Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine.
We appreciate the company.
Thank you so much for joining us, everybody.
Right now we are going to talk to
Mandy Adamsky.
Adamsky, wow, Mandy, I am so sorry.
How do I say that again?
A damn ski.
A damn ski, geez.
See, you got to join us more often.
And I guess I can get that name down, right?
Mandy, thank you so much for being here.
We're here to talk about the central Wisconsin car cruise
and show.
There's a lot of great things
a part of this event, Mandy.
And I want to get into the details of it
for the audience, because it's going on Saturday,
August 3rd, over at Lincoln High School
to kick off at 9 a.m. when the gates open.
But I'd like to talk if you don't mind for a second
about the history of the central Wisconsin car cruise.
And certainly why car cruises are so important
in this state and how we've lost some recently.
We want to keep this one around
for many, many decades to come.
Why is this one so important to our community?
This one, we as a group for the central Wisconsin car cruise.
This is our fourth year doing this.
This is the cruise that Corvets of the North used to do.
They held it for over 40 years, brings in hundreds
and hundreds of cars and people to the area.
It's kind of a staple.
It's the first Saturday of August.
Everybody in the area knows about it.
Everybody plans their barbecue's and get together's
and parties around it.
So it's a good time, and it's a huge community
event.
People all year long ask me about it,
where it's going to be, when it's going to be,
make sure it's happening, anything different,
anything cool that we're bringing in this year.
So it's nice.
It's a big family event, and it's been in my family
forever as long as I can remember.
We've always participated in it.
You, I think you've worded it perfectly all of that.
And just to go back, it is a staple.
It is a community staple.
This is similar to the cranberry blossom fester
or a watersky show tournament.
It's as long as I've lived in this area,
people have talked about car cruises
and the history of this one while being a part
of the Corvettes of the North is a unique history too.
It's a fun part of the summer for us,
especially for so many people out there
that have such classic cars or wonderful automobiles
that they don't get to really ride like nine months
of the year around here.
But boy, for a couple of weeks in the summer,
we get a chance to roll those out.
And the way that even people that don't necessarily
quote unquote attend the event are able to enjoy it
as they take it in around town or something.
This is one of the more well spread out events
as far as word of mouth goes that I always hear people,
there are people that don't know that I do this job
or something and they're quick to tell me,
hey, I know you like cars.
You know, they got this car cruise coming up
and they don't know that we talk or anything like that.
And I was like to play dumb on those like really,
because I love hearing from our community.
As good as we are at this job,
I think at WFHR and spreading the word about these events,
we all know word of mouth goes so much farther.
So it's also on all of our listeners out there,
spread word about this event.
Go to your Facebook page,
type in their central Wisconsin car cruise,
like and subscribe to what they're doing
and spread that on your pages.
You just never know who might see it that would otherwise.
And also keep in mind,
all the proceeds benefit local volunteer emergency services.
It's such a great cause to be able to add to that
any little way we can.
We all want to be a part of that.
That's a fun thing to have as a part of all of this.
Oh, absolutely.
Every year, as you said,
all the proceeds go back to multiple departments in the area.
So everything the community gives and brings in
goes right back to the community.
Whether it be for equipment, training,
canine departments, anything, anything they need.
In each year, we've been able to give back a little more
and a little more.
So that's super nice.
And a lot of it is,
we couldn't do this event without the participation
of multiple departments in the area.
They help keep us safe during the cruise.
They help us with traffic control, intersections.
They do, they do their best to keep everybody safe.
And it's not only a lot of work on us to put this on,
but it's a lot of work on them to pull in people
and have the staffing to help us out.
So it really goes a long way and shows the appreciation
for everything that they do for us and do for the community.
It's greatly appreciated.
All people are considered or greatly appreciated them.
You and your staff,
everybody working so hard on this event.
Let's go over the details,
the who, what, when, where, why of this event.
Again, this is taking place Saturday, August 3rd.
It kicks off at Lincoln High School
over at 1811-163 South.
Gates are open at 9, Mandy.
Yes. Gates open at 9.
We brought back the car show portion of it last year,
which went over amazing ways.
So of course, we're gonna do it again.
Yeah, yeah.
That has three categories.
So the participants vote on best car and best truck.
And then Grand Rapids volunteer fire department
comes in and does a lot with us as far as helping us
with parking, et cetera,
because they have more volunteers
and that's what they do for living.
So we last year randomly picked a handful of them
and said, vote on overall best of show.
That winner is actually the design of our shirts
for this year.
Cool. Oh, that's cool.
So that's kind of something to break up and win overall.
You get your car on the t-shirt for the following year.
Oh, that is very cool.
Great idea. Oh, that's awesome.
We even let them pick the color of the shirt.
Oh, nice. Nice.
They were super involved and happy with it.
So the show starts officially at 10.
All votes are turned in by one
and then we announce the winner about two o'clock.
That's about the time that it really starts to get busy
and everybody starts flooding in
for those that are just doing the cruise.
The cruise leaves at 4 p.m. sharp, as always,
like it has for decades.
The road's a little different this year.
We had to make some changes with construction in the area.
I know there were some people that aren't very pleased with it.
But there's only so much we can do.
Show must go on.
It must go on.
We got to find a way to work around the construction,
keep everybody safe and.
The the tour that the parade that this will take,
that the cruise will take.
Can we get into the details of that a little bit?
Is there is there is there anything that we should make sure
that they know about this or otherwise,
the cruise kind of taking a similar path to years past?
Parts of it are similar.
So we'll leave Lincoln and we'll head up to the expressway
and we'll run W out to 48 at the roundabout.
We're not going through the roundabout.
Yeah, don't worry, all good idea though.
Way to avoid that.
Yes.
And then it does a little jog to get onto Washington.
And then we follow that down by the lake,
which is the path it used to take.
We couldn't go on Grove and 64
that used to wrap back around me that loop.
Right.
They actually peat gravel that section.
Right, right.
Wasn't going to run hundreds of collectors
over fresh chip sealed roads.
Not an idea.
Very insightful by you, very insightful.
This is part of why, if I don't mean to interrupt,
but this is part of why it's so great to have people
that grew up with this and that understand this
a little bit better.
Somebody kind of coming into a maybe a little blind,
maybe well intended, but might not think
about those kind of things.
And it's great for these, it's so cool
of these collectors of these people
that bring these vehicles out to share
than with the community.
We don't want to damage anything.
We don't want to hurt anything.
It's really insightful and really good thinking
on your part and your guys.
That's great.
So from there, we run it to 80th Street.
We run that south down to townline,
just like we did last year.
And then it loops back up on 32nd Street
to Griffiths up to 16th and back to Lincoln.
So I know there's a lot of festivities in the area
afterwards.
We are not doing anything.
But I know I've had several people say,
oh, you know, we're going to do this.
We're bringing in music.
So stick around in the area.
There's a lot going on.
Yeah, yeah.
There's going to be music and concessions down there
as well from what I understand.
Yep, yep.
We bring in food trucks.
I think we've got three different vendors coming in.
Racky Rikoko's J&T pit stop.
I'm drawing a blank on the third.
But I know it's ice cream.
Yes, yes, yes, which is what matters ice cream ice cream.
I'm just eating some degrees and sunny on an asphalt park.
And that we all want the ice cream.
That's a good get, right?
That's a good one to have down there.
That's great.
And definitely because I was on your Facebook page.
And again, when I remind everybody
to go to Central Wisconsin car crews,
like that page, keep up the date
and what they're doing over there,
I see that life's a dance DJ service is going to be down there.
So that's pretty cool.
Yep, he was there for us last year.
He did an amazing job, you know, kept it nice and light,
but fun all day long.
So stop and give him a shout.
There's anything specific you want.
You may take your opinion.
I'm not entirely sure, but super nice.
Great people to have.
And they had a blast last year.
Yeah.
And you mentioned that there are new elements
to this year's car crews.
What are some of those elements
that you guys incorporated this year?
So we, obviously, we have the newly designed T-shirts.
So we've got those for sale, stop by the March 10th.
We've got some newly designed cancuzzies.
We've got the window stickers that everybody loves.
Some of the cool things that we're doing
is the car show participants.
They get goody bags.
So that's cool.
I'm not going to ruin this surprise, but we did them.
But they're there.
The journalist in me was about to dig,
but I'm going to back off that.
No, no, we're leaving that as a surprise.
That's cool, that's cool.
The car show winners not only get a custom made trophy,
but they also get a car care bucket.
Cool.
So again, contents of that will be shared probably tomorrow.
Yeah, yeah.
Run it yet.
There'll be the 50-50 drawing that we've done
in the past couple years that always seems to go over well.
That's, again, in conjunction with the fire department.
So they actually, they do the 50-50s,
so they keep their half.
That's cool.
So we give them that opportunity to come down
if they want it as a little extra forum, but yeah.
That is really cool.
And when it comes to the merch, when it comes to some
of these things, and I do want to thank you for the shirt.
Thank you so much for that.
When it comes to those, these have a couple of layers
to them, no pun intended.
When it comes to buying these things,
for one, as Mandy told us, all the proceeds
are going to help volunteer emergency services
in this community.
So you are not just getting a cool new shirt.
You are knowing that you are putting into your community
and helping your community and some people
that always need this assistance.
It is so vital to our community
that we're able to help our emergency services
whenever we can.
So that's a really noteworthy thing, too.
But also, you're going to wear these shirts throughout the year.
And you just don't know who might see it,
or who it might be advertising, too.
They're like, well, what is that?
And you get to tell them about the Central Wisconsin car
crews.
And it might be something that they can mark on their calendar.
And so you're helping with the car crews advertising as well.
And all of our responses?
Oh, perfect.
I didn't even see the back yet.
Oh, I love it.
Oh, that's awesome.
Oh, great.
So you're also advertising for local businesses
on top of that.
So they greatly appreciate that.
Give them the shout out.
Absolutely.
Yeah, the shirts.
We didn't do new hoodies this year.
It is, we hold the event in August.
Yeah, it's not a big seller.
Yeah, yeah.
The coosies are a great idea.
Oh, yeah.
Really good idea.
Yeah, we have like six or eight different colors of them.
They go great.
It's really cool.
And I'm glad you mentioned the sponsors, Mandy,
because this doesn't happen without so many great local businesses
and people donating or sponsoring this event.
And one of our biggest things we say
around here, buying local supporting local support,
those that support us, this community,
we greatly appreciate every one of them.
Oh, absolutely.
I would love to list them, but we
had so many great sponsors this year.
It would take way too long.
But they did great.
And as you said, we couldn't do this without them.
They cover our feeds, whether it's permits, insurance,
just everything.
We bring in the port of parties, the dumpsters, the DJ,
all of the fees that go along and financial responsibilities
with hosting an event like this.
So we were very fortunate this year
that we had a lot of sponsors come through
and help us put this on.
And anything that's left over from all those sponsors,
again, gets donated.
So that's so cool.
And nothing ever goes to waste here.
Yes, it's great.
It's a great note.
That's a great thing to mention.
We appreciate that.
Again, if you'd like to find out more about those sponsors
or the people that donated things,
you go to their Facebook page.
It's all there for you.
You can catch that.
And as we always like to do, again,
encourage you to buy local support local and support those
that support our nonprofits and our great organizations
in this community.
It's a fun one.
Mandy, I know that this, we've done this for years.
We've talked about this.
And I know how hard you guys work year round on this event.
This is not just something that you come up.
You know, is that coming up?
We should probably work now.
You guys work on this, you're working on it now next
years now, isn't that right?
Yep.
We, once the event is over, we actually
hosted dinner for all the departments
that received donations.
So we put on dinner, we invite them all out,
give them all their donations.
And then I take about a month off.
Good, good, oh, that's so good to hear.
And then it's about Christmas break.
Typically take off work, spend it with the kids.
And that's when the planning really kicks into the following
year.
Again, reserving Lincoln and starting with the permits
and starting with the insurance and just lining up
the basics, the fundamentals of it, you know,
the route planning because that has to be coordinated
with the departments, road crews, multiple counties,
towns, the whole nine.
So this isn't something that, you know,
oh, they're going to do construction,
but it's done in June, we're going to change the route.
This is set, this is something that
starts very early in the year, all the upcoming construction
projects we have to take into consideration.
Man, the logistics that go into this kind of thing.
It's a wide, I could see it all over your face.
I also see one of the things that I enjoy about this too,
Mandy, is your passion for this over the years.
It just stays so strong.
And so if anything, you seem even more passionate now
than you did when we first met, which is really encouraging
to see.
And it's something that not only our area appreciates,
but I know that all these participants appreciate
and that those of us that love car cruises appreciate.
Because as we mentioned, you know,
through the pandemic, we lost some classic car cruises
that all of us look forward to in so many ways.
There are so many parts of this state
that I haven't visited because they don't
have a car cruise anymore or something like that.
I think that's a shame.
I hope that this event can maybe even kick off bringing
some of those back or something.
I would love to see that.
But what we do know that we have the Central Wisconsin
car cruise and we're looking forward to it.
Again, it is Saturday, August 3rd.
It kicks off over at Lincoln High School at 1801 16th Street South.
Gates open at nine.
Can we give people the details of the rest of the day?
As you said, Gates open at nine.
The show begins at 10.
All the voting is wrapped up by one.
The winners are announced at two.
Cruz leaves at 4 p.m. sharp.
So I would not recommend waiting till 3.30
before the show up.
That's not a good idea.
It's too busy.
Show up early.
Get some food, enjoy some music.
Look at the cars.
There are so many and they're so beautiful.
Yeah.
And Mindy, before we let you go, I did want to also touch on.
Because you've got a great team over there.
You are amazing what you do.
But I'm sure that I could always use an extra set of hands.
Can you guys use volunteers for this event?
Are you good on volunteers or maybe next year people
that want to volunteer?
Maybe they could get you their information?
Absolutely reach out.
Get us the information you can message us right on Facebook.
Or I believe myself plastered all over it.
Give me a call, shoot me a text, or email, whatever.
We're always looking for hands and people who love
to help want to be there.
Even if it's an hour or two hours, I
can help take it off us.
But yeah, like I said, if you want to help reach out,
even if it's not for this year, we can work on next year.
Encourage you again to find out more information
at their Facebook page.
Just type in your search bar.
Central Wisconsin car crews.
You can email them cruisewisconsinatgmail.com.
Cruisewisconsinatgmail.com.
That's also on their Facebook page as well.
And you can find all these sponsors, these shirts.
Support these Central Wisconsin car crews.
It supports our area.
Again, all the proceeds benefit local volunteer
emergency services.
Mindy, always love hanging out with you.
Thank you so much for the time and what you put into this event.
We'll talk again real soon.
Absolutely. Thanks for having us.
Thank you for joining us.
We'll have more midday magazine coming up for you right here
in 97 5 FM 13 20 AM WF HR locally grown radio.