Inside Future Omro Chamber

In this episode, Brandon sits down with  Karissa Dahnke and Shelley Schafer- members of the Future Omro Chamber to talk about the people, businesses, events and community efforts helping move Omro forward.

Future Omro plays an important role in supporting local businesses, promoting community events, encouraging economic growth, and helping keep residents connected to what is happening throughout the Omro area. We discuss the Chamber’s mission, the importance of shopping local, how community partnerships make a difference, and what it takes to build momentum in a small town.

From business support and local events to community pride and future opportunities, this episode highlights how Future Omro Chamber is working to strengthen Omro today while helping shape what comes next.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

The city of Humrell has beautiful organizations. We'd like to welcome you in Omar. We're sitting down with Future OMR. We have Carissa, the executive director, and Shelley, the Secretary of Future OMRA, sitting with us to talk about the Memorial Day Car Show. Big event that they have every year. Tell us what's uh what's changing this year.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Uh so where to start, Brandon? Construction has been our um our biggest challenge this year. I'm not gonna lie. But we you know we have our freedom at Scott Park with Main Street and Side Streets. And this year we're gonna be contained to Stearns Park and Adams Ave and East Huron and Washington. So it's gonna be a totally different setup for all the car guys. All the blockades are gonna be up, so you can't just come in and park right away. It's gonna be a bit of a challenge for us.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

For sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

The parade will be different also.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

Oh, yes, thank you for the call-up. The parade can't be on can't be on mainstream, obviously. So we are having it on Huron this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

So on Huron for the parade. So there's pre-registration that we can do for the car show?

SPEAKER_03 1:21

Yes. So this year we offered pre-registration just to kind of gauge how many cars we're gonna get down in the area. Right now we have 22. For pre-registration, it's $10, and they get a prime spot in front of Stearns Park facing the fire department and a dedicated pre-registration line so they don't have to wait in line with all the other cars.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Wonderful. About how many cars do you typically see?

SPEAKER_03 1:42

So last year was record breaking. Uh last year we had over 400. Wow. Um, this year we're really not sure what to expect, but I think in the past, Shelley, you said 225, 300, somewhere in there normally. The normal number. So, but if they don't pre-register, it's gonna be $15 at the check-in to get in instead of $10.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Instead of $10. So pre-register, it's $10. Yes. At the day of the show, it's it's $15. It definitely is this year. So um pre-register. Yes, please do. Um, also, it's gonna be a lot quicker if you're pre-registered versus showing up the day of the event because of the construction and the staging.

SPEAKER_03 2:18

Exactly. There'll be two dedicated lines, one for pre-registered, one for on-site registration.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Where does the average person come from to get to the car show?

SPEAKER_04 2:27

Well, they come from all over. I mean, we've had people looking. I had a gentleman from Illinois come into my other job and ask about uh where Stearns Park was, need directions to Stearns Park, and so as I'm explaining to him where Stearns Park is, he's explaining to me that he and his wife are coming up for the car show in a month or whatever, and he just needs to find it out, needs to check because it's different. It's not Scott Park this year, it's Stearns Park. He needs to check it out and see what it's gonna be like. So he and I spoke for a good half an hour about what it was, and he was all excited. So weather's good, we'll be here. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

So construction's not gonna hold him back.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

Well, construction's changed a lot since I talked to him. So hopefully he's still planning on coming if the weather's good.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

So we get north of here and Sheboygan and Milwaukee and Madison and people come from all over.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

All over all over. Um, 400 cars, that's and that's just the count we could get.

SPEAKER_04 3:17

Yeah, we had them everywhere. Joe Schuster was the chief of police at that time, and of course, he's been here 30, whatever years, and he's like, this is the most cars you'd ever seen. We had the park packed.

SPEAKER_03 3:27

Um we had to park them on Main Street before the parade.

SPEAKER_04 3:30

Wow. Pharmacy was packed. I mean, it was just it was yeah, a lot of cars.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

It was had a good sanity and awesome.

SPEAKER_04 3:38

And we ran out of everything.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

Ran above all of our food. We ran out of bike before noon last year. Wow. We were running to find food.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Wow. So what kind of food offerings do you have during that car show?

SPEAKER_03 3:50

So this year, Future OMRO has brats, burgers, hot dogs, giant pickles, nachos, beer, soda, the typical. And then we also have 11 food trucks signed up right now. Eleven food trucks. Wow. So you've got your choice of yeah, so the food trucks are we've got ice cream, there's a freeze-dried food truck, there's dirty sodas, there's a barbecue place, there's the among an Asian foods, there's sushi.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Sushi.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

There's it's a very wide variety this year. Yes, it's all over. Wow. Oh, and ribbon fries too. Yes. How about the ribbon fries? They're fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

A day full of food, fun, and cars.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Absolutely. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

And this year, for kids, we're actually going to offer a kids' car show too. We haven't announced it yet, so it's it's breaking news. We're going to do a kids' car show. Kids can bring their favorite toy car, anything that a car for them, and they'll put it on the table, and they also will have the opportunity to win prizes. We have medals for the kids.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

That's free to enter. If somebody's coming from, say, Oshkosh area, um, coming to the westbound to get into town, are they gonna be able to go right down Main Street and then continue straight to Stearns Park?

SPEAKER_03 5:03

They are not. No. No. As of this past week, that is now shut down. They will not be able to turn on Adams, they will not be able to turn on Jefferson. Jefferson. I think the closest one they can turn on is South Webster. That's correct.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Okay, South Webster.

SPEAKER_04 5:18

If I was coming from Oshgosh, I would come on 9th Street. 9th Street, and then come in come in, yeah. Either come in on F or South Webster and then over to the because the check-in will be at the co at the corner of West Huron and Jefferson, which is 116. So I would think that would be the easiest way to get there. I went goof around with 21 at all.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

And then coming from the east, obviously, we would take the the K to E to 116 uh D tour and come right back up that way.

SPEAKER_04 5:47

They're decent roads. I mean, there's really 9th Street's not the best road, but they're decent roads to get here. It's just you gotta spend a little more time getting here.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Yeah, I took the the D tour K to E to 21 this morning. It's very scenic drive. Yeah, but those are nice, those are nice roads.

SPEAKER_04 6:07

Have been redone recently, so they're pretty decent roads.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Yeah, they are good roads. And I think uh, you know, coming from um the west side of Omro, uh it only added like four or five minutes to the drive, so not too bad at all. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

So hopefully people will come to Omro, shop, come to our car show.

SPEAKER_03 6:26

We have vendors galore for the car show. We have over 60 different vendors signed up already for the car show.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Where are you putting everybody?

SPEAKER_03 6:35

That is the question I've heard multiple times today. So, as of right now, um, so girl directions, because I am not good at north, southeast, west. We're gonna put vendors to the side of the fire department, kind of by OBC. Okay. So between OBC and the fire department, and then also in front of the fire department.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

So, and then they'll be parking behind the fire department.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Wonderful. 60 vendors. What what kind of vendors can somebody expect?

SPEAKER_03 6:59

Everything they've got woodworkers, crocheters, food vendors, um toy vendors, car toy vendors, a hat vendor. It's it's a very wide variety this year. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

So 200 to 400 cars, 11 food trucks, 60 vendors.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

And I got four phone calls this morning to add into that. It's just been continuous to get vendors.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

That's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_03 7:24

It really is.

SPEAKER_04 7:25

Yeah, it's great that uh gives us hope that this was actually because we've been concerned obviously about how it's gonna turn out with all the changes.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

So absolutely. Yeah, sounds like it's we're hoping.

SPEAKER_04 7:35

Yes, yes, for good weather, yes, and a lot of people. And now they're still gonna have the memorial service, too. We should talk about that. Yep. They're gonna have the memorial service used to be down, you always used to have it down at uh Scott Park here, but they're not gonna do that. It's gonna be in the fire department in the in the fire barn along but like where we are there. So they'll still have it. Sounds like they're gonna make it a little bit shorter.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

It sounds like about an hour that they were planning on.

SPEAKER_04 7:59

Yeah, so they're still gonna have they're still gonna have the memorial service for everybody.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

So that's good too.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

And the band will be down there too. Yes. The band will be with us.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Oh, what band do you got?

SPEAKER_03 8:09

Just the Amra High School Band.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Umrah School. Yeah, awesome. What are the hours of the car show?

SPEAKER_03 8:14

From eight until two. Um, with that being said, a lot of our car boys like to arrive very, very early. Uh so last year when I got there at 5 30, we already had about 15 cars there.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

So this year I will be there again early, but we are not going to open registration hopefully until 7. With that being said.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Sure. It it's got to be kind of difficult to schedule or or order food, um, especially with the construction and you know, not knowing it's very hard.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

Very, very hard.

SPEAKER_04 8:43

Yeah, we've gone back and forth numerous times. Multiple phone calls and text messages. We don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_03 8:50

How much beer, how many burgers, do we run again? Do we have someone on standby? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Anyway, or have you kind of an estimate on how many people publicly attend?

SPEAKER_03 9:05

Oh. Oof. I guess I don't know that. I can tell you last year in Scott Park you couldn't walk really. You had to get in line with filing of everyone else, and it took a very long time.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Well well attended for sure. Very, yes. The logistics this year is is gonna be a challenge. Um, but you know, based on the interest of the vendors, um, the food trucks, sounds like it's gonna be a great event as long as the weather holds.

SPEAKER_04 9:32

As long as the weather holds for us, yes.

SPEAKER_03 9:34

With that being said, we need volunteers. Yeah, yeah. We are in desperate need of assistance for volunteers.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

What kind of volunteers?

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Um, like helping with parking, with everything parking, helping with the craft fare registration, helping with the tally of the votes, food servers, grillers, we just we need help. If people want these events to keep going strong as they are, we definitely need assistance. It is a constant battle to get volunteers. It's a constant battle. Yeah, it's I mean, we have a new program this year for volunteers. So volunteers get a lanyard, a limited edition button, they get a meal, they get a drink, all from us. If you're a nonprofit, a school group, um, a sports club, anything like that, if they can get three volunteers for at least four hours, future AMRA will donate a kickback to their club.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Oh, wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

So we are definitely needing some help.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

How can they reach out to Future AMRO if they want to volunteer or show up on the day? Or I obviously I probably think it would be better to you know let you know that that they're gonna be there. Is there a way that they can contact you?

SPEAKER_03 10:36

Out on our website, there's a volunteer tab and it lists all of the web the different individual events that they can click and go to and they can decide what they want to volunteer for. Sure. So there's that, and we also have multiple Facebook posts too.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Just volunteer for the day, it's not uh ongoing commitment or anything.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

No, no commitment, even just a few hours, anything helps and makes it. It doesn't happen if the whole day, you know, it even if they can just come for a couple of hours, it would be fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 11:01

And our next big event for the fourth will actually have volunteer shirts. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

So wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 11:07

Oh, we do have a call out though for Memorial Day. Generac is our presenting sponsor. Oh, wonderful. So Generac is actually going to have two employees come and present their favorite car trophy.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

So it's a three-post, very large trophy that they'll be presenting to their favorite car.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

So what uh other kind of prizes or awards are given out for the car show?

SPEAKER_03 11:28

Trophies. So the three-post trophy from Generac, and then we have 87 12-inch trophies for the top three in each category for the car classes.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Wow. So how many classes do you have?

SPEAKER_03 11:40

Twenty nine? Twenty-eight?

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Yeah, I don't know what's 28 or 29 classes. Yeah, it's it's up there.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

It's a lot of classes.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Do you have some examples of like classic or modern?

SPEAKER_03 11:55

I know there's a custom special interest. There's a tuner because I got a question about that one. Um, I believe there's a Mustang, convertible, Camaro, uh refurbished, original motorcycle. Like it is very broken down.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Wow. Wow. I I've driven down to Stearns Park, but I don't have a good idea of the footprint of it. I I went down there, looked at it, trying to figure out how we're gonna get 200 or 400 cars there. And obviously they're gonna be parked on the grass, wherever wherever it needs to be.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

We're parking on the streets too. So the streets that are closed, we are going to park them diagonally on those streets. Okay. So Stearns Park will be filled up first.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

We're gonna start by backfilling with the parking lot and the grassy area and by the playground, and we're gonna work our way up to the street.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

So which streets were closed again?

SPEAKER_03 12:51

It'll be here on Adams, Washington, and Ontario, I believe. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Okay. So so if if the public is coming, they can park in Jefferson.

SPEAKER_04 13:02

Jefferson's basically closed now because of and it's wide enough. You could park cars on both sides of Jefferson. Um you can park on Larrabee up farther. Um here on, like in front of the police department, Dollar General parking lot's right there. The church offered their parking lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. And the municipal parking then, if you can get to it, I'm assuming. The corner of uh Jefferson and West Main Street. There's municipal parking there. There's quite a bit of parking. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

It's just gonna be a little bit of a hike to get to us.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Well, the weather is gonna be sunny and bright and wonderful, so it'll be a nice for a walk.

SPEAKER_04 13:37

Last year was beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:40

Um and after this winter, a nice day would be fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Yeah, absolutely. It's been a slow, slow ramp up. It surely has.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Oh, and we also will have shirts available for purchase. We have limited edition car show shirts this year.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Oh, wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

That call out the 250th anniversary of America, too.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Awesome, awesome. How many years has the Futura been doing the car show?

SPEAKER_03 14:02

So, according to my my count that I have, I have 39 years. I believe that's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

39 years. Wow, it's a long time.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

It is, and then we'll also have raffle tickets available for sale the day of. Um, I'm sure you're aware with the fourth not being at Scott, we can't do the Equacer 500.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

So instead we're doing a raffle for 250 every hour for 10 hours. So those tickets will be available for sale as well as a 50-50. We'll be doing that day.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Wonderful. Any kind of entertainment during the car show?

SPEAKER_03 14:33

We we've talked about it quite a bit. Um, the problem with the layout that we have this year is unless we uh are super super loud, like a rave, it's we can't make it work, unfortunately. Sure. We'll have a speaker with music just by future omrills food tent, but other than that, enjoy the cars.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

We really wanted to do music, we just hadn't figured out how to do it. Yeah. It's just too big an area. We'd have to put them up on a scissor lift or a cherry picker truck or something. So it just spans too wide.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

Future omro many several years ago started a project with the high school with foxes. I believe there's one here somewhere. Uh they stand about three feet, they're just a mold of a fox, and they're just they're light, they're easy to move, and whatever. So we have taken one of those foxes and we have given it to one of our our uh our artists, and she is going to do a fox uh with the 250th and birthday of America uh patronite, I guess that's the best way to say it. We're going to probably, I believe, raffle that off on July 4th. So we hope to have the fox here for just so people can see it, what it's gonna look like. We'll be interested in what it looks like also. So um we're gonna probably wrap it off off on July 4th, but we'll hope to have it here for display. It won't be ready to go because it won't be it won't be sealed, it won't be this kind of stuff. So we're hoping it'll turn out nice. Hopefully good and patriotic. We have a pretty new and energetic board. I have a lot of wonderful, wonderful ideas. Um younger people than me, so they have a lot of great ideas. Uh we're trying to come up with ways to help the businesses in town to uh to make it through this, also. Uh we've asked and talked many times at uh our board meetings about how we can get this accomplished and what works, and and they have come up with some wonderful ideas that we're hopefully gonna have it ready to go and kick off around July 4th, I think we're talking. So we're talking about maybe getting you know a discount card out for all of the OMRA businesses and the AMRO Foxes card, right?

SPEAKER_03 16:41

That's what they're doing.

SPEAKER_04 16:42

Right, similar to the AMRA. I don't know if maybe I'm sure people have seen the OMR Foxes card that the football team sells every year. Something similar to that, but OMRO businesses only. And so we're going around to the different businesses and seeing if they want to uh participate in this, and if we get enough people to participate, we'll put this together and start selling those. Um depending upon when it gets kicked off, it'll be a year. Maybe a little over a year, how long these cards will be good. It just takes manpower. We just need time to get this all done enough, you know, for us to get to different businesses and see if they're interested in doing this. It'll be up to them what they want to do. They can not participate at all, they can do 10% off, they can do free items. Free items, you know, some of the thrift stores in town, maybe they have something, you know, out of something, you know, and they want to if you do this, then you know, we're gonna give you this. So we're hoping we can get it going and get it off the ground that'll help the businesses.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 17:38

And we'd like to try to get it going soon because obviously this road construction, October, November they're talking, so it'd be nice to get it going that maybe we could get some people you know to these businesses.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Yeah, yeah. I think the I mean the road construction has definitely really slowed down traffic for sure. The good news is from my understanding is hopefully they'll done be done with County Road E by the time they start FF. Um that's the way that it sounded to me anyway, but things changed.

SPEAKER_04 18:08

So I don't know anything about paving, but hopefully they can get it done quick. Hopefully the weather's good and they can get all of it done.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Yeah, and actually the weather this year has been very cooperative with the construction. I mean, they've been really um, you know, it it's it's frustrating, but at the same time, they've really been doing a good job of getting getting the work done. So um they're they're not wasting any time. So um the the good news is Amro continues to stay open. You can still access all the businesses. It's a little bit of a workaround sometimes to get there, especially now with the bridge closed. Good news is that's down to 20 days instead of 40 days. It's just something that we have to work through.

SPEAKER_04 18:53

And I understand the bus transfer over this morning worked well. So I'm hearing at least.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

I'll tell you a funny, funny story. I did my road construction report this morning as I was coming in, and I turned around and I wanted to go back and record kind of what was happening, you know, between Webster and Adams, and I was stopped because they were bringing the buses over. So I'm like, perfect. And I recorded the whole thing, you know, the police department is stopping the uh traffic and uh so that the buses can get through. And I'm like, yeah, there's like three or four cars in the in the line with me, and you know, I'm only a couple minutes long, and it didn't take hardly any time at all. And so it's not you know, good job to the police department, public works, the school district working together and figuring this out. And I started driving. I looked at my phone, I had it on photo, and I took a photo instead of recording. So that didn't work out so well. But no, it it it yeah, that seemed to work phenomenal.

SPEAKER_04 19:59

Um I know nobody's happy with this. None of us are, but we just gotta let it happen. Yeah, just gotta work. All we can do, just let it let it happen. Get it done.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Just work through it. Yes. Um it'll be nice.

SPEAKER_04 20:11

You know, nice it'll be done when it's done.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Yeah, yeah. I was uh we did uh podcast with uh Drew at Solvino last week, and you know, we were talking about it, and I said I'm kind of optimistic that I'm hoping that come you know November we'll look at it and say, uh that wasn't so bad. Yeah, it wasn't so bad. Yeah, yeah. So let's hope so. Yeah. You can still get into the public parking by like Grizzly and um Well, you can get in off of off of South Webster.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

You can get in there.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yeah, I know this morning they had the part they had it open to get into the parking lot next to Fox Lands.

SPEAKER_04 20:50

Oh, there was. Okay, I didn't notice that. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Yeah, so hopefully that'll that'll remain. They they've really done a good job of keeping the the driveways to the businesses and parking lots and everything open. Um it's great that they put all the public parking signs out there so everybody kind of knows where to park, also. So I mean it it's a tough thing, but I think everybody is making the most of it and doing their best.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

So we've got the Thursday night market starting up soon, too.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Yes, yeah, how and that's gonna be happening um in front of Grizzly Fitness right there in that parking lot. So um that's gonna bring some traffic downtown and hopefully spread out to the neighboring businesses and so forth.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

So yeah, as of right now, we can take over that parking lot, and the city also said we could take South Webster over.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Wonderful. So when when does that start?

SPEAKER_03 21:44

June 4th is the first night.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

So hopefully the one way hopefully will be done. Yep, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

Otherwise, we're not taking a lot of things.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

Otherwise, we'll have to uh we'll get creative.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Yeah, that's kind of what I was just thinking. If the one way is there, put some of the vendors on.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

The hill. Yeah. We'll make it work.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

So yeah, that's a great event too that you know really brings people to the community. I think the biggest thing that you know I hope people realize is that you know we're still open for business. It's still easy to get into AMRO. Um, you might get to take a scenic drive and see some you know scenery that you're a beautiful time of year.

SPEAKER_04 22:24

Yeah, it really is.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

So come to AMRO, see the car show, get to the Fourth of July events, all the things and continue to support the local community.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 22:36

Yep, shop local, gotta do it.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

Yep. Um, so for the Thursday night market, um, I kind of came up with the idea of having a kids' business boot camp almost where we could have kids come in and vend for free all summer long, but they have to pitch to us, they get startup funds, they have to learn about ROI and expenses and all sorts of things. Cool. And we were recently awarded a $5,000 grant.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

To make it happen. So um a lot of kids really excited about this. Breaking news. I haven't posted about it yet. Um, I will be posting about it very soon, but we'll be opening up registration for kids elementary all the way through college to come and they vend for free, and they'll get shirts and they'll have binders where they can track all of their stuff. We're gonna provide the tents and the tables, and they can vend all summer or once a month. We're gonna we're still working on all the details, but how cool is that?

SPEAKER_01 23:27

Yes, very, very excited. Absolutely. So that $5,000 grant, how is that multiple awards, or will you be doing multiple awards? How is that gonna work?

SPEAKER_03 23:38

It was a one-time payout. Um, we got it last week, so we're just now working on trying to figure out how to do all the things. Okay. So I had to break down the budget, you know, for supplies for binders and tables and tents and shirts. And the kids will get startup funds. Um, depending how many kids we get will be how the amount's distributed, but they will get startup funds after they pitch to us.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

You're gonna do like shark tank side? I am yes, that's the goal.

SPEAKER_03 24:02

Um, a lot of the board members are super excited. They want to come down and help coach the kids. Yeah, um, I'm hoping some of the vendors and maybe even some of the businesses would like to come down and talk to the kids.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, get get them understanding, you know, the book aspect of it, and like you said, return on investment and well and how you started and if you have any advice, anything along those lines.

SPEAKER_03 24:25

So we welcome the businesses to come down and talk to them too.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that sounds like we're excited about that. We're super excited.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

We think it's gonna be fun. Yes. So baby steps, but it'll be announced very soon.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Because the kids get so excited about those events.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

The the kid for newer night last year we had, I think we ended with 12 kids coming down to bend with us for free. So and that was before this. So yeah, it it's I'm super excited. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

That sounds like a great program. Awesome program. So, and getting a grant to help with it is you know, that's awesome. Helps a lot, yes, very much so. Yeah, was there any matching funds that had to go along with the grant or anything? Nice.

SPEAKER_03 25:04

Nope, I had to make my little essay and my budget and my breakdown and our timeline, and I submitted it um the beginning of March, and we found out I think it was last week. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, last week they let us know.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Wow, wonderful. Who was the grant from?

SPEAKER_03 25:17

A herb coal.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Oh, okay, very nice.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

Herb coal philanthropies. Congratulations. But something new. Thank you. Yeah, something new to bring to town and hopefully bring more families down to the market, which would bring more traffic down to Main Street.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 25:29

How about the glow run?

SPEAKER_03 25:30

Oh, the glow run! Yes, we have a glow run on June 6th.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Yeah, so that's just right around the corner.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

Right around the corner. Um, that will be at Wedgewood. They graciously agreed to host since the high school is all torn up due to construction. Sure. Um, so we are meeting there, but it's at the 6th at registration begins at 8.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Okay. And for those that might not know, what what's the glow run?

SPEAKER_03 25:51

We do all sorts of glow-in-the-dark stuff. So you will get decked out in glow-in-the-dark stuff. We have bracelets and shoelace ties and crowns and glasses, and what else do we have, Shelley? We have all kinds of glory. We have all kinds of crazy stuff. Yep, yep. And um, so Wedgewood will help us go around the golf course and we'll have markers with some of our glow-in-the-dark things flashing for the markers. There's a walk and a run, and then the top three participants in each category get a cool glow-in-the-dark medal.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

That's awesome. That sounds like a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03 26:20

It was last year was our first one? Yes, we did that last year we and it was we had what, 15 registrants, but we had 101 people show up. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So we're hoping for the same this year. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And this year we added shirts. Yes. So we will have shirts available for purchase on site as well as pre-order right now.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Okay. Yeah, exciting.

SPEAKER_03 26:39

It was fun. It was so much fun.

SPEAKER_04 26:41

Well, they had all the all different ages. Yeah, we had kids in strollers.

SPEAKER_03 26:46

Strollers, yeah. Oh man. I don't even know what our top one is. Much older. Much older. Much older. Much, much older. But yeah, it was so much fun.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

So it's going to be on the golf course, actually. That'll be fun.

SPEAKER_04 26:59

Last year we put them through the woods up at high school.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_04 27:02

You couldn't have paid me to do that. When it's dark out that woods are spooky.

SPEAKER_03 27:07

We had really cool like LED low, flashy balloons marking the trail, and we had those big white, I don't even know what they're called, the foam sticks marking trails, and all you could see was um the kids, like you could just see everybody flashing as they ran through. That's awesome. So it was it was a ton of fun.

SPEAKER_04 27:25

And then the big one is the fourth.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Yeah. Yeah, we'll have you back on for the fourth and we'll discuss that in detail, I'm sure. How's uh fundraising uh for the fireworks coming for the four?

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Slow but steady. Slow but steady. Slow but steady.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

How does um I know last year Futurama raised 15,000 if I'm not making it? 18, 15,500.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

Wow. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Compared to last year, where are you at in your goal?

SPEAKER_03 27:53

So last year we had a ton more sponsorships and the businesses sponsored more. I think this year they're a little concerned about the construction, sure. Um, and stuff like that. So we're really trying. Um, we were at our last count, I believe, just under 9,000.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

Um, but future OMRO and sponsorships is all that pays for the fireworks.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 28:12

So, and a lot of it comes from our well, this year it's the fire quacker ticket sales. So last year's Quacker 500 ticket sales is what's helped us pay for this year.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Okay. I have had multiple people say that OMRO puts on one of the best fireworks shows. Last year was it's gonna be hard to top.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

Yeah, yeah. That was a yeah, that was it was huge. And it just kept going. Yes, yes. But I think that's something we can't stress enough. Future OMRA pays for this. Nobody else does.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:43

And so we really need help with people. It can be private people, also, it doesn't have businesses, but yeah, so that's uh in order to have a good show next year, we need to be able to And they don't have to be chamber members either.

unknown 28:55

No.

SPEAKER_03 28:56

No, we will still recognize absolutely. Oh, and Pegol Wigley is actually doing roundup for the fireworks for us, June 1st to the 14th.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Wonderful. Yeah, that's awesome. Is the donations for I I'm I'm sure that the fundraising goal this year goes towards the fireworks this year.

SPEAKER_04 29:13

That's correct. Yes. Yep, you gotta cover that first, yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Yeah, best way to donate, go on your website. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 29:20

Um through our website, stop in by City Hall, and you can drop off a check, you can reach out to us, email, call, text. Um, anyway, it's a good way.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, if anybody is able to able to help, we would appreciate it greatly.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

Any amount. We can't stress enough. We don't get if we don't get help with the stuff, it's gonna go away.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

Fountains and sparklers. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:44

I we always say this, but it is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Multiple people told me that they live in Hoshkosh and came to Amro for the fireworks.

SPEAKER_04 29:53

This year it's being well, we can talk about that when we go to July 4th, but it's being shot off here at Miller. Miller Park. Yep, yeah. Yep. Because we can't obviously use Scott Park. But yeah, when normally Scott Park is just packed. And the other side, my mom, I live in the north side of the bridge, and so uh I sit over by my mom's house and it's packed over there also. So there's lots of people that come to the fireworks now. Um thanks to the fire department who lights them up for us.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. It takes a community. I mean it really does. It's everybody working together and coming together for a common common goal, basically. So yeah. Um I appreciate you guys taking the time and well thank you for having us today.

SPEAKER_04 30:35

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 30:36

We appreciate it. We appreciate everything you do because you have definitely helped with a lot of the stuff that you just the construction videos are. We love you for it. Yes. Well, I appreciate it. I well that you take that you take the time to get all the information before you do any of this, which makes I know you've been down at the police department talking to Corey or whoever. Um and so it's you you get all the information before you do this, and then nobody's getting the wrong information.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

I try and do everything I can not to put out misinformation because we're very grateful for that. Nothing I hate more than misinformation.

SPEAKER_04 31:11

So well it's been very hard with this project because it's changed so much.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you guys. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yes. All right. Awesome.