Olney on Air Episode 8- Olney in America Recap

🎙️ Olney On Air – Olney in America Recap Episode

What an incredible celebration! 🇺🇸 In this special recap episode of Olney On Air, we're looking back at another unforgettable Olney in America weekend.

Join us as we recap all the excitement—from the parade, live music, vendors, food trucks, and family activities to the amazing community spirit that makes this event one of Olney's favorite traditions. We share some of our favorite moments, highlight the people and organizations who made the event possible, and celebrate the volunteers, sponsors, vendors, entertainers, and attendees who helped make this year's celebration a success.

We'll also discuss what went well, share behind-the-scenes stories from planning the event, and talk about what we learned as we continue working to make Olney in America even bigger and better each year. Plus, we'll give you a sneak peek at upcoming Chamber events and what's next for our community.

Whether you joined us for the festivities or couldn't make it this year, tune in to relive the memories and celebrate everything that makes Olney in America such a special hometown tradition.

If you're enjoying Olney On Air, don't forget to support the show! Follow our Olney On Air Facebook page for episode announcements, local news, and community updates. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts—Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube—so you'll never miss a new episode. Your subscriptions, likes, shares, and reviews help us reach more people and continue highlighting the businesses, events, and people that make Olney such a great place to call home.

🎧 New episodes every week featuring local news, local businesses, community events, and all things Olney!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hello, Alni. Welcome to Alni on Air. We are doing a post-July 4th wrap-up of Alni in America and all the other fun stuff that took place over the weekend. I'm Gina Keating, the editor of the Alni Enterprise.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

And I'm Kimberly Smith, Executive Director of the Alni Chamber of Commerce.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

And welcome to our podcast serving the metro area of Alni. 3,200 people. That's right. And Young County. We're going to take Young County too. Okay, so let's talk about Alni in America, which was so fun. Everything turned out great. The weather was good. Yes. Everything. I don't think it could have been better.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Yeah, we are finally done with it, and I got some good rest this weekend. I think everything went really, really, really well. I want to shout out to everybody for making it possible. My board, also the Alni volleyball team girls who helped us with our carting people up the hill. Also, first and foremost, I really want to thank the Alni Country Club because we go in there and we take over that whole area for days. Not only do we go a couple of days before, but we also have to leave out the rentals because it's a holiday weekend. So then the stuff stays out there till yesterday. It was out there till Monday. So thank you, Landon, Katie, all the staff at Only Country Club. Thank you so much for letting us have it out there yet again. I mean, I think it it went really well. I mean, we had a couple of a couple of hiccups while in the setup, but nobody knew any different. And so we had a great amount of people. I think the count when we were count trying to count cars from Will's pictures, I think we came up with like 1400 people. Yeah. Will, whenever you were taking the drone footage, do you remember what time that was? Was it around? I was trying to figure out if that was all the cars. Yeah, it was kind of early because seven I think people more people even came after that. So for sure. The fireworks were fantastic. They were super. I went over there. I went over there to watch him set up, and the amount of fireworks that he had set up out there was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yeah, it was. I mean, I and when it got to the crescendo where it was really loud, I was like torn between, ooh, this is so cool, and I wonder if there are supposed to be that many going off at one time.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Yeah. So he had told me that we were gonna be trying out some new ones that he had just got in, and he was really excited for it. Thank you to the Alni Volunteer Fire Department for doing the parking and also being there on hand just in case the fireworks did go askew. So they were wonderful. So let's talk about these sponsors that we had. We had Zach Burkett and Headwaters, they were our Platinum Light sponsor. That was they were that was so fantastic that we were able to have that all covered with all the light towers out there. Brazus Communications, they were our platinum community tent sponsor. They also provided Wi-Fi for all of our vendors, so they were able to have that were they able to do their payments and there was no hiccup out there. Also, Air Tractor and B Tex Ranch were our platinum band sponsors. I also want to thank our additional sponsors, Stewart's Food Store, Danny Stewart, Kelly Cuba, Broken Eye Creations, Ace Hardware, Jan Myers, Fort Belknap, Alney Hamilton Hospital, Here's Your Sign, Larry and Kathy Smith, the Senior Cub Center, and First Aid Bank. So yeah, how did you like the food?

SPEAKER_00 3:52

I could not get any. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get any, so I just ate beforehand. I'm sorry. And also says it was good. Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

I didn't get to eat till the very end because I was working. Yeah, I saw you with the corndogs.

unknown 4:09

Yes, I had a corn dog.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah. I had a corndog at like 10:30 at night, and then I got some of the lemonade. I had to wait till the very end. I also had from A and B A and B A B food and catering, and she had a crab and shrimp boil.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Oh no, I did not know. It was so good.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Vincent picks me up some. Did you try it too, Will? It was so good. Oh and she is from Houston.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

And so they just moved to Wichita last year, and so they were fantastic. Also, Ken's chicken and fish were there, A B food and catering. Did you get to go see the tea hat company? Yes. Wasn't that so cool? Yes. That was awesome. And I wish I would because I'm working, so I never got the chance to go over there. But Vincent has been wanting a cowboy hat, and we wanted to get the kids some, but it was just so crazy out there. Also, Paige's Sweet Temptations was out there. Terra's Treats. We had Promised Land. They had the fresh veggies and fruit. Terrace Treats, Ace Hardware of Only, Napa of Only were out there. Yeah, I met the new Napa owners. They seem the Phillips, yeah. Yeah, they seem really excited to be here. That was awesome. They were handing out waters, Ace Hardware. They had the fans with the water, and that was really cool.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

We also had Susie Q's toys. Um, and she said that she they all did really good. Outlaw outfitters. The Outlaw Outfitters. They had, you know what they had that they were selling a lot of, they were selling those squishies and the Nitos. Oh, yeah. But they also do just hats and shirts and all the things, and so they had a really good time. All of our vendors were so happy, and they were already telling us, like, we want to come next year. Like we did so well. The Almy, our youth cheer group was out there, they were doing face painting, and then we also provided thank you to Branham PLLC. He helped sponsor the photo booth, the 360 photo booth for everybody. Oh, goody! Did you make it over there?

SPEAKER_00 6:07

I did not. I had a friend with me this year, and so we we came at about I don't know, seven maybe because it was so hot, but but by that time it was just gorgeous. We set up our chairs and then just reveled in the fabulous atmosphere watching all the kids, yeah, and just it was just real Americana. And my friend was like, I'm so glad because she came from Midland and she she's like, we don't have this there. She was getting kind of choked up and saying, This is really what it's all about, despite everything that's going on in the world around us. This is kind of the center of America and why we love our way of life.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

I know, yeah. And our singers dead fantastic, Daniel Latham, Foster Sullivan, and then King George. Oh, that he was they were fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Were they so good? Yes, they were. I kept thinking, man, this was really a good choice. Yeah, because they were great.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah, and I liked how they he kept saying, like, where were you in 1985? And I was like, I was not born. Like, but it was so funny to it's crazy because when you when you hear George Strait and you have all of his amazing songs, I guess it never even occurred to me how old those songs were, and they just have stood the test of time. Yes, and I just loved that Daniel Latham came and he was doing some like sort of like more current music and same thing with Foster Sullivan. They were doing what is it, Zach Bryan, they were doing a little bit of everything, and I just thought it went so good. There was a ton of people out there, the police were out there, so thank you to OPD for coming out there and doing the cooler checks. And I just loved that I was able to tell the chief because it was his first year, and I was like, You really shouldn't have any issues. Like, this is one of those events where everybody is in such good spirits, and we don't have people getting crazy, and I mean it was great. I mean, overall, I think it was wonderful. So there was that. Then we had the Young County parade on Saturday morning. Yeah, I heard from Will that a ton of people showed up for that.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Yes, I was there too. We went together. Well, not together, but he was there and I was there flying his drone and taking his photographs. Yeah, no, it that was super fun too. They marched or paraded around the courthouse square. Yeah. So everybody, and thank God there's really big trees all in that courthouse square, so you can sit under them and and watch everybody. But they have 110 entries. Oh, yeah, Will's showing us the parade. Oh, that's the huge flag that took 40 people, right? It was so cool. It and his photo that's gonna appear in the paper this week is really, really cool. Look at how big that flag is. I know, it's gigantic. So you get to see it from his drone vantage point. We just did a ton of celebrating everything that happened in Alney in America and the stars and stripes in Young County, and then our bike parade. Yeah, it was so cool.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Yep, and then only we had our parade in the evening time. The sparklers were a big hit. Will won most patriotic citizen.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Yes, and we got a great picture of him on the front page in his outfit. You did.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

And then the pet. I don't know the name of the pet, but we had a pet winner. Oh, that was yeah, they we had the one of the pets got dressed up, and then the inks won for the best transportation. Yes. Decorated transportation. So thank you to everybody who participated, all those that were able to show up. Yeah, the watermelon was really good. I know. The watermelon's so popular every year. That and then the the sparklers were a huge hit. So I got my kids. Did you do fireworks on the fourth?

SPEAKER_00 9:53

No, I just enjoyed what was going on at the around me. Everybody, I went to the park to walk Douglas, and there were literally on all sides really huge fireworks going off.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Like, what burn band? I know. It's like we went to we went to my mom's because it was Vincent's birthday on Sunday. So happy years. Yes. We went over there and we got a lot of fireworks because we had to we have to go to the country because they can't, you're not supposed to have them in Austin. Right. Um, so my kids are getting braver every year. We got the I forget what it was called. It was some crazy name. I love the names of fireworks. Like it was like infamy or something, like infamy rising. I was like, what? But they were so good. It was 24 of the huge shells, but it did it all at once. It would go boom, boom, boom. It would did five, and then it had a huge blast at the end, and then another five, and then another, like it was crazy. It was like, I don't know how many there were. It was a ton of them. Oh, so we did that, and then my brother's neighborhood, they always go crazy over there, and I think the cops just don't even try. They're like, eh, whatever, it's fun. So that was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Do you have a really long, what do you call that, fuse on those ones that you lit? I'd be so scared. Yeah, they're really long.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

They make it so what we got, so we got the zippers, those are really fun, and they're shorter. But my kids that we have we're headlamps out there, and you light it and it goes zoop and it goes up in the sky, but there's no pop or anything. And then the big ones, they it's pretty long, it's it's at least four inches. So you have so you can run away. Yeah, so I got a bunch of good videos of that, and then and then we did the huge artillery shells where it came with singles, doubles, triples, and quads.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

And so what is that?

SPEAKER_01 11:37

So you get so I think that one I want to say we have 36 in there, something crazy. And so you do you drop a single, double, triple, and quad, and then those things are really long, the fuse, and so my kids we all had it because you had to light all four at once. So then we all everybody lit one and then ran, and so they went up. So that was really fun. My kids just love it, and my four-year-old is not a fan, he just stayed in the back of the car and was just like every time a firework went off, he would like hide behind the backseat.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Oh, poor baby.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

So he's not ready yet, but just the same time. Yeah, and the best way it would have ended off is if the US soccer team would have made it through the round of 16. They did not, they were terrible. Yes, I heard about that. That was the worst they'd played the whole time, which is really disappointing, but I guess Belgium made it through.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Yeah, well, I mean, I guess that's the way it goes. Yeah. I I had a real big soccer follower.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

That's where Doctor Evil's from.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Belgium? Oh god. Oh no, let's not go there. Doctor Who? Doctor Evil from you know what I'm what we're talking about? Uh from Austin Powers. Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

I sent that gift to Gina the other day.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Oh, yeah, that's right. That's great. Yeah, well, that's the bummer. Yeah, so overall it went really well, and we are already planning for next year. That's gonna be interesting because I don't know if everybody knows this, but we're not doing it at the country club again. Yeah. So they are getting a million dollars in upgrades to the driving ranges and everything like that, and they just are not gonna be able to accommodate the traffic and the cars and everything. So, any ideas?

SPEAKER_01 13:31

So, if anybody out there has an idea about where this thing can be, yes, it would have to accommodate a stage, parking for all those people to come. So, we are on the hunt. So, if anybody has any ideas, please reach out to us because we really want to be able to continue it. So, we're already starting to do that planning now. Yeah, so we could use all the help we can get. And then also before we get off the only in America, thank you to my amazing board, Jake Randall, Jonathan Rogers, Chris Camp. I mean, I'm gonna tell you the biggest help because Chris had they had their own tent, and we were there till late afterwards trying to get that all situated. So thank you to Chris.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Yeah, Chris ran me up and down the hill.

unknown 14:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

So thank you about for that. That was that was fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Yeah, and then Sharplines was really helpful because I think that really helped a lot of people to get them up the hill. And so we just had that going every 10 minutes. And those volleyball girls were fantastic because they were it was funny just watching everybody get carded to their tents, and yeah, that was fun. So, yeah, so if anybody has an idea of where we can have it next year, any ideas or tips or anything, and thank you to everybody who attended. I just love to see Almy show up and yeah, really just all come out there.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

I was just looking at the story I wrote last year when you we got rained out and and the one before, and so I think we're either staying up with what our attendance was in the last two years. Yes. Well, I don't know how it was last year because got kind of interrupted by rain, but we had about 1400 estimated people in 2024. Yeah. And so you think it probably was more than that, because if you counted from Will's aerial shot, I would say for sure there would be more.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Yeah. From talking to everybody, I want to say it gets bigger every year. I mean, if you look at, I was looking at all the tents and about how many people were outside of each of the tents, and so there were 16 of those, and you say there was what 10, 15 people under each of those, plus all the cars. There were also people we didn't count. I don't know if you saw it, but there were some people that had set up right at the end of the parking, the general admission parking, and they were just there for the fireworks because they wanted it up close. And so there was a bunch of people down there, so that was I thought that was pretty smart. I was like, Oh, that's so smart that they were down there. Not to mention all the people in line for the so it's hard to get a gauge of so we just pretty much have to just count cars. Yeah, and I did speak to a number of people that were coming from Wichita that had questions. So I know we got some people from Wichita to come out, and some people from Graham came out. So I think we just every year it gets bigger and bigger.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

And did you do any marketing outside of Alney?

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Yes, we went to Wichita and we were on the news in Wichita, so we got onto Texoma's homepage, so they did a great job there. So yeah, we try to let people and I shared in all the Wichita groups, and so we had a number of people that came from Wichita.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Yeah, it's just such a different experience than going and doing it in the city, it really is. It's just really just very uh just gentle and you know, yeah, and just there's a lot of people authentic.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Yeah, we were looking at even from the at the Impeg in Wichita, and there were so many people. And when you have as many kids as I do, I just we cannot, I cannot do that because it was like it's just hard to keep track of all your kids, at least at all in America, they can only go so far, and I know where they're at, and there's at least 50 people I know that know my kids, right? Yeah, exactly. So you can let them run off, but it gets so dark out there, so I get it's I don't want to go to a big, big place. So if you like something that's a little bit more toned down and a little bit easier to keep track of everybody, I think only in America that's the one.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

It is, it's so fantastic. So are you gonna tell us about any of the little surprises that happened while you were setting it up or anything?

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Well, so we have the stage tent, and whenever we had ordered it, I told them to do the same thing we did two years ago because last year was we had a different setup. So I told them to bring the 10-inch leg extenders, and I guess there was just a miscommunication where the legs didn't get brought. Oh no. And so our sound guy had already set up, and the tents came a little bit later in the day. They didn't get there probably to about 10-ish, and they're usually there at 8 30 in the morning. So whenever we were getting when he set up all of his sound stuff up on the stage, the tent wasn't up yet. Oh so he had to move everything, and then we had to wait for the legs to come. Oh no so we were like pushing it, and then the community tent, we had to change the position of it because with all the work that they've started to do out at the country club, they now know where their gas and water and electric lines are.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

And where our tent was right smack dab over gas lines. Oh and so we like or over the water lines, and if we moved it 20 feet to the left, it was gonna be over the gas lines. So we had to figure out. So thank God Michael Jacoba from the city came and had to mark where the water lines were so we could avoid it, but then we had to wait, and so we were pushing it. I think it was not, it was like almost four o'clock before we got everything set up, and we're usually done set it up by noon. Oh my gosh, that is a little bit scary. We were stressing, trying to make sure that everything was taken care of, but we just didn't know. But it's crazy because that means that for the last five years, we have been setting up that community tent right over water lines, and we had no idea.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Oh my god, we just got lucky we didn't hit them. Yeah, you are. Well, no problem with that now because it's gonna be somewhere else.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

But yes, well so that was that was part of the craziness, and then so then what happened is when the community tent wasn't up, I had all the tables and chairs out there that weren't put out yet. And thank you to Daniel Latham, he got some guys from House of Mercy, and so they were able to set up all the tables and chairs for me. Because at that point, people were already, it was about to people were about to start being there, so it was just like wow, yeah, kind of creepy for a while there because I didn't know if we'd make it. And I'm like asking the tent guys, and they were so good, and it's the same guy who we've had for four years, he was like, I don't know. So we had to wait for them to bring the legs, and so they were coming all the way from Wichita. Oh my gosh, that's a little bit scary. Yes, yes, so and then we had to move the porta potties this year. We pushed them over there on the like by the cart shed, and by the cart sheds over there, and so that sort of threw the.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

That's where they were.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Somebody asked me where they were, and I'm like, they're usually over there, but well, so the thing is the problem with having something so close to the holiday is whenever you have rentals, they can't come, they don't come until the Monday after the holiday because of the holiday, because they're closed. So we have to not only plan for that day, but we also have to plan to not be in the way of the country club after they're back to normal operations because a lot of people go out there golfing on the fourth, right? So last time when we had the porta potties, that's where all the carts line up. So all the porta potties were in the way for days, you know. Oh yeah. So, anyways, yeah. So thank you to Landon for letting because we really do just take over that country club. We don't we always want to make sure that we are great stewards of the venue and to just make sure that we have it to where it doesn't get in the way of operations. So the yeah, so there's that. Thank you, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

We had a good run.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

We did, that was great, and that is our biggest event of the year.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

So is this the fifth one? Was that the fifth one? Six. Six.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Yeah, it started in yeah, that's right. We had to make a little bit of adjustments. I know before we used to have the Cub Zone with the bounce houses, they did that the first year. Yeah, we just couldn't, we just can't. And seeing now that I've worked one fully, I it's hard to watch all those kids and you have to have volunteers, and so yeah, so we've had to make different adjustments, but I think we've done real good about pivoting and making sure that we adjust accordingly. If there's an issue the year before, we know okay, don't do that this year, we'll have to switch it up.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 21:50

So, what are some of the great lessons learned from all Nean and the great lessons learned are don't do bounce houses because that was a train wreck. I know. So my kid was one of them. Cash was gosh, I think he was two. He had just turned two and he almost got crushed and because there was all the big kids and the little kids. And so it was like a an obstacle course. And it's just there's not enough people to watch it. I mean, you just can't. You have kids helping, but you would have to put somebody at each side, four on each side, plus two at the beginning and two at the end. Right. Well, you can't find volunteers for all that, and you can't guarantee it. So that's a huge liability risk. Um so that's been one. I know the first year they had it was like a longer time. It started a lot earlier, I believe. Oh, really? And we just can't, it's just too hot, and it's just hard to get a lot of people out there. And and also it changes every year, the date. Right. So depending on how close it got, we always have to do it the Thursday before the fourth because of the fireworks guy.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

So if you get too close to it, then it makes it a train wreck for cleanup afterwards, too. So last year we couldn't get the inmates, the young county inmates to come out the next day because they were closed. You know what I mean? It was the third and the next day was the fourth. So we had I had to get House of Mercy to come out there and help us, you know.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Right. Um, I didn't know that young county inmates come out and help.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Yes. They came, they came out and they got the fireworks. So usually they're the ones that do the cleanup for the whole thing. And this year we had to have House of Mercy come out because they'd yeah, so but yeah, the inmates, thank you to Sheriff Babcock, because he thank you, Sheriff Babcock. Yeah, they bring him out there for us and do the cleanup, and so that really helps us to have bodies, a bunch of bodies out there, and but last year that was one thing that we didn't have, and so it was almost a godsend that it kind of did rain because I don't know what we would have done. Yeah, so last year was just crazy, but so yeah, so that's another person that comes and helps us. I mean, also our sound guy, Justin Rush. If it's too close to the holiday, if the day's wrong, well, he comes from Fort Worth. So you know what I mean. Also, if you get too close to the rental place, then you risk that those tents will already be taken. So I have to do those rentals and everything in February. I have to book them way early.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

So let's talk, let's see what next year what day it'll be. Let's know.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

This sounds very uh yeah, this is quite a thing to put together, but it really is pretty great.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Here it'll be on July 1st, and the fourth is on a Sunday next year.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Okay. Oh, all right. So it's gonna be on the first. Yeah. Well, that'll be all right. Yeah, probably because that Monday will be a holiday for a lot of people. Yep, yeah. So it'll be a good long weekend.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Yep, it's just the second, and we've talked about doing it differently. The thing is, if you start changing it to a Friday or a Saturday, a lot of people are out of town. Yeah, and so we want to be able to do it that Thursday because it usually coincides, it works out pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Yeah, no, it does. In case you want to go out of town to visit family or whatever, you get to start your long weekend at Alney in America. Yeah, yeah. So, okay, so this last this time you went to the commissioner's court to get a little bit of the hotel occupancy tax.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

So, how is that gonna help? Well, so that helps us, that helps us with the music and also the marketing, with the banners that you see, the posters that you see, advertising across the board, and then it goes towards the arts. And so, since we got people from around here, yeah, so that helps us a lot to put that money towards those things.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

We need to talk to Jake and see if he gets any business from and also the owners of the BRBOs, yeah. Yeah, and see if that if they get any kind of traction from all New America, that'd be a good story, actually.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Yeah, it makes it a lot easier to be like, hey, if you have family come in town, you can probably convince them more because there's something really big happening in town, and then they can all be a part of, and you don't have to deal with all the crowds at the big places. A couple of ladies I talked to, they come from Wichita every year, and they said they just love it because they're able to you can bring your own chairs and it's not so packed. And so I thought that was really cool that we have so much of a reach to get people to come from different places, yeah, and then they can just stay here and enjoy the town.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

So, yeah, that I mean, it was very fun for me. My friend, I was getting her to come in town because we've been working on a a story together, and so I convinced her by saying, You need to come because it's gonna be just wall-to-wall, fourth of July, small town, it's really pretty cool. And she had such a good time, right? She just said, Thank you so much for inviting me. In between our work, we went and did all this stuff, and she came with me and dressed up in her Fourth of July regalia and just had a great time. And she said, Man, I just really needed to get away from the city.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

So it was it.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

I mean, yeah, it's the perfect embodiment of what makes Alney so special. Yeah. My mom came one year and I was at a different I was out of town for a job, so my mom came to help Vincent take the kids, and she was like, It's so crazy because it's such a big event and it's such a tiny town. You would think that, but she loved it. I mean, my parents don't go, they don't go out with the crowds, they just don't.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

I know in Austin they had, I believe the number I saw was like 150,000 people or something showed up. Ooh, for what? For the Austin Fourth of July thing.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Where did they have it?

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Over there by Town Lake. Oh god, that would have been a nightmare trying to get in and out of there. I know.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

You have to get there hours and hours and hours ahead of time and then you're stuck. You're stuck. And if you forget something in the car, just forget it.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Yeah, no way. Not never again. I've done I've already done that many times.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Yes, yeah. So my family, we didn't do anything like that. So, but yeah. Um, so next for the only chamber, we are going to be having our AI and business for part of our small business academy. That's July 27th at noon. I'm working out the details, so we'll be letting everybody know about that. And that's gonna be a fun one. That is a group out of Wichita Falls, and so they'll be talking about how you can utilize AI for everyday processes, how you can use it at all different businesses, and it's just sort of an uh introduction, and then eventually, if we can get enough interest, I would like them to come out and have people bring their laptops or if you want to know how AI can help with your work and how to streamline different things at your job.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Ooh, I totally am going to that. What time is it?

SPEAKER_01 28:29

It'll be at noon on the 27th. So I'm working on usually we had it at the Civic Center. So I think we'll probably go with the Civic Center and we'll have probably get some sandwiches and just like a sandwich tray and feed everybody.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

And is that just for chamber members or can anybody come?

SPEAKER_01 28:44

So it's for all members. We ask for the lunch. We ask for if you're non-members, five dollars to attend.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Um you said it's on the 27th, right? Is that a Monday? Right, 27th at noon. Excellent. Yes, because the last couple of times I haven't been able to come because it was at the same time as city council. I think this is really interesting. We need to, I've you know, started using AI with some stuff at work, and it is a godsend, it helps me be a lot more productive.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

So yeah, I was telling my mom, my mom is a CFO, so she uses a ton of spreadsheets and pivot tables and all the things. And I was telling her that you can go to AI and you can ask it to create a spreadsheet like workbook, and it will do all the formulas for you and just have it to where everything like I've used it for our sponsorship tracker, so it is able to switch everything over to make everything out, and it puts like organizes all of it and does all the pages and all the formulas for you. So that's fantastic. I've attended this class before. I went up to Midwestern and went to their class over there, and they talk about they talk about the myths explained, just the different things that are available, they'll answer any questions. So if you're the person who does it, maybe have a lot of technology background, how can they work it? And so they talk about the prompts and how important they are to be detailed with your prompts, and I think it's really cool. So that'll be something that will start. And then I would I would like to start an AI and business sort of subset of the Small Business Academy series.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Oh, that would be so great. Well, the question I have is how do you work all the different ones, all the different AI permutations? Claude and Cat GBT and which ones do I use for which thing?

SPEAKER_01 30:32

Yes, and they'll be able to answer those questions. They are fantastic with okay, what can you use for this? What can you use for this? The chamber itself, we use perplexity AI, which that has all the different ones on one spot.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Oh, neito. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

So that's what we got for the chamber because I need it for so many different things. Yeah. So if I want image creation, I go to one. If I want something else, I go to another for spreadsheets, you can see if it comes out with a different answer. And then for research, use perplexity and all the things. So I that's who I use. Okay. I've been really happy with it.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

I'm gonna have to check that out because I have been trying to do some like online classes to figure out how they how best to use them and which ones to use and so forth. Because when you run a small town newspaper pretty much all by yourself, except for Will, of course, who is a very good help and nobody could do his job, no AI for his job. Right. Unless AI gets to walk around in the town and take pictures. Anyway, it's there's a lot of slog, you know, that I just I need to be as creative as possible and available to talk to people. So it's a huge help for me. I don't think I could have done this by myself 20 years ago. No way, it would have just been exhausting and no, I couldn't have done what I am able to do.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Yeah, it's a father and son that teach a class, they're great. So if you have the time, everybody come on out. All of our members, they get free, they can attend for free. So also thank you to the Perry Foundation for helping us fund these classes. We were able to bring in these guest speakers and have these venues. So thank you to the Perry Foundation for helping us out.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Thank you. Thank you, Perry Foundation. Yes, for everything you do. Absolutely. Okay, so anything else coming up?

SPEAKER_01 32:18

No, I think that's well, we have the variety show. Yeah. What is that? Saturday, July 18th.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

And that will be where they had at the Civic Center?

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Yes, it's at the Civic Center this year.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

So that'll be fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Great. That's gonna be great. We're gonna have Angela Lockhart with us neck next Tuesday to talk about that and let everybody know what's going on and what the money that they're raising is gonna be used for. So yeah, it's a bit of a quiet summer. We have, although this week we have the kids coming back from the national um Honor Society. National Leadership. Wow, it's called Knolls. National, I should know this because I wrote a book about a guy who went to this, Mark Randolph, and he actually talked to the kids before they went on the trip. National outdoor leadership.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Oh, yes. That was that in Idaho or something? Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Yeah, so they're going, it's a leadership skills and outdoorsman type thing. So it'd be fun to talk to Mr. Stewart or one of the kids or something when they get back about what they did because it's supposed to be just amazing. The guy who founded Netflix, Mark Randolph, who I interviewed for my first book, Netflix, The Epic Battle for America's Eyeballs, he told me when I interviewed him that that program was just critical to him learning how to be the CEO of a startup in Silicon Valley. So the guy who started Netflix went to this academy. He was on the board. I think he's still on the board. And when I found out the kids were gonna go to Knowles, I called him and I said, Hey, can you talk to our kids? They weren't able to hook up live, but he sent them a taped message before they left.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Oh, wow, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

So they get back today, and then our FFA kids went to their state convention and they're coming back on Thursday. So fun. Lots going on. And then I talked to Coach Alt Miller about summer workouts, and they're having a bumper crop of kids show up for all the workouts this summer. I got some great photos from him and some information about all the kids that are getting re-engaged with athletics. Yes. So yeah, so we got that going on, and then you told me that one of your kids is going to the science camp.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Yep. My son Cash is at the science camp at the refuge. He loves science, and so that is today and tomorrow. They do 9:30 to 12, and they have the lunch afterwards, and so my kids just love those camps. My daughter's favorite camp is the cooking camp that they do, so that'll be that'll be in a couple weeks.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

That is so good, and I'm glad that they teach them that those skills. That's really important for kids.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Oh, yeah. They did a century class, the science class, really the art class. My daughter is very artsy, and so she loves to paint, and so they get to do something there all the time. And yeah, it's just great to have all these things, and they do it for free. Same thing with the summer meals, they'll come get your kids and drop them off to you.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Yeah, that I was telling my friend about that when she was here. I tr drove her around and showed her everything and took her out and showed her the refuge and explained what it was all about, and she just was blown away that we have this here in town.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

I know I've talked to my friend in Austin. I've told her even the after-school program, it's no cost to parents, and they pick them up from school and they take them, they do a Bible lesson, and then they do their homework with them.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

You can't beat that.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

No, you really can't. And speaking of blown away, we did have some people get a lot of limbs down and damage and stuff like that from the storm on Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Yeah, that was crazy. I was not here for that.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

I was. It was very weird because I was cleaning up the house, getting ready for another week, and all of a sudden it's about 4 30, and I'm going, Whoa, it is really getting dark. Yes. And it blew and blew and blew. It was crazy. One a huge limb fell off my mulberry tree. Oh, wow. Thank God it didn't hit the house, but I heard the crack and I'm like, what was that? But it was dark and lightning, so I didn't want to go outside. Yeah. Yeah, but a lot of people had limbs down. I think you told me that people were posting about damage out at the airport.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

Yep. There was the hanger. I'll have to go find the picture. I can't remember who posted it, but it was like completely caved in. Oh, I mean, it's crazy. Yeah. It's crazy. And my mom was telling me, she said, it's so interesting that y'all, because my mom keeps track of the weather over here just because she comes and so it's just on her thing. And she said, It's crazy that we'll have like those big storms like that, but somehow they're the tornadoes never come here. It's almost like they stop before. Like we have like a knock on wood. But can you think of how powerful that wind must have been to oh they said it was like 60 miles an hour. I was getting phone calls uh when I was at my mom's about the storm coming, and our Simply Safe was sending us all these alerts, and we're like, oh my gosh. And so when we came home, we have a couple of trees in our backyard, and one of them has already came down before from the people that lived there before, and so I'm hoping that was it because those trees they can do a lot of damage.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

I feel like the storms prune my trees. You know, it's like natural pruning. I know. So the crews are picking up after that. So I'm gonna, of course, talk to all the city people and find out.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

I did see online they picked them up really fast. So thank you to the public works.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

Yes, very much. Thank you, public works. Yeah, so I'll do an assessment of all that damage for next week's paper.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

And how long did the storm last?

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Was it it was until about 10 or 11. It was very long. So we had two waves. We had one pretty powerful wave, and then it came back. We had another one afterwards, after a little bit of calm. It was very, very strong. The wind was kind of scary.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Right. Oh, and then before I forget, I want to shout out my family members that are listening. Hi, hi. My uncle MG is in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hi, MG. And he listens, and then our family friends, Bob and Renee, they are also listening. So I'm getting outside of your channel.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Hi, Bob and as you said, Bob and Renee. Hi, Bob and Renee. Yeah, we're gonna I gotta work on that too. So we need to raise our profile, get the word out about Alni. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

Oh yeah, and then the JP1, they oh yes.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

We found that out yesterday. The commissioners had to come back into session to replace the JP who they had sworn in, Ian Darty. He sounded really well qualified, but he hadn't lived in Texas for the required 12 months. Oh man. I know. So Young County, I think he only needed to be here for three or six months, but he had to be in Texas for 12. Oh, okay. Yeah, so that was the bummer of it. They didn't realize it, so they had to run back in and swear in Chelsea Moore, who works in that office. So so we're in good hands with Chelsea until the election. November? Yeah, November. We still don't know how many people are running, but right.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

I think that that should have come out. So will he be able to run in November since he'll have hit the 12 marks?

SPEAKER_00 39:30

Uh-huh. It sounds like it, yes. So just couldn't be the stand-in or right. He couldn't be the yeah. The interim. The interim, right. Well, I think that's do you have anything else? No, that's pretty much it. Like I said, the uh newspaper this week is pretty much all about Alni in America. Yep. And the Stars and Stripes. We had lots of cool pictures, thanks to Will. Yes. And the parade here in Alni. So it was mostly that, and then caught everybody up on some commissioner's court stuff, which we've already talked about. Yep. So next week we'll go back to our usual news. Yep. After the holiday.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

So and if you anybody, if you have if you'd like to come on here and be a guest, we would love to have you. Absolutely. Anything you want to talk about? We are here. This is Alni Show. So thank you for joining us for our recap. Yes, thank you very much. I'm Kimberly Smith with the Alni Chamber of Commerce.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

And I'm Gina Keating with the Alni Enterprise. And thank you for listening.