shout out to Sharon Zeman.
She's been super active in the chamber and ambassador.
So we're very excited to feature them
and definitely keep them on board with us.
Yeah, we have to get going.
But we really do appreciate the time from both of you.
Thank you so much for everything that you do
to our community and putting up with me for a little bit.
Thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
You can find out more about the chamber
by going to WisconsinRapidsChamber.com.
That's WisconsinRapidsChamber.com.
I encourage you to go there, bookmark that page
and follow the chamber on social media.
It's a great way to keep up on everything in your community.
We'll be back with more fun on Midday Magazine,
right here at WFHR.
