Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this March 8th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailov here, and we're welcoming in some great friends of ours.
First, we want to send a big shout out to our friends that visit Wisconsin Rapids Bureau,
do some amazing work in our community, and usually free up the time that they have on
Fridays here to bring in some local guests, and we really appreciate Meredith and the gang
over there so much.
Before we wrap up, I might touch on a couple of other things going on here in town that
the Bureau is highlighting.
Right now, we get to highlight one of our favorite things that Wisconsin Rapids winter
farmers market.
I will journalistically mention, I'm a gigantic fan of farmers markets, had been my whole
life.
It comes from my mother, and I really appreciate the work that's put into these, both by
vendors and the community, and people hosting them.
So let's go ahead and dive right into this.
We have with us, Michael Barnes, director of the indoor Wisconsin Rapids winter farmers
market.
Michael, good to see you.
Appreciate the time.
Thanks so much for joining us, Michael.
Appreciate you.
And we brought a friend with.
We have Elizabeth Murphy with us with two ease catering, Elizabeth, thanks for being
here.
Yeah, good morning.
Thank you.
It's nice to meet you and looking forward to talk with you a little bit more.
I'll put you on the spot.
I mean, ask you questions in a minute.
It will be nice to be here.
Michael, let's get right into it and give over the, for those that may not, maybe there's
somebody that one person out there that maybe hasn't heard about the Wisconsin Rapids
winter farmers market, let's give them the details and what the market is.
Okay.
Well, I think there's more than one person out there, that doesn't, doesn't know.
That's why we continue to try to get the word out.
Yeah.
We run from the fall.
We start about the end of October and we run up to Christmas and then we take a couple
of weeks off and then we run from the first of January, our first weekend in January
to May, the middle of May.
We are there at the, in the basement of the Wisconsin Rapids, the Moravian Church, Saturdays,
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
We have space for as much as 25 vendors.
We haven't hit that yet, but we're working on it.
We're working on filling it more and more.
It's, it's a group, kind of a, a nice group of things like eggs and bakery and we have
ready to eat foods.
We've had egg rolls there.
We've actually had some food trucks there this year and we have things like fry pies and
then there's crafts, a couple, three different kind of crafts.
We've had some products like Norwex products that environmentally friendly types of products.
So we try to have this, this variety of things that makes it fun, a place you want to come,
a place you can get some foods, especially things like eggs.
We're working on trying to find someone who does greens, but you know, middle of the
winter is hard to find a lot of fresh, grown green, but we're working on it.
They exist.
They're just hard to find.
The, this has been, now we've had our farmers market here in town for a while.
The winter farmers market has just been a couple of years that this has been around.
It got running back, started in 2021, I believe, right?
No, actually we started last year, 2023, the winter of 2023.
The Wisconsin Rapids Convention Bureau, they, they did a, they did it back in 2021-22.
Okay, okay.
They did one year, it was sort of a testing for them.
Yeah.
They wanted to show the viability of a winter's farmers market, it worked out, and then
they looked for somebody to pick up the ball, so to speak, and we took it on.
You mentioned the space for vendors there, and the types of vendors.
If you are somebody out there with goods to sell, I would encourage you to reach out to
the winter farmers market, is that correct?
I mean, is there any catch to that?
I would imagine, I have, I'm always trying to get my Simpsons one man show off.
I don't know if you guys would want that over there.
There may be something like that, maybe not so much, but other, other things we're encouraging
people to reach out.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
We, we would love to see a variety of vendors, we're not real, you know, where it's not
a flea market, but it's also, but it is a place for people to bring their wares, a place
to get a, a sposure, a place to sell their stuff.
It's, it's kind of like a storefront for people that don't want a twenty, a seven-day-a-week
store, and, and all the cost involved there.
You know, we also could be a place for people to, you know, if somebody wants to do some,
some things like we're, we're, we have coming up a St. Patrick's Day event, I've been
looking for a step dancing group.
Oh, nice.
Not, not a professional one, because they don't have money to pay that, but, but as some
step-get dancing group is, is out there and wanting to come and, we got a little stage
in the back there, they could certainly come and, and show their stuff off.
So we're a variety of things.
We're also interested in non-profits that, that we have a, well, for instance, we have
a bloom lady comes in, she doesn't sell them, she just makes them for the kids.
That's cool.
I've had a company contact me once a place called Lasagna Love, where they want to show
people what they're doing as, as a charity thing where they, they give the, they take
the ingredients, they make some Lasagna for needy families, that kind of thing.
So we're interested in a variety of things.
We certainly, we still have space and, you know, contact me.
Yeah.
We'll give you the information on how to do that before we wrap up today.
You know, one of the other things that I think stands out about their farmers, oh, I do
want to mention too, you mentioned food trucks before.
If you are a food truck, certainly reach out as well.
Got room over there and love having that over there anytime I pass on Saturdays.
It's great to see the amount of busyness and the trucks over there and stuff.
Yeah.
The ones we have are people that, well, actually ran into them.
They were out there bending out and Steven's, one of them was in Steven's point, you know,
on a pretty cold day.
So I said, well, these are hardy souls.
I'll see if they want to come over.
They actually like the idea of it's really, really, really cold.
They'll come downstairs in the basement and sell their squares.
Nice.
Then it's been nicer.
So now they're back out in their food trucks in the parking lot.
What a great option for them though.
And we do, we know how much more popular that is becoming and everything.
So that's something to keep in mind as well to businesses out there.
Thank you, Michael.
It's more on you and more from you in a little bit here because I want to put Liz a bit
to work.
I mean, talk to her a little bit and get to know him.
Liz a bit.
Thank you so much for being here.
Thanks.
I want to talk to you a little bit about easy to, easy to, too easy catering and first off,
what is it that you guys do?
What are the fun things and unique things about your business?
Well, we are a completely family owned.
I don't have any employees.
Quote unquote, I have kids and husband that I put to work pretty frequently.
We work together on it.
I do all the baking myself, but my kids help with packaging and my husband has even been
employed as a salesman in the last few months and has found that he actually kind of likes
it surprisingly.
So he's pretty popular at the markets, too.
We try to do as much locally sourced products as we can with fruit that we actually grow
ourselves, fruits and veggies that we grow in our on our property.
So we know how they're handled.
And I try to do as much locally as I can, like we use the small, Amish markets for our
products.
Cool.
Cool.
And we're also trying to do a lot more paper versus product, pit plastic for our packaging
to keep things a little more environmentally friendly that way.
Growing our own stuff also gives us the advantage of keeping our prices a little bit lower,
our overheads a little bit lower if we grow it ourselves.
So and I also stress the use of a lot of fruit and veg in my baking makes it healthier.
Whole grains, obviously I like to offer.
And we do have, we offer some gluten free as well, which people appreciate.
Yeah.
Where did the idea and the passion come from to create two ease catering?
To be perfectly honest, it was necessity.
It was born of necessity.
Our church is a small church and I bake out of the church in Arpin first press material.
And we needed a new floor.
We needed a new floor in our kitchen and we needed to do a fundraiser.
So I started baking.
I did a local event.
It went really well and people said, hey, you know, you could take this to the farmer's
market.
And so it was kind of cool because our initial response was a little slow, but by the end
of the summer, we had paid off the floor.
Oh, well.
So that was a project that, okay, now do I keep going?
I really love this.
I was a caregiver for 30 years and I retired from that and I'm baking full time now, which
I wake up in the morning and I go, what am I baking today?
Yeah.
So I know I'm in the right line of work.
Right.
I love what I'm doing.
And I love the feedback that I get and I really like to give a kid a cookie and see
him smile.
Yes.
That's where it's all at.
That's wonderful.
That is fantastic.
Elizabeth, first off, thank you so much for the work you did as a caregiver.
We appreciate it.
We did highlight our caregivers nearly left that industry nearly enough and we greatly
appreciate the work that you and fellow people like yourself put into that industry.
And now you continue to care given some ways, just in a different way now and maybe some
different clientele in some ways.
What you offer is unique too, especially in this day and age where there are so many
options and so many varieties, but what you're offering is so specific, unique and fun
if I can say, like I like the idea of that.
And we know how much people love sweets, love baked goods, but when you tell somebody
it's local, you add that local word to it.
Ooh, you get some attention.
You get some people really want to try and like those things.
And while you may have your favorite type of chocolate chip cookie or muffin or something
like that, we're always looking to try the next thing.
We're always interested in that and cannot recommend your products enough when it comes
to that.
Me, people need to give this a try, give it a shot and you can do that at the Moravian
Church.
You guys will be there.
You have a booth there.
Yeah, regulars.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
So when it comes to that, Elizabeth, what made you guys want to give the, which is farmer's
market to try and what have you, what has your experience been like?
It has been amazing from day one.
I mean, Mike is so personable and easy to work with and accommodating.
I got to say one of one of the easiest hosts that I've ever worked with.
And I've been around quite a bit to different areas of the state and different places.
And you always have that little apprehension when you first walk into a market.
You never know.
I mean, you've got a truckload of stuff you want to sell it.
But you know, how much, how much hassle is there going to be from point A to point B
to get the stuff sold?
I have a regular clientele at the outdoor market, which has kind of followed me into the
indoor market.
And so that's kind of paved the way to, to be more successful there too, which helps.
So yeah, that market is being, it was a little church too.
And it's local for me.
It's close.
I live in Auburndale.
So it's not, it's not a long jog to go and set up every week.
Mike also offers the opportunity to set up on Fridays, which appeals to a lot of people
because then you get up in the morning and you just go to your venue and it's really,
it means a lot to a lot of people, especially older people that are vending and they feel
really pressured when they first get to the market.
It can be tough for folks like that.
So he has the opportunity to set up ahead of time, which like I said, works out.
That's a really big first off.
That's something that like I've been going to farmers markets my whole life.
My mother loves them and even as a kid in Chicago, we went to them and everything.
But that's something I wouldn't, I'm not, not unknown.
I really appreciate you sharing that for one.
It gives us a little empathy and a little understanding of vendors, but also to the vendors
out there.
That is a key selling point I would imagine.
Absolutely.
Thank you for mentioning that.
And when it comes to our particular winters, farmers market, and we want to encourage people
to support any farmers market around any time of year wherever they are, we're, we're
a little biased about our own.
Of course, because we, we support local and we love ours.
But wherever you've got a farmers market, wherever you're listening to us, be sure to
participate and work there and use their, their products and check out more and spread
the word about these two.
There are a lot of great vendors out there, a lot of great opportunities for them.
And when it comes to buying local supporting local, which is something that we, it's been
a mantra in this area, really since the pandemic, even before that a little bit.
But to me, that's not just words, like we actually have to put some action behind that.
And one of the ways of doing that is supporting our local vendors.
Nowadays, to have the opportunity to have no middleman, I, I don't have to go to it said
business to get this said product.
I just go right to the person and I get it and I get to have a conversation and I get
to see this person eye to eye and all that.
That goes so far in a day and age where we take transparency so seriously and value it
so much.
The idea of getting to talk to somebody like Elizabeth and find out, hey, what's in this?
You know, this is really good and being able to ask questions like that.
Look, the Kebler elves are great, but they don't take answer.
They don't, they've never answered one of my emails or one of my phone calls.
Yeah, you can talk right to Elizabeth.
You can go right to her and talk to her.
That opportunity for people means something.
It carries weight with it.
Those are important factors to anybody, any vendors out there thinking about maybe reaching
out to her, which is far more market and being a part of ours here in Wisconsin rapids.
There are other things that you want to highlight their list.
I think just that point that you just made, the story is invaluable.
I mean, you can't, you can't give enough credit to what it means to have a relationship
with your customer that says, this is how I got into this and this is why I make this,
this way and this is what I use and this is, this is the story.
This is how it's put together.
It, it feels like you're so much closer to your, to what you're consuming when you know,
and you see the hands that make it and you know that it's clean.
It's wholesome. It's, it's good for you.
Even though, okay, it's a cookie, but I use real butter.
I don't use vegetable shortening.
I don't use, you know, so it's, it is a cookie, but it's a little bit healthier for you.
Plus you know it's good.
You know it's fresh. You know it's homemade.
And I think that love aspect of it is important too.
Well, it's interesting and you guys know this as consumers as well, but in this,
as we go forward here, more and more people want more bang for their buck.
And certainly that means I spend a dollar.
I want to get a dollar's worth, but it's not just that too.
They want to know that dollar they're spending.
Is it going local?
Is it helping a local business?
Is it helping a local person that more bang for a buck is not just about materialism
that we get back, but what that dollar means for the person we're giving it to or the
person we're trading with for goods and everything.
So Elizabeth's point right there is so key to this too.
Being able to talk to a person and fear, they learn the story of two E's catering.
And like it just, it pulls your heart into it, pulls your empathy into it more.
And it makes you want to purchase their products, let alone how great they are.
Like it's a win, win of all, on all factors.
And it's kind of cool for people to be able to have that opportunity.
You can have that opportunity too.
We've got room over at the Moravian Church's winter farmers market,
reach out to Mike and the gang and we'll give you information on how to do that in a moment.
But thank you again for the time.
Elizabeth, is there anything else you wanted to share our cover?
I would like to give a plug for the local artisans, the people that that make
crafts and make real art.
I mean, we can go to art museums.
We can go around and we can see all of the installations around the country,
around the state, wherever.
But you just, when you take a look at what our local artisans are creating,
it is fantastic.
People do some beautiful work.
It's right here in our community.
And there again, you get that, you get to see the process.
You get to talk to the person that made it.
And hey, you know, you might run into somebody that eventually is going to be really famous.
And you might have a valuable piece.
So I think that's, that's another aspect of the market that offers a local look
into what people are creating.
Michael, she's good.
She's good.
She's good.
That you teed me up perfectly.
I wanted to go right to that and you did a great job on that, Elizabeth.
Well, I, I did want to make sure to highlight that while we take in food, you know,
vendors and that there is room for the arts.
There is room for other types of vendors as well, Michael.
That's right.
We, we have several craft vendors, artistic type vendors.
When it comes to mine is a Tammy Norris design.
She does things.
So we have those types of people coming in and we got room for them, you know,
macrame buttons, macrame buttons.
I got to give Joyce a shout.
Oh, yes.
I got to make fun of this.
She does some wonderful things.
Amazing stuff.
Yeah, I, I found it interesting.
You talked about your, your customers following you in from the, from the summer
farmers market.
This is a storefront for people.
And it's a lot cheaper than going out and renting a building for yourself.
And, and maybe less hassled in trying to do it across the internet where people
are sending an internet order.
So it's a way to market your stuff.
Yeah.
So, and encourage you to find out more to reach out to Michael and the team over
there.
The Meravian Church.
Do you want to send another big shout out to all of our vendors out there by
local support, local support our local vendors.
And a big thank you to you and the gang Beth and everybody at the Meravian
Church hosting this.
We appreciate our friends over there.
I got, I got to mention Beth.
So it's just smack me in the back of the head.
We appreciate you, Beth and, and everybody over there hosting this.
Thank you so much.
Michael, one more time going over the details.
The Winchester's Farmers Market goes every nine to one every Saturday at the
Meravian Church.
This will be taking place until May 18th and be going until then find out more
going to their Facebook page.
W are going to the web page, WR Meravian dot org.
You can find a link there for vendors and other information about the Meravian
Church and the Winchester's Farmers Market.
Michael, any other information we need to win get out there before we wrap up?
Well, we have the St. Patrick's Day event happening.
March 16th, we're going to have, there's going to be several leprechaun
posters posted around in some businesses.
Elizabeth's been very kind to help me out with that.
There's going to be pull, pull tabs on there.
So if you find one of them, grab a pull tab, come into the market.
You get a free cookie for your cookie.
Freeze St. Paddy's Day Cookie.
Also for those who want to wear the green as it were,
you stop in at the sign-in desk and you will get extra entries into a grand prize,
a grand door prize.
So everybody's going to get an entry, but if you wear the green,
you're going to get multiple entries into the bucket, a bigger chance to win.
I think I'll be wearing some green and a hat, you know,
but it was constantly finding something green in your wardrobe.
That's going to be so tough.
It's going to be so tough.
Appreciate that.
That's going to be a lot of fun.
Yeah, that's going to be a lot of fun.
And there'll be Irish music that day.
So we're going to put a little decoration up.
So we're trying to make something fun, a little extra special event going on.
The, you know, all of these things we have covered today,
the three of us is great and it's all important.
Another important thing I think to keep in mind,
this is a great opportunity to get out and communicate, see some people,
talk to some people, even if you don't come down and purchase anything,
you may be able to spread the word about some one of these great vendors or what
has happening over there.
You can help promote them with your farmer's market as well,
because we all know where the mouth goes farther than anything can.
And it's a great way to support local and the great work that they're doing over there.
Elizabeth, before we let you go to ease catering,
how can we find out more about your products?
We are on Facebook and Instagram at two ease catering and baked goods.
Check us out.
There's lots of pictures of all the goodies and the possibilities.
And we do some catering too.
So if you have a catering event coming up, give me a shout.
Excellent.
I'm going to make an event just so I can bug you and have you cater it.
Yeah. Also, there's a Facebook page for the Winters Farmer's Market,
WR Winters Farmer's Market on Facebook.
So be sure to like these pages.
Keep up to date and all the great things that they are doing supporting local.
Again, both of you.
Thank you so much for the time.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Appreciate you again.
Big thank you to Elizabeth Murphy of two ease catering and Michael Barnes,
director of the indoor Wisconsin Rapids Winters Farmer's Market.
Really appreciate them joining us.
Just to wrap up when I highlight a couple of things that our friends at
Visitors Wisconsin Rapids Bureau have on our list,
like Wisconsin Rapids Community Theaters, the Glassman Ashery.
They've got a couple more shows for you.
Be sure to catch one tonight, Friday at seven or Saturday.
They have a two o'clock matinee and a show at seven.
Find out more and get your tickets at WRC theater dot org.
WRC theater dot org always Olivia and Olivia Newton.
John tribute going to be taking place this Sunday, March 10th,
two o'clock at the Performing Arts Center Wisconsin Rapids.
Be sure to get your tickets at saverthearts.com.
Saverthearts.com.
There's also the Port Edwards Lions Club pancake branch going on March 10th at eight
a.m. at Port Edwards High School.
Be sure to check that out.
The copper box is going to be performing live March 10th, three o'clock at
Pitzville Schools Auditorium.
Be sure to check that out and make a splash.
The 2024 ice show March 16th in 17th at one o'clock at the South
will County Rec Center.
Speaking of the Rec Center, your river Kings are in playoff action this weekend.
Get your tickets and find out more river Kings hockey dot com by local support
local.
We got such a beautiful area around here.
Let's make sure to enjoy it and celebrate it.
Everybody shout out to Meredith and our friends at the visit Wisconsin Rapids
Bureau for all the great work they do find out more at visitwisrapids.com.
That's visitwisrapids.com.
And again, a big thank you, of course, to Michael Barnes directed the indoor
winters, Wisconsin Rapids winters farmers market and to Elizabeth from two
ease catering appreciate all of them joining us and all of our guests this
week.
A big thank you to everybody who joined us.
Great week of midday magazine for you coming up next week.
We're also going to be interviewing all of our local candidates for the April
2nd election.
Be listening for that.
And one more special shout out to our own Pam Hilke who does an amazing job.
Week in a week out scheduling all of this and doing so much behind the scenes
for you.
We appreciate you, Pam.
Well, you have a good weekend.
Be good to each other.
And we'll talk to you soon later right here at WFHR.
