Some Town Somewhere Tour – Butternut, cont. (Hour 2)

On location, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

Boss Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody, live from beautiful Butternut, Wisconsin at the Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio.

I'm Todd Albaugh, joined by our producer and engineer, Mr. Aaron Zommers, back at the World Headquarters down in Madison, Wisconsin.

Welcome in, everybody.

It is Thursday, the 17th of July, 2025.

It is not just a great.

It is a beautiful day to be Wisconsinite.

We are so happy to be bringing this show to you live here from Butternut, Wisconsin.

Our friends, our colleagues, Jane Mattenair and Greg Bach kicked things off this morning from this very location from 9 until 11 with Mattenair on air.

We're picking up the baton as we do this relay race across the state of Wisconsin.

It could not be more excited for today's show as Kenny Sass sang there the opening bit.

We are in some town, some

and we could not be more excited to be in Butternut, Wisconsin today.

And we got in, I'm not sure as I'm raising over on 930 or so last night, stayed at the Northern Lights Inn.

And many thanks to the great folks there, the Northern Lights Inn, one of our many great sponsors up here.

And we're going to be talking to some of those great sponsors as we go throughout today's show.

Big shout out to Darla Isham, who is the general manager up here in the Park Falls area, also for our great station, WBZH in Hayward, which this program goes across.

And also to Big G, the sales director up here, this part of the world for Civic Media as well, for lining up these great sponsors, lining up this great location.

Kelly Meredith, the owner, proprietor here of Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio, has been so gracious as to open up her beautiful

beautiful space and for those watching on the stream on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the like.

I'd encourage you to look because we have this beautiful mural that Kelly has painted here.

She talked extensively about this with Jane and Greg this morning on their show.

She's going to stop by later this hour briefly just to tell us a little bit about that and her business also coming up this hour at the bottom of the hour.

Our friend and colleague Dan Schaefer is going to join us.

The political editor for Civic Media, also founder of the

area to help us recapitulate on a little news.

Will Governor Evers run for a third term?

It looks like perhaps my guess was right that he will not.

Could be some big news coming down the pike in the next 24 hours.

We'll discuss that and also local headlines.

I love this summers.

I picked up the Lakeland Times from Minakwa here.

and talk a little bit about the news there.

And also we have the Price County Review headline, Concrete Park Repairs Begin.

And Kelly talked with Jane and Greg this morning about Concrete Park, so we'll discuss local headlines with Dan Schaefer as well as state political headlines as well.

Looking forward to that.

And then our two gonna have Lena Matola stop by of Northern Pines or Jane and Greg and I are staying tonight She runs a great resort here in the Northwoods and she's gonna stop by and talk to us about that another one of our fine sponsors for today's show What's worse today?

This one seems to be a no-brainer's armors tourism or no tourism

We'll talk about that.

And then the round out the show at the bottom of the second hour, Big G himself, a legend up here in the Northwoods is going to stop by.

And our colleagues, our friends, Jane McNair and Greg Bach are going to be here talking more about this great trip around the state of Wisconsin.

How are things back in Madison, Zomers?

Pretty nice, at least to me.

It's a little it's a little cooler than it has been lately and a little less sunny.

Some may call it gloomy.

I call it tolerable.

It's cool up here as well.

The Sun is out though It was in the upper 40s when we woke up this morning at the north of lights eyes I have shorts on because as I was packing as my grandpa used to say I forgot to pack my long pants so no show No, no jeans.

I like guys my shorts, but it's fine because it's beautiful up here in the north wood So anyway, it's it's just been a great trip so far and that's what we have lined up Hopefully you will stay around for the entire show right now joining me

at the desk here on location in Butternut.

So honored, so pleased to have her.

She is the vice president of the Butternut Historical Society.

Maxine Cleger is here.

Maxine, thank you.

Killger.

I'm sorry, I apologize.

Thank you for correcting me.

Killger, Maxine.

Killger is here.

And Maxine, first of all, thank you very much for doing this and welcome to the show.

Thank you.

Glad to be here.

Well, it's our pleasure.

And we talked a little bit before the show started here.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you grew up, and how you came to be involved with the Historical Society.

Pretty easy.

I grew up in this community.

I'm a descendant of one of the first settlers here.

And I think it's the greatest place in the world.

So you're born in this area in the state and you grew up here.

As you grew up then, were you a homemaker, or did you work outside the home?

Well, I grew up here.

I went to college and became a teacher.

And I spent 40 years teaching school in Wisconsin in various places.

But the best place was here.

Well, my entire family are educators.

I'm the only goofball that didn't go into education.

So I have a deep respect for people who, what grades did you

teach?

Probably all I the lowest grade ever taught was fourth grade and then I would say about the last 25 years So I taught middle school kids and it was quite delightful and interesting

I I imagine that it was we were when Jane and Greg and I drove in were the first things that caught our attention were these beautiful murals that you see they're painted by our host here Kelly Meredith and

We thought, wow, there's a lot of history here.

Tell us if you would, in brief, how did Butternut begin?

What was the impetus for this community?

Was it logging or otherwise?

And a little bit about the community in which we find ourselves today.

Well, the community exists because after the Civil War, Wisconsin became a state in 1848.

And the Civil War ended in 1865.

And this was open land.

and the only part that was settled was in the south and there was all this vast ocean of trees up here and the Wisconsin Central Railroad decided to run a rail line here and

The only way they could do it is if somebody cut down a path for them through the trees.

And with the Civil War being over and a lot of soldiers looking for something to do, Civil War veterans took on the job of slashing the trees so that they could lay the tracks.

They came from the south when trains were down in the Milwaukee area because Milwaukee did exist.

That's where the German immigrants were.

going to and and then the railroad was also coming down from the north because of the settlements up around Lake Superior and They met up at Morris just the north glidden.

That's where the rail was finally connected but the Civil War veterans were actually the first people to come here Kelly's ancestor

was one of her family members was one of the first settlers in this area and Was probably one of those Civil War veterans we have about 14 or so Graves of Civil War veterans in our Union Cemetery and so that's how it all began and the thing that brought the people here was the

Homestead Act because you had free land.

There were a vast number of trees.

They slashed the trees to open up the land for farmland.

And that's how this became a community.

It was called Butternut because those very people that slashed the timber for the railroad track noticed these unusual trees with these unusual nuts on them and wanted to comment on them.

They're similar to a black walnut.

and they named them Butternuts.

And that's how Butternut got its name.

And we don't have any of the trees left.

There are a few spots in the community where some of them still grow, but most of them have been cut down.

But that's how the community got its name.

We're talking with Maxine Kilger from the Vice President of Butternut Historical Society here in beautiful Butternut, Wisconsin.

Miss Maxine, tell us a little bit

in your experience, in your lifetime here just so far, what things have changed over time, but also what stayed the same?

A lot of things have changed because at one time we had two dairy processing plants in the community because there were so many farmers.

The land was free, the farmers came in, they were willing to work very hard to produce milk and it was very successful.

that we no longer have any dairy plants in the community.

There aren't any farms.

Maybe there is one out on agenda, but it makes it difficult for them to even get rid of their milk.

They have to send it so far because there aren't any plants in really close

by.

That that is you know something that has changed immensely.

It's left us and so the other industry was there were mills at one time at one time butternut was the home of a large veneer mill It was a veneer mill that produced veneer that was used to build the British Bomber during World War two was made out of veneer because veneer was not they

radar could not detect the wood and They shipped this veneer from butternut To a plant where it was made in Great Britain and that was made here Building is still there, but it's been closed for many years it produced veneer after the world after World War two, but There just wasn't enough market and so that's been closed down

we don't produce anything here anymore.

There used to be a large tourist industry here out on the Floyd's and all of those places which were great show places and very popular resorts, those are gone as well.

Times change and things deteriorate and most of them are just pictures that we have in the museum at this

time.

I did not know that history that you think about World War two.

Hopefully all of us have learned about that in school.

Those of us that didn't live through it and to think that from a small town in northern Wisconsin, a plane that was used to secure freedom in Europe.

I mean, that's that's pretty spectacular in them itself.

We're coming up here about a minute here before the break.

And if you could stay through it, I want to finish up the other side.

But tell us it seems to be the people and the spirit of this community that can do spirit as as it endured.

Well the spirit I think comes from the fact that we're all descendants most of us are descendants of those first people

yeah civil war vets

yeah civil war vets and German immigrants that immigrated here from Germany mostly from Germany and

They made their way to Milwaukee and heard about this free land.

And that's what they wanted because they were trying to get away from the tyranny that they were suffering under from pressure and when pressure conquered the area.

And so that's what brought those German immigrants here.

They were hard workers.

And they started from nothing, you know, they they they walked for.

They didn't have transportation.

They had to back things on their backs.

It was it was just

just.

Yeah, it was it was people really had to work hard to get here, right?

Just everything.

Absolutely.

I just pause for a moment here to come back and talk with more with Maxine Kilger here.

She is the vice president of the Butternut Historical Society.

Don't go anywhere.

We're coming up here on 20 minutes past the hour of two o'clock.

Welcome back to Tahleball Show.

We are live in Butter at Wisconsin here at the Fanatical Fish Art Gallery in studio.

So happy to be bringing this program on location along with our friends, our colleagues, Jay Matt, Nera Greg Bach.

making this tour around the state of Wisconsin and it is absolutely fantastic.

We are talking with one of those people that makes Wisconsin great right now.

She is Ms.

Maxine Kilger.

She is the vice president of the Butler Historical Society.

Maxine, again, I could sit here and listen to you all afternoon because I just love this oral history that you're not going to get in a book, but I'm just right.

We have another guest here in the wings.

Tell folks if you would.

What you want them to know what's the important thing for people across the state to know about your hometown of butter and why should they visit?

It is butternut is a very safe place.

It's a friendly place

You could leave your door open and leave for the week and you wouldn't have to worry about anything.

I would call that foolhardy, but it can be done.

You can get help from anyone.

People are just genuinely kind and offer to help in any way they can.

If there's a hardship or something, throngs of people get together.

I have many times been involved in helping make a winter supply of firewood for someone who has had a medical issue or something.

People just come together, they bring food, they bring their good wishes, they bring their tools and in a few hours they've cut the trees and sawed them up and piled them in place and had a good meal and go on home and

There's never any money exchanged.

It's just goodwill and will help you when you need help.

To me, it's just the absolute best of what this state is.

It is.

And that's part of what makes Wisconsin great is that Wisconsin's spirit of neighbor help and neighbor.

And we need more folks or younger folks need to listen to people like you, in my opinion, who could tell that oral history because I don't think we could be better in our future if we don't understand our past and where we came from.

That's very true.

So I appreciate you stopping by.

Folks could stop here at the Butternut Historical Society.

Maxine Kilger, thank you so much for taking this time with us.

I really, really appreciate it.

I wish you had more time to give you.

Well, I know.

Darla's got me booked up.

I backed up like a hare here.

Let me tell you, but we'll have you back on soon, OK?

I would love that.

I would, too.

We'll work it out.

All right.

Thank you very much, Maxine Killger.

We'll have her back.

We're kind of my wonderful colleague, and Jay Matt near as I help it out here as we kind of change chairs.

And while she does that.

I'm gonna remind you that coming up in hour two, we'll talk with Jane McNair and Greg Bach.

Also, Big G, our great salesperson up here in Northern Wisconsin.

We'll also talk with Alina Motola, pardon me, who is of the Northern Pines, where Jane, Greg and I are staying tonight.

And we're also gonna talk a little bit with Kelly Meredith, who later on this hour, who is the proprietor here at the Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio.

Well, let me tell you this, these road trips do not happen

without great sponsors and people who could be our partners in this whole thing.

And we have one of them joining us now at the table.

He is the proprietor of Signature Sign, Glenn Wagner.

Thanks for, is it Wagner or Wagner?

Wagner.

Wagner, all right, very good.

Glenn, first of all, thanks for being a partner in this whole trip and your sponsorship.

We really appreciate that.

Yeah, you're welcome.

Uh, if you wouldn't mind, I could just give my time right back to Maxine.

He's got a lot more to say.

Well, I appreciate that, but I do want to because it's important that we, you know, give you folks time to talk about your business because I was a small business person for a while, had a coffee shop, but especially in small towns, I think it takes a certain strength and a commitment.

Did you grow up here?

Where were you from?

My wife and I are both.

original butternutters.

Butternutters, that's the correct term.

I love that.

I love that.

I

graduated class in 92.

She was a couple of years after me.

Yeah, born and raised here, graduated, went off to school, got her feet wet a little bit in the industry, me in the sign business, and she was a beautician.

So after about five years, yeah, about five years.

After we graduated, I graduated from UW-Stevens Point, and she graduated from Wausau Beauty School.

We got married, moved to Triple Falls, spent a year there, then moved to St.

Germain, spent four years, and had an opportunity to come back here and establish our own shop.

So we did purchase a local shop from Part Falls, Sailor Signs, that was a business for...

Boy, I want to say like 80 years.

Really?

Wow.

Long

time.

Very long, long standing business in the area.

So he was ready to kind of wind down a good opportunity for us to jump in, built our own shop, purchase some of his equipment and accounts and whatnot.

took it off from there.

Wow.

That's really great.

I just love small business folks.

And of course our station in Hayward, Wisconsin WBZH touches a little bit over over into this region.

Tell folks what signature sign here in butternut, what's your specialty, what sort of signs do you do the most?

We are a full scale sign company.

So we do the big commercial pylon signs, the big backlit cabinet signs, the big electronic message centers.

We offer those.

We have two different kinds of those.

you know we do a lot of the big stuff we do a lot of subcontracted install work for corporate companies so like your your hotels gas stations they have a corporate sign entity that takes care of all their advertising and signage and they send us most of the time they'll send us the signs we go install them and maintain them.

So that's a that's a big chunk of what we do So we service who usually around a two-hour radius from here And there's a lot there's a

lot of certainly folks listen to us the hayward you can help them out if I absolutely I want to make sure we get it in is there a website or somewhere people could go to get more information about signature sign

signature sign wi.com

signature sign dot wi.com

Signature sign

Oh,

WI guy.

It's on WI.com.

All right.

Osamu is on my producer.

We'll put that in the show notes so people up here in the North West can find you.

I mean, we've passed your place coming into town.

It's spectacular.

Yeah,

so, you know, we, not just the big stuff and the commercial stuff, but we do an awful lot of smalls.

Yeah.

Well, hold that thought.

You can join us here.

We got to do a little business, as they say, and do a farm report with Pam Yankee, our friend down there in Madison, and come on back.

We'll talk a little bit more with Glenn Wagner of Stingy Cherside here live in Butter at Wisconsin.

We're on location on the time level show across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

you

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man.

Milwaukee's best.

It's a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity.

Hey man, what about Milwaukee, man?

It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition.

I think God would want us to go to Milwaukee.

And it lies between the pit of a man's fears and the summit of his knowledge.

If you think about

Milwaukee.

This is the dimension of imagination.

You are now entering

The Recombobulation Area.

Welcome back to the Towel Ball Show and the Civic Media Ready Network.

Even here, live on location in beautiful Butternut, Wisconsin in the North Woods, you have to take time to Recombobulate.

And joining us once again from his home in beautiful Millwalkay, the one, the only, the political editor of Civic Media and the founder of the Recombobulation Area, Mr. Dan Schaefer Daniel Haar.

I'm doing well, Todd.

Always a treat to join you here on the Todd Alba show, especially when you're getting nutty in Butternut.

That's right.

We're getting nutty in Butternut.

And I found that there was actually t-shirts we're going to buy before we leave town, because you could buy them at Signature Sign, one of our great sponsors on this tour of Matt Nair on Air, the all-ball show.

We appreciate them, Jay Matt Nair, Greg Bach, and myself, because these sorts of

on the road event do not happen without great sponsors, great partners, signature sign, and certainly one of those.

And the owner and proprietor, Glenn Wagner, joins us here at the table.

So you actually sell t-shirts with Get Nutty and

Butterluck.

A lot more than that.

Really, really?

My wife is in charge of all the...

the tourist trap stuff.

So we're fully staffed there with all kinds of stuff from Butternut.

Well, I love it.

So people could go to signature sign wi.com.com, signature sign wi.com for all of your sign needs here, whether you're a business or a larger area or a larger outfit in the in the Hayward or area or anywhere here in the Northwoods or whether you need some of the smaller sign needs that you guys have it all covered.

Yeah, we do a lot of smaller signs, flat panel signs.

Banners is a big one.

We touched on the apparel.

We offer the apparel services, decorating and whatnot.

And we also have trophies and awards.

Nice, always important.

Yeah, there's quite a need for that around here too.

Kind of our specialty that you're probably finding pretty interesting is I still bend neon.

Really?

Yeah, I am a glass bender yet.

Oh my gosh.

I mean, Dan, the history of neon signs Milwaukee.

I mean, I caught all the way back to Laverne and Shirley before.

Oh, absolutely.

That's

great stuff.

That's great stuff.

So did you learn that in Stephen's point when we

went to school?

I did, actually.

And again, while I was at the university, I hooked up with a professor there.

Then we kind of did it on the side.

He did it on the side as kind of an art media.

I just kind of went in one day and he said, yeah, try it out.

And he saw something and I did okay.

Invited me back in there and I pretty soon I spent so much time in there.

I wasn't doing the rest of my studies.

That's how I did radio, but my grades went downhill.

So they actually, they actually, I went in, we talked to the Dean and.

we sat down and we reconfigured, recombobulated.

Nice, nicely done.

So I got my own emphasis, a bachelor of arts degree, with a neon emphasis.

Wow.

The one and only, because when I graduated, the professor retired, end of the program.

So I had, while I was doing that, I had other students under me, I was teaching them how to bend.

Most of it was for art projects and whatnot, but we were showing them the scientific bending, you know, how to actually make the open signs and whatnot.

We had people bringing signs in, we would repair them.

So we're running a small business like that.

So that took up so much time that.

Yeah, I actually have that degree.

Well, congrats.

I would love to have you back again just to talk about that.

I think that's super cool.

I really do, because you don't, I mean, I don't know any place else in Wisconsin that's doing that right now.

There's not many.

There's a couple in Anegol.

Anegol is the neon capital of Wisconsin.

So if you ever get over there, Northern Advertising is definitely a stop.

Okay.

Dean, I think, boy, I think he just turned 92?

Dean Blasek?

Uh-huh.

If you can catch him there, I mean, you could spend a week.

Wow.

This is amazing.

I mean, this is why we love doing this, Dan, because we run into people that just, you know, there are these great stories.

And I know Dan Schaefer on his great site, TheRecapob... www.TheRecapobulationArea.News.

You talk about these great stories, Dan, but you come up here and there's so many great stories right across Wisconsin.

Everybody's got a great story to tell, that's for sure, especially here in Wisconsin.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

Before we let you go, I know we got to get on some other news, Glenn, but a couple of things I don't know that you wanted to talk about, talk with Glenn Wagner, whatever great sponsors of this trip of Matt and Aaron, Aaron the All Ball Show over at Signature Sign.

Talk to us about two things, Pioneer Days Fest coming up, but also the Business Association.

Yeah, I'll talk about the business association first we formed that actually with Kelly Kelly in our host here.

Yeah, or actually two of the three founding members And I had to ask her I I couldn't quite remember but it was 2008 the village president at the time asked us if we were interested in forming It's actually the buttern area business alliance.

So we sat down we came up with a concept and it's still going so

It's all community-based, it helps keep our website going, kind of an outreach marketing arm for the Village of Butternut.

And with that, that group is one of eight that helps sponsor Butternut Pioneer Days, which is next weekend.

So it actually, we expanded it to a four-day event this year, first time ever, 67th annual.

Wow.

So.

That, I know at the end when you're interviewing Maxine, you asked her what makes this community great.

That Pioneer Days Festival is it in a nutshell.

You have eight different nonprofit entities that get together and put on this big festival to give back to the community.

And it does raise money to help improvements up at the butternut park, which was sorely needed a long time ago.

So, so much.

has gone back into that and other organizations, you know, most of them will take that money that they raised from this festival and give it right back.

Amazing.

Just so we can, we can grow it and do more and more.

But live music Friday, Saturday, Sunday, full carnival this year.

We haven't had a carnival for two years.

Actually when COVID hit that kind of,

you

know, put a kibosh a lot of stuff, but this year we do have a full carnival back, full carnival, midway, food trucks.

Big softball tournament, volleyball tournament, horseshoe tournament, cornhole tournament, horse pole tournament, mud runs.

Wow.

It is.

Dan,

pack

up the family,

put up the butternut this week

next week.

I was going to say, Todd,

which of those are you participating in now that you're up there?

I

want to

see you win one of those mud runs or something

like that.

That's something else.

There's so many events.

My brother's even put on a haunted house display.

Wow.

Yeah, they're building it inside of this one building that's currently vacant.

And it's like, they do it every year for Halloween for the school, fundraiser for the school.

And they decide, hey, we have so much fun with this.

We're going to do this for Pioneer Day.

And we have a women's softball game.

We have a rib-cook-off contest going.

So Thursday through Sunday, if you can't find something to do up with park and butternut, you're not trying.

If my supervisor, Luke Mathers, is listening back in Madison, you won't see me until next week sometime.

I'm just gonna camp out up here.

Glenn Wagner, owner of Signature Sign.

Can't thank you enough for your sponsorship.

Can't thank you enough for being invested in your hometown.

You're part of what makes Wisconsin great.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

All you do for...

being a great butternutter up here,

butternut.

Thanks for having

me.

Hey, my pleasure.

And I'm serious.

Greg and I and Jane are going to stop by before you close at five.

So we'll see you later.

OK.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Glenn Wagner, everybody, owner of Signature Side, one of our great sponsors here on the mat and air, on air and all ball show tour.

Really appreciate them as well.

It is now two forty three.

Once again, I'm going to Dan Schaefer, our political editor for Civic Media and founder of the Reconpopulation Area.

Dan, how the heck you been?

I mean, I mean, this is this is great.

Isn't it?

I'm so glad you guys are doing this tour.

It's been so fun to listen from afar.

You guys were in Oshkosh yesterday, right?

Did you

get to help any shenanigans

after hours in Oshkosh?

As a

proud UW Oshkosh graduate, I should have recommended the right main street bar to go to.

And obviously, you got to go to Nico's Euro for some late night eats.

So

hopefully you

got to.

yourself at least a little

bit.

We enjoyed ourselves certainly, but it's kind of a work trip.

So we didn't get to stay out too late.

But Oshkosh is beautiful.

I know that's where you went to school.

And

isn't it interesting, Dan?

to your connection at UW, people that show no mind, but to hear our host or our guest here, Glenn Wagner, say that he went to the UW-Stevens Point, learned how to bend glass and make some business back in his hometown.

Just another example of how integral our UW system is to the entire state.

Oh, absolutely.

It sure is a great example of that.

And just an example of how different universities can offer just like really specialized

types of options for your education as well, and I think that's a great example of it.

Yeah, no, I couldn't agree more.

Let's turn attention to just a little bit of news, Dan.

Once again, things are happening all over the the latest conservative talk commentator out of Milwaukee, making a prediction here.

What was it 24 hours ago or so that Governor Tony Evers would be making an announcement before the end of this week that he was not going to run again.

Now, you and I last time we talked, we played kind of a old McLaughlin group went around and I asked you on the scale of one to 10, one being no

chance at all 10 being metaphysical certainty the evers would run again.

What what is the chance as you said six slightly better than he would I said two virtually no chance at all because I just didn't think that the budget this past was one that you could run on for reelection.

Any of you reporting signaling where this is going to go.

Yeah, I would say since you asked me that question on the since you put me on the spot

Moving a little

bit more towards your direction where you said you'd say you were at a two on the likelihood scale I'd say I'd probably be in the three to four range now.

I

do

think it's more likely That that Evers says he is not running for reelection, but again, you know, I don't really know I think a lot there's a lot of rumors flying around right now a lot of people speculating so I'm not gonna come

on the air and tell you anything definitive one way or another that I know about any of this but I think just more generally I would not you know I think a decision is probably coming relatively soon whether that's before the end of the week or sometime next week that again I'm not really sure seems like some things are perhaps in flux but you know it's a big decision and and I think the governor has earned every right to have the time to to make that decision to talk with his wife to talk with his family to talk

up with his team, his supporters, and all of that.

But I would not surprise me to see a decision coming in the relatively near future.

And obviously, you know where I stand on it.

But

we'll

wait and see where exactly things go from here.

I think

it's a big decision.

It does not

want to be taken lightly.

Dan will welcome the news there would not be a third term run you wrote that very very intriguing and Spicy as they say column quite a while back calling on the governor to to call it good at two terms in the in the East Wing so we'll find out by the maybe maybe by the end of the week but regardless I mean if this does pay it out Dan I mean I think some Democrats are already anticipating this and are trying to get a little bit of a jumpstart at the starting line and We'll see we talked to Josh Chauvin

and I did at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair last week or one of the Republican candidates.

And so I mean, it's already underway in the Republican side and things could heat up pretty quickly.

I would think of the Democratic side should this happen.

Yeah, I think you're right about that.

And we're just past that campaign finance deadline that a lot of people were looking to, not only for this race, but for the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, whether Rebecca Bradley is going to be running for another term, where a number of the kind of congressional candidates

are at for this.

So, you know, there's a lot to unpack, a lot to re-combobulate with the political news cycle this week in Wisconsin, that's for sure.

We'll come back and do a little bit more re-combobulating from Butternut and Milwaukee here on the On Location edition of The Oddball Show on the Civic Media, ready now.

Wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.

Welcome back to the title ball show on the civic media ready to work.

Glad to have you along.

Eight minutes before the hour of three o'clock, we are live on location in beautiful Butternut, Wisconsin along with our friend and colleagues, Jane McNair and Greg Bach.

for our What Makes Wisconsin?

Great tour around the state.

We're here at the beautiful Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio.

We're going to talk about that in just a minute.

But first of all, Dan Schaefer, the political editor of Civic Media and founder of the Reconbibulation Area joins us live from Milwaukee.

Dan wanted to give you time for just one more piece of news kind of coming out of state news right now on Politics on Campaigns.

Yeah, so this week was the filing deadline for a lot of candidates to report how much how much funding how much money they've raised for various campaigns Where that is, you know, we talked a little bit before the break about you know, where things are headed for governor Evers His fundraising was quite a bit lower than it was at the equivalent time four years ago So I think that is has fueled some of the speculation that Evers might not be running for a third term

We also saw some of the filing reports from the Republican candidates running for governor, most notably Bill Barian, who had a super PAC that he had organized in the months prior to announcing that he'd be running.

He got the overwhelming majority of the funds for that super PAC came from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who were now big Bitcoin guys.

You may remember them from the...

the social network when they were depicted in that in kind of like the this start of Facebook back in the in the 2000s there and then I think you one of the most notable reports that we saw was from Rebecca Bradley the Wisconsin Supreme Court justice whose tenure term will be up next year we don't know yet if she is going to be running again but if she is going to be running again she's going to be working from a real financial disadvantage

because she reported raising a grand total of $0 in as her potential opponent Chris Taylor raised a record amount in that time period of more than $580,000.

So, you know, you always got to follow the money when it comes to politics.

And, you know, it sure seems like Rebecca Bradley is not gearing up to run for election, but, you know, these things can always change quickly.

And one other candidate that I wanted to highlight here was

the potential Democratic challenger in the first congressional district, Randy Bryce, who announced his campaign a little while back.

He is not off to a great start with the fundraising.

He has raised just over $25,000 for his race.

And I think Brian Stile, who has been an exceptionally good fundraiser in the first congressional district, raised well over $1 million.

So I do think it's a really bad report for Bryce.

And I don't know if he's going to.

end up being the candidate in the first congressional district after some numbers like that.

You can find all these stories and more at www.therecobibulationarea.news.

Dan Schaefer always doing a great job.

Dan, we're going to turn back to things here and butter it up, but stay with us.

I think you'll find this interesting.

She was on matinee on air with Greg and Jane this morning.

I just asked her to come back for a couple minutes.

Kelly Meredith, who owns this great business, Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio.

Once again, Kelly, thanks for opening up your home here.

for us to come in Tuesday.

Oops, one, turn the mic on, there we go.

Oh, hi, okay, is that good?

Yeah, that's

great.

Well, thank you for coming.

It's been great to meet you guys, and it's been wonderful.

It's been a wonderful day.

So, yeah.

I love it.

I want you to just retell one little thing about when you said this morning with Jane and Greg, when you said butternut is the kind of place where if you need something, and I'll let you finish the rest

of it.

Okay, yeah, I think it was Jane, the lead in, it was what, tell me, describe butternut in one, like, vignette, I guess.

And I've always said in other interviews that butternut's a place.

If you are sick, the community will.

Have a fundraiser for you.

Take care of your pets.

Everybody will show up.

You better come with a dish to pass and a wad of cash.

I mean, and we don't ask, and I said in her show, we don't ask stupid questions like, why are you sick?

It's just if we need, if you need something, you need something.

And we're here for you and we love each other.

We support each other.

We try to support each other's activities as much as we can.

Life is busy, but we do.

So it's just a, it's a really cohesive community.

So as my friend Triggy Olson likes to say, you know, butternut and what you just described, that's not a red hat.

a blue hat.

It's a greeted gold packer hat.

I

mean, we're all together and let's not worry super much about this and that.

About a minute and a half, I know it wasn't much too short of time.

This mural behind us that people are watching in the stream yard, you painted this.

Apparently it's for Ozaki County.

It's actually for Port Washington,

which is obviously in

Ozaki County.

Yes, yes.

How many days have you been

working on this?

It's only

been 23.

23 days today, I'm a shaper.

Look at that behind me.

I can crank.

I can crank.

Yeah.

And how many of these have you done?

This is number 161.

161

murals, folks.

For communities all over

America?

Well, mostly the upper Midwest.

So Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana.

There.

And you're depicting the real history?

These are real people.

These are actual

people.

This is supposed to focus in on the 1920s.

Apparently, this particular theater, it was called the Ozaki Theater, had one of the first talks

ever shown in Wisconsin.

And I have a poster of it.

It's alias Jimmy Valentine.

That's what's the movie.

And so it features the marquee, although it's out of sync, the marquee would have been up much higher, but for scale reasons.

And then the different people are the people that are from Washington and a little story about each one of them and that sort of thing.

This is a beautiful, beautiful artwork to end the show for up here.

If you ever get a chance, any of our listeners from across the state, find yourself a butter up.

Please stop by the Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio.

Meet Kelly.

You're fantastic.

Your hospitality is amazing.

No, I didn't.

I

like I barely had toilet paper for you guys.

I mean, you guys brought coffee and Kringle.

You brought Racine Kringle.

My

goodness.

I'm such a loser.

I'm such a loser.

Not at all.

Not at all.

You're a winner.

You're part of Wisconsin.

Great.

And again, it's just this community we find amongst, you know, Dan's a Milwaukee guy.

You're up here.

But I'm from Southwest Wisconsin.

But we have so many things we share across the state.

We do.

We do.

And it's it's very connective.

And it's been nice to, you know, this morning doing Jane's show, just as we were just riffing to

about what we love about Wisconsin and hope you know and and and great comes up with the big marketing slogan about you know I can't remember what it is anymore but it was really amazing

I'm sorry you should

have been in on the morning

Kelly Merida, thank you so much again.

Really appreciate you.

Dan Schaefer, Milwaukee.

Thank you to you.

Find all of his work at www.dreconvibulationarea.news.

Thanks, Dan.

We'll talk to you in a couple of weeks and people can follow the reconvibulation area and keep up to speed on that Governor Evers news.

Thank you, Dan Schaefer.

Thank you.

Be well.

Absolutely.

Stay tuned.

Hour two for Butternut Live is next across Wisconsin.

On location, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead,

here's your host, Todd Alba.

Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Albaugh here in beautiful Butternut, Wisconsin, on location at the Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio.

Mr. Aaron Zommers, our producer and engineer back at the World Headquarters in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, welcoming to hour number two of the big broadcast here on Thursday, July 17th, 2025.

It is a great day.

to be in Wisconsinite.

We are here.

It is six minutes past the hour of three o'clock.

Zombers, if you ever, I know you come up here hunting with your family and stuff once in a while.

Have you ever been to butternut proper?

No, I have not.

But I'll have to change that.

Gotta, gotta change it.

It is a beautiful, beautiful community.

And by the way, if you're listening to us on the buzz of the North in Hayward, WBZH, come on by because Darla and Big G from our studios up here in Park Falls and Hayward, they are right outside of the Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio.

You can spin the prize wheel, go home with some good swag, meet Big G, meet Darla, Jane Mattner is still here.

Greg Bach is still here.

Heck, we even brought Kringle from Racine from earlier in the week and stopped by.

It's a good time had by all.

Join us here at the Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio.

It is coming up on eight now past the hour of three o'clock later on this hour.

Gonna talk to Big G. Gonna talk to Jane McNair and Greg Bach about this wonderful tour around Wisconsin.

And also gonna do a little What's Worst For You.

But right now, once again, these

great sponsors that have made this tour possible and one of them is Lena's Northern Pines here in the Great North Woods and joining me at the desk the proprietor and the person saved after Lena Matola of Lena's Northern Pines.

Lena, thanks for being here.

My pleasure.

Pleasure to meet you, Ted.

Hello, everybody.

Absolutely.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

Number one, thanks for your partnership and your sponsorship because these things don't happen without people like you.

So thank you very much.

We appreciate that.

Number two, start out.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and what led you to this.

Get into the resort business.

getting into the resort business.

Well, it all started with my husband's side of the family back in the 1940s.

They moved up into Peaksville in Glidden.

And over the years as my husband and I got married and we had children, we brought the children up for vacation time, visiting people.

I've known more about Glidden than most people realize for about 27, 28 years.

And about four years ago, we stepped in to help a family member and we bought some property up in Glidden and the bar up there was still for

So we purchased the bar four years ago.

We just saw our anniversary the beginning of June at Lena's Bar and Grill located at 71 North Grant Street in Glidden.

And then about 15, 16 months ago, the Northern Pines that used to be called the Timber Breeze out on beautiful Butternut Lake had been up for sale and it caught my husband's eye.

And he said, hey, sweetie, you want to you want to go fix another thing up?

And I said, sure, let's go.

I get bored very easily, Ted.

So and we just experienced our one year anniversary with the Northern Pines a couple of weeks ago also.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

That's that's exciting.

So did you have a background in

in resort or hotel management or anything?

What did you do prior to

this?

Oh, customer service from McDonald's to Walgreens to UPS.

I've been in the corporate world for about 30 years.

I do have degrees, associates, bachelor's and master's degree.

I did a lot of people practices, a lot of human resources, what you would say boots on the ground, not behind a computer, but actually working with people, hiring, firing, hitting goals, just basically.

cleaning things up and making them better.

I

tell people I have a resume.

I've done everything to be a gym and a sports bar to politics, to government, to radio, to retail.

And I think that someone that has a well-rounded resume like that, I think it just makes it.

easier, correct me if I'm wrong, to talk to people naturally because you just have that experience.

Absolutely.

You have to have the boots on the ground and those things that come out of left field that you don't plan for, but yet they're a surprise.

You power through them, you learn, you grow from them, and you just make things better, better choices with people, better choices for people.

I take great pride in the fact that between our two businesses, between Glidden and Butternut, we employ 22 people.

Wow.

Yes, very proud of that fact.

We provide a decent living, fair wage for those that are working for us.

And I'm a stickler, Todd.

I have to have the best around me, because I can only be as good as the people I have around me.

And our success, my husband and Frank and I, it's because of the people we put around us.

Well, a sign of a great leader is somebody who is not afraid to have tales of the people around them.

You know, some people in this world, they want people that...

aren't as good as them or they don't think are as good to make them look better.

I've always believed that if you hire and surround yourself with people that are as or more talented, it just makes you look

better.

Right.

There's no need to feel insecure about that because the more they know, the more you learn from that and you make it even better.

Absolutely.

So if we go all over the state, people that might be listed in Green Bay or Madison, Milwaukee, La Crosse, think, hey,

I've always wanted to go north.

If they find their way to a Leathans Northern Pines Resort, what can they expect?

They can expect to see a beautiful...

Lake out front.

The sunset is different every night, whether it's cloudy or you can see the sun.

It's just absolutely beautiful and serene.

We do have 10 lodging units out there that are available year round for those of you that are avid ATVers and snowmobilers.

The ATV trail is right near the resort.

The snowmobile trail actually goes right through the center of the lake up the center of our property and across the way.

Our lodging units are available year round and

our new mantra is all trails lead Delinas because you can take a trail from the pines up to the bar and glidden and from the bar and glidden down to the pines and for those of you on the outskirts Hayward Mercer and up in Iron County you guys and gales are missing a gem whether you're coming to the bar and glidden or down to the pines you're missing gems within the community that you guys don't realize they're out there a lot of great places in between the there and here.

I absolutely love her.

We're speaking with Lina Matola.

She is a proprietor and owner of Lina's Northern Pines Resort here on Butternut Lake where Greg and Jane and I are going to be staying tonight.

We appreciate your sponsorship so much.

I can't wait to see the sunset.

And you're also kind enough now you have a pontoon boat we're going out on tonight.

Is that something if people want to just you do just a pontoon boat tour alone or generally do they have to be guests at the Northern Pines Resort?

You do not need to be a guest.

Just give us a call.

and you can rent the pontoon for the day.

Whether you're a local or you're somebody that's coming up to visit the area and like to tool around on the lake, they are available at different times.

You do have to call and make sure that they are available.

We also have a fishing boat also for those

of you that

don't want to trail your boats, you know, seven or eight hours away, we have that available.

And also, Todd, we're your destination for dinner.

We have some exquisitely nice, good up north cuisine available at the Northern Pines.

Friday night is our fish fry.

Saturday night, we've got the prime rib and we've got the smoked pork buffet on Saturday nights.

I get so many phone calls and taps out on Facebook about where are you located?

What time is this?

How much is it?

And the word's really gotten out there.

My cooks are just outstanding with the homemade soups.

Every night is a homemade soup to go along with the salad bar out there.

I cannot wait to sample this later on tonight.

And again,

As a small business owner you play 22 you said folks

yes, yeah between the two businesses we have a grand total of 22 employees

What's what's the biggest challenge right now for you as a small business owner here in Wisconsin?

And what do you see for the future of small business?

Really tough in this area, when the mills closed down, when the wood mills closed down, that really put a damper on the area towns.

And I find myself in the position of trying to resurrect somewhat of a little economy around what my husband and I are trying to build here with the resort business and with the bar and glidden.

Hopefully we'll see more younger people move into the area that want a better quality of life and living up here.

The air is fresh, every morning you walk out, the pine smell in the air, just the beautiful scenery, and it's a little bit slower paced.

We come from around the Chicagoland area, my husband and I were from the suburbs.

And just the way of life up here reminds us of our childhood before it became just so...

crazy in those areas around the cities.

I grew up in southwest Wisconsin.

I could appreciate that because, you know, even there, we have folks that come from the Twin Cities or Chicago, even Milwaukee sometimes, they come out, oh my gosh, I can actually see the stars out here.

Oh, the stars at night.

Even more pronounced up here, I think the north, north, north woods.

Right.

The schooling system up here is fantastic.

The regular locals up here are fantastic.

You get in trouble or something breaks.

They have that extra tool in their truck that I laugh about because I didn't think of that and they all jump in and they help each other.

They look out for each other and the history

from the older folks, a lot of 70 and 80 year old people up here.

I swear they found the Fountain of Youth path.

They don't look their age and I'm like, oh, thank God I moved here just in time before the wrinkles start setting

in.

But the wonderful stories in the history, especially all the families that were involved in the logging up here, when they were peeling popple, when they were kids themselves and talking about their fathers and grandfathers with the horses and the mules.

pulling the logs out of the woods, even the ticks, they would run through.

Somebody would burlap sacks on the front of them to get

the ticks

before the guys walked through.

I'm like, you got to be kidding me.

But just those kind of stories and their ancestry, the people that came and settled these towns and areas, it's just amazing.

Just a couple of minutes left here.

I want to make sure we give you time.

What have I not asked you or we haven't talked about yet that you want people across the state to know about you or your business?

North and Pines Resort.

What I'd like everybody to know is if you're passing through the area, make us your destination for dinner.

If you're looking for a wonderful spot to stay for a couple nights, vacation with your friends or family, you can rent out the whole resort.

I have several people that have already done that for next year.

Wow.

Keep in mind that the North and Pines too is available.

18 months out, you can make your reservations.

And I'd like everybody to know to give us a chance out this way.

from, again, Ironwood, Mercer, Hayward.

The trails are beautiful out here.

They do a great job of grooming in the wintertime.

And the people out here are just fantastic.

Now, they really are.

I'm just looking at my chair here, because, oh, here, we went over to, by the way, a shout out to the Butternut Cafe, Big G and the Darla took us over there.

Another great sponsor here at Civic Media.

Got myself my ATV, UTV, Ashland County map.

I put the dollar in, so I paid for it.

But with the lack of snow, UTV and ATV,

might be bigger now than the slow billet?

Yes or

no?

Well, what I do know about the ATVs, again, I've had the pines for a year and the bar and glidden for four years.

It's perfectly legal to ride all over the streets and glidden coming and going.

And now from the northern pines, you can also access into the town of Park Falls and a butternut.

So it's actually quite user-friendly for those of you that like your ATVs and UTVs.

Snowmobilers, though, you know, you have to stick to your trails,

but

there's a lot of great stopping off points as you're traveling through.

I would like everybody to know is that we welcome all and it would be a pleasure to have you come in for a little bit of dinner or if you're up in a glit and stop in for a drink and say hello.

Absolutely fantastic.

We're going to ask you the question because we're going to come back.

We play this daily segment called What's Worse?

The question today, Lina Matola, what's worse?

Tourism or no tourism?

What's worse?

obviously is no two

exactly right that's the I don't know the writers you came down but I suppose there's some people like I was just

thinking I went off in my head about the bad customers

we don't want to go there we won't go there no it's a number one thank you

Because you're part of what makes some Wisconsin great and your husband running these businesses, but also your sponsorship for Jane Greg and myself on this tour.

Stop by folks at Dalinas Northern Pines.

Looking up on Facebook will put the information in our show notes as well.

We'll see you tonight.

We know for dinner and a pontoon boat.

My pleasure.

Take care, everybody.

Thank you so much.

Lena Petola, everybody.

Come on back.

We will play once worse.

And also, big G, Jane McNair and Greg Box trade ahead.

Live from Butternut on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Fish and whistle.

A whistle and fish.

You need to have a thing that can put on your dish.

And when we give food, we'll make a big wish that we never have to do this again.

Again.

Again.

Oh, my very first job, I said thank you.

Welcome back to the Town of Olbo Show Live from Butternut, Wisconsin.

We are here at the Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio.

Many thanks to Kelly Meredith, the proprietor here in downtown Butternut, along with our friends, our colleagues, Jane McNair and Greg Bach of McNair on air, who started the day from 9 to 11 and then handed the broadcast baton off to us here to finish it out.

What a beautiful day.

I mean, the sun is out.

It's the perfect temperature.

Skies are blue.

We had lunch.

at the Butternut Cafe with a bacon cheeseburger that was at the bacon alone to get this summer's.

You could have made just a bacon sandwich out of the amount of bacon on the bacon cheeseburger.

So I really had two sandwiches.

Our colleague is Jane and Gregor over in Hamox out here in the backyard resting.

I'm not sure if I'll make it through the show because I'm very, very content.

I bet it sounds like you are having a great time and I wish I was there.

Jane and Greg

are

not in hammocks.

They're working.

But we still, we were so full and satisfied after being at the butternut cafe.

We felt like we should have taken a nap.

But we're going to be along here in a few minutes.

We're going to talk about the tour.

We're going to talk more about this.

beautiful part of the state, which again, really my only job here at Civic Media is one thing.

And that is to make the legend, the broadcast legend that Jane McNair is, to make her dreams come true.

I am the, I am the, I am the Lenny to the, the Vernon Shirley that is Jane McNair.

I'm here to make, because she had, but last year it was Amory.

I kind of go to Amory.

And so I said, okay, we'll take you to Amory.

And we had a lovely, lovely time.

And now

she said this year, she got to be in her bonnet about Butterfield, the butternut, sorry, butternut.

And she said, I got to go to butternut.

And so we loaded up the truck and we moved to Beverly.

We moved to Butternut, and it's been wonderful.

So we're going to talk more about that.

And if you're listening to us on WBZH, the Buzzlin North in Hayward, our great radio station up here at Talk News Station in the Northwoods, stop on by here in downtown Butternut at the Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio because Big G and Darla are here.

You can spin the prize wheel, get some great prizes, meet them, meet Jane, meet Greg.

We got Kringle from Racine.

It's going to be a good time.

Have by all.

We're here.

or another, well, 40, 35 minutes or so until four o'clock or so.

Right now though, a time at 25 minutes past the hour of three o'clock, time to play a speed round of what's worse.

Let's go.

Zommerz has turned up the dial on the record player.

We still have it.

We still use a vinyl record player at the World Headquarters.

Nicely done, Zommerz.

Nothing to give away.

No prize money involved.

Just your chance to have your voice heard across all 11 news, talk, and sports stations in the Civic Media Radio Network.

All right, category today, very appropriate.

Timely, timely indeed, as Mike Lucas says, what's worse?

Tourists are no tourists.

Tourists or no tourists 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 You can also text us on the civic media app download it at your Apple or Android device today Simply go to your app store type in civic CIVIC media Download it takes less than a minute.

It's free.

It's what CBS has galed King calls a deal the civic media app and here's why you got to have it zombers

Because tomorrow, even though Jane and Greg and I are on the road,

Luke Mathers, when we met him in Oshkosh, he flew in via helicopter.

Had to be very pricey, by the way, for Civic.

He flew in via helicopter with his leather satchel that he oils with synthetic mink oil.

And he pulled out four Milwaukee Brewer tickets for Jane Gregg and I to give away tomorrow on our show.

Join Jane and Gregg at nine to 11, us two to four.

And we will give you a key word in each of our shows.

And then you have to text that word and sub.

by the end of tomorrow is going home with four club level seats on our Friday ticket giveaway.

A Lollapalooza of Milwaukee Brewers tickets every Friday.

Gonna have the Civic Media app for that.

All right, what's worse, tourists or no tourists, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two.

Zomers, we already had one answer.

Lena Metola was here, of course, is a proprietor of a resort.

She says, well, no tourists are worse, of course.

She looked at me like I was crazy, which we all know it was funny.

It was funny.

It was kind of funny, wasn't it?

What's worse, Zomers, what's your opinion on this?

This is I know you said there's a clear answer.

It's pretty cut and dry But I will

say

there are some arguments against having tourists like the extra impact on the environment from all the travel and As cam and Appleton said essentially that you know impact from the travel and that it can Price out locations and gentrify areas and things like that So there there are negative impacts from tourism, but also it I do still think no tourists is worse because

It is good to make an area accessible to other people so that they can learn more about it.

And especially for a place like Butternut, I don't think the environmental impact is going to be a problem for people who just go up there and spend some time in nature.

Yeah, no, I mean it's people I think the great thing about people up here is they truly are conservationists and take care of the land up here and so even if you can't live in harmony and peace with tourism and the Environment and and being a great steward of the land.

So yeah, absolutely was worse tourism or no tourism 8 5 5 7 5 tourists.

Sorry or no tourists 8 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2

Now that on the graphic for those watching on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, the graphic for no tourists, it says no lifeguards, no restrooms, no tourists.

Because there are some yahoo's that come up and just kind of, you know, wreak havoc.

But I would say 95, 99% of the people that visit are wonderful kind people just to enjoy the Northwoods.

Would you use them?

I would.

And I would also say I.

Now I just, I really want to go to Butternut and just hang out.

You gotta get to Butternut.

You have to be a Butternutter.

I want to listen to what the people have to say.

That's the best part I've learned up here today, is that the people that live here are called Butternutters.

That is

amazing.

I love every part of that.

All right, well, we'll do a longer version tomorrow.

I think, yes, I think the correct answer is what's worse are no tourists.

We love tourists up here.

We love tourists in Wisconsin.

Come and visit.

Spend your money.

We love that very much.

And come back and see us soon.

Come back.

We have a sports news update here.

And big G, Jane Mattner and a little G are on the other side.

Don't go anywhere.

We're live from Butternut on the Civic Media.

information I made a bucket list

Fulfilling Jade Matt Nair's bucket list.

Changing a beat enough.

Welcome back to the town hall ball show on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Little Kenny Chesney to kick off our last hour.

Welcome back here alive on location in beautiful Butternut, Wisconsin at the Fanatical Fish Art Gallery and Studio.

Glad to have you along here at the table.

That's right.

The one, the only Jade Matinair and Greg Bach of Matinair on Air Jane.

I said it before, I am here to fulfill your bucket list wishes.

And I cannot thank you enough.

Big G and Darla and so many other people at civic media who made this possible I Again, it's you know when you get an idea in your head You hear of somewhere and it's like I would really like to go there because I think I would like it

I just do.

And I do.

I think butternut is

great.

And Greg, I can't tell you how cool it's been.

Jane and I got to do this last year.

It's been cool to have you along this year, bring us a whole new energy.

And just we've talked to three of us traveling around these great stories that too often we don't take time to cover.

Absolutely.

It's wonderful to hear these individuals talking about the history of the town, whether it's we're going back far in history or we're just talking about growing up here in the town.

And...

and telling us these tales that are connective tissue to all of us here in Wisconsin.

And we all know people who live in these smaller towns, rural areas, and they're just as important to the story of what we do here at Civic Media as you said earlier, the news headlines we talk about because they are us.

Yeah, absolutely.

And these things don't happen on these trips.

A, with our great sponsors.

We thank all the people for doing that, the people behind the scenes.

And one of the main people that made this happen, Jane mentioned Darla, one of the GM here, but the other guy, he's big news.

He's literally named Big G. I welcome in at the table here.

I'll say my broadcast partner from the Birkebinder the last couple of years over at Hayward.

And now Big G, we get the word together in Butternut.

Thanks for all you've done.

You bet.

Well, thank you, Todd.

We had a good time at the Birkebinder there.

And this is the fun part of the job right here.