McMillan Memorial Library – The Makerspace Studio – November ‘25

Hello world, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report for this Tuesday, November 4th, probably brought

to you by Friends at Crock Acceptic.

And today we're going to have some fun.

We're talking with our friends at McMillan Memorial Library.

I'll let you all introduce yourselves in your title if you don't mind, so we can put

a voice to the name.

Hi, I'm Kristen Orheim, I'm the Studio Maker Space Lead at McMillan Library.

And this is...

I'm Mary Beth Free, I am one of the part-time library associates at McMillan.

I think it's a very relatable thing for the audience where you know people, you know

their names, but you haven't really met and gotten to talk to them much and everything.

And I feel that way about you all.

Because I've nurtured your names, I've certainly known about you before.

It's so great to have you in studio today to be able to talk and get to know each other

a little bit and talk about some great events going on over at Mellon.

Journalistically, I do have to mention to the audience, I am very biased when it comes

to McMillan.

I love everything they do and everything about it.

It is our community hub.

Got that out of the way.

Got to get that disclaimer out of the way.

We had some fun things going on in the area.

One of the things that we wanted to focus on is not so much just an event, but a place.

And that's the maker's place and focusing on that to start off.

Yeah.

So, since August of 2022, the Maker Space at McMillan has been up and running, teaching

adult monthly classes and also training people on how to use some of the equipment that's

in there that otherwise you wouldn't be able to have at home.

Some of the equipment we have in there is a Glowforge laser engraver and we have two of

those.

So we train people on how to use that.

We have silhouette cameo cutters, 3D printers, embroidery machines, sewing machines,

surger machine, a large format printer, button makers, which are really, really popular

with teens and adults.

What else do we got?

Acrylic and watercolor paints, polymer clay, laminators, and the Adobe Creative Suite are

just some of the things we have in there.

Yeah, Kristen.

You know, as soon as you said that and you said that date, it really took me a second there

because I, to think that it's been around this long and it feels like it just got going.

And the fact that you had to take a second to think of all the things that are still,

that really says something, how much is going on over there and where this all started.

I know for me one of the early things that I heard about was the 3D printer and so much

of us in our audience really learned about 3D printing through McMillan and the makerspace.

And that's been so much fun, but that just was getting the ball rolling really.

So many of the things that you mentioned there, I like to think of fun questions and stuff

and one of the things that I thought of was impossible, but to think of how many people

have been benefited by the makerspace, whether it's getting creative, you know, things out

of their system and trying different stuff or doing things for their family or holidays

or something.

Then I think about a lot of our older population and so many of them that, you know, we're

not, didn't grow up with tech of any kind really and it's so brand new to them.

I struggle with it.

I can't imagine somebody 10, 20 years older than me how they might be and here we have

an opportunity for them to be able to learn to understand this stuff, to bridge that gap

a little bit and maybe have a little more of a relationship with their younger, you

know, nieces and nephews or what have you and everything through the makerspace.

Like this, the amount of things this, this has been able to do and bring to our community.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's really, really just an incredible number and I really was thinking about, oh, I'm

going to put them on the spot and make them tell us how many people, but no, it's just

an amazing thing to think about, isn't it, Marybeth?

It really is and some people are hesitant to come in because they don't know how to use

the equipment, but we will teach you how we have what we call badging on Wednesday

afternoons right now where people can come in and we will give you an orientation to

the space and, you know, we typically do one piece of equipment at a time, but people

can get trained on a piece of equipment, make something cool, learn the basics on how

to use it and then go from there.

With that, and I'm so glad you brought this up, I know that I tend to do this a bit and

focus on a lot of our senior population, our retired population out there and I really

do encourage that, not only to just the fun of it and everything, but to keep your brain

active, to keep that brain working out and exercising and everything.

These kind of projects and the things that they offer over there can help you do that

in a real fun way, but I don't want to skate past that a lot of younger people have also

learned a lot of this stuff and been able to ask follow questions that maybe they didn't

get a chance to in school or maybe they were shy to in school.

They're a little more comfortable doing in this setting.

Yes.

I want them to think of that wide gap of people that have been able to just enjoy themselves

and have some fun.

As a creative, I love that this is a thing in our community and it's been around this

long and that it's been taking this kind of traction, it's been doing, it's only getting

more and more stronger too.

Right.

One of the things, when you mention the population and people coming in the retired population,

a lot of our adult classes do attract a lot of these people and it's kind of a thing

where they're building community as they meet up and do these things together and then

they go to lunch afterwards and they meet up and learn something together.

Some of the things that we've done are sewing classes like book pocket pillows, rope balls,

fabric bookmarks, macrame, whittling, cyanotype printing, stenciling, jewelry making, basket

weaving, henna, acrylic painting.

You want to pick it up?

Sure.

We've done resin projects, glass etching, polymer clay work.

Needle felting, lino cut, block printing, string art, paper quilling, card making, repurposed

book art, aboriginal.art.

We've done some Bob Ross paint along, it's very fun, journal making, mug decals, loom weaving

and more.

We can go on and on.

We probably could keep you guys here almost all day just going back and forth with the

different things.

There's a lot of things because this community is very, very creative.

This area it really is and so when it comes to that, I imagine some of those things might

have started from somebody coming by and suggesting it or bringing it or offering to teach it

or something along those lines, want to make sure that the community knows that that's

still an open door, you know, that if you have something that maybe we haven't mentioned

here, that you think, oh, I think people would really enjoy this.

Bring it to the, you know, make your space.

That's what this is for.

It's a creative outlet.

Absolutely.

When it comes to the fun you two have had individually, here's where the hard questions

come in.

You guys have been able to take advantage of and use the maker space at all, enjoy it

at all and do anything there.

Absolutely.

Everything we do, we have to teach it to others that don't know how to do it.

So we spend a couple months teaching ourselves how to do things, run into problems and, you

know, troubleshoot how we can avoid running into that or figure things out with people

at a beginner level or just having fun with it for ourselves.

I was just in, even though I wasn't working one day, I was in using the maker space to

make some things personally.

I appreciate you sharing that.

It's relatable.

It's something that hopefully what you were talking about there, Mary Beth about encouraging

people that maybe hesitant or just, they just haven't need that little push or whatever.

I think hearing that from you two and knowing how you guys are even learning the services

or taking advantage of them, it really goes a long way.

And Kristen, it's so important, I think, what you said there about, well, we need to learn

it too.

If we're going to teach it and it sounds very basic, but I think if I'm out there,

I'm hesitant or I'm uncertain or something like that because I don't even know where

to begin or something with some of this stuff.

Hearing that encourages me, they just learned it too, you know, and I'm, it's that much

more, I feel confident walking in and asking these questions and stuff.

This is a little tough for me because growing up, I've never been shy about looking foolish.

I've never worried about it.

I love learning so I don't care how that comes across.

I empathize with people that maybe hesitant to do that.

I cannot encourage you enough to take that jump, you know, it's fun, it's interesting

and it's worth it.

And again, the exercise it gives you or brain is just as worth it as the creative outlet

you get from it.

Yes, that's true.

Wonderful stuff, you too.

Thank you so much.

Anything else you want to mention about the Maker Space?

Aside from the Maker Space, in the same space is a recording studio sound lab.

So that's where we have Logic Pro X in there with an iMac.

High quality microphones and audio interface.

There's a rolling keyboard, guitar, and bass guitar.

If you're aged 12 and up, you can go through an online orientation.

Then you can book that space, a lot of the students in the area high schools use it for

solo ensemble time or some of the high schools are using it to record musicals and things

like that.

And other people come in to use the equipment for their podcasts or to make digital music

for themselves, things like that?

There's so many people that are wanting to get into those worlds.

You mentioned the podcasting world and everything.

And I think it's one of the coolest things that's been happening in the last 10 years, where

most creative outlets, TV, movies, even what we do here in radio, music, you mentioned

all of them.

There is usually somebody on top.

There's usually somebody that you need to go to to hopefully get this opportunity to be

able to do these things.

The podcast world, do you want to do it?

Cool.

Here you go.

There's your podcast.

And you have creatives really having control of this.

The ability to, we all like different things.

We all have our niches in this.

Well, there's a podcast for that.

I think that's really unique.

I think that's really cool.

And the day and age we're in, then you add on the fact that not only can anybody do it,

but giving people a resource to be able to do it.

The one thing that might hold somebody back is, well, I can't afford a microphone or

I don't have a computer or something along those lines.

The makerspace gives that to you, gives us that opportunity where you can do those things.

And it comes to some of that equipment.

Is that something that you need to request that time?

Do you need to register something to make sure to book it or, I'm not sure if I'm using

the right term.

Sorry.

Yeah.

So once you go through an orientation online through our website, you can book that space

from anywhere.

So it's really convenient for people.

And how great is that, too, that you're not just offering it to people and like, hey,

there's the room.

Go have fun.

But you're teaching people how to use this stuff, you're right?

So even if you do know the equipment never hurts to go over something or every board

can be different in some of those things, I think that's a really nice added part of

that.

And just the opportunity for it, I have to be honest, I deal with this with the local

community theater all the time as a kid who's wanted to act since I was seven, I'm so jealous

of these kids nowadays.

Can I get that out of my system?

Really jealous.

It's so cool that the creative freedom and the abilities that kids have nowadays.

I talk about this with sports a lot and it's the same thing with the arts.

For every kid that's great at football, we know the percentages of how many of them

are going to go on the college and how many of them will go on to the pros.

So that may not be a big number, but every one of those kids is going to gain confidence,

learn how it is to work in a team environment.

So many other factors that they'll take on to whatever they do in life.

It's the same thing with the arts.

Maybe every kid that creates a podcast or a 3D piece of art doesn't come up to the next

van Gogh or something like that, but they're going to take that creativeness and take it

into their job.

Everything we do in life, business wise, creativity is important, working with others.

These are things that you pick up when you're working at the maker space and stuff.

It's a real confidence builder for these kids.

Oh, great.

Yeah, and not just kids, for everybody.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, which we could all use a little bit.

I know I could.

I always could use a little more confidence.

It's great to hear.

Along with as long as we're talking music, we do have some music coming to McMillan

as well, Chris.

Yeah.

Yeah, we have next week, November 12th, we have Cowboy Union Jam.

Now that's monthly in Old Country and Western songs, but then the day after that, Thursday,

November 13th is Brian Draw.

You might have seen him in the community at the Farmers Market because he does come and

set up his amp and his guitar and he sings a lot of really good songs.

So he's going to be at McMillan.

I believe this is his first time, but I encourage people to come and listen to him.

He's great.

I did a deep dive on him over the week and just go and watch some videos of him and everything

because we wanted to promote him on the morning show and certainly we were going to talk

about it today.

I really, I wouldn't done a rabbit hole.

He's good.

Yeah.

He's fun.

I love artists that are comfortable on stage, but want the audience to be as comfortable

as they are.

And he really interacts with the audience a lot as a lot of fun.

It does a really nice cover of Tom Petty, he's got a really nice cover of that.

And if you go, just be ready to have fun.

He's going to watch it interact.

He's going to watch it have some fun with this.

You're going to take in the music and you're going to probably want to move to it too.

That's fun.

He's really talented.

That's going to be a great one.

Also have some, you mentioned a couple of you in your jam.

I wanted to mention along with that that they are looking for a few singers, musicians to

perform at Mill Library and Rapids on the second Wednesday of each month, one to three.

They play a mix of classic country, bluegrass, gospel genre.

If I'm being honest, I've heard this band a lot.

I don't think you can label them.

They're great.

That's what you need to know.

They're really talented.

They're really great.

The jam has been playing at the library since 2012 and could use a few more dedicated volunteer

singers and players.

If you're interested, please give Steve and Lisa a call at 715-630-1827.

That is 715-630-1827 for more information.

Just wanted to slip that in there for them and everything.

I know that we bring it up on the morning show a bit, but I want to make sure they bring

all.

They don't need somebody like me showing up.

They don't need that.

I play good air guitar.

That's about it.

That's the only thing I could really do.

Also wanted to mention the puzzle swap that is coming up, Kristen.

Yeah.

It's going up, right?

It's coming up.

It starts on November 10th through the 15th.

We've been getting so many puzzles in the past couple of weeks.

It's kind of a big deal where we'll just set up a whole bunch of puzzles on tables and

people just come in and swap them out and have a chance to do others.

It's a fun idea.

Mm-hmm.

Lots of people looking forward to that one.

Kristen and I are going to tag team and make sure that my mom does this.

We're going to make sure that we're going to force her to have anything.

It's a fun idea.

And another one of those things that Meg Millen does that we appreciate, not only with

the winter months getting closer, but there's really no time of year that isn't fun with

puzzles and enjoying that.

And there was one other thing we wanted to wrap up with.

Wasn't there?

There was a couple.

There's a kite for the world.

So there is, on November 22nd, there's going to be a storyteller at McMillan.

That's a Saturday.

And so all day thing with a woman named Jackie Redwoman, she's going to come in and do

some craft projects.

For all ages, families.

So that'll be on Saturday, November 22nd.

And then there is a short story contest going on right now.

Submissions are accepted through December 7th.

All of the details are on our website about that.

I'm both a really fun.

I was very excited when I went to the website and I saw the short story contest.

This is something that I really encourage everybody to be a part of.

I think we're all storytellers in one way or another.

It's just matter of putting it to paper or your laptop or anything I'm old.

When it comes to this, there's some nice prices and those are fun.

Those are great and everything.

But I do think that there's the creative outlet and getting it done and doing it and being

a part of it, submitting it is a victory in itself.

So I encourage you to be a part of that and joy.

And I want everybody to keep in mind.

We have had some fun.

We've covered a lot of things today.

We have not even scratched the surface of stuff that is available over there at McMillan.

As far as classes or different things that you're interested in.

When it comes to the makerspace and say, you've always wanted to learn about this one thing.

Well, reach out to them and find out and they'll help you learn about it.

Whatever it might be, I would start with McMillan because there are a good place to begin

and certainly a great place to go.

Please say hi to all the staff and everybody for me and our family.

We appreciate you guys and all the work that you're doing.

Thanks a lot for joining us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If people have follow up questions, I want to know more about some of what we talked about

today.

And to the website.

Is that the best way to get in touch with you?

Yeah.

Send them to the website.

You'll be able to see McMillan at the Christmas tree walk this year at the museum.

This is the fourth year we've made a tree for the museum.

And yeah.

That's great.

That's awesome.

We're looking forward to seeing you there.

We got one this year too.

The studio will be down there.

And when it comes to things like that, they go so far.

I should mention as well.

I know this is a way is off and everything.

But the United Weekend event that we do with the rafters and the United Way every year.

I get to judge on that.

One of the things that I look forward to every year is seeing McMillan's creativity with

that because you guys go above and beyond with just, okay, what do we got?

Let's do it.

It's awesome.

I can tell you how much fun I look forward to it.

I appreciate the McMillan's efforts in those regards and with these things.

Thanks a lot for joining us today.

And thank you everybody for joining us for another edition of WFHRs or Rapids Report.