August 2026

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:18] Speaker B: Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to the August edition of the Chamber Shack. Good morning to my co host, Gin Sherwood. [00:00:24] Speaker C: Good morning. [00:00:25] Speaker D: Summertime. [00:00:26] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. You know, when school's about to start back, I always feel like summer's over. But boy, it is not. [00:00:31] Speaker D: Temperature. No, it's still hot outside. [00:00:34] Speaker B: My husband says he has to mow always to, like Thanksgiving. [00:00:38] Speaker D: Right, Right. Yeah. My garden. My garden is, you know, starting to get that little. But I'm still getting some tomatoes and squash. The ochre are saying we're trying, so it's good. All is well in the Sherwood farms. [00:00:53] Speaker B: Well, I'm so glad to hear that. But let me talk about all as well. [00:00:56] Speaker D: All right. [00:00:57] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:00:57] Speaker B: Let me tell you. Recently, we gave a 50 year milestone award to Jerry Lee Cantrell at Cantrell's Furniture and Appliances. [00:01:06] Speaker D: Do you know how many refrigerators I bought from Jerry Lee over the years? Oh, my gosh. Couches, mattresses. [00:01:14] Speaker B: I got my favorite bed there. [00:01:15] Speaker D: We're so proud of that 50 year. Good for him. [00:01:18] Speaker B: Well, you know, after we had the rib, after we had the milestone award, it was so fun. We talked and, you know, he's from the Kelsenburg area where my family, you know, my grandmother's side, my mother' you know, and they were Cantrells. And so I think by the time I left, he decided we're third cousins. Oh. So I'm so tickled. [00:01:38] Speaker D: I don't know if anyone's ever sat at a table with Suzanne with somebody from here, but not really considered, like, I don't eat lunch with you on Sundays after church. And it is a fun game. Suzanne and that person both figure out how your kids. It's great fun. Don't surprise me at all. [00:01:56] Speaker B: It helps me to get lots of invitations to Thanksgiving dinners. [00:01:59] Speaker D: Oh, there you go. You never have to cook. [00:02:01] Speaker B: I never have to cook. [00:02:03] Speaker A: Goodness. [00:02:03] Speaker B: Shan was high. [00:02:05] Speaker D: Well, congratulations to Jerry Lee and Cantrells furniture and appliances for 50 years of dedicated service to the residents of DeKalb county and beyond. And we are just so proud to celebrate that with him and the economic [00:02:19] Speaker B: development it brings to our county. We love it. [00:02:21] Speaker D: Absolutely. We like to shop local. And so you gotta have the local shops in order to get the things that you need. [00:02:27] Speaker B: He said he had one customer from, like, Michigan. He had to send the stuff up there. [00:02:31] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. [00:02:31] Speaker B: I know. So it's not just the region. I mean, other states. So we love Jeremy. So anyway, there you go. So speaking about the love, we love our local ascension, St. Thomas de Gabb. [00:02:42] Speaker F: Hospital. [00:02:42] Speaker D: Absolutely. And when you think about love, you think about your heart, which is a good segue to the hospital. That's right. Yeah. [00:02:50] Speaker B: Well, we first have the administrator here, and he's got plenty of heart. Let me tell you. [00:02:53] Speaker D: He's awesome. [00:02:54] Speaker B: Isaac Keller's here. He's on the chamber board. Just as soon as I met him, I just like, oh, I've recently. Cousins. [00:03:05] Speaker F: That's right. [00:03:06] Speaker D: We made the connections, even if they didn't exist. [00:03:10] Speaker B: And so. And with Isaac today is Kenneth Brunner. I love Kenneth. He, you know, he is the cardiac rehab and respiratory therapy manager. Is that right? [00:03:22] Speaker G: Yes, ma'. [00:03:22] Speaker H: Am. [00:03:23] Speaker B: That's a big cardiovascular. [00:03:25] Speaker D: Speaking of having heart right there. [00:03:27] Speaker B: So having issues today. I'm not worried at all. I got kidnapped. [00:03:31] Speaker D: We are in a good spot. [00:03:32] Speaker B: We're in a good spot. Yeah. [00:03:33] Speaker E: Heart was a perfect segue. It was a perfect segue. [00:03:39] Speaker B: Okay, well, update us on what's going on at Ascente. [00:03:41] Speaker E: Yeah. So we have a ton of things going on over at Ascension St. Thomas, DeKalb Hospital. You know, we're getting some new equipment. We have a nuclear medicine camera. I know I've talked about that before. But we're hoping to get that in by the end of the first quarter of 2027. And so planning and everything is being done on that design, and we're working on that and excited about. About that. About dollars of infrastructure improvements go into the hospital as well. H VAC systems and sewer lines and things like that. [00:04:18] Speaker D: Things that aren't necessarily sexy, but, you know, make the hospital. Yeah, make the hospital. [00:04:22] Speaker G: Well, what is sexy is a new AC unit in our cardiac rehab that is really sexy. So if we need a cool space for exercise, we don't want another heart event caused by us. Right. So you never. [00:04:35] Speaker E: You don't always like doing the infrastructure stuff, but what you do like doing is service, line improvement service. And that's one of the reasons we brought Kenneth on this morning. So he. So he is managing a cardiac rehab program at DeKalb Hospital that's growing pretty quickly and just offers a lot. So we want to bring him on to talk about kind of the nuts and bolts of what they can do and where their growth is coming from and that sort of thing. [00:05:01] Speaker B: Absolutely. Let's hear it, Kenneth. [00:05:03] Speaker G: Well, first of all, cardiac rehab is a medically supervised program that is referred. We are a 100% referral program. Those referrals can come from any insurance companies. They can come from physician's office, they can come from cardiologists and Sometimes the local connection, we get a call and Mr. Smith says, hey, my neighbor just said that you have a cardiac rehab and I need your services. So we bring them in and we actually. My staff evaluates them for their physical needs. We create an individual treatment plan. Each one can be different for each patient. Those patients that meet criteria for admission either suffered from a recent cardiac event and or they have a chronic cardiac condition. Once that patient is admitted to our program, most insurance companies approve up to 36 visits for an annual year. We tailor their visits based on their ability to reach us. So some of our patients are two days a week, some are three days a week, some are one day a week. But we still get those 36 visits by the insurance company. What we've offered, we started last year. We wanted to continue to be a continuum of care for our patients. So actually, once you graduate, we offer now what's called a wellness program. You transition, you do graduate. And what has really helped with our graduation is, believe it or not, gifts go a long way. So they have four options of gifts when they graduate, and you wouldn't believe how giddy they are at the end of their graduation, you also get a certificate of graduation. But what we have now is we have what's called a wellness program. And so you actually graduate from a patient to a member of our program. And what we do is we offer the same individual treatment plan, supervised by my trained staff, for a minimal fee of either. $15 if their insurance company does not offer payment for that. But you get the same thing. It's mirrored exactly the same. It's just you're no longer a patient, you're a member. That helps with good heart health. So that we. Because our goal is to either prevent a new event or help improve quality of life with the current chronic conditions that they. [00:07:16] Speaker B: So I love that it's local here. You know, it's so hard for people to have to travel out of town [00:07:20] Speaker D: if they can't drive. That means that they're having to find somewhere. [00:07:23] Speaker G: The secretive secret of success is having as local as you can for that travel time. Because I am finding that when you live in a rural, small town that sometimes traveling to the next county is obscene for them. I've had one patient that told me she lived in Sparta, and we don't have a cardiac rehab there, so we try to bring those patients here. And she said she's never been to Smithville, and she never has any desire to come to Smithville, so we couldn't get her to come. So so we. We need that. [00:07:54] Speaker D: It's so far away. [00:07:55] Speaker I: It is. [00:07:55] Speaker H: It is. [00:07:56] Speaker D: It is all the way across the lake. [00:07:59] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. [00:07:59] Speaker D: You have to go over a bridge to get here. [00:08:01] Speaker G: So having us local helps us to be celebratory as far as having the amount of patients that we have, and not because of their condition, but of being able to offer the support when they do have those conditions. Because we can't. We can't always prevent those conditions, but what we can do is offer support. Physical, emotional support. [00:08:22] Speaker E: Our answer is kind of care close to home. [00:08:24] Speaker G: Right. [00:08:27] Speaker D: My own personal experience, but also so many people who have had to spend time in a hospital. Sometimes you think, oh, the bigger hospital is going to get you better care. And we know our hospital has the best staff, the best care, and that really what we want is the best outcome. [00:08:45] Speaker G: Well, what I can tell you is after 27 years of working with Ascension, I started out with St. Thomas before we became Ascension. St. Thomas. Is that the way they look at the rural hospitals is that even though we are smaller, we meet all the small needs and the medium needs. And in order to do that, they've been very, very fruitful. My equipment is no different right now. The only thing that will change is when the nuclear scanner, the brand new scanner comes in. Other than that piece of equip, every piece of equipment that I don't personally own, but that I utilize or my staff utilize is no different than the equipment that's at the big three hospitals. They are very. They want us to be able to meet the needs for our patients. Yes, the big things, we have to travel down the road, but don't we travel down the road for those big events, family events like anniversaries and graduations, we usually travel for those. And so we don't mind traveling for the big events, but everything little or medium, we can take care of here. And when you walk in, you don't see small hospital, you don't see small education and small minds. You see the same equipment, the beautiful equipment, and also the educated. Because my staff is trained no different than the staff that's trained in Nashville. [00:10:05] Speaker B: Same level of care. [00:10:06] Speaker G: Yes, it is. [00:10:07] Speaker D: I love that you incorporate the care with your staff and everything that you're saying. I mean, because that really, when it boils down to it, the person who I deal with is the care that was given to me by the hospital. And I just think it's wonderful. [00:10:24] Speaker G: And I can tell you to this, there are special types of patients that we get. I'll give One in specific, it's for those that have left sided heart failure and used to years ago, I would say probably in the early 90s, this treatment was only offered for those for a bridge to transplant, those waiting for a heart transplant. But what, what we've done over the years is we've been able to offer that just for quality of life. Now we call it destination therapy. So we have some patients that have a left ventricular assisted device, which is a pump that helps to complete their functionality of their heart. And if you don't have special training, you can't take care of those patients. They would have to go to Nashville or Murfreesboro or Chattanooga or Knoxville. But with the training that my staff receives, we can accept those patients when they live in our community as well. They don't have to travel because their success. Who wants to drive two to three days a week to Nashville, Knoxville or Chattanooga? [00:11:23] Speaker D: Yeah, it would take the whole day to get there. [00:11:25] Speaker G: They're not going to do it. They're not going to do it. And then their quality of life can be a detriment. So now we have that that we can offer to our patients. We've had four patients graduate with those devices here in our community. [00:11:37] Speaker B: I feel better. Do you? [00:11:38] Speaker D: Yeah, I love it. Thank you so much for the information. This has been really great. [00:11:44] Speaker B: See, thank you. [00:11:45] Speaker D: Oh, you said that's how you know, really we do being here. [00:11:51] Speaker C: Thank you for having. [00:11:52] Speaker B: So grateful. Y' all are awesome. [00:11:54] Speaker G: All right. [00:11:54] Speaker E: Great to see you again. [00:11:55] Speaker B: You do? Oh, let's see. Jen, let me put on my eyes. [00:11:59] Speaker D: We got new member ribbon cutting. [00:12:02] Speaker B: We've had a lot of ribbon cuttings lately. [00:12:03] Speaker D: Man, do we love this when we have them. [00:12:06] Speaker B: Well, Beacon Home Health, that was formerly Sun. Suncrest. [00:12:10] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:12:10] Speaker B: And they're located 117C East Broad Street. Well, that was hard to say. Smith Hill, right there next to Food Line. [00:12:18] Speaker D: Right, right. Next in that little group right there. [00:12:20] Speaker B: Yeah, little groove there. Compassion, providing comfort at home, strengthening families and helping patients find healing and peace of mind. And they were so sweet. We had the best time with them. I met the executive director, Chris Simmons, and we're going to get him on a feature show. He wants to come. [00:12:35] Speaker D: Right. But here with us today, Angela Ludwig with a new business. You have some fabulous things that we could talk about. But let's talk about first with the Treasure Trail market that you have opened. [00:12:53] Speaker F: Yes. [00:12:53] Speaker J: So it's just a Little Shop with 60. We have about 64 small businesses in there now. I never thought I could squeeze that Many in there. We had, we been open for a month and we absolutely killed it last month. I never knew that Smith would support [00:13:09] Speaker B: something so small, you know, well, so fabulous. [00:13:13] Speaker J: Yeah, I mean, it's been great. I loved it. And my vendors have been begging me to open something like this for several years now. And finally had the opportunity to do this and we did it. [00:13:23] Speaker D: And where are you located? [00:13:25] Speaker J: 1190 West Broad Street. [00:13:27] Speaker B: Now if you're looking at the high school and the middle school, it's right to the left there. [00:13:31] Speaker A: Yes. [00:13:32] Speaker J: Right across from the water tower. [00:13:34] Speaker B: Yeah, right across from the water tower. [00:13:35] Speaker F: All right. [00:13:37] Speaker B: Yeah. And so I loved when we were out there for the ribbon cutting. It's so well supported. You've got awesome vendors. I love shopping there. I brought me home something. [00:13:46] Speaker D: Jen, I know you're shocked about that. I can imagine. [00:13:49] Speaker B: And you know, Angela is so multi talented. I don't know if you know this Jen, but for years, not only is she like an entrepreneur of the businesses, like a brick and mortar business, she does center. She is Center Hill events. I know she is Center Hill events. [00:14:05] Speaker D: And people don't realize what you bring to our community because being able to coordinate that. And rain or shine, Suzanne and I know when you plan an event, you can't control the weather, all, all of that stress, and yet you do it fabulously. So tell us a little bit about some of the upcoming events that you have coming. [00:14:30] Speaker J: Yeah, so we have the Bacon Festival coming up on September 19th. It's all things bacon, anything you can think of, we'll have it there. We'll have 80 plus vendors there. That's all either local baked good vendors, boutiques, farmers market vendors will be there as well. We'll have a little bit of everything. It's free admission, free parking lot, and it's good for the families. Come out and enjoy. [00:14:52] Speaker D: Awesome. [00:14:53] Speaker J: And your pumpkin festival is coming around for October 10th. It's free admission. We'll have free. A mini pumpkin patch there this year. And of course, you know, we'll have a limited amount of pumpkins, but we usually bring about 1200 to 1500 pumpkins and they're gone. It's a long hour. Yes. [00:15:12] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:15:12] Speaker D: So if you're coming for the pumpkin. [00:15:14] Speaker J: Yeah, it gets there first hour, they're popped out. It just, it's crazy because it takes us so much longer than that to [00:15:19] Speaker F: put them all out. [00:15:20] Speaker D: Like it's like the Easter eggs, right? You hide all the eggs in there. They're all found in 10 minutes. [00:15:26] Speaker B: So if you want to be a volunteer to help set out pumpkins. You'll take them, right? [00:15:30] Speaker H: Yes. [00:15:30] Speaker J: Friday night. [00:15:32] Speaker F: Be there. [00:15:34] Speaker B: We're so grateful for all you bring to our community, all the fun. And, you know, it doesn't just bring things for locals, but people come from all over to festivals. [00:15:44] Speaker J: They come from all over. I know. Last year we had people from Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina for Pumpkin Festival. I'm like, for the Pumpkin Fest, we're a little old Smithful, so that was great. [00:15:56] Speaker D: I know. [00:15:57] Speaker B: It's not just that. It's that when it's well done and people know it and that got your name attached to it. [00:16:03] Speaker J: Yeah. [00:16:04] Speaker B: They know it's going to be good. So thank you. [00:16:06] Speaker D: So for the vendors, too. I'm sure that. That they know they're going to be treated right and. And they'll come back over and over. That's a great testament to. So keep coming back to here and giving us a update on the treasure Trail market, how that's going, and anything else. We' have you again sometime soon. [00:16:23] Speaker J: Okay, Sounds good. Thank you. [00:16:24] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:16:24] Speaker C: Angela. [00:16:25] Speaker B: Angela. Okay, let me finish up. I got a few more ribbon cuttings. [00:16:28] Speaker F: Yes. [00:16:28] Speaker G: Yes. [00:16:29] Speaker B: Okay. So. Oh, Jen, you know, in 25 years, I've only missed a total of two ribbon cuttings. [00:16:35] Speaker D: Yeah. I was missing this. And you still there for one of them. [00:16:38] Speaker B: You were there for one of them. I think I. I start calling my people saying, you know, you get the [00:16:43] Speaker D: ribbon, you get the scissors. [00:16:45] Speaker B: I'm just panicked. My husband's like, you can't walk. I'm pretty sure you don't need to go to the ribbon. [00:16:51] Speaker D: I do not need to go. [00:16:52] Speaker B: So. But we had another new business in downtown Smithfield. [00:16:56] Speaker D: It's good that you have a little army that you can rely upon. [00:16:58] Speaker B: I have an army that I can rely on. [00:17:00] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:17:00] Speaker B: Everybody says, how do you do it? I said, I don't. I call Kathy, I call Jan, I call whoever for prayer breakfast. I call Brother Chad. I mean, I call people all the time. [00:17:09] Speaker D: We got people. [00:17:10] Speaker B: We have people. But Dwell by Hulala. [00:17:14] Speaker D: Yes. [00:17:15] Speaker B: And Fran Bennett. And she is just. I mean, I. I just. I've talked to her on the phone so many times, and I just love her. I can't wait to have her on the show. So we'll try to get her on next month. [00:17:27] Speaker D: Right. [00:17:28] Speaker B: But they're located next to Flutie Shoes right in downtown Smithfield. And just stop by and see what she's got. It's her second locations. Her first one's in Townsend, Tennessee. [00:17:36] Speaker D: Okay. [00:17:37] Speaker B: And then this one's In Smithville. [00:17:39] Speaker D: Nice. We're glad that she chose us. [00:17:41] Speaker F: Yes. [00:17:42] Speaker D: And we got some other new members to announce the little lake house on Center Hill Lake. [00:17:47] Speaker B: Oh, it's beautiful. [00:17:48] Speaker D: Oh, I can't wait to see it. It's a five star guest review. [00:17:54] Speaker B: All the guest reviews are five star. [00:17:56] Speaker D: That's amazing. Yeah, that's hard to get sleeps for. Dog friendly. That's always good to know. Wi fi, fire pit, hot tub. All the things that when you're searching for the house, they've got it. It's just a one minute drive to the lake and boat ramp. Sunrise, lake views and probably even sunset. Well, I'm sure the sun sets. No, the sun is always rising. The little lake house. But it. The website is the little Lakehouse Centerhill Lake C H L dot com. So. And if you need more information, call the Chamber. [00:18:34] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:18:34] Speaker B: And the owner's just awesome. We had a good visit and so. [00:18:39] Speaker I: But check it out online. [00:18:40] Speaker A: It's beautiful. [00:18:42] Speaker B: Well, I've got another new member here. I want to mention them real quick, but I'm gonna have them on hopefully next month. [00:18:48] Speaker D: Great. [00:18:49] Speaker B: But banner built homes and they're gonna have a new neighborhood here. Building a whole new neighborhood. Somewhere close to Walmart. I'm not exactly sure. So anyway, we'll be hearing from Madison Kinney, their representative. She's just an angel. She's so sweet. And so anyway, we'll hear all about that pretty soon. I think that starts in maybe November. [00:19:09] Speaker D: Chamber. We're glad they joined the Chamber. [00:19:11] Speaker B: I'm so grateful. [00:19:12] Speaker D: We're grateful for that. We also have another chamber member, volunteer Behavioral health out of McMinnville. Danielle Smith is this volunteer Behavioral Health as a leading, not for profit and community behavioral health provider. So they would be a great, great resource for folks in DeKalb County. Just a short drive to McMinnville for prevention, treatment, recovery services. And so they are just a high quality care provider for the people in this area. [00:19:49] Speaker B: And I'm so hoping to get Danielle. She's busy. Get her here pretty soon so she can tell us more about it in person. [00:19:55] Speaker D: Well, we thank them for their membership. [00:19:57] Speaker B: Yes. Oh, Jen, you're gonna be so excited. Okay. [00:20:00] Speaker D: We were. [00:20:00] Speaker B: We were so sad when Ryan Vaden [00:20:04] Speaker D: did well enough that he got promoted. And that made us sad. I'm not sure why that is. [00:20:09] Speaker B: But we're so happy. I mean, we're not happy. We're happy he got promoted. [00:20:12] Speaker D: Ye. It's okay, Ryan. You're allowed to go on to bigger and better things. [00:20:16] Speaker B: I don't think it's better, [00:20:19] Speaker D: but we do have a new administrator announcement in healthcare, so welcome. [00:20:24] Speaker B: Oh, my word. [00:20:25] Speaker H: Good morning. [00:20:26] Speaker F: Thank you. [00:20:26] Speaker B: Brea Cripps is here. Good morning. [00:20:29] Speaker D: And, Brea, you are originally from DeKalb county, is that right? [00:20:33] Speaker F: Yes, I lived here all of my life. I went to school here, played softball. [00:20:37] Speaker B: Oh, perfect. [00:20:38] Speaker F: I know it has been a dream come true. [00:20:39] Speaker B: Are you glad to get to come home? [00:20:41] Speaker F: Yes. [00:20:41] Speaker C: Yes. [00:20:42] Speaker F: Such a blessing to be back home, surrounded by my family and, you know, just reconnecting with the community that raised me. [00:20:49] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness, we're so grateful. And for those of you who don't know nhc, they provide our monthly lunch meetings, and it's always the best food. [00:21:00] Speaker D: Yes. [00:21:00] Speaker B: And they're all so sweet, always. And act like they're doing a service. You know, that I mean, that we're there. I'm like, no, you're doing this for us. We're not doing anything for you. We're just like, you know, they're awesome. We're so grateful, Thankful. And we're. We're glad Bria decided to continue that tradition. [00:21:17] Speaker D: Well, and just walking through the doors, you don't get that sterile feeling of what you might think as the stereotypical nursing. [00:21:27] Speaker B: Oh, no. You don't get that. [00:21:28] Speaker D: It really is a rehab center where people are intentionally get up. They don't have to just be. Be off independent by themselves. You have dining halls that people come to, and then the staff is not rigid. It's very welcoming. And so we are so proud of our NHC facility, and we're glad to have you here. [00:21:56] Speaker F: Thank you. [00:21:57] Speaker B: Was there anything you want to tell us about nhc? [00:21:59] Speaker F: I was going to say, you know that feeling when you walk in the door? That's one of my favorite parts about NHC Smithfield, specifically. It really is a hometown provider. You know, when you walk in, people are smiling, saying hello. And, you know, I grew up around there. My mom worked there for a long time, so I used to spend a lot of time there when I was little, and I remembered that feeling. So on my first day, it just all came back to me. I said, I'm home. You know, I'm surrounded by great people providing high quality care. And that's just something really special to me about NHC Smithville. [00:22:33] Speaker B: Well, we are so grateful to have you here and glad you're back home. I know your family's tickled. And is there anything else you need to ask? [00:22:41] Speaker F: Well, I was going to mention our tuition reimbursement that we do CNAs to LPNs, LPNs to RNs. We recently had one graduate as an RN. We've been trying to keep our Facebook updated. [00:22:55] Speaker B: Yes. [00:22:55] Speaker I: Of it. [00:22:56] Speaker F: It's super exciting to see people, you know, continuing their professional career with us. [00:23:01] Speaker D: And so do you have to be 18 to be in that program? The CNA program? [00:23:07] Speaker F: You do not, but we do have certain consent forms. [00:23:10] Speaker C: Yes. [00:23:10] Speaker F: And we also offer a CNA class, [00:23:12] Speaker D: but a high school student who might be interested in healthcare or nursing as a profession. How can they get more information about your programs or maybe even a recent graduate? [00:23:26] Speaker F: All right, so we do offer those CNA classes for high school students or, you know, anyone who's really interested in a career in caregiving. We have a website, and there's a careers tab you can select. But we can also, you know, if you just give us a call, we'd be more than happy to walk you through the process. That is all handled by our director of nursing, Lori Panner, and our CNA instructor, Nancy Drannan. They interview everybody and make sure they're the right fit and, you know, continue their education with them. [00:23:54] Speaker D: Wow, that's great. [00:23:57] Speaker B: What'd you get? [00:23:57] Speaker F: Say if I got anything else? I think that's about all our updates, right? Oh, our survey. Forget that. I had a great survey in May right before I got there. [00:24:09] Speaker D: Oh, you can still claim it, though. [00:24:10] Speaker F: Yes, I still get to claim it because I came in the week after. [00:24:13] Speaker B: That's probably what did it. [00:24:16] Speaker F: But, you know, I just wanted to speak on that and say how proud I am of our people. We had a really, really great survey. And that's consistent care. It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen because of any one person. It's all of the departments working together. Yes, completely. And so proud of them, you know, proud of the high quality, consistent care that we provide every day. [00:24:38] Speaker B: Oh, we're grateful. [00:24:39] Speaker D: And it's great to have that feedback from the people who completed that survey, too. [00:24:43] Speaker F: Exactly. [00:24:43] Speaker D: That's great. [00:24:45] Speaker B: Thank you for being here, Bria. [00:24:46] Speaker F: Thank you so much for having me. I hope you'll have a great day. [00:24:48] Speaker B: So glad to get to finally meet you. [00:24:50] Speaker F: I know it. [00:24:51] Speaker B: Thanks, Bria. [00:24:53] Speaker H: So [00:24:55] Speaker D: back to school things. Back to school. [00:25:00] Speaker B: How did it go last night? [00:25:01] Speaker I: It was great. [00:25:02] Speaker B: Wait, what? I just said, how did it go? Like, everybody knows what I'm talking about. [00:25:06] Speaker I: Yes. [00:25:07] Speaker D: We have with us Pastor Chad Ramsey from First Baptist. [00:25:11] Speaker I: So we've been doing this about what, five, six years now? Four or five years, maybe. [00:25:15] Speaker B: The Back to school. [00:25:16] Speaker D: Back to School Baptist. [00:25:17] Speaker I: And by, say, we are doing it. We host it. [00:25:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:20] Speaker D: Oh my gosh. It's a community event for sure. [00:25:22] Speaker I: It's definitely not us thing. It's a community thing. And it was so cool last year because every, every community group was there. We almost ran out of tables for people wanted to show up and just sponsor the their businesses and stuff like that. So we had probably the best turnout when it comes to just the businesses and support that we've had the entire time. And on top of that, the kids came out, the parents came out, grandparents came out, babies came out, dogs came out, everybody came out. [00:25:53] Speaker B: Was it lined up the street? [00:25:54] Speaker I: It was, it was wrapped around building after building. You know, we had about a thousand people came through. Yeah. [00:26:00] Speaker D: It was amazing. [00:26:01] Speaker I: It was our church got to just, we get, we love to host it. We got to feed everybody with it. [00:26:07] Speaker D: Such a, such a great big building. Lots of space to allow for that. Yeah. But plenty of parking. So no wonder. But it's also a well oiled machine at this point. [00:26:24] Speaker I: We're getting there. [00:26:25] Speaker D: You guys have, you guys really know [00:26:27] Speaker B: how many years has it been now you've been doing that? [00:26:30] Speaker I: So we started right after Covid. We took it over from the school board and the central office and we've just, we knew that something needed to happen and need to keep going. You know, just to see all the kids come in and get their supplies and it's, it's, it's awesome just to see like even I always say it wrong, but crayons. I say crayons. I'm just. [00:26:52] Speaker J: Crayons. [00:26:53] Speaker H: Yeah. [00:26:53] Speaker I: Yeah. [00:26:53] Speaker D: It's one word that's right. [00:26:55] Speaker I: One syllable and you just roll with it. [00:26:57] Speaker D: Right. [00:26:57] Speaker I: But just to see a kid get crowns, get folders and like their eyes start to light up and you're just like, you know, like, it's the little things. You know, it's the little things. [00:27:07] Speaker D: So it is true that from one year to the the next, lots of things can be reused. Like I remember when the kids were little. You need a ruler. We're going to use last year's ruler. You need a backpack. Well, is this backpack worn out? You're going to keep using that backpack. But we always splurged on a new box of crayons because there's something special about having the little, having the little [00:27:32] Speaker B: points on every single crayon. [00:27:35] Speaker D: So the 64 pound, a little built in sharpener. Who knew you needed six colors of pink? I know, of course you need that. Well, I, even though, you know, my kids are long grown and Gone. I did do a little drive by because I love that sense of community that that event brings and that every child deserves to be excited about going to school. [00:28:04] Speaker I: And I think the cool thing was it wasn't just us with the community part there. Other businesses had done some other events around town. It just loves to see how the community comes together just to help each other out and just, you know, it's for the kids. You know, you want to see these kids grow up, you want to see the kids. [00:28:21] Speaker D: It's a huge, it's a huge dent in, in your budget to have to buy the supplies. And so anything that our community does to help support that just enables our children to have success starting on day one. [00:28:35] Speaker H: Right. [00:28:36] Speaker I: And so it's wonderful, but there's a lot of things going on. Even on top of that, it's as today is the first day of school, [00:28:42] Speaker D: so say all the parents. [00:28:45] Speaker I: Yes, yes. Normalcy is back again. But we get to do that. But you know, that means also like, I know like our church Wednesday night programs are kicking back off. [00:28:55] Speaker C: Oh great. [00:28:56] Speaker H: Yeah, yeah. [00:28:57] Speaker I: Next Wednesday the 12th. [00:28:58] Speaker D: What time do those start? [00:28:59] Speaker I: We start at. So we feed all of our kids at 5:30. We also offer a van ministry. If somebody needs, just contact the church and they can go through the registration part, which is really simple, but that just allows us to get some information. But basically we feed everybody, kids and their families at 5:30 and then at 6:00 all the services start. We have stuff for the kids and when we say kids, that's Pre K through 5th grade. Our youth department's amazing. Jordan and Payton do an amazing job out there. [00:29:30] Speaker B: Are you in the new building now? [00:29:32] Speaker I: We are over in the Harvester. It's like a multipurpose building for us. We use it for youth on Wednesday nights and adults on Sundays and then anything and everything in between. So it's a wonderful addition for us, allowing them to truly worship. But there's so much more than that. You have that going on Wednesday nights with the kids and they're doing their student ministries. They also have a meal for them and then we have like a Bible study that we do. Just a verse by verse Bible study that we do for adults. Having about three classes. We're doing this this fall, but we also do ell. So like for anybody interested in learning English and helping all that, we offer that ministry, all that's free. Everything's free of charge. We have a good ministry in there where we come just to learn English, learn how to get, you know, saturated into our culture here and stuff like that. [00:30:24] Speaker D: And you have new tenants now in Haven and Hope is there. [00:30:27] Speaker H: Yes. [00:30:28] Speaker I: So, like, we've been really excited about that. We got people below us now. So we're in the office and we hear voices, and so we're used to those coming through. [00:30:37] Speaker D: Oh, that's right. Wait a second. [00:30:40] Speaker I: So that we. So apparently I didn't know this, but years ago, the Haven of Hope started in our basement. And I knew they had a building next to our LEC is now and it. And then they moved to where they were, I think, in the Magnolia building. And then so we were just like, hey, why don't we got some space? Why don't you come over and we can sort of help out and you can be able to minister to more people. So they came back in. They moved back in in June. So they've been there a couple months now. They're still getting there. We got to sign up this week. So it's becoming more and more official. I know. Even like next month, because the next time we do it. I'm not sure if Thomas is coming today, but it sort of come up on us. But the Haven of Hope always does a golf fundraiser. I believe it's the 12th of September this year, so it'll be on that Saturday. It sort of snuck up on us this year because we had a whole move. [00:31:36] Speaker D: Yeah, right. [00:31:37] Speaker J: Right. [00:31:37] Speaker I: Yeah. [00:31:37] Speaker D: So they were a little occupied. [00:31:39] Speaker I: Yes, yes. So. But that's coming up real soon, September 12th. It's also a great way just to come back. And, you know, it's. You know, I just was reading about other services here. There anybody who needs help. I mean. I mean, Haven of Hope is a wonderful time just to see kids who need some help, adults who need some help, just need to talk to somebody. And we were talking to a person the other day and said, hey, this. This doesn't mean you've got major complications or issues or you're a bad person. It's like we all just need someone to talk to. We all need someone to help. [00:32:07] Speaker H: Absolutely. [00:32:08] Speaker I: You know, I mean, and there's strength [00:32:10] Speaker D: in reaching out for help. [00:32:11] Speaker I: Yeah. Mean, I. I mean, I don't mind saying this, like, even, like our families use stuff other people. I mean, it's just a good time. Just have some people just to. To talk. [00:32:19] Speaker D: And that coming from a pastor. [00:32:21] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:32:22] Speaker D: Where, you know, you know, it's helpful to. For people to talk to someone they trust and who can really listen. [00:32:28] Speaker I: It's dangerous to hold it in. It's just dangerous to hold it in. It's dangerous just to get upset and not be able to express where you're at now. Ultimately, you know what I love about the Haven of Hope, it is Christian based. And that's the thing that we know. Cross is the center of what we do and what they do as well too. So that's the center. But at the same time it's like, let's talk this through. So I think. But we're really excited about having them there. [00:32:54] Speaker H: It's busy. [00:32:54] Speaker I: We're building new children's buildings. So it's just. Everything's a little busy crazy right now. [00:32:59] Speaker D: But it's good. [00:33:00] Speaker I: In a good way. Very good. [00:33:02] Speaker D: Thank you for bringing your good news. [00:33:04] Speaker I: Yes, yes. So just I'll say one last thing. If it's not our church, go find a church. Get plugged into a church. [00:33:10] Speaker B: So many great churches. [00:33:11] Speaker I: Yeah. There's so many starting there with in out programs. It's not just us. You know, we truly are a kingdom minded community kind of idea here. So get plugged in one of them. [00:33:19] Speaker B: So. [00:33:19] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:33:20] Speaker B: Awesome. [00:33:20] Speaker I: Thanks, guys. [00:33:21] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:33:23] Speaker B: Oh, let's see here what we got. Oh, look at here. Caddyshack's got a tournament for charity coming up. [00:33:29] Speaker D: I love this. This sounds really fun. So Caddyshack is going to host, along with Spay Tennessee and The Friends of DeKalb Animal Shelter, a tournament of [00:33:44] Speaker B: able [00:33:45] Speaker D: to do the games inside the caddy. [00:33:48] Speaker B: Oh, if you've not been to the caddy shack. Oh, we will admit to that as a fun. [00:33:53] Speaker D: So it is a $20 per person entry and half of that entry fee will be matched by Spay Tennessee to be able to support the programs to spay and neuter your. Your dogs and cats. So the blind. It's one great cause. Two tournaments. The blind drawing tournament is at noon. Or you can bring your own part own tournament that's directly following. So all sorts of ways to support the spay program and Friends of DeKalb County Animal Shelter on Saturday, August 22nd. [00:34:28] Speaker B: Now, Caddyshack, if you don't know where it is. [00:34:30] Speaker D: Yes. [00:34:31] Speaker B: It's a big white building there on. [00:34:33] Speaker C: What is that? [00:34:34] Speaker B: South Third Street. It's got Studio 105 in there. It's got. It's got several businesses from the desk dentist office right across from. Yeah. Dr. Tatum, DeKalb Dental Center. And then you just go up those stairs. [00:34:48] Speaker G: Yep. [00:34:49] Speaker B: And Katie shakes right at the top. [00:34:50] Speaker D: All kinds of fun things. You should check it out. [00:34:52] Speaker B: Yeah, check it out. [00:34:53] Speaker D: Not just on the 22nd. [00:34:55] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Okay. Let's see. Oh, look who we got for the upcoming downtown Smithful events. They've always got something going on. Sherry Elkins is here. [00:35:06] Speaker D: Morning, Sherry. [00:35:08] Speaker C: How are y'? [00:35:08] Speaker F: All? [00:35:08] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. Well, I know you all got a lot of things going, so tell us all about it. [00:35:13] Speaker C: Been doing a lot downtown. So August is really busy. Like, we were just talking about school starting back. Parents are busy. I worked a couple hours at Buttonwell this morning. It was crazy. [00:35:25] Speaker B: That's wonderful. We love crazy, right? [00:35:27] Speaker G: We do. [00:35:27] Speaker D: We love lots of business. Everybody dropping off their kids and then coming for a coffee. [00:35:33] Speaker B: I love it. [00:35:35] Speaker C: Got to hear lots of stories. [00:35:37] Speaker B: But Willow, the new design outside side, we're so excited. It looks awesome. Yeah. [00:35:44] Speaker D: Where the windows can just. [00:35:46] Speaker B: Oh, the windows open. [00:35:47] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:35:48] Speaker H: We got stone. [00:35:49] Speaker B: It's all. [00:35:49] Speaker D: It looks great. [00:35:51] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:35:51] Speaker C: Lots of plans for Ben Willow, so stay tuned. [00:35:54] Speaker D: So are we still doing first Fridays downtown? [00:35:57] Speaker C: So we're gonna skip August? That's what I was getting at. August is busy with school starting back, so. [00:36:03] Speaker D: And you all did Christmas in July, so that really was. That was a great event two weeks ago. [00:36:09] Speaker C: It was so much fun. [00:36:10] Speaker B: That's when I was sick. O. Oh. [00:36:12] Speaker D: I was like, yay. Everyone needs Santa in July. Everyone needs it. [00:36:17] Speaker C: So fun. Everybody was just in such a great mood, and it was so nice to just see people walking the streets and having a big time and shopping. It was so great. [00:36:26] Speaker B: And I got a brag on the downtown bunch, let me tell you that. You know, I was. I was terribly sick and I was like, what am I going to do? You know? Will anybody. And so I text. We have this big text of all the downtown people. And I'm like, can y' all go to Dwight Wells ribbon cutting? Because I'm not gonna. I don't even know if I told him I wasn't gonna be there. And oh, my goodness. Y' all showed up in droves. That was a crowd. I was so grateful. Oh, so grateful. All right. [00:36:52] Speaker C: Several new businesses downtown. It's. [00:36:54] Speaker B: Yes. It keeps growing. [00:36:56] Speaker C: It is. It's going great. So the first Friday in September. Fast forward Kipping. Kicking off Labor Day weekend. That Friday, the September 4, from 4 to 7, our downtown merchants are hosting a market evening. [00:37:12] Speaker A: O. [00:37:13] Speaker C: Really excited about that. We already have a few vendors set up a honey. A local honey guy. We have a sourdough lady, some flowers. So we're still looking for a few vendors. So if you are a farmer's market type vendor, just reach out to one of the downtown businesses. But that'll be 4 to 7 on September 4th. We'd love to see everybody. [00:37:37] Speaker B: That sounds like a lot of fun. [00:37:38] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. [00:37:39] Speaker C: Should be nicer weather. And then fast forward to the end of September. It's our fifth annual historic downtown Smithville art walk, which we're super excited about. Last year we doubled our vendors, doubled all the visitors. It was a beautiful turnout. [00:37:57] Speaker B: Are you going to be on west Walnut and west Maine? [00:37:59] Speaker C: Yes. So we're expanding this year. It'll be all downtown. West Walnut, West Main. We have a few new surprises. Incorporate some of our local businesses. [00:38:10] Speaker D: Oh, we love surprises. [00:38:12] Speaker I: Yes. [00:38:14] Speaker G: Yeah. [00:38:14] Speaker D: Good surprise. [00:38:15] Speaker C: Trying to make it. This sounds like a good every year. We'll still have Marguerite band, the jazz band. If you've been the past two years. They're phenomenal. It will be from three to nine on September 26th. [00:38:29] Speaker B: And you're going to try to keep that consistent with that. You know, last evening. Yeah, the evening of the. Is that the last Saturday? The last Friday? [00:38:37] Speaker C: It's the last Saturday. [00:38:38] Speaker B: Last Saturday. [00:38:39] Speaker C: Okay. And we still have a few spaces open for. For vendors. We have everything from potters, woodworkers, tainers, glass blowers. We've introduced a farmer's market for like the art of baking. So we're still. We still have a few spots open. If anybody's looking to be an art vendor, you can go to SmithfieldTN artwalk.com and it has lots of information on there. It has our vendor application. [00:39:10] Speaker B: I think September is one of my favorite time to go to events. [00:39:12] Speaker D: Me too. [00:39:13] Speaker B: I love it because it's cooling a little bit. [00:39:15] Speaker D: It cools a little bit, but it doesn't feel like it's heading toward winter. [00:39:18] Speaker B: Freezing. [00:39:19] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah, that's great. And. And I know I have loved the art walk. I've been and I've seen it grow and I just know that nostalgic. [00:39:29] Speaker C: It's just really laid back and kind of classy. The jazz band's always wonderful. They always have it lit up really nice. And it's just really unique. Artists you would never find. [00:39:41] Speaker J: Right. [00:39:41] Speaker C: You know, without coming to these events. It's really unique pieces you could take home with you. [00:39:46] Speaker B: And speaking of downtown too, I think it's just so neat that it's so walkable in so many stores. You know, it's just so many stores. [00:39:55] Speaker C: Last year we grew so much. Several of the businesses on Walnut said they had jamboree type weekend in sales. So that's why we're hoping to expand it around downtown this year. And other businesses will stay open and be able to benefit from that. Well, as, as well. [00:40:11] Speaker D: Absolutely. [00:40:12] Speaker B: Well, we're so grateful to have this wonderful downtown plus so many other awesome businesses all around throughout, really, all the way through Alexandria. I mean, Liberty now, you know, and [00:40:22] Speaker D: then, and then so many in Smith growth and all. And, and it really, it benefits everyone when another store opens. [00:40:30] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:40:30] Speaker D: And we're able to encourage people from someplace else to have more than just one shop. [00:40:36] Speaker A: Yes. [00:40:36] Speaker D: You know, I mean, that, that, that's really a benefit to, to the community and some great other businesses that are just getting going. So we're so proud of everybody. [00:40:47] Speaker B: I saw another new business open. I've got to go talk to the. I know Jamie's shop on West Walnut. The Dandelion Boutique just opened. So. And there's another one on West Main. I just found it like yesterday. I don't even know the name of it. I can't remember. But I'll be telling you next month. [00:41:03] Speaker D: That's right. [00:41:04] Speaker B: Either you'll be telling us next month, Sherry. Sherry will be telling us next month. [00:41:08] Speaker D: Oh, thank you so much for being here, Sherry. We love the downtown and all the businesses that are there. Thank you so much. Well, Jen, so I know we have, we have September yet to talk a little bit more about the, about Upper Cumberland emergency preparedness, but we do want to put it on everyone's calendar. This is the seventh annual Upper Cumberland Emergency Preparedness Event, and it's Saturday, September 12th at the Smithville Municipal Airport, which is such a great facility and we're so glad that they're hosting it. Normally the. This is in Cookville someplace in Putnam county, but just this year they've decided to kind of branch out and bring it into other communities. And wouldn't you know, our very own Charlie Parker volunteered Smithville and said, what a shocker. I know. We will do it. [00:42:04] Speaker B: We'll do it. [00:42:05] Speaker D: And so it's it. It is in Smithville. It does have all of our regional agencies that serve DeKalb county and other Upper Cumberland counties. Forty plus agencies in attend, including first aid and CPR basics, car seat safety checks, pet preparedness tips, vendor giveaways, live demonstrations, food trucks. It'll have all of the, all the cool things that the kids like to see. So the ambulance and the fire truck and the. All the other really important emergency preparedness agencies in our, in our community. But also it's going to be in a very festive. [00:42:49] Speaker B: It's going to be a big deal. [00:42:50] Speaker D: It's going to be a big deal. So mark calendars for that and for more information, contact Candace McNeil. And we're going to give the phone number, 931-3578. If you are a DeKalb county agency provider, food truck somebody, if you want to be a part of that event, can be anything connected to emergency city preparedness or making it a festive event. [00:43:19] Speaker B: Sounds pretty awesome. [00:43:20] Speaker D: We're really excited about hosting it here in DeKalb County. [00:43:24] Speaker B: Now, Jen, I'm going to skip this for a second because I'm going to do it right after. But we're going to go with Coco. Kathy Hendrickson, our very own Kathy Hendrickson Potter Library System. [00:43:33] Speaker A: Well, good morning, everybody. [00:43:34] Speaker B: Good morning. [00:43:35] Speaker A: We're into August already. What happened to the rest of the year? I don't know. [00:43:39] Speaker D: We're more than halfway through. [00:43:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. Christmas will be here. Oh, don't even think that. Okay. Anyway, we're going to. We've had a busy summer. We had our summer reading program in June. We had a wonderful turnout. I think we've had had a lot more children probably sign up this year. Over 200 sign up. [00:43:54] Speaker B: Oh, wow. [00:43:55] Speaker A: And so we had over 100 children come to each event and their parents and grandparents and family. And so I want to thank all the children that participated and the parents for bringing them. You know, they have to. [00:44:07] Speaker D: Somebody has to get them there. [00:44:08] Speaker A: Somebody has to get them there. I do want to thank Sonic, the Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, McDonald's for the free coupons for the kids, you know, incent. They all got a goodie bag, a little backpack thing, dinosaur backpack type thing with the coupons in it and some other little goodies. We want to thank the health department for setting up a booth and giving some giveaways and some information for the parents. And DTC came and set up their photo booth and everybody loves that community, community, community. So we want to thank all of those people. We couldn't do it. It takes all of us. I want to thank my staff because I drive them crazy during that time of year. We're trying to get everything together and so. But we had a great time and we appreciate everybody in the community that helped us. We are going to start our story time back. We kind of take July off to kind of breathe and there are a [00:44:55] Speaker D: lot of vacations that are happening. People are vaccinating. [00:44:57] Speaker A: There's so much going on. So we're going to start our preschool story time again August 28th at 10 o'. [00:45:02] Speaker D: Clock. [00:45:03] Speaker A: And we always have stories in our goody bags and sometimes we'll have guest authors to Come in maybe later in the year when we see how many children we're going to have, we'll have someone come in and read some of their books and things like that. Because I've had somebody reach out to me that came a few years ago and I think she brings a dog with her. So we'll see about that later on when we see how many people is going to show up. But. And we have started. [00:45:24] Speaker D: That seems like a no brainer to me. [00:45:26] Speaker A: Yeah, well, we'll see because sometimes, you know, when we first start out we might have two or three kids because most of a lot of my children are going to school this year. You know, it's been in the story times it's come. So a lot of them start school. [00:45:38] Speaker D: So got to do some recruiting of the new preschoolers. [00:45:42] Speaker A: They all grow up but hopefully new ones will take their place. So we're looking forward to that. So. And this month we will be having our five dollar book sale. Of course we have a book sale going on all the time. But this month until the 31st we will be having. You can fill a Walmart bag up. We've got the bags there, fill it up. As many books as you can get in there for $5. So yeah, so my husband hates that. So that going on in the month of August. So. But anyway, things coming up of course, you know, the boo bash is coming up and Christmas on the square. So lots of things coming up later in the year, all the good stuff. So. But we appreciate the community for, you know, helping us out during the summer reading program. It's a great event, a lot of kids participating. [00:46:27] Speaker B: We appreciate all you do. So hang out. We're going to talk real quick about. Do you want to go with you? Tell me, I'll let you decide. [00:46:36] Speaker D: Oh no, let's do. Let's do Razor. [00:46:38] Speaker B: Too much pressure for you? [00:46:40] Speaker H: Yeah. [00:46:40] Speaker B: Are you sure? [00:46:41] Speaker D: He's sitting right here. [00:46:42] Speaker A: Hello. [00:46:42] Speaker H: Hello. How are y' all doing? [00:46:46] Speaker D: How are you doing? [00:46:47] Speaker G: Great. [00:46:49] Speaker D: You still have all your hair. You're still looking pretty good from having all the summer activities that happens. [00:46:55] Speaker H: I'm telling you it's a busy time up there. It is a busy time and you know, we don't like to slow down so we still keep putting the guests to it. Doing things on the weekends. We have a lot of programs going on, a lot of crafts. Our seasonal Joseph has been doing a really good job this summer putting out lots of programs on the weekends for people to come to. I think there's paint a pot survival bracelets he's doing some bead animals that you can design. A little bead keychain snake programs, of course. You know Suzanne's favorite. [00:47:30] Speaker D: When are we getting this snake again? [00:47:32] Speaker B: We've had a snake twice. [00:47:34] Speaker H: You know, maybe I should come. Maybe I should come and bring him next. I don't know. [00:47:37] Speaker B: Yes. [00:47:38] Speaker H: And he's. [00:47:40] Speaker D: Don't let Suzanne say no. We love it. [00:47:43] Speaker B: Okay. So I always have to have a little warning because I always invite, like a nurse to be on our show that day. [00:47:48] Speaker D: Yeah. Just for backup in case Suzanne falls [00:47:52] Speaker H: out, I also have another big announcement, and it's not this month. It is next month. The History Hay rod is coming back. [00:48:00] Speaker B: Oh, it's coming back. [00:48:01] Speaker H: Yes. That's going to be September 26th of September. We are also going to be doing. Our friends group is going to be doing a fundraiser too. We are also doing a chili cook off contest to see who has the best chili on Center Hill Lake. [00:48:21] Speaker B: Oh, my. [00:48:22] Speaker H: It's going to be a fundraiser for the friends group to help raise money for the park. Both of those events will be happening at the same time. Time. [00:48:29] Speaker D: Awesome. [00:48:31] Speaker H: If you're looking to possibly have a team, want to show what you got? Think you got the best. [00:48:37] Speaker B: Show what you got. [00:48:38] Speaker H: Yeah, I mean, you know, we're looking to put some, what, smoke on the water, firing them heels, see what's going on. Safe you, you know, bragging rights. [00:48:47] Speaker B: Bringing it today. [00:48:48] Speaker H: That's right. We should be having some of that pretty soon on friends group Facebook page. If you want to put a team out, that will be coming out soon, hopefully in the next week. Also, if you want to contact me, I can send you the link to sign up for that. But next month, hopefully at the end of this month, we should have be able to sign up and register if you want to come participate in that. [00:49:12] Speaker D: So the tickets for the History Hayride, how do people get those? [00:49:15] Speaker H: Those will also be online. [00:49:17] Speaker D: Okay. [00:49:18] Speaker H: You'll be able to do both at the same place. You'll be able to reserve your ticket for the hay ride. Or if you want chili, you'll be able to reserve your place for the chili. And the way we're doing it, you know, we're outdoors, we're campy. If when you purchase a ticket to the chili, we're gonna have two different tickets. One will be for a ceramic mug. That's what we're gonna eat our chili out of. Because when you camp a good, hot, you know, a chili mug. [00:49:45] Speaker I: Yeah. [00:49:45] Speaker H: And then we're also gonna do a insulated Mug. Metal mug that has a lid with it. That one will be a little bit extra. It'll be a more expensive mug, ticket price, and you'll be able to take that and eat chili out of that one. [00:50:00] Speaker D: I love it. [00:50:01] Speaker H: So we're hoping, like I said, we need a few more teams. We've got five or six right now. I think we're gonna limit it at 10 this year since it's the first year. We're hoping that we have some good. A lot of people. We have a lot of marinas. If you have a marina arena out there, you know, I think some of them are thinking, [00:50:20] Speaker A: challenge each other. [00:50:21] Speaker H: Yeah, that's. That's what it's all about. Challenge us in the community. Raising money for the park, because y' all are familiar with the friends group. You know, they help raise money for different things. I think the money that they're looking for right now, the project is going towards helping repair some of the old farmhouse that we had. We've cleared out a bunch of invasives. Cleared it out, opened it up. We're hoping to do some hikes back there this fall when it cools down and the snakes are gone. So we can kind of show people [00:50:56] Speaker D: it's a great hike. Yeah, that'd be great to open. [00:50:58] Speaker H: We're hoping it's opened up now, but we're gonna. Eventually hoping we're gonna take people back there, see what we're doing, and we're look for that this fall. [00:51:07] Speaker B: Yeah, let's do it. [00:51:08] Speaker A: And I want to thank the park, too, because they. They brought some animals. [00:51:11] Speaker F: The. [00:51:11] Speaker A: And the animal pelts. And the kids. Kids loved that. That was their favorite. I think that was one of their favorite programs that we did. [00:51:17] Speaker H: Joseph was telling me he was really good. He was really good. [00:51:19] Speaker D: He did a good job. [00:51:20] Speaker A: He was very. [00:51:21] Speaker D: I also want to have a shout out to all of the Ed Grevens team and the emergency responders. When you had a. When you had a storm hit you, was that Fourth of July. [00:51:33] Speaker H: Fourth of July. [00:51:36] Speaker D: I know it was jam packed with people. And that just makes it even more critical that. That good people came together. And I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who. [00:51:49] Speaker H: And I need to thank everybody that come and help, too. Tdot Upper Cumberland Electric. We had quite a bit of people, and if I missed you, I apologize. [00:52:00] Speaker D: I know the corps of engineers. [00:52:01] Speaker H: The corps of engineers. We had a lot of help. We had something around six power lines break. Oh, wow. The poles. We had. Have. Six poles were covered with. [00:52:12] Speaker D: With broken trees. I mean, it was. It was one of those moments where you can prepare and prepare, but it was boots on the ground and we [00:52:21] Speaker H: had to actually close our. And when we had to close our park, we had to make people abandon their campers because we couldn't get them out. We were able to at least get enough to where vehicles could, but we had power lines. [00:52:35] Speaker B: You know, safety was number one one. [00:52:37] Speaker E: Yes. [00:52:38] Speaker F: Right. [00:52:39] Speaker H: So we've got that all cleared up. The only thing we don't have finished on that is our merit Ridge Trail is still going to be closed. It's pretty bad. It's pretty rough. I can't. [00:52:50] Speaker D: And it got hit pretty hard. [00:52:52] Speaker H: And it's right in behind that area where that straight line wind come through. And I can't give people a timeline right now when that'll be. Hopefully by the end of the year. [00:53:02] Speaker D: Y' all did. Y' all did great. And that emergency, no one was hurt. It was. It was really scary. [00:53:09] Speaker H: Yes. It could have been worse. Especially as busy as the Fourth of July weekend. [00:53:13] Speaker D: Right. [00:53:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:53:14] Speaker H: You know, everything was. [00:53:14] Speaker D: Every nook and cranny was full, so. Well, thank you so much for being here. [00:53:18] Speaker H: Thanks for. Thank you. [00:53:21] Speaker D: All right, so just a quick word about leadership, your favorite subject. My favorite subject. We are in the process of recruiting for the Class of 2020, 2027. And applications are [email protected] which, if you also just Google the Chamber of Commerce, you could. You can get there, click on leadership and then get that application there. A huge shout out to Lee Fuson, who is continuing to be our volunteer director of leadership, DeKalb. But it does take a village to put that program together. And so our new system of having monthly coordinators. I just want to say a huge thank you to the folks who did it last year that are continuing to do it. These are our Leadership De Cab alumni. Steve Cantrell is doing county government. Beth Chandler is doing the Smithville and Justice Day. And April Martin is doing Education Day. So many hands make light work and leadership. DeKalb has just gotten bigger and better. Better because of the efforts of folks who are willing to step up and really make it. [00:54:29] Speaker B: Makes it more fun, I think. [00:54:31] Speaker D: Makes it a great program. [00:54:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:32] Speaker D: So big shout out to everyone. If you're interested in more information, just reach out and let us know here at the Chamber. [00:54:38] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, mark your calendars for the Tennessee State Fair and Wilson County Fairgrounds. It's August 13th through the 22nd. [00:54:45] Speaker D: Coming right up. [00:54:46] Speaker B: Yeah. The chamber set up at DeKalb county display for the Travel Tennessee exhibit inside the Maiden Tennessee Tennessee building. [00:54:53] Speaker D: Oh, that was a lot of words. [00:54:54] Speaker B: It's a 10 day event, brings out over a million people. So and all the counties get to come in and, and have a display. So we were able to get airs up yesterday. We're very excited about that. And then I would just want to mention, you know, as we said, DeKalb County Schools are back in session. Make sure you're watching out for school buses. If you see a sign, pop out of that bus or boats or. [00:55:15] Speaker D: I brought a little chart. [00:55:16] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Stop if you're behind them. Stop if you're coming. [00:55:19] Speaker D: That's right. [00:55:20] Speaker A: Stop. [00:55:20] Speaker B: Yeah, just stop if you're not sure [00:55:22] Speaker D: if you're supposed to stop. [00:55:23] Speaker C: Stop. [00:55:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:55:24] Speaker D: The only time you're not supposed to stop is if you see the school bus coming at you and there's an actual barricade that a child could not run out into. Otherwise, median center, left turn lane, does not matter. You still got to stop. [00:55:39] Speaker B: Be bus and children away. [00:55:40] Speaker D: Yeah, Just, just be careful. Just, just know that children are out and out and about. [00:55:46] Speaker B: That's right. Well, the Chamber wants to help promote your news Respect events. Call 615-597-4163 or email me at directorecalbcountychamber.org and or tag me on a Facebook post and I'll help you spread the word. [00:56:00] Speaker D: Absolutely. And we want to say thank you to all of our fabulous guests this morning. We learned so much and we are so grateful to WJLE radio and DTC TV for sponsoring our Chamber Chat program month after month. We don't know why they do it, but we are grateful. [00:56:17] Speaker A: You can watch chamber chat on DTC3 as well as their webinar. Just go to DTC3TV and click on Chamber shows to view the program anytime you want. [00:56:26] Speaker H: We appreciate all our listening and viewing audience and hope you tune in next month. [00:56:31] Speaker D: Same chat time, same chat channel. Thanks for joining us and happy back to school. Sam.