1st Annual Parking Lot Party

Good afternoon, Wisconsin, afternoon, everybody.

Welcome to WFHR, WIRI's parking lot party.

Woo, we're here to have some fun, everybody.

We're gonna do that.

We got a lot of great things going on.

James and Melissa to kick things off with you.

Thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate the company and appreciate

so many people coming down already today, Melissa.

This has been a blast.

Woo, this has been its guide.

We have got our adrenaline up, so keep that in mind, everybody.

You might want to keep your radios in check a little bit.

We're trying to keep us calm.

Yes, yes, a little bit, a little bit.

We want to say hello to all of our friends out there

who have stopped by.

Big thank you to so many, Melissa.

A couple that we're going to be bringing on the air with us.

Oh, yeah.

We're looking forward to that.

We're going to have our VFW on at about 420.

Our community, Wood County Health Department,

going to be joining us about 20 minutes later.

We'll wrap up the hour with the Wood County Health Department.

We're going to kick off next hour.

With parents as teachers, that's so fascinating.

I can't wait to hear more about that.

Absolutely.

We're also going to talk with our friend Joe

from El Taco Social Food Truck.

Yeah, at the top of the 5 o'clock hour.

And we'll wrap things up in the 5 o'clock

talking with Tom, our friend from Edge VR.

Oh, yeah.

The kids have been loving the virtual reality in our lobby.

It has been so fun to see.

I put a video on our Facebook page with that

and even showed what, because we could see what they were doing

on the tablet that they could see.

So it was really neat.

We've had, but we've been doing this since noon.

And we've been having a great time doing this.

We've been getting out a lot of great things.

I want to say thank you to our friends that have been here

since early on.

A big thank you to our friends at Wick that stop by for a bit.

That was great to have them here.

I want to thank our people from the bike share program

or Wood County Health Department.

Our VFW has not only been here, but I've noticed them

a couple of times like helping with things around here.

They have been phenomenal.

Huge shout out to Sean Plant and Misty Sorensen

because they showed up early.

They helped me get the parking lot blocked off.

They brought cones.

I mean, you want somebody that's ready

and invite the military.

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

They are a mainstay.

Everything we do from now on.

Absolutely.

We appreciate all of them.

And it's been a lot of fun here.

Not only as, again, edge VR, helping with the kids

and giving them stuff to do.

They've been doing sidewalk choc.

They got a bubble machine out there.

We will comment on our hulu hoop contest

a little bit later.

The results are in.

I've made have already posted it on our Facebook page.

James, I did.

That's that is perfectly okay.

But along with all of the things we're doing here,

all of this is certainly to get your guys' feedback.

Get you guys here.

Maybe get you signed up for the newsletter.

Yeah.

But we've also been trying to promote so many

of these great people that are with us.

I do want to send a special shout out

to our friends and family and natural foods that stop by as well.

Good to see Karen.

Thanks, Katrina.

It was awesome.

I heard you guys were doing some hulu hooping yourself.

We were.

She beat me.

It's been fun.

It's been so much fun, everybody.

And we can't do this without you.

So a big thank you to everybody that joined us.

But Melissa, I want to kick off this hour

with some new radio talent.

Yes, we have been.

Oh, by goodness, James.

I've been having so much fun with these kiddos.

They are phenomenal.

I cannot wait for you to hear these kids.

They have been recording most of them

have chosen radio DJ music DJs.

So you're not going to get to hear the song

that they're introducing

because we're just going to, you know,

be careful with that.

Yeah.

Copyright and all that.

But you'll get to hear their intros

that they helped me.

Well, I helped them script it.

But they picked their own DJ name.

They picked their own song.

They wrote their intro.

They wrote their description.

We got a news reporter.

We've got a sports broadcaster.

So and then they got to load these

onto these wonderful little USB drive wristbands

that have our call numbers on them.

Take these home and show their,

share it with their family and friends.

It's so cool.

And the music ones,

they got to keep the song on the wristband too.

Yeah, that's awesome.

We're just not going to play it on the radio.

Right.

But that is really cool and a great idea.

We're still, we're still hoping everybody.

Yes, we're here till six.

So we want to come on down and try out a radio job

even if you're not a kid.

Yeah, you can come try it.

Why not?

Might even find the new passion.

I know.

I know that's what happened to us.

Oh, they're not in such a good time.

And these kids naturally sound awesome.

And we can't just talk about this.

We're going to play it.

We're going to play it.

We're going to play some of these for you.

We're going to get these in for you here

before we go to our first break.

All right, I'm going to head on out, James.

Yes, keep going.

Thank you, Melissa.

Thank you for kicking things off with us.

We appreciate you.

So I'm going to go ahead and go to the kids voices here

and we're going to start things off first

with Noah, music DJ here.

Noah.

You're tuned into the WKID radio.

That's right.

Wisconsin Kid Radio,

where you'll only hear songs

that are approved by us, the kids.

I'm your musical DJ host, Noah.

Next up for your listening delight

is one of my old time favorite songs.

This song has a cool wrap at the end.

Now here's rap guide by M&M.

Stick with me, your host, Noah,

on WKID radio.

How good was that?

Noah, you killed it.

You did awesome, man.

Nicely done Noah.

That was awesome.

Big thank you to Noah

for sharing his talents with us.

Here is Bailey Niko, music DJ, Bailey Niko.

Let's go.

You're tuned in to WKID radio.

That's right.

Wisconsin Kid Radio,

where you'll only hear songs

that are approved by us, kids.

I'm your musical DJ host, Bailey Niko.

Next up for our listening delight

is one of my old time favorites.

This song has a good beat and tells about life

or what could happen in life.

Now here's this is what heart rate feels like.

Stick with me, your host, Bailey Niko,

on WKID radio.

Wow, that was really good, Bailey.

Nice job, Bailey.

Woo, that was really good.

I'm already starting to feel a little bit worried

about my job.

I'm starting to think that my job

might be in danger, everybody.

We're going to go ahead and go to Jack

in sports, Jack.

This is Jack on WFHR and WIRI.

I'm here at the football game.

The dolphins are facing off against the Packers.

This will be the record breaking game

with the Packers on a winning streak

and the dolphins just one step behind.

If the Packers win,

they'll head to the Super Bowl to face the Panthers.

If the Panthers win,

they'll have a chance to break their own record

with a comeback story for all time.

Stick with me, Jack,

and catch every play during our live coverage of football

on WFHR and WIRI,

your locally grown radio station.

How good was that, everybody?

Jack, well done.

Nice work, Jack.

To the parents out there that let their kids do this

and everything first off, thank you so much.

We really do appreciate it.

Not only do you never know what Spark might start

in a kid from doing something like this.

We're not just saying maybe they'll work in radio,

maybe they'll work in something that is similar to radio

who knows what the Spark might start there.

But also to all the parents,

we might need your kids to come back

and fill out a W2 because they're very good.

They're very, very good at this.

We might have some new employees starting up.

The future radio looks awfully bright, everybody.

This has been a lot of fun.

These kids are doing a great job.

Again, we are going to be doing this.

Our WFHR, WIRI Parking Lot Party,

is going to be going strong until six.

Come on by, say hi, gets yourself some food.

Maybe spin our wheel and win some games

or win something, win a prize, win a shirt,

all this fun stuff.

And if you get the chance,

we'd really appreciate you being able to drop off

any non-perishable food items for our food bank

or something for our Southwark County main society,

maybe for the pets,

any of the above that you're able to do.

We greatly appreciate it, everybody.

We got one more kid voice for now.

We might have some more coming later, we'll see.

But for right now, we're going to wrap up with DJ Kai.

DJ Kai, I believe it's DJ Kai here.

Hi, I'm WKD.

Where are you?

Oh, that was amazing.

Nice work, kids.

Nice work, kids.

I got to be honest with everybody.

This is going to be one of the best things I ever do

in my career.

This is awesome.

This is already awesome.

We're just getting going here.

We're just getting things started.

We again, we'll be joined by some good friends of ours

and just a little bit.

Sean Plant is going to join us from VFW Post 2534,

looking forward to talking with Sean.

It's going to be a good conversation, as always.

And we'll have some more great ones coming up

for you, everybody.

Stop on down, pick up some food, enjoy yourself,

and have some fun here at the WFHR,

WIRI Parking Lab Party.

And keep in mind,

one of the things that we're looking forward to doing

is talking to you, hanging out with you.

Now, this has been great.

We already have a great time,

and I'll be honest with you,

this has already been a success.

But one of the most successful parts about this

is us getting to interact with you,

not only to talk about what you might like about WIRI

or what WFHR, things that you would like to see

about in our stations.

Certainly, that kind of thing is something

we're enjoying, talking with you about.

We already had at least four or five conversations

out the top of my head about this.

It's been great to talk with all of you,

and no middleman, no computer screen

or anything like that, just face to face,

local radio the way it should be.

And I do want to send a gigantic shout out

to the civic media family

that is giving us the opportunity to do these things,

not only emboldening us and investing in us

to be quite blunt,

but also giving us the opportunity

to have fun and do things like this.

And we are not gonna stop here, everybody.

We are looking forward to doing more of this.

And while we're at it,

I should remind everybody, the phone lines are open.

715-424-2600.

If you can't stop on by, you can call in

and go ahead and share some thoughts with us

or anything above.

We'd love to hear from you.

Do you wanna remind you that normally programming wise

on Wednesday, we would be doing Midday Magazine.

Be sure to join us Monday through Friday,

four to five for Midday Magazine.

We get an opportunity to have a dialogue

like no other where we talk with a lot of local community

people, get to community events

and have a darn good time while we're at it.

Be sure to join us for that.

And of course, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday

from five to six playmakers.

Our sports show, our sports call-in show,

I should say, where you guys run the show.

Me or Randy or Seth or Michael might be here talking,

but it's really your show.

So we'd love to have you join us.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday for playmakers,

probably brought to you my quality post printing,

getting your words out here in Wisconsin Rapids.

Speaking of the game at Quality Plus,

shout out to Phil and the team,

not only joining us earlier today

with our Wicked Awesome Word of Wednesday.

That was a lot of fun, Phil.

A lot of great choice.

But it was good to see you, man.

Good to see you, Phil.

Thanks a lot for stopping by.

This is what we're doing.

This is what we're about, everybody.

It is supporting local, doing local things like this.

We're looking forward to doing more and more

as we go along.

We will take our first time out, get our first time out

out of the way and take care of our sponsors

and our partners here.

When we come back, we are gonna be joined

by the VFW2534,

looking forward to talk with Sean.

Just a little bit right here on WFHRWRI's

parking lot party.

Welcome back, everybody.

It is WFHRWRI's parking lot party.

Live remote, we are here, having some fun

and appreciate you all joining us.

Right now joining us on the lines here

are our good friends from the VFW post 2534.

We have Sean plant with us.

Sean, thank you so much for being here, man.

Absolutely, thanks for having me.

Appreciate the time, and certainly appreciate everything

from our VFW, what they put into our communities,

what they do, and including things like this,

not only hanging out with us here today and being here,

but also, I saw you running around

and helping with stuff all over.

Nobody asked, you just get up and do stuff, man.

I cannot thank you enough for that.

That's the way we roll it.

Right on.

Sean, we got some things we're gonna cover today.

Where do you want to start?

First off, we want to cover,

we will be at the calendar cornfest this weekend.

That's coming up out in calendar.

We'll be roasting corn, dollar and a year for roasted corn.

Nice.

We'll be serving on Friday, August 16th,

from 5 to 8 pm, and then we'll be serving again

on Saturday, the 17th, from 11 a.m. till 9 pm.

So, that's gonna be a good time.

And the calendar cornfest is one of those things

that we look forward to every year.

That's gonna be a blast.

Sean, have you guys gotten to do this before?

Yep, we've been doing calendar cornfest for quite a few years.

I don't remember how many I can't think how many years.

It's been a while.

Yeah.

This is one of those mainstays,

one of those events that we all look forward to

and everybody loves corn, corn on the cob,

there's no bad way to have that.

That's gonna be a blast.

That's gonna be a fun event looking forward to it.

And you got something else coming up as well.

Yep, right now we've got our ultimate car raffle going on.

It's, we're raffling off in 1972,

Pontiac Le Mans Sport 400 CQ Against Engine V8,

automatic transmission.

It's $50 a ticket.

There's only 1,000 tickets sold.

And the drawing will be on Veterans Day

or whenever we get all the tickets sold.

And the money raised from this raffle

is gonna go to put new siding on the VFW haul.

We just did put new roof on it this spring.

And now the siding needs to get updated, so.

Well, we're really good to hear, man.

First off, you know it's an amazing car.

When just the picture of it makes you want to just stare at it

and just like look around it and everything.

That is a nice vehicle right there.

It's good to hear what this is being raised for.

To be honest, now I, the RVFW does an amazing job

putting into this community and doing different events

like the cornfest and something like this

and so many other events that you guys are at.

So often it's to help others and raise attention

and awareness for others and everything.

I don't, I understand why, but I appreciate you guys

being able to do something for you guys

and something for the VFW.

That is really good to hear and very deserving.

We want to make sure to be a part of that.

It's much appreciated, I mean, we got to keep the lights on

and the building in the building standing, so, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

And that building you're talking about, man,

we always want to encourage people

when VFW was having open houses

or having events over there, check that out.

Certainly brought fries throughout the summer and everything.

We want to make sure to attend those

because it's not just supporting our vets

as one of us should be doing and honored to do,

but it's also the VFW supporting their communities

and supporting their areas.

And more times than not, these events are for that.

Absolutely.

Next weekend actually is our buddy Poppy Drive,

which is August 23rd and 24th,

will be at eight different locations around town

and handing out buddy poppies, both,

we have this year we have the standard paper flowers

and then we also have what are called the tin blooms this year.

It's a little metal clip to go on like a hat broom

or whatever.

It's not a little something new thrown into the mix.

And all of the money from buddy poppies

turns around and goes right back into all the veterans'

charities that we donate back to,

the Toma Long-Term Care Program,

the Veterans Home at King,

the State Emergency Relief Program,

the Unmet Needs Program,

the VFW National Home in Eaton Ranch in Smiths again.

And all of these other veterans-based charities

that we donate back to,

we normally bring in about $8,000

during our buddy Poppy season,

but then we turn around and donate over $10,000

back to these different charities.

You know, when you sign up to be a part of our military,

there is a time where you can leave the service

and go into civilian life and these things,

but you never stop being a soldier.

You never stop doing and finding ways to incorporate

and to be a part of your community or do different things

to do just as you would as a soldier.

Absolutely.

And it's so evident in something that we,

I don't know, to me, I refuse to normalize.

Going back to my grandparents or anybody else

that I've been around that have served.

And I remember my grandfather messed his back up bad.

And he had these plans later on to do something

at the VFW, the We're at in Chicago and everything.

And none of us thought he was going to be able to do it.

He was just out of commission, got up and still did it.

And he did not think two seconds about this.

We're all like, Jack, what are you doing this?

And this is what you do.

This is what we do.

This is it.

It just is so evident and so appreciated, man.

Those locations you mentioned,

do you know those off the top?

Do you know some of them?

Yes, I don't want to put you at the spot.

We'll be at Walmart.

We'll be at East Grand I, IGA.

We'll be at, I'm sorry, Baker Street, IGA, West Grand IGA,

Ace Hardware, Pick and Save,

and the Lincoln Street Quick Trip and the Quick Trip

on Highway 54.

Excellent, excellent.

We're looking forward to that.

And again, appreciate what you guys are doing there.

Let's go one more time before we, you know,

let's you get moving on here and everything.

One more time, go over the events we were talking about

just before.

All right, we got the counter cornfest this weekend out

and counter between Mickey's tip up and the counter club.

We'll be roasting corn, dollar and ear on Friday is the 16th

from five to eight p.m.

And then again, on Saturday from 11 a.m. to nine p.m.

Excellent, excellent, John.

And one more event we wanted to make sure, yeah.

And then we got our car raffle for the 72 Pontiac Lemons,

$50 a ticket, only 1,000 tickets sold.

And the drawing will be on Veterans Day

or whenever we get all the tickets sold.

So, excellent, excellent, man.

We appreciate this, appreciate you guys being here today.

Again, thank you so much for all you do, Shawn.

We'll talk before you take off, okay, man?

We'll talk.

Absolutely.

Thanks for the time, man.

We all take a quick time out, check in with our partners.

Actually, we're going to get to our state and local

and news and sports.

We'll do that, we'll come back and have some more fun.

We've got good people joining us coming up

from the Wood County Health Department

and El Taco, social and plenty more here at WFHRWIRI's

parking lot, R.I.

Welcome back, everybody.

WFHRWIRI's, I was trying to think of one I wanted.

We'll go with parking lot party.

It feels like an open house, feels like a house party.

There's so many different words we could use for.

This is the most active I've ever seen this place.

It's wonderful.

It has been so much fun, Beth.

And Beth is joining us right now

as it's a horrible intro to you.

Hi, everybody.

Beth, our good friend who co-hosts with us

on our morning show all the time.

And of course, a Reverend other Moravian church here in town.

Beth, I saw you and I'm like, I could steal Beth

and get some time out of her.

I can make her work a little bit.

You just have to work that out with my husband, that's all.

And then actually kicks things off

because I wanted to thank you for letting us

power your husband all day.

We appreciate that.

Thank you so much for that.

Shout out to Seth and the great work he's doing over there.

Beth, you guys always do good work in this community

at the Moravian church.

It's one of the reasons we love working with you guys

and love having you on the air.

And you have a couple of things going on currently

and one coming up this Sunday, I believe Sunday.

Saturday.

Saturday, I'm sorry, I knew I got that wrong.

This Saturday, I think one of the most Wisconsin

and most awesome ideas I've ever heard.

I honestly haven't heard of this kind of combination before.

We just, I don't know what brought it on,

but you know, with a farmer's market being just down the road,

we're like, people are coming past our building anyway.

Let's do something fun.

So we're having a rummage sale and a brought fry

at the same time.

In Saturday, in September, mind blown.

What a wonderful combination.

I think that this is going to be the start of trend

where we're going to see more of these.

And we're definitely going to see it at this Saturday

at the Moravian Church.

Yes, you are.

Going from nine to two, what kind of food

are you going to have down there, Brad?

We're going to have brats, burgers, nachos,

sodas, chips, baked goods by the members of the congregation.

And you know, you can't do better than church baked goods.

No, there is nothing better than church baked goods,

period, end of discussion.

Yes, I will put my mother's baked goods up there

just to save some of my neck a little bit here.

But yes, outside of that, yes.

This is going to be a lot of fun, Beth.

That's also going to be an opportunity for people

to put back into their community.

Yeah, absolutely.

We are able to use those funds to be able to keep the church

going so that we can be able to do more for the community,

like offer the book sale that's coming up in October.

And we are still currently collecting books for that.

Up through September 15th, we do have our bin outside.

If you come outside of office hours,

you can drop them in the bin.

Or if you happen to show up Monday through Friday,

nine to one, you can bring them into the building

and we'll make sure they get to where they need to go.

When it comes to the type of books that people

can donate, Beth, certainly what you would think of,

nothing that necessarily isn't is unreadable

or magazines or that kind of thing.

But otherwise, you know, pretty much,

it doesn't matter what kind of one type of book it is

or anything or anything.

We'll take all genres of books.

Yeah, absolutely.

We try not to get textbooks because that is such

a specific group of people that are going to need those.

But if you have inspirational books, we take drama,

we take fiction, nonfiction,

we're really looking for anybody that might be willing

to donate large print books because we have people

that come specifically looking for that.

So there's all sorts of books that you can find

on hobbies, on crafts.

We also take some of the media.

So if you have CDs or DVDs that you're looking to get rid of,

we have a lot of records that are being donated as well.

So if you collect vinyl, it's a chance to come see

what people are given.

Yeah.

That is one of the cooler things about this.

If you know, not only to me, but the other people

I've talked to about the sale and the collection

is the idea of collecting more and just expanding this

because it just means that not only can you do more,

but I think for more fun for people as well.

I can be able to pick it and get these things.

And all of this is for such an amazing cause, Beth.

Yes, all of the funds that we raise at the book sale

go towards scholarships for non-traditional students

at Midstate Technical College.

It's pretty cool.

That is a really cool thing and you talk about different ways

that the church puts back into our community.

That has got to be one of the number one ways it's done

and just very appreciated.

I think that a lot of us know what it's like those early days

or even before you get accepted to a school or something.

And one of the first things you worry about is,

how am I going to pay for this?

How am I going to pay for that?

Any bit helps.

Well, and these are specifically for those

that are looking to continue their education

or possibly change careers.

So we're thinking of the single mother

who wants to get a leg up and maybe study nursing

or something beyond what they're doing

so that they have a more stable and study income.

Most of the scholarships that have,

or the people that have been awarded our scholarships

in the last several years have been nursing students.

That's not a requirement.

It's not designed for the nursing program.

But any student that is not coming straight out

of high school and into college,

but is looking to get an education,

maybe they're older, maybe they're in their 80s

and are now wanting to go back

and just learn something new.

That's who these scholarships are geared towards.

And this is something that, while knowing you,

I know that this is something that whatever your title was,

this is something you'd be doing.

You would be doing something like this.

But it is certainly part of the faith,

part of them or even church

and the message of what you guys do over there.

Right, we believe education is from the cradle to the grave.

We never stop learning.

And one of the bishops of our church

back in the 1600s was John Amos Cominius,

who if you took education classes

and studied to be a teacher,

would know is the father of modern education

because he had this bright idea to put pictures

in children's books so that they could understand

what the word meant.

So amazing.

To think of the early days of those kind of first ideas,

and you got to think also that was one of those ideas

where there was at least a couple of other people there.

We're like, oh, why did I think of that?

Oh, that's such a good idea.

Why did they think of it?

It's a great idea.

And it really speaks to not only what you guys do over there,

but how much you mean to the community doing things like that?

We greatly appreciated it.

They do want to remind people as well that Beth

does a wonderful, beautiful service every Sunday.

And whether you can catch that at the church itself

and meet them over there right across from Third Avenue

in the Centralia Center, you can find them.

That you can't miss the building.

But also you can catch it on YouTube.

Go to YouTube, do yourself a favor

and type into your search bar.

Wisconsin Rapids and Arabian Church.

Subscribe to the page and you can check those out

in a lot of other videos.

And we will, we have our services.

We'll use last couple of weeks of summer at 9.30.

The week after Labor Day, I believe that September 7th or 8th.

Yeah, yeah.

Your calendar's not up to the right month, teams.

No, it's not, no.

I think it's the seven.

It is, it is, yes.

September seven.

We switch back to 10, 15.

So if you're looking for us live on YouTube,

it'll be just after 9.30 until September 7th on September 7th.

It'll be just after 10, 15.

Excellent.

And if you happen to miss it while we're going live,

we keep it on our channel so that you can go back

and check it throughout the week.

And as one of our first conversations,

Beth told me it is every, come one, come all.

Right, everyone is welcome.

Yeah, Beth, one more time when I remind everybody

the broad fry and rummage sale happening this Saturday,

9 to 2 at the Wisconsin Rapids and Arabian Church.

Come by, get some, bring your appetite.

Yes.

Bring your appetite.

And bring some cash so you can come take some things home with you.

Yeah, absolutely.

It is a rummage sale in order to get that part of it.

Again, just one of the most Wisconsin ideas I've ever heard of it

is so awesome.

Broad fry and rummage sale.

We've got to have more of those.

And we're going to have one this Saturday.

Again, meet us over at the Moravian Church from 9 to 2

for that wonderful event.

Beth, thank you for hanging out with us.

Hey, thanks for the invitation.

We'll have some more fun coming up.

We got another voice, another kids voice coming up, everybody.

We're looking forward to that.

And much, much more here at WFHR, W.I. R.I.

is Parking Lot Part I.

Welcome back, everybody.

It is WFHR, W.I. R.I.'s Parking Lot Party.

We're here live and direct with you.

Have it some fun bringing on not only some of our great local

people here, but have and waving to everybody out there

while we're out of the air.

But we're also bringing on some of our local nonprofits

and some of our local others, the local people with us

to highlight some different things going on in our area.

We've already been joined by our VFW,

Mom Moravian Church.

And right now, some of our favorite people,

the Wood County Health Department,

we have Penny Sharp with us right now.

Penny, it has been too long.

It's so good to see you.

It's really good to see you too.

Thank you so much for being here.

And I know it's been a while.

You can get right onto the mic, Penny.

There you go.

Thank you for that.

Because I want to make sure everybody can hear you right here.

Penny, thank you very much for joining us.

We're going to talk a little bit about working

with immunizations right now and that.

Yep.

One of the things we're doing right now

is really pushing the back to school,

school, the child routine immunizations.

State requires that kids have certain vaccines.

And if they haven't been to see a doctor lately,

they kind of need to get going.

And it's a good time for them to go this summer.

Yeah.

This is one of those things that we do

as being a part of a society.

It is not just about one individual, it's about all of us.

And it's really cool for kids to be able to learn that early on.

I know that was something that my mom made sure

that we weren't just, because I think this is something,

and look, not to put anything extra on parents' plates here

or anything like that, parents got a lot on their plates.

But this is the job of being a parent.

And one of the things you're able to do with not only

getting your kid all good to go for the school year

and immunized, but also teaching them here

that, hey, this is what it is to be a part of a society.

This is what we do.

We do things for not just ourselves and for us to be okay,

but for our others and strangers and family members and that.

Yeah, there's been some outbreaks of measles

in the United States.

And for a while, measles was pretty much gone.

And it's back.

I think we've only seen one case of measles in Wisconsin.

There may have been another one, but if people aren't

getting vaccinated, that's when it starts to spread

and it comes back.

Yeah, that's the thing about these diseases are relentless.

These viruses are relentless.

And they have no, to be blunt, they don't care about your beliefs.

They're not going to stop and be like, well, this person

standing on their principles, I'm not going to mess with them.

No, they're going to still come at you.

They're going to come at all of us.

And this is one of the things, again, that we do not only

to protect ourselves and our loved ones,

but to help each other out, to be there for each other.

That's the way this world works.

Nobody gets through life on their own.

It's a part of what we do as a society.

It's also something I think that's not only a good life lesson

for kids, but a nice reminder for us as adults that everyone,

and I'm not above this or anything anybody.

I'm saying it because I learned it myself.

It's one of those things is a good reminder to not only

what it is to be a part of a society,

but also to keep up on our own immunizations.

Right, right.

And Penny, was there something else?

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to catch you off there.

Yeah.

The other thing we're pushing is it's getting to be fall

and seasonal respiratory illnesses are coming.

So just trying to get the word out about flu vaccines

with the COVID-19, the RSV vaccinations.

So there's a number of clinics and pharmacies

that are going to be carrying some of the vaccines.

They haven't brought out the COVID 24-25 vaccine yet.

That'll be coming sometime this fall.

And the flu vaccine, it should be rolling out

within the next couple of weeks.

So I don't, Penny, I expect as busy as the health department

as you guys don't have a whole lot of free time.

But one of the things that I've done,

I would say, it was probably a couple of years

before the pandemic, but especially since then,

I can't help but dive into these rabbit holes

of these virus hunters, these people

that go around the world looking for ways to cure things

that may have not even happened yet.

Just trying to get ahead of this stuff.

We've got researchers, scientists out there

that have dedicated their lives.

Some of them 40, 50 years decades into finding cures

for the flu for measles, for COVID, for all of these things.

These people work so hard on this stuff

and then it gets down to you and the team

at the Wood County Health Department

and the Health Department's around our country

that just to go out there and do things like this

to inform our community.

If it feels like the least we can do is get the shot.

Like that's all we gotta do.

And certainly encourage people to,

if you have questions, ask, ask questions.

That's how we find things out, that's how we learn.

I don't know if you're gonna begrudge anybody

that questions something, but once you get the answers

from legitimate sources, get the shot

and help out the rest of society.

And let's give a little bit less work

to our health departments.

Right, right.

You know, one of the questions or concerns

from people is, why do we have to get this every year?

I've had the flu shot, you know, last five years.

Why do I need to get it again?

You know, same with COVID, you know, I've had it.

I've had the booster.

But the virus is, they just morph.

They just keep changing.

And so we have to keep up with, you know,

keeping up with what is the strain of the day.

Guess what happens if MATLAF Flora goes out there

with the Packers offense and does the same thing

that he did like his first game, like they

and just keeps doing that.

The defense is gonna eat them alive.

They're gonna eat them alive.

You never score a point, never score a yard,

never gonna first down anything like that.

These viruses are way smarter than any football coach

or any of us or anything like that.

They are so adaptable.

But one thing that we have in our favor, human spirit.

The human spirit is one of the strongest, most adaptable

things in the universe.

And we are able to counter these things.

We're able to catch up with these things

to the point where these vaccines work

and help oftentimes.

With when it comes to getting it every year,

it's because of the, you know,

the adjustments they make and stuff.

So it's a great point to make.

I appreciate that.

Yeah.

Anything else you wanted to touch on?

Not really.

Okay, okay.

I wanted to make sure we covered everything.

Good, good.

So once again, to the parents out there,

make sure the kids are all checked out and ready to go

and have all the things they need to start the school year.

When I'm reminded of that.

And certainly for getting ready for flu season in this,

keeping an eye on stuff,

we'll certainly keep the audience aware

of when those shots come in and everything.

Penny, if people have follow-up questions,

they want to know more from the Wood County Health Department

or have any follow-up questions or anything like that.

Where can they go?

They can look at the Wood County Health Department website.

It's Wood County Wood COWY.GLP.

Oh, you got it.

Oh, you got it.

And...

Nicely done, Penny.

I was going to...

I was pulling it up to read it for you.

Oh, you got it right there.

WoodCountyWY.gov.

WoodCountyWY.gov.

Yeah.

WoodCountyWY.gov.

You can check that out.

Yeah.

And the phone number 715-421-8911,

it's on the website.

We're there to answer questions.

Anything you have?

We're there.

Please reach out to them.

And, Penny, please say hi to everybody

over there at the Department for us.

Really appreciate you guys.

It's so good to catch up with you.

It's really nice to see you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Good to see you, too.

Thank you.

We'll talk again real soon.

You take care.

Okay.

We will get one more break in before we wrap up

the first hour here of our WFHRWYRI parking lot, Part A.

Welcome back, everybody.

It is the WFHRWYRI parking lot party.

Our live remote.

We're here live on the air.

We will be for another hour.

And the party is going for another hour.

Everybody, stop by and bye.

We're here till 6.

We got some food down here from our good friends

over at El Taco's social food truck.

Come on by and bring your appetite.

Have some fun.

Maybe get the kids recorded with Melissa.

All kinds of fun things.

Check out our friends at Edge VR as well while we're at it.

And, have certainly stopped by and talked to our friends

at the WoodCounty Health Department.

You get a chance.

We are going to do that right now.

We have a great friend, Laurie Peterson with us.

Laurie, it is always good to see you.

Hi, James, how are you today?

Doing good.

Have you been?

I'm wonderful.

Enjoying this day today.

It's just fantastic.

We want to send...

I should have done this to start off the show.

We want to send a big shout out to Mother Nature.

Yes.

Thank you so much, Mother Nature, for working with us today.

We appreciate it.

And you guys have been here really since noon, right?

We got here at noon.

We set up.

Enjoying the sunshine and the wind that picked up.