Dan Hoffman: 0:08

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Rouse Review. I'm your city manager, Dan Hoffman. Uh, and joining me here in just a second is Sarah Fry, the PIO of the city. That's public information officer for those of you who are curious. I'm going to start off talking about tomorrow night's council meeting. Uh, and then Sarah will join us in a minute. We've got a couple of super awesome guests. Many of you already know Perry Eisenach who runs our public services department. And Brad Veach, the executive director of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. For those of you who are in the city, you know exactly what the Apple Blossom Festival is. Uh, for those of you from a little outside the city, uh, check it out. So tomorrow night at council, uh, we got a few different things. We got a couple of, uh, couple of public hearings related to some, you know, mainly administrative aspects of our polling places and making sure that, uh, we have the proper information out there and in preparation for. The election season. Um, also we got a few updates, uh, or sorry, a first reading, uh, regarding city code and regarding to animals in foul. Those are birds. Um, so that's, uh, that one's coming up as well. Really the, the big one that I think a lot of you guys, uh, might be interested in is the budget. So we are now at a kind of. We're a few weeks away from hopefully having an approved budget. Last week, the finance committee discussed potentially using the meals tax to fund the school's request. And we will talk a little bit more about that tomorrow night. So that's going to be one of the main points of discussion. For those of you who are Interested in what the meals tax generates? The meals tax, our current meals tax is a 6%. The, the typical meals tax for comparable cities in the state are about 6 or 7%, so we're right in line. Uh, council is considering, uh, either six and a half, moving it to six and a half or seven to help fund some requests of, uh, the school system. If this, as I've said before, this is a very tight budget year. We're not proposing increasing the property tax or or any other rates. Um, but I would say that if you look at this budget puts off a lot of things that we're gonna have to do in future years, we're we're trying our best to work within the tax rates given, uh, The city's budget. Uh, actually, we've cut over 2 million in the city budget, uh, multiple positions in order to try to stay within that 83 cents. Uh, the school budget request, um, is, uh, is in front of us. Now they're requesting additional 1. 5 million to full to fully fund their budget. And that is what council is deliberating now. So I'm, I'm assuming there's going to be a lot of discussion about the school's budget, uh, but we will see if you're interested, either show up tomorrow night, we'll see. or tune in. Uh, so with that, we are going to take a quick break. Oh, and Sarah is back. Hi, Sarah. Hi, Dan. You just missed my coming up tomorrow at council. You're just in time though. Although we're taking a break. We're taking a break before we block.

Sarah Frey: 3:33

We're taking a break.

Dan Hoffman: 3:33

All right. Hold on a second. We'll be right back. Okay. And we're back. Now it's Sarah's corner. Time for Sarah to tell us what's coming up in the city.

Sarah Frey: 3:52

We've got some fun stuff coming up. So, April is National Volunteer Month. Which, you're going to hear later in the show, nothing in the city would happen without volunteers.

Laughing: 4:01

Mm hmm, truth.

Sarah Frey: 4:02

So, we can't wait to celebrate a little subsection of volunteers who spend their time making our city amazing. So we're hosting a special celebration for our Snow Buster volunteers.

Dan Hoffman: 4:15

Yes, Snow Busters.

Sarah Frey: 4:18

Um, cue the theme song. So, they helped clear sidewalks of snow for all of our senior citizens and disabled residents. Um, back when it was snowing through I feel like the entirety of January and February. So on April 18th from 3 to 415 at Hanley High School Student Union, you can join us to celebrate our snowbusters and say thanks. Stop by and join in.

Dan Hoffman: 4:43

That's awesome. Yes, please. It's open to everybody. So you don't have to, you know, obviously if, if a snowbuster happened to shovel your sidewalk or driveway, uh, it's It'd be great if you showed up and gave them a, uh, an attaboy or attagirl, depending on what the case may be. Um, but everybody, literally, if you just like, um, good, civic minded folks and people that, uh, want to contribute to their community. That's uh, sure. Tell them, tell them thank you.

Sarah Frey: 5:14

All right, next up. Do you have a four legged member of the family?

Dan Hoffman: 5:17

Yes.

Sarah Frey: 5:18

Do they bark?

Dan Hoffman: 5:18

Too

Sarah Frey: 5:19

much. Then it's time to get them their 2025 dog tags. All dogs four months and older in the city must wear a dog tag, and they're on sale from April 1st to April 30th. The application can be found on the city's website at www. winchesterva. gov.

Dan Hoffman: 5:38

Yep, get your puppers a tag. It keeps them safe.

Sarah Frey: 5:40

Yeah, that way if, heaven forbid, they get loose, Animal Control finds them, they know exactly who they go to. There's no questions.

Dan Hoffman: 5:45

Real quick, they know right away. They don't have to take them somewhere to get scanned. They, they know automatically. Uh, and it does help us manage, you know, our, our furry friends a little bit here in the city.

Sarah Frey: 5:57

Alright, next up. Did you know that the city has a housing voucher program?

Dan Hoffman: 6:01

Yes, I did. But I'm also the city manager, so I should know that.

Sarah Frey: 6:04

I was going to say, if you didn't know that, we have problems. We have problems. But do you want to learn about the program, how it works, how it's funded? Because I guarantee you a lot of people don't know that.

Dan Hoffman: 6:15

No, it is, it is one of those programs. I think there's a lot of misconceptions about it. Because it's, it's done with federal, uh, money in a lot of cases, federal and state money. Uh, we operate it. And actually, we kind of operate for the region. So, it's something that, it, it, uh, It is not an easy thing we do. We do it because, you know, we raised our hands and we said we can do it. Exactly. We raised our hand and said we'll do it. Uh, so come learn about how we do it.

Sarah Frey: 6:43

So we're bringing Saturday mornings at Rouse back. It'll be Saturday, April 20th at 10 a. m. at Rouse City Hall. Um, you can register and RSVP on the website at winchesterva. gov. Absolutely. Alright, last thing. We're going to be talking about all things Apple Blossom later on in the podcast, but if you want to be prepared and learn more about road detours, parking, bag checks, prohibited items, where to find your vehicle if it got towed, where you shouldn't be bringing your pets, and where to find medical aid stations, visit winchesterva. gov slash apple blossom.

Dan Hoffman: 7:24

Awesome. So yeah, we're going to talk to Brad here and just a little bit, but first we're going to talk to Perry Eisenach and Kenny Johnson about the WinReady launch and that's up next. Okay, welcome back for his 50th time on this podcast. Perry Eisenach.

Sarah Frey: 7:49

I think Perry's been on the podcast more than I have.

Dan Hoffman: 7:52

I think he actually may have, yeah, possibly. Well Perry oversees the majority of the city, so, uh, he's the shadow city manager.

Sarah Frey: 8:03

You're gonna start a new conspiracy theory, Dan? Yeah,

Dan Hoffman: 8:05

let's not give him anything more to Spout about. Um, okay. So we are here talking of one of the many things Perry has going on. Uh, we also have Kenny here, another return guest round two, round two for Kenny. He's he doesn't have the five timers jacket like, uh, like Perry does, but

Sarah Frey: 8:25

we should actually get five timers jackets. I

Dan Hoffman: 8:28

like it. Um, So, but this, uh, today, Perry's back to talk about WinReady, which if you don't, uh, have not heard of WinReady, welcome from out on, from underneath your rock, uh, I'm going to

Sarah Frey: 8:45

personally like. One single tear is going to fall down my cheek for every person that doesn't know about Wynne Ruddy.

Dan Hoffman: 8:51

Yeah. You're gonna, you might have a few tears, but, uh, I don't

Sarah Frey: 8:54

think many.

Dan Hoffman: 8:55

Well, at this point, if you are a regular Wynne Tran writer, It isn't physically impossible because we put a sign in front of you on every single vehicle. Uh, and then of course all the coverage all the hard work of Sarah and Kit. So it has been a well advertised transition to what really is a Transformative new program for the city. So for those of us that maybe haven't Maybe you're new to town. Maybe you don't often ride Wintran. Perry or Kenny, give me the 30 seconds. What is WinReady? So WinReady is an on demand response transit system where you can book a ride two days in advance, or when you need a ride, you can book a ride right then. And we travel throughout the whole city. Um, we will pick you up where, close to where you are and drop you off where you need to be. And so it's, it's a, it's a huge change from the old way that we have always operated the transit system. Gotcha. That was a little more than 30 seconds. Kenny, can you do better than that?

Sarah Frey: 10:13

How much faster can Kenny's version go? Anything

Kenny Johnson: 10:16

he missed, Kenny? Well, I mean, it is a shared route service. Um, so just like, The buses before, you're going to be traveling with other residents of Winchester, but you're going to be on the bus much less time than you were before. The average ride duration with WinReady now is 12 minutes.

Dan Hoffman: 10:30

That's awesome. Wow!

Kenny Johnson: 10:32

So before, when you would take a bus and have to switch a bus and plan your day an hour and a half before you needed to be at work or before you wanted to go somewhere, that's out the window. 12 minutes. What's the average wait time? Right now. So when you're requesting a ride on demand, the average ETA is just under 15 minutes. Okay. So that fluctuates between our peak times, obviously, but around 15 minutes. Perfect.

Dan Hoffman: 10:51

So that's still you're under 30 minutes. Yes. For any, for sure. Transcribed Most, the vast majority of rides in the city.

Kenny Johnson: 10:58

Yes,

Dan Hoffman: 10:58

for the many. That's a lot better than Perry. That was vastly superior. It really was, Kenny. Yeah, it really was.

Kenny Johnson: 11:05

And like you said, you can book in advance, but He's still going. No, but 65 it on. A fun fact.

Sarah Frey: 11:11

This is Kenny's baby. I know.

Kenny Johnson: 11:13

It is. You'll find few people that are less excited about transit than

Laughing: 11:17

myself.

Kenny Johnson: 11:19

But 65 percent of our riders are on demand.

Laughing: 11:22

Yeah.

Kenny Johnson: 11:23

So 35 percent are pre booking, but we're receiving a lot of people throughout the day that are just requesting a bus when they need one.

Dan Hoffman: 11:30

And now folks, uh, uh, If they're on the loop route, there is still a fixed route. It's the loop route that kind of, um, it doesn't really mirror any previous routes, but it hits the main corridor. So it goes down valley, uh, it cuts over on

Laughing: 11:48

Hope Drive. Hope Drive. Hope

Dan Hoffman: 11:49

Drive, goes up South Pleasant Valley, stops at, you know, main points along the way there, goes up into the northeast corner of the city over on Berryville, cuts, and then that cuts over across Piccadilly, right? Right. Out to Amherst Street, to the hospital. Okay. Out to the hospital and then back down. So that's kind of the loop route that's still in existence. So if you are close to that, we do encourage you to use that. And headways on that are also, uh, lower than what they were be than a typical old wind train ride. Right? Yeah.'cause previously it was 70 minutes. Yeah. You would have to wait for a bus. Now you, you wait 30 minutes. Yeah. So it's less than half. Yeah. That's perfect. Um, okay. So that's what we're really talking about today is when ready. So, um, we talked about what it is. What are we seeing so far? This launched? We on our second week now.

Kenny Johnson: 12:41

Yeah,

Sarah Frey: 12:42

no, third, third.

Kenny Johnson: 12:44

This is the second week. So we launched on March 25th. Right in the middle of our second week. Alright, so what are we

Dan Hoffman: 12:50

seeing so far?

Kenny Johnson: 12:51

So, so far we're just under 1, 200 accounts total. So people that are either downloading the app or creating an online account. So, so since launch, we've, we've carried just over 2, 000 passengers total. So every day we've, we've beat the previous day. So on launch day, we carry just over 200 passengers. Um, yesterday we were just under 300. So people are, are learning about us, are using the system more. We already have, uh, over a hundred people that have taken five plus trips, um, 200 plus people that have taken two plus trips and, um, over half the people that have created accounts are, are, are using the system and taking rides. That's awesome. And the average walk distance for pickups and drop offs, as you mentioned, we have pick up points all over the city, the average walk distance has been just over 200 feet for a pick up or drop off, so you're not walking very far. Everyone in the city has access to a pick up point.

Dan Hoffman: 13:43

And this does not replace paratransit. If you are now granted, this is very accessible, more accessible than a typical fixed route service. Uh, so it's inherently more, uh, friendly to the disabled, uh, and anybody else that might have mobility issues, but it's, It's still not our paratransit system, right? It's not. We still have paratransit, which if you qualify for that, it's door to door service. But we don't have separate vehicles now for paratransit. Those riders also use the WinReady vehicles, so they're mixed together. Gotcha. Okay, so it's well established. That, uh, it's going to be a vastly better service. Improved service, let's say. Uh, what particular, you know, this is a question, this is a question for all three of you. How about that? What is your favorite aspect of the system and what it does for residents? I'll go first. Um, I think it provides service to everyone. The entire city, so previously with a system of just fixed routes, um, if, if you didn't live next close to a bus stop, you really, it might not work for you. And, and so now we provide service to everybody in the city. Yeah.

Kenny Johnson: 15:13

That's a good one. Kenny. For me, I think it's the excitement of transit. Like I said before, I'm always excited. I can talk about transit all day long to anybody. But now, when we're out and about, we're talking to people that have never thought about using transit before. The other day I was on lunch, I came out of the building. Through the drive thru and, um, someone that was working in the establishment came out and asked me how to sign up for the app. And they were booking a ride at the end of their shift. I had a ride in route to them before I left the drive thru. So to me, it's the excitement of the area residents that we can talk to people and they're actually going to use the service. They think of transit as an option and it's, we've received so much positive feedback from people that have never even, even used transit anywhere else before. Yeah,

Dan Hoffman: 15:54

that's good. Sarah?

Sarah Frey: 15:55

All right. So, I have two highlights. The one is, we've done so much community engagement on this that we've gotten to meet people that we would not have ever met before.

Dan Hoffman: 16:08

That's, that's a good point.

Sarah Frey: 16:09

And we have been able to reach out to parts of the community that just don't typically see. We don't typically get to talk to. So I think that has been phenomenal. And then the other one came last week. I have a friend who works at Valley Health who said she was talking to the emergency department operations manager who was one of those people living under a rock and had heard about WinReady but didn't completely understand it. And literally said, this is such a game changer for the emergency department that it cannot even be put into words.

Dan Hoffman: 16:40

That's awesome.

Sarah Frey: 16:41

And so just knowing that impact that it's having on the community already.

Dan Hoffman: 16:46

That's great. So I think we've, uh, beaten it into the ground that this is a fantastic thing. Uh, but for those of you who want to know, how do I actually get it? Uh, how do I get on when ready? Kenny, tell us, tell folks how they can actually get signed up. Uh, or how do they want to get, if they want to get a ride, how do they do it?

Kenny Johnson: 17:06

So you can download the app. It's the WinReady On Demand app, available in all Play Stores, the Apple, Apple App Store. Or you can call for a ride. You can create an account over the phone. Um, so either way, the app or over the phone, you can, you can book a ride. You can book a ride in advance. You can book on demand. There's just some basic information, your name, phone number, email, where we need to pick you up at.

Sarah Frey: 17:28

What is that phone number?

Kenny Johnson: 17:29

So the phone number is 540 667 2230.

Dan Hoffman: 17:33

He's got it memorized. There we go. And of course, uh, go to www. winchesterva. gov, um, and backslash winready. And, uh, yeah, or call us at that number. Perry, Kenny, anything we're missing?

Sarah Frey: 17:50

I think we hit everything I wanted to talk about. What about you, Perry, Kenny?

Dan Hoffman: 17:54

No, I'm just excited that I'm going to get this, uh, new jacket since I've been here five times. So that's true.

Sarah Frey: 18:02

We'll work on making a patch for you.

Dan Hoffman: 18:04

Thank you guys very much. As always, super informative and great to see you. Thank you, Dan. Thanks. Also, welcome back, Brad Veach, because this is your second time, right?

Brad Veach: 18:26

This is my first time. What? Yes. No, we've talked

Dan Hoffman: 18:29

about Apple Blossom before.

Brad Veach: 18:31

Probably not in good ways. No, no, that's not true. I think

Dan Hoffman: 18:35

maybe we, maybe you talked to Sharon? Maybe, no, it was before the previous, who was the previous before Sharon? Uh, Tommy, Tommy Price? No, it wouldn't have been him. Maybe we, maybe we had folks, maybe we had the police chief in. Oh. And we were talking about safety during Apple Blossom. I think that might have been it. Yeah. I

Sarah Frey: 18:56

was going to say, it wasn't me because I didn't start until the week after Apple Blossom last year.

Dan Hoffman: 19:01

True, true. Yeah. Okay. Well, welcome, for the first time ever, Brad Veach. No relationship to Les Veach.

Brad Veach: 19:09

That is correct.

Dan Hoffman: 19:10

How

Brad Veach: 19:11

often do you get that? A lot. A lot. I bet. No, it makes me feel bad because they say is less your brother. And I'm thinking to myself, less is a lot older than me. Yeah.

Dan Hoffman: 19:24

Yeah. That's um, that's unfortunate. Less. Uh, yes, no. So Brad Beach, no relationship to less. Uh, you are the executive director of Apple Blossom. Now, one of the things that folks. Uh, often get confused with is, is Apple Blossom a city event? And although we are, you know, we, we try our best to be good partners. I feel like we are, uh, definitely the, we are, it's actually not our event. We can't take credit for all the, the Apple Blossom awesomeness. So, but Brad, Brad can, he's the executive director. Tell me what the executive director of Apple of the Apple Blossom festival does.

Brad Veach: 20:03

Well, it's a year round job. Folks are like, yep. You, you work year round for Apple Blossom and I'm like, yeah, I said, you, a lot of folks just don't realize all of the little bits and pieces that, that you've got to pull together to put on a 10 day festival. Yeah. And, you know, now we're up to over 50 events and. You know, and, and it's just, it's a lot to take on. Um, you know, we have a small group of staff that are paid in the office, but then we're relying on well over 100, 150, um, event chairs. And then under them, they have, you know, like over a thousand volunteers. Wow. So, you know, you're managing the events. You're, you're. Coordinating facilities and venues and working closely with, um, local emergency management folks, health department, uh, with the city, um, and all of the different, you know, offices that are here, inspections and refuse. And I mean, so there's a lot to, um, managing All of, of that. And it takes a long time to pull it together.

Dan Hoffman: 21:07

Not, uh, it is a, it is such a massive undertaking. I mean, it's all hands on deck for city, particularly in the public safety space, uh, but you know, public services as well. Uh, but, but it, it adds so much to the city's identity. It gives it a tremendous amount of personality, I think, uh, and it really does put us on the map to a degree. I, I mean, I, I've told, I think I've told you this before, Brad, I probably would not have, um, put in for this job or not for the Apple Blossom Festival because it's how I knew about Winchester. I was like, Oh, I remember that. I was in college once in DC. I think I vaguely remember coming out here for apple blossom at one point when I was in college.

Brad Veach: 21:53

That's what most people say.

Dan Hoffman: 21:54

And uh, so I thought, yeah, why not? That place has got a pretty good, it seems like a fun place to live now, you know, Some people might be thrilled by that fact. Some people maybe wish I'd never heard about about Apple Blossom, but yeah, uh, but I mean, it, it does draw people. It adds a lot of vibrancy.

Sarah Frey: 22:15

It's a family reunion for us.

Dan Hoffman: 22:18

Really?

Sarah Frey: 22:19

Um, having been born and raised here and parents who grew up here and graduated from Hanley, that's the time of year that Family comes into town, that mom and dad's high school friends come into town, and my parents, I'm not going to give away their ages, but they graduated from Hanley in the 60s and 70s. Well, I didn't give them exactly, you don't know who's oldest, but they still have friends who travel Every year to not miss an apple blossom.

Dan Hoffman: 22:44

It really is Winchester's true homecoming. It truly is. Of course the high school has their homecoming, but this is a, this is kind of our annual homecoming that cuts across, you know, just a high school. It's really the whole community's homecoming.

Brad Veach: 22:58

It's true. So true. And we reference it. that way a lot of times. And, um, it's, it's amazing. And I, I see people too, you know, so I can, I can vouch for what you're saying. It's, it truly is a homecoming. And this is a big year for it too.

Dan Hoffman: 23:14

So this is the hundredth anniversary of the first festival. Correct. Which I know I was very Uh, intentional about the way I said that because it's not the hundredth anniver the hundredth festival. It's the hundredth anniversary of the first festival, Brad.

Brad Veach: 23:31

Yep. 1924 to 2024 and we lost three years during the world war and so they didn't count that but yeah, this is our hundredth birthday, our hundredth anniversary and we will celebrate our hundredth festival in 2027. Gotcha. You know, we're um, working To promote us being a hundred years old. Mm-Hmm. We are working really close with our local media partners, but also the Virginia tourism. Mm-Hmm. has really grabbed on to, um, this special moment for us. And we actually were just down with the VTC, um, two weeks ago for a big press conference. Mm-Hmm. Uh, but you know, something else I'll just throw in here. Um, you know, you got Hanley's hundredth, so they were opened in 1923, but the George Washington. is also a hundred years old in 2024.

Dan Hoffman: 24:22

Really?

Brad Veach: 24:23

Yeah. So a lot of the different things were happening in Winchester back then. So, um, it's pretty cool that we get to share that with, you know, those, those other folks in the community. Yeah. That's great.

Dan Hoffman: 24:36

So this week you've made, we've our last week, technically a bunch of announcements. We've got some marshals. Now I'm always a little confused because there's marshals for different things. Correct. And there's, you know, the, uh, The grand marshal, there's a marshal for, uh, uh, the firefighters parade. There's a bunch of different marshals and we've announced some of the marshals. So we announced all the marshals. We've got one more sports marshal to announce. Okay. So that one's a secret. Correct. Who, who are the other marshals that we've announced so far?

Brad Veach: 25:07

So this year, uh, our president Sharon Gromling. introduced a new marshal. Oh. And it was, it, it's the kid's marshal. Oh. And I was mentioning VTC and we were in Richmond on our way back, we stopped at King's Dominion and we got to see Snoopy and we got to announce Snoopy as our kid's marshal. And he'll be spending all day Friday, which would be Friday, May the 3rd, which would also be the firefighters parade. Um, Snoopy's going to come to town and spend the day with us, go to the kids activities over at the firetruck rodeo, um, even make an appearance at the coronation, which is going to be interesting. Um, and, uh, then also ride through the firefighters parade. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So we've got Snoopy coming. Uh, we've got our firefighters marshal and then of course yesterday we announced our grand marshal. Our firefighters marshal Um, is usually a celebrity of some sorts. And this year we, um, we chose Huntley and Huntley is the winner of The Voice from this past year. Oh, wow. And he's got roots. He actually lives in Fredericksburg. Oh, okay. And, um. Um, he really wants to come, um, he, I kind of, I kind of describe him as some of the old school celebrities who used to come Bob Hope and people like that who came because they wanted to see the people they wanted to create that buzz about them. And, you know, he certainly is out on social media, YouTube and whatnot, but I kind of sense that, you know, he's kind of got that old school vibe where he, he wants to like be able to like, Connect. Yeah. People. So we're really excited about that. Really cool. And then I

Dan Hoffman: 26:51

saw that last year with, um, granted he wasn't a Marshall, but Sean Austin, the actor. Oh yes. Yes. He, he just came in. His daughter was one of the, um, she was the queen. She was the queen. She was the queen. Yeah. He just came on to support his daughter and he was just there taking it in. And it was, I mean, he rode in a vehicle on the parade and everything, but, uh, I got a few minutes to talk with him and he was just happy to be there.

Brad Veach: 27:17

He was just hanging out. Like it was so cool. They love Winchester. This is their third time. This was, that was their third time here. All three of their daughters had served as our queen and they genuinely love Winchester and the festival. Um, and I guarantee you, if we asked them to come back again very soon, they'll probably do it. So, so we got, uh, Huntley Huntley's firefighters. Um, they just call him Huntley and he's going to actually open up for country music. Um, so he's going to play a 30 minute set acoustic, uh, to open things up, up at the SU event center for Saturday night's country music party. Oh, wow. And then, yeah. Then yesterday we announced our grand marshal who is John Huertas and John actually, uh,

Dan Hoffman: 28:08

I didn't realize that at first because I, I've, I've not watched, he's on the show. This is us, right? Which I think is, that's his, that's what he's known for mainly, right? Uh, and I, I haven't watched that show. So at first I was like, well, who is this person? And then of course he's got a very impressive resume. And then it got to the bottom of it. Oh, and you went to Handley, of

Brad Veach: 28:25

course. And that was special. I mean, Sharon Gromling, our current president, she was trying, her two years has been trying to make local connections. And locally grown, globally shared is our, is our theme this year. Yeah, I love it. You know, trying to showcase folks who are from here that have gone on to do great things. And you know, we've shared them with the world. And so that's kind of been the underlying theme the last two years for, for Sharon. And, you know, it was perfect cause also it, It ties into Hanley's 100th. Yeah. You know that we've got a former Hanley student graduate who is coming back home, um, to serve as our grand marshal. Uh, so that is pretty special. That is cool. We've got one more marshal to announce and that'll be the sports marshal. And hopefully we're going to be able to do that. Pretty soon. Um, it's still in the works. Um, and it's hard. People don't realize how how expensive and how difficult it is to get celebrities to commit and, you know, they're busy. Um, and, and so, you know, some years, you know, you may feel like you had some, you know, really good celebrities the next year, maybe not so much. And it's really based upon you. What you watch, what your interests are, because for you it may not be that, that cool, but for other people, they're, they're ecstatic about it. Yeah. Yeah. So.

Dan Hoffman: 29:51

Well, and it's

Brad Veach: 29:51

a

Dan Hoffman: 29:52

very generational thing, right? That is correct. I mean, last year we had, uh. Kareem Abdul Jabbar was here, right?

Brad Veach: 29:58

No,

Dan Hoffman: 29:59

not Kareem. Um,

Brad Veach: 30:01

who was it? Um, Dr. J. Dr. J was The year before we had that two years ago. Yes. Dr. J was two years ago cause my, I have a story about that. My son, that's right. And then, and that's because we had, Oh, the old Steeler the same time. Oh, uh, Terry Bradshaw, Terry Bradshaw, Terry Bradshaw and last year, gosh, you asked me too quick. Oh my goodness. Um, come back. Come back to me.

Dan Hoffman: 30:27

Oh, Oh, Oh. Um, the,

Brad Veach: 30:29

the Milburgh player, uh, Nazzi Nazzi Nazzi was here. Yeah. Nazi Johnson.

Dan Hoffman: 30:35

The day and both years, you know, again, there you see them just kind of hanging out. Like they're, they're participating in the events they're here because it's a good time. Even if you're, you know, and granted that I'm sure they're, they're compensated for some of their time. You know, it's not, it's not charity, but as I'm sure you can attest, but it's, There's a difference. I mean, I think I've worked on events over the years and you can tell the ones that are here just because they're getting, you know, compensated and the ones that, yeah, they might be getting compensated, but they actually are, they're in it. So

Brad Veach: 31:10

true. Eric Dickerson was the other big one from last year. Oh, that's right. That's right. Well, that's another good generational one. Like,

Dan Hoffman: 31:16

you know, if you're a teenager, Eric Dickerson might not be under radar, but you know, I, I know, um, when I think it was, Oh yeah, it was two years ago. when there was a, Ooh, a football, former Redskins. They're always former Redskins. They're just like, they just show up for the party. Fred Smoot was here. I think he was just hanging out like a couple of years ago.

Brad Veach: 31:36

Smoot had, had a lot of fun. Gary Clark was here last year. Yes.

Dan Hoffman: 31:40

I think it was, it might've been Gary Clark and uh, our deputy C manager, John Piper, former police chief was so geeked out about it. He wanted all, he was trying to get some autographs. He gets into it. He gets into, he's a big, uh, big. Football fans. So yeah,

Sarah Frey: 31:55

then there was the year that coworking junior came the town, like bowed down to the greatness. That's crazy.

Brad Veach: 32:03

Yeah, that was special to me. I wasn't the director then, but, um, we're still working over

Dan Hoffman: 32:07

the parks. No,

Brad Veach: 32:08

no, no, I was not. I was. It was in between when I left the city, but before I left the city, I, um, signed what we had one year of the Cal Ripken World Series here. And it hasn't been back since, since I left, but that was, that was special to me because I couldn't get him to come to his own World Series, but Apple Blossom was able to get him to come. There you go. Um, so that was pretty cool. Um, Brad, by

Dan Hoffman: 32:34

the way, our former parks director.

Brad Veach: 32:35

That's right. Yeah. Fun fact about Brad.

Sarah Frey: 32:37

Brad has worn many hats, continues to.

Brad Veach: 32:40

Yeah, that's, that's another thing. I just, just real quick, I mean, for me and my role now, it's a unique perspective because I have been on the other side, knowing, working with the city, working for the city, um, and understanding the amount of resources. And, you know, I try to share that knowledge and try to make my board understand that. You know, the city and the county and even our state, um, you know, the Virginia state police, there are so many hours that are committed to help make this, this thing safe and fun. And I mean, it's like Sunday morning when you get up from the grant after the grand feature parade. Yeah. You would have never have known. Yeah. That. There was a parade with, you know, 100, 000 people there.

Laughing: 33:27

Yeah.

Brad Veach: 33:28

The city does an amazing job. Thank you. And I try to make sure, Dan, and you, you've heard me say this at some of our emergency management meetings. Yeah. We, we, we just really, really appreciate what the city does to help us make this happen. Um, it's like the employees, and I've seen a, Big improvement in the morale. Oh, yeah. Um, since, since during your tenure, um, and it's just really refreshing and we are, we are certainly grateful for everything the city does. Well, I appreciate that very much.

Dan Hoffman: 34:01

The. I know now in the, uh, the love fest here, it is big events in different places over the years. I was before this, it was Gainesville, Florida and University of Florida had their big homecoming parade, which is also, you know, it was an, Oh, and of course you have football games, you know, a hundred thousand people, you know, descend upon the swamp. And you know, I oversaw emergency management and public safety during this time in transportation. Um, this is. So you guys are so much better to work with. Wow. Oh, I

Brad Veach: 34:35

appreciate that. I

Dan Hoffman: 34:36

mean, you know, think what you might about university of Florida. I know our city attorney's a big fan, but it's, uh, You can, it's all about the people and if you've got a good person running point on it, whether it's a homecoming parade, whether it's a UF football game or whether it's the grand feature parade, there's, if you are working with folks like yourself and your team, that are reasonable, that are, that see it as a true partnership. It makes it so much better. It makes us, University of Florida, they were, they were fine, but there was definitely the sense of where, where the, where the big university in town, we call the shots. I mean, if people around here think that like SU calls the shot, I mean, SU is also a wonderful partner. But they, it's, they're not a 50, 000 person, you know, University of Florida, right? Uh, so dealing with such bureaucracy was always a challenge. Here, you guys are, you guys are great. It, it's always, it's simple, it's easy. You know what you're doing and you work on it all year round. Um, And that is, I think it really does show, and it's not just your kind of step typical little parade either.

Brad Veach: 35:52

It's, Oh no.

Dan Hoffman: 35:53

You know, it's not a couple of high school bands and, you know, uh, a few fancy cars, a couple hundred units. It is a

Brad Veach: 36:00

big parade. Yeah. Yeah. That stretches a mile and a half.

Dan Hoffman: 36:04

Yeah. And it, so it is, it is, that's huge. The undertaking of all of this is huge. And like I said, we, we are so proud of. Yeah. Apple Blossom and you know, I've tried to convey that to employees too. Like, okay, this is not like a, Oh, we got to help out with Apple Blossom thing. Now, like this is, you know, even though I do point out, I point out that it's not a city event, not to try to push it off, but just to give credit where credit is due. And that is you guys, the volunteers, the organizers. I tell staff, like we're here to help make it happen. Uh, it, this is our thing. And, you know, although it's not a city event, I see. Apple Blossom Festival and its staff and volunteers as part of the family. Like, they're all helping make the city better. They're not just putting on an event.

Brad Veach: 36:53

Right. I, and I see that coming through the way the interactions, because I interact with a lot of city employees and, you know, department directors, but also, you know, just staff members underneath of them. And they, they're all, they all seem to be, to be very genuinely interested and willing to support. And that on, from our end, It makes it a whole lot easier to, um, so I, I agree with you that there is truly a partnership and, you know, the county's involved as well. Yeah, of course. You know, I, I've tried to take, you know, some of the events that we have traditionally done in the city and, you know, try to spread it out a little bit so that it's not quite as much on the city. Yeah. Uh, because it is a Winchester Frederick County thing. In fact, it's a, it's a Shenandoah Valley thing. I mean, this thing was. This thing, the brainchild. This thing hold developed down. Mm-Hmm. around Harrisonburg. Yeah. Back in 1924. Yeah. So Winchester was just the one that raised their hand and said, we'll do it. That's awesome. So, you know, for us Exactly.

Sarah Frey: 37:56

Forward thinkers, even back then.

Dan Hoffman: 37:58

Well, that's our attitude. That's, I, I, that's true. I think that attitude even carries forward to this day. We'll do it like if it needs to get done. We raise our hand and we do it. Uh, we don't try to shirk our duties. Um, we can do it. If we can help, we'll help.

Brad Veach: 38:14

And that was my attitude when you all approached us about New Year's Eve last year. Yeah.

Dan Hoffman: 38:20

That was in, that was worked

Brad Veach: 38:21

beautifully. I, my pitch to my board was the city does so much to, to help the festival. Let's find a way to pull together our resources and help, help make New Year's Eve happen in a different way. Yeah. And so. You know, that to me was just an opportunity to, to express how much we appreciated what, what the city always does, but then being, being able to create an event that wasn't really branded Apple blossom. I, that was not our intentions, but just to be there and to be relevant at a different time of the year. Yeah. So we appreciate that. And we hope we can continue to do that.

Dan Hoffman: 39:01

I hope you do. I mean, we, When the opportunity arose, I was like, it was a no brainer for us. Like, if they're willing to do it, if they're willing to raise their hand and say, we'll do it, uh, they are the experts. Like, you guys, Brad, you are the logistical experts. conductor here. So we, I was so thrilled when you guys agreed to take it on because you know, first night had gone away and every city does need their new year celebration and why not have the experts do it? Right. Yeah. Apple blossom is close back to apple blossom. Yep. Uh, we haven't even talked about when exactly it is. So what, um, uh, Tell, when is Apple Blossom?

Brad Veach: 39:44

So we're, officially it's April 26th through May the

Laughing: 39:50

5th.

Brad Veach: 39:50

That's our, kind of our 10 day window. Um, but we're actually starting an event a week early and we're moving what we call our cider tasting and orchard tours, usually is out in the county at one of the orchards. We're actually. We have a new home on the Our Health campus. Oh. So we're going to have the tastings there. And then we're going to do bus tours through town out to, um, an orchard where the orchardist will actually tell the story about the farm and, and the types of apples and what all they do. Um, so we're You know, we're, that starts, that's actually on Saturday, April the 20th, but wine fest, the golf tournament, um, you know, all the concerts, tennis tournament, pickleball, Fiesta Latina is on that Sunday, um, which is a new event that we started last year. We really are trying to engage other parts of the community. So I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah,

Dan Hoffman: 40:47

that's 20. I think it's about 20 to 25 percent of the city is, uh, you know, we had to go to a bigger space. We

Brad Veach: 40:53

packed Millwood station and there were, there was literally a line outside in the parking lot that went around it waiting to get in because Millwood station only will only hold like 350 people. Yeah. We actually moved it to the sportsplex so we can handle well over a thousand people. And I

Sarah Frey: 41:09

hear the music for that is a huge draw this year.

Brad Veach: 41:13

The music. And the traditional attire. is beautiful. Amazing. Um, you, you will have a good time, even if you don't understand what the, what they're saying. Um, it is, you, you just can't help but to fill the energy and the joy in the room. Yeah. So, you know, we're trying to do more, uh, to engage with different populations and, you know, that's just a part of our 10 day event from, you know, April 26th through, through May the 5th. Yeah. A big, it's a big week and you

Dan Hoffman: 41:45

guys do it it and you do it very well. Thank you. Alright. Anything we miss? If folks wanna buy tickets, if they wanna check out or get news, they should go to what website? Yeah,

Brad Veach: 41:54

they go to the bloom.com. That's www. Forget the name. Dot the bloom.com. It's very easy to remember, guys. Yeah. The bloom.com.

Sarah Frey: 42:02

And if you have questions about parking, road detours, safety, medical aid stations, it's winchesterva. gov slash apple dash blossom.

Brad Veach: 42:12

And we will do a shortcut on our home screen to land y'all right on that page.

Sarah Frey: 42:17

Oh, thank

Brad Veach: 42:17

you, Brad. So go to

Dan Hoffman: 42:18

thebloom. com for all things Apple Blossom. And there's a lot of these are ticketed events, so don't just show up, go check out. Some of them are obviously the parade and some of the things are not ticketed, but there's a lot of stuff that's on there and the tickets do sell out. Some of them, some events have already sold out. Oh, wow.

Brad Veach: 42:35

Yes.

Dan Hoffman: 42:36

Get in there quick. If you're looking, do not sleep on it. This is, uh, this is not one of those things where, yeah, they sell tickets just to make some money. No, they sell tickets because they will run out of space. So

Brad Veach: 42:47

we do a lot of free things that those events that we do sell tickets for have to subsidize. So, um, that's, you know, folks think that we're like this rich organization, but we're really not. People aren't throwing money at you on the parade.

Dan Hoffman: 43:01

They're just chucking loose change at the floats and whatnot. Right. They're, uh, it's, it is a huge production, uh, and you do such a fantastic job. So you and the entire Apple Blossom crew, thank you guys so much. Thank you. Uh, and we will see you around Apple Blossom in just a few short weeks. We'll be here. Thanks,

Brad Veach: 43:23

Brad. Thank you.

Dan Hoffman: 43:33

All right. And that does it for us on the Roush Review. Next time, we actually know who we're going to talk to next time. Look at this. We'll be, normally we kind of pick it out sometime between now and the next one, but, uh, Sarah, thank you.

Laughing: 43:47

You're welcome.

Dan Hoffman: 43:47

We'll be talking neighborhood nights with a spotlight on Tremaine Hatch, Winchester resident. Uh, and he is also part of the Virginia Virginia Vineyard, Vineyards Association Grower. He's a grower of the year.

Sarah Frey: 44:01

He is the grower of the year. He's

Dan Hoffman: 44:03

not just associated. He is the grower of the year. Um, let's get back from vacation and, uh, I feel like I have grown a fair amount, but this man is the grower of the year. Uh, so come learn about Tremaine Hatch, a Winchester resident, um, on our next city hall. Until then we'll see you around.

44:24

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.