Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this Tuesday November 12th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mailoff here in Part 2 today at 430.
It's Reality Radio with David Farmboro looking forward to talking with him just a little
bit later.
But right now in studio, we have our friends from the Heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce.
Lisi Ailing is with us and vents an engagement director.
Lese, it's been a while.
How you doing?
Good.
How are you?
Doing good.
Thanks a lot for being here.
Appreciate the time.
We have a guest with us.
We will introduce in a little bit.
Before we get to that and talking a little bit about the ACE leadership and some of
those things, let's get right into community events because there is so much going on
with our chamber.
And you guys, we can relate to this here at the station.
It's go time.
Like now until like January 2nd, 3rd, something like that.
Like it is such a busy time of year in a good busy, but a busy nonetheless.
So let's dive right into the engagements and the events and we got a great one to kick
off, rekindle the spirit.
Yeah, so very excited for this this year.
I do want to give a shout out to our sponsors.
We have Erko, Rapids, Orthonics, Solaris, Paper City Savings, US Bank, Becker and Coom,
Ho-Chunk, Gaming Acusa, Chips, Wisconsin River Orthopedics, The Renaissance Living, assisted
Living Center, Wood Trust Bank, Whiskey Rapids, Saloon, as well as Hotel Mead.
And we have expressed recycling to finish out those sponsors.
This is quite a few of them this year.
That is the events a little bit bigger.
We're also going to have chatterbox on the go along the parade route.
So Kathy will be down there starting at three at Veterans Park.
And then before the parade, we will be having a ribbon cutting and a little bit of a ceremony
for the completion of the bridge lighting.
Very cool.
So it's gotten a little bit bigger than just the parade and take them into this year.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, I know that you and I talking about this off air a little bit and everything.
And just even if you've been paying attention, I think, to events that you have, since you've
really been kind of championing a lot of these things, you wanted to keep the event what
it has always been in the community loves while also trying to enhance it a little bit
and trying to add some things to it.
And it really feels like you've been able to do that.
It feels, and especially with the timing of this to go along with the bridge lighting.
I know a lot of the community is excited about that.
So that's a great time.
Absolutely.
I love elevating anything I can.
And then obviously having more opportunities to support local with Kathy, having, you know,
being down there, obviously the kids love the candy.
But then there'll also be chili, some cookies, hot cocoa.
Next home is also going to have hot cocoa along the route too.
So a couple different stops.
Obviously, there's other places you can, you know, patronize down there, but you do have
kids.
So just obviously, you know, be aware of that.
But very excited to have just more additions this year.
So please come out.
Check out the ribbon cutting.
Obviously, we'll start the parade at 5.45.
So it'll be, you know, a little bit, a little bit different, but we're going to try to make
sure that we can kind of just stagger into each thing so that it kind of just goes together
seamlessly.
Just in case we didn't the dates for the date for this, yes.
So this is always the day before Thanksgiving.
So it is Wednesday, oh Wednesday, September 27th, I'm wanting September 27th to come back.
But yeah, so it's going to be November 27th.
So please come down.
Obviously, 5.25 ish will be the little, you know, we're going to talk a little bit, Zach
will be down there just to kind of speak on that.
This was a community leadership project that was part of the heart of Wisconsin.
So it's nice that we're, you know, we're getting tied in with that as well.
So obviously, we're going to talk a little bit about that.
We'll have some participants from the, from that community leadership because it was
a couple of years that touched that.
So if you are a part of it, please reach out to me.
We'd love to have you down there.
You don't have to talk.
But if you want to, you can absolutely kind of, you know, speak on why you guys decided
to do that.
That's a fun idea.
I like that.
Yeah, so really excited.
I think it's, it'll look really pretty with having, you know, the lights along the river,
all those holiday lights, that will start when the parade starts at 5.45.
So 5.30, the bridge lights, you get to see those go up and then 5.45, the rest of the
lights and the parade will start and then the Santa visits at Hotel Mead as well as
some complimentary cookies donated by a chatterbox on the go as well.
And keep in mind, this is for the whole community.
There's a free event.
We want everybody to come down to this one.
As far as the, the event itself, it goes, if I'm a business out there, or I'm somebody
listening to this, and I would like to still be a part of Rekindle the Spirit, can people
still be a part of it as far as the event itself?
Absolutely.
We want to have a float.
We have 40 floats registered so far.
I would love, I know last year we had 60 and we have a lot of people to kind of wait until
the last minute, but please, please register.
Obviously, there is a member, not a member rate, but fire, medical, EMS, those are all free.
So please contact me.
That's communications at Wisconsin RapidsChamber.com or SAPIN, as well as there's parade forms online
that you can just click on our community calendar and then register online if you'd like to.
Or a non-member, so please, please check it out.
There's, and maybe it's this, the years that I've been living in this area or not, but
I don't think I'm alone on this one, Lacey, there's all these events that we're kind
of talking about are so hand in hand.
I can't think of one, I think of the other, and I can't have one going on or looking
forward to one, to not look forward to the other.
And Rekindle the Spirit, Nikusa hometown Christmas, these are the kind of things that just go hand
in hand to me.
I just, I think of one, I think of the other, very much looking forward to heading to
Nikusa.
Check out their hometown Christmas time.
They got a lot of great things going on with their, not many communities do Christmas
like Nikusa does.
I've been in that area many times at this time of year and they do it right over there.
Absolutely.
So that is going to be Saturday, December 7th, the first Saturday in December.
That one that parade starts at 515.
We are starting at like the, we kind of start by like, Bueller and then like, Point Bass.
We kind of take the little back roads and then we go right in front of Dom Tarmil.
So please, please register if you'd like to have a float there.
Obviously, Nikusa, you can have ATVs, UTVs.
So if you are a group from there, definitely check us out, Communications at Wisconsin
Appets Chamber.com.
We are still open for sponsorship for that one.
And then obviously that is a parade and firework show.
So, you know, obviously I think it's great to support your community.
These fireworks are wonderful to have, especially this time of year.
It looks way different than when you do a fourth of July fireworks, just based off of the
heat to the cold.
They're just, they're, it's more vibrant.
Yeah.
Not that I don't love the fourth of July fireworks.
Just different.
Yeah, just a little bit different.
So please register for that one.
Nikusa is a smaller town.
So we'd left any like to, you know, grow that parade.
And, you know, obviously, please come.
We'll have candy.
The chamber is actually going to have a vehicle in the, in the, you know, in there.
So please check us out and obviously Santa, Mrs. Claus.
So those are the only, that's the only limitation is that you can't be Santa Claus.
Do you guys get to do parades very often?
I mean, a floats very often.
We have been talking about it because we, we really want to and we've talked about a
lot of different themes that could go with like the chamber of secrets, like their Christmas
and stuff.
Oh, that's good.
Oh, like that.
And Stacy loves, Stacy loves Harry Potter.
So it's great for that.
We are very excited to be able to give out candy.
I went shopping and bought so much that someone was like, what are you doing with this?
But very, very happy that we're able to have a float in there.
So come attend if you want to, you know, reach out to have a parade, you know, a little float
in there.
Or if you want to have walkers, we're open to a lot of different opportunities of horse,
you know, horseback riding groups.
We would love to be able to show all of the local groups, organizations, you know, school
band groups, anything like that.
So if you were part of that, please reach out, come into the chamber.
We are still, you know, we're there, 1120 Lincoln Street and then definitely give us
a call.
If you want, you can always, you know, go online, register.
We try to have as many different opportunities for you to be able to do it.
That's user friendly for you guys.
Mm-hmm.
Again, the Nikusa hometown Christmas is coming up on Saturday, December 7th.
You can find out more and give me a part of this if you'd like it.
WisconsinRapidsChamber.com WisconsinRapidsChamber.com I encourage you to check that out, everybody.
And just as a side note to all the businesses to the nonprofits out there, one of the things
I've actually, I'm in the process of getting a new agent and one of the things I've been
talking about with a lot of agencies, well, are you being represented in other areas?
I'm like, what are you talking about?
Like, well, because I mainly audition for movies, TV shows here in the Midwest.
I'm like, well, you got to expand that, you know, I'm like, I got projects over here
over here and I'm like, well, I don't know about that.
I don't know, they got to expand.
They don't know about you over here in Wyoming.
They don't know about you over here in these coast and these things.
So it's brought me into a whole interesting realm.
But it got me right away thinking about our area, Lacey, when it comes to this.
And if you are a Nikusa business promoting a rapids, if you're a rapids business promoting
a Nikusa, Steven's Point, Wassam, Marshall, Port Edwards, all of our surrounding areas,
to anybody out there at marketing teams, anybody out, this is something to expand more and
to expand your base more.
We all know people that live in one area and work in another or something like that.
It's not far fetched for somebody to travel to get something.
And while it may seem like that doesn't happen as much as it used to, the stats show that
especially in rural areas, people are still buying local and supporting local.
So be a part of a parade and you just don't know who might see your business or nonprofit
that wouldn't otherwise from another community.
So I encourage people, especially rapids, businesses, Wassam, businesses, Marshfield,
promoting Nikusa, vice versa, and everything everybody, expand your base.
And also, there's no downside to this.
Now, at this level, especially when it comes to marketing, whatever you're spending on
this or to be a part of these things, your people are going to enjoy themselves.
Nobody doesn't enjoy being a part of a parade or any of those things.
There's just no downside to it.
And the ceiling, the advantages to this are so high, I can then encourage people enough
to do that.
We have our annual meeting and awards 2024 nomination form out there.
Yes, we do.
It is on our chamber website.
I'm getting a question.
I'm sorry.
I don't know why.
No problem.
So if you look at our website, it's kind of by, there's like little, these little 3D
Oscars.
That is where you can click on the nomination form and then you can nominate businesses
in our area, especially, and don't feel bad if you want to nominate something that
may be you're affiliated with.
I think it's wonderful to advocate for your business as well.
We have large business of the years, innovative business of the year, entrepreneur, small business
of the year.
And then we also have some kind of internal awards as well.
And that would be our ambassador of the year.
We have our ambassador group that works a lot with me.
That volunteers, obviously, we are a team of five.
So to be able to do some of these things, we absolutely lean on them.
So I can't, you know, I love that group.
I'm so grateful.
I've learned so much from them that the wisdom that they have in that group.
It's wonderful.
So if you are a chamber member and you are interested in being a ambassador, please reach out to
me as well.
We always want to grow that group and you don't have more beacons to kind of spread that
out.
But definitely nominate these businesses in our area.
It does show the businesses that have won in the past.
And if you are looking for and kind of a directory, we have that on our website as well.
But we'd love to have nominations for all the businesses.
And we want to be able to recognize them at, you know, our biggest event of the year.
Working on getting laced to have a category for a radio morning show talk hosts.
And I believe I'll lose to Melissa.
But still, I want to get at least nominated.
It means something to be nominated.
Actually, I want one of those little Oscars.
That's what I really want.
It's all about that.
Thank you.
They sound like it.
That's a great one.
Encourage you guys to put your thinking caps on.
Reach out to Lacey and the team and get some other people nominated and highlight some
of these amazing people we have in our community.
It's a great opportunity to do that.
Small business showcase.
Another one of these wonderful events, Lacey, the way I, to me, at least I tie into this
time of year and to so many of the other great things that are community, a community events
that we do.
It's a good one.
And another great one that we, where you guys really shine, I think, and supporting local
and putting a spotlight on our local businesses.
Absolutely.
We are looking forward to doing this not only as a team, but the ambassador group.
And then obviously people in the area, we've already had a lot of people coming in asking
for the passport.
We did try to make it a little bit different this year.
So it wasn't one page, kind of like we're, I think it was kind of hard to read some of
it for, so our print sponsor this year is quality printing.
We love fill over there.
And then we have this little booklet that is available.
And obviously we want everyone to come out, shop, support local businesses.
It is Saturday, November 30th through Friday, December 13th.
So if you look inside, I have one with me, I can kind of go over it a little bit.
But we want you to, you know, go visit these businesses, get it stamp signed.
If you'd like to put how much you spent there, we're obviously, you know, we want to see
how much the businesses, you know, are being able to, you know, make some connections
here in this area.
And then if you visit five businesses or more, you'll be entered into our drawing.
And then it kind of five businesses, 10 businesses, each one, you, you know, you increase
your likelihood of winning the raffle baskets donated by all the businesses that are participating.
And then just to name a few, we've got Bawal Miao, Evolution X Rowing, Goodwill, Family
Natural Foods.
And we love them.
We love supporting these businesses, some of these businesses, I had never actually
been in until I, you know, I did this.
So I think it's great to be a part of this.
Do this with your, you know, mother, your, your daughter.
We have some people that are part of our ambassador group and they have a sibling who comes
here from Madison.
And does this.
And she said that she finds just, she loves the home, like, you know, the home goods that
are homemade.
It's made with love.
It's not something that you're going to go to everyone has it at their house.
It's everything is really unique.
And I love just, I love it.
It's such a, you know, conversation starter, some of these things.
And I, I really appreciate the, the thought and the time that it takes to create the, you
know, the goods that everyone has at these small businesses.
So please visit the chamber.
Each business will have some.
So if you, you know, you, you want more or you want to participate, come in.
We're obviously, you know, we're always there to help you print out more.
And we really want our community to be supported.
Mm-hmm.
One of our favorite things.
And I think almost the signature event for what we, what it is that you guys do and
we do and so many other people out there by local support local.
That is the mantra.
It's what we work to do.
And it's a great opportunity to do that and have some fun at the same time and maybe
win some stuff.
We're speaking with Lacey Ailing, events and engagement director with our heart of Wisconsin
chamber of commerce, but not just Lacey.
Lacey brought in a friend.
We are going to talk a little bit about the ace leadership participant, ace leadership
program right now, Lacey.
All right.
No, no, I'm sorry.
We're not.
We're talking about the women in business lunch.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We'll, we'll kick her.
We'll kick off work force and then we'll, we'll finish with.
I got excited.
Yeah.
No worries.
So she's a real director of this episode every time she's in, so obviously this Friday
we have our women in business luncheon.
This is our last one of the years.
We've been having our women's networking every couple of months and this and that's done
wonderful.
And then this is obviously our last big car of the year.
So better sweet.
I'm really excited to have these breakout sessions, the workshops as well as we're going
to have Dr. Shelley Mandaike there as our keynote speaker.
So she's going to talk a little bit about empowering voices and leading with purpose and
passion.
There will be door prizes at 5050 raffle.
We typically do little surprises, but I'm not going to say where they are.
So that way people can't pick their spot based off of it.
And that is at mid-state on Friday from 11 to three.
Our sponsors for this event are mid-state, emberage, marsh field clinic, US bank, coach
on gaming, Akusa security health plan, DomTar, 103, 96.7 and big cheese and 106.5.
If you are interested in being a part of our next year's women networking or our lunchens
please reach out.
That is workforce at WisconsinRapidsChamber.com.
Laura would be more than happy to help you be a part of that if that's even if you're
a member versus a non-member.
It was so popular last year with the members that we are going to now expand it to where
if you are not a member, but you are a woman in the workforce and you're wanting to be
a part of it.
We absolutely want you to feel supported.
Right on.
And any opportunities to have more opportunities for women to support women, share information
and have that wonderful idea and we're looking forward to this.
We'll be highlighting it and talking about it as we get closer to it.
Lacey, that friend of yours here brought in.
Would you mind introducing?
Yes.
So she is a part of this year's leadership, sorry, ACE leadership.
And her name is Kelly.
And she is from Aspire.
So I'm going to let her talk a little bit about her experiences during the retreat last
month at the Roshal Lions Club.
Yeah, Kelly, first off, thank you to you and everybody and your team, the healthcare industry
in general.
We appreciate so much in this area and Aspire as well.
Did you enjoy the event?
What kind of things did you guys do?
Yeah.
It was a great event.
It was a two-day retreat over at the Roshal Lions Club where we were able to meet leaders
from around the community and create a network.
What Lacey and I talk about with this event is the opportunity for people to kind of
talk to people they may not normally get to, kind of open up their bubble a little bit.
And whether it's a business connection or it's just a friendship that starts, were you
able to kind of do some of that yourself?
Yeah, absolutely.
Got to meet a lot of nice new people that I didn't know before.
I don't know anybody in the healthcare industry that does not have leadership qualities and
skills.
Those skills, that skill set of yours that you have, do you feel like you've been able
to fine-tune that a little bit?
Make it sharpen those talents, if you will, and that.
Yeah.
I think we did a lot of fun things at the event where we were able to expand our leadership
skills.
Nice.
Oh, she did a masterful job there.
Well done, Kelly.
The audience can't.
No, we can't spoil certain things.
And she did a wonderful job of not doing that.
I would watch TV shows with you.
You would not spoil them for me.
I think that's pretty cool.
Thank you, Kelly.
Thank you for that.
And I appreciate it.
I'm so glad that you had a good experience with this.
If there are people out there that would like to, maybe they've been on the fence about
doing something like this.
And we're looking to encourage them to do it.
Is there anything you would say to anybody out there as far as, oh, yes, go for this.
Give it a shot.
Yeah, I would definitely say go for it.
I was a little hesitant at first, but I'm really glad that I am involved with this project.
Did you find, because I noticed a lot of the people that Lacey brings in for us to talk
to about this, that get some out of their comfort zone a little bit, and they're very happy
about that.
Actually, let's be honest, the ages we are and everything, we get less and less opportunities
to do those kind of things.
Did you enjoy that?
Did it do that for you?
Did you enjoy it?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Nice.
Kelly, I gave you two more questions that I told you.
I wanted you to knock them out.
You knocked them out.
You did a great job.
Thank you for that.
And thank you for being here today.
Thank you.
Say hi to the team over to Spirors for us.
Well, please.
Lacey, when it comes to this program, is this something that people can sign up for in
the future that they can find out more about now?
Absolutely.
I was looking at wanting to be, it sounds scary that I'm already talking about this, like
2025, 2026.
Right.
As a leadership, please reach out to Laura.
We definitely want to make sure that we have people, you know, kind of ready to start,
you know, start that group.
And then obviously, we had some changes this year, so now it's accredited.
And there's been some, you know, some wonderful updates from mid-state, and I don't want to
spoil anything.
But I have heard wonderful things about the project this year, and obviously, I mean,
if you look at some of the projects, you wouldn't even think that it was from this group.
I mean, from the mural in Port Edward's by El Caffe, to even obviously the bridge lighting,
even the teen leadership project there who did the little tiny libraries, you know, that
you see a different facility.
I love those.
So it's wonderful.
Just what all these leaders in our community can find something that we don't have, and
not necessarily reinvent the wheel, but just find something to just elevate our community.
Yeah.
And as we wrap up, Lacey, let's wrap up with the November member of the month.
Yes.
So Prairie Sage Homes, I love that place.
I get so like, oh my god, I like, because there's things at every level.
There are things on the ground.
There's things up in the air, and they are part of our small business showcase.
So definitely check them out, and you know, congratulations to them for being member of
the month.
Yeah, big congrats to them.
And I'm with you.
Great place.
Great place, great people.
Wonderful.
Love that stuff.
And I think that's all about all of these.
You can find out more about this and all these events at Wisconsin Rapids Chamber dot
com.
Wisconsin Rapids Chamber dot com.
Be sure to follow them on social media as well.
Lacey, if other people have other follow questions, how can they reach you?
Yes.
So definitely reach out to the chamber 715-423-1830.
And then, or if you want to go online and see directly who you want to talk to, all
of our extensions are on there.
Lacey Kelly, thank you so much for what you're doing in our community and putting up with
me in my questions today.
Always appreciate it.
We'll talk again real soon.
Thank you, James.
We'll have more Midday Magazine coming up for you right here at 97-5 FM 1320 AM WFHR.
We are locally grown radio.
