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.

Welcome to.

Another week here at.

Experience Michiana.

And I'm excited for this show because we are talking about some events that have been going on for a number of years, all of them today.

One of the things we're going to be checking out is the slice of life after school program.

Kelly had a chance to talk to them about that.

That one's been going on for over 30 years.

I also had a chance to talk to Hoosier Star.

I love this event.

If you like those big shows where you're voting for the best performance.

This is one that happens here right in Indiana with the La Porte County Symphony Orchestra.

But first up, we're checking out the brew at the zoo, and that's here at the Potawatomi Zoo.

And that one's been going on for about 12, 13 years.

Check it out.

Well, for those of you who love to come to the zoo, but maybe don't want to bring your kids all the time, there's an awesome event happening once again this year at Pottawattamie Zoo.

Brew for the Zoo is coming up.

And I have Margie here, who is the director of development at Potawatomi Zoo.

Thanks for joining us today.

We're so excited.

Now, this has been going on for a number of years, a long time.

And this year we're going back to the more traditional format that people remember from the good old days.

We had to change things up because of COVID, but this year we're going back to the stations all over the zoo, lots of different breweries, wines ciders.

We're super excited for everyone to come back out.

That is awesome.

And this is such a great event.

It is 21 and over, right?

Bring your IDs Okay.

Yes.

You're going to need that for sure.

You're going to do that for sure.

Yep.

Tickets are general admission 50 VIP 75.

It's Saturday, September 24th, from 4 to 7.

VIPs get in at three, so you get an hour early.

And some special things for the VIPs.

What kinds of things do because you guys still have VIP tickets available, still have a few.

Okay, so what is that?

What do you get with it?

You get in early, you get a special animal experience.

We have a special VIP.

I'm all about the animal experiences and that's the surprise.

What it's going to be.

Yeah, there's some food options.

You got a pretzel necklace.

Oh, yeah.

So it's just a lot of fun.

And the event that happens, I mean, this is obviously something that benefits the zoo.

We're coming into the winter season.

Why is it so important to continue supporting the zoo?

You guys have been doing so much.

Here we are.

We're doing a lot.

But as you're you know, we close October 31st our last day that were open.

So we don't have revenue throughout the winter.

So this is a really good way for us to kind of boost up our sales, our revenues before we closed down for the winter.

Absolutely.

And with that, I mean, obviously, bringing adults into the mix of it and not without without the kids, it's a whole different atmosphere.

It is.

It is.

And, you know, we're trying to get this demographic that we don't always get.

You know, we definitely always get our traditional moms and little kids in strollers.

But we're trying to get that demographic of people maybe who their kids have aged out.

So they haven't been to the zoo in a while or, oh, my gosh, my kids I used to bring my kids all the time, but I haven't been in ten years.

So.

Or young adults we have we see a lot of young adults coming dates date night.

So we're trying to get that the adult crowd coming back out to the zoo, I think is definitely a shift.

And for those folks who haven't been to the zoo in a while, there's so much new things here at the zoo.

What are some of your favorite things that has come about?

Well, the world's worst secret is our giraffes are out, so all four of the boys are out on walking around their habitat.

So if you even have seen them earlier in the year, this is this is new that they're out walking around.

Because I think even the last time I was here, there was only two of them out.

So they're all out now.

Yeah.

So you'll get to see that at Brew at the zoo.

And I mean, really, this is a limited time option opportunity because the zoo is going to be closing here in the next month or two.

So this is really a great opportunity for folks to get out and enjoy it in a different kind of way.

Absolutely.

An evening is always the best time.

We love evenings.

It's going to be fall.

You know, that's South Bend's.

That's when we shine.

So just a perfect night to come hang out at the zoo.

All right.

I think we're going to talk to Lindy about who's actually going to be here and what you can taste while we're here.

Okay.

Awesome.

Well Lindy, you're the special events manager, so you're in charge of this.

Okay, a little bit.

So what can people expect from the brew at the zoo Oh, it's going to be such a great day.

Well, you can probably hear our train.

You can come to the zoo brew and you can ride the train and the carousel unlimited all you like.

Okay, so that's like included.

With the ticket.

With your ticket.

Okay.

We're going to have so many great breweries.

We have some local we have Crooked Ewe, South Bend Brew.

Works.

Fencers, which is down in Lakeville, Louisville.

So I really, really want to focus on getting some local breweries here.

Local, you have local, regional, a lot of hard ciders.

Let's see, a three Floyds is a big one like Lake Lakeville Brewing Studebaker, so lots of great local rule 152 local and I think a lot of beer that you'll be familiar with in hard.

Cider brewer so brews you'll also have some cider seltzers.

And wine and.

Then you have nonalcoholic.

We do.

We're having some fun like lavender infused waters 1919 root beer, which is a huge hit.

Everyone loves that.

And of course, water and unlimited soft drinks for people who desginated drivers.

Okay, perfect.

And I know there's other stuff that's going to be happening to you.

So you also have food vendors.

You have lots of great food.

We have Knights of Columbus and they bring out their pierogis and they're pulled pork nachos.

We have the dog pound gourmet hotdogs.

We have Alex Kimes elephant ears and Frankie's tacos.

We love Franky.

He's great.

So lots of great food for sale for purchase.

Those ones are not included.

That is correct.

That's for purchase Perfect.

And then as far as games, there's stuff that people to have, but like how do you pack it all out?

We have Cornhole and giant Yahtzee and we have a great photo booth.

It's free.

You can just come and take great photos of your with your friends, great music.

Blammo is going to be here, which we are so excited about this year and Boomer is going to be in our parking lot.

So if you're in line, you'll have some fun activities that can keep you moving if you're waiting to come in.

And that we have Jake from Star Heart.

So great entertainment, great games, just it's just a great event.

It's a lot of fun.

It is.

And as far as the animals I know, obviously that's getting towards the darker times.

Yeah, the fall.

What are the animals expectations.

I know some might not be out hopefully they'll they'll.

Be out depends a lot on the weather which we're going to hope is going to be great weather.

But the giraffes should be out the LEP, the leopards should be out the tiger.

So it just sort of depends on the weather and what's happening, but that's our goal is to have them all out.

Yeah.

What are some of your favorite new animals that have come?

Because I thought you more on the way.

Over 100%.

100% the giraffes.

But I also love a red panda so much.

I mean, who doesn't love Ryan?

Yeah.

So we have a lot of great things happening.

We're going to have a new concession and Black Bear exhibit soon.

We're going to get getting three new lions very soon.

So it's very exciting time at the zoo.

This is a great time to visit this great way to celebrate together, especially for those 21 and over 21.

In over a year.

We'll get their tickets online.

So you visit our Web site and everything, everything, even if you can, you can come the day up, but you still have to purchase it online to get in.

So if there are still tickets available, but just go to our website and just take you right through it.

It's super easy.

Awesome.

Well, I hope everyone comes and enjoys it.

Please.

You kind of like a staple tradition is becoming.

I feel like.

People are loving this as they love this thing.

And I have the it really.

Well, this is last year's future but we will have new T-shirts for sale as well.

So t. Shirts to go.

Oh everyone gets a little tasting a sampling mug.

Oh, so everyone gets some of those.

Okay, so yeah, we're excited.

Awesome.

Well, I think it's a great value for the price.

It really.

Is.

50 for general admission, 75 for VIPs and 25 for designated drivers.

Perfect.

All right.

We'll get your tickets before it happens again.

Happening on.

September 24th.

September 24th, Saturday, September 24th.

We'll see you there at the zoo.

Thanks so much.

30 years ago, America was the world's leader in education.

Today, we ranked 36th.

But thankfully, there's a program called Slice of Life that's ensuring that the children in our community will have a future and a hope.

We've all heard the phrase that it takes a village.

Well, right here is a whole village right here.

We've got Ms.. Gerry and Elaine.

And ladies, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us to talk about a very important program.

Now, Ms. Gerry I hear that you started this program 31 years ago.

Yes.

And what inspired you to do that?

Well, at that time, I was working at a clinic for low income, indigent, so on one side of this clinic, there was a motorcycle club.

And right across the street there was this big old house that used to be beautiful.

But now if you looked over there, there were the alcoholics on the porch drinking and I in front of the motorcycle club, there were kids selling drugs.

From the time I went to work until I came back.

We got.

Off.

Now, this was 31 years ago.

Yes.

Oh, my goodness.

Because we think like, you know, that wasn't going on then.

But it was it.

Was going on.

They were selling drugs.

And you had kids, right.

That the children had to walk right through this area when they got off the bus to go home.

So I thought the young kids were looking at these kids as role models because they had on the latest Nike clothes and the gold chains and, you know, everything.

And I thought, we need to have a positive role model here somewhere.

There was a store on the corner.

So I wouldn't put up a sign.

That's come and be with Miss Gerry for the slot.

No, it was a slice of life.

I decided I would call it.

Oh, excuse me.

No, that's okay.

But.

But just say no.

I'll just say no.

But now it's slice of life.

Yes.

What the slice stand for?

Slice stands for a slice of education that you need to proceed in life.

You know, to go ahead in the life, you have to be educated.

Absolutely.

That's the most important part.

So in our program, I am so focused on reading and math because a lot of our children who come to us, they can't read up to their potential.

Absolutely.

Now, you serve children from kindergarten to fourth grade.

And over 31 years, you've been in several different places.

But you have a home here now at Christian Life Center.

And Elaine, how did this partnership come about?

Well, Ms.. Gerry had one of her parents that had a was her child was coming to Miss Gerry for the slice of life program.

And that parent was an attender at a she was an attendant for Christian Life Center South Bend.

Well, she talked to our pastors and our pastors met with Ms.. Gerry and they all decided that this would be the slice of life home for the children.

And it has been a great partnership to the point where now we want to cover Slice of Life as one of our outreach programs.

That is wonderful.

Now, what are the days and times that this program is available.

Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday from 245 to a 530?

Okay.

So what is it like when I say children?

The children come.

Well, so what is it like when they come here?

What do you read with them?

You do math, but you also love on them.

Oh, yeah.

When they come through the door, everybody gets a hug because this time it's their Hi Ms Gerry And then we sit around in a circle and we do the motto And after we do the motto we eat.

The kids have to have a meal because they didn't school all day.

And it's important that they eat or they are not going to concentrate.

That's so true.

Now, you've mentioned the motto twice.

Can you can you tell us what the motto is?

Yes, I can.

It's I have a dream today and I have what it takes inch by inch day by day.

I work without delay.

I'll push past all that's in my way.

And my dream will come true someday.

Because I have what it takes.

That is beautiful.

And they have to say that every day that they come here.

That is wonderful.

Now, 31 years, I'm sure that you have seen this program grow and flourish.

And one of the ways you've seen that is through your alumni.

So tell us a little bit about the alumni and many of the success stories that have come through them.

Well, there is.

Oh, jeez, I forgot her name.

Dion Wilson.

I'm sorry.

There's Dion Wilson, who is a teacher.

She teaches in Elkhart She's Dr. Dan Wilson because she got her Ph.D. and there's Mrs. Fowler, who has her own business.

Runs her own business.

It's I think it's like a real estate business that she has.

That's great.

That's because there's so many children.

And what's beautiful is that you brought them here, you sewed into their life, and now they're sewing back into their community.

Elaine, what does it mean for the children to be here at Christian Life Center?

Well, I think for the church itself, it says we love children.

Our mantra is loving people to their next place in God.

And so we feel like we can accommodate these children with love, with food, sometimes with clothing, if they need it.

But most of all, the love if we can show that this church loves you regardless as to who you are, then we've accomplished.

It's a win for us.

I have one more person I want to tell you about.

His name is Floyd Thomas and his brother is John Thomas and they are musician Floyd who has his own recording studio now.

And he when he was little, he could play anything.

And I used to tell him, you know, you should go to Juiliard and you would be.

But he didn't.

He didn't need to go to Juilliard.

There's nothing this young man can't play now.

It's a family of his own.

And I am so proud of him.

Oh, yes.

I'm sure the whole community's proud of him.

And we are so grateful for what the two of you are doing now.

It takes a village.

So you have a wish list, right?

What are some of the things on your wish list?

The one thing that I really, really want is a computer room for, because now kids are on computers in kindergarten.

Yes, they are.

And if we can't follow that, some something gets lost.

And I think that a computer room would be perfect.

That's one thing we want.

Another thing we want is just donations are monetary donations.

Donations of things go into the store, which a very important part is going to be a very important part of this program this year.

Absolutely.

Now, how can people get in touch with you?

They can call us.

They can call the church Christian Life Center, South Bend at 574-272-5683.

Another way to contact us is through info at c l c sb dot org ms. Gerry referred to the store and the store is not your regular store.

It's a place where the children will be able to earn rewards and with those rewards they will get to purchase little things that kids like to play with.

Not electronics, but nice little things that sensory items and things like that.

So it's important for the kids to know that what they're doing is it's not just, you know, work, work, work, work, work, but they are also being able to be rewarded for their accomplishments and ms Gerry is very big on rewarding the children.

That is wonderful.

Now, I know you mentioned the information, but you can also get more information by going on to experience Michigan dot org.

Ladies, thank you so much for being that village and thank you so much for loving these children to their next place.

Thank you for having us.

We appreciate it.

Well, it is time once again for the Hoosier Star.

And this is an amazing event that happens for a number of years now.

I have with this Tim King, who is the executive director at the Laporte County Symphony Orchestra.

Hi, Tim.

Nice to have you here.

Hi Courtney It's a pleasure to be here.

Thank you.

Now, you guys have been doing this.

Is this the seventinth year?

You know, it's amazing.

When the orchestra started this 17 years ago, they really thought it might last maybe five or six years because they thought, well, we're just we're out of talent, you know, around the area.

And but that is not the case at all.

Every year I keep saying, what's the best crop we've ever had?

And so I feel like this is the same way this year as well.

17 years and going really, really strong.

Now, for those who aren't familiar with Who's Your start, why don't you give us a little bit of the background of it?

Because it has been going on for so long.

But what I especially love about it is that you have both a younger category as well as an older category, too.

That is correct.

What this is, is this is a chance for amateur.

It's really kind of a take off on American Idol, but we kind of put our own spin on it.

It's a chance for amateur singers to actually get to sing with a full live symphony orchestra.

So what we have is we have an audition process in March of each year, and we have two categories.

One is a youth category for ages 17 and under, and we have an adult category for ages 18.

And over.

And you can be engaging in those in those categories.

So then we choose five finalists from each category and then we rehearse with them.

We've already had two rehearsals, but just sort of a small combo with them.

We have to choose their particular pieces that they're going to sing we think will show them off the best and then we rehearse with them.

Then we get to with the week of the concert.

And then we do have three rehearsals with our music director, Karen Watson, and the orchestra, and then culminating in the evening of the event, which is Saturday, September the 17th.

So each finalist will get to sing live with the orchestra.

And probably we're anticipating anywhere from 1200 to 1500 people this year at the Civic Auditorium.

And with these being people from the Hoosier State, I mean, these are people who quite possibly have not been on a large stage like this before.

That is correct.

A lot of especially the youth, they probably have been in their high school productions or maybe they've been in something regionally.

And some of the adults, maybe they some with a band somewhere or they've done this, but they've never had any orchestral experience actually singing in a concert hall.

So this is really a chance for them to let me tell you, as one who has done it, many, many times, I tell people it's the only legal high I know of to sing orchestra, and that is the absolute truth.

And even though we have $1,000 prize, first prize and 500 for 2nd in each category, if we really have ten winners, and then they will tell you that because the finalists all say to me, the real thrill is being able to sing in front of a live orchestra.

That is the real thrill for everyone.

Absolutely.

And how many pieces are in the orchestra?

What can people expect for the night?

Probably about 50 will be in the orchestra and our music director, Carolyn Watson, will be leading.

And South Bend's music director, Alastair Alastair Willis, who has been conducting for us for the past three years.

But we were having the music director search is going to be one of our celebrity judges.

So we're really happy to have Alister as a part of it.

And also, I want people to know that last year's adult winner, Jarron Sampson, is from South Bend as well.

So we've had several folks in the South Bend area.

In fact, this year.

We have finalists that go from Fort Wayne to Terre Haute, Indiana.

Literally, you're going all the way across the state and people auditioning as far south as Evansville and Floyd Dobbs, which is right across from Louisville, Kentucky.

So you can see the whole state was really involved in it, at least the auditions.

We have six different communities that are involved in the finalists.

That's incredible that something so state wide is happening here locally in Michiana What does that mean for the local community in LaPorte?

Well, I think what's really happened in the last few years, evidently the word has gotten out, because when we did the first few years, it did mainly stay into our region, the northwest Indiana region.

So Saint Joe County, Laporte Lake Porter County, and maybe even Southwest Michigan.

We also include Berrien County there, but I don't know what happened.

But in the last few years, the people are talking, I guess is what's going on because we are having these people that are coming up and auditioning from all parts of the state now, and I really think the word is getting out.

But I guess what, you're 16 years old and you might be able to sing in front of a live orchestra.

And there's nothing like it in the whole world.

Absolutely.

I know last year's winner, Jerrian and she has been on a cruise performing in the six and six the musical this past year as well.

She was.

So I mean, this is really kind of a stepping stone for people potentially.

It is.

It can be.

And Jerrian fortunately, is going to come back literally the week before.

Hoosier star her contract ends.

And so so I'm sure she probably has something else in the offing that's going to go on after that.

But she will be back.

What we do is every year we have voting for Hoosier Star.

So everybody gets to vote for one person, youth division and one person in the adult division.

And while the accountants are tabulating these votes at the end of the evening, we bring back the two winners from the year previous, and that would be Jaron singing Don't Write on My Parade for Funny Girl and Joseph Giuliani, who's 17 years old, who will be singing a song.

This was made famous by Andrea Bocelli.

Beautiful, beautiful day.

So it's just a it's a it's a great evening.

And the tickets are $15 for the balcony and $5 for children, 12 and under.

You can't beat that.

Can't even retain it for that kind of price.

It's a great evening for family entertainment.

I mean, there's really nothing like this.

I know for our family here, we like to watch the America's Got Talent and things like that, and we do them at home.

But to be able to actually see it in person and to cheer these folks on and to vote for them, to, that's a unique experience.

And on top of that, we are going to livestream.

So those people who cannot attend the concert will be able to to check in starting the Monday of the concert, 17th, September the 17th.

And so the Monday prior you'll be able to check in is $15 to do live stream.

They can go on and pay and get their access code and then come in the night or they can just wait till the night out.

What I really like about the live stream, for instance, we have one finalist whose mother is from India and her relatives from India are going to be able to hear this young 14 year old sing and they've never heard her sing before.

So and we had it happened last year.

We had relatives that were in Mexico.

And so they got to hear the finalists that they never heard before, their family from Mexico.

And they got to vote, you know, on top of that.

So the live stream, really, I still think there's there's nothing like live performance.

I really want people to know that being there live nothing beats that.

You know, you get the excitement, the chills and everything as opposed to seeing it on a screen, but as opposed to not being able to see it at all.

Livestream is our second best option.

Absolutely.

I know you guys did that in the past as well too, so I'm assuming it has gone very well for you.

But there's a lot of seats available in this particular building as well to the auditorium.

It's it's a very large auditorium.

Well, it's really sort of a small arena.

And we have tables on the floor.

We only have a couple of tables left.

So it'll probably be gone.

Those are much more expensive because this is a fundraiser for the orchestra.

It's $750 for a table on the floor of ten, but then the balcony ticket is $15 and five and you can go to LCSO Dot Net, that's our website and you can order the tickets there.

It's very simple and bring the tickets with you.

The printed out and bring it with you and get to choose your own seat up in the balcony wherever you like.

And we have sort of general admission policy there.

People have different places in the balcony.

They like to sit, so we leave it up to them where they would like to sit.

It's probably a couple of hours, but there's always something going on.

You know, there's never a lull in the entertainment.

Well, this is just such a unique thing that we have here in our community.

And I and I know on top of that, the La Porte County Symphony Orchestra is actually celebrating a pretty big anniversary this year to 50 years.

Can you believe it?

I've been in the orchestra business for a long, long time.

I used to be with Louisville, Kentucky for many, many years and retired up here and found out this wonderful small budget orchestra.

But that doesn't mean they play very, very well.

And so we've grown their budget finances are much better these days.

And I'm just so proud of this orchestra because they do such a beautiful job and we're so fortunate to have someone of Dr. Carolyn Watson's caliber to be our to be our leader.

She is the director of orchestra at the University of Illinois, which is considered one of the top programs in the country.

And then she gets conducts all over the place and has an ongoing relationship with Interlochen.

So we're we just feel.

So she's going to be in her second year and we are so grateful to have her.

And she loves being here and we love her.

And it's just a big love fest, you know, that's going on all the time.

But she's really, really looking forward to this first year.

Who's your star?

Maybe Alister might give us some tips.

We'll see.

I'm sure I'm sure he will.

Well, I'm wishing you all the best of luck.

And especially to all of our Hoosier stars.

Exactly.

And we want folks and the Saint Joe County and Laporte County and all the surrounding regions come and support your favorite singer.

Awesome.

Well, thank you so much, Tim.

I hope you have a wonderful event.

Thank you so much Courtney well.

Thanks for checking out another week here at Experience Michiana We hope that you'll get to out and enjoy some of these awesome things happening in Michiana as we're gearing towards the end of the summer and heading into fall.

There's so much here to do in Michiana If you want to share any of that, you can always tag us on social media with experience Michiana and we'd love to hear what you love to do as we head into the fall season.

See you later.

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.