Hello all, welcome to WFHR's Rapid Support brought to you by Crockett Sceptic for this June
6th, 2025.
Have your host James G. Emile here, and welcoming into the studio some of our favorite people
we got McMillan Memorial Library with us.
First want to introduce Heather Kinkade, Library Director, Heather, thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me.
And Eric Norton, Community Outreach Specialist, Eric, thanks for being here.
Yeah, glad to be here, James.
Appreciate the time you guys.
There are so much going on, we were talking in our pre-game.
There's so much going on over at McMillan, and I only want to keep you four so long.
So at the risk of running this interview for 20 hours, I do want to get to know you guys
a little bit and let our audience get to know you a little bit.
Heather, can you tell us a little about yourself?
Yeah, absolutely.
So as you said, my name is Heather Kinkade.
I have, and the new director of McMillan Memorial Library.
I have been here for, today I'm closing my eighth week.
Wow.
So, two months here on the job, it has been fantastic, learning the Wisconsin Rapids community,
the surrounding areas, the library team, et cetera.
I have worked in libraries for, I've been a library director for eight years.
Previously, I was in Waterford, Wisconsin, which is in Western Racine County, and then
I was a library director and a really small community on the state line, a border between
Wisconsin and Illinois, a Sharon, Wisconsin, 1500 people, it was a fabulous experience.
And now I am here in Central Wisconsin, and I'm loving it.
I'm loving getting to know everybody and learning about the library, the culture, and as
you'll see, I really enjoy programming.
Yeah.
I can hear it in your voice.
It's awesome.
That's wonderful.
We love that.
It's contagious.
That kind of thing.
And not that we plan these kind of things, of course, when we're planning out our work
career or anything, but it really feels like you're in two great spots to prepare you
for being here, and a bit of a bigger library, a bit of a smaller one, and a kind of a mix,
which is what we kind of have here, where we wouldn't say that we have necessarily a tiny
community, but we also don't have a major metropolitan city here.
We have a very medium kind of size area, which really fits your background.
Definitely.
I was, yes, a Sharon was very small, kind of got my feet wet.
I was able to do, get my hands dirty and everything that libraries, public library involved, then
I went to Waterford, which your right was a little bit larger.
I had more of an administrative role, and then now coming to Wisconsin Rapids, I feel
like I have the best of both worlds.
I am able to be involved in the day-to-day responsibilities, and also I also can be a really
great advocate for the library as well, being out in the community, so.
Thank you for sharing that.
I appreciate that.
Thank you.
Eric, you are the, Eric Norton.
You are the new community outreach specialist over there at McMillan.
Is this a new title, Eric?
Is this, I believe this is something different over there.
Before we get to that, though, tell us a little bit about you.
Okay.
So, kind of the flip side from Heather, I'm the longest serving staff member over at McMillan.
I started back in 98, so there are a lot of people in this community that I was their
children's librarian, and now they're coming in with their kids.
And I love seeing that.
Yeah.
That's so cool to see that familial continuity, and to know that we did such a good job
when they were kids that they're excited to bring their kids back.
So that's really fun.
And I've had a lot of different hats there over the years.
So this is a new thing that we've created to make sure that we are, you know, communicating
with other agencies and organizations in town to kind of kickstart us.
There's a social work program over at UWSP, and this last school year, we had an intern
from there who I worked with, and she had a lot of engagement with Wood County human
services and United Way and just various agencies in town kind of learning like, what can
they do for people, and how do they work, and we're sort of collating all that into something
that, as a library, we can use when somebody comes to us for help, we can say, oh, you
really need to go over to, you know, the job center because not many people know this,
but, you know, they can do this for you if you're looking for a job.
Oh, I know.
Yeah, and you mentioned that this is a new position.
It's in fact so new that it's not real yet.
Yeah.
Right, right.
All right.
Which is really good with libraries and books and a lot of vegetation and ripets.
I've had the responsibility for going on a year now, but the actual like stamp of approval
is coming soon from our board, we're changing up the title and getting it, you know,
some logistics worked out and everything.
But it speaks to the importance of this position that you got to get it running, got to get
this off the ground, get it going and everything, you know, we'll work on the title and that
stuff.
When we get a chance, that's how much it, think to me, that's what I'm hearing, is it
that the board or the front, the office decided this is something we need to get on and this
is something that we can help with in our community.
You know, I talked to a lot of people about this, older people about this, how libraries,
how they once were this community hub and everything and most of the time that I'm talking
about this is with people from bigger cities and from bigger areas and stuff and I can only
help and think, well, gosh, we've always had that here at McMillan.
We've always had that here in rapids.
My family's been here for over half my life and it's some of my earliest memories are
at McMillan and some of my favorite memories are at McMillan and I know I'm one of thousands
of people out there that could say that and I can speak to that and it's really cool
to see not so much that we're bringing it back to this but that we're enhancing that.
We're looking at modernizing that and what does that mean for today's, for 2025, what
does it mean to be a community hub?
Is it, well, we do this, this, and this nowadays we got that covered but what is the community
need?
What could we help with?
Now, I also hope it's not worthy to the people out there listening that this is not
something that is on the library's job list, like this is above and beyond stuff.
This is stuff that's, you know, we're going out of your way to help the community be
a part of the community and everything.
I don't know that when you're looking at the definition of a library that this is something
you will find.
It's just, it's worth highlighting that our library thinks of these things and is doing
stuff like that.
It's, it's another reason why we love McMillan, why we love the people that work there and
work so hard for our community and also I hope we, you keep that in mind in using things
at the library and being a part of things at the library volunteering when you can.
They're doing a lot for us.
It's a medium halfway and try to help out where we can appreciate the breakdown of that
Eric.
Thank you for that.
I know we got a lot of great events going on over there.
I just don't know where to start.
Where do you guys, I'm, that's my first tough question for you and these are where to start.
I don't, I don't do easy, easy questions, right?
Yeah.
Well, I, well, as you mentioned, we have a lot of great programming.
I believe as I am getting into the library and learning more about it and the ins and
outs, I really come to appreciate the programming aspect and I can share with you that on Monday.
We will be kicking off our summer reading program.
We will, let's see from 2 to 4 p.m. in the library's parking lot, this upcoming Monday.
We will see children and teens.
They can sign up for our reading, summer reading program.
It's wonderful.
Yes, and they will be able to enjoy games, crafts, treats and a bounce house, which is always
a big draw.
Yes, definitely.
Definitely.
And then moving on, I can just maybe, if it's okay with you, give a rundown, a quick rundown
of what's going on in June, and then Eric is going to tag team with me so we've kind
of divvied it up.
So for the children in the month of June, we have a couple programs.
These all happen on Tuesdays.
So Tuesday, June 9th at 1 p.m. we're going to have a magician come into the library.
Tuesday, June 17th at 1 p.m. it's going to be messy art.
It'll be outside, so feel free to wear your old clothes and get messy.
And then on Tuesday, June 24th, again at 1 p.m. we are going to go to a, have a splash pad
party at the Mead splash pad.
So that'll be fun for all of the littles.
And then moving on to our older kids, the teens.
In June, you can look forward to on Monday, June 16th.
There is a teen open make in the studio.
That means kids can, teenagers can print with watercolors.
They can paint with acrylic on canvas or they can make buttons that they, buttons are
pretty popular.
I heard with the teens.
Wednesday, June 18th, there's a teen garden club.
And then Tuesday, June 24th, which I think is pretty cool, is going to be a teen bike
ride.
They're going to bike with our teen librarian, Miss Alisha to be in and back and they're
going to learn local history and then they're going to finish up with a screen at the library.
If you hadn't told me who was doing that, I would have known right away, but that's her
kind of thing.
That is totally Miss Alisha.
And then lastly, I didn't want to forget our wonderful studio.
Our studio is a maker space where you're able, we have a recording studio, a glow forge,
a silhouette cutter.
We have acrylic and water paints.
We have a large format printer.
We have sewing machines and embroidery machine, a button maker, 3D printers, Adobe creative
suite, and we have a laminator.
So we will have, we have a total of 13 open make days so you can come in during that time
and make anything you want.
That's in June, July and August.
And I will now search it over to Eric who will talk about adults and our concert series.
Excellent.
Thank you, Heather.
Yeah, you're welcome.
So we've had sort of traditionally kind of three program series at the library.
It's been a big thing for us for quite a while and we're starting off in the cranberry
blossom festival with a concert at McMillan on Thursday the 19th.
That's going to be a jazz band called Daddyo.
They do kind of improv style.
They've been up for some whammy awards, both individually and as a group.
So that will be, they're good.
They're a lot of fun.
They're good.
I'll admit I'm a jazz guy so I admit that but they're very good out there.
All right.
And then, you know, we've got further concerts going on into the summer.
I may circle back to that.
We also have done author talks and on the 26th of June, I couldn't pass this up from the
Wisconsin Historical Society.
Heather Carigan is going to talk about her new book, Beer Broughts and Cheese.
You can't get more Wisconsin than that.
And it's as I understand, it's kind of somewhat of a travelogue so she talks about different
places to get these wonderful food items.
So that should be lots of fun.
We also do a movie series.
So in June, we already showed this past Monday of the movie Green and Gold, which was
shot here in Wisconsin.
It's very cool that you guys showed that one.
That's a good idea.
Yeah.
Went out of our way to kind of make a connection with the production company to make it happen.
On the 9th, we're showing Mufasa.
The 16th is the Unbreakable Boy, the 23rd.
One of them days and the 30th is the new Captain America flick Brave New World.
So trying to mix up different styles as much as we can.
Some of those are more for older folks, adult folks, Mufasa, you can get a kid kind of
vibe.
Yeah.
So lots of fun stuff.
Also one of the mention, just to pick it back on that, Erica, I do this in part because
I'm a big fan of everything, but Cabo Union Jam, of course, you can catch.
They'll be down there one o'clock this June 11th, a little bit over there.
Also going on June 11th, and you guys will get to know this, but Terry Johns, you see
over the United Way, it's with us all the time.
So I mentioned this in part because we love the United Way, and I don't want to get
hit in the back of the head.
So I do want to mention the Great Book giveaway coming up back from Millen.
This 1030, this June 11th, so keep that in mind as well, everybody.
And if I could, I just, I knew you guys were going to do a great job of covering a bunch
of stuff.
I did see one thing.
I just wanted to mention real quick, you mentioned the studio Heather and all the great stuff
going on over there.
There is a, on June 17th, a fixing broken things jewelry class.
And I love the idea of that.
I love, especially, you know, we're talking a lot about different events and going on.
And I think the audience caught that there was things for kids, things for teens, things
for adults.
You guys do a really good job of covering all these things.
The one thing that gets, you know, kids, teenagers, a lot of them are really into right
now is repurposing things and fixing things.
And I just think that's another note of the community, the board and everybody in charge
of this stuff paying attention to the community.
I think that's really high notable and very cool, it's a cool class too.
And once again, we have only scratched the surface of all this stuff going on over
there, everybody.
Encourage you to go to Mcmillan library dot org to find out more about some of the great
events and cool things happening at Mcmillan.
And certainly when I encourage people when these events are going on, if you want to be
a part of them, maybe volunteering, helping out anyway, you can encourage you to reach
out to the staff at the library and find out more about that.
Did you have anything else you guys wanted to touch on before we let you go?
Just wanted to mention that jewelry repair thing is first in a series that our teen
librarian is doing.
So those are specifically for teens.
She's got the jewelry making and then there are two other topical things in July and August.
And I can't remember off the top of my head what all of them are, but I think one of them
might be clocks.
I think you're right.
But you know, just to play it safe, you guys are going to have to come back when we get
a little closer to it.
We'll talk about it more.
We'll highlight it more and really be able to highlight it and get into that.
But really, can I think you both enough for the time today?
If people have followed questions, I'd like to know more reach out to you.
Is there a good way to do that, Heather, to reach you specifically?
Sure.
They can absolutely reach me specifically.
So again, my name is Heather Kincaid and you can reach me at H. Kincaid.
That's K-I-N-K-A-D-E at McmillanLibrary.org.
And if it's okay, if I could just say I know that you had mentioned that the library
is a community hub, and I couldn't agree with you more.
I actually just did a small presentation earlier this week about the library is a community
hub.
And I would just like to mention, I feel, and I think Eric would agree that the library
is really the community's living room.
And we, our library really is good at being very attentive to the times and what our community
needs.
And so I would say that we are books and more, and books, and I also would emphasize
and more.
Community living room.
God, that's good.
Oh, that's good, Heather.
I like that.
I like to put that on a tee.
That's great.
That's great.
Thank you again for that.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
And Eric, if people have followed questions, they'd like to reach out to you.
How can they do that?
My email is just eNorton, N-O-R-T-O-N, at McMillanLibrary.org.
Both of us are often at our information desks.
So if you're in the building, you can stop and chat with us.
If you have more questions, we do have our event calendar on our web page.
We have printed calendars that we give away by the hundreds every month.
We didn't even cover all the things on the front page of the calendar here.
One of the things I'm particularly proud of, we talk about how libraries change people's
lives.
And I truly believe that's true.
Many years ago, I started donating blood through the Red Cross, and honestly, to make it
easier for myself, I invited them to start holding blood drives at the library.
They say each donation can save up to three lives.
And we do that eight to ten times a year with 30 or 40 people donating.
So it's not a stretch to say that we've literally saved thousands of people's lives by doing
that at the library.
So Jim, particularly proud of that.
June 20th, I see you got another blood drive opportunity happening from 10 to 3 over at
McMillan.
I encourage all of you heroes out there to be able to donate.
I understand how big the superhero thing has gotten, but let's be honest, all the good
names are taken.
I mean, you need a tragic backstory and tights and all this stuff.
You can be a superhero without all that.
You can just go donate blood and boom, you're a superhero.
We appreciate you both very much.
Thanks again for the time.
Thanks for having us.
McMillanLibrary.org, be sure to go to their bookmark that web page, keep up to date and all
the cool things that they're doing over there and keep a mind you can reach out to them
that way as well.
Follow them on Facebook and social media as well, share their stuff on your page.
You just never know who might see it otherwise.
Big thank you to our friends at McMillan.
We'll be talking again into them real soon.
Thank you to Crockett, Septick, of course, our sponsors and all of you for joining us
right here at WFHR's Rapids Report.
