(Beep) What's that...what's...how do we usually start it? Welcome to the Growing Small Town Nebraska podcast?
Yeah.
I'll just say that (wah, wah, wah, wha)
(Beep) Good morning. We're coming to you from...
Don't say good morning.
Okay I always say that....
because
I know
because it's not
I know
...when they listen
Okay.
(laughing)
Okay....that's it...it's up to you. I did my thing.
Okay, I know I'm just giving you a break so it's not so hard for you.
Okay. Break!
(laughing)
Alright. (wah, wah, wah, wah)
And now I'm gonna go. Okay.
Are you looking for a charming and vibrant community to explore? Well look no further than Sydney, Nebraska . Stop in Sydney, Nebraska, to recharge and refuel on your way to adventure! Or stay a while and immerse yourself in small town life and enjoy the rich Wild West heritage. In Sydney you'll have your choice of hotels, motels and campgrounds, fast food restaurants to great steaks, and unique shopping opportunities all around town. While you are downtown, don't forget to check out the Sinful Sydney Walking Tour-- a self led audio tour on the Travel Story GPS app. For more information visit online at visit sydneyne.com.
The Norfolk Area Concert Association is excited to bring world class entertainment to northeast Nebraska for its 70th season. Performances presented throughout the series season are selected to appeal to all ages and an affordable membership price. The 2023 -024 Season showcases six concerts including the Phat Cat Swingers, the Folk Legacy Trio, Sinta Quartet, Pop Rock, Abracadabra, and Divas 3. Season tickets for all six shows are $60 for adults and $10 for students. The concerts are held in the Johnny Carson theater. So get your tickets today by going to the Norfolk Area Concert Association website. Here's looking forward to seeing you at what will be another year of sensational productions. The Norfolk Area Concert Association is a local nonprofit organization supported entirely by subscriptions and patronage.
Hi, I'm Sheila Jenkinson, welcome to the Growing Small Town Nebraska one year anniversary special with my co host, Marcy Sextro.
We are coming to you from the Intersect Co-working and Incubator podcast booth in downtown Norfolk, where every Wednesday at 9am you can have a cup of coffee and hear from local and state entrepreneurs at their 1 Million Cups gathering. If you can't attend in person, catch it live on Facebook. The Intersect Co-working space is located at 509 West Norfolk Avenue, and it's a wonderful place to have a meeting, drop in to work when you're on the road, or you can have a permanent office space. You can find out more by visiting their website at intersectcoworking.com.
And just like that we have our first memory, Marcie.
Yes. We are so thankful to Intersect, because not having a podcast booth would have made it very difficult to get started, andthey have just been a wonderful supporter. We really appreciate them.
They came alongside us right from the beginning. And it's been a blast recording from intersect when we're local and a lot of fun. And so we just thank them. And that was our original ad that we had for them, right?
Yes it was. Yep, it was from our very first podcast.
I thought that seemed awful familiar.
All right, well, we're here and it's our anniversary special. And we have a lot of things to talk about.
There's so many things from when we started the podcast that we kind of thought we're going to be the norm. We thought podcasts were you know, took some time, we just didn't realize how much time. On an average, how many hours do you think for one podcast...you work on it?
Oh, wow. I, I really should keep track of that, better. I am not sure, butI know... I know...t is hours even just to edit. And that's just one part of it.
That's a huge part of it.
But the editing of each episode, which ends up being around 20 minutes, and we usually record with our people around what...35?
Yeah...
...but to edit it down, I would say that alone takes me anywhere from eight to 10 hours.
Yeah.
I'm kind of meticulous with it. And I enjoy it. But yes, it is time consuming. And I thought, Oh, it's a 20 minute podcast. It's going to take me like an hour at the most to edit an episode. Yeah, wrong.
Yeah. (laughing)
Wrong.
Editing is intense.
Yeah.
I'm glad you do it.
How about you though, too, because Marcie does a whole different set. We each kind of have our skill sets that we do with this. It's worked out really well. What do you think with just an episode, the amount of time that you put in? And we're not even, that was not even talking about the recording part of it.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah, I would say between eight to 10 as well, by the time I do the research. And we set we always send...we always send prep questions out to our guests. And so that's part of it. We also prepare gifts for them so that when they come and record, so I tried to do that. And I set up all the questions, so that we are set to go because I feel like Sheila has enough to do with getting the equipment ready. And then social media afterwards because we really want to promote not only the podcasts, but guests that we have,the small towns, the businesses. So that's been such a great joy with the podcast.
Yeah, the tourism and the travel and all that stuff. That's what we really want to do is just continue to promote those things. But yeah, so that all takes a lot of time. And I remember when Marcie came to me, and she's like, Hey, we should do a podcast. And initially, I was really gonna say no, because I was in the middle of taking a lot of classes. I had other work that I was doing. And then when Marcie, when you described what this podcast was going to be about, and promoting small towns throughout Nebraska, I said, Well, yes, but I can't spend a lot of time on it.
I remember you saying that.
Yes.
Yeah and not like that worked well for either one of us.
So our very first episode that we had Marcie, let's just take a moment to talk about that. It was our meet the...
(lauging)
It was our Meet the Hosts episode. We had zero idea what we were doing. We were nervous as all get out.
Yes.
But it was just really talking about our backstory.
Yeah.
And so that was our first one. And that thing took me I think days to edit. And it still doesn't sound that good. So you guys, when you start listening, bear with us. And always remember on podcasts, not just ours, but typically they get better as they go along.
Yeah, absolutely. And you'd have to start somewhere.
That's right. And then some of our guinea pigs include Stanton is one of them. Andrew Hoehne Tim Larson were some of our first guests to be interviewed. They're like, Sure, we'll be on a podcast. And so here is a little bit about that one.
I thought my mom was going crazy when she's like, we're gonna put lights on cars and drive around town. And we had 20 Some vehicles show up.
It was 30. It was 32 cars
Was it 30? Oh man
It was the only time it snowed. We're pushing, pushing cars up the hill. And I was going from spot to spot the push cars. And it was
That is awesome. And that's really what it's about with the revitalization is being able to make your community more fun to live in, and everybody coming together. So what great opportunity.
Our very first episode, though, we recorded with with Candice Alder, who was very, very gracious and coming in. And we were in the small room here at the podcast booth. They moved us to a larger booth now, which we truly appreciate. But we were in the small room. And we had to stop and start I don't know how many times. She was fantastic, because she really was the inspiration and big part for me on the idea for the podcast. So we wanted to talk to her about the whole downtown revitalization here in Norfolk, and how that was leading to workforce density, which we really wanted to showcase.
So right now, the struggle that employers are facing with and one of the largest struggles that they have is the recruitment and retention of workforce. I think I read a newsletter that came out from the Nebraska Chamber that indicated for every three jobs that are open in Nebraska right now there is one available worker. We're seeing this across the Midwest, there's just a struggle to find adequate workforce. So we've put in to play a couple of different strategies that can help us really attract people to live here or encourage younger people that are coming out of our school system coming out of Northeast coming out of Wayne State to stay here. The identification of that problem that out migration of 18 to 29 year olds, and our inability to attract them back, was really what Growing Together was born out of. And it includes the creation of density within the downtown district of norfork. And so what we're finding is these young people that did live here, weren't really interacting with one another.
(Beef) Thanks again, Candace, we really appreciate you. (Pause) I don't know...let's do something. Let's do it again. Uhh...Thanks again, Candice. (Pause)
(Giggling) I think you gotta say something else...
(laughing) I know. I'm trying to figure out something...
Thank you. Thanks.
Yeah. What else should we say? Because I was respond to it. But you did, did I? I didn't...
I responded....
You responded to the...Did we respond to her answer?
You know what? Let me just do editing and we can figure out if we need something...(wah wah wah wah)
One of the really interesting stories I felt like from this last year was when we talked with Ron Tillery, from Phelps County, and he was sharing about a couple that came from Denver and relocated to his county.
There was a couple, a young couple with children, that took a road trip a couple of years ago at the height of the COVID pandemic, because they were frustrated with the quality of life they were experiencing in Denver, and they just wanted to get the kids and RV and go see the countryside as a family. And they pass through Bertrand and just thought that was the perfect spot to relocate their family and to just put down roots. They didn't feel rooted in Denver; and they were always on edge because of everything that goes along with being in a large urban environment. So the husband is a contractor. He set up a contracting business doing roofs and siding (and) and renovations and in Bertrand. And then he and his wife together bought a downtown building that had stood vacant for some time, and she's opened up a yoga studio, a coffee bar, and they conduct art classes. And they've essentially turned this unutilized building into a community activity center. And it's just a fabulous story.
Every small town needs a farmers market and Gretna Farmers Market has you covered. Everything local and in season... from backyard gardeners to large producers, home bakers to culinary professionals, make plans to visit this darling brick road market on McKenna Avenue in the historic heart of downtown Gretna for the 2024 season.
Other things you may not know about us with the podcast is that Sheila and I were not friends before the podcast.
We weren't enemies.
No. We were a friend of a friend. Both of us were friends with Rachel Burtwistle. And we had done a project before but we were not friends. And so that has been a huge thing is just being able to develop a working relationship between the two of us; really getting to know what each one of us has for a skill set, what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are. Like, I have a huge weakness is saying the same thing over and over again. Sheila has to constantly talk to me about that. It just has worked really well. We're really surprised how well we've blended and what has really come out of this time that we're spending together doing the podcast.
Yeah. So we didn't really know much about each other. We were just acquaintances. Like Marcie said. We are quite different, honestly.
Oh yeah, very different.
Yeah. But it's really worked. Well.
Yeah.
And so it's been fun. And yes, that learning curve. I mean, we weren't even that comfortable. I don't think we were all that comfortable with each other the first little bit.
Oh, yeah. And I think you can tell that even almost in the episodes, because we were it was like you are listening to us learning how to work together. And you know, a lot of people say to us, I can't believe that you like go into jump into something like that, and are not completely adept at doing it. But we really felt like we just needed to start. We tried everything to prepare as much as we could have time because there were many months before the podcast ever started, that we worked at preparing things...
Yeah. I know.
Three...three months.
It felt like many months...
I know well, and it was a lot of work by that time. But we did end up getting you know, some things kind of put together. But it's still as a matter of just starting. And so we just started and it just ended up being some of it. It's like I can't even listen to some of the first podcasts because I just sound terrible. But as we go along, you know, it got better. We got more comfortable with each other, we were able to like now we're almost finishing each other sentences or we know what the other one is. We do a lot of hand signals.
Right? Yeah.
t was funny. We were recording....Was it in West Point?
I think it was yes.
And they were like you guys do a lot of like hand signals in between, you know, because of course you don't get to see that. But we're trying to direct like, Okay, you take the next question, and I'll take this one.
Or is that eyebrow like, Hey, am I gonna go next? Are you gonna go? No, I got something. You have something? That's all...it's all in our facial expressions and gestures.
Yeah.
So I guess one of the biggest bits of advice that Marcie and I can offer to you all about that and starting a podcast, we jumped right in. No, we didn't really know what we were doing. But we set a deadline. And we stuck to it. And that just motivated us. Hey, we said we were gonna start it. That podcast was gonna go out then. And that's what we did.
(Beep) Small bidnesses....(pleh) I can't even say business today. I love small businesses. Why...I don't know why I can't say it today. But...okay. (wah wah wah wah)
(Beep) It is rolling. That is the shortest microphone cord on the face of the planet!
Is there nothing more to it?
(giggling)
Seriously, it always baffles me. Must be...just...Anyway. Here we are.
Okay. (wah wah wah wah)
So Marcie, let's talk about...you and I have taken some travels with the podcast.
Yeah. Just a few.
Yep. I don't know that we knew that that was gonna be as big a part of it as it's becoming. But it's been really fun and interesting, but we've traveled to quite a few places in the second half of our first year, really. So what is one of your one or two or whatever of your favorite moments in our travels.
Well, my favorite moment has to be when you were in the ground hog, or was it a prairie dog cave? The best was here we are...we're laughing as we're recording her in it.
And we thought we were there by ourselves.
Doug thought was funny, too, though. So.
So in walks Doug. I was absolutely could not hold it together. We were laughing so hard. It was great fun.
That was fun. That was just a fun place in general.
It was.
...sticking my hand into the thing that sounded like a gazillion mosquitoes.
That was crazy. We have video of that. That was just way too funny.
And Marcie is like, No way I'm sticking my hand in there and I'm like, I'll stick my hand in there. Because I'm smart like that.
Yeah. (laughin)
So that was fun. Yeah. Any others that you're thinking of off the top of your head?
I really enjoyed going back to Sydney because I'm from Western Nebraska. I really enjoyed that trip, just to be able to see that Potter was just probably one of my favorite places to see, because I guess for me small, small towns like that. And being able to have such a huge group of volunteers in their town makes such an impact. That was really powerful. I felt like.
Potter was surprising to me the amount of things that they have, you know, because I am so activity based, and I love to do fun things. It was crazy for that size of town. How many adventures you could have.
Yeah, absolutely. So be listening for that that cast is going to be coming up here before the end of the year.
I loved our travels with the Cheyenne County Tourism and the different tours that we did there. I really enjoyed the park.
And yeah just a little bit. We have more videos of that. Wait till you see some of those.
They could have just dropped me off at the park.
Yes.
Really.
I thought we were gonna have a hard time get you out of there. I was like, and then she made friends with the little kids that were there.
Yes. Yes, I had play buddies. And the mom was really good about me hanging with them.
I know (laughing)
Because everywhere I went, they came along. It was really fun. So yes, those videos and pictures are...whatever they are. But that was really fun. And I enjoyed that a lot. I enjoyed the historical buildings that we went to. Boot Hill Cemetery was quite interesting. Probably going to hear more of that on somebody else's blog later on. Cuming County had some fun things while we were there to record. Yes, I love the Red Door Coffee Shop that we went to. That was really fun to go to. We got to go into one of the shops have one of the gals that we interviewed. She had a really cool little shop there as well. We ate at a Mexican place there that the food was phenomenal. Yeah. And they were just doing wonderful things there as well. So we're going to be touring more that area coming up in the coming months.
Mmm... speaking about like...Cuming County Fair...that was really.
Oh, that was fun.
Yeah, had a great time. And so just exploring that I'd never been to that fair. It's quite big and very impressive.
It is very impressive for the size of Cuming County. They've worked really hard on that. And when David Branch who is the economic development person there, he and I were talking about it during the fair and just all of the things that they have done to increase the amount of people that want to come to that fair and experience what Cuming County has to offer.
Yeah, because it's it's a big small fair.
Absolutely.
So that was in Nebraska City at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. And yeah, so we're down there, and I'm also claustrophobic, so I had no business climbing into that. So I get in there, and I almost can't get out. And I'm peeking out of the top. And then I try to get the rest of the way out. And I'm kind of panicking. And I thought, Oh, well, and then I pop out and yeah...here he is. I'm like, Oh, that's nice.
One of the other things it's funny with our travels is that apparently Waffles and More has become our stop spot.
We just love it now Dean and I when we travel out that way, we've been doing that as well.
Yeah, and that's in Central City. Nebraska city, there is so much to see there. I it was not enough time. So we are hoping to go back to Nebraska city at some point. They have a lot to offer there as well, as a lot of you know, and so we're hoping to do some more podcasts from there and explore more because that was simply not enough time. We stayed at the Whispering Pines Bed and Breakfast, and...
I could have spent all day sitting on that porch.
Yeah, I really did not want to leave. I was almost in tears, but then Marcie's like, you know, you can come back. I'm like, Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, I guess I'll leave for now.
(beep) All right, we're rolling and Marcie you can start anytime.
Alright. Well, today we are at...
Nope! You can't start, because I can't hear you. Is your mic on?
Dang, sorry. I turned it off because I didn't want to smack it on the thing for ya. (wah wah wah wah)
There have been many things that our guests have brought to us that they have used in their small towns to be able to grow and change the things that they've needed to.
Yeah, Blue Springs was one of them. That was just super unique in what they did to take a town that needed a lot of help, and just give it that boost that it needed.
And then one day, a lady was running down the road, ran into a man, and had a guy chasing her with a knife in his hand. And Dan Disney come over to my house and says we need to change what's going on. So that is (the) what started (our) the direction that we started. And we formed the nonprofit then that we decided we're going to clean up our town one property at a time. We're taking it back.
Valentine had a huge project that they were trying to complete. And when we talked with Kyle Arganbright, the Mayor of Valentine, he shared with us how they were able to accomplish that.
And so we we got together with the Department of Roads, now the Department of Transportation, to help better define the timeline on the project, but also to redefine how you engage community through these processes. And part of that was engaging with the University of Nebraska Architecture College. We had a group of students come up to help us, you know, initially kind of lay out a process and some ideas for this main street revitalization and that also led to a grant from the Citizens Institute of Rural Design, which is under the National Endowment of the Arts. Long story short, we had a lot of different experts to help us but those experts were there to help the community have a conversation about what we wanted Main Street to look like. So it all culminated with, you know, after some surveys a bunch of conversations we had about two days of meetings in Valentine with all of the designers and all of the engineers and all the stakeholders and collaboratively defined what our downtown was going to look like from bone structure.
So episodes four and five included Angie Stinger because she's with the Growing Together initiative, and she just had so much information that we couldn't quite fit in into one podcast.
And it's been about almost five years now that the Aksarben Foundation out of Omaha made an effort to try to be make sure that they are more statewide effort. They're known for their scholarships. They're known for their community grants. They are the ones who recognize farm families like pioneer farm families. But they really wanted to make a greater statewide impact. And so they reached out to one of their board members, which is Mike Flood, and said, What's northeast Nebraska need. And they gave him a data scientist, he gathered this a large group of community people, we had educators and politicians, elected officials, I guess, as the official word. City employees, we had doctors, we had farmers, we had retired elected officials and all sorts of different people. They did all this data and research we're very numbers based. And what it found was that our numbers were dwindling. That you know, as we looked at growth in northeast Nebraska, like for example, just to give you in Norfolk, we were growing at about 26 people a year. That doesn't sound bad like, hey, at least it's positive. But to give you an example, Kearney was growing at 460 a year.
(laughing)
(Beep) We are rolling and I do lots of editing. So relax, and enjoy.
(laughing)
All right. (wah wah wah wah)
Need concrete work done? Contact Pryker Group: Next Generation Concrete. Pryker Group is your source for all things concrete including foundations and flatwork, commercial, and industrial work.
Email them at Visit prykergroup.com. Or visit them on their website, facebook, or Instagram.
Always make a concrete choice and choose safety.
Pryker Group Next Generation Concrete – building relationships and foundations.
There are many things that have surprised us with the podcasts and things that we've experienced that we hadn't really planned on when we started. What are some of the things that you were kind of surprised with and this last year?
Okay, well, I was super surprised with the fact that you and I thought this was going to be kind of a little fun hobby, and it wouldn't take much time. And maybe we'd have like a few listeners here and there. And I'm surprised at the response. And it's been amazing and what a blessing. The listenership and Facebook followers and those who are listening to each episode and telling their friends about it, it has been surprising and just crazy good.
I know, I don't know that we thought about the numbers. Part of it, you know, that was some way to kind of learn as we went along that there was actually numbers we should be looking at. I'm just surprised as well about how this has taken off and the amount of people that have come to us and said, you know, we're really excited about what you're doing. I think we really got in at a time when there was such a movement in the state of Nebraska about revitalization and how small towns were really an important part. You know, over half of the population of Nebraska live in small towns. There's just a huge number of us that know that community and small town community makes such a difference. I really thought when it came out that the mental health United States and that Nebraska was number one for that. It was just really that confirmation that yes, small town Nebraska, and Nebraska in general really makes a difference in having a better lifestyle.
Yeah, it really is "The Good Life."
It is, absolutely.
Part of the reason it has taken off so quickly, is because it is a mission-minded podcast that and it's not just us. It's every guest. Every guest adds something valuable to the content and gives a person a reason to listen to those podcasts. If it was just you and I talking all the time, I highly doubt it would have that response. I would, I just don't think it would. But our guests make it just so interesting and exciting and worthy.
Well, the impact that they're having on their communities, and now they're expanding their impact by being on the podcast, because more people are hearing what they're doing, taking those ideas, helping their small towns. So it's just a really fun way to expand the information and the ideas that are so needed for the small town revitalization movement.
(Beep) Alright, I'm rolling. So just whatever.
(laughing) You know, I'm so good at this whole thing about chit chat.
All right. Get on that thing! Like you're gonna make out with it.
(Laughing) Okay. Get closer? Is that helpful? (laughing)
That's going in our blooper reel. All right.
Oh, right.
Yes, that's better. That's better sound quality.
Okay
Awesome. (wah wah wah wah)
(Beep) There are many things that we have found throughout the time that we've been on, that small businesses are trying to overcome. And so with that...pause... I say so way too many times.
I take it out.
I'm so glad.
It's no big deal.
One of the ways that small towns can help is help their small biz, ope...help and help....(wah wah wah wah)
One of the things we found out through Kathy Lang at The Nebraska Business Development Center, is that there is a ton of help available for small businesses.
Well, we really appreciate being on your podcast, because hopefully this will make us a little less of the best kept secret in economic development. But the Nebraska Business Development Center is a platform of five programs of service that are delivered all across Nebraska. The University of Nebraska and the University of Nebraska at Omaha supports the center. And yet, we are a state-wide program. So we have offices, and professionally credentialed wonderful consultants all across the state to help small businesses start and grow in our state. So we work with entrepreneurs, we work with business owners at every stage of their business development, including when a business transitions...our programs of service--we have three that are direct to client services. The key to those services is that they are one on one consulting services with the business. They're confidential, and they are at no charge to our clients.
One of the things we've seen, of course, throughout Nebraska is the impact that childcare has on these small communities.
And so in many places, in rural Nebraska especially, we see that it is more economical for our childcare providers to leave the industry altogether. And so then that creates more scarcity and leads to less availability for our parents, and especially our working parents. And what then that affects the overall ecosystem of our rural communities.
Another factor we have seen is jobs....being able to have jobs that really encourage agriculture, because it's such a wonderful thing in our state and when Jody Lamp joined us, she discussed that with us.
I tell teachers every time that I travel, if you want curriculum, to teach these kids in your classroom, what ag careers are available, go on to the National Ag in the Classroom websites and pull down the curriculum and start teaching them the Ag jobs that are available, not only nationally, but just in your own area.
(Beep) The untold...ooh...
(laughing)
I got my lipstick on the mic.
That's for the blooper reel. I haven't gotten one out yet, but you just made it. (wah wah wah wah)
(Beep) And what are you been up to?
Well, I was cast in the Norfolk Community Theater Production of Churchment...churchment! (laughing) I was cast in the (laughing) Norfolk (laugh) Hold on...
(laughing)
That one was too funny. (wah wah wah wah)
I think another surprising thing to me has been sponsorships and people who have come alongside us. I don't really think we were necessarily thinking of that when we thought we were going to have a little hobby podcast. But because of the amount of hours and the work that we put into it, it's really a full time job for both of us, quite honestly, at least it's moving that way more and more all the time. And so the people that have come alongside quickly and sponsored us...so the sponsorship thing, it's been a learning curve, it's something that was kind of added. And just a big thank you to everybody who has sponsored us this first year.
Yeah, we cannot thank you enough for what you've done. And you know, sometimes taking a chance on us because we were definitely very new. We were very new in what we were doing. And we just really appreciate each and every one of you. Yeah, for sure.
Several small towns also have a housing shortage. We saw them Valentine when we talked to Kyle Arganbright, Nebraska city has some things with it. But I thought Wisner, it was very interesting what they had to say about their plans to provide more housing in their area.
Currently, right now, we're excited about something...a brand new addition. About three years ago, we were able to purchase 72 acres on the outside of Nebraska. It butted Wisner as farm ground, we were able to purchase that at auction. We have had several strategic plans over the years and always on those strategic plans, we got around to talking about the need for housing in rural communities and the opportunity for businesses to locate in your community. Those were at the top of our list for many, many, years. So when this land came up for auction, we were so pleased that we were able to purchase that. Seventy-two acres, and we have since annexed that into the city of Wisner; gone through the process called TIF (tax increment financing) which helps with infrastructure on everything: streets to lights, and sewer and water, and... And so the city of Wisner has been great (to) actually they took that project on...TIF...sometimes it's private developers that do that. Many times in small communities, it's tough. We got the area tiffed, and so the city could put in the infrastructure. Fast forward, we also had to get it platted. The eastern half of it is residential, western half of it is commercial. There are 12 commercial lots, varying in size from like three acres to five acres. Actually, we have purchased three of for those right now.
Exciting.
Yeah, it's pretty exciting. We have three of the residential lots that have homes going up pretty soon as well. So we're excited.
So Nebraska City has something unique that they kind of deal with. And that is in juggling, Tourism and Commerce.
You have Nebraska City, it's so known for tourism, you have to probably work a little bit harder on building your commerce and small businesses in this town just because tourism is so well taken care of.
But that's a good thing to start with. Because that's something that Amy and I struggle with. And Pam in our office, our entire office struggles with, quite a bit actually is that balance because we are a hybrid office of Tourism and Commerce. And it's hard sometimes for people to remember that both of those things...t's symbiotic. They help each other and the more tourists that we have, the better the businesses get, the better quality, the better quantity of businesses we have, tourists come, and so we do have a balancing act between the two ends.
(Beef) a combined (crackling noises) (more talking and crackling)
Tesing (crackling) testing, (crackling) test, test, test (crackling) hello, hello, hello (crackling) Whoo! I hear all thae other stuff. There it is. (laughing) Alright,
I can not move my chair.
I know that are is so loud..
Oh....oh, shoot.
So. Oh, okay. I won't move...
You'll be stoic.
(Laughing)
No dancing.
Oh, you can do that. We can do that after!
Yeah. (Laughing)
(lots of crackling)
Oh, my!
(Laughing) (wah wah wah wah)
Another surprising thing that has come out of the podcast was getting invited. Well, first we had a we were at the state fair with the podcast. That was crazy amazing. And we met a lot of people. So out of that we ended up with a news story aired on KSNB Local 4, so that was great. We sure appreciate Kasey doing that and taking that time to do that come back from that. And we had a response from Pure Nebraska who invited us to come on their show. Now Marcie and I are, of course, both fans of Pure Nebraska.
Yes.
So that was surprising. It was fun. We went to the studio. And I don't know why we didn't know it was going to be live, but it was.
Yeah (laughing)
And so that was surprising. And here's the coolest thing about that. So my mom watches Pure Nebraska almost religiously, she loves that. My sister, my oldest sister, Debbie, was at their house and sitting there talking to mom and my dad had just gone to lay down for a nap. And my mom says, "Oh, there's Sheila" just nonchalantly...
(Laughing)
...and there I was on the TV. And my sister's like, "oh my gosh, that is Sheila!" And so she runs to get my dad. And she's like, if you want to see, Sheila's on TV, and he just pops up...you know, it's not like he's super spry, but he pops up and runs in the other room. And they got to see it live. And so that was just...that's a neat, neat thing for me with my mom and dad.
That's really cool. I'm really, really appreciative of Stanton Register. They did the very first article about us, that was really nice, because that really kind of got the ball rolling. We had an article, the Norfolk Daily News, we've just had some really great support from the media as well.
We have and like the Nebraska State Chamber of Commerce shared with people that we had this podcast, and there's been others like that. SourcLink Nebraska, it just goes on and on. And again to each of you. We can't list them all. It's been crazy good. And we're just very appreciative of all of that.
You know, the number one goal for small town revitalization is being able to keep our young people here. And when we interviewed Hunter, I just was so excited to see his passion about being able to help other entrepreneurs, and small businesses get started, and young people being encouraged to stay in small towns,
He had some great ideas. And he was also really fun to talk to!
Probably the most important thing is if you're a young professional in Norfolk. And like, you really want to like shine like it's Norfolk or Chicago, you're gonna pick the two, like, Norfolk is an area where you can legitimately talk to CEOs, and not not even in just norfork. But like Nebraska, as well, if you're building a company, that you're one person away from getting the introduction to a billion dollar CEO, like where it's like, Hey, I'm trying to solve this problem. How do I do it? You know, I mean, we have an open door policy, I guarantee you, every single business owner here would open their door and say, I will give you 10 minutes, 15 minutes, you know, at the least least, you know.
So another thing that we're seeing is, of course, in keeping younger people engaged in in Nebraska, are things like the MakerSpace. So when we talked to Rebel Robotics, and about their involvement and how they were asked for their input in the makerspace, it was just really fun to hear.
Yes. So the Makerspace it's a really cool deal. The thing about the Makerspace is they're trying to decide what sort of curriculum they're going to have in there. So they're gonna have all the machines, they're gonna have everything necessary to make really cool stuff, regardless of if we're going to help them with that or not. But the curriculum is really a big deal for us because they're trying to decide between a couple different robotics programs. Mainly, they're deciding between the one we compete in First Tech Challenge and then Vex, the biggest difference being FIRST Tech Challenge, you're, you're actually able to make your own custom parts. And, you know, put the whole robot together in a much more custom way. Whereas Vex is they've got their website online and you can only order their parts off, build a robot off of that.
(Beep) You have to like sit...no, it's on...you have to be like "hello"
oh, I can do it again.
Here. (other talking) I'm gonna be a mama here for a minute...
You wanna switch, Emmet?
No, I'm good.
Oh! That's really good!
Okay. (wah wah wah wah)
(Beep) You wanna just speak into that real quick?
Good morning! Oh...Hunter.
Oh, hello. Today had for breakfast...
(laughing)
I didn't have any breakfast, actually...
Oh, no!
No breakfast.
Not good.
Yeah, so I got coffee in my lower intestine...
(laughing)
Oh, my, okay. Well, this is gonna be fun. (wah wah wah)
We've had a lot of fun in yhis Anniversary Special Part One of sharing all of these great guests with you and some of our fun experiences as we've gone throughout the podcast for this first year.
I had a very interesting conversation the other day with a young gal here in town who has a family. And we were talking about the podcast and about how many things there are to do in the state of Nebraska. And she said she'd never really thought about that. And I was really encouraging her about day trips, and about how important when you have young kids to be able to do day trips or just an overnight, and how we did a lot of that with our kids going as they were growing up. And she said, I just even know that there was a lot of fun things to do in Nebraska. So our second part is going to be a lot about that and about what you can do to set up things for the coming year for you and your family.
Yeah, you'regoing to hear some great ideas. And another thing to keep in mind as we're reviewing our first year. We have recorded some episodes that haven't even been aired yet. And so we're just looking forward to 2024...more ideas, more adventures. We look forward to joining you for our part two of our one year anniversary special, and for having you share with us your great ideas, so make sure you contact us.
And thank you to all of our sponsors. We have special sponsors for this anniversary special, and some of them are first time ones and we really appreciate that. And as always, we're always appreciative of all of those that have come alongside us in this process.
Small Town Living doesn't mean sacrificing quality of life. Cuming County has a variety of recreational opportunities with parks, museums, and activities for you and your family. Their small towns are growing and have many housing and business opportunities. For more information contact the Cuming County Economic Development and Visitor's Bureau at 402-372-6001.
Do you like to embellish? If you're a scrapbooker, the answer is probably yes! For your scrapbook supplies, check out Scrap This from Grand Island. You can contact Kelly at 308-340-5406. Also check out Close to My Heart Janna Shrunk in Elgin. Janna is on Facebook at Janna Shrunk Close To My Heart Independent Consultant. Layouts by Dee can be found in Grand Island, you can contact her at Deesimons@charter.net and the Scrap Room, Crystal Junck, is in Randolph, Nebraska. Visit her website at www.junckscraproom.com and don't forget to listen to the Growing Small Town Nebraska Podcast while you crop.
If you're interested in being a sponsor for the podcast, you can find out more information on our website or email us at growing small town and e@gmail.com.
The Growing Small Town Nebraska podcast can be found on Apple, Spotify or Google podcasts. And we have new episodes the second and fourth Tuesday of every month.
Join us for the Growing Small Town Nebraska Podcast one year anniversary Part Two. Thanks for listening!
