Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine for this Tuesday.
September 24th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff here.
In part two today at 430, we're going to welcome in our friends
from the Family Center, got a lot of talk to talk about with them.
Right now, our good friend, Promise Buck,
and marketing and communications director
with the Harder Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce
is with us.
Promise how you doing?
Good, how are you?
Doing good.
Thanks so much for being with us today.
Appreciate the time and looking forward to diving
into a bunch of great chamber events.
Let's keep things off with some upcoming community events
that are going on.
Sure.
So today, we have a drawing right around 1 o'clock
ish for our Chamber Cash calendar.
The drawing is sponsored by Crooked Acceptic,
and it's $150 gift certificate.
That can be redeemable at any Harder Wisconsin Chamber
of Commerce member businesses.
So watch our Facebook for that to see if you won today's drawing.
Yeah, this is a really fun thing you guys do.
The community loves getting behind a lot of great businesses
that are able to get in on, and certainly a shout out
to Crooked Acceptic to you.
You hear their names all over the place,
whether it's at this station or in town here.
They do a great job.
So it's a fun one.
Yeah, yeah.
Where can people pick those up
or find out more about those well-promised?
So purchasing tickets is no longer for sale
since we are in full swing of the drawing calendar.
So we have four days left for the calendar
of drawings today is Crooked Acceptic for $150.
Tomorrow is Nicolay staffing sponsoring $100.
On Thursday, Baowao, Miao, Boateek is sponsoring $50.
And on Friday, our last drawing,
Stokehort is sponsoring for $250.
Very cool.
A big shout out to all of them.
Very appreciated.
Rekindle the Spirit Parade Promise.
That is coming up.
Yeah, so Rekindle the Spirit Parade is,
we're starting to get ready for that.
We're looking for parade entries and sponsorships.
So if you're a business in town and you want to get your
business company logo information out to a mass public,
this is a great opportunity to do it.
You can enter a vehicle in it and decorate it,
all Christmassy, and then also have your logo out there.
So it's like brand awareness for the public community.
The parade happens on November 27.
So right around Thanksgiving and it's like a great way
to get together with your family and in the community
and kind of kick off the holiday season.
So that one's on West Grand Avenue and Wisconsin Rapids
on November 27th, and it'll start at 5.45 pm.
And then afterwards, you can stop in at Hotel Mead
for visits with Santa.
Last year, we had quite a few people
for the visits for Santa, you can stop in,
get your picture taken, and have a really great family
night with that.
First off, a shout out to the chamber.
Every year, you land one of the toughest guests
to get and get in Santa for those.
I mean, nice job by you guys.
Land in Santa.
Every year on that one, that's always great for the kids.
They love that and it's a great way to wrap up.
One of our favorite days of the year,
one of our favorite times of the year,
we love this parade.
This parade is so popular and it's one of the ones
that we get to celebrate our community.
We get to really come together as a community,
businesses that don't often get a chance to do things together.
Sometimes, you know, see each other during the parade
and everything.
Here at WFHR, we've gotten to be a part
of this before.
We've gotten to broadcast down there during the parade
and we just love it.
It's one, honestly, one of my favorite broadcasts
I've ever done in my 20-some years of radio
was being down there and being able to broadcast
during the parade and talk about it.
It's also really, really noteworthy
what you were talking about there, promise of an opportunity
for you as a business to put yourself out there.
Everybody has a marketing budget.
Everybody has a amount of money that they can spend
on these kind of things.
Everybody's looking for more bang for their buck
or getting a bang for their buck
or getting their money's worth or what have you.
I can't think of many better opportunities
for that when it comes to that than this parade.
You also know that you're going to be seen by people
that you may not always be seen by.
There's individuals to come out for this
that may not be out for other events
or may not be in the neck of the woods
that your business is in.
You may hear this as much as I do
where, oh, I didn't even know that was in town.
I didn't even know this was a thing or something like that.
It happens all the time and it's nothing against you
and your business.
It's just about getting seen and being heard
by the right, by enough people.
Right.
This parade really can do that.
Yep.
It's a parade that kind of targets a mass target market.
So you got families and then you have entrepreneurs
and businesses alike.
They all attend this to get together with their families
and start celebrating the holiday area
and going back to budget.
Budget is very tricky when it comes to spending
dollars in advertising.
But this one's relatively inexpensive in my opinion
and we have opened it up to non-members.
So the non-member fee is $45.
But if you are a member of the chamber,
it's $35 for you to get in on this parade.
Yeah, and I don't mean to make light of any money.
I work at radio.
I know how much 20 bucks is.
You know what I'm saying?
But that's nothing.
That's nothing in your marketing budget
compared to the positive, the ceiling, especially,
knowing a little bit about marketing
and certainly working in sales and these things.
We look at a lot of the, what is the ceiling,
what is the floor on these?
The floor right there, it's right where you would expect it to be.
You're not going to hurt your business by any means.
But the ceiling, the opportunity you could have from this,
especially for that price tag.
Man, you can't not sign up for it.
We want to, in a story, limit of how many businesses
and how many people can be a part of the parade promise
or anything, is there first come first serve sort of thing?
Because we want everybody, every business in town
to be a part of this.
So it is a first come first serve
and we do have a max capacity.
I did not bring that number with me today,
but good to know though.
I will have to like note that down for next time.
You know, if the line gets too big
and it starts piling up into backing up traffic,
you don't have to cut it off at a certain point.
So yeah.
That's a, it's just noteworthy to those businesses out there.
Get on this soon, get in there
and get your parade getting started.
And start coming up with some really creative float ideas
and parade ideas and everything.
That's another really fun part of this.
I've heard from a lot of people
that have done the parade over the years.
They come from a business maybe
where they don't get to stretch
or create of muscles all the time.
You really get to with this parade.
You really get to have some fun with this.
Yeah, yeah.
It's a fun one and you could register
and find out more by going to WisconsinRapidsChamber.com.
Again, the rekindle the spirit parade coming up Wednesday.
November 27th, 545 to 730.
We're already gearing up for being in downtown
Wisconsin Rapids and picking out a spot
and where we're gonna be.
The Nikusa Holiday Parade and Fireworks
another huge event in this area we love
and we look forward to.
Shout out to our friends and Nikusa.
Yeah.
So the Nikusa Holiday Parade and Fireworks
is on December 7th this year.
It starts at 515 PM in Nikusa.
It kind of starts by the library over there.
And then it goes down like their main street
and kind of like curves and stuff.
Last year, the street were packed.
The streets were packed with people
getting ready for Christmas.
And I saw a really great float there last year.
I can't even remember what it was,
it was phenomenal and it was the end float.
And it was super lit up and beautiful.
And I was just like, I felt like a little kid again.
It was really pretty.
The member fees, the fees for this one here
is the same as the rekindle one.
35 for members and 45 for nonmembers.
And it's a great way to gain exposure
in the Nikusa area.
So even if you have a business in Wisconsin Rapids
and you want more exposure out in that area,
you can definitely get in on this parade as well.
It's such a great point.
Whether any of these parades were talking about
to those that are in another town or neighboring town,
this is maybe you've reached,
you feel like you've reached everybody
in your neck of the woods, everybody in your zip code already.
Expand, look ahead, look at these towns
right next door to you and everything.
And see if you have even more people
you could be reaching with your business.
That's a great point to bring up.
And it's one of the ways that I think that we support each other.
When we talk about buying local, supporting local,
we're certainly talking about the people in your town
and your area,
but that includes the stretch of the extension of that too
in central Wisconsin in general.
Yeah.
It's a good idea.
And again, the affordability of this has to be noted.
It's a tip of the hat that the chamber
and being smart and listening to the community
and what is affordable to businesses
and not having something too insane
that they couldn't be able to do.
So we get more people to be a part of this.
But also the ability for you guys to be able
to keep putting this on every year.
Having that balance there, that's fantastic.
I'm excited for the Nikusa one
because I've owned that the chamber
for almost three years now right around that area.
And I've seen this one grow in the three years
that I've been in there.
There's been a lot of interest in getting into the Nikusa area
and being a part of that community over there.
And I guess the one of the big things about this parade
is that right afterwards there's a huge fireworks show.
And everybody comes out to see that one
and it's super exciting.
I mean, when can you see fireworks into summer?
Yeah, there's a great idea.
And it's a great part of a great way to wrap up the parade.
I love how connected Nikusa is to.
And this parade really gives you an example of that.
It really shows that the community really comes out,
comes together for it.
It's one of my favorite parts of the whole state
in the Nikusa area.
So there's going to be a fun parade.
We're looking forward to it.
It's coming up December 7th.
Spots and ships are open.
Everybody reach out to promise in the gang
and be a part of this parade.
Be a part of all these parades.
Get a part.
Yeah, I don't know if you especially,
if you come up with different parade ideas,
I want to use this one, but I like this one too.
Use them both.
You're going to be a part of both parades.
You can use both ideas.
We're speaking with our friend,
Promise, from Marketing Communication Director
from the Hardow Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce.
Promise, we have some upcoming network events
for people as well.
So yeah, we have actually two different networking events.
One of those, I'll mention a little bit more later.
But in October on the 21st, we have our networking at night.
That is from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
and the hotel meet is our host this time.
So that's right here in Wisconsin Rapids
and it's on West Grand Avenue.
And it's great for getting together
and networking with other professionals in the area.
Maybe kick back, have a cocktail,
and you know, scheme up some ideas for, you know, 2025.
One of my favorite things about creating
is working with other creatives.
And when you have the opportunity
to get a bunch of like-minded people together
and especially if they're from a different end
of the business spectrum or something like that.
And you can kind of bounce ideas off of each other.
And even at the, sometimes it's just about hanging out.
It's just as simple as just being able to be an adult
around another adult and having a little conversation.
Sometimes that's nice too.
Wonderful venue as well.
The hotel meet, we love the hotel meet
and being able to have events over there.
That's gonna be a really good one.
Yeah, and I don't know how many stories I've heard
where a great idea started on a bar napkin.
So that's the intention of these networking at night
is to provide a relaxed atmosphere
where you can get together and have some adult time
with colleagues outside of your business
and your company and make those connections.
Hotel meet has also been doing some great things
too over there.
So we're really, really excited that they're hosting.
I was gonna say, whether it's on your offer,
that is a really cool place too.
Because of that reason, with the kind of rejuvenation
they have over there going on and everything.
That's really cool.
We have some upcoming workforce programs and events as well
and these are always so key for our community
and the ability that they help
and the bridge that they create between businesses
and employees.
So we have one upcoming workforce event.
It's our business ex-fo.
This one is sponsored by US Bank Security Health Plan
of Wisconsin, Samuels Group, Premier Rental,
which used to be Steve's Rental,
but now it's Premier's Rental now.
McCain's Marshall Clinic,
the Wisconsin Rappets Center and NRG Media.
This one is a networking event as well.
So it's on October 8th from 2 PM to 6 PM
at the Elk's Lodge in Wisconsin Rappets
and it's great for networking with other businesses
and making connections.
Between two and four PM,
it is only open to those who want to network
with the businesses that have booths there.
So in order to get in for that during that time block,
just bring your business card.
And then afterwards we're gonna open it for the public
for anybody else that wants to come in and explore
the businesses in there.
You never really know what somebody needs
in their personal life.
So that's why we wanted to make sure we allowed enough time
for businesses to network and have the privacy of that,
but then also switching gears
and addressing the public needs as well.
Is that different this year than in years past?
Cause that's a really cool idea.
That's a really smart way to do this.
So this is the first business ex-fo
that I will be experiencing at the chambers.
So we're bringing it back this year.
And we're a little smaller scale,
a little bit more intimate being at the outslag
cause the facility's smaller, bigger than the chamber though.
But yeah, so then we're just gonna kickstart it there
and see how it goes and then hopefully it grows
and gets better because I really love that businesses
have the opportunity to get together
and showcase their products or their services
and talk to other businesses and really get in there
and show them what they're all about.
You're hearing some common themes
between Promise and I too,
where we're talking about communicating,
we're talking about connecting and businesses
and employees or businesses and businesses
reaching out and a lot of that.
It's because it's so important in our economy
and our livelihood and not just our workforce
but in our personal lives to have these connections
and to have these that it helps make all business better
and our lives better.
Having an event like this and bringing this back,
I will put my name out.
I believe this is going to grow.
This is going to be big.
And I love the outslag and a big shout out to them.
I gather in the next couple of years
that you're going to have to get a bigger place
because we look for these opportunities.
We just don't have enough of them
and I really love the idea,
the kind of intimate way of doing it too
where you have a little bit more of an opportunity
to have those kind of connections and conversations.
It's going to be a great one.
We've got some other things to want to mention
like October's member of the month.
Yes, October's member of the month is Mission Coffee.
I don't know if you had their coffee.
I love Mission Coffee.
I love Mission Coffee.
Going there since I was a team.
Yeah, I love that place.
Oh, their coffee is so good.
It's a locally owned coffee house
and they actually have three locations.
One in Stevens Point, one in Clover
and one here in Wisconsin Rapids.
But that one's located inside of Midstate Technical College.
And they offer coffee obviously big goods
and lunch menu items.
Just stop in and check them out
or visit their website at missioncoffeehouse.com.
The point location is one that I believe
their first location, oldest location.
I think that I'm not alone in some of the audience out there
visiting there quite a few times over the years.
Wonderful people and wonderful location.
The idea of them having one inside MSTC.
Fantastic idea.
I hadn't heard it, but I gotta be honest.
I had not heard about that.
That's a really cool idea.
I love the things that they're doing over there at Midstate
year after year, just seem to hear
really creative and fun ideas
and ways that they work with their communities.
This is a really cool marriage of a great business
and a local business and really a business built
from the ground up and a local tech school in Midstate.
That's great.
That's good to hear.
Shout out to them and congratulations to them
being the October business of the month.
Mission Coffee House.
Go visit them everybody.
It's been two longs as I've been there.
They got such great coffee over there.
Well, we get their coffee every once in a while
because they'll sponsor our coffee with the chamber.
So we get their coffee because they'll bring the coffee in.
It's like, I always get excited when it's mission coffee time.
I gotta imagine you guys get some really good coffee over there
between that and I mean, you're right next to Quick Trip
or everything.
You got a maid when it comes to the coffee.
We got to get in on that.
I got to get a coffee spots around here.
So that's great I do.
One of our, I don't want to say signature events,
but I think one of the bigger events
that you guys are able to host with all of the different ones
that we've talked about today promise.
We're talking, we've talked a lot about businesses,
communicating with community members
and people finding about businesses
or businesses being able to come together
and create ideas.
Another thing that you guys do really well
is getting information to the community
or giving the community opportunities
to find information or ask questions,
especially from our legislators.
And that's where the legislative breakfast is so important
especially this time of year, a year like this
where we're going into November elections and everything.
Yep, yep.
Yeah, so we have our legislative breakfast
coming up on October 18th.
Registration is now open.
You can register online at WisconsinRappetsChamber.com.
For members, it's $35.
And again, if you're not a member
and you still would like to attend the fever
that is $45, it comes with breakfast
and it's from 7 a.m. to 9.30 a.m.
at Midstate Technical College here in Wisconsin Rapids.
So what we kind of do is we get together
and we have breakfast,
but then we also hear from our local representatives
on some prepared questions.
So we take some questions and we, you know,
what are we been hearing in the community
that people might want to hear answers on
and we prepare those questions
and we ask a set of panel that, you know,
those questions and give each person a chance to respond.
And, you know, it is aired.
We record it with...
WisconsinRappets community, yeah.
And then we, you know, release that information later on.
But if you want a chance to get in there
and ask a question that's been, you know,
burning your pockets, what to speak,
or I don't even know if that's the right saying.
I know what you're saying.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, but you're just dying to know the answer.
You've been really wanting to ask.
And you want to be able to chance no mental man,
just you and this representative,
just you and these people, either running for office
or in office or something like that.
We see that you guys have invited a lot of people.
We don't know who has committed yet, I see.
But you guys have invited basically anybody
that you have seen and ads in the last month or two,
you know, certainly our local representatives.
I'm fortunate promise to be able to once a month talk
with representative Scott Krueger and Senator Teston.
They join us on, they hear once a month.
And I've talked to them on air and off air.
And one of the more consistent things that they talk about
in order for them to do their job, they need you out there.
They need the people.
They want to hear from people.
We're very fortunate in this area.
And I'm just speaking about these couple of representatives
that I talk to on a regular basis.
They care, they really do.
Whether we agree or disagree politically,
I will never question their care and their energy
for this area and wanting to take care of the constituents
of this area.
The best way they can do that is by us speaking up.
And being adults, you know, not any dog can bark.
I'm talking about being an adult
and actually, you know, talking and having a real conversation
with these individuals, you're able to do that.
And so I almost guarantee that they'll be there,
Senator Teston, Representative Krueger.
I know that they haven't committed yet,
but I almost, if they can be, they will be there.
As far as all these other people that were invited,
I send a extended invitation out there
through every one of these individuals.
That this is one of your big opportunities.
It's not many coming up.
This may be the last real opportunity
before the November election for you to be
one-on-one with your constituents.
Talk face-to-face with them.
No mental man, no computer screen, any of that stuff,
you're really able to do some real work here
and really be able to make a difference.
Not just to these representatives,
but to the people, the individuals, their constituents.
It is a truly really cool thing
that you guys do and that are hosting.
And not just you guys, but so many individuals
that come together and businesses that sponsor this.
Do you want us to send a shout out to the moderator, Craig Tim.
It does a great job every year on this one.
And the registration of breakfast will begin at 7 a.m.
Welcome in to Introduction.
So we'll begin shortly after that, I see.
Yep.
And then I would like to mention our sponsors as well.
State Technical College, US Bank, Fendorf, and DomTar.
And then one last note on this, it is, registration is open,
but it does close on October 11th.
There is limited seating.
We have made this, I believe we have the space bigger this year
to accommodate for more seats, however, it is still limited.
And so registration closes October 11th.
If people want to register or find out more
about some of what we talked about today, promise,
how can they do that?
We'll get you out of here real quick.
They can go to our website at WisconsinRapidsChamber.com
or give us a call at 715-423-1830 or check out our event
on Facebook.
The gang doesn't know it out there,
but promise did a great job today, focused in on it,
and locked it, you push through, promise, nice work.
Thanks for the time, we'll talk again real soon.
We'll have more Midday Magazine coming up for you right here
at 97-5 FM, 13-20 AM, WFHR, locally grown radio.