it's always so good to see all of you.

And we're so glad that you could join us on this week's Experience Michiana.

As you can see, it is a beautiful day.

I'm in Middlebury and we're going to head over to the mustard seed marketplace, which to find out more about on next week's show.

But today, we're going to head out to Wellfield Botanical Garden.

It's such a beautiful day to find out how they're opening up their season.

We'll also speak with Tim King, who is the executive director of the Laporte County Symphony Orchestra, and find out how they're closing their season.

But then we're going to go right now to Joyfully Said it's all about the size, the home and the apparel.

But Courtney got to visit there and I got a little jealous that I thought, well, since she was there, while I'm here, I'm going to go in there, too.

Come on.

I'm feeling very joyful today here.

I joyfully said in Middlebury, Indiana, and I have with us today the owners, Chelsea and Wes, thank you so much for having us.

This is such an interesting space here.

How long have you guys been in this space?

So we moved in here in the fall of twenty sixteen.

So about four and a half years spent.

And you guys have so many different products here.

But really the bread and butter is your signs and that's really what draws people in.

How did you start in that business?

So kind of a long story.

I was a school counselor for eight years and but always have had a love of words.

I was a former writing major as well.

And when I was pregnant with our third baby, Wes, who was a nurse at the time, took a job selling medical devices.

So he was traveling a lot, gone a lot.

And so I decided to stay home after having that third baby kind of in that process.

I just, for fun, made a sign for my house just for fun.

Yeah.

Just kind of how it all started.

But yeah.

And I love home decor as well.

Like, I really had an interest in that as well.

So I made that sign and really fell in love with the power of words and how they impact your attitude and your mood and your the atmosphere in your home.

And so I loved that.

I loved decor and I loved the idea of being home with our kids instead of having to go to work every day.

So I, I think I posted one on Facebook and started to have some interest to make some for other people.

And then it just grew from there.

And before I knew it, I had hired my sister in law and a cousin.

A family affair.

Yeah.

And I began just taking over our house.

And now you guys make them here locally to live in the building you're actually making.

I know we've heard the saw a little bit here going on to your why don't you tell us about how that process works?

Yeah, that's correct.

So like she said about five years ago, we started this and we started in our garage in our home.

I had to learn how I was a nurse, so I had to learn how to use a saw and use a nail gun.

And we just kind of started in our garage and we started with a regular saw and then using a panel saw.

And now we partner with another local company here in town, Arbor Industries, and they actually warehouse for us all of our supply.

And we will send them in order every week of the boards that we need for that week.

And they all deliver them on a big truck to us every week now and they use a CNC to cut them out.

So they're all exact.

Then from there, I or one of our team members will spray or paint their sign that the base coat.

Then from there it will go to our printer or also there's a few designs.

We still hand and roll and stencil.

Then from there it will go into our wood shop right over there and he will frame that for us.

Then from there, it will come back out and go through quality control at our shipping department where they will stay in the ends and do any final cleanup and wipe down and then shipped out to the customer or hanging on our wall here.

It's so amazing to see how far you guys have come in just these past few years from starting from the one signed on your own wall to really growing this business.

And you have retail space here, too.

And I've seen some signs here that I really love.

And, yeah, you know, I've come on a walk with me here.

This is the one that really caught my eye.

This is kind of a phrase that me and my husband like to use with each other.

It was always you.

And I'm sure you guys probably feel that to tell us more about the power of words and how this means to the community when they come in and see these signs.

How is it Experience?

Do you literally watch people draw themselves to a sign it just keeps out them?

Yeah, it's funny you say that right here, because just a few days.

We had somebody reading this sign here that says, I love you at your darkest, literally, he started crying.

So that's kind of an extreme example.

But we definitely have people coming in and you just watch them taking it all in.

There is a lot to read.

But, yeah, we that's something I love and I'm passionate about is trying to choose phrasing and words that really speak something important to people.

Absolutely.

And you even have a really cool thing called the Joy Box.

Tell us more about that.

So, yeah, after we expanded our retail shop here and added home decor items, we started having a lot of interest from our social media following to offer some of that home decor to them.

And so instead of listing every single item on our website, we decided to curate a seasonal box of items that is cohesive and we show them how to style it in their home.

So we we call it the joy box.

So we launched three of those each year.

That's awesome.

I love I love being able to get the box.

You do it for me.

You tell me what I need to decorate my home because I'm not that great with it.

But I did see another sign and I know we've been talking about joyful.

That's really kind of where everything starts here.

And this signed by Mother Teresa is another one that really catches me.

And I'm sure it probably catches you, too.

But let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.

And I feel like even just coming into this space or when someone gets an item here from from your store, that that's what they feel.

Right?

That's our whole that was our big really prayer.

Like when we when we expanded our shop is that when people walk in, they just feel refreshed.

That's kind of the word that we've had in our minds of what we're going for in it.

It has been a blessing to hear how many people truly say that when they walk in.

So thank you for saying that.

That's exactly what we're hoping for.

And what is the motto for you guys?

Our tagline is inspiring a life well lived.

So we we try to do that through the space that we provide here and through the products that we ship out.

And and you have so many different products.

I know we've talked about the signs, but you also have some other local goods and other goods, too.

And I love how you've already set this up.

So I know, OK, I know what to do with my kitchen table here, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

We have some really talented people on our team that help with styling the shop and but yeah, we do carry some other local handmade items.

Union Farm is one of our favorite.

So some of the wood crates you see around you are made here in Indiana.

Antique candle handles are our candle cabinet is full of there, is there in Lafayette.

We love them.

And so people can they can purchase stuff online, but they can also come into the store, too.

What are your hours here?

9:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday and then Saturdays nine to 4 a I and they can always go to your Facebook page and on your website, which is joyfully said dotcom.

Perfect.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for having us here.

I feel very refreshed, feel very joyful, and I'm ready to go kick out a few signs for myself.

OK, thank you.

As you can see, there's so many beautiful items for your home and we actually finished shopping it.

Ready?

I'm about to head over there, but I think she's getting ready to meet Dave and take a stroll in wellfield botanical gardens.

Dave and I get to experience something we haven't done before.

in Michiana visiting the Wellfield Botanic Gardens here in Elkhart, Indiana, and we're ready to head into the welcome cottage.

I am so excited for this.

I love being outdoors.

It's a beautiful day and spring is finally here.

It is.

Let's get to it.

Let's go.

Hi, Nina.

I'm Nina and I'm the manager.

Here at the visitors cottage.

So everybody, we just opened up for the season again on April 1st.

We are open seven days a week, ten to six.

We added a couple hours on Sunday morning so people can kind of walk a little bit earlier.

So and we're just really excited to be open for this season.

We've got our first ever traveling exhibit coming this season.

It's called Origami in the Garden, which is so exciting.

We're so excited for it to bring this to the community.

And there's going to be sculptures around throughout the garden.

There's only twenty one sculptures out in the gardens, all kind of within each garden and on the paths.

And then in here in our visitors cottage, we're going to have three sculptures that are just going to be tabletop.

And then on the walls will be the unfolded version of the origami piece with all the creases and stuff in it so people can kind of see what it looks like.

I don't think I could ever do that.

Origami, I can't either.

I can't either.

I'm excited, though.

All this talk about we've got to go inside.

I can't wait anymore.

I got to go.

All right, let's go.

When you come, you'll you'll definitely we require masks in our building.

So in our business, cottage and in our garden restroom building.

So you'll be greeted by one of our friendly staff or volunteers.

And if you want to come on in and we do have a small gift shop in here, so we are going to have those three.

Sculptures in here, and then we also sell, wellfield themed merchandise, tons of books.

We've got great jewelry.

We're also going to have miniatures of the origami sculptures for sale here in the side.

We have to fold anything.

I can just buy it.

Ready to go?

Yeah.

Yeah, perfect.

And so when you come in, we're still trying to maintain the social distancing or doing it here.

We've got our masks on.

You'll be greeted by our staff.

They'll get you checked in and then you can head on through here to go out in the garden.

And then, of course, once you're out there, you can remain clear of people.

You can take your maske off.

Yes, OK.

Yes, OK, We never say take your mask off, but if you are able to physically distance from people, you can take your mask off when you're outside.

Smell the daffodils.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Daffodils are My favorite.

Awesome.

Check it out.

Dave and I are super excited to be here at the Westfield Botanic Gardens because we've never been here before.

Never.

And it's so beautiful already.

I'm so excited to see what they have here.

And I have with us Eric, our executive director here at the Wellfield Botanic Gardens.

And there's a really neat feature going on right now.

Yeah, you can see some live construction right here in the Swan Pond behind us.

We've actually lowered the water level because we're installing a new thirteen hundred pound cow bison, sometimes called a buffalo, and it is going out with its mate on the island right out there.

So we had to lower the water down to get that in.

But the next time that viewers come out, this will likely be getting refilled and it's going to be gorgeous.

I'm not sure why, but I feel like emotionally satisfied that they're not going to be alone out there, even though they're not real.

Like, what's going on?

That's right.

The cow, the bull has been there since twenty eighteen as a gift from one of our very generous donors, Doug Grant, who put the bison out there in memory of his wife, Barbara, who passed away in twenty eighteen.

And she was a Colorado Buffalo.

And that's where the bison buffalo comes in.

And Doug's always been a fan of bison.

So we had a fifteen hundred pound bull bison out there.

For the last couple of years.

We've been having people ask.

It looks a little lonely.

And so Doug obliged.

And again, through his generosity, we're able to put the cow out there this week and refilling this soon, something for people to see.

And you guys are open now for business.

Absolutely.

It's really great.

And on days like this, you can imagine we're really excited for the spring and summer and fall to come.

It is beautiful.

Well, as Courtney mentioned, we haven't been here before.

So can we go have a look?

Absolutely.

We can take you around.

I'm going to turn you over to a couple of my staff, Josh and Nina, and they can show you some of the places we can enjoy the geese, too.

I think hopefully they don't enjoy us.

So Josh is with us now, and he's the horticulture and facilities manager here at the Westfield and we're walking through this space here.

And of course, this this doesn't seem exactly natural from the ground, but it's no popping up from there.

It is.

It is springtime.

So we've got we're in our annual garden, which is a space that gets two different displays each year.

OK.

Right now, our spring display, of course, is in here with tulips and other things.

And what we're doing, our theme for the whole year is peace.

And with each of our seasonal shows before for a year, for with each season, with Spring Splendor show, we're we've got these cranes, these paper cranes here that are we've got a representative of a thousand.

And there's a story behind that.

OK, in Japanese culture, traditionally a crane represented longevity and they can live a thousand years.

And if you made a crane for every year that they lived and made, your wish would come true.

OK, so there was a little girl, a survivor of the atomic bomb attacks at age 12.

She came down with, I think it was leukemia and she started making cranes out of anything when she was in the hospital.

And unfortunately, her wish didn't come true.

But she's kind of become an international symbol for peace.

And so we're we're honoring that with these cranes here.

And and that's kind of a project that you guys are going to be putting out here very shortly.

The last all summer long.

Yeah, this this part with the cranes will show up again for our winter display.

But we'll also and we also have these pinwheel patterns with the tulips, which goes along with our partnership with caps and domestic violence.

So we're trying to partner with a community and those and those kind of bringing that message in.

This will get cleared out, OK, and then in the we'll put in our summer display, which will kind of have also a Japaneses and zen theme to it.

It is.

It's very peaceful here.

I know we can still hear some of the movement of construction going on and that kind of thing, but there's lots of gardens still for people to check out now.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, there's a lot of right now is a good time to come.

Our spring garden is coming into full bloom or at least starting to.

And there's a lot of bulbs and trees and all kinds of stuff going along with our woodland.

And so there's just a lot of stuff that's coming online and starting to bloom.

It's worth coming to take a look.

Perfect.

Let's send,dave over to take a look.

We'll check it out.

All right.

It is so beautiful here in the garden.

I mean, I couldn't ask for a better place.

The daffodils here for someone like me who's never been here before today and I feel bad that I haven't because it's so beautiful.

Should feel bad.

I mean, I feel terrible to my core.

Josh, thank you for rubbing it in.

You're welcome.

How much is there here to see?

Like how many different gardens?

Other because I feel like I haven't even.

Well, so so the original plan, the Lake is thirty six acres and the original full master plan, you know, we'll have that completely filled out about half of that water.

So there's about 15, 20 acres that are finished with gardens like the annual garden you just saw.

We're in the conversation garden, the spring garden, the Woodland Garden.

We have an English cottage garden, a children's garden.

And then the newest garden, of course, is our granddaddy, the island, the Japanese garden, the island garden.

So and they're all got something unique and interesting and different to check out.

Now, you love this place.

I can tell your passion for this place.

If you had one hidden gem, if you could only see one part of this garden, where would you go?

You know, I'm not going to say one because I can't I'm going to say to this time of year, what often gets missed and really is is very quick that it's here.

It's ephemeral, literally is the Woodland Garden or conservation garden.

There's a lot of spring native plant material that's in there that are, you know, that are blooming.

And the Japanese garden is just a really neat four season garden and really going to start blooming with resilience and other things.

So it's worth coming and checking out.

I like it.

Well, I think Courtney's over on the island with the bison, so we should probably go over and get her probably scratching and giving them a pet.

That's exactly what she's doing.

Well, it may not be June yet, but as you can see, there's lots of things bursting out all over at Wellfield botanical gardens.

It is such a perfect time to get out there and enjoy the scenery and enjoy the weather.

And for those of you that are ready to enjoy some beautiful music as well, let's catch up with Tim King.

Tim King, thank you so much for joining us and a big congratulations because you are coming to the end of your 48 season of the Laporte County Symphony Orchestra.

And I must say, it's probably been quite the season.

If you had here before, you'd probably still look after this season that you'd look the same way right now.

I don't know.

I think I'm about 10 years older than you.

But, you know, we've learned a lot this season.

We've learned how to live stream.

We've learned how to play distant from each other.

The orchestra has just been so wonderful about all the changes because I think they want to play, you know, they just want to play together in so many orchestras are not playing right now.

A few of them are starting to come back, which is really, really nice to see.

But we just kind of forged right on ahead and sometimes had small audiences and sometimes just had the live stream itself.

So, yes, we are coming to the end of our 40 days.

In fact, we're already starting to fiftieth anniversary committee to start with because, you know, we're going to need that time before the fiftieth starts.

So this concert that's coming up is April the 17th are day seven p.m. at the Civic Auditorium, which is in La Porte.

And we're welcoming back a Laport native and his name is Gary Wedow.

It's WedoW, but it's pronounced Wato.

Gary's Laport, a graduate of high school, went to Indiana University and then has gone on to have this incredible career as a conductor of both opera companies and orchestras all around the country.

He's been a faculty member at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City since nineteen ninety four.

The Educator.

At the same time, he's never been back to conduct this orchestra.

Now, that is that's a real problem on our part for never inviting him back.

In our intro, music director Chuck Steck said to me sometime last year, he said, you know, there's this one guy that I've been wanting to bring back for years and years and years.

And for some reason, we can't seem to can we please get Gary Wedow?

And I had heard of him in my world, but had never worked with him.

All you need to do Kelly is Google Gary Wedow, and he just everything comes popping up, you know, it's it's an amazing Bio and resume.

So coming in, he's so excited to be conducting the Laporte County Symphony Orchestra, and he he just Anyone would be Tim!

Well, when you conduct the New York Philharmonic and the Seattle Symphony in the Boston Lyric Opera and that sort of thing, OK, but he is he's really excited to come back and he's put together a really nice program.

And it's it's mostly a classical program.

But but it was almost like a lite classical program with a pop ending to it musical theatre ending.

He's doing some Mozart, some Handel, some stuff in the opera.

Luciano Lammermoor.

He's doing Aaron Copeland, American songs.

And then we're doing we're ending the concert with this beautiful duet called Wheels of the Dream from Ragtime.

Oh, that is one of my great musical.

And I got goosebumps just thinking about it's such a good closer.

It's always been one of these people that's champions, the young artists.

And so he's bringing two young singers with him.

The Sopranos name is Kelly Motter IMO, TTR, and the Tenors name is Edward Graves.

You find all of this information on our website, which is LCSO dot net.

You can look at the program that Gary's doing, the BIOS and all these young artists and Gary as well.

And so you can get tickets by going to our Web site, LCSO Dot Net or we have a wonderful music shop here in Laporte.

We're called Roxy Music for those people that want to pick up tickets there now, do you still have to sell less tickets or you know what what kind of is happening now?

Because I know a lot of people are starting to get the vaccine now, and you'll have to kind of keep that social distancing going for now.

We do not as much as we had to for the concert that we just had two weeks ago, because that cut just Indiana turned blue like two days before we had the concert.

But that didn't really give us enough time to get the word out.

So we are going to be able to have more tables, seats on the floor.

We are going to be able to sell more seats in the balcony.

So it looks like we can accommodate the last concert.

We can accommodate about three hundred people.

This concert looks like be more like six or seven hundred people.

So that will be nice to see more of a house in there.

And we're hoping to have six or seven hundred people for the concert.

So I know this is the end of the forty eight season.

When does the forty nine start and what is that going to look like.

Well we're going to have a new music director by that time.

In fact we're we're thinking about who the new one's going to be right now.

So that choice is going to be made here very, very soon and we'll open with the forty ninth.

And right now I can't even tell you what to like because the new music director obviously will have a big say in what the music's going.

To be and how he or she wants to wants to do the programs, but we we typically have hoosier star opens in September and then we do education concerts in October and we actually open the season in November.

So that will be the big opening in November of twenty one with the new music director.

Speaking of Hoosier Star I heard you had two auditions already How'd it go.

Well, you know, the good thing about this one is that we had to we had we had to postpone the auditions last year because they were supposed to be in March and that's when everything fell apart.

And so we postponed until July.

So we had everybody do the social distance in the mask and all that.

We had you come in one way and you went the other way.

And so we already had that situation adopted.

This time we had 60 people audition for Hoosier Star?

From twenty one different communities in Indiana and southwest Michigan as far away as Terre Haute, which, you know is the complete opposite end of Indiana and Indiana, which is right across Louisville.

So that's about five hours from here.

We did pick a finalist, five youth, 17 and under and five and eight and over.

And we're very excited to have them with us.

They're also on our website.

There's a Hoosiers star tab, and you can take a look at who the finalists are.

We have our first rehearsal with them April the 10th, just a couple of weeks from now, where we're going to work with them and choose their solos and get the orchestrations done for for the concert and the second weekend of September.

Well, we can't wait for that.

That is always a highlight here in our community.

And Tim, thank you so much for being with us.

I know you had mentioned earlier about the wonderful musicians.

I'm sure you are so appreciative of the resiliency of the musicians and the support of the community this season.

You know, a lot a lot of people I keep getting the question, how are you doing, how you're doing?

Because they know that we're doing concerts, but they really don't know how we're doing.

And so we're doing fine as I want people to know that we have we have come through this really well.

I really feel like even though the musicians have had to space to be farther apart, they're actually closer together as a group.

They've done all this together and they have my respect for them was just off the charts.

They they have we have had no complaints.

Chuck Steck has been amazing leading the group.

Our our music director candidates have come in and have just gone with the flow.

It's really been it's when I when I look back on this ten years from now or when I'm too old to even go to concerts or whatever, you know, I would look back.

This is probably a highlight of my career, honestly, that we were able to overcome this as a group and still be able to bring music to the public.

And you know what?

That speaks volumes about the community that we all live in.

So, so glad that we are a part of it.

And I don't think you'll ever be too old to go to concerts, so I don't believe that at all.

But again, congratulations to you.

And we'll we'll talk to you soon.

I would love that.

Thank you so much.

It is always wonderful catching up with Tim King, and it's so great to see how the community has truly supported the Laporte County Symphony Orchestra doing such a challenging times.

But times are changing.

Hey, we just finished winter where in spring.

And it is such a beautiful time in the Michiana community.

Let us know what you're doing this spring.

Where are you going?

What things are you going to Experience?

Let us know.

Hit us up on Facebook.

But remember to join us next week as we're headed to the mustard seed marketplace, And you guys, are gonna love it.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.