Greater Richland Area Chamber

Music.

On our morning show today from WRCO, we are talking about Greater Richland Area Chamber of Commerce here in the first part of the show and joining us is Secretary of that organization, Katie Bedward.

Good morning, Katie.

How are you?

Good morning.

How are you?

Doing real well.

Wasn't it a beautiful weekend?

Yes.

Yes.

The weather was great and it was nice and sunny during the day, but cool down at night and we were really lucky to have such a great weekend towards the end of summer.

Right.

I was so amazed.

First of all, let's talk a little bit about because I saw you at the Betty Hayes Baxter stage dedication yesterday.

But wasn't that an amazing event?

It really was.

And I, you know, we all know who Betty Baxter is, but you don't realize the impact that she really made.

I loved the program.

I loved bringing up all of her dancers that started their own different studios.

I love the comment about like,

the raindrop that just splashes all this magic all over.

And it was just so wonderful to see so many people there and the huge impact that she's made on Richland Center and like really all over with all the dancers.

So it definitely exceeded my expectations.

I had no idea it was going to be that creative a program.

And

well attended by the community.

And I was amazed how many people came back from a long ways away.

And you mentioned the dance instructors, two or three of them flew in from a great distance.

Yeah.

I figured when they said somewhere from Ohio or Utah or different places, um, and just like the different people in the crowd, you know, dressing up for it and the glittery stuff and the line, you know, afterwards to get a picture with her and all of the pictures of all the years.

Um, when they said it, you know, 1947, I think she started and I was trying to count all the years and decades.

Um, it's just such an impact to have right here in our community.

So it was great.

And the auditorium was beautiful.

I mean, it really was set up nice and decorated nice.

So it was such a great event.

So it was nice doing the ribbon cutting and dedicating to that, to her, um,

And it was so great how humble she was about not wanting to have the entire auditorium, just the stage.

Just the stage,

yeah.

I thought that was so great.

But there was a time, and I didn't realize it until they were talking about it on the stage.

And I did recall the fact that she had the only event in that auditorium for several years.

That was the only event for the whole year in the auditorium, back when it was kind of in disrepair, things

like

that.

And then having her final one there is gonna just be so great.

I just loved the stories.

I didn't realize all the levels and floors and the dressing rooms and the behind the scenes stuff and the falling off the left state.

Like all that was just, I just think sharing those stories and experiences were so great.

Even myself not being a dancer for her, but just seeing all the people there, it was such a great day.

It really was.

Hats off to the auditorium crew.

I mean, they have done wonders.

And I got a tour of the upstairs, the balcony afterwards from Dave Roberts and Ken Ancet, but they really have plans up there and it's really taking shape nicely.

It is.

Kind of the lobby area out front is really nice.

I love the wall of guitars.

Did you

see those?

That's so cool to see all the different guitars and signatures from people who have performed there.

Just some of the different things they're adding, I think, is just a huge addition to just wanting to go and look at stuff, which is really neat.

Having that kind of as a crown jewel of the downtown, I mean, that does not hurt the chamber at all, does

it?

No, it's wonderful.

You know, they're a chamber member as well.

So it's great.

We kind of work together.

try to promote a lot of their stuff if we can.

And having something like that right in downtown just brings different kinds of people to the area.

And we've always talked about...

How do we get more people to come to Richland Center?

And we think we have this beautiful auditorium.

Let's use it, you know, get more people here.

And they've really the, the board or the crew that's on the performing arts, they've really added so many more events and shows to bring more people.

And it's just something you just got to do it more and more and people, more people will come, but the new seating is great.

The sound in there is wonderful.

So it definitely adds,

a lot downtown Richmond center and the chamber in general to have something like that.

It's pretty unique for the area.

That is coming up.

Uh, Jake goes in concert there in early September and then the house of cash.

as well.

So stay tuned for more about those events.

Speaking of bringing people, Katie, to Downtown Richland Center, the murder mystery, my goodness, was that well attended, was

it?

Yes, it was very busy downtown and it's the second year of them doing this.

The Crime Stoppers organizes it, which is great.

And as the chamber, we just sponsor it and help promote it again, provide some meals to the actors and actresses.

And the

that again, a different group of people, a lot of out of towners, but we had a beautiful weekend weather wise.

So it was a really, really well attended.

It was a fun event, something different.

We get such great feedback from this event.

And we don't have the final numbers on how many we know or an estimate, but

I'm so thankful that the crime software started this and brought it here because it's something new.

And again, what can we do to bring to Richland Center?

And it's such a success.

People are so excited about it.

They look forward to it.

It's such a fun thing.

So it really was a really great event for the area.

It was nice to see all ages and some families coming together.

And then meeting, I saw outside of Christie's, there were a whole bunch of people out there milling around on the table and trying to figure out who'd

done it.

Yeah, it is.

And that's the, that's a great thing about the event is all ages, you know, young or old families individually, however you want to do it.

Um, but I just think having such a nice downtown and an area for everybody to be able to walk and get to everything.

And it brought in so many different people into the businesses, not just outside, but in and around.

And everyone got to play different fun parts.

So I think.

for that part of things too, like if you want to do a little bit of that fun acting or get involved.

It's just a small little piece of it, but people really like doing that.

So that's super fun.

You bet.

Hats off to the actors.

They wouldn't break character either.

I tried to make small talk with them like, whatever, but yeah, they were, they were, they were selling it.

That's for sure.

Right.

They did a great job.

And Marvellous, I believe was the guilty party.

Yes.

That's what I

heard.

They said, yep.

And they said a lot of good, there was a good number of people that picked that or figured it out.

So yeah, so that was good.

It was a good turnout.

And

I hope that means that there'll be a third annual as well.

Yeah.

They sound like it.

I mean, it sounds like they love planning it and it's a great event and they have a big following.

Um, the murder mystery type of event has a pretty big following.

So, um, they started their own page and there's quite a few people on it now.

So I think as well as it's attended, I can't imagine they wouldn't, but

yeah,

we're hoping that.

Let's talk about some chamber events coming up.

Katie, uh, we're not that far away from.

Pumpkin Fest.

Right.

Yes.

So Pumpkin Fest, even though it's still August, you know, I feel like September just brings on fall and school and everything.

So Pumpkin Fest this year is a little bit early with Halloween being on the Saturday.

So it's October 21st through the 24th are the dates.

So the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday of Pumpkin Fest, where the pumpkins are going to be available on the courtside lawn to like walk around and look at.

Now this year the theme is pumpkins in the jungle.

So every year you know a local child or student picks the theme and it's voted on.

So pumpkins in the jungle is the theme but there's all kinds of categories you can do.

Something kind of nice and exciting this year is

The pumpkin pickup has always been at the fire station the Saturday before.

This year, it's going to be at the fire station, but it'll also be at the North Park soccer field because a lot of local families are in soccer on Saturdays.

So we want to make sure we don't miss out on kids and families who want to do the pumpkin fest.

So we'll continue it at the fire station, but again, at the soccer park as well.

So the Saturday before you can pick up your pumpkin.

It's all donated and then decorate however you'd like and then drop off will be that Wednesday.

So it's been a great, great addition again.

I think this is the third year that it's been going on now.

And there's a committee that helps with it.

And again, the chamber is involved as a sponsor and just kind of

Sponsor some of the events and supports it and promotes it as well.

But it's really a fun fall thing to get everyone involved.

Again, all ages.

So children, adults, families, businesses, organizations, you can enter as one or a group for this contest.

And then Saturday, the 24th is kind of the big pumpkin fest day.

So there's a lot of events that day.

The 4-H and Key Club have kids games and activities.

Simons are doing a fun run that day again.

So that'll be part of Pumpkin Fest.

There's all kinds of activities on the courthouse like right around that day from noon till four.

So it's a really funny event in the area.

Are the pumpkins free for those families?

Yes.

So it's all donated and they're free.

So if you come and grab a pumpkin again at either location, they are free for families and children and groups to do their pumpkin fest decorating.

And it can be carving, painting, multiples of that.

And it's pretty incredible to walk along the courthouse, like the courthouse lawn and see

The creativity people have I mean I always am like so shocked at how well people can paint or carve pumpkins to look like you know something cool so and there's scary and there's scare crow and there's all different you know princess and along with this theme for the year so it's a really really great event that was just brought to Richland Center.

um, by a local person that grew up in a town that had it for years and years and years.

So, um, Suzanne from WP dental brought that here and, um, it's been a really fun addition, something new and easy and free and fun to do in the area.

So you're right.

I think about, uh, you see these pumpkins and you're just amazed how many different ways can you decorate a pumpkin, you know, and people just keep coming up with new ways all the time.

Yeah.

I think of the creativity of it and,

I'm sure it helps now with like social media and Pinterest and looking for ideas.

But I mean, you still have to have the creativity to make it.

And it's just a it's it's really fun to see what people can come up with and how they can make it look like certain shapes or ideas.

So it's really a fun event.

So I encourage a lot of people to come out.

If you've never been there before, just take a stroll one of those nights and walk along the fence and just look at the pumpkins.

There's a lot of rewards and winners and things like that that are voted on specific judges.

We try to get the local art teachers to come in and help judge just cause, you know, they're creative themselves.

And it's just a nice thing to add to the downtown for the area.

Will you be doing a wine walk this

fall?

We are not.

We had planned on it.

We did a spring one and we've done a fall wine walk for years.

So we had planned on it.

However, it's just a really busy time of year.

A lot of the businesses that are a stop or participate are out of town.

You know, Friday night football games always interfere.

A lot of the business owners now have kids who play football.

So we want to make sure that there's always enough businesses to make it worth the time for people to come and spend the money to buy a ticket.

So if we can't get the right number of businesses to be a stop, then it doesn't make sense at the time.

So we're going to recircle it back and see about next year, but we just decided to cancel it.

So we didn't have to waste the time of people coming in.

But we're going to look at maybe doing a different type of a walk.

The wine walk we've done for years and years and years and it's been a great event, but we want to make sure that we're doing things that are going to bring enough people and make it worth it.

So we've thought about maybe a winter walk, like something in the off season, like maybe January, like soups or chilies at the businesses, some hot chocolates or hot coffee drinks and more of a off season winter walk or winter stroll.

We don't know.

We're kind of still brainstorming that, but

We're always thinking of different things to add.

If the wine walk is something that we've done enough, should we look at doing something else?

There's lots of things going on in all other communities.

So we're just trying to find what's a good fit for Richland Center.

So the off season winter thing might be something to do in January when there's not as much going on.

And then we'll likely have a lot more people involved and be able to participate.

Yeah.

The title, greater Richland area, it's not just downtown Richland center.

So trying to find an event that maybe all the businesses can get in part of.

That's another challenge sometimes too, isn't

it?

Right.

And, you know, when it's the wine walk, you know, obviously people aren't driving usually.

So, um, some of the business on the outside are harder to participate because there's only so many hours to walk between all the stops.

So we can't reach out, but, um,

you know, maybe this winter one is something to where it's going to be colder.

People might not be walking.

So they'll be, you know, driving where we can get some other businesses involved that are, you know, on the edges of town or, you know, down 14 further or something, just to get some more businesses involved.

And I think it'll be a nice fit for that area.

But yeah, it is tougher when it's just the downtown with walking to get everybody to places without crossing major highways and things like that.

Maybe if we do eventually get snow one of these winters, you could do something with snowmobiles.

Always

thinking outside the box here.

That

would be nice.

That would be nice.

I know the chamber Katie is always up for suggestions of somebody has an idea too.

Yeah.

And that's exactly with this.

you know should we do the wine walk or not we just decided as a committee like let's just not do it if it's not going to make sense but what else can we do and you know our chamber board is an eight person board right now so we are just brainstorming with each other and a few other community members but we would love to have ideas suggestions because we need more people's input what what do people want to see what is something that

you saw someone else do that maybe would be a good fit for Richland Center.

And I can't stress that enough that the feedback and ideas are so important because we're just a few people with ideas.

And the more we can get suggestions from people for the area, I mean, look at the.

pumpkin fest and look at this murder mystery, like two great things that people brought to Richland Center.

So, so definitely, um, you know, you can reach out on our Facebook, our website, if you know any of us locally, you can message us on there.

Um, but, but reach out as best you can because we do want to hear those things for sure.

They always got to be kind of changing with the times I think and, you know,

Again, thinking outside the box and things like that.

I know you've had the Richland Center, the taste of Richland Center.

You've done that a few times in the summer and maybe you've gone away from that, but that might be something you'd bring back in the future too.

Yeah.

And it's, that's exactly it.

Like does stuff, you know, kind of go through the circulation of using it too much.

So we wonder about the wine walker and the taste of the Hills was a great event, but similar, you know, was the similar, like kind of similar.

music and food trucks and same stuff.

And so like, let's, you know, find something different and add something new.

And maybe we'll bring it back and add some new events.

There's always new food trucks popping up or new music artists or things like that.

And it is true because everything is changing.

So what was really popular a while ago, you know, might not be as much.

And I think also not everybody

is into those things anymore.

There's new things that our people are doing.

Families want to do stuff different.

People aren't always wanting to do the wine walk thing, for example.

So it's just finding different things to bring to get people involved and find some things to get people to come to Richland Center.

You hit on something too, the food trucks.

A number of them have started up in the area over the last few years and they are wonderful as well.

Yeah.

You know, I'm just thankful that those are around just to try new stuff.

And so I think as we look at what to do further, you know, some food truck events, downtown music and food trucks, I feel like it's just a thing that people like is go somewhere, listen to music, eat some food, sit and visit.

you know, on an outdoor space if we can find it.

So just finding more things like that to do and bring, I think is what people are looking for.

The other thing that you always have to, well, you never know for sure, but it's weather.

And if you're doing an outdoor event, the weather plays such a role in your attendance.

Yes, it definitely does.

I think the last time we did the Taste of the Hills, it was extremely hot that day.

one of the hottest days of the summer, which makes it very difficult.

And I always feel so bad for any event when they're doing, you know, like the mushroom fest or a big outdoor weekend, and then it rains, or it's really hot because you put in all this time and work, and then the attendance is low, but then your vendors don't get the business, you know, and so you plan it all.

And so there is always that weather thing.

And, you know, when you get a day with beautiful weather, it's just like,

it's so perfect and it works out so great.

But those are always the things too that you have to always remember is that can happen, which can really affect the turnout.

So you kind of got to make the best of that.

But yeah, so the off season winter time when we don't have outdoor space, you know, what are some things we can still do inside or through the businesses and things like that.

So, so yeah, we're always thinking in brainstorming, but

Any suggestions are always appreciated.

You have a new business in downtown Richland Center that people are really excited about.

Yes.

Yeah.

The Wild Honey Juicery opened the 20th, so a day last week.

And I think everyone's been excited watching just like the creation of the building and the business and wondering when it was going to open.

I stopped in during their soft open a few weeks ago.

Gosh, it's a beautiful building.

The inside is really nice.

They've done a wonderful job with it.

And I've heard nothing but great feedback and positive, lots of pictures and posts.

And so we're very excited and very thankful to have them open and available, hoping to do a ribbon cutting with them coming up just to kind of display their business and do like an open house with them.

But yeah, it's a beautiful, the painting on the one side and the way they dress it up really

really shines in the downtown.

So it's a really great business to have.

Yeah, the restoration of a historic building and, you know, bringing new business.

And we had a chance to eat there over the weekend.

It was wonderful.

And I know that they have a concert planned for September as well.

Yeah, that's what she was saying.

They're in the back.

They're going to go like a dinner.

And there's some, I don't remember exactly, but some special connection to the concert and the place.

something that I just think those types of things are really nice to have a neat outdoor dinner concert venue space like they're going to have is just unique things to bring to Richland Center that people are looking for.

So I think more of those types of things outside of just opening the restaurant is going to be great.

A lot of people like that kind of stuff.

So like the fun little intimate outdoor dinner stuff.

will be fun.

So you have to get the big scissors out again and get a new ribbon.

Cause I know you used it yesterday at the stage.

Well, there was two scissors.

There was like the big red one and then like our heavy gold one.

So they had a couple different ones and they, you know, the heavy one is a little bit tougher to do.

So they had this big red.

It was, it's beautiful.

I don't know who's that was,

but

that was a really neat to have there.

So yeah, it was a.

It was a fun one.

So the more ribbon cuttings we can do, the more new businesses or open houses is great.

So we're always happy to be part of those.

Indeed.

Anything else you want to add, Katie, that we didn't ask you today?

Just a few things.

We have a couple of things coming up during the holiday season.

So we want to try to do more of like a few years ago.

I think it might have been during COVID.

We did like a scavenger hunt Christmas light.

So the local businesses and actually like families and houses.

decorated with the theme.

And we put together a scavenger hunt where each place had an item in their decoration you had to find.

And so we're thinking of bringing that back again.

It was such a great way to get people out and about to drive around and get the businesses but also like just local residents involved.

And so we're going to be doing that in the holiday again this year and some decorating downtown decorating and the holiday movie which is great.

And the other thing I just wanted to mention is we're going to have a new

workshop like a learning workshop we're gonna bring the next couple of months one day each month we're just finalizing the dates but just to talk about branding and social media so we have a specialist coming in to do like a five o'clock

meal plus workshop to talk a little bit more about how can we be better at branding our business or getting our name out on social media.

So that'll be something that will be for chamber members and the public both.

So just things like that.

We're going to bring in some lunch and learns and workshops in ways we can all do better as a community and help our businesses in areas that they need.

We've been hearing a lot of feedback on wanting to learn more about marketing, branding, social media, that type of stuff.

So.

So yeah, that's another thing we'll have coming.

So just look at our Facebook page.

That's where a lot of our information and events are, or you can check out our website, but either one will have a lot of the things that we're going to have going on.

Trying to stay ahead of the newest technology, that's sometimes a challenge, isn't it?

Yeah, and you know, we all went to school for what we went to school for, but none of us are very good at the marketing branding part of it, but that needs to be part of what we all do now.

Anything we can get to help, I think is great.

So that's something that, like I said, we got a lot of feedback on, which we encourage.

And so we're bringing that in to help give people what they're asking for.

And hopefully we can all learn something myself included.

So yeah.

I know you've had some business after five.

So you're gonna have any of those coming up here in the fall?

Yeah, we're hoping to do one more before the end of the year.

We're just still finalizing the dates and location, but we'd like to do one more before, you know, like,

the colder season starts.

So we can do a fall one, which would be great.

Again, the winter season might do some that are more indoor, but there's some great outdoor locations that we wanted to try to get some of those in.

So yes, we'll be having one of those yet before the fall is over and then the winter time will continue as we find more.

But yeah, those are great ways to get people together.

They really are.

Yeah, you're on the board.

The board, is that gonna change in terms of positions

here?

Yeah, we're just kind of repositioning some of the positions.

So Christie has been the president.

She's stepping down as president and Craig Woodhouse is replacing her as president.

And I'll be stepping down as secretary and Terry Richards will be coming in as secretary.

So we're all stay on the board.

So I'm not leaving.

Christie's not leaving.

We're just, you know, switching positions so that we don't do it for too long.

And we have other people in different roles.

So, so yeah.

And we do have a couple of spots on the board we're looking to replace and add.

So also any local businesses or local community members that are interested, you know, let us know because we're, we're always trying to, you know,

find more people that can give us more insight.

It's good to get different views and ideas from all different areas.

So, but yeah, so it'll be good to have some different spots on the board, but continuing with the same board that we have just in different roles, which will be nice.

Always good to see you, Katie.

Yes.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

Keep us posted on any ribbon cuttings or anything.

We'd love to be a part of it.

I will.

Thanks, Phil.

Katie Bedward joining us, Secretary of Greater Richland Area Chamber of Commerce on this portion of the morning show.

you

On the next part of our morning show, we talk about some goings on with youth in the area.

And we're going to talk about the junior dairy exhibitors, the adult supervisor for that organization, Jody Cornell is in the studio along with Anna Cornell and Catherine Steadley.

We're going to talk about the recent state fair.

Look ahead to the county fair.

Jody, how are things going?

They're going good.

Thanks for having us on this morning, Phil.

So we, yeah, we participated in the state fair.

Um, it was back at the first part of August, so it's been a couple of weeks already.

Um, and we had a really good time.

It only took two kids this year and that's too bad.

I wish more were, would go and have the experience, but, um, and our two lovely ladies talk about what they did and how they did and that sort of thing.

Let's talk about the name change.

First of all,

Oh yeah, we, we change.

So our name changed this year.

We're now the.

junior dairy exhibitors of original county.

And we did that more to maybe focus a little bit more on, um, on what we're really trying to do.

And that's to help youth exhibit dairy.

Um, so it's our goal to make that more affordable for youth and to assist them if they need something to, um, including, you know, getting there, um, fitting whatever it takes to get them in the ring and showing dairy cattle.

Trying to encourage more members and you've done that you've talked about that in the past You don't necessarily have to live on a dairy farm to be a member of the group.

Yeah, you don't and Like for some shows it doesn't matter a lot of shows though You do need to have registered cattle which can make it a little bit tougher for some but We got we still have registered breeders in the county and we still have cattle out there that if someone is really looking to show and wants to try it out We can get an animal of most any age to

to go to a show.

Quite a commitment to go to state fair.

That's a year long preparation, isn't it?

Yeah, it starts way before the fair and it's, you know, it's a very, it's also a very expensive habit, I guess I'd like to say.

I mean, we do some fundraising and stuff and we try to keep our, the expenses for the youth down to as low as we possibly can because it can really drag out

Just you know a good friend of Mars I actually stayed with a different county while at State Fair this year I stayed in a dorm room with Iowa County and Just a freak thing Iowa County had a fire in the shed where they had

all of their stuff gathered to go to the fair was only 10 days before the fair and they lost everything and had to start over from scratch and and not you know not just the logistics of finding it all and getting it all put back together and all that but the expense of having to cover stuff you know and and we have a lot of good support here in the county too that we have places that will help us out and help us get there and so um

I'll talk a little bit more about that when we get to County Fair.

I would guess Iowa County, though.

I've been guessing some people stepped up and help

them.

Oh, sure.

Yeah.

They got a lot of things, you know, they, they still got a lot of donations to help them get there and that sort of thing.

But people just, I think sometimes, um,

That we don't really think about the expense of going and that was actually one of the reasons that we started this group was to be able to get the kids all together at different times of the year do some fundraising do some Community outreach and find that support because at one point it was getting to where it was It was like Ford almost $500 a kid

To go to the fair and that gets to be really pricey and then when you have families with multiple kids and stuff It gets you know exponentially pricey as you go.

So that's part of part of what we try to do is try to Keep the kids maybe from making that total investment.

We got clippers that we loan out we have

Heather, my wife has started a collection of white pants and we have white pants and almost every size imaginable as kids phase out parents will be like here, you might as well have our white pants.

And, and so we have a huge collection of white pants and we're always telling people don't buy white pants just for showing because if you tell us what size you need, we probably have that size white pants and we have boys and girls both in it.

You know, it's just one of those things you don't have to go out and spend money on.

which is nice.

This day and age is just you can spend money everywhere and it costs a lot to go to the fair.

So I shouldn't realize that Jody, but in my mind, I'm thinking of 40, 50 year old 50 year ago rates, you know, to go to state fair.

It's it's gone up considerably.

Yeah, it's gone up terribly.

And I mean, you know, and there's so much that maybe isn't people don't realize it goes into it too.

I mean, you got your bedding, you got your feed.

But you have all of your equipment.

You need to have some forks.

You need to have some rakes.

You need a broom.

You need a wheelbarrow or some sort of catch basin, you know, and you need feed pans.

You need just the list just keeps going on and on.

And then all of a sudden you throw in there too.

And the girls will touch on that a little bit.

You got herdsmanship.

So you got to do decorations and not knocking our county fair.

I think we have some really, really beautiful decorations out there.

But the state fair is a little bit

Above that another level maybe if you want to go that way And it's a competition too they have herdsmanship at the state fair just like they do at county fair

And you know, you can end up putting a lot into decorations just to and a lot of times those are one time thing.

The theme changes every year.

And so all of your banners and things that have the theme on them are basically obsolete for the following year.

So there's just a lot of money that goes into it that our group tries to help support the kids and tries to make that more affordable for everyone.

Tony, maybe you could say a few words about these two ladies you brought along here today.

So today we have Anna Cornell, my daughter, and we have Catherine Steadley with us.

And Catherine actually shows one of our registered animals at the fair at State Fair and she's took it this year for the second time.

So again, you don't necessarily have to have registered animals.

Catherine lives on a farm and they have cattle.

I don't know.

You may have some registered cattle too.

Not too many, but.

Okay, so Catherine is chosen to just basically borrow an animal and and she works with it during the summer it stays at her place and she takes care of it and and Works with it and has it ready to go for the fair and so you don't have to have animals and and you don't have to necessarily even have room to take an animal and work with it You can always come

to someone else's place and work with it there too.

There's lots of people who would be just tickled to have a young person be interested in showing an animal.

How do

we go for you this year, Catherine, at State Fair?

I think it went good.

Could have gone better, but I think it went good.

Is it a nervous time getting ready and anticipating of going to Milwaukee?

Yeah.

How many hours do you think you put in during the year?

Any idea?

I have

no clue.

Yeah.

It takes a lot.

I wanted to ask you about the Herdsmanship and what went into that this year?

Well, we had to have everything nicely decorated and we had to make sure everything was clean and put together.

What was the theme or what did you go with this year?

It was 175 years of showing off Wisconsin Dairy.

So you had a lot to work with then.

Yeah,

absolutely.

So and overall things went well.

What about how did you place the

state?

I got participation for showmanship and fourth in the show.

What about you, Anna?

How did it go this year?

I took three.

So I took a jersey at Fall Yearling and Milk that I also took last year as a jersey fall calf.

And she was second in her class and first bread known.

uh... i took a hosting senior two-year-old and she was second as well and i also took a milking short-horned spring calf and she was six dinner class

you spent a lot of time with those animals they become pets don't they?

yeah um especially the jerseys they're basically already pets when they're born and then they just become more pets as you work with them

And you both were showing you've been how many times you've been a state fair Catherine twice twice.

Okay.

And next year you plan to go back next year.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What about you Anna?

Uh, yeah, this was my second year being eligible for state fair.

So

you have some fun down there.

Let's let's talk about some behind the scenes stuff because I understand there was something called barn hockey.

What is that?

So one behind the scenes thing that nobody sees is we play barn hockey out in the behind the scenes area.

And basically, they round up as many tools as they can, and people come out, all the kids come out, and they have this ball made of duct tape, and they have plastic shovels, and this year there was a shaving fork that broke as soon as the game started.

And they try to get the ball into the goal, which is three shaving pegs on each end.

And the goal is to get as many points as you can, and then there's a makeshift trophy that you win.

And this year was made out of a chair and some random other things.

Wow.

So did you win it

then?

No.

Usually mostly the older kids play.

It's like the seniors, the graduates, so.

Okay barn hockey.

I'll have to learn that the rules I'm afraid

to tell you so there aren't much for anyone hurt and The plastic utensils are used because it does get kind of rough.

Yeah

Good clean fun.

These

two weren't the ones that started the fight on that Sunday night at the State Fair.

We were not there.

We were already headed for home when that broke out.

Thank heavens.

That was a good thing.

Yes.

You guys looking for county fair.

Let's talk about that a little bit.

Anna, what about county

fair?

I'm taking that four dairy, I think, four or five.

So I have a Jersey cow and a Holstein cow that I took to State Fair.

the milking short and spring calf that I took to state fair and then two other spring calves.

A lot of work for you.

Yeah.

And how do you manage the time?

Because you're going to be going back to school.

I hate to say this, but next week,

how do you

manage your time when school starts?

So I have to of course do my homework.

I also to the fair and taking a cow calf pair for beef.

And I also have me and my brother between me and my brother.

We have 21 cages of rabbits.

So.

Yeah, I have to be very time-manageable so that I can work with my dairy and my rabbits and my beef and still get all my homework done.

Well, good luck with that.

Katherine, what about you?

What are you taking to County Fair this

year?

I am taking two winter yearlings.

One is a Holstein and one is the Ayrshire that I took to State Fair.

And do you take any other animals or projects?

We're also taking

two turkeys each me and my One of my younger sisters

turkeys.

All right.

Good.

What do you have to do to get them ready?

What are some special things that you do?

Not really much You just have to make sure they're used to being worked with being touched handled And you have to know what the judges are gonna ask about so you can answer their questions

So they're not so skittish then yeah and get them ready good Jody, I know we want to talk a little bit about some of the things coming up for the the fair First of all, there's a silent auction you'd like to talk about

Yeah, so we're gonna do a silent auction.

We did one a couple years ago There'll be three baskets to bid on or three they're actually gonna be like mini coolers to bid on we're open people will swing through the Dairy barn and take a look at what they are and possibly throw a bid on them it'll be going on probably until Saturday night and

We're trying to raise some funds, of course it's always expensive and we have some things that the group would like to have for possibly traveling to more shows and so that's primarily what it'll be used for is purchasing things.

We're also tentatively looking at possibly starting like a scholarship program for exhibitors as far as like say you wanted to go to the

Holstein show that's held in Lancaster in the summer for the District 3 Holsteins.

We're looking at trying to maybe start a program where

Um, our group would help you with like, say a $25 scholarship that you could put towards your transportation fees, your entry fees, or just possibly some, something you need for fitting or something you need for feed, um, for that show.

And, um, right now we're looking at it would be a one once a year thing for each person.

So you couldn't just say, well, I'm going to go to six shows.

I'd like you to pay me for six shows.

That's not how it's going to work.

It would be.

one show for the summer.

So if there's anybody out there who'd like to show something, they're thinking, wow, it's going to be really expensive to go and we got to pay for all this stuff.

We're looking at finding a way to help them out even more than what we would do right now.

This would be like something that they could use any way they wanted to.

So you can look for that during the original county

fair?

Yeah.

So during the county fair, it'll be ready on Thursday while it's set up and it'll just be a

Walk by place a bid on it and like I said, it's just gonna be a silent auction.

So

Could you go over the timeline of events that gonna change this year at the county?

No, I think everything's pretty much gonna be the same as it as it's always been the dairy show will be Saturday morning starting at 9 o'clock Doesn't we're not gonna have a huge group of dairy.

So it'll go pretty quickly.

I think it'll move right along I do want to talk about

Another thing that's going to be at county fair.

So we will put up the display that was at the state fair will be put up in the barn This year was celebrating 175 years of showing off Wisconsin dairy.

And so we went with our theme or our our Display was past State Fair participation for Merchants County.

We had a lot of really nice help up with that Including some of the ladies around the county who have led

not just going to State Fair, but like Pat Ripsch and with the junior Holstein group and stuff.

We went back a long ways.

We had a network of friends that all got together and we got some pictures from as far back as I believe our oldest one was from 1963.

Walk through the barns, take a look at our collage.

Our one wall is a collage of nothing but pictures and names from earlier years that have traveled to State Fair.

We're going to have a some kind of a notebook or possibly a whiteboard.

I'm not sure exactly how it's going to look, but we're going to put something there.

And if you know somebody who went to state fair and you can't find their name on our board, please put them on our list for us.

If you have anything that you'd like to put up, you know, say you actually have a picture of yourself that you went to state fair and we either didn't get in touch with you or we didn't get one, you know, throw another picture up there.

It would be awesome.

But we have.

And we've also named as many of the farms that kids came from as we possibly could.

Not knowing everyone and not knowing everyone's farm names, but I've been doing this for quite a while and I knew a lot, but we got a lot of help.

We got help from Bill and Nancy Geer.

We got help from Pat Ripsch and like I said, we got help from Connie Turgesson.

We got some help from Gretchen Knable.

All these ladies helped us put together more names, more pictures, but

If, like I said, if you walk by and you, you know, Joe Smith went to state fair with me way back in such and such a time and we don't have their name up there, we would love to have you add their name to our list.

I think we went through some really nice scrapbooks that Pat had and it just brought up a lot of memories and a lot of stuff.

And so stop by and look at our wall and see what, see what you could add to it.

So.

A lot of people remember back in the days when, you know, there were so many more farms, but, you know, you'd fill up a building and a half.

Oh yeah, there were so, you know, way back we were taking 35 head.

I think they kind of maxed us out at about 35 head that could go and we would have one aisle of the barn completely full of just Richland County cattle.

And that was a lot of fun and it was really cool.

And some of the pictures will show some of those lineups as well.

So good memories.

Yeah.

Good memories.

Yeah.

And we also have, um, the plaques that have been collected and stuff as far as like for herdsmanship winning and, um, for, um, there's some for club herd, which they don't do anymore, but they used to do club herd and your, uh, we have plaques that have been collected throughout the years also thrown up on that wall.

So, and that the girls didn't tell you that, but they actually placed seventh.

10th, 10th in hergemanship this year, which was a little short of our goal, but there were some extenuating circumstances there.

And then we also placed our educational display, which will be up also placed second for our group, our group.

So that was a really good feat.

I like that.

That means you're really putting something out there.

that, that is teaching the public something.

And we also fitted that in to be with the 175 years of the fair.

So

that's all about educating too, you know, and especially to go to the state fair level or some that probably don't know where their products come from.

Oh yeah.

That's, you know, I always, I love that part.

I love when the people stop and they're like, you know, what is this?

Oh, that one's brown.

It gives chocolate.

No, it doesn't give chocolate milk, you know, or, you know, they just, the one thing that the girls do a lot of too is

the kids love to just touch an animal.

They just die to touch an animal.

Can we touch one?

Can we touch one?

It's like, yeah, go ahead, touch one.

Because that's really actually kind of frowned upon.

And I understand why it's frowned upon too, but it's like, really, these people never see an animal.

This is the closest they're going to get to a cow.

you know, let's let them pet one and see what it's really like.

And some of them are just like, Oh, is it going to kick?

You know, is it going to kick?

Is it going to walk on me?

Or, you know, what's, is it going to bunt me?

And it's like, no, you know, they just, they don't really have a full comprehension of how tame they are and how, how much the kids have worked with them.

My cousins from the city, I was used to worry about the cows biting them.

Are they going to bite me?

That's the least of your worries.

Are you both involved in 4-H?

Yes.

For what club?

I'm in the Buena Vista Wonder Workers.

Okay.

And how's that been going this year,

Catherine?

Uh, that's been going, it's been going good.

Good.

What projects do you have this year with 4-H?

Um, I have the dairy, the turkeys, and then I'm taking in some crops, garden stuff, food, food's nutrition, and I'm doing, oh,

What working project

would look with that.

Yeah, I'm guessing you have already to go for the fair already, don't you?

What about you Anna?

Which

club?

So I'm part of Casanovia willing workers and I have

a lot of projects.

I do arts and crafts which covers way too many things to name them all.

I have this paint pour that I'm taking in and some diamond painting that I do and I'm also doing a woodworking project and sewing projects and I have dairy, rabbits, beef and

Flowers are one of the hardest things for me, mostly because they don't go in on Wednesday.

They go in Tuesday night right after school.

So that is a very tricky thing to manage because you have to get home from school and then go and get your flowers because you can't pick them the day before because then they're going to go bad before the fair.

So that is a tricky thing for me to figure out because you have to go that night to get them.

So it's a very, very time management.

Good luck with that.

And hopefully it doesn't frost or anything like that.

Yeah.

Hopefully later frost.

Well, ladies, good luck.

Nice to have you back in the studio here and congratulations on the state fair and how that went.

We'll see you at the fair.

Thank you

the next level or I guess the county fair, right?

That's kind of the first level then the state comes the next

year

gets its artworks and then you want to add today Jody?

Just if there's anyone out there who'd like to show dairy we'd be more than happy to Set you up and help you out.

You can always find us.

We're pretty much in the dairy barn for the entire fair, so Sleeping out there, right?

I spend a lot of nights out there.

Yes

Well, good luck with that.

It'll be here before we know it a couple weeks

Jody Donies joining Cornell adult supervisor for the junior dairy exhibitors and also joining us today Anna Cornell and Catherine steadily in this portion of the morning show

The End

On the next part of our morning show, we talk about some goings on with youth in the area.

And we're going to talk about the junior dairy exhibitors, the adult supervisor for that organization, Jody Cornell is in the studio along with Anna Cornell and Catherine Steadley.

We're going to talk about the recent state fair.

Look ahead to the county fair.

Jody, how are things going?

They're going good.

Thanks for having us on this morning, Phil.

So we, yeah, we participated in the state fair.

um it was back at the first part of august so it's been a couple weeks already um and we had a really good time it only took two kids this year and that's too bad i wish more were would go and have the experience but i'm gonna let our two lovely ladies talk about what they did and how they did and that sort of thing

let's talk about the name change first of all oh

yeah we we change so our name changed this year we're now the

junior dairy exhibitors of original County.

And we did that more to maybe focus a little bit more on, um, on what we're really trying to do.

And that's to help youth exhibit dairy.

Um, so it's our goal to make that more affordable for youth and to assist them if they need something to, um, including, you know, getting their, um, fitting, whatever it takes to get them in the ring and showing dairy cattle.

Trying to encourage more members and you've done that you've talked about that in the past You don't necessarily have to live on a dairy farm to be a member of the

group.

Yeah, you don't and Like for some shows it doesn't matter a lot of shows though You do need to have registered cattle which can make it a little bit tougher for some but We got we still have registered breeders in the county and we still have cattle out there that if someone is really looking to show and wants to try it out We can get an animal of most any age to

to go to a show.

Quite a commitment to go to state fair.

That's a year long preparation, isn't it?

Yeah, it starts way before the fair and it's, you know, it's a very, it's also a very expensive habit, I guess I'd like to say.

I mean, we do some fundraising and stuff and we try to keep our, the expenses for the youth down to as low as we possibly can, because it can really drag out

Just you know a good friend of Mars I actually stayed with a different county while at State Fair this year I stayed in a dorm room with Iowa County and Just a freak thing Iowa County had a fire in the shed where they had

all of their stuff gathered to go to the fair was only 10 days before the fair and they lost everything and had to start over from scratch and and not you know not just the logistics of finding it all and getting it all put back together and all that but the expense of having to cover stuff you know and um and we have a lot of good support here in the county too that uh we have places that will help us out and help us get there and so um

I'll talk a little bit more about that when we get to County Fair.

I would guess Iowa County, though.

I've been guessing some people stepped up and help

them.

Oh, sure.

Yeah.

They got a lot of things, you know, they, they still got a lot of donations to help them get there and that sort of thing.

But people just, I think sometimes, um,

That we don't really think about the expense of going and that was actually one of the reasons that we started this group was to be able to get the kids all together at different times of the year do some fundraising do some Community outreach and find that support because at one point it was getting to where it was It was like Ford almost $500 a kid

To go to the fair and that gets to be really pricey and then when you have families with multiple kids and stuff It gets you know exponentially pricey as you go.

So that's part of part of what we try to do is try to Keep the kids maybe from making that total investment.

We got clippers that we loan out we have

Heather, my wife has started a collection of white pants and we have white pants and almost every size imaginable as kids phase out parents will be like, here you might as well have our white pants.

And, and so we have a huge collection of white pants and we are always telling people don't buy white pants just for showing because if you tell us what size you need, we probably have that size white pants and we have boys and girls both in it.

You know, it's just one of those things you don't have to go out and spend money on.

which is nice.

This day and age is just you can spend money everywhere and it costs a lot to go to the fair.

I shouldn't realize that Jody, but in my mind, I'm thinking of 40, 50 year old, 50 year ago rates, you know, to go to state fair.

It's, it's gone up considerably

since then.

Yeah, it's gone up terribly.

And I mean, you know, and there's so much that maybe isn't people don't realize it goes into it too.

I mean, you got your bedding, you got your feed.

But you have all of your equipment.

You need to have some forks.

You need to have some rakes.

You need a broom.

You need a wheelbarrow or some sort of catch basin, you know, and you need feed pans.

You need just the list just keeps going on and on.

And then all of a sudden you throw in there too.

And the girls will touch on that a little bit.

You got herdsmanship.

So you got to do decorations and not knocking our county fair.

I think we have some really, really beautiful decorations out there.

But the state fair is a little bit

Above that another level maybe if you want to go that way And it's a competition too they have herdsmanship at the State Fair just like they do at County Fair and You know you can end up putting a lot into decorations just to and a lot of times those are one-time thing The theme changes every year and so all of your banners and things that have the theme on them are

are basically obsolete for the following year.

So there's just a lot of money that goes into it that our group tries to help support the kids and tries to make that more affordable for everyone.

Tony, maybe you could say a few words about these two ladies you brought along here today.

So today we have Anna Cornel, my daughter, and we have Catherine Steadley with us.

And Catherine actually shows one of our registered animals at the fair at State Fair and she's took it this year for the second time.

So again, you don't necessarily have to have registered animals.

Catherine lives on a farm and they have cattle.

I don't know.

You may have some registered cattle too.

Not too many, but okay.

So Catherine is chosen to just, um, basically borrow an animal and, um, and she works with it during the summer.

It stays at her place and she takes care of it and, and works with it and has it ready to go for the fair.

And so you don't have to have animals and, and,

you don't have to necessarily even have room to take an animal and work with it.

You can always come to someone else's place and work with it there too.

There's lots of people who would be just tickled to have a young person be interested in showing an animal.

How

did we go for you this year, Catherine, at State Fair?

I think it went good.

Could have gone better, but I think it went good.

Is it nervous time getting ready and anticipating of going to Milwaukee?

Yeah.

And how many hours do you think you put in during the year?

Any idea?

No clue.

Yeah.

Takes a lot.

I wanted to ask you about the herdsmanship and what went into that this year?

Well, we had to have everything nicely decorated and we had to make sure everything was clean and put together.

What was the theme or what did you go with this year?

It was 175 years of showing off Wisconsin Dairy.

So you had a lot to work with then.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

So and overall things went well.

What about how did you place that state?

I got participation for showmanship and fourth in the show.

What about you Anna?

How did it go this year?

I took three, so I took a Jersey fall yearling and milk that I also took last year as a Jersey fall calf.

And she was second in her class and first bread known.

I took a Holstein senior two year old and she was second as well.

And I also took a milking short horn spring calf and she was sixth in her class.

You spend a lot of time with those animals.

They become pets, don't they?

Yeah.

Um, especially the jerseys, they're basically already pets when they're born and then they just become more pets as you work with them.

And you both were showing, you've been, how many times you've been a state fair, Catherine?

Twice.

Twice.

Okay.

And next year you plan to go back next year?

Yeah.

Yeah.

What about you, Anna?

Uh, yeah, this was my second year being eligible for state fair.

So.

You have some fun down there.

Let's let's talk about some behind the scenes stuff because I understand there was something called barn hockey.

What is that?

So one behind the scenes thing that nobody sees is we play barn hockey out in the behind the scenes area.

and basically they round up as many tools as they can and people come out, all the kids come out and they have this ball made of duct tape and they have plastic shovels and this year there was a shaving fork that broke as soon as the game started and they try to get the ball into the goal which is three shaving pegs on each end.

And the goal is to get as many points as you can, and then there's a makeshift trophy that you win.

And this year was made out of a chair and some random other things.

Wow.

So did you win it then?

No.

Usually mostly the older kids play.

It's like the seniors, the graduates, so.

Okay.

Barn hockey.

I'll have to learn the rules to that.

I'm afraid to

tell you Phil, there aren't much for real.

They try not to get anyone hurt and the plastic utensils are used because it does get kind of

rough.

Good clean fun.

These

two weren't the ones that started the fight on that Sunday night at the state fair.

We were not there.

We were already headed for home when that broke out.

Thank heavens.

That was a good thing.

Yes.

You guys looking for county fair.

Let's let's talk about that a little bit.

Anna, what about county

fair?

I'm taking that four dairy, I think four or five.

So I have a Jersey cow and a Holstein cow that I took to state fair and the

the milking short and spring calf that I took to state fair and then two other spring calves.

A lot of work for you.

Yeah.

And how do you manage the time?

Because you're going to be going back to school.

I hate to say this, but next week, how do you manage your time when school starts?

So I have to of course do my homework.

I also to the fair and taking a cow calf pair for beef.

And I also have me and my brother between me and my brother.

We have 21 cages of rabbits.

So.

Yeah, I have to be very time-manageable so that I can work with my dairy and my rabbits and my beef and still get all my homework done.

Well, good luck with that.

Katherine, what about you?

What are you taking to County Fair this