One, two, three, four.

Get my shoes on at the door.

Five, six, seven, eight.

Feels great.

I'm gonna sign up to do and guys aren't gonna do about to do what they do.

Yeah.

Look at this guy with the beautiful color about the and just for me he's gonna share it with another I got to show to get.

I want to finish.

I'll take a look at that beautiful morning that turns to a beautiful evening.

And look at the big beautiful.

And if you want to see that, come along with me.

That's right.

Hey, I'm Irish, Dave, and welcome to this week's experience, Michiana.

I'm very excited for this episode because we get to hear all about the blueberry festival.

And I got to talk to a fellow pilot.

We're also going to talk to WNYC producers about a new documentary about the significance of the St. Joseph River, which I'm very excited about that, too.

But first, there's a lot of local talent here in our community, as you already know.

And the Laporte County Symphony Orchestra is once again holding.

Who's your star?

And Courtney went out and about to find more information about that.

Now, you're very likely familiar with some of those big audition shows like American Idol, America's Got Talent.

But did you know we have one here locally in Michiana, the Who's Your Star?

And it's coming up very soon.

I have with us today Sinkings is the executive director for the Laporte County Symphony Orchestra, as well as Alistar, who is part of the Southland Symphony Orchestra.

And you've been doing a Hoosier star for a number of years now.

That's right.

Corniest that this is a 16th here that we've had of the who's your star?

We had no idea this going to last this long with the talent just keeps coming.

Yeah.

And I say that, you know, year after year, especially when families are coming to the event, the children get exposed to that.

And you have both a youth, a vision and an adult.

We do.

We have two divisions.

So we have a youth category that's 17 years old and younger and an adult category that is 18 years and over.

And a couple of years ago, I think school we had one of was 64.

That was that was of the finest did a beautiful job, beautiful job thing.

And so how many are there involved in this?

There's an audition process that is correct every year in March.

We have auditions for it anywhere from 60 to 90 people come in and audition for this.

And then we have a set of judges that that choose the 10 finalists in March.

And then the music staff with the Laporte County Symphony Orchestra then gets with each finalists and determines a song that would probably showcase them the best with the orchestra and the public.

And then we start rehearsals.

We've already had two rehearsals with the finalist in a small ensemble.

And then starting September the 9th on Thursday night, that's when our conductor, Alister Willis, comes in and starts working with the finalists in the orchestra, and then he gets three rehearsals with them before we do the programs the night of the 11th.

And the event is happening on September 11th was correct.

Seven o'clock.

And you said people can get tickets online.

That's true.

They can go to our website, which is very simple.

It's just LCF.

So from La Porte County Symphony Orchestra, they'll see also dot net.

There's a who's your star tab.

They just go to the who's your star tab and they can we have two options this year.

You can come to the live event, which is, like I said, September the 11th is seven p.m. the Pacific Auditorium, LAPORT, or you can opt to get the ticket for the virtual event, which you'll be able to see online.

But in both cases, you'll be able to vote for your favorite marathon.

And you've been part of this for a few years now as well, too.

This is my fourth.

Who's your star?

And I got to tell you, it is such fun.

It's such an honor to be a part of this.

And as you've just heard, this is one well-organized, well oiled event, which is just a pleasure to be part of.

I mean, there's so much that goes behind on behind the scenes to get it ready.

And, yeah, I feel so lucky I come in just at the end to put it all together to look at the final cake as it's ready to be served and to work with all the talent is just it's just wonderful.

Now, what kind of variety will we expect this year?

Yes.

This is this is also a concert not just to a talent show, but talent in itself is so attractive and so inspiring.

We have songs that are of all different kinds of varieties.

So we have a country song.

We have a rock song.

We have some fun musical theater.

We have current songs combined by like current artists.

And for me, the variety is what makes it really interesting.

I don't know how they do it, how they find such a fantastic complete program, which has something for everyon that's so wonderful .

And there's judges that are singing.

We have our one color, celebrity judges and actually one of our judges to the best winter of this year Okay, back to judge.

So he knows exactly how they feel and what they're looking for.

That kind of thing.

That's wonderful.

Now, are you're with the Southland Symphony Orchestra, but your guest conducting at La Porte County Symphony event here for the who's your star?

What does it mean for the community to support th additional communities throughout Michiana?

Music is global and we are all part of a global family to have a chance to share my love of music with the next county over so close to what we're doing here in South Bend is very special.

And some of my musicians here in the South and Symphony Orchestra play in the Polk County Symphony Orchestra.

So there's a connection already there, as you heard to Marsalis are also our finalists and also from from South Bend.

But music connects us all, and it's important to see that.

Bigger picture of that, not just within each community.

And I think it's it's just so important, you know, it is.

And I can tell you, I'm a big fan of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra.

I come over here and I have seen several concerts.

I completely agree.

Music is music is the international language.

Music is global.

I love.

And so people looking at their tickets online, but they can also check in Berkeley, which I think is so important right now.

Right.

Especially that people still have that.

Right.

But a little bit more about what it takes to be a future star.

Well, it takes a little fortitude.

You know, anyone that has to audition that, that's that's pretty tough.

And I would say that to sing in front of an orchestra is not the easiest thing to do.

You better be prepared for that.

And it's in almost all of these cases, this will be the first time that any of these people have sung with an orchestra and orchestra.

And especially for the youth who always impressed me.

I think we have everything from 14 years old to 17 years old and the youth.

And we think of a 14 year old getting up there, poised, singing with an orchestra.

It blows my mind when that happens.

But they do it in.

And Alistar is so great about it because he's been on stage so much and he has such a way of making them feel comfortable Before before they even start to sing.

And that's one of the reasons why we keep he really is so good at that.

And he's a true leader.

I mean, he knows that.

He knows every piece down and he makes the orchestra feel good about what they're doing.

And he puts on just a tremendous performance, really.

My job is to support the singers, to make the case that sound as best as they can.

But what makes the who's your star?

Everything that Tim said.

And something else, each of these of these candidates have something beyond just their voice is a stage presence Call it what you will.

And it's who's going to come on the night with that extra spot that's going to shine slightly brighter on the stage presence.

Do you know it when you see it and nothing can beat the live experience of of seeing that and seeing that in concert?

I love that.

And people can vote, too.

So you get a vote that's with them.

And when you're virtual, too?

That is correct.

So, of course, we want everybody to come to the live event.

And I will tell for people that are not familiar with at the Civic Auditorium.

It's really sort of a small arena.

So it's actually a very large space.

And we're in front of the MORIS right now.

This is happening in Lahore.

This is happening in Lahore at the Civic Auditorium, which is about an eighteen hundred seats base.

But it's about it's it's almost like a city.

Like I said, it's a small arena.

So it's a really large place.

Are people worried about, you know, distancing and things like that?

We've made it work.

OK. Yeah.

We are going to require masks for everyone upon entrance.

OK, once you get to your seat, if you want to take your mask off and you're with your pod, you know your people, then you can take you can take the mask off.

But just to let people know, we are going to be requiring masks to to enter the building.

But you're right that the voting is really the big deal here, because we have the most votes, the one who wins.

Now, the judges do have twenty five percent of the vote.

As they should have a little bit more percentage than everybody else, because they're the pros doing this.

But with with we're taking it all electronic this year.

We're using a QR code that your smartphone.

OK, so we'll have the QR codes in the program.

So everyone that's at the live event can can put their smartphone on the QR code.

And then the all the finalists will come up and you'll choose which one you want.

Same thing will happen with the virtual the QR code will be on the screen.

Just take your phone, put it on the screen.

The same thing will happen and you'll put it up.

We used to have these huge Ballecer.

You said these huge boxes with five finalists and you had to put a little piece of paper and then everyone knows how long it took forever, you know.

And finally coming into the 21st century.

But how to do it?

You have the results at night.

Oh, well, we do have the results at night, but there could be a lot quicker this time.

OK, good.

Well, thanks so much for telling us a bit more about it.

This is really exciting.

And again, you said this is this big thing here.

Sixteen computer starts happening and you have contestants from all over India.

You do.

We had twenty one different communities that were represented in the auditions.

We have six different communities that are represented in the finals, and two of them are from South Bend.

Amazing.

How exciting.

Well, thank you so much.

Good luck with your event.

Thank you.

Hope you can make it out.

You can find more information on our website, as well as on the LA County Symphony Orchestra site.

Well, Patricia and Tom, so glad that you guys could be with us.

So I'm so excited about this documentary.

There's been so much buzz about it in our community.

So I have to ask you, because there's so much history surrounding the St. Joseph River.

When you were asked to do this project, what were your initial thoughts about it?

When we were first asked about the project, my initial thoughts were excitement.

It sounded like a fun project to be a part of Pat myself and to other producers.

Brian Callies and Jeff Manase had worked on a project about the Kankakee River.

And it just seemed kind of like a nice natural progression to be a part of the story of the river that is only separated by, you know, just a short little stretch of wind.

S we were very excited.

And Patricia, what's fun about it?

Oh, I think just it's always fun to meet new people and just meeting the people and seeing the river through their eyes, you know, how it affected them and their lives and their children.

And so that was the most I think the most fun for me was seeing the river through other people's eyes.

Now, this is a river that has hundreds and thousands of years of history.

It's an hour long documentary.

So where do you begin and what do you decide really needs to be in this story with something like this?

I think deciding what goes into the documentary is by far the hardest part of the whole project.

You know, there are so many great stories that we weren't able to fit into an hour.

Tom, can you share one of those stories with us?

Oh, absolutely.

I think the story of Fort St. Joseph is, you know, it was this critical point in the entire North American continent.

And, you know, from an outsider looking in, you know, you had no idea that this this little town of Niles, Michigan, had such historic significance .

So that was that was really interesting to me.

And Patricia, what about you?

Well, I think this like with time, we had a there was a kind of overwhelming you know, the river is over 200 miles long and all these little towns around it have their own little unique history and stories.

So it was a lot to wrap your head around.

And when we did, you know, there were several times during the whole production that we thought, is this an hour ago on documentaries?

It's a series, you know, how should we do?

But we thought it was best served by doing kind of like the cliff notes, you know, a strong one hour that covers the entire history.

And then that each community celebrate the St. Joe around their own local history, which is was the vision of Greg GATESI, you know, to have celebrate St. Joe.

So that's what we did.

And I think when we initially go in, you look for what are the wow factor is, you know, what what makes you really excited about this story?

And there were so many of them.

You know, the Native American history was just amazing.

And how the me came here, because they had a vision that they would go west until they found, you know, of the place where food grew on the water.

And that's what they found here in the St. Joe Valley, the wild rice.

So that was exciting.

There were stories of I like to bring stories to life So I like all the little details it go back and read through some of the old history.

And you found out, you know, how people transporte products down the river and they were pohlmann.

And some people who lived along the river would hear these Pullman all night long going back forward.

You know, just the sounds and the sights that you hear that bring the river to life.

We found a unique story about a Pullman who was called the Michigan giant because he was six foot nine and he went to protec his fellow Pullman as a bartender in South Bend trying to steal your money.

So it's a lot a little fun, funster fun stories along the way as well as, you know, the the really wow factor, I think, is the strategic location of the river, because it was here that there was this portage that basically could connect a water trail all the way down to the Mississippi River.

And so that was huge.

And that's why it was kind of a highly contested area as well You had mentioned the communities celebrating the St. Joe, which is something that we had an opportunity to do this summer in conjunctio with the documentary.

A lot of the communities along the river had different events and activities for the community, and there even watch parties that are going on.

And when the documentary airs, how does that make you feel to know that this river means so much to this community No.

You know, it's always nice to have a project like this seen by people.

And it was such a great I think I think Greg Guzzi, it really saw that this river was special to not just South Bend and to the folks in Indiana, but from the headwaters all the way to where it empties out into Lake Michigan.

So I think he kind of had a finger on the pulse in terms of, you know, how special of a treasure this really is.

So it's just been a great feeling to see that people have are starting to embrace the documentary.

And we hope that we kind of did this great natural treasure justice with the film.

Patricia, what do you hope people will take away from the documentary?

I hope they will take away from it the story of both, you know, the cultural story of the.

People who have lived along the river and how they used to use the river, and also that the river is something we need to take care of and protect so that I'll be here for future generations.

I'm so glad that you said that, because that was actually my last question.

You know, I'm from time to time on experience, Michiana Krista Bailey talks about the importance of sustainability and taking care of the environment.

And I love the title of the documentary Then, Now and Always.

And so I'd like to pose that question, you know, maybe a little more in-depth to each of you.

What kind of our community do to ensure that there's a then there's, you know, now, but that there will be and always there are organizations called Friends of the St. Joe River that people can join.

There's the head of the the St. Joe River Basin.

He's also leads the St. Joe.

The friends in St. Joe is Matt Merson, and he's a very avid river advocate.

He's a kayaker.

And, you know, he takes care of the river.

And I think there's a lot of educational things out there that he could help people with and they could join the friends of the St. Joe .

But not only that smaller, if you see the documentary, you'll see how just one person starting to say, hey, I don't want those tires and those jump that jump in our river went out and started cleaning it up.

And pretty soon, you know, side brothers were helping out and then they cleaned up the whole river and kayak festivals.

So I think that's part of what they can do.

Getting out on the river, you know, safely, of course, because the river has its challenges.

But if you do kayak, you know, when you enjoy the river, when you connect to it, fishing with your kids.

But just taking care of it.

So join the Friends of St. Joe.

Learn more about your river and learn how you can take care of it.

It won't necessarily always be there if we don't take care of it.

And I think one of the things that really stood out to me in the in the documentary is learning how the fish species have been so impacted during the later part of the 19th century, in the early 20th century.

And what an incredible resurgence they've made, because sewage treatment plants have cleaned the river up and people are taking care of it better.

And now there's a pretty good.

Vibrant ecosystem of aquatic life living in the river.

There's a wonderful aquatic biologist who works with, I believe, the city of Elkhart and South Bend by name, Darren Deegan .

And he does a great job.

He's always out with school groups and, you know, showing fish, you know, taking them out of the river, showing them to school groups and something like that is just a wonderful way to connect people to the river.

So, you know, it's it's searching out these opportunities to connect with the river.

And I think that is a is a great way that the next generation can begin to embrace it.

Well, thank you both for reminding us of what a beautiful and important treasure that we have here in our community.

Again, this will be airing on Thursday, September 9th, on it at 8:00 p.m.. And let's take a quick peek, a sneak peek at Ben now and always the St. Joseph River story.

Thank you both.

Thank you.

The St. Joseph River has long provided for the people who call its banks home.

And then the Chenab culture and the Pottawattamie culture.

We say that water is medicine, water is life, and we believe in honoring the spirit of that water.

When you're beside the river, you have what you need to sustain life.

From Fer's.

To fruit.

The beauty of the St. Joseph Valley has always attracted life.

The river is what drew us here.

If it wasn't here, we wouldn't be here, including the animals and the trees and plants.

And thanks to a fate of geology, the St. Joseph served as a critical gateway to the continent.

The portage path that connected the St. Joe with the Kankakee River, you can traverse third of the United States just by using that five mile path.

It just happened to be here.

That connection inspired the establishment of a fort on the river's edge.

That would feel the effects of conflict between global powers.

Ultimately, it would be the power of the river itself that shaped its future.

As it powered the industries that gave rise to the cities and towns of today, every town along that river is inextricably linked to the river.

Everything about that town started off because it was on that river.

But as the river gave birth to new communities.

The stream began to suffer.

So it was viewed as a way to get rid of the things that we don't want, and eventually that became the toxics that were used in the production process.

But communities that once turned their backs to the river are now embracing it.

Something snapped and changed and it was.

This is part of what makes our community special.

The trend is moving in a direction of understanding that we need to live in concert with all of creation, these resources that nature has to offer.

It doesn't belong to us.

It belongs to our children and their children, because they're the ones that are going to need it tomorrow.

Past generations have been well served by the St. Joseph.

What does the future have in store for this river?

And it's people.

So, Jim, we're talking about the blueberry festival that's coming up soon, and you are a hot air balloon pilot.

I am.

And what is the role of the hot air balloons at the blueberry festival coming up?

Well, we have a balloon competition, for one thing.

But also I think what the blueberry festival is looking for is the balloon glow So, yeah, which is of course, we do it Sunday night before the fireworks.

You wait until it gets dark.

Mm hmm.

Stand up the balloons.

We have a special burner of that.

Throw was pure white light.

And you like them up like that.

It's like stained glass windows with a light shining through.

It's wonderful Somebody who's a pilot, I know we've been talking a lot about that as well.

How did you get into hot air balloons?

Actually, I had an airplane waiting for this.

And my son was about six years old and we were driving through the countryside and he said, balloon boy.

And we followed it until it landed.

It turned out to be somebody I went to ground school with.

Oh, nice.

So at that point, between my son and and having been a friend, we'd started crewing for him nice food for a few years.

And then he quit flying.

So I said, I can't go be without.

So I bought a balloon and got my license.

So you you started off by crewing for somebody else.

And I know that you're looking for people to help out with your crew, right?

Mm hmm.

So tell us about that for anyone watching those interests.

You know, a lot of people think the crew is just those people who will get out of the trailer and put it together.

But really, they're your safety.

Mm hmm.

Yeah.

If you inflated balloon, a lot of the fabric is on the on the ground.

Mm hmm You do a preflight, but then it's blowing up and you can't see all of that.

Yeah.

So you want your crew to look at it for you.

They're going to be standing where they can see inside the balloon.

You want them looking for things.

You might not see you after you get off the ground, when you're about the land you want them looking for for obstacles at the point where you're going to land.

So for anyone that does want to just turn up and volunteer, is there any requirements like how strong do they have to be?

You have to be able to lift about 50 pounds.

OK. And if you don't have any experience there, there will be a pilot and they almost always bring a crew chief.

Yeah.

So they can so, you know, they it's kind of, you know, they'll they'll teach you.

Yeah, of course.

If you're willing to learn, they're willing to show you to literally show you the ropes.

Yeah, I love it.

I have heard in the aviation community that the hardest thing about flying balloons is trying to find a crew that wants to be with you.

So is this specifically just for the blueberry festival or is this overall?

Probably.

It's mostly for the blueberry festival.

I'm not trying to do much flying anymore.

I'm looking more to instruct.

OK. And but the pilots are scattered from all over everywhere.

Now, if they were local, it would be forever.

Hmm.

If you find a good one here, you keep him.

So.

So anyone watching that wants to sign up as a crew member for the blueberry festival, how do they do it?

Like where do they go?

Just show up and tell them what you what you are and they'll take you back to us.

Right.

So it's that easy.

You don't have to do anything in advance.

Just turn up to the blueberry.

We'd like them to.

OK, but they never do that.

So, you know, so there's no point in being optimistic this year.

I've given up you know, I call it magic, OK?

And for anyone that is disciplined and does want to in advance, is there a way to do that online, to sign up as a volunteer or or what would be the best way in advance?

Probably to get a hold of me through through the email.

OK. Jay KUNC, one nine five two at Gmail.

OK. Nineteen fifty to nineteen fifty two.

Is that the year your balloon was born?

No, no, I'm just kidding.

All right.

So, yeah, it looks like it's going to be a great event at the Blueberry Festival.

Of course, it's such a huge festival.

I mean, it's one of the biggest in the country.

It is indeed.

That's huge festival.

Mm hmm.

I think I was telling you before, this balloon event is the second largest in the country.

Yeah.

In terms of people coming out to see it.

Yeah.

And the balloons play a big role in the festivities on it.

Now that there are balloon festivals with more balloons than ours.

But can people actually go on a balloon ride during the festival?

How does that work or can they go up or we're going to have some tethered rides.

OK.

But we sell sponsorships for the balloons.

So they the sponsor brings in the balloon and they get the rides.

OK. Well, they're not for sale.

OK.

Awesome.

It's it's an amazing ride if you want to if you've ever been around a balloon.

Yeah.

Because, you know, turbulence.

Mm hmm.

You never feel turbulence in a balloon and float through it?

No, it's just so there all the time, smooth there.

You can talk to somebody in the ground with a thousand feet I think it's a beautiful way to see the countryside.

Oh, it's it's fantastic.

And the people you meet when you land.

Mm hmm.

And of course, you can land anywhere as long as your permission can land.

Well, I can land on a on a county road if there's no wires on it.

Yeah.

No, it's very cool.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, Jim, thank you so much.

Can I come up on a hot air balloon?

Actually come and come up on film at some time.

Come on up.

And I can be.

You can instruct me on how to do it.

I can try that.

I appreciate that.

And I hope lots of people sign up, help you out with crew at the Blueberry Festival.

And I hope it's a very safe and and happy festival.

We're looking forward to it.

Look, I know that finding crew for the balloons is really difficult for Jim and people like him who really love hot air ballooning.

So if you really are interested in that, make sure you find out more information.

There's so much to experience across Michiana.

Don't forget, you can always use the hashtag experience Michiana.

And we will find your suggestions for things that we can do out and about in this community.

You might sit at home and say there's nothing to do, but every week we show you that there is lots to do.

Until next week, unexperienced Michiana.

That's it for me.

Irish Dave.

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

Thank you.