One, two, three, four.

Get my shoes then out the door.

Five I'm alive, six, seven, eight feelin' great.

Nine, gonna shine, life is good I'm doing fine.

Ten, Gonna do it right then do it again.

Yeah yeah.

I look up to the sky with all the beautiful color but, there's more than just for me so gonna share it with another.

I got to show, to give, let out, I want to sing and shout.

Take a look and see A beautiful morning that turns into beautiful evening.

And together make a beautiful life.

And if you want see, then come along with me.

That's right.

Hello and welcome to experience, Michiana My name is Irish Dave and this week we have a fun filled show for you.

We're getting outdoors a lot this week.

I'm here on Island Park in Elkhart to tell you about the Elkhart River challenge that's coming up.

Kelly is going to be at the South Bend Civic Theater.

And, you know, I went to the South Bend Civic Theater for the first time recently.

And it is beautiful if you've never been there.

Get ready for that.

She's going to talk about a show called Silent Sky.

But first, we're going to go just south of Benton Harbor in Michigan.

Courtney is finding out about something really fun called the Woods Fitness Park.

If you like the outdoors and if you like to get active, this is the place to be.

Today we are up at the Woods Fitness Park and I have with us Mike, who is the owner here.

This is a really unique space that we have in Michigan.

I'm not even sure if we have anything else like this.

I don't think we do.

This is amazing.

And you've put this together over the past couple of years.

How did that come to be?

In 2020, we actually didn't have a lot of snow, so we run a snowplow company.

So we just started building obstacles for me to train and we kept building and building.

And then before you knew it, by June, we had opened up a course with 50 obstacles.

So there's a lot of obstacles.

And for those folks who maybe don't know exactly what that entails, what does a typical obstacle course look like out here?

Okay, so out here we have it's three miles of wooded trails.

There's obstacles like rope climbing, monkey bars, climbing up and over.

And then we also have workout stations where you'll stop.

You do some jumping lunges, you'll do a burpee, you'll do sit ups, push ups.

And like I said, you can just walk.

You can pick your obstacles.

It's different weights.

There's different heights from I mean, we've had one two year olds out here with their family, too, eighty year old people just coming out to walk to get in the shade.

Yeah.

And that was how I found out about this.

I have friends who came out here with their family and had a great time doing it.

And are you guys open all year long?

We are.

We're open sunup to sundown pretty much every day.

Gets a little dark in there towards nighttime.

And then in the wintertime, you know, if you can still do the obstacle course, you can come walk.

It is pet friendly.

So people bring their dogs out.

You can train with your dog.

There's a lot of dog friendly obstacles.

30 or 40 dog friendly?

Probably not my dog.

I have a little Bijan.

You can carry them.

So I but there is options for that.

And you guys actually have an event coming up to do an obstacle with your dog.

Absolutely.

We have the first.

It is the Midwest canine obstacle run October 22nd.

Okay.

And it's it's a race you do with your dog.

You can walk, you can run, you'll go over your dog, will be leashed here you're going to go over ramps.

You'd be crawling up and over things.

It is a really cool event for the whole dog community.

People will be camping, we'll have food trucks, live music all day long.

We hope to have hundreds of people with their dogs out here having a good time and for people to participate in the obstacle course.

How do they do that?

Do they register?

What's the payement so they get right online at the Woods Fitness Park dot com you can go right on.

We kind of made it touch free.

Okay, you go right out and you fill out your waiver, which is good forever.

Once you fill it out, you can pay right online or there's a cash drop box if you want to pay cash and then the park is yours all day.

That way you can work at your own speed.

We hope to have music playing out here soon.

So, I mean, it's just kind of like an outdoor gym that's yours all day.

Work at your own speed, go your own pace, come out with friends, come back later, bring some more friends.

Yeah, yeah.

But even without the music, I mean, just listening to nature.

Absolutely.

I mean, that's so right.

Absolutely it is.

It's beautiful in there.

We have families of deer and their animals everywhere.

Don't be scared.

We do spray for mosquitoes.

Okay.

I was going to ask that.

Do we need to bring our bug spray with us?

I have bug spray here.

We do spray.

But obviously it's it's 25 acres of woods.

But we do spray.

We try to keep the ticks, mosquitoes, everything away.

We do a lot of work in here, trimming everything back to keep everything safe, poison ivy.

And I guess if you if it leaves the three of us.

That's the good thing about the landscape company.

We're all licensed to do all the training.

So the two kind of tie in really?

Well, look at that.

Well, hey, I would love to check out some of these obstacles.

Absolutely.

You have out here.

Are you ready to get active?

Let Okay, Mike, can you start us off easy here?

Absolutely.

So, Lisa, first obstacle, kind of get everybody warmed up.

It's a 1938 reo speedwagon.

That's awesome for everybody to see.

Not many around anymore, but it's a simple up and over obstacle that everybody can do.

Just get you warmed up a little.

All right, let's do it.

You should get stops to make it fast.

That is.

Watch me fall down the steps.

This way.

All right.

All right.

Time to get that heart pumping.

Okay, now we're in the tire run.

So is the goal to go fast or just get to do whatever you want?

Okay.

Just as fast as you want without tripping.

Okay, that's the goal.

And if you don't want to go through the tire run, there's other options, too, right?

Sure.

You can go around, outrun the outside.

Every obstacle has a way to go around it if you don't feel comfortable doing it.

Okay, so there's accessibility.

So maybe if somebody has a stroller with a younger kid, they still have an option or a little bit of off road rough riding, but they can do it.

Absolutely.

All right.

Let's see what's next.

This is the kids favorite, usually just because they see on TV.

Oh, I don't know if I can do this.

Mean it's tough.

You can get him doing it.

So that's what kids see on the TV.

Yeah, that's like that's like a typical ninja warrior kind of style.

Right?

There's a lot of obstacles out here that relate to Ninja Warriors.

So I know a lot of kids are into that now.

So they definitely my my one of my grandsons is actually doing ninja classes.

So awesome that he loves it.

I don't know if I can do this though.

I want to as far apart.

Okay, ready?

I can't jump to it.

I know that it's a ways.

It is too far for me.

That tells you how tough it is when you watch it on TV.

They make it look so easy.

Yeah.

So it's a total body workout because obviously this is an upper body workout, but you're still using your legs.

Oh, okay.

Good.

Which will make it easy to do the right one.

Okay.

So hoist to the top.

Let down easy.

No bucket dropping.

Yeah.

Oh, that was easy.

Where's my easy button?

All the way to the top.

All the way.

And when it stops, you got to bring it down nice and slow.

That's even is just as it is workout, isn't it?

Well, it's even a thigh workout.

I mean, really, you get a great workout.

Absolutely.

Full body, plus you're getting three miles of walking, jogging, running, whatever you want to do.

So get your steps in for the day.

Absolutely.

All right.

That's pretty good.

I like that one.

These are kind of the place I like because there's tougher stuff like monkey bars, there's speed ropes, there's a workout station, there's up and out jump bars as a cross.

There's a whole lot of stuff to do.

Yeah, there's a little bit of everything.

So if you're in a group two go over there, two go over here, you can use this as a work like a gym.

Okay?

You can use that as a facility that people are over here doing jacks to.

People are doing the monkey bars, two people are doing box jumps, two people are doing it.

So we can do box jumps, probably high.

Maybe I can get off of there.

That's the shorter one.

And once again, you can do any I mean, you could do a step up, you can do a high leg lift, you can do a regular one.

There's all different variations.

You can do what some people can't, so they just step up.

Perhaps we can do that to step up.

Step down.

You can step on the side and do just high leg lifts, huh?

And keep doing high leg lifts all different activities to do so you can basically do a different routine every time you come to an obstacle.

Okay.

Which makes it a great variety to change it up every time you come out here.

Absolutely.

Now, tell me, what were these once again that when you crawl all the way under.

Okay, we're not doing that.

That's the one.

You don't want to get dirty.

And I don't know if you've ever done ropes before.

That's the new thing that everybody advertises when it comes to like CrossFit is the new thing.

But sure, but I don't know.

Many outdoor places they have ropes.

But once again, it's you just or double or shoulders or you can vary it up and do jumping jacks.

So there's so many things you can do at each station.

Absolutely.

You have a good variety.

Absolutely.

That looks like it's taller than me.

So that's not going you have you have like a kids version.

So we go over here and kids can put you know, they can put their feet on here.

I put different grips up.

Okay?

We added more grips for shorter people.

Try to make it kind of vertically challenge.

I don't even know if my arms.

Oh, my gosh.

Okay.

There we go.

All right.

That works.

I can do that.

That's just so much fun.

I really feel like I'm getting a workout here today.

Big kids playground.

So all of this, it's how long does it take to do the whole process?

Oh, I would plan on between an hour and 2 hours.

Okay.

You can leave whenever you want.

You're never more than a quarter mile away.

Oh, that's great.

Moms are right where you park, so you can go back in any time.

Like I said, it's really user friendly.

You can come if you have a half hour spend.

If you want to spend 2 hours here, you can go through twice, three times.

It's all day.

And the map was out front too.

So if you're like, Hey, on Mondays I'm going to do this, and then on Tuesdays I'm going to do that, and then you can kind of focus that that way, too.

Yeah.

And there's some days you want to do at school, some days you want to do the workout stations.

Yes, you can do whatever you want.

So that is so awesome.

Well, where can people get more information?

Once again, everything is right on the Woods Fitness Park dot .com, pictures, videos, everything you want to see.

Okay, perfect.

Well, thanks so much.

Hope you can join us.

We're up here in Benton Harbor.

And if you want to get physical or just come out and enjoy the trails, you can do all that.

Just go on to the website and check it out.

Well, today we're at South Bend Civic Theater on the set of Silent Sky.

And I am so glad that today we have the director of Silent Sky and her name is Stacy and Stacy.

And I had a chance to kind of get to know each other a little bit.

And I will say that you will absolutely love her and you are going to love this show.

So, Stacy, tell us a little bit about your career.

And also you are new to this area.

Well, welcome.

Thank you.

I have been doing theater in Chicago for about 25 years.

I'm an actor and director and newer to directing.

So this opportunity in a new city to to to direct a full length gorgeous play is is really I feel very excited about it.

I can tell that now what is the transition been like going from being an actress to now being a director?

I think the biggest difference is as a director, you have to manage a whole bunch of people.

So you're not just guiding the actors having a vision for the play.

You're also guiding all the designers, the scenic designer, the lighting designer.

You know the play better than everyone.

And you're kind of just guiding everyone, waiting for everyone else to catch up to what you know and create some sort of collective vision for the whole story.

It's it's it's incredible.

It's very difficult.

I am finding that being a leader and having enthusiasm and inspiring all these people to do their work is it's challenging, but I'm learning a lot and that the artists here at the South Bend Civic are incredible.

So I feel very lucky to work with them.

I know they really are incredible.

Now, what made you decide to say yes to doing this play?

I think it may have been that that I thought it would be an incredible learning experience, just a great education in in the art of directing and storytelling in this beautiful theater.

But also, the play is an incredible dove into these incredible, important women in history.

And we got to learn about some science.

I think I think those are all the reasons I just wanted to immerse myself in South Bend and find a place.

Well, there definitely is a place for you here.

Well, tell us a little bit about the story of Silent Sky.

Well, it's the story of a 19th century astronomer.

Her name is Henrietta Leavitt.

She may be a bit of a footnote in history.

It's about her and her fellow female astronomers.

They were hired by the Harvard Observatory to be human computers, which was basically mapping the stars in the sky.

They were collecting data about the stars and crunching the numbers.

It was really tedious and mundane work.

And the men at the time, the male scientists, basically thought that women were better at it than the men because it took an incredible amount of patience and focus.

So they hired these women to to do this this data collection work, mapping the stars.

And that's that's basically what the play is about.

I tell you, when I kind of, you know, because Kelsey sent the information to me and when I read what the play was about, I was like, How did I not know?

I know about this story.

It kind of reminded me of when Hidden Figures came out.

Oh, right.

And I thought, how did we not learn this in school?

This is such an important part of history.

Why do you think these these these stories get left out?

Well, this one in particular, you know, she really wasn't anyone of note at the time.

And the men who came after her basically used the information.

She created a measurement, basically, of how to measure the distance between stars and the men who followed her.

The men like Hubble, they used this yardstick, as it were, that she came up with, and they were the ones who got the credit for, you know, figuring out how far we are, how far Earth is from the other universes and how big the universe is.

Wow, that's pretty incredible.

Now, the show opens up September 9th.

That's right.

Tell us a little bit about how the rehearsals have been going, how the process has been.

Well, it's it's been incredible.

I always feel like there isn't enough time, which is another big theme in the play.

But I, I pushed through in early rehearsals so that we could sort of just get the groundwork, the basic movement through the space.

We discovered how the women do the work.

We have these really cool props.

They use these things to measure where the stars are on these glass plates, which were basically photographs taken by this huge telescope.

And that was the work that they did.

So we we spent time figuring out what that looks like and writing down data and just to make it look authentic, like they were actually doing the work.

And and now we're sort of diving deeper and trying to uncover the bigger themes and do moment to moment work, which is, you know, just figuring out why one character does one thing, why someone explodes or gets angry about something.

You just you're setting up a row of dominoes so that the story can can find its way.

And so we're in that process.

We have a designer run coming up on Thursday, and we're all nervous about it.

Now, you mentioned some of the larger themes.

What are some of them?

Well, I think, obviously, it's a play about a woman striving to make progress and get recognition in in a in a male dominated profession at the time and maybe now.

And so that's a big that's a big theme in the play.

But I think for me, as I've been watching rehearsals, yes, it's about science.

Yes.

It's about these incredible women who made this discovery alongside the women's rights movement, World War One.

And what else is Einstein was making his huge discoveries.

So it is about all of those things, but it is really about try not to cry.

It is really about like, what am I doing here?

Am I focusing my time and attention on the right things?

Am I completely missing the point?

You know, how can I live my best life?

So this play is really, truly for anyone with a heartbeat.

And there is a lovely little love story to, oh, my gosh, you have to come and see it.

Well, Stacy, thank you so much for being with us and you know South Bend Civic Theater.

And Aaron, they do a wonderful job of finding these hidden gems, these stories that they can share with the community.

And and this definitely sounds like one of them.

And you also sound like you're a gem to our community.

So just so grateful that you're here and and we all give you a big welcome.

And we welcome you all to come see Silent Sky.

It opens up September 9th.

For more information, it's right on the screen and you can also go on to experience Michigan dot org.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm here on Island Park in Elkhart, and I'm here with Sarah Schneider, who's the director of marketing from the Lacasa.

First of all, tell me a little bit about La Casa, because some people may get a bit confused with some other nonprofits in the area, too.

But what does La Casa do?

Sure.

La Casa started in Goshen.

We are a nonprofit deal, mainly with affordable housing and some financial services as well.

So help everyone in Elkhart County.

It's an Elkhart County nonprofit.

So if somebody is watching this, who might need it, like how do you qualify for that assistance?

Like, do you have to earn a certain amount or how does that work?

Like who do you who do you help?

Sure.

Yeah.

So we not only renovate, we rent out units for folks in Elkhart County, but in order to qualify, we have all that information on our website.

So you can go on there, get more information, and then call and then we can work one on one to see if you qualify for some of the great places that we have to run out.

And obviously, as a nonprofit, you've got to be able to fundraise as well to be able to help folks here in Elkhart County.

So tell me, you've got an event coming up.

What is it we do?

So we have our second annual.

It's called the Elkhart River Challenge.

And it's going to be right here on the Elk River behind me.

Actually, the finish line is right over there.

We're going to do a fundraiser.

It's for kayaking.

And we have actually anyone of all ability levels can come and participate and hopefully we'll raise some funds that'll go directly back into our mission so we can continue helping residents of Elkhart County.

So it's 17.2 miles, is that right?

Yes, 17.2.

That sounds like somewhat physical, pretty aggressive.

Yeah, that's actually our competitive course.

We have two courses.

Yeah.

So the 17.2.

Okay.

Is for the competitive people who really want to race.

Last year we had a gentleman that used to be on the Olympic team.

Oh, cool.

So he's obviously competitive, but we also have the recreational and that's 6.6 miles probably for folks like me and you know, although I did see US Marines on the front of your vehicle here where you were Marine, I was not okay.

My better half was okay.

Well, you know, I'm just wondering because I'm like, well, if you were a marine, you're definitely into the 17.2, right?

You know, so.

Right.

So the Elkhart River challenge, when is it happening, by the way?

It's on September 10th.

It's a Saturday.

It's actually two weeks from tomorrow.

Okay.

So September 10th is when it's going to be on and how do people sign up and how much does it even cost to sign up?

So signups, whether you do the competitive course or the recreational $50.

We also partnered with Fon River Kayak.

If you don't have your own equipment so you can rent a kayak and a life vest and the paddles for an additional $25.

So we didn't want to create barriers for anyone that didn't maybe have their own boat.

So $50 or 25 if you need to rent.

Okay.

I love it.

So where in where?

Along the river.

We're going to go at 17.2 miles.

So do you go like I can't do the math, but like eight miles in one direction, eight and a half miles an eight and a half bike, or is it just around the course that's going to be close to here?

It's the whole course is 17.2.

So it starts actually in Goshen.

Okay.

At Rogers Park, which is near the interior on Lincoln.

Lincoln Way.

And then you just follow the Elkhart River all the way here to Island Park.

There's some crazy you have the current behind you as well.

Yes.

Oh, yes.

I can do this.

I mean, I think you should try it.

Yeah.

I mean, and so so for people that start the 17 that's obviously at Goshen, where does the six start that same?

They both started the same place, Rogers Park.

We kick off the competitive racers first so the people like you and me don't get in their way.

I like that you say me like you're underestimating me here.

I'm going to do the 17.2.

I'm including myself.

I'm going to finish in the top 100.

Okay.

We do.

I hope you do know.

I know it sounds really fun, though, and it's a great way to get out and enjoy the river.

And actually, one of the things you notice when you kayak on a river is that you see things in a way that you never seen them before.

And it's so fun.

Definitely.

Yeah.

And the the way we have it set up is actually near Oxbow, which is where the recreational course ends.

So right there there's a huge blockage in the river.

So this year we're really calling it the Elkhart River Challenge.

Right?

So the competitive racers have to portage around it.

And our friends at Oxbow and Elkhart County Parks and everybody's helping us get that cleared.

So it'll be a really good, really good course for game day.

Well, as I mentioned on a recent show, because I was recently down in Plymouth and Donelson down near Plymouth, and I had to get into a kayak.

But the last time I just went kayaking myself, I actually fell in the river with my glasses on and had to buy new glasses.

So I'm just glad that today I actually don't have to get into a kayak.

Right.

I mean, you could.

I'm good.

I like being I like actually, I really don't like being dry.

I like getting wet in the river.

It's nice to jump in, especially cool down on a hot day.

So it's really great.

And again, for anyone who really doesn't fully understand Lacasa and they want to get more information, what's the website that they can go to?

So our website is La Casa Inc dot net.

All kinds of information on there.

Yeah.

And it's really great because again, there might be people watching who need it or there might be people watching who want to support it in other ways.

Maybe they don't want to get out and kayak, but maybe they want to support it.

I'm sure you're always looking for donors and things like that.

So yeah, so there's lots of ways I'm sure that they can support it.

So So you talked about competitive element to it.

Does that mean there's like some prizes or there are actually I'm told we are one of the few races that actually offer a cash prize.

So we have four divisions in the competitive race.

We have men over 50, men under 50, and then we have women over 50 and women under 50.

And each of those four divisions, there's a $500 prize at the end.

So if you finish first in one of those four divisions, you get a $500 prize.

Plus, if you participate in the competitive race, you automatically get your name thrown into a hat to win $500 just for participating.

Oh, cool.

So there's really five chances to win.

Do you check IDs for age?

Because I've got a lot of gray hair.

So I was wondering if I could try going to the over 50 is going just to give me a bit more like require birth certificate.

Yeah you're going to do it for me.

Okay.

So bring that when you sign up.

Yeah, I think we should do it.

And what about ages like, you know, obviously the recreational.

Well, either one.

But can families do it or is it just adults?

We are accepting participants 16 years and older for safety liability.

If you're under 18, obviously your parents have to sign off.

You have to be with you.

But we're just doing 16 and older at this point.

Okay.

So La Cosa inc org is where you can get all of the information I think dot net o dot net, sorry nonprofit I went to straight to work.

Fine.

It's okay.

Awesome.

All right, come enjoy the Elkhart River.

I actually really want to do it because I know that you talked about , Oxbow Park and all that area.

Goshen, like there's a big kayaking community around there, which I've gotten to know and I just want to be a part of it and I want to see this beautiful county from the river because it's such a great way to see it.

Definitely.

Definitely awesome.

You know, it was great to chat with Sarah Snyder from La Casa and you know, Island Park here in Elkhart is really so beautiful.

I'm out in Elkhart a lot myself and I love it.

Some of the parks out here, if you've never been here, you should really check it out, because I know maybe you're watching anywhere across Michigan and maybe you never think, you know, I'm going to go to Elkhart for a walk with the dog, but you should.

Island Park is beautiful, as you can see.

Don't forget, if there's something that you think we should go and experience, use the hashtag experience.

Michiana, you can also follow us on Instagram or Facebook or wherever social media platform you're on.

Send us a direct message on there as well and tell us about what you want to see us go do because you know, we'll go do it.

That's what we're here for till the next time and experience, Michigan, I'll see you.

experience Machiana is made possible in par by the Community Foundation of Saint Joseph County and the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the state of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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

Thank you.