A Visit With Ironwood Native Dillon Makela – Now With The Chicago Cubs Organization

It's a pleasure to have Keith Johnson and Will Corcoran here with me this morning.

They are from festival ironwood and this starts today So today is the day you guys excited

very it's Exciting time.

It's a lot of planning and scheduling and stuff like that and we're excited to have it kick off this afternoon

Well, I was just talking with you guys before we started the you know discussion here and

I saw you guys meeting like six months ago already.

Yeah, we usually start right after the holidays, man.

Yeah.

We start right after the holidays with all our committee heads and start pre-planning stuff because you have to do a lot of stuff way in advance.

Like, shortly after we get festivals over this year, we got to book the tent for next year and a lot of the important stuff that has to be done well in a year in advance along with the entertainment.

Yeah, the entertainment I looked at we'll get to that in a little bit too and we'll talk about but the planning is enormous I mean you have a great committee that you have a lot of people working on this and like I think Keith said you start right after the festival ends

correct we do and Say our committees like you mentioned

We just let them run with it.

They are so good at what they do.

You know, they make Keith and I look very good.

You know, you got to have the head people to kind of organize a little bit, but you're right.

You can just, they've been on the committee before and they can just get out there and run with it.

Then you guys have trust in them and they do an excellent job.

And looking at the list, I printed this up.

Well, actually I can't take credit for printing it up.

Somebody else did, but it's all printed up and it's got.

Events for the whole family,

right?

There's there's something for every age group every family member the whole community Michael Myers at the at the chamber office does a fantastic job for us And and yeah, there's the like you said we start right away booking the tents look at entertainment Some of these groups are one to two years out.

So if we don't get them right now, they're not going to be here, you

know, yeah, exactly and We well tonight you've got flashback coming

and that starts at 5 p.m.

it says here you have the beer and brats I mean these guys you do have to book in advance because I know flash black flashback plays in a lot of the area places here too so you got to make sure you got these guys booked yes we do

and one of the things we do with our ironwood Hurley Rotary is

We have a partner with us where we split our proceeds, whatever we make, and we have Ironwood Sports this year, and we'll add them for the next two years, and then every two years we'll go to Hurley, and all the money Ironwood Hurley wrote him doing a commercial for him.

That's okay.

Basically, all the money that we make between the beer and broad tent, our road sale, our golf tournament that we run, we give it all back to Area Youth.

Perfect.

You know, you had a big steak feed?

During the yes, when was that?

I can't remember when that was off my head, but you had a huge state feed.

That does one of your fundraisers,

right?

I Love the state you guys get great stakes.

Yeah, so But you have a good crew that comes in and works there also, right?

And again, we could never do this stuff without our volunteers You know whether it's the cooks the people who work in the kitchen people that make the desserts whatever we could never do this with all volunteers and even like Monday night when we're setting up there's

20, 30 of them out there.

They came in and set the tables, chairs.

I mean, I mean, you need, you're right.

You need a few people in charge telling them what to do and then it's done and do a great job.

And the guys worked on the lighting last night till nine o'clock.

I mean that tent, the lighting, I don't think it's ever looked that nice.

The guys do a great job.

Yeah.

And I know, uh, you know, I, I know Todd Hager personally, but, um, you guys have had him for years do the sound and he does a wonderful job of that.

Yeah, he's got a new partner, Brady Thompson is helping

him

because they're going to, in fact, as we speak, they're setting up right now because we like to keep even when we don't have a live band, he plays music all day long and then he helps out with Bethany Helen's dance thing

and

the gugibic ram.

There's just a lot.

We try and keep something going throughout the whole three and a half days.

Yeah, and like I was saying, I'm looking at this list of things to do.

It's for the whole family.

The dance thing is a big thing.

I see a lot of people coming for that.

And we'll try to go by day by day.

We're not going to get into every piece of it because there's so much going on.

But you've got kid stuff going on.

You've got live music tonight.

You've got the beer brought under the big top.

And that's just starting off today.

And the amber light festival is going to be there.

So, I mean, that's, it's kicks off at four o'clock today, correct?

Correct.

Yep.

And it'll run till 10.

They have the 50 50 drying, which is huge.

Yes.

Yeah.

And then we've got the proper licensing and everything else this year.

No, so if any questions that would trust me, we went through the chamber this year, got the proper licenses and we have no problems there.

No, that's awesome.

Yeah.

I know we've done, we've done 50 fifties where I'm on a board at and who I tell you.

So also then we're going to Thursday.

We got some music from Todd.

Then we also have the Stormy Cromer warehouse sale Amberleigh festival.

I'm going to rattle these off quick because these are big of great events to have there.

But like we talked about for the whole family, a youth volleyball tournament for ages 13 through 18 at the depot.

That's always good.

You got a nice.

That's a nice facility over there.

It is.

The city that has done a good job building the sand volleyball courts in the pavilion.

And again, it's a great location.

We are not going to leave that area.

We're not going to go out anywhere else with the festival.

It's a downtown event and it's great.

Oh, people love it downtown.

You know, it's a great festival.

So, uh, you know, volleyball is happening then and then you have something new this year.

It's bingo.

Yes, we do.

Yeah, we, Angela Kortemeier is taking over.

She's helping with hope.

And last year she ran one session and it's gotten so big she's going to do two of them this year.

Again, it comes back to our volunteers.

Sure.

Just step up to the plate and run with this stuff.

That's getting bigger and bigger nationwide.

Yeah.

Yeah, I know.

I drive by in Bessmer when they have it on Monday night.

and there's cars they're two hours early people have to have their tables they're a little but it's great it's a bingo so that's that's added to the festivities and then let's see the opening ceremonies by the ironwood american legion is at four o'clock on thursday and then you have live music under the big top by ricky yorkovic there you go yep i'll tell you those people love the polka and

It's polka for all ages.

Absolutely.

I mean, again, we talked about something for all ages.

You get there, the people are dressed to the nines and we got to get the cornmeal on the floor.

They cut the rug.

They do a great job.

And it's wonderful to see those people out.

It is.

And I'll tell you, I see a lot of kids dancing to polka too.

And, you know, my aunt one time drugged me out on the floor.

You know what a polka I said?

I made the mistake of saying, yes, she wore me out.

I was beat by the first song.

I said, I got to sit down.

But yeah, it's a great time.

And now they also have launching.

Oh, wait, I gotta say this.

The Uper Style Woodfire Grilled Chicken Feed starts at four o'clock.

Carl Alotti and his crew, they do the wood fire chicken.

There's a line.

By the time we do the opening ceremonies, there's a line up for that chicken.

And we always get more so that we don't run out.

But again, very good meal.

Oh, it smells

so good.

I know.

I can smell it at my house and I live on Alfred Wright down there.

And then launching of the Ducks, the world's largest duck pick for children.

So that's a neat thing.

You have that every year and people donate prizes for that, correct?

Correct.

Yeah.

Marcy Koos is a day chair on that.

She does a great job and you'll get into something later on on Saturday as far as the adult pick, but her youth pick has done wonderful.

Got some great prizes.

Yep.

And you know what a big thing is on festival weekend is the reunions that come to town.

There's a lot of people that plan their class reunions or their family reunions around the picnic or around the festival.

I'm sorry.

So you see a lot of people there.

I see company B has their 107th Combat Engineer reunion under the big top.

Then to follow that is live music with Old Pine Road.

Correct.

They have a very nice following.

And again, like Keith mentioned, we try and have different kinds of music for every, you know, we have polka, then we go to Old Pine Road and just it goes throughout the weekend.

We try to touch base for everybody to enjoy whatever they'd like to hear.

And I think that's perfect because that's that's what a festival is supposed to be about.

Yeah.

You know, then let's see what else they have going on that night.

There's a pool tournament.

Yes, Gary Risco.

Let's take care of that.

He does a wonderful job with it.

Yep.

And I see the pool tournament.

I got in that a few years didn't win, but I think it was very Gary rigged it.

No, I'm just kidding.

I'm not that good a pool player.

There's a special kids nights movie Super Mario Brothers 2 at the historic Iowa Theater.

Correct.

Yep.

So that's neat.

That'll be great for the kids.

And that's that's one of the newer movies out now.

I know it came out maybe about two months ago.

Correct.

It's a recent release and Marcy did the Marcy Coos was a good job working with the theater to get the new releases.

And you know, there's no charge for it.

So we take care of the cost.

Well, and it's one of the offsite things in a sense.

It's downtown.

But also you have tours.

at the theater they're giving I think it's noon to one or something like that noon to two and then they're gonna have a little movie going on so yeah so you have all kinds of things now we're getting into Saturday and you have a walk run and roll what's the roll part about it that's what I want to know

well we do have some folks that have hand cycles or wheelchairs I

get it rolling okay I'm sorry I was thinking just drop or roll you know so I was totally up base there but yeah drop but before

excuse not doing around

oh that's

okay go ahead but Friday

there's a lot of Friday's kids day.

Yes, the

day before.

Okay.

You know, that's Margo home runs kids day.

We have all kinds of stuff from kids.

We have Saint mods coming with their buses here.

We also have Michigan State police are going to be there along with a lot of the blow up rides and different things that they do throughout the day that she does.

There's quite a bit going on on that Friday.

You got a trout pond that will does a great job.

Filet note them trout when the kids catch it.

Then it's fun to watch the kids do that.

I heard that's

something I look forward to this year.

I heard.

So don't ever hesitate to interrupt

me

because I might miss something here and there.

So just let's see.

So then it's also the 50-50 raffle happening that day.

And you draw at the end of each day.

Correct.

Yep, so then we're looking at Saturday starts bright and early 7 a.m.

With the walk run and roll registration under the big top begins at 7 a.m.

The art and the miners Memorial Heritage Park, which is always nice.

I don't know people got a chance to walk through there.

There's some beautiful displays.

Yes, wonderful.

Very nice.

And then you got the pancake breakfast by the Luther L. Wright High School Ski Team.

Good way to start your morning.

Absolutely.

And then another important thing.

They're eight o'clock in the morning.

You'll see it down the schedule is a Bloody Mary's a mimosas.

There we go,

you know between the car show and the run stuff like that people want something to curb their Dehydration and so that works out well

works overall.

Well, yes And getting into the old depot car show registration for vehicle placement car.

That's huge.

Yeah

It took me an hour and 15 minutes to walk through all the cars lined up on the side streets and all over the place.

And these people put so much effort into these cars.

So yeah, definitely get out and walk and look at these cars and then you vote on them, right?

Correct.

Yeah.

They got people's choice.

They got the committee choices, things like that.

But yeah, they come out, do a great job, clean their cars up and show them off nicely.

Yeah, they do a beautiful job.

Honor Guard at 815 will do the Star Spangled Banner ceremony with the American Legion post number five.

And then the walk, run, and roll race activities begin from the big top.

and here's Keith's favorite, Bloody Mary Bar, located next to the 50-50 tent by the Archive Building.

Stormy Kromer will be there.

There will be a volleyball tournament at the depot.

Now that's huge.

Them guys are playing all day.

They start right away in the morning.

They go all day till three, four o'clock in the afternoon.

Yeah, I've never been a volleyball player, but I enjoy watching.

And it's going to be warm.

I mean, we always know that at

this

time of year.

It's not hot, hot, but it's about in the 80s.

I'm tired watching them, you know, but they do a great job playing and you get a lot of good teams.

Do you want to go back Friday night to Brad Coos does that great bag toss down there.

Oh, yes.

Underneath the pavilion.

Yes.

You know, you got to get in there.

You can sign up right now at the chamber office or come that night, but they're limited as far as spaces.

And so if you're interested in throwing bags,

Get yourself down the chamber, get to see Brad as soon as you can.

Yeah, thank you.

Also, in addition to when that's going on, the Knights of Columbus is doing their fish try.

Oh!

Because they won't do their fish try there.

How did I miss all that?

There it is, Friday fish, I guess I gotta

look.

They do a really good job with that.

They're very well organized.

The guys that cook, I mean, they know what they're doing.

That's a very big event.

People are lined up for that also.

Yeah, definitely.

People plan their times around these stuff too.

Well, you plan a lot around food.

I'm sorry.

You always do.

You know, you always plan, you know, so the brat thing is going on tonight and then you have fish fry on Friday, right here too.

Yeah.

The cornhole beanbag toss.

You can still sign up for that.

I got, I used to play that quite a bit.

I haven't played it in a couple of years, you know, through my arm.

to Friday, which is

very important to me.

And I didn't want to forget saying about it, but we have all three nursing homes.

The Blue Bus Springs, we're going to have close to 50 people coming from Givick Medical, Skyview, Westgate.

They all come, and we block off the road, and we take all the chairs out, and we have room for 50 people to get them wheeled in there.

And Keith and I, through Festival, we

cover anything they'd like to eat or drink or whatever they do.

And we have Peter Groves band playing.

And those people are so happy to get out.

Yes.

Maybe a year or two, it's going to be me sitting there.

But I mean, that that is a very important part of festival.

some activities for them

I think that's fantastic you know people don't see some of that stuff behind the scenes because they're not there at the festival but yeah I you know my parents both had to do some nursing home time and for to get out and just enjoy the music and festivities and just see people that they might not have seen in a while you know yeah very nice very nice

Joe, I just got a text message here to make sure we remind people that the ironwood booster club drawing will be held at seven o'clock tonight underneath the big top and stuff like that.

So again, ironwood sports are helping us out with a beer and brats and stuff.

But again, the booster club drawing will be at seven o'clock tonight.

Perfect.

Perfect.

Let's see where I kind of left off.

And you guys, thanks for jumping in because there's things

I

easy to forget

stuff it is well there's so much like you said it's fun for the whole family and that's what's so great about these activities the kids are down there all the time playing i mean the music the food i mean there's a pickleball tournament

Yep.

We're working with Jay Kivistol at the Civic Center and he asked if we could be included in the rest.

Absolutely.

Anything that brings people of community and stuff and that would be a nice little event.

Yeah, and I know they have pickleball on Wednesday nights at the Civic Center too.

So anybody who wants to get into pickleball there and they do a wonderful job and so it's definitely added anything like you can add to this and it's not that far from downtown Ireland.

It's right on the GCC campus there.

and then the old depot car show classic cars motorcycles vintage snowmobiles and tractors then free live-stage entertainment under the big top ellen e jamboree

yeah they'll be there during the car show in the race they play saturday morning that's eric mauler elizabeth iser her

whole

band they'll play all saturday morning and that is followed up by bethan e helens dance thing and then the gugibic range band plays after that

And then we have Marty's come in, because they're a big part of our festival.

We really enjoy having them.

And then we wrap it up with a band called The Hucksters, Audashkosh.

One thing I'd like to mention too, going back to Friday, we have a new band playing Friday night.

Right after Red Higgins, who's been a regular for us for some years now, because he's very good, but we have Southbone playing right after them.

I don't know if anybody's ever heard of them, but they were in Wakefield for their 4th of July and they are a very good band.

Well, I see that now that I just kind of miss this whole page.

I don't know.

I'm looking at it.

I'm so glad you guys are telling me this because they got funny business on the Friday also and then the silent movie at the historic Iowa Theater, King's Workchips Scramble under the Pavilion, a pie social by the West Union United Methodist Church.

Watermelon eating contest.

Are you guys gonna get

Matt?

Yep, and I'll tell you who's gonna win right now.

He cheats every year, but it's the public safety director Matt Sturbins cheats every year.

Does he?

Yes.

He

uses

his hands

Well, we're gonna have to have some good judges watching him And then like you talked about will live music under the big top the grew crew will play 130 to 330 430 to 730 is red Higgins and I got a chance to talk to him last year

Boy, what a great guy.

And Johnny Cash is like...

You think Johnny's up there if you got your eyes closed.

He does a wonderful job.

You've got to get out and see him.

And Red and his wife love coming here.

Yeah, we put them out the motel and they go to mice for lunch.

They just love coming to Festival Airway.

Yeah.

And like you said, they've kind of been a staple for a few

years.

And then the new band, Saltbound.

So you got to make sure you check them out.

I like that you're getting some new bands.

I like all the ones that you've had.

I remember the Little Street Band played for a while there.

And then you had some, there was an extra, was it?

Extra.

You have the White House players, a lot of different ones over the years, and you have to change every so many years.

Yes, people want to see new bands, dropping of the ducks, I said that.

Friday Fish Fry, I want to give special credit to the Knights of Columbus, because I've been there for their Fish Fry, and yeah, there's a line right away.

You want to get in line probably an hour before,

because

they do a wonderful job.

And when Will buys, it always tastes better,

always.

I got my name on a list this year, I think.

So, okay, and then Saturday we did a bunch of the Saturday stuff, which is fantastic volleyball, pickleball, a classic car show.

Then the music, L&E, Jamboree, then Bethany Ann, Dan Studio, that always brings in a crowd.

They're three deeper on that stage.

You got parents, grandparents, family members.

It's three deep at that stage.

Yeah, and it's so fun watching

those kids.

Because they, I mean, all ages.

Outdoor pool tournament, dropping of the ducks again.

And let's see, then we're looking, we're into 10 a.m.

Hidden in Plain Sight, the Michigan State Police Dog

Prevent.

They're doing something different this year.

Okay.

They are coming on Friday during kids day.

Okay.

They came up, in fact, I just talked to them yesterday, they're not gonna do the hidden.

They have something else they're gonna do.

Okay.

We're gonna set them up for kids day right by the St.

Mods bus.

Excellent.

They'll have a tent there.

I just was there yesterday and they told me they're going to redo things there.

Okay, fantastic.

So the Michigan State Police will be there on Friday.

Correct.

Okay.

And then there is a Castle Moonwalk, Help or Hope will be there with their animal shelter pets and stuff.

Two years ago, a girlfriend of ours, she adopted a puppy last and that puppy's huge right now.

But she loves that puppy.

It's, it's amazing.

So stop and get out there.

Yeah.

It's nice to have them command and people have a chance to see firsthand what's available at hoping.

Okay.

Sometimes it works out.

Yeah.

Marissa told me she wants a cat.

So we're talking about that a little bit and she said, oh, there's six of them there.

They're all like a family and stuff.

I said, no, forget it.

We're not going to, or I could see all six of them coming home.

So, and then Luther, I'll write high school, I'll release your school bus tours.

That is,

they're going to pick them up there on Suffolk street.

Right at the end of where the, right by Coleman, they'll pick them up there, take them up to the school and take any, you know, give people tours that they want to go through the school and stuff and see what's the improvements have done and, and what's changed up there.

Okay.

And then funny business.

business, the happy days, slow poke, the clown, and then strawberry social by the Northwoods business and professional women's club, the old people car show loud pipes.

15 minutes of loud pipes.

Yeah.

And ironically, it's the same time the band starts.

It's just one of those scheduling things that we just

Couldn't change.

Well, they should play like one of those songs from Ozzy Osbourne or something where that were that were having up their engines and stuff like that.

But yeah.

And then the dropping of the ducks again, the Chamber of Commerce sunshine summer raffle drawing a cash prizes.

Now they've been selling tickets for that through

correct.

And Michael still has some tickets available at his office.

I'm not sure how many are left, but he's got a few left.

So if you want them, they're 50 bucks and it's a good fundraiser for the Chamber office.

OK, and talking about the historic Ironwood Theater again, they got that silent movie called

the battle of the century with Barton Pipe organ accompaniment.

So that should be pretty neat silent movie watching that.

I remember, I don't remember.

I wasn't born then.

Okay.

I'm not that old guys, but, but I see in some of the old silent movies, you know, you run them on Facebook or whatever.

So let's see what else we got.

Then we got the dropping of the ducks, the trophy presentations for the car show.

which is always great because those guys, like I said, put a lot of effort and gals, put a lot of effort into theirs.

Then we have the Leonard Street reunion under the Depot Park pavilion.

Yep.

They have a neighborhood reunion get together every year.

The coozes, the records.

I can't even go how many families are over there, but they show up and it's neat to see those people.

It's good to see that they're still around.

Well, and one of the things, well, probably for the festival, like Keith was just saying,

is there are so many reunions that come up for this stuff that you might not even know.

I know we had our 25th, 30th or something, I can't remember what it was.

Actually, we have a tent set up and we set up for where they can all meet because they all meet there, but obviously they go right to the beer booth.

But anyway, we've got four this year.

We have a sign that gets put up and I think we have the class of 1960.

Then we have 86, 96.

2006 so there's four that we know about I know there's more that show up We have a tent they meet there, and then they just disperse at least they know where they're all gonna be so

yeah Definitely, and then you know I'll tell you we were thinking of I lived up in jesseville my whole life Wow growing up life So we were thinking of getting our jesseville group together and doing a reunion and nothing better than do it at the festival So we have to get those guys together

Kind of lost their addresses.

I'm going to have to figure all that out.

But yeah, it's, uh, then Todd Hager is going to play DJ music.

And he, like I said, he does a wonderful job of keeping it all going.

And, uh, then the old depot car show crews on wheels lineup gathered at the depot and then the car show crews that they begin Marty's golden theirs at six 30, which always brings in a good crowd.

And then people are getting ready for the, uh, live music under the big top, the Hucksters.

Yes.

Yeah, they're a new band and work.

pretty excited to hear from all they saw in this year.

Yeah, I'm excited.

I love music and coming to see new bands all the time.

It's always nice to see.

Sometimes in your travels, I'm sure you guys have been out and about and you like to watch a good band.

So and then the duck pick for grownups.

Are

you going to

touch that one?

Well, Marcy played it right on her.

She created a monster.

In fact, she's done such a good job with this duck kick and only doing for the adults.

And it

sells out immediately.

I mean, the lines there, the prices are out.

If you're lucky enough to win something, a lot of the prizes are $150, $200.

There's a lot of really nice stuff she's got there.

It's something we never expected to happen

like

it did.

So we kind of relocated the geography of that because it kind of, that line got so big we couldn't get anything

done in

the middle.

So now she's, but.

It's going that's something new we did and it's going very well.

Okay.

Well, that's gonna be it's gonna be exciting and then the 5050 drying of course you die every day and Something that's not so much on a list, but you have food booths there and of course beverage booths.

So

yeah, we have five people involved not including our chicken cooks and the Knights of Columbus But we have people and they're all huge parts of the community we have

The first ones, the Ironwood softball little league.

They're one of our main vendors.

And two years ago, we got Friends of the Fair there, a new group that came in, take another spot.

And after that, we have the three in the beer booth, the American Legion, Aurora Club and Nori

Club

all work together very well.

You know, that's another thing, throwing a commercial in there.

But, you know, Legion's been around a long

time and

they do great.

Aurora Club and Nori Club, people don't realize how much those two clubs donate to the community and do for the area

that they

are.

That's why it's nice to have them as partners.

We help both clubs out quite a bit.

Keith and I decided

to get

them involved

two

years

back.

Yeah, very much so.

And then so you have, I know Nathan is running the softball booth.

Well him and his whole crew, of

course.

Graham let's say Graham is helping the sharing stuff, but yeah, it's they do a good job good food Really

good

food.

You can't miss it folks You got to get out to the festival and each day has something different but also for the whole family and Do you guys have some people before we end here that you want to thank?

I mean I know there's so many and I don't want you to start naming names because it's hard because you're gonna miss someone and you don't want to do that but You know you guys have a real good committee and it's nice to have the committee and maybe

Thank them

our grounds crew.

Yeah people don't realize they're there people don't even see what they're doing and I am gonna name names Gary risk

of

it and Randy kerchoff is involved with that now Jim Martel Came aboard this year and he helps and a few other but those three they're there as we speak putting up all the fences Cleaning and just there's so much they do before we even get there.

I mean they are

It's a lot of hard work, especially this year when it was so warm.

Oh, man, definitely.

Well, I've seen them there.

Actually, I drove by there, I think about 930.

And there was somebody there working on some lights.

I think that was scary.

and uh... but they're constantly helping out and you've got people that have to do the trash cans people that have to uh... you know take care of restocking stuff or whatever just whatever it's needed

yeah and again michael mayers at the at the chamber office has been incredible for us on these the guy who puts them in the uh... uh... scheduled together for those of the printing before we go to the poster you know pretty stuff like that michael's just great

Well, it's going to be a fantastic event again this year and we appreciate you guys taking time out because I know sure right after you run from here, you're going to go over there

and

do some more work.

But we appreciate you guys stopping in this morning and we'll definitely be there.

We're going to be there four to seven on Friday and we're going to have a broadcast from and then on Saturday morning just to kick off the Saturday morning thing and talk a lot about the festival.

If you guys get a chance, which I know you won't, but because you'll be busy.

But if you do stop on by, we're going to review some

your vendors and talk to them and let all these people that are like you said behind the scenes let them

come and you know get thanked and help get so we really appreciate you guys wonderful job again this year thank you for spending your time with us this morning we're at the top of the hour here on WJMS that was Keith Johnson and Will Corcoran from Festival Ironwood make sure you get done or it kicks off tonight folks at 4 p.m.

and we thank you guys very much for coming in yep starts at 4 p.m.

tonight they'll have live music with flashback all kinds of great activities coming up

throughout the weekend.

It's Festival Ironwood and it's time to get out and have a great time!

92 three classic country WJMS Rod I tell you it good thing.

You guys don't know what we're talking about off the air here rods.

Is this working?

Not

for long if you keep talking Well, it is 92 three classic country and we are here with Rod Halverson and a very special guest who flew all the way from South Bend to come up here just to be on our show South Bend wonder

Probably my second most favorite cities in the United States.

Do you know why, Joe?

Dun dun dun dun

dun

dun dun dun

dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun

dun dun dun

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Proud to have Wakefield native of Dylan Mackalaw Working in the Chicago Cub organization working reason.

I brought up salt and he is working with the South Bend Cubs and Dylan will Welcome to the station today.

Glad you could make it home.

Your flight was delayed, but you got here

Thank you for having me, but yeah, it was it was you know only delayed like 20 minutes 30 minutes, but

We got here in one piece and here we are.

So we found out it was a the flight attendant wasn't there.

There wasn't a plane problem.

Yeah.

You know, the dancer, you know, over the speaker, he goes, you know, we're in a delay with our flight.

And I was like, well, usually it's the weather.

I'm like, it's perfectly sunny, you know, 85, 90 degrees go up.

And I said, like, why is the flight delayed?

He goes, oh, the flight attendants not here yet.

Like, OK, like that's, you know, the plane's working.

Weather's nice.

Just can't get my count of Coca-Cola zero.

OK.

All right.

So I, I knew Dylan in high school because he was, uh, he was playing sports for Wakeville, Marinusco Cardinals.

And then what year did you join Marty's golden years, 2019, 2000?

It was when I was like, what, 15 or 16, 16.

So like 20, 2016, 2017.

Okay.

You were a sophomore in high school.

Okay.

Yeah.

And that's where he came on the scene and, uh, he was a snare drummer.

Of course I was on cymbals and he was just

He was just a cool kid back then, and he still is.

I've seen him grow up a little bit here.

And graduated in 2020, or 2020, from Lake Kilmarinesco.

Went on to Northern Michigan.

You had a passion for sports medicine.

Yeah, sports medicine, athletic training.

Yep.

All right.

That's

right.

So you went to Northern for?

Went to Northern for, well, I started at GCC, went there for one year, got some of my basics done.

Then I transferred out, and then I was at Northern for the five years left.

Got my masters and...

Now we're in the baseball world.

So last summer you were down in Dominican Republic.

Yeah last summer I started all this baseball stuff with the Dominican Republic with the Chicago Cubs and the DR in Boca Chica was there from May until middle of August went back to school did my last year of school and then Now here I am in South Bend, Indiana.

Cool

home of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

We can talk about that today too.

Every time I go past there, I just think about how Duke basketball runs that building.

Ouch.

I have to leave.

Oh my goodness.

He's going to have some good

digs on you

today.

You're

just going to sit there and listen.

I'm loving this right now, yes.

Football though, I mean, hey, I mean, you've got to join a conference for that, you know?

Well, you know, nobody wants them.

They're too good.

Aren't you joining a

conference though?

Are you, is that football or is that basketball?

They're in

a

conference, but football, they're staying independent.

Yeah.

So when you, we're going to school in Marquette, Northern Michigan, you got, how'd you get notified with, with the Cubs?

How'd you get involved with the Cubs?

So essentially, like I said, the first, this was my first year in grad school.

There's a application for athletic trainers for professional baseball.

It's called the Pbats.

So you go through there, you know, it's like a standard questionnaire interview form, like, you know,

your name, you really want your, you know, your resume, what you've done, all your experiences.

And then there's an option that gives you, like, choose your top three teams.

So at that time, I chose, like, the Brewers.

Yankees, Yankees, and Yankees.

Could you

let the gentleman speak,

please?

Yankees, Yankees, Yankees.

So I picked the, I put top three teams, like, not in any order, just, I basically, basically get off, like, location-wise.

I said to, like, the Brewers, you know, cause all their flights are kinda close.

Did the Brewers, the Twins, and then the Cups.

And at that time, you know, history, you know, we'll, we'll see that in the past.

Right.

And at that time, you know, I thought nothing of it.

Then you also have the option to like pick, you know, all your information goes to like all the, like major league teams and minor league teams.

You can select a box information goes all to those teams.

That's the application process.

And that was in December, November, December-ish in that timeframe.

And then essentially all you have to do is just wait for a phone call.

So then fast forward until like January.

Early February I was in class one day and I got a phone call from the Chicago number And I thought it was like a telemarketer, you know spam call I got an answer it I was like, okay, like you know not gonna pick this up and then I get a text from number saying like hey This is so and so with the Chicago Cubs and I was like, you know, there's this You know, they're just like I don't know so I call that number and it was the Chicago Cubs organization That's like like hey, we're like are you interested in like an interview like for athletic training them internship?

And I said like yeah, I'd be really interested

So I went through the internship process with them, and they said, well, how would you like to go to the DR?

And you know, a little history here, you know, being from the UP, I knew no Spanish.

Nothing like that.

Never flew out of the country by myself, or even flown by myself.

And I said, like, yeah, like, I think it'd be a great opportunity.

So I finished school that one year, packed my bags, and flew to Milwaukee to the Dominican Republic.

And the rest is history.

Good time down there, you got to meet some good people.

It was a great time, great people, great org.

Players now too, like I said, a lot of them are getting started to get called now to Arizona and low-way baseball Myrtle Beach with us.

So is that the lowest level of

the Cubs organization?

It is technically, but there's the DR, which is international.

That's mostly international prospects, Dominican, Hispanic, Latino, anything like that.

And then there's the Arizona complex.

which that is like, they're kind of like the same level, but the Arizona complex is like you're, you know, you D1, D2, D3 athletes are getting drafted by us just in the States rather than going to international and international academies.

But kind of the same thing, same schedules.

So

I think the thing to remember, Joe, is we should start answering these spam calls because he answered his.

Yeah, definitely.

We don't know

who's calling us.

We could be recruited

for

what I don't know.

Pickleball.

doing Notre

Dame football.

I cannot waste my Saturday afternoons doing that.

So you finished in Dominican Republic.

You come back to Marquette for your work on your master's last year.

I was working on my master's, yep.

Okay.

And you did good there, obviously.

Passed that, passed my board exam, yep.

And I remember talking to you, is either you or your mother during basketball season.

Not much of a difference.

mom

son right you

don't

remember who you talk

was were you there i don't know but this is when you were you were wavering you had you had some you had some decisions to make

i did yeah yes

and we were talking about that but

yeah that was uh going into the season like i said the first one it was only the cubs that call me go to the dr so i took that offer like i said great time great experience great people and then this cycle came around

And I got offered, you know, from the Cubs organization going to South Bend, which is the high affiliate.

And then I also got offered from the Kansas City Royals.

And that would have been right in Kansas City.

Yeah.

With the big boys.

With the big boys, you know, first name based with Bobby Whitton.

Yeah.

Kanglion.

But I, like I said, I want the experience like the Cubs organization has been great to me.

I, I Chicago Cubs.

Yeah.

They are listening by the way.

Yeah.

The Cubs.

Tap, tap didn't right

now.

Oh,

yeah, probably.

So the media app.

Yes, that's right.

You can get them all over the world.

That's right.

Hey, can I give a shout out to

Listers

in Depear?

I just did.

Go ahead.

Of

course you can.

Genie and Kevin.

It's your show.

Whatever.

Genie and Kevin listening in Depear, Wisconsin this morning on probably the Civic Media app.

I don't think our signal goes down there on 590, but Civic Media that they're familiar with because I gave them all that information.

So glad that they're listening.

Well, that's awesome.

That

is awesome.

So good shout out to them.

We're going to take a quick break here.

Okay.

And we're talking with Dylan and Rod.

And we'll be back here in about a minute and a half on WJMS.

Avanti Home

Health Care.

Good morning.

You're listening to 92-3 Classic Country 25 past nine o'clock.

We're here with Rod Halverson and Dylan Makula.

Yes.

And Dylan is nice enough to fly in from the south bend area.

All-star week, right?

That's why you have a couple days off,

is that what it is?

All-star week, like I said, all-star break isn't like, usually everyone's like, oh, it's like our halfway point, which in the major leagues, it's just over halfway, but with us, we're, we only have, when I go back, we only have seven weeks left, and then playoffs, because we clinched a playoff spot, so, you know, that could be an extra two to three weeks, so seven weeks, and then...

Eight with the playoffs and see how far we go

and you're in the Midwest League.

I read something about the I did my research on the Cubs and The environment what's the name of the baseball field

for wins field

at Mikosky Stadium or something?

It's just I think it's just for once field.

Okay feel that there's there's a stadium.

Yeah, yeah, there's like the actual stadium name.

Yeah

Sounds like it's quite the experience going to a game.

It is like I said, usually, you know, like the weekday games, you know, it's, you know, the crowd's somewhat smaller, you know, weekdays, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays, but then, you know, Friday, Saturdays, Sundays.

The crowd's really showing up, especially because we were, the Midwest League has split in the first half, so they have the first half and the second half.

The first half, we won the first half.

Okay.

So we clinched a playoff spot in like the past like month.

I mean, the crowd was really there, you know, to support us behind us.

I mean, the crowd was, it was pretty good.

But now the second half, we were

We started the second half like three weeks ago, and I mean, we were just on the road for two weeks in a row.

So I got to South Bend late on Sunday night.

We were in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, going against the Twins affiliate.

Got to South Bend at like midnight, did my laundry, and then here I am in Ironwood.

I haven't really had much of a time in South Bend here in the second half, but.

Yeah,

so you travel with the team.

Yep, travel with the team all the time and where we go like I said a lot of the travel It is the Midwest League so all Midwest teams, you know Appleton, Beloy Cedar Rapids we go to the Grand Rapids I think we have Midland, Michigan coming up the Dodgers affiliate the Great Lakes looms So yeah miss gone Midwest.

Yeah,

I like some of the

team names,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah,

So we, uh, the Cubs actually just signed someone from the, he played for the Duluth Huskies like a year or two ago.

And then he was in like the American baseball association with the Milwaukee milkman.

Oh yeah.

There's

another league too.

So yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mary hit goes to that.

Those games a lot.

Milwaukee milkman.

Yeah.

So when you, when you go on the road, let's say you, you guys go to Appleton.

How long are you there?

Three game series.

So the schedules for us, this is the part.

Usually it's, we get there on a Tuesday.

We play Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Oh, you're there for almost a week.

Yeah, we're there for six game stand.

You know, if things change, weather change, you know, any cancellation delays, you know, the double header, but it's Tuesday through a Sunday, then go back to South Bend on a Sunday.

Now there's a lot of local people from this area that live in that Appleton Green Bay area.

Are you in contact with them?

Do you get to see them?

Uh, when we were, we were in Appleton.

May, May 12th through like the 16th or 18th whenever it was.

Like I said, a lot of friends and family were there.

People from like Northern came down.

Yes.

Saw my teachers and friends from there.

So yeah, there's talked to a lot of people from there.

Yeah.

It was a good road trip for there.

Are you in the dugout?

Are you more like in

the local?

I'm in the dugout.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Yeah.

This

is cool.

It's just really cool.

Oh yeah.

Well, you got to do that, right?

That's a requirement.

Gatorade two in the water, got to.

Anything, Joel?

I'll take a

break if you have a question.

Oh, bring up.

I forgot what I was going to bring up.