Today in the morning show, we're here to have a little fun and talk about the second annual murder mystery weekend in Richland center.
Um, after last year's, uh, it was, it was outstanding fun, uh, in our area and, uh, gonna recreate that and make it even better this year.
And, uh, joining us in the studio, Kathy Hamby and also Sharon Zales talking about this year's mystery.
Well, Kathy, first of all, let's recap.
Last year's went extremely well, didn't it?
Yes, it did.
It went, um, even better than I had.
thought it possible to do.
The businesses were happy with how many people showed up and walked in their door that maybe hadn't been there before or discovered items in the store.
They didn't know were there.
The prizes that people won were pretty amazing.
Everybody loved that.
The people who played the game thought it was a lot of fun.
And I don't know how many people said, you are going to do this again, aren't you?
And I said, yeah, the story's already being written.
So yeah, here we are.
And then we also had
a lot of businesses that donated things, but the cast, the cast really enjoyed it.
The several of them are eager to do it again this year.
So yeah, and the people who played the game, they thought it was great.
So
here we are.
You brought in a lot of people from outside the area, didn't
you?
We explain how it works for people who don't, you know, but they get clues going, the story gets
clues.
Oh yeah, the people came to town, they went to the depot,
If they had not pre-registered the night before at the Frank Lloyd Wright Building, they picked up their packets for, I say a packet, but it was a little booklet and a newspaper with pictures of the suspects.
So they could identify the people that were walking and wandering around town.
The packet also had a map downtown Richland Center.
So you would take your packet, read your information, and go from store to store.
You would walk in sometimes,
Business owner would decide to put the clue right by the door So you just go grab your clue and run or they could hide it in the back of the store Which would bring you through the area you read your clues and not everything that was part of the mystery was obvious in the clues or The newspaper so you had to walk around and ask people
Why did you do this?
I read that you were here.
I read that you were arguing with somebody or that was an odd purchase to make for what reason I want to hear about it
and then they would that was the fun of it Especially for us characters.
It's like they'd walk up and they'd say well I see that this guy did that and I'm like well I'm not at liberty to say but That may be true.
You know that kind of thing
Sharon as an actress it had to be a lot of fun to do it
was it was
It was great.
It was, it was cold last year.
I think it might be warmer this year, but it was wonderful.
The people, the people enjoyed it so much.
They made it and I could go up to somebody and I could say something like, see that car over there?
It's following me.
And they'd laugh.
And of course the car wasn't following
me.
Did anybody suspect you Sharon?
Yes, they did
actually.
Yeah.
That's the whole point of it.
Everybody's a suspect and you take the clues and figure out you eliminate who you know is not a suspect.
So yeah, I had a couple people say to me, you did it, didn't you?
I'm like, well.
Recap the story a little bit, if you would.
I remember the body was found.
From
last year?
Yeah, near the right
place.
And the police officer and the detective were there.
And then from there, from the depot, did people go to the right place after the depot?
Or did they start?
You started at the depot.
And then you wandered around.
We had the crime scene set up at
the area behind Frank Lloyd Wright building or the warehouse and there was no certain way that they had to follow a path.
places were numbered one through 25 I think it was and you could take whatever route you wanted and you know just go around town and you didn't know where the actors would be because they might be in one store now and then 20 minutes later they're down in another
especially when it was cold you wandered in the sunshine a lot
the hardest thing I think that might have been for the actors you can tell me if it's true that they had to stay in character the entire time
oh I never have a problem but yes you're right there were some times that
Like what the little kid was crying, you wanted to break character and comfort the little kid, but you're like, I could do it in character, but it's hard.
If someone that you knew that you hadn't seen for a while came up and said, hi, Kathy, how are you?
Who are you?
That was the other thing, because I'm so recognizable, unfortunately, or fortunately, people will come up and say, are you having fun doing this?
I'm, what are you talking about?
I'm just, you know.
Tell us a little bit about your character Sharon that you played last year.
My character is a photographer and I take pictures of ordinary things, but I also lurk a lot.
So I can pick up information on everybody.
It's not gossip, it's information that I pick up on everybody.
And I'm the one who pretty much knows everybody that's one of the characters unless it gets changed, but pretty much.
So my
have to be careful when people ask me about a character I have to be careful that last year I wasn't familiar with all the characters so I have to be careful to tell them that character and not or I can just blow it off and say well you're gonna have to go ask him cuz and I got I went from because my character is some snoop if you will but
not a bad one.
I went into one of the businesses where one of the characters was, and she and I got in an argument, and everybody's standing in the store laughing because they know.
But she's like, you killed my daughter.
And I'm like, oh, hey, wait.
So yeah, it was interesting.
And then wandering up and down the streets and stopping people and saying, well, have you checked out the clue there?
Because sometimes they get, like you said, they don't have to go in order.
but have you been there?
That place is also, we had more, everybody was okay with the blocks that were like where the bakery is and Kelly's coffee, that block there.
But going up further, I had to encourage people because there are clues up there.
But yeah, it was great fun.
You brought in the book from last year and I mean it is a mountain of...
Jennifer did a marvelous job.
I wish everybody had read their character because mine is like reading a chapter in a novel.
So each character has its own chapter, but did you have to read up about the other characters?
I
didn't have that information, that kind of information.
We knew the other characters because we had a meeting, so I knew who the other characters were.
We who do this do not know who the murderer is.
We have, we have, we're handing out clues or talking to people.
So I inadvertently named the murderer because I didn't know who it was, but the people that I just, it was just in passing.
So they're like,
so we don't know.
You would know it if it was you though, right?
No.
Oh, you don't even know if you're the one that did it.
Wow.
One thing we did learn from last year was, well, it was our first year.
So it was a learning year and
Jennifer who wrote the book gave everybody their chapter and we were supposed to kind of figure some things out even as we were improv acting but this year she's decided that it's important for everyone to read much of each other's so we know what the other guy was up to and it kind of
We're not apt to make a mistake so that my story doesn't match up with your story.
So I think that's one big huge change that will make things much
better.
And that's a good one because when you're going into it blind, you do the best you can with improv and it worked out okay.
We don't mean to say that it didn't work out okay.
But it'll be better if each character knows the names and
whatever they need to know about the other characters.
Well, at the same time, we have to have secrets.
For example, my character was the grandmother of Minivan, and I was a very protective.
Tell them what your name was.
My name was Gladys Canby, kind of.
Happy
as
can be, a little bit.
Ditsy maybe.
All the
names.
Yeah.
And Caravan,
was the mother, my daughter, the mother of Minivan, and I was very protective.
I spent a lot of time with my granddaughter, and I did not know.
Now, the story was written so that people really had to ask the right questions and figure things out, and it wasn't until the end of the first day that the first person came up to me and said, did you know, do you suspect it's possible that Minnie's not your biological granddaughter?
And the funny thing was, this was a secret that nobody knew.
And the biological mother is the mother who died.
So I had my motive to get rid of the person who was just about ready to spill the beans and could really make my life miserable between me and my granddaughter.
So I was actually kind of emotional when this person asked
me the question.
Because it was your actual granddaughter.
It was my actual granddaughter.
in this role forever, and I'm not an actor, but the person who asked me the question said to someone else, boy, she's quite the actor because she cried.
But my tears were normal.
I kind of got into the part so much.
I think that I and it
was not minivan
So yeah, and certainly I mean it almost it's kind of like the one you watch on TV or the movie like that person did it then five minutes later You're like oh wait a minute.
Yeah,
and that's exactly what's gonna happen with
this everybody is very everybody has a reason to want this person out of the picture
and I had a motive I Can I tell him I did not not to be the murderer
But I had a motive last year because I saw something when I was lurking that I shouldn't have seen and the person I lurked that saw me seeing that person.
So I had a motive, but
great fun.
Oh yeah.
So, um, do other communities put this on?
I mean, this
is, this is worldwide.
Um, there are communities all over.
I did a little checking and if a person is interested, they can go within.
day trips around this area.
And
Baribu is where we first went, my daughter and I, three years ago.
And I told this story before and I'll repeat it.
We spent our first day there and we got in the car and we both claimed to be the one who said at first, we have to do this in Richland Center.
And before we were even out of town, she already had the story of murder in the right place circulating in her mind.
So then we came home
and she wrote that.
Talked to a few people and I'm a member of Crime Stoppers and we talked to them and asked if they would be willing to sponsor it because it takes a lot of money and there's a lot of money at risk if it doesn't succeed so they were willing to take it on and take the risk in the gamble and I think everybody in town feels it paid off.
It was a lot of fun.
I know just driving downtown and walking around.
And the first thing I see is Glenn Dunn, you know, in character walking down.
And of course, that's not uncommon.
He probably does that every weekend, but
he's in Baraboo too.
Yeah.
And Jennifer Sidi, you know, just dressed to the nines and walking down, you know, and talking to people.
And I'm thinking somebody from out of town, you know, drives through like, who is that person?
You know, and we
stood on the street corner where Kelly's coffee is and people were driving by.
and we're
like,
hi.
He just waved.
I'm glad you brought up the out of town people that came in because towards the end of the first day, what was over, I guess.
And there was someone that had gone, I saw them coming out of a place on the outer side of town where they picked up one of the clues.
And then I said, well, where did you hear about this?
And they said, well, we came and we're on our way from here to there.
And we stopped in for lunch and we saw this was going on.
It looked like fun.
So we picked up a packet and we started chasing down clues.
And this is great.
We're going to do it again.
And you hope it happens again,
right?
Do you want to tell them when it is?
Yes, this year's will be August 22nd and 23rd.
That's a Saturday and a Sunday.
We're going to have the pre-registration again on Friday night at the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum.
They're gracious enough to give us that spot.
And anyone who pre-registers will get their packet.
They won't get any clues.
All they will get is the booklet and the map, but that's a lot of information to
digest.
It would be a good way to
set
up to get
started.
And some of the actors may be introduced.
I'm not sure if that's going to be introduced as their real personality or if it will be their
actual
personality.
Oh, I want to go with my character.
And what time does it start on?
Saturday?
Both Saturday and Sunday the registration starts at 10 and it runs until 4 on Saturday and 2 I believe on Sunday.
But anybody can play as many hours as they want.
Or as
few.
Or as few.
You can come one day, two days, or just stop in.
You can stop in, pick up your packet, pay it.
pay your registration fee, fill out who you think done it, and leave, and you still might win the grand prize.
Right, even if you don't have a clue, or even if you just get one or two clues.
Yeah, if you
look at all the characters say, I think it's that
one.
Maybe it's that one and take a shot.
So
it's another wonderful thing about it, and it's a family thing.
It's
family, it's affordable.
We are selling the packets at $10 a piece.
but you could bring your whole family and come to town with your family, buy a $10 packet, you get one vote if you have one packet, but you can also purchase as many as you want.
You could buy two for yourself, you could, everybody that's in the party.
Ten bucks is so
reasonable.
And for as many hours of fun as you want, that's the only fee.
And the kids, and the kids love it.
I mean, they really, because kids, they don't, they get into it, you know, they're like,
I'm afraid of you.
They see the guy that plays the cop in his uniform and they go, hi.
So the murder hasn't occurred.
Like you mentioned, you get together Friday
night.
I think I've read enough of the story to have an inkling as to who's going to die.
in reality, I mean in the story, no, none of us know.
And
we won't know
even when we get our, I've got my character.
The only thing we do know is that there is a rodeo circuit that goes from town to town.
But this year they've decided to come to Richland Center.
I may have the story wrong, but I think that one of the actors is going to announce his retirement, his or her retirement.
because of some connections to Richland Center
that I
know about.
She knows,
nobody else seems to know, but she thinks she does.
I think
they do.
So this rodeo will take place here in Richland Center because this is the place this person has choose to make their retirement announcement.
It started
here and yeah, and it's not a high school rodeo, it's an actual rodeo rodeo.
Okay, so there
will be kings.
There will
be queens and miniature queens and clowns and cowboys.
You know, everybody's vying for something or everybody has a secret.
Are all the parts taken?
That's I'm glad you brought that up.
We plan to have anybody who was in it before of course gets first chance to come back and we do need some more people and we have a Facebook site with a really long name.
It is called Richland Area Clues in the News Mystery Weekend.
If you go to that site and send a message, if you're interested, we'd love to hear from you and find you a part or write in a part or maybe it's somebody we can't use this year but we might use another year.
Yeah, so we're still looking and then we will have meetings.
The author would like to meet one-on-one with each person because there are secrets, like I said, that not everybody else will know.
And then she would also like to have one or two meetings with the entire cast so we can clear up any questions and make sure that everybody's on the same page and giving the same answers.
If you're an actor and you can't be there both days, you don't necessarily have to be present on the street the whole time, do
you?
That's correct, too.
There's always a reason not to be there, too.
For example, last year we had two situations like that.
One situation was where...
I think Owen Cash couldn't be there the first day.
And he was even more suspicious on the second day because he came armed with a lawyer.
And he was not real clear about why he had not been there on Saturday and what he'd been up to.
So that made him more suspicious.
And one fellow at the very last minute gave us word that something came up, he couldn't be in it at all.
He was actually going to be the owner of Los Amigos, which was a restaurant in town who had agreed to kind of let us use their site as part of the story.
Well, lo and behold, they had some kind of a construction issue and they had to close down.
So that worked great into the story because the guy who owned Los Amigos skipped town.
He got votes and he wasn't
even.
Not
really the character.
This is the
character.
This is the character.
He played the part.
He
played the story guy adjusted just a little bit.
to portray him as someone who shut his restaurant down in skip town.
We can always, I mean, if somebody can't be there for a reason, we can always, we can say that he or she is visiting somewhere and I can say, ah, that's what they say.
I'm not so sure.
That's their story.
So last year's culprit or the person that, that did it, um, did a lot of people guess correctly?
I don't remember how many votes
he
got, but he did get a few.
Bowen Arrow, if anyone looks back at this Facebook site that I mentioned, you
can also
read everyone's alibi.
From
last year.
Yes, and
find out why they were suspected and why they had a legitimate alibi.
And I think like two or three people guessed correctly, so it had to be for the
grand prize that had to be draw for a yeah yeah draw
we had and that's another thing she brought up prizes this town and surrounding areas have contributed some really great prizes and last year um we we drew the grand prize from people who had guessed the proper name both for adults and for youth and then once each grand prize was drawn all the adult vote
All the adult ballots were put together, and all of the youth ballots were put together, and from there we drew for the other prizes.
There were some
really happy people when they had
their prizes.
It was a great prize.
I don't know what it was, but it was like a snowblower or
something.
The grand prize for an adult was a mixture of four things.
We had $100 from Walmart.
We had a trail cam or some kind of a security camera from all
These
are all donated.
These are
sports.
Tell me the name.
The gun store downtown.
Yeah, you know the one in the corner.
Yeah.
It's something I can't remember.
But then
we
also had a leaf lower from Salama
in
Hillsborough and two yards of mulch from
So
it was a really good grand prize.
That was
a grand prize.
That was just one prize.
And then for the children, I don't remember if the grand prize was the year family passed to the aquatic center or the family passed to the indoor and outdoor theater.
So
they were really good prizes.
It's well worth trying to figure out.
Because even if you don't figure it out, you are in line for some prize.
And then
after that, there were gift certificates.
We had a lot of surprises.
All kinds of prizes.
The list is so long, I can't even remember them now a year ago.
Was there a character that got an overwhelming amount of votes that was innocent?
Well, I did get a lot of votes.
You did.
OK.
There was another person as well.
And I can't remember who that was.
I should have done my homework.
But people thought that I spent my day with my friend Sigrid from the resident
out there at Schmidt.
And people had come to the conclusion that the poor young lady was killed up by the footbridge.
So they thought maybe we killed her and threw her on Sigrid's wheelchair and I pedaled her down and dumped her off.
at the right place, right?
Because I know that's where the body is.
The
body was moved.
So they
figured we had to move the body.
The murder did not take place where the body was.
So there was a lot of interest in the footbridge.
I did have a couple that followed me around the entire day and they kept doing the, my eyes
are
on you.
In fact, I saw one of these people in their business later in the year and I walked in and she goes, Gladys, I know what was you.
Yeah.
The alibi though, right?
I did have the alibi.
I did not do it.
Maybe some of you could do like a cold case file, like, you know, bring, bring it back.
There's new information or DNA or whatever.
So interesting.
We'll come back after the break and talk a little bit more about the news, the clues in the news, murder mystery weekend coming up August 22nd and 23rd in Richland center.
Who's in the news murder mystery weekend is the subject today on our morning show from WRC a radio Great to have you in the studio with us Sharon Zales and also Kathy handi Kathy your daughter Jay has been doing a great job Still it's not like it's a work in progress for this year's story.
Yes.
It's it's ongoing as new people Join in or maybe somebody has to be gone for a few hours or maybe even one of the whole days
This story can be adjusted a little bit.
The bones of the story are not going to change, but some of the little details can.
Indeed.
So she goes to a lot of work with this, I'm guessing countless hours it looks like.
She hadn't even completed last year's story before.
The ideas were popping in her head for this year's.
And the title of this one is Blood in the Dust.
blood in the dust, okay.
Go on the kind of the rodeo theme I guess.
The
rodeo theme, yes, because of the circuit that normally doesn't come to Richland Center, but they're going to show up for something special.
We thought of the business when we were on the break too.
Open season hunting is what you were trying to think of
there.
Yes, they were amazing.
They were a clue stop and they donated a gracious prize.
So we really appreciate
it.
We
wanted to make clear that.
And one thing I think that's great for the community is that if you're not a hunter, you may not think of even going in there because guns an ammo.
If I'm not a hunter, do I need guns an ammo?
But they have things for bird watching.
and they have things for like the trail camera, the security camera, they're worth going into whether you want to buy a gun or not.
And that's the case with all these businesses.
You know, people get in there and you hear that all the time.
I didn't realize they cared for this.
There are some shops that, well, you know, if you go into TKO, it's, you know what it is.
But if you go into that place or you go into Okuch and see the books and the things that are offered there, you might not know that Craig has an
interesting collection of vinyl records.
I mean, stuff like that.
Well, even the restaurants, I hadn't been in to Nate's downtown before.
And I've been back two or three times now.
The pizza's amazing.
So all of those places mentioned are called clue stops, right?
Clue
stops.
That's where you will walk in and you do not have to have a wristband.
You don't have to have even paid for a
a packet.
You can just go in, pick up a clue and read it and start asking questions.
You have to buy the packet in order to vote.
Correct.
To be eligible for the grand prize of the prizes.
You have to buy the packet for that.
But you don't have to buy the packet to play the game.
Speaking from the Crime Stoppers Group that is in this to try to pay the bills and maybe make enough money as a fundraiser to donate to a worthy cause.
the more packets we sell, the happier we are.
And
$10 a packet.
But
as crime stoppers too, we're all about not just providing money for tips for crimes that have already been committed.
We're looking at ways to maybe stop people from doing crimes.
I know that sounds a little silly, but so if a family goes together and they enjoy their weekend of trying to solve this crime together and the kids find out mom and dad are kind of fun to play with.
That's a revelation
for
most kids, yeah.
So we're really encouraging an affordable, fun, family activity as fun as murder can be.
Well, and this people, we take this seriously as characters, but it's a game.
It's like clue only more.
It's like the board game or
the movie.
Anyone that likes an escape room or playing those games or even watching CSI or anything like that on TV and trying because a lot of us can figure out who done it before the first 15 minutes of the show is over.
You think you can anyone?
I think I can.
Colonel Mustard in the
library.
In terms of the characters, you have a few.
that are going to be back from last year, is that
correct?
We do, we have, several are coming back, but there are a particular few that are going to carry on the same personality.
We have, never, never, never in focus there.
And she is still our, I'm going to say it.
nosey, busy body, but she perceives herself as something else.
But
she
is coming back and we also will have chief detective that's played by Glenn Dunn.
He will come back and try to solve this mystery like he did the last one and drew one gun.
Cameron is coming back and he's a little bit bumbling and he maybe messed up some of the crime scene before the detective got
there.
He's
coming back and he's going to be the same, I'm assuming, bumbling.
Maybe he learned something from last year, I don't know.
And Heather from The Creative Outlet, poor Mayday, she was the one who discovered
the body of her daughter last year.
And she accused me of being the murderer.
That was what our argument was all about.
So she's going to come back and she will be the same person.
Last year, a lot of people wondered why she was working that day right after her daughter died.
But she said, this is my happy place.
This is where I feel comfortable.
And so she continued
to work.
So I mean, we just do our characters.
We make our characters fit.
If people ask questions that aren't something that Jennifer's covered, it's called improv.
And we just say, yeah, well, there you go.
Go down the street, because that's where it's happening, stuff like that.
And sometimes you have to maybe let somebody else know something that you've made up, because one person in particular was fascinated by the fact that my purse had a handle on it, or had a strap on it.
And
one of the
clues was a strap.
Yes, she had been strangled
with a strap.
You don't want to lead people astray.
Well, yeah, we do, but not too far.
When you make up a story that's way out there, you might want to tell somebody that's involved.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Where did I get that purse?
Well, I had to make up a story.
So the person that gave me the purse had to know what I said,
because you
know they're going to run right there and say, hey,
why did you give?
Yeah.
Where did you
buy that?
Actually, it was so everybody knows the camera strap.
Yes.
That's why they suspected me, because it was a camera strap.
Wow.
Yeah, it's just like TV though.
You think that you know and then all of a sudden maybe you don't know so the the clue stops coming along this year include Bailey painted decorating buzz tanning Kelly's coffee central boarding house TKO creative outlet computer doctors red door gallery JJ Walsh
Crime Stoppers, Tienda, Mexicana, Four Sisters Brewer Library, Sunnyside, Christie Sunnyside, The Little Corner, Jimbury, Lads, Main Street Hobby, Archie Monument, Okuch, and maybe some others.
Yes,
there are a few others that scheduling, I either go when they're not there or I call when they're not there, but they've expressed a lot of interest.
And if a business is not open, we just put the clues outside.
So that's still a clue stop, even if the business isn't
open.
If someone can't be open on Sunday or chooses to close a little early, we have people from the Crime Stopper group that will make sure that the
clues
are there.
So everyone
can.
We're not going to
miss anything.
We're not going to let you miss
anything.
And if any business out there is interested in being a clue stop.
They could give me a call or contact us through this Facebook site, Richland area, Clues in the News, Mystery Weekend.
I just tried to get in there and I couldn't.
Maybe give Kathy a call.
Well, you have little ways to fix it.
Well, yeah.
Before.
And I can give my phone number.
It's 608-647-8163.
And it's going to culminate again at the Phoenix Center like it did last year?
That has not been determined for sure.
They have offered the place and we are pretty sure it will be there, but we're also trying to contact the auditorium.
Because the Phoenix Center isn't normally open on Sunday.
They're doing it as a huge favor to us So it will be either one of those two
places, okay?
So we'll we'll have you back so you can talk a little bit more about it And actually have your daughter back to probably at that point pinpoint a little bit more of the storyline Thank you,
and thank you very much for having us here today.
No
problem anything else either you'd like to add here today
um
Just thank you.
Thank you to everybody that because this couldn't happen without the story So thank you Jennifer and it couldn't happen without the prizes.
So thank you to all the businesses it couldn't happen without the buildings like the the depot and the Union has offered a great space for the hospitality tent and the Phoenix Center last year was a great place to to bring it to an end and Advertising it can't happen without people showing up
and people don't show up if they don't know about it.
So thank you, Philly.
Anybody else that's helped get the word out there.
We'll keep you posted too.
You know it'd be fun to do some some live on the street Oh, that would be
yeah, that
would be
I have one of the clues from last year
so they
have an idea This is not going to be for this year just so you know It's for open season hunting outlets since we talked to them about them It was one of those heavy gray afternoons when Sam song Watered into open season hunting outlet.
He lingered by the knives long enough to make the clerk nervous then pivoted with the grin and said he was
getting into bird watching.
He left with a fishing line and a camera.
I'm not going to name the camera.
Nice little toy.
He said with the wink, I'll save this for a rainy day.
That was one of the clues.
And rainy day was actually
the
person who was killed.
Oh,
that's
right.
So there may have been a little
But
that's how the clues read, so you go into there and go into the place and pick up.
She's got all the clues here, but I thought that was short and interesting.
So if you read that clue, you would look in your booklet and you would find a picture of Samsung.
You would easily identify him on the street and then you might run up and say whatever question you had because of the clue you read.
And then he has more information.
that you don't know unless you ask the right questions.
That's key.
Ask the right questions.
Interesting.
So you really have to be thinking outside the box and I can see this as a group.
You know, you kind of put your heads together.
Somebody might come up with something that you wouldn't think of.
And he brought that up.
TKO has offered to have tables available so that if groups want to go in there after the
activity has shut down on the streets on Saturday afternoon.
Go in there, relax, lay out all your paperwork, put your heads together and maybe combine forces with some other group that's there and figure it out and there's a possibility that maybe some of the suspects might wander through that night.
Yeah, it's just like on TV where you they put up the clues, you know, maybe the picture and then the string, you know the timeline You can really get into it.
Can't
you Saturday, right?
That's Saturday Saturday night.
Yes Saturday and as far as the strings go when we came home from our first experience in Baraboo where this all came to light to us of these fantastic
thing that can go on.
My grandkids had their boards out and they had the string and they cut the pictures out and I'm not exactly sure how it worked.
People contacted me on Facebook, friends of mine who knew of course who I was and they sent pictures and they've got two people sitting there with all this stuff spread out in front of them and they've got a sheet they're writing down all the clues and all the suspects and and I said
It seems like a lot of work.
And he said, Oh, no, it was fun.
Yes.
That's what it's all about.
But, and, and then you can split up too.
Like one person could go to these two clue stops and this person could, you know, cause
you have the clue and you can just pick up the clue.
You don't have to, you
know, talk to the character, put your heads together and think about it.
So it's good.
And again, Crime Stoppers is supporting you again this year.
It's correct.
Yeah.
And we'll look for other clues and others, maybe some other information as you get a little bit closer.
Yes, and we're very grateful to the Chamber because these actors work for food.
Nothing else.
There's no monetary payment at all.
So they will get treats provided by the Chamber and they also will get Chamber Bucks.
each day on one on saturday one on sunday they will get a chamber buck that they can go and to the restaurants that are specified and get their lunch so thank you to the
chamber of commerce works out well yeah kind of acting for your supper then a
little bit don't ask me to sing though it's not going to
happen
well great well good luck ladies as you continue preparation for this
Thank
you.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for having us.
Kathy Hamby and Sharon Zales joining us.
The second annual event, the Mystery Weekend and Richland Center goes on August 22nd and 23rd, 10 to 4 Saturday, 10 to 2 on Sunday, pre-registration on Friday, August 21st as well.
After a successful year last year, it's going to be bigger and better than ever this year.
Today in the morning show, we're here to have a little fun and talk about the second annual murder mystery weekend in Richland center.
Um, after last year's, uh, it was, it was outstanding fun, uh, in our area and, uh, gonna recreate that and make it even better this year.
And, uh, joining us in the studio, Kathy Hamby and also Sharon Zales talking about this year's mystery.
Well, Kathy, first of all, let's recap.
Last year's went extremely well, didn't it?
Yes, it did.
It went, um, even better than I had.
thought it possible to do.
The businesses were happy with how many people showed up and walked in their door that maybe hadn't been there before or discovered items in the store.
They didn't know were there.
The prizes that people won were pretty amazing.
Everybody loved that.
The people who played the game thought it was a lot of fun.
And I don't know how many people said, you are going to do this again, aren't you?
And I said, yeah, the story's already being written.
So yeah, here we are.
And then we also had
a lot of businesses that donated things, but the cast, the cast really enjoyed it.
The several of them are eager to do it again this year.
So yeah, and the people who played the game, they thought it was great.
So
here we are.
You brought in a lot of people from outside the area, didn't
you?
We explain how it works for people who don't, you know, but they get clues going, the story gets
clues.
Oh yeah, the people came to town, they went to the depot,
If they had not pre-registered the night before at the Frank Lloyd Wright Building, they picked up their packets for, I say a packet, but it was a little booklet and a newspaper with pictures of the suspects.
So they could identify the people that were walking and wandering around town.
The packet also had a map downtown Richland Center.
So you would take your packet, read your information, and go from store to store.
You would walk in sometimes,
Business owner would decide to put the clue right by the door So you just go grab your clue and run or they could hide it in the back of the store Which would bring you through the area you read your clues and not everything that was part of the mystery was obvious in the clues or The newspaper so you had to walk around and ask people
Why did you do this?
I read that you were here.
I read that you were arguing with somebody or that was an odd purchase to make for what reason I want to hear about it
and then they would that was the fun of it Especially for us characters.
It's like they'd walk up and they'd say well I see that this guy did that and I'm like well I'm not at liberty to say but That may be true.
You know that kind of thing
Sharon as an actress it had to be a lot of fun to do it
was it was
It was great.
It was, it was cold last year.
I think it might be warmer this year, but it was wonderful.
The people, the people enjoyed it so much.
They made it and I could go up to somebody and I could say something like, see that car over there?
It's following me.
And they'd laugh.
And of course the car wasn't following
me.
Did anybody suspect you Sharon?
Yes, they did
actually.
Yeah.
That's the whole point of it.
Everybody's a suspect and you take the clues and figure out you eliminate who you know is not a suspect.
So yeah, I had a couple people say to me, you did it, didn't you?
I'm like, well.
Recap the story a little bit, if you would.
I remember the body was found.
From
last year?
Yeah, near the right
place.
And the police officer and the detective were there.
And then from there, from the depot, did people go to the right place after the depot?
Or did they start?
You started at the depot.
And then you wandered around.
We had the crime scene set up at
the area behind Frank Lloyd Wright building or the warehouse and there was no certain way that they had to follow a path.
places were numbered one through 25 I think it was and you could take whatever route you wanted and you know just go around town and you didn't know where the actors would be because they might be in one store now and then 20 minutes later they're down in another
especially when it was cold you wandered in the sunshine a lot
the hardest thing I think that might have been for the actors you can tell me if it's true that they had to stay in character the entire time
oh I never have a problem but yes you're right there were some times that
Like what the little kid was crying, you wanted to break character and comfort the little kid, but you're like, I could do it in character, but it's hard.
If someone that you knew that you hadn't seen for a while came up and said, hi, Kathy, how are you?
Who are you?
That was the other thing, because I'm so recognizable, unfortunately, or fortunately, people will come up and say, are you having fun doing this?
I'm, what are you talking about?
I'm just, you know.
Tell us a little bit about your character Sharon that you played last year.
My character is a photographer and I take pictures of ordinary things, but I also lurk a lot.
So I can pick up information on everybody.
It's not gossip, it's information that I pick up on everybody.
And I'm the one who pretty much knows everybody that's one of the characters unless it gets changed, but pretty much.
So my
have to be careful when people ask me about a character I have to be careful that last year I wasn't familiar with all the characters so I have to be careful to tell them that character and not or I can just blow it off and say well you're gonna have to go ask him cuz and I got I went from because my character is some snoop if you will but
not a bad one.
I went into one of the businesses where one of the characters was, and she and I got in an argument, and everybody's standing in the store laughing because they know.
But she's like, you killed my daughter.
And I'm like, oh, hey, wait.
So yeah, it was interesting.
And then wandering up and down the streets and stopping people and saying, well, have you checked out the clue there?
Because sometimes they get, like you said, they don't have to go in order.
but have you been there?
That place is also, we had more, everybody was okay with the blocks that were like where the bakery is and Kelly's coffee, that block there.
But going up further, I had to encourage people because there are clues up there.
But yeah, it was great fun.
You brought in the book from last year and I mean it is a mountain of...
Jennifer did a marvelous job.
I wish everybody had read their character because mine is like reading a chapter in a novel.
So each character has its own chapter, but did you have to read up about the other characters?
I
didn't have that information, that kind of information.
We knew the other characters because we had a meeting, so I knew who the other characters were.
We who do this do not know who the murderer is.
We have, we have, we're handing out clues or talking to people.
So I inadvertently named the murderer because I didn't know who it was, but the people that I just, it was just in passing.
So they're like,
so we don't know.
You would know it if it was you though, right?
No.
Oh, you don't even know if you're the one that did it.
Wow.
One thing we did learn from last year was, well, it was our first year.
So it was a learning year and
Jennifer who wrote the book gave everybody their chapter and we were supposed to kind of figure some things out even as we were improv acting but this year she's decided that it's important for everyone to read much of each other's so we know what the other guy was up to and it kind of
We're not apt to make a mistake so that my story doesn't match up with your story.
So I think that's one big huge change that will make things much
better.
And that's a good one because when you're going into it blind, you do the best you can with improv and it worked out okay.
We don't mean to say that it didn't work out okay.
But it'll be better if each character knows the names and
whatever they need to know about the other characters.
Well, at the same time, we have to have secrets.
For example, my character was the grandmother of Minivan, and I was a very protective.
Tell them what your name was.
My name was Gladys Canby, kind of.
Happy
as
can be, a little bit.
Ditsy maybe.
All the
names.
Yeah.
And Caravan,
was the mother, my daughter, the mother of Minivan, and I was very protective.
I spent a lot of time with my granddaughter, and I did not know.
Now, the story was written so that people really had to ask the right questions and figure things out, and it wasn't until the end of the first day that the first person came up to me and said, did you know, do you suspect it's possible that Minnie's not your biological granddaughter?
And the funny thing was, this was a secret that nobody knew.
And the biological mother is the mother who died.
So I had my motive to get rid of the person who was just about ready to spill the beans and could really make my life miserable between me and my granddaughter.
So I was actually kind of emotional when this person asked
me the question.
Because it was your actual granddaughter.
It was my actual granddaughter.
in this role forever, and I'm not an actor, but the person who asked me the question said to someone else, boy, she's quite the actor because she cried.
But my tears were normal.
I kind of got into the part so much.
I think that I and it
was not minivan
So yeah, and certainly I mean it almost it's kind of like the one you watch on TV or the movie like that person did it then five minutes later You're like oh wait a minute.
Yeah,
and that's exactly what's gonna happen with
this everybody is very everybody has a reason to want this person out of the picture
and I had a motive I Can I tell him I did not not to be the murderer
But I had a motive last year because I saw something when I was lurking that I shouldn't have seen and the person I lurked that saw me seeing that person.
So I had a motive, but
great fun.
Oh yeah.
So, um, do other communities put this on?
I mean, this
is, this is worldwide.
Um, there are communities all over.
I did a little checking and if a person is interested, they can go within.
day trips around this area.
And
Baribu is where we first went, my daughter and I, three years ago.
And I told this story before and I'll repeat it.
We spent our first day there and we got in the car and we both claimed to be the one who said at first, we have to do this in Richland Center.
And before we were even out of town, she already had the story of murder in the right place circulating in her mind.
So then we came home
and she wrote that.
Talked to a few people and I'm a member of Crime Stoppers and we talked to them and asked if they would be willing to sponsor it because it takes a lot of money and there's a lot of money at risk if it doesn't succeed so they were willing to take it on and take the risk in the gamble and I think everybody in town feels it paid off.
It was a lot of fun.
I know just driving downtown and walking around.
And the first thing I see is Glenn Dunn, you know, in character walking down.
And of course, that's not uncommon.
He probably does that every weekend, but
he's in Baraboo too.
Yeah.
And Jennifer Sidi, you know, just dressed to the nines and walking down, you know, and talking to people.
And I'm thinking somebody from out of town, you know, drives through like, who is that person?
You know, and we
stood on the street corner where Kelly's coffee is and people were driving by.
and we're
like,
hi.
He just waved.
I'm glad you brought up the out of town people that came in because towards the end of the first day, what was over, I guess.
And there was someone that had gone, I saw them coming out of a place on the outer side of town where they picked up one of the clues.
And then I said, well, where did you hear about this?
And they said, well, we came and we're on our way from here to there.
And we stopped in for lunch and we saw this was going on.
It looked like fun.
So we picked up a packet and we started chasing down clues.
And this is great.
We're going to do it again.
And you hope it happens again,
right?
Do you want to tell them when it is?
Yes, this year's will be August 22nd and 23rd.
That's a Saturday and a Sunday.
We're going to have the pre-registration again on Friday night at the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum.
They're gracious enough to give us that spot.
And anyone who pre-registers will get their packet.
They won't get any clues.
All they will get is the booklet and the map, but that's a lot of information to
digest.
It would be a good way to
set
up to get
started.
And some of the actors may be introduced.
I'm not sure if that's going to be introduced as their real personality or if it will be their
actual
personality.
Oh, I want to go with my character.
And what time does it start on?
Saturday?
Both Saturday and Sunday the registration starts at 10 and it runs until 4 on Saturday and 2 I believe on Sunday.
But anybody can play as many hours as they want.
Or as
few.
Or as few.
You can come one day, two days, or just stop in.
You can stop in, pick up your packet, pay it.
pay your registration fee, fill out who you think done it, and leave, and you still might win the grand prize.
Right, even if you don't have a clue, or even if you just get one or two clues.
Yeah, if you
look at all the characters say, I think it's that
one.
Maybe it's that one and take a shot.
So
it's another wonderful thing about it, and it's a family thing.
It's
family, it's affordable.
We are selling the packets at $10 a piece.
but you could bring your whole family and come to town with your family, buy a $10 packet, you get one vote if you have one packet, but you can also purchase as many as you want.
You could buy two for yourself, you could, everybody that's in the party.
Ten bucks is so
reasonable.
And for as many hours of fun as you want, that's the only fee.
And the kids, and the kids love it.
I mean, they really, because kids, they don't, they get into it, you know, they're like,
I'm afraid of you.
They see the guy that plays the cop in his uniform and they go, hi.
So the murder hasn't occurred.
Like you mentioned, you get together Friday
night.
I think I've read enough of the story to have an inkling as to who's going to die.
in reality, I mean in the story, no, none of us know.
And
we won't know
even when we get our, I've got my character.
The only thing we do know is that there is a rodeo circuit that goes from town to town.
But this year they've decided to come to Richland Center.
I may have the story wrong, but I think that one of the actors is going to announce his retirement, his or her retirement.
because of some connections to Richland Center
that I
know about.
She knows,
nobody else seems to know, but she thinks she does.
I think
they do.
So this rodeo will take place here in Richland Center because this is the place this person has choose to make their retirement announcement.
It started
here and yeah, and it's not a high school rodeo, it's an actual rodeo rodeo.
Okay, so there
will be kings.
There will
be queens and miniature queens and clowns and cowboys.
You know, everybody's vying for something or everybody has a secret.
Are all the parts taken?
That's I'm glad you brought that up.
We plan to have anybody who was in it before of course gets first chance to come back and we do need some more people and we have a Facebook site with a really long name.
It is called Richland Area Clues in the News Mystery Weekend.
If you go to that site and send a message, if you're interested, we'd love to hear from you and find you a part or write in a part or maybe it's somebody we can't use this year but we might use another year.
Yeah, so we're still looking and then we will have meetings.
The author would like to meet one-on-one with each person because there are secrets, like I said, that not everybody else will know.
And then she would also like to have one or two meetings with the entire cast so we can clear up any questions and make sure that everybody's on the same page and giving the same answers.
If you're an actor and you can't be there both days, you don't necessarily have to be present on the street the whole time, do
you?
That's correct, too.
There's always a reason not to be there, too.
For example, last year we had two situations like that.
One situation was where...
I think Owen Cash couldn't be there the first day.
And he was even more suspicious on the second day because he came armed with a lawyer.
And he was not real clear about why he had not been there on Saturday and what he'd been up to.
So that made him more suspicious.
And one fellow at the very last minute gave us word that something came up, he couldn't be in it at all.
He was actually going to be the owner of Los Amigos, which was a restaurant in town who had agreed to kind of let us use their site as part of the story.
Well, lo and behold, they had some kind of a construction issue and they had to close down.
So that worked great into the story because the guy who owned Los Amigos skipped town.
He got votes and he wasn't
even.
Not
really the character.
This is the
character.
This is the character.
He played the part.
He
played the story guy adjusted just a little bit.
to portray him as someone who shut his restaurant down in skip town.
We can always, I mean, if somebody can't be there for a reason, we can always, we can say that he or she is visiting somewhere and I can say, ah, that's what they say.
I'm not so sure.
That's their story.
So last year's culprit or the person that, that did it, um, did a lot of people guess correctly?
I don't remember how many votes
he
got, but he did get a few.
Bowen Arrow, if anyone looks back at this Facebook site that I mentioned, you
can also
read everyone's alibi.
From
last year.
Yes, and
find out why they were suspected and why they had a legitimate alibi.
And I think like two or three people guessed correctly, so it had to be for the
grand prize that had to be draw for a yeah yeah draw
we had and that's another thing she brought up prizes this town and surrounding areas have contributed some really great prizes and last year um we we drew the grand prize from people who had guessed the proper name both for adults and for youth and then once each grand prize was drawn all the adult vote
All the adult ballots were put together, and all of the youth ballots were put together, and from there we drew for the other prizes.
There were some
really happy people when they had
their prizes.
It was a great prize.
I don't know what it was, but it was like a snowblower or
something.
The grand prize for an adult was a mixture of four things.
We had $100 from Walmart.
We had a trail cam or some kind of a security camera from all
These
are all donated.
These are
sports.
Tell me the name.
The gun store downtown.
Yeah, you know the one in the corner.
Yeah.
It's something I can't remember.
But then
we
also had a leaf lower from Salama
in
Hillsborough and two yards of mulch from
So
it was a really good grand prize.
That was
a grand prize.
That was just one prize.
And then for the children, I don't remember if the grand prize was the year family passed to the aquatic center or the family passed to the indoor and outdoor theater.
So
they were really good prizes.
It's well worth trying to figure out.
Because even if you don't figure it out, you are in line for some prize.
And then
after that, there were gift certificates.
We had a lot of surprises.
All kinds of prizes.
The list is so long, I can't even remember them now a year ago.
Was there a character that got an overwhelming amount of votes that was innocent?
Well, I did get a lot of votes.
You did.
OK.
There was another person as well.
And I can't remember who that was.
I should have done my homework.
But people thought that I spent my day with my friend Sigrid from the resident
out there at Schmidt.
And people had come to the conclusion that the poor young lady was killed up by the footbridge.
So they thought maybe we killed her and threw her on Sigrid's wheelchair and I pedaled her down and dumped her off.
at the right place, right?
Because I know that's where the body is.
The
body was moved.
So they
figured we had to move the body.
The murder did not take place where the body was.
So there was a lot of interest in the footbridge.
I did have a couple that followed me around the entire day and they kept doing the, my eyes
are
on you.
In fact, I saw one of these people in their business later in the year and I walked in and she goes, Gladys, I know what was you.
Yeah.
The alibi though, right?
I did have the alibi.
I did not do it.
Maybe some of you could do like a cold case file, like, you know, bring, bring it back.
There's new information or DNA or whatever.
So interesting.
We'll come back after the break and talk a little bit more about the news, the clues in the news, murder mystery weekend coming up August 22nd and 23rd in Richland center.
Who's in the news murder mystery weekend is the subject today on our morning show from WRC a radio Great to have you in the studio with us Sharon Zales and also Kathy handi Kathy your daughter Jay has been doing a great job Still it's not like it's a work in progress for this year's story.
Yes.
It's it's ongoing as new people Join in or maybe somebody has to be gone for a few hours or maybe even one of the whole days
This story can be adjusted a little bit.
The bones of the story are not going to change, but some of the little details can.
Indeed.
So she goes to a lot of work with this, I'm guessing countless hours it looks like.
She hadn't even completed last year's story before.
The ideas were popping in her head for this year's.
And the title of this one is Blood in the Dust.
blood in the dust, okay.
Go on the kind of the rodeo theme I guess.
The
rodeo theme, yes, because of the circuit that normally doesn't come to Richland Center, but they're going to show up for something special.
We thought of the business when we were on the break too.
Open season hunting is what you were trying to think of
there.
Yes, they were amazing.
They were a clue stop and they donated a gracious prize.
So we really appreciate
it.
We
wanted to make clear that.
And one thing I think that's great for the community is that if you're not a hunter, you may not think of even going in there because guns an ammo.
If I'm not a hunter, do I need guns an ammo?
But they have things for bird watching.
and they have things for like the trail camera, the security camera, they're worth going into whether you want to buy a gun or not.
And that's the case with all these businesses.
You know, people get in there and you hear that all the time.
I didn't realize they cared for this.
There are some shops that, well, you know, if you go into TKO, it's, you know what it is.
But if you go into that place or you go into Okuch and see the books and the things that are offered there, you might not know that Craig has an
interesting collection of vinyl records.
I mean, stuff like that.
Well, even the restaurants, I hadn't been in to Nate's downtown before.
And I've been back two or three times now.
The pizza's amazing.
So all of those places mentioned are called clue stops, right?
Clue
stops.
That's where you will walk in and you do not have to have a wristband.
You don't have to have even paid for a
a packet.
You can just go in, pick up a clue and read it and start asking questions.
You have to buy the packet in order to vote.
Correct.
To be eligible for the grand prize of the prizes.
You have to buy the packet for that.
But you don't have to buy the packet to play the game.
Speaking from the Crime Stoppers Group that is in this to try to pay the bills and maybe make enough money as a fundraiser to donate to a worthy cause.
the more packets we sell, the happier we are.
And
$10 a packet.
But
as crime stoppers too, we're all about not just providing money for tips for crimes that have already been committed.
We're looking at ways to maybe stop people from doing crimes.
I know that sounds a little silly, but so if a family goes together and they enjoy their weekend of trying to solve this crime together and the kids find out mom and dad are kind of fun to play with.
That's a revelation
for
most kids, yeah.
So we're really encouraging an affordable, fun, family activity as fun as murder can be.
Well, and this people, we take this seriously as characters, but it's a game.
It's like clue only more.
It's like the board game or
the movie.
Anyone that likes an escape room or playing those games or even watching CSI or anything like that on TV and trying because a lot of us can figure out who done it before the first 15 minutes of the show is over.
You think you can anyone?
I think I can.
Colonel Mustard in the
library.
In terms of the characters, you have a few.
that are going to be back from last year, is that
correct?
We do, we have, several are coming back, but there are a particular few that are going to carry on the same personality.
We have, never, never, never in focus there.
And she is still our, I'm going to say it.
nosey, busy body, but she perceives herself as something else.
But
she
is coming back and we also will have chief detective that's played by Glenn Dunn.
He will come back and try to solve this mystery like he did the last one and drew one gun.
Cameron is coming back and he's a little bit bumbling and he maybe messed up some of the crime scene before the detective got
there.
He's
coming back and he's going to be the same, I'm assuming, bumbling.
Maybe he learned something from last year, I don't know.
And Heather from The Creative Outlet, poor Mayday, she was the one who discovered
the body of her daughter last year.
And she accused me of being the murderer.
That was what our argument was all about.
So she's going to come back and she will be the same person.
Last year, a lot of people wondered why she was working that day right after her daughter died.
But she said, this is my happy place.
This is where I feel comfortable.
And so she continued
to work.
So I mean, we just do our characters.
We make our characters fit.
If people ask questions that aren't something that Jennifer's covered, it's called improv.
And we just say, yeah, well, there you go.
Go down the street, because that's where it's happening, stuff like that.
And sometimes you have to maybe let somebody else know something that you've made up, because one person in particular was fascinated by the fact that my purse had a handle on it, or had a strap on it.
And
one of the
clues was a strap.
Yes, she had been strangled
with a strap.
You don't want to lead people astray.
Well, yeah, we do, but not too far.
When you make up a story that's way out there, you might want to tell somebody that's involved.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Where did I get that purse?
Well, I had to make up a story.
So the person that gave me the purse had to know what I said,
because you
know they're going to run right there and say, hey,
why did you give?
Yeah.
Where did you
buy that?
Actually, it was so everybody knows the camera strap.
Yes.
That's why they suspected me, because it was a camera strap.
Wow.
Yeah, it's just like TV though.
You think that you know and then all of a sudden maybe you don't know so the the clue stops coming along this year include Bailey painted decorating buzz tanning Kelly's coffee central boarding house TKO creative outlet computer doctors red door gallery JJ Walsh
Crime Stoppers, Tienda, Mexicana, Four Sisters Brewer Library, Sunnyside, Christie Sunnyside, The Little Corner, Jimbury, Lads, Main Street Hobby, Archie Monument, Okuch, and maybe some others.
Yes,
there are a few others that scheduling, I either go when they're not there or I call when they're not there, but they've expressed a lot of interest.
And if a business is not open, we just put the clues outside.
So that's still a clue stop, even if the business isn't
open.
If someone can't be open on Sunday or chooses to close a little early, we have people from the Crime Stopper group that will make sure that the
clues
are there.
So everyone
can.
We're not going to
miss anything.
We're not going to let you miss
anything.
And if any business out there is interested in being a clue stop.
They could give me a call or contact us through this Facebook site, Richland area, Clues in the News, Mystery Weekend.
I just tried to get in there and I couldn't.
Maybe give Kathy a call.
Well, you have little ways to fix it.
Well, yeah.
Before.
And I can give my phone number.
It's 608-647-8163.
And it's going to culminate again at the Phoenix Center like it did last year?
That has not been determined for sure.
They have offered the place and we are pretty sure it will be there, but we're also trying to contact the auditorium.
Because the Phoenix Center isn't normally open on Sunday.
They're doing it as a huge favor to us So it will be either one of those two
places, okay?
So we'll we'll have you back so you can talk a little bit more about it And actually have your daughter back to probably at that point pinpoint a little bit more of the storyline Thank you,
and thank you very much for having us here today.
No
problem anything else either you'd like to add here today
um
Just thank you.
Thank you to everybody that because this couldn't happen without the story So thank you Jennifer and it couldn't happen without the prizes.
So thank you to all the businesses it couldn't happen without the buildings like the the depot and the Union has offered a great space for the hospitality tent and the Phoenix Center last year was a great place to to bring it to an end and Advertising it can't happen without people showing up
and people don't show up if they don't know about it.
So thank you, Philly.
Anybody else that's helped get the word out there.
We'll keep you posted too.
You know it'd be fun to do some some live on the street Oh, that would be
yeah, that
would be
I have one of the clues from last year
so they
have an idea This is not going to be for this year just so you know It's for open season hunting outlets since we talked to them about them It was one of those heavy gray afternoons when Sam song Watered into open season hunting outlet.
He lingered by the knives long enough to make the clerk nervous then pivoted with the grin and said he was
getting into bird watching.
He left with a fishing line and a camera.
I'm not going to name the camera.
Nice little toy.
He said with the wink, I'll save this for a rainy day.
That was one of the clues.
And rainy day was actually
the
person who was killed.
Oh,
that's
right.
So there may have been a little
But
that's how the clues read, so you go into there and go into the place and pick up.
She's got all the clues here, but I thought that was short and interesting.
So if you read that clue, you would look in your booklet and you would find a picture of Samsung.
You would easily identify him on the street and then you might run up and say whatever question you had because of the clue you read.
And then he has more information.
that you don't know unless you ask the right questions.
That's key.
Ask the right questions.
Interesting.
So you really have to be thinking outside the box and I can see this as a group.
You know, you kind of put your heads together.
Somebody might come up with something that you wouldn't think of.
And he brought that up.
TKO has offered to have tables available so that if groups want to go in there after the
activity has shut down on the streets on Saturday afternoon.
Go in there, relax, lay out all your paperwork, put your heads together and maybe combine forces with some other group that's there and figure it out and there's a possibility that maybe some of the suspects might wander through that night.
Yeah, it's just like on TV where you they put up the clues, you know, maybe the picture and then the string, you know the timeline You can really get into it.
Can't
you Saturday, right?
That's Saturday Saturday night.
Yes Saturday and as far as the strings go when we came home from our first experience in Baraboo where this all came to light to us of these fantastic
thing that can go on.
My grandkids had their boards out and they had the string and they cut the pictures out and I'm not exactly sure how it worked.
People contacted me on Facebook, friends of mine who knew of course who I was and they sent pictures and they've got two people sitting there with all this stuff spread out in front of them and they've got a sheet they're writing down all the clues and all the suspects and and I said
It seems like a lot of work.
And he said, Oh, no, it was fun.
Yes.
That's what it's all about.
But, and, and then you can split up too.
Like one person could go to these two clue stops and this person could, you know, cause
you have the clue and you can just pick up the clue.
You don't have to, you
know, talk to the character, put your heads together and think about it.
So it's good.
And again, Crime Stoppers is supporting you again this year.
It's correct.
Yeah.
And we'll look for other clues and others, maybe some other information as you get a little bit closer.
Yes, and we're very grateful to the Chamber because these actors work for food.
Nothing else.
There's no monetary payment at all.
So they will get treats provided by the Chamber and they also will get Chamber Bucks.
each day on one on saturday one on sunday they will get a chamber buck that they can go and to the restaurants that are specified and get their lunch so thank you to the
chamber of commerce works out well yeah kind of acting for your supper then a
little bit don't ask me to sing though it's not going to
happen
well great well good luck ladies as you continue preparation for this
Thank
you.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for having us.
Kathy Hamby and Sharon Zales joining us.
The second annual event, the Mystery Weekend and Richland Center goes on August 22nd and 23rd, 10 to 4 Saturday, 10 to 2 on Sunday, pre-registration on Friday, August 21st as well.
After a successful year last year, it's going to be bigger and better than ever this year.