Welcome, everybody, to Midday magazine for this June 25th, 2024.
Have your host, James, GMA off here.
At 430, we're going to welcome in our friends from the Family Center, Amy Shide from there.
We have Kelly from Sparhawk as well joining us, and we'll have Mozel from the Wisconsin
Rabbits Family Center board joining us as well, looking forward to that.
Right now, our good friend, Lacey Ailing, events at engagement director with our
heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce with us right now.
Lacey, good to see you.
Good to see you, James.
How you been?
Good, how are you?
Doing good, doing good.
I imagine your head is just starting to slow down, just starting to stop spinning after
the cranberry blossom festival weekend and everything.
Absolutely.
I heard nothing but good things from people over the weekend, love the event, love some
of the new things that were added.
I heard at least one person mentioned you by name, nice work.
Oh boy.
Nice work by you and the team.
And it was positive.
It was positive.
It was good stuff.
A lot of good vibes, a lot of good feelings from it.
I took in nothing but good things.
So nice job to you and the team and to all the local people that have to do with that event
and make it so successful, already looking forward to the next year.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's just stick to this year, I think that
seems like a good idea.
We want to get to lunch by the river right away.
Yes, absolutely.
So excited for this Thursday, obviously presenting sponsor, emberage and then royal flush
sponsor, crack its septic.
This week's sponsor is Greenway RV, so very excited to kick off the weekend.
Obviously, it's camping season, so perfect time to have them as an exclusive sponsor.
We will also have entertainment by the Lincoln High School Mariachi band.
And then as well as the sheriff is going to join us with the K9, he asked if he could
come down and kind of hang out with us at Veterans Park this week.
So very excited to have him as well as, you know, a little thing to kind of grow this
event and then bring in, you know, more businesses, the mayor's band out.
I've seen him almost every week at the event.
As well as the Wisconsin Rapids Police Chiefs, so it's been really nice to have people come
to these events, especially using it, I mean, even as a networking to talk to people and
then kind of listen to the things that people are saying, how they're feeling in a very
like open light environment.
So definitely excited.
We're going to have obviously chatterbox, rackies, MCG services, Jamaican kitchens.
We have got a lot of lovely food vendors that have been coming down as well as Casey
Twist for the balloon twisting.
We're hopefully going to be adding some more outdoor games we found some, but definitely,
you know, reaching out to those other businesses to have additional activities at these events.
And Lacey, it's great to hear that about Sheriff Becker because Sean has talked about
that on air off air a bit about wanting to be down there and everything.
So that's really nice to hear.
And I know that last week for our pet of the week, we had the South of County Main Society
and they've been reaching out and stuff and it's really cool to hear when we talk about
an event that has been around for decades and the new stuff that is happening and how it
is still has that fresh, fun feeling to it and everything.
It's a credit to you and the team over there and to this community of people reaching out
to you and want to be a part of the event.
Absolutely.
Yeah, very excited.
The 37th year.
So I think it's awesome that we have this and definitely take advantage of it and come
out.
We have been talking to the main society.
We're hoping he brings Alaska out.
Yeah.
That is a deaf animal that they have there looking for a home.
I know that she had a cone on for a little bit so that he was just kind of waiting until
that was off before he could join us.
Yeah.
They don't get me started on these animals over at the main society.
I got like 90 of them I want and all of them are amazing.
We can find out more about Lunch by the River.
Go by going to the website, WisconsinRabitsChamfer.com.
Keep in mind Lunch by the River going right through August, right in August and we'll
meet you there every Thursday at Veterans Park.
Gather by the gazebo.
Another great event coming up.
Yes.
Absolutely.
Presenting sponsor visit Rome, season sponsor, Colwell Banker Advantage, San Valley Resort
and Rome away from home.
Our July sponsor is Ho Chiang Gaming and Acusa and that is going to be on July 9th.
That is the second Tuesday of the month.
We will have Jackson Taylor there at the Roam Town Center for that live music as well
as Casey Twiss for balloon twisting and we are absolutely going to have the Adams County
Humane Society at that one.
They're going to join us.
They're going to bring two adoptable animals.
They kind of ask me what I wanted and I was like, anything that's looking for a home.
Bring whatever.
It's a porcupine.
It's a goat.
It doesn't matter.
So they're going to bring two I believe dogs to this one.
So very excited to have them out there and it's fun to kind of just pair with these
other nonprofits and kind of make sure that they have a voice and to use that platform.
Even if we can only find one animal a home in this entire season for all these events.
Excuse me.
I would that would just make my heart really full because I just I think that that's
something that we need to be doing and supporting this area as well as making sure these pets
have a safe environment for the July coming.
So having them in safe homes where they can adjust instead of these fireworks at these
mean societies.
So definitely come out that is 530 to 7 and we are we're really excited.
We had a really, really good turnout at the last at last month and we're really trying
to grow these events in this area.
Yeah.
And the best way to grow these events is to attend them.
They're more and more people spread the word about them, especially on your social media
feeds.
You just don't know who can see that they might not have seen it otherwise or maybe
somebody knows about the event that they forgot it was coming up and like, oh, that's
tonight or something or it's tomorrow and they can make plans for it.
And a shout out to Jackson Taylor first of a great artist, great arts, Jackson's really
good.
I do want to note that.
I do want to also note the Adams County Humane Society got friends of work over there
really good people that do some great work in that area and that community on this field.
And you cannot give me a soap box to stand on Lacey and not do it.
These animals deserve it.
It's the least we can do is helping our Humane societies.
Maybe not everybody can take in an animal.
Most of us have an item or two that we can drop off or at the very least spread the word
about these animals, whether it's our pet of the week here at the morning show or it's
the Adams County or wherever you're listening to us, there is a Humane Society that could
use your volunteering or your work and encourage you to reach out to them.
Absolutely.
Okay, get off my soap box now.
I appreciate it.
Gather by the gazebo, coming up everybody, looking forward to that one.
Also looking forward to rendezvous in the park.
Absolutely.
So we have a our lovely season sponsor, the city of Nekusa.
Our date sponsors for July, I should say, are going to be Irko, worldwide and DomTar
industries.
We've been having this kind of running on their marquee as well.
So definitely really, really thankful to DomTar for kind of adding that additional marketing
for us.
That event is on Wednesday July 17th and we will have Ben Chateque out there.
We are really, really excited to have these area performers that come out and they're
so excited.
They put on a show for one people to 500 people and they're still as excited for each one
and I'm really, really grateful for Ben for coming out.
And he's been really, really helpful in us getting that out there.
So definitely come out that one.
We really want to get more attendance at and I really want everyone to at least come
out at least once this summer and kind of just hang out by the river.
It's lovely out there and I really love Riverside Park.
Oh, love that park so much.
It's a great park.
A big shout out to Ben and anytime he's showing up at something, you know it's going to
sound good.
It's going to be good.
Ben gives nothing but great performances, which is saying something considering he's performing
probably right now and performing in and out of now and he's still got all that energy.
There's two things that you've noted here at Lacey.
And one of them intentional, one of them maybe not, but you mentioned about working with
nonprofits.
And one of the things working with Terry very closely CEO, United Way, for many years
I've picked up on and saw that I didn't see in this community when I first moved to
it.
When I first moved here, it was kind of nonprofit, nonprofit, all crabs in a barrel fighting
for that dollar and kind of pulling each other down.
What I've seen in the last 10 years, especially since the pandemic or during the pandemic I
should say in sense is we're stronger together.
In the Humane Society and our chamber team up, both rising tide raises all boats.
And it's beautiful to see that we're seeing more and more of that this nonprofit and this
nonprofit and everybody working together, it makes our community stronger, makes these
nonprofits and their missions that much stronger.
But it's the same thing with artists and having these artists, whether it's lunch by
the river, rendezvous in the park, giving artists an opportunity to be seen by maybe new
people, heard by new people, it's community supporting community.
It's supporting the arts and as a creative, I can tell you what that means to me into
the creative community to see these opportunities available.
And we want to make sure to get as many artists as we can a part of these things.
If people want to reach out to you and find out more whether it's a business or a food truck
or an artist, how can they do that?
Absolutely.
So, communications at WisconsinRapidsChamber.com is the best email for me, definitely reach
out, make sure that you are, if you're not getting hold of me through email, just give
me a call or stop in the chamber, perfectly fine with that too, I'm there eight to four.
And then seven, one, five, four, two, two, four, eight, five, nine is my direct line.
If you want to give me a call.
Yeah, be sure, if you can't stop by and by, stop by.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you're going to quick trip, probably, anyway, just go across the street, just go
over there and say hi to get over there.
We're speaking with Lisi Ailey, events and engagement director with our Heart of Wisconsin
Chamber of Commerce.
Another fun event coming up right around the corner is as much as July seems like it's
far away.
Lucky's golf outing right around the corner.
Yes.
So, we are very excited.
Please join us.
That is Tuesday, July 23rd.
That is going to be at Lake Arrowhead.
You can register to golf.
You can register to golf and sponsor.
You can kind of, you know, pick what you want to do with like a little bit of an all-acart
option.
There's different, you know, different sponsorships available based off of whatever's
going to best align with your business or your mission.
You have three platinum sponsors left as well as four gold and then one bronze as well
as the wine liquor pull and then the raffle prize or basket.
It is 125 per golfer and that's 18 holes and then that's also lunch and then a really,
really cool buffet dinner that's Stacy and I picked.
That's essentially just like a buffet of different kinds of appetizers.
Yeah.
So like bottomless wings, bottomless smash burgers, different kinds of like dips, a lot
of stuff.
We kind of wanted it to like be where you could network, walk around, carry your plate,
talk to people, still be able to eat, but also like where the, you know, you can eat
take a bite.
It's quick and then you can go back to talking.
So really excited to be out there at Lake Arrowhead at the Pines Course.
So definitely reach out to us if you are looking to golf or sponsor.
If you want to get your name out there, we're going to have hole sponsors as well as I have
some, some very out of the box ideas for the whole games.
And we are going to kind of have the sheriffs against sheriffs as well as sheriffs against
mayor and chiefs against mayor.
So with some, they'll have some, they'll have some, I want to say, I don't want to make
sure I politically say it correctly, we'll have some like squirt gun sniping.
So really excited to get them all involved.
Obviously, we've got, you know, we've got different police chiefs that are both named
Sean.
So I want to do some Sean versus Sean action.
So really, really excited as well as getting another, some more nonprofits involved from
just the Wisconsin, you know, Miss, Miss Wisconsin, Mrs. Wisconsin, Miss checker, public
princess is also from Wisconsin Rapids.
So to dress up, I mean, who doesn't want to dress up the, you know, an accountant or
a lawyer in a teara?
Oh, yeah.
Exactly.
And a 22.
Oh, absolutely.
So we're planning to do some of that kind of stuff at the holes.
And obviously, you know, having a lot of fun coming out, I mean, it's a great way to market
your business as well as have some team building, I think that that is really crucial in keeping
employees right now is doing things like this as a team.
Because if you, if you build that relationship with them, they will stay.
So if you, if you're going out, you're doing these things as a team, you're having fun,
you're driving around your golf cart, you're matching in these ridiculous, you know,
archival outfits.
I think that it's a great way to kind of, you know, obviously, support a nonprofit, support
these local businesses as well as just kind of have fun together.
And then kind of just forget about, you know, some of the stresses in that office and then
just hang out.
Got a lot of golfers out there, got a lot of people that just like to be out in nature
even whether it's golf or not.
And I'm so glad you brought this up at such a strong good point that yes, this is a networking
event and a great opportunity to run into people and maybe you haven't met before or
you haven't seen in a while or anything and just catch up with let alone the business
angle of things.
But the team building part of it is such a cool part of it too.
And there isn't a whole lot of opportunities to that.
And I think one of the strongest things that you could bring up right now, Lacey, is the
idea of keeping employees.
That is gigantic to any business, any CEO, anybody out there.
And you're, you're right.
I mean, this is one of the ways you do those kind of things is by building that team up.
You're not likely to leave people that you have a relationship with, regardless of price
or scheduling or any of these things.
It's one of the ways that we have seen and this isn't just Lacey and I saying this, the
stats show this, the numbers show this.
This is one of the ways of keeping employees.
Yes, people say where they are appreciated.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
The Lucky Skull Fouting, 41st anyone, a shout out to the 41st, that's amazing.
That is pretty cool.
We've got other great events coming up, Lacey.
I wanted to get into with you.
You don't mind.
I wanted to talk a little bit about coffee with the chamber.
One of my favorite events you all pull off, not only because I love coffee, but also because
I love that you guys always feature a unique and great speaker that hits the point, you
know, a topical usually.
Yes.
That is going to be August 28th, coffee with the chamber, 830 to 930, coffee sponsors,
Kierbu Coffee, which I went and got today.
They have like this new energy lemonade thing and yeah, if you can't tell by my, by how
I'm talking today, it definitely works.
So really, really great.
I love this.
I mean, obviously, I'm a huge fan of the mayor and he looks, I even told him, I really
loved this picture of him and he was like, what picture?
So he, but yeah, the speaker is going to be Kyle Kern, so our director of community
development in the city as well as the mayor, Matt Zachary, they're going to come out and
discuss economic development update to obviously cover things that are going on in our
community as well as changes, kind of how we're working on that downtown survey as well
as the planning project and then as well as the new master plan that they have, which we
also have on our table when we're at lunch by the river or our local events, just kind
of the changes that they're trying to make.
So I'm huge on if you want to see something, you need to say something.
So if you are, if you're someone who is consistently having opinions about things, but you're
not going to the source, maybe you really don't have that strong of an opinion.
So I think that if you have something you want to say, I think this is a perfect way to
come out, come listen, they typically try to do some kind of networking before and after
with everyone that is registered, registration is free for chamber members.
So if your business is a chamber member, you are a chamber member.
So that is free for you, non-members $10, that is chamber, the chamber board room, you
can do it virtually if you'd like.
You can register online, you can register with a QR code, you can come in and register.
If you can't register, you can kind of come in, we'll help you figure it out.
But yeah, obviously really excited, we've kind of changed coffee with the chamber a little
bit to have it more impactful.
So we're not having it every month.
We are spending time to make sure that we're getting things that are actually important
and pertinent to this community.
So definitely come out Kyle and Matt are good sports.
And I think that they're people that they genuinely listen, they're not listening to
respond, they're listening to understand you.
So if you are someone who feels very strongly about the ATV, if you're someone that feels
really strongly about things that are happening in this area, come out, it's 830-930.
Obviously if you're at work, you work remotely, do it virtually.
We also will have it, I think, posted online after for about 30 days, I think if you'd
like to watch it then.
So definitely, definitely come.
Both of these guys are there in these positions in part because they want to hear from the
community, you want to do right by the community.
They're not in this for any flash or anything, the paycheck if I'm being blunt or any of
these things.
They're doing this because they love this area and they see, okay, these are positions
I can do some good in.
And now that they're in those positions, especially from Matt, wants to hit the ground running
and wants your ideas, wants to hear you, are you a dog that wants to bark at the wall or
do you want to be heard?
Do you can be heard?
You can be heard at the coffee with the chamber.
They want to hear you reach out to them and meet them there, August 28th, 830-930, it's
going to be a fun event.
That's going to be fun.
We'll be hyping that up as we close our tour at Lacey.
Thank you.
Got a couple of things I want to touch on before we wrap up.
Community Leadership 2425 registration is now open.
Yes.
So the team leadership is already full.
We actually, Matt has grown so much that we actually unfortunately have to turn people
away until we can get additional transportation from these schools.
Very excited for the team leadership as well as obviously I was in community leadership
last year.
So I can speak to how much it affected me, how much it's affected people that I was in
the group with.
Obviously, I was in it with another with a police officer and he got to leave the parade
on Sunday and I was like, hey, bestie, but yeah, really, really excited.
I love community leadership and it's one day a month and you can go there, you're going
to learn your communication style, you're going to learn how you communicate, you're going
to learn about your own bias, you're going to learn about this community, how this community
has changed, where this community needs to go towards, where we shouldn't go towards.
Our narrative, our voice, what can separate us from everyone else and kind of just learning
more about where you are and what you can do in this area, our community leadership
project.
I'm just finishing up right now, but it's essentially kind of a master way to have support
here, that where you're not going to 19 different places and carrying around 19 different
brochures.
It's just in one place and it's centralized, just kind of cheat sheet and you know, where
you need to go, what you need to do, if you need, you know, what side of town your garbage
goes on, it's interesting, the stuff that you don't know until you move somewhere and
you're like, who do I ask?
And so it's really great that we were able to do that as a group.
So it's the change can be made, you know, you're doing a community leadership project or
two projects depending on how it is, you're going to bond, you're going to spend time
with these people and you're going to make connections in this community, not only networking,
but I mean, even just learning from other businesses and what they do, what they have
to offer that can, I mean, they can, it can actually change things.
And I think that that, I mean, I always want to be a change maker.
So it's big to me.
I think that the best leaders I've ever known can always strive to get better and believe
they can be better leaders.
And one thing that I think is noteworthy about this, and especially as we're the open
registration encouraging people to register, you really are a great example for this lazy.
You came in the dis job and I thought, okay, she's going to be good at this, she's got
this down.
And she came in on the air with us, comfortable, confident, but I could tell when you were
taking this class and I could tell as you progressed and felt stronger and better, to
where now you just walk in here like it's nothing, and come on the air with us and do such
a nice job, the confidence that you had that confidence, it's been heightened, it's been
supported.
You can see that it has been, you know, something that you have worked on and that you
got a built, you built up some of that confidence through your fellow classmates, if you will,
through the leadership program.
Absolutely.
It's so cool to see.
I love seeing human beings evolve and grow and get bigger and I didn't expect that with
you with this because like I said, you came in and I thought you're already pretty good.
I realized you could reach even higher.
That's something you could see out of your employees, if you were a business out there.
There's nobody that couldn't ask for more out of that out of a program or get more out
of a program than this program.
It's a really good one.
Absolutely.
And you can only leave people, I kept hearing that and everything every week they would
tell you, you can't leave people beyond where you are.
So if you want to grow, you have to grow, you have to be in a room where it's uncomfortable
as change, you're getting to know people and the first time we met everyone, it was
weird.
Not, I mean, a lot of us didn't talk, it was very quiet and then by the end of it, Laura
was like, okay, everyone, we're going to start, okay, everyone, we're going to start because
we were all in, you know, in this talking and learning and feeding off each other and
hey, we have this upcoming event and we were all trying to support each other and in turn
supporting this community.
So attending these things that some of them are like, I don't even know you guys did that.
You're right.
I don't even know that existed.
And even though they, you know, they are a chamber business, they weren't aware of it.
If people want to reach out and find out more or get people registered, where can they
go?
How can they do that?
Absolutely.
That is going to be Laura Bonner Ridgeway.
That is at Workforce at Wisconsin Rapids Chamber dot com or by phone at 715-423-1830 for
more information.
Keep in mind the chamber has chamber cash available for sale.
You should just stop on by there and get picked some of that up and find out more.
And if they do want to pick up whether it's chamber cash or anything else going on with
you guys, Lacey, how can they be in touch with you?
Absolutely.
So we will have chamber cash at every event as well as lunch by the river.
We'll have it at gather.
We'll have it at rendezvous.
Definitely buy for me because I'm competing against my co-workers.
So and I want to win, obviously, but $1,850 in chamber gift certificates awarded in those
16 days.
Our print sponsor is Assumption Catholic Schools.
We're going to kick it off with a $250 chamber gift certificate that is sponsored by Hoch
on Gaming and Acusa and then that will be kicked off.
We will post every day live on Facebook and then you can come in, pick that up.
We can send it in the mail if you'd like to, but yeah, 1 for 10 or 3 for 20 and I know
a lot of people won and then you can keep going, you can keep winning.
So there was someone I think they spent 20 bucks and they won three times.
That's awesome.
That's a solid investment.
It's a solid investment.
Pretty good investment right there.
Find out more, get that chamber cash and be a part of these great events.
WisconsinRapidsChamber.com, WisconsinRapidsChamber.com.
Be sure to follow the chamber on social media as well.
It's a great way to keep up the date on things and spread the word about these events, share
their events so that other people can see them.
You never know who might attend and might take this in.
Lacey, appreciate the time.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We'll have more Midday Magazine for you coming up on the morning on Midday Magazine
here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
