(bright music) - "R-Town," the show about Rochester, finds out what's new at Experience Rochester and gets us ready to vote in this upcoming primaries.

We also hang out at the 4-H day camp and learn about a doggy daycare that's all about family, on the next "R-Town," the show about Rochester.

- [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(upbeat music) - Coming to you from Rochester, Minnesota, "R-Town."

We're here at 125 Live catching up with Joe Ward, president of Experience Rochester and Mayo Civic Center.

Welcome back to "R-Town."

- Thanks.

Really glad to be here.

- It's been a while since you've been on the show.

We're kind of in a whole different world than the last time that I got a chance to speak to you, and a lot of it is the ways in which we've been changed by the pandemic.

- That's correct.

It's been three years.

I think I came on with you maybe two, three weeks after I first started, so it's certainly not the job I expected, but it wasn't the last three years that anyone expected.

- For sure.

So we are seeing some recent growth in the hospitality sector here in Rochester.

Can you talk a little bit about that and how we've weathered the pandemic?

- Thankfully, Rochester's always kinda had a really nice, solid baseline of hospitality and tourism.

Primarily everyone thinks about the medical tourism that we see with the Mayo Clinic here, and really through the pandemic, although the early months where everyone was locked down and the hospital was primarily shut down except for emergency operations and things like that, those first couple months were 15% occupancy in our hotels really crushing and really devastating, but since then, there's been a slow and steady incline getting back to where we're really starting to set some numbers that are high in the state as compared to others in the nation, and so that's really great, and it's good to see in this year we saw the return of live entertainment, we saw the return of citywide conventions, and so it's up and up from here and I'm really excited.

- For sure.

What has been the role of Experience Rochester and the Mayo Civic Center throughout all this?

- Well, I think for us, it's first during those real early days, again, of the pandemic, it was us taking a look inside and saying, "How can we be helpful when a 200,000-square-foot convening space is closed down by the governor?"

and understandably so, and I think for us, it was a way to really look and say, "How can we be a better community partner?"

And so we had the homeless shelter that was there.

We had distance learning operations in conjunction with the Boys & Girls Club and 10 other charities, and then ultimately to be a mass vaccination site in conjunction with the state, and that was just a really terrific opportunity for, I think, our whole team to show what we're all about and that to be, to represent the civic center, to keep the civic in that center, you really have to be a community partner, and so for us, that was that great part, and then now for us, it's a real honest and humble and also committed responsibility to bringing people back into the community to bring that economic development that comes with it, and then also just to be able to show off our community and be great hosts for all the guests that have been coming here for years and years and are finally returning to Rochester.

- Fantastic.

It is summer of 2022 now.

As we're sort of coming out of the last few years, what can we be looking forward to at the Mayo Civic Center?

- I think you'll see more and more live entertainment.

People have probably seen that over the last few months, and that's great to see at the center because we know that's the part that most of the Rochesterians wanna get out and really enjoy, and so particularly comedy.

We seem to have become a real locale for first-run comedy, and so that's great.

We have just a great lineup of shows coming and coming and new ones that'll be out there, and then the conferences and things, which can fly under the radar sometimes because usually that does include visitors and there's not as many local participants in those, but again, those are the folks that fill the hotels.

They fill a lot of the new restaurants and the restaurants that have been here and people get out and shop, and so you'll see more and more of that.

This year we've actually, we've just had multiple, from United Hardware to religious conventions, anything you can think of.

It's just really been an exciting time.

- For sure.

It's an election year also, so we've also had some- - Oh yeah, we did have both our DFL and our Republican colleagues, so we were right down the middle on that and we'll play host to any convention.

It was really great to see, honestly.

Everybody was really engaged, and I think that we delivered for both the parties and hopefully we'll have them back sometime soon.

- For sure.

One thing that I've been really excited about has been the Night Market that happened last summer to overwhelming attendance and success.

Can you talk a little bit about the Night Market and the role that it's playing in supporting local BIPOC businesses and just bringing more of that evening life back into the downtown area?

- From just who I am as a person, one of the things that was most exciting to see when I moved to Rochester was the diversity in the community, but our diversity here looks a lot different than a lot of other places.

We have people from all over the world, and so when Tiffany Alexandria, who started the Night Market, came to us and we started talking about her event, to me, it was just such a great and unique opportunity to help celebrate all the different cultures in a really authentic way, 'cause it's easy for us to dream up different types of events, but you can't do them authentically when you don't know how to live that, and I think when I hear of diversity and inclusion and things, to me, it's about being authentic, and so to have a partner in somebody like Tiffany who had that idea and we could just maybe open some doors for her and help her put that together, it's a really great way to see people authentically celebrate.

She's really committed to getting local businesses involved, and that really, combined with the Civic Center, again, it's just another way to keep civic in Civic Center, and then from the destination management functions we have as an organization, it's a great new way to add vitality to Rochester and create what's really, I think, gonna be Rochester's newest tradition.

- Thank you so much.

We can't wait to catch you at future events, and thanks so much for joining us today.

- Yeah, thank you.

Glad to be here.

(funky music) - Be sure to stick around.

We have much more coming your way on "R-Town."

We learn how to cook with the 4-H day camp at the 4-H fairgrounds, and check in with the local Olmsted County elections manager before we hit the polls this August.

But up first, we head to a local business that's all about taking care of the furry best friend in your life, in this week's R-Culture segment.

(dogs barking) - Luffy, hi, sweetheart.

Hi.

(dogs barking) I am the manager, one of two, here at Central Bark.

We are coming up on our third year here in Rochester.

(dogs barking) Really Central Bark is about providing a safe and healthy, happy environment for the dogs while their humans have to go and work or run errands.

We also have grooming and overnight boarding if parents need to go away.

Some of my favorite things when the owners come in with their animals is how excited they are to be here.

They get really excited to get here, and I hear the owners talk about, "Yep, when we round the corner, they can't hold themselves still."

- The dogs that are going out right now at this very moment are our more active ones, so you'll see a lot more playing, a lot more wrestling, but you'll also see a few...

The ones that come pretty often know each other very well, and some of them will be comfortable enough just to lay down in the sun and sleep.

- We're not breed-restrictive at all.

When a new dog comes to us, we do what we call a behavior assessment.

So it doesn't matter how old the dog is, how new the dog is.

Doesn't matter if they've been to a daycare before.

If it's their first time with us, we're gonna do a behavior assessment.

(bright music) Because we're in Rochester, we have a lot of Mayo people, so therefore we've got your surgeons, your residents.

Honestly, we have a lot of people that are coming from out of state because they need medical care.

There's several hotels in the area that are pet-friendly.

Families wanna bring their entire family when they have to visit Mayo Clinic.

Usually though when they wanna go to the clinic, the hospital, go somewhere else, they're gonna need somewhere for their pet to stay during the day so that they don't leave their pet at the hotel alone.

That's where we come in, and we can have them hang out here for a few hours, for the whole day, whatever they need, and give them, again, that peace of mind that their pet, their extra family member, is taken care of.

Soon as they're busting through this door, trying to get to the back, find their friends.

I can tell you right now that we have several friends, their groupings, and we separate our dogs into smaller groups.

So we keep it at about 12 dogs per group that go out on a rotation together.

That way, we can keep an eye on everybody while they're having fun.

The routine for the dogs each day is, when they get here in the morning, they go hang out in their kennel just to kinda hang out for the morning, calm down a little bit.

Then they get to go out for an hour of play.

Then they hang out in their kennel till they get snack time, and then they get to go back out and play for two hours, and then after that, they come back in.

If their parents decide to bring them a lunch, we get to be the lunch crew here, and it's kind of fun to go down the rows of the dogs and hand them their lunches.

And then after a two-hour rest, they go back out for another hour of play until they come back in, and then they're hanging out until the parents come pick them up.

- There are a few dogs that, when they come in for their very first day, are pretty nervous, which is understandable.

Their senses are so much more heightened that this whole new environment is a lot to go through and experience all at once, and watching these dogs go from maybe being a bit nervous or even super nervous to all of a sudden coming in one day and being the life of the party, getting to watch that nice, gradual build to confidence and being comfortable is so rewarding, and it makes you feel real good.

(dogs barking) - Luffy!

Luffy, Luffy!

Hi, sweetheart.

Hi.

(dogs barking) - [Nicole] For more information about this story and other "R-Town" features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter at @KSMQ hashtag #RTown, or ksmq.org/rtown.

(funky music) - Hi, I'm Danielle Teal with the Spotlight.

I'm excited to have this incredible guest with me today.

He moved from Rochester, New York, to Rochester, Minnesota.

Javier Ortiz, thank you so much for being here.

- Thank you for having me.

- It's an honor, and you own a barbershop, but first, share a little bit about your journey from two Rochesters to how you landed here.

- Well, the journey is very interesting because I started cutting hair in Puerto Rico, and then I've worked in Rochester, New York, for the last 15 years.

My wife, she's a travel nurse.

She ended up here in Rochester, Minnesota, and I fell in love with this place, so here I am.

So I've been here enjoying this beautiful city, beautiful people.

- That's wonderful, and we were chatting a little bit before we were doing this segment.

I loved hearing your experience in and your thoughts around Rochester.

What is your favorite thing about Rochester?

What do you think is so special about Rochester?

- Rochester has got many good things.

It's a very, community related with a lot of people.

They have very good education.

They have very stubborn people, people that are very friendly.

Everything about it, about Rochester, is very good, so I really relate with this place a lot.

- And your barbershop is located in Northeast Rochester.

Is that correct?

- Yes, it is.

- And one story that you shared that was really community-focused was, when Puerto Rico needed some help after the hurricane, your barbershop was one of the drop-off points.

That community feel is pretty special.

Can you share a little bit more about that and your barbershop?

- Even that gave me goosebumps, because I never expecting the community going to react in some kind of way.

I starting cutting hair, trading haircuts for anything: water, supplies or whatever.

We ended up doing four pallets of food and $3,500, and that was all here for the community in Rochester, Minnesota.

That was very convinced me how special this place is, and somehow, someway, we make it through that day, and we sent out those supplies to Puerto Rico.

- What an incredible start for your barbershop too.

What are your thoughts around the barbershop?

What's next for you, Javier?

- I'll continue my journey here.

I really love everything about it.

Every single day you learn something, so I'm willing to grow and learn in my daily basis, so let's see what brings the future.

- Javier, thank you so much for being on the show.

This is Danielle Teal with R-Town Spotlight.

(bright music) - Hi, my name is Kyra Courson.

I'm the summer intern here at Olmsted County Extension, and we are at a 4-H day camp right now, and even though it's 4-H, it's actually open to the entire public.

So even if you are not enrolled in 4-H, you can come and join us at 4-H day camps.

Right here, this is Aune Hall, which is on the 4-H fairgrounds.

In previous years, we've had low turnouts, but for some reason this year, everyone wants to come and join us.

So do you wanna talk about what you did here when you colored it?

- We had to color them in in this.

- [Kyra] And what section is this?

- Fruit.

- And this one?

- Vegetables.

- And this one?

- Protein.

- And this one?

- Grains.

- Yeah, so she learned about all the different food groups.

- Our camps really foster that genuine curiosity our kids have to try new things, and through that, so anything that's new is exciting, right?

And then as they see, like we have some youth camp counselors that are middle school and high school age.

Kyra is an example of our intern that came back, and so also seeing those leadership roles where I'll even pull campers and be like, "Hey, do you wanna help lead an activity?"

and giving them those opportunities to jump in and take on those leadership roles is also fun.

You don't get that in other settings necessarily.

- [Kyra] All right, what does yours have on it?

You like your pizza?

- Yeah.

- What did you put on your pizza?

- Pepperoni and cheese.

- Nothing else?

- No.

- [Kristina] I love all of it, those aha moments or that kid that walks in and doesn't wanna leave their parents, and then you see 'em at the end of the day running around just so excited about what they learned and carrying around whatever little tidbit it is from camp.

- [Kyra] So what are the five food groups?

- Veggie, dairy, grains, and fruit.

- And protein.

- And protein.

- And at the end of the day, I'm like, "What did you guys learn?"

and they learned this and this and they...

So it's learning, but it's interactive learning, and it's also really good prep for the classroom in the fall.

Awesome.

Good job, Chloe.

(hands slap) (upbeat music) - Hello again, this is Michael Wojcik with your R-Town Rundown.

When people first come to Rochester, they know to expect cold winters here, but they don't always know how hot it's going to be in the summer.

A frequent question that I'll get is, "Where can we and our families go swimming?"

Today, we're gonna run through what some of those water options are in the summer and year-round here in Rochester.

The city of Rochester maintains a number of facilities, including at the rec center, where there is both a warm water and a cold water pool.

There is public availability almost every day, and you can check the website to see when those options are available.

There's also a small fee to go along with that, but there are some free options in the city of Rochester as well.

The city of Rochester also has two outdoor beaches, one at Foster Arend, and one at Cascade Lake.

The Cascade Lake one is easily accessed from the bike trail network within the city of Rochester.

There are also two outdoor pools in the city of Rochester, one at Silver Lake Park and one at Soldiers Field Park.

These are available for a fee throughout most of the summer, and you can find out more information about the hours and availability at that website.

There is a splash pad in Northwest Rochester at a small neighborhood park, and a larger splash pad coming at Lincolnshire, and in the relatively near future, there are plans for additional splash pads at Silver Lake Park and other locations.

There are a number of additional options around Rochester.

Many of the small towns have their own community pools that are available for the public, typically with a small fee associated.

But in addition to that, Olmsted County at Chester Wood Park also has a beach that's available for public usage, and at Whitewater State Park, there is also a beach there as well.

If you're into going down rivers on boats or tubing, there are options available both on the Cannon River near Cannon Falls, and the Root River near Lanesboro.

Finally, right here in Rochester, you can rent bikes and boats and go out on Silver Lake.

Silver Lake is a fantastic lake to be on, not such a great lake to be in.

I hope you get out there and enjoy these options and have a wonderful summer.

(energetic music) - Be sure to mark your calendars.

The Minnesota state primaries are August 9th, and here to make sure that we are casting our ballots with ease is Luke Turner, the Olmsted County elections manager.

Welcome to "R-Town."

- Thanks for having me.

- So, we need a little refresher.

It is an election year.

So to kick us off, could you just remind us how we register to vote or update our registration?

- Sure.

To register, the easiest way is to go to mnvotes.org, and you can register online.

The county website has links that direct you to that site as well.

You can also register by mailing or emailing a paper application to the elections office, or in person at the elections office or the government center.

- Awesome, so literally no excuse not to get registered.

(laughs) What can people expect, voters expect to see on their ballots in the primaries and then in the general?

- So the August primary is the primary race to narrow down the candidates that you'll see on the general ballot.

So there's Congressional District 1.

There's the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and the state attorneys are all on the partisan primary, where you'll be allowed to vote for one party, selecting the candidates of your choice.

On the other side of the ballot is actually the election to replace the vacancy for Jim Hagedorn.

So that is Congressional District 1.

In addition to that is also the primary elections for a lot of the local races, so mayor, county commissioners, city council members on down through the school districts as well.

- It's really significant.

Can you tell us a little bit about why it's important to be participating in the primaries?

- Sure.

So for the partisan side, it helps direct the party platform.

So choosing your particular candidate within your own party helps direct that platform and the platform of your party moving forward.

For the nonpartisan, it's an elimination side.

So your candidate for mayor may not be on the November ballot if they're not one of the top two vote-getters on the primary.

- Sure.

So Rochester has just gone through a redistricting process, which has an impact on the elections obviously.

Can you talk a little bit about what things have maybe shifted and how that redistricting process has informed what things are gonna look like in this upcoming election season?

- Sure.

So there's a significant number more precincts.

There's 25 more precincts in the city of Rochester.

With that, there's more polling places.

Voters can expect, they should check to verify their polling place moving forward, as it may have changed in this election.

Outside that, it's more of the same.

There's just minor changes, more polling places, and then also more opportunities to serve as an election judge.

- Fantastic.

Speaking of election judges, what are some of the opportunities that people can get involved with?

- So every municipality has head judges and election judges, and I know they're recruiting for head judges right now, who are the supervisor of the polling place.

Each municipality, to serve, you contact the respective clerk's office.

You'll have to go through a couple hours of training provided by the county, and then you can serve on the August and the November elections- - So there's still some time for folks that wanna participate in August.

- Absolutely.

- Great.

I know there's obviously different types of absentee and early voting.

Can you share a little bit about what, the distinction between those two and how people can get involved in that if they need to before the primaries?

- So we offer absentee in person and by mail starting 46 days prior to the election.

To vote absentee, you first have to submit an application to vote absentee.

If it's by mail, you can, again, mail or email that or apply online.

In person, you'll fill out the application in our office and you're able to vote right there in the office.

- Wonderful.

So can you talk a little bit about the ways in which the county, and maybe the county in conjunction with the city, is ensuring that voting rights are protected and that elections are being run equitably this year?

- Yes.

So we have election judges from both parties serving on the Olmsted County Ballot Board.

The ballot board are the ones who review the signature envelopes and compare that and actually accept or reject each ballot that's turned into Olmsted County Elections.

So for all absentee ballots, they're reviewed by a set of election judges, one from both political parties, and accepted or rejected.

In addition to that, we have a number of measures as far as no ballots alone without two members of staff.

We follow all the procedures.

As far as equipment testing, there's a thorough process of equipment testing.

For the May 24th special primary, we actually test more ballots.

We feed more ballots through the machines to test them than were actually voted on election day.

- And I guess in keeping with that in terms of other precautions and, I guess, safety, will there be any COVID-19 precautions that we should be aware of in these upcoming elections?

- There's no COVID precautions countywide or citywide.

Individual polling places may have precautions.

I'd recommend voters contact their specific polling location or see if those locations have them.

That would be if your school or respective church or possible town hall has restrictions to follow, but as far as countywide, there isn't any additional precautions.

- And if you're somebody wondering where your polling place is, how would we find that out?

- So you can check that on mnvotes.org, and the county website has a link that will direct voters to that as well.

Also, due to redistricting, we will send a postal verification card to each individual voter to verify their new precinct if it's changed, and polling place due to redistricting.

So those should come in the mail in the next couple weeks.

- Fantastic.

And where can voters just find out general information about the candidates?

- So as our elections office, we always refer to the individual candidate's website.

We don't house any of that on our site, and we always recommend voters to do their own research, and we try not to take sides on one candidate or the other.

So we always recommend voters research either through their municipalities or the individual candidates' websites themselves.

- They're well informed before getting to the ballots.

- Yes.

- You're the elections manager.

You've been there for about a year now.

Can you tell us just a little bit about the work that you do?

- Sure.

So as the elections manager, I onboard and supervise a team of election staff each even year.

Some of the challenges with the election staff is we have a very small team in odd years, but a very large team in even years.

So every cycle is a new set of staff and new training, so it's a lot of getting a large number of people up to speed with the various election tasks.

We supervise the absentee polling location, order the different, make sure the ballot styles are correct and order the ballot styles, prep the equipment.

We do train all 1,500-plus election judges for election day, and just ensure all the supplies and equipment's ready for election day.

- Thank you so much, Luke, for helping us out, getting us up to speed, and thank you for joining us today.

- Thanks for having me.

- And thank you all for joining us today.

I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of "R-Town," here at 125 Live.

For more wonderful content produced right here in Rochester, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter at hashtag #Rtown.

We will see you next week here on the show about Rochester.

(rock music) (bright music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.