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.

Look at the big beautiful.

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

That's right.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to experience Michiana.

We are so glad that you chose to join us today.

I'm Kelly, along with Dave and Courtney.

And we have a great show for you.

But Dave, where are you today?

Kelly, today I'm at Elkhart Municipal Airport.

I get to share my passion for aviation with everybody else and especially young people.

Find out what it's all about as I broadcast from Elkhart Municipal Airport.

But Courtney where are you today?

I love a good theme party.

Always a good reason to have a costume.

Checking out cassaday costume company here in South Bend.

And as you can see, I might be getting a little dressed up today and I'm going to experience Hot Girl Fitness in the park.

What is that?

OK, well, you're going to have to stay tuned to find out all about that and more.

Well, why don't we catch up with Dave?

Because I think he's in Elkhart and I'm here in Elkhart to find out how he was going to be here.

Hey, it is Irish, Dave, and I'm here in my happy place at Elkhart Municipal Airport.

Any hangar that I can be in with airplanes is my happy place as a pilot who flies out of Elkhart Airport.

I'm excited to talk to you today on experience Michiana, about something that's coming up that your kids can get involved in.

I'm here with Dr. George Bush.

How are you doing?

I'm well.

Thank you for coming out.

Now, Doug, you're the president of the local chapter.

For anyone watching that doesn't know, what does it stand for?

For EAA stands for the Experimental Aircraft Association.

But what that really means is that means it's a group of aviators, certified planes, experimental planes, pilots, aviators, enthusiasts get together to enjoy the mission of all things aviation.

Now, one of the things that as pilots we love to do is welcome new people into the aviation community, because for me, I thought it was somebody else's dream .

But then when you get around aviators, we're so good at encouraging other people to do it.

But that often starts young.

So we've got the young eagles.

So what is the young Eagles?

And tell us a little bit about that.

Well, Young Eagles is a program that was started by the National Experimental Air And what they've done, they've flown over four million kids over the last 15 years.

And it's a chance to be able to give kids that maybe might not have realized that aviation could be in their future.

And it's a chance for vetted, experienced pilots to take kids up.

And they get to go on a free flight with a with a pilot debil experience.

And a lot of times they get to, you know, put their hands on the controls with their supervision, obviously, and to be able to actually see what it's like to actually fly a plane, as you know.

Yeah.

Once you once you do that, it's like like you've tasted it and you're like, oh, I can't wait for the next flight.

Yeah.

I can't wait to keep on pushing all of my extra income into this hobby that I love so much.

And of course, our wives get so bored of us talking about aviation that it's great to actually have some young faces around that want to learn about, you know.

And the thing that I love the most about flying as well, it's the camaraderie among other aviators, but it's also to see the world from that perspective.

You know, even if you've flown on a commercial airliner, you know, you're open within five minutes.

He can't really see anything anymore.

But with us, like staying lower to the ground, it's actually it's such a great advantage, our vantage point, I should say.

It's a great way to see the local area.

It is.

It's like when you're at four to six thousand feet, like you're only a mile away.

And so as a as a as a nice thing, that is not only is it allow you to see all the people that are stuck in traffic, you're getting someplace.

But it's also it's almost like a time machine, like for me personally, like I can fly to a client's place and get there in a third of the time than it would take me to drive there So it's also helping people, the kids, to see that there's a lot more to aviation than just being a pilot.

They could be a pilot, they could be an air traffic controller.

And when they come out, they get to go in a tour of the control tower here in Elkhart.

An engineer, a mechanic.

There's all kinds of thing.

My dad was an aircraft mechanic for 50 years or Delta.

So it was it was kind of nice to see that there's many facets about aviation.

Absolutely.

And for kids or families or moms or dads watching right now to think, hey, this would be a great thing to do.

As you said, it is free, but you do have to sign up in advance.

So how do people do that?

You do.

You go to Young Eagles Day dot org, which is a website and then you go and they'll be there's other events around the country, but ours is on September 25th here at Elkhart Airport, and they click on the registration thing and they go through the process of giving some details up.

And it's approved obviously by mom and dad.

We expect mom and dad to show up with them because most of the time it's mom and dad are like, hey, is there another seat for me in there?

And so this is not babysitting.

Yes, I maybe see.

But it is a great experience, you know, to be able to see some of the smiles that come off of there.

And then we've actually seen a lot of dads and moms that have gone on to become pilots because they were inspired by seeing their kids, even though the kids aren't quite old enough yet.

Yeah, we've got a guy right now that he just finished his pilot's license, but he brought his kid when he was about nine, and now he has two.

Gets it, he gets to take his kid up.

I love so it's exciting.

It is it is such a wonderful thing to be a part of It's great camaraderie.

Everybody wants to belong to something.

And, you know, you talk about parents wanting to grow up.

I know September twenty fifth is about the kids.

For any parents that want to grow up, I've yet to meet a pilot with a plane that wasn't happy to bring somebody on a flight, you know, and show them around.

And we've got so many great planes here as well.

Even in this hangar.

Tell us a little bit about some of these planes just so we can have a look around.

I'm not saying that these will be part of young Eagles on September twenty fifth, but this plane, for example, is a little bit quirkier than normal.

Yep.

This is an amphibian.

So this will land on water.

It has a two person configuration.

And so it's kind of nice is that this is a light sport.

So it's a very low weight class speed class.

And so that's that's kind of gives you that.

So you land on ground, obviously, you land in the water.

So it gives you the freedom to be able to go see it in the lakes and the ways that you never would have ever dreamed and stuff.

So absolutely.

Just make sure you put the wheels up before you land on the water.

Yeah.

You know, this one here is a great cross-country plane as well.

Now, I'm totally getting into aviation stuff here.

But tell us about this Cessna.

This is a Cessna 182.

Yep.

And so this has got a three hundred horsepower constant speed prop.

And what that means is it's got the power to be able to go about one hundred fifty knots, which is about one hundred and eighty miles an hour.

So if you can go from point A to point B, one hundred eighty miles an hour, and as the crow flies, as the crow flies, no, no traffic, no delays, no construction.

And so like from here to say, Decatur, Illinois, instead of a four hour drive, you can be there in forty five minutes.

Yeah.

This is like a pickup truck of the sky, pretty much.

Now, you talk about aviation being like time traveling at talking about time, traveling.

I think we should walk over to the corner here and have a look at this.

Take a look at this.

So this is literally time travel.

This plane is probably, what, 80 years old, probably get a 75 year old GE, three cubs.

Those are those are made in between the thirties up into the early fifties and stuff.

And so this is a tandem.

So that's why they look a little skinnier.

So the two people will vereide right behind each other.

Yeah.

And this is basically the classic plane that so many people probably learned how to fly for World War Two.

Yeah, they started in things like this and went up to like t 30 floors and stuff like that.

But now this is a classic of what people love to be on.

They go out there and see see the world low, slow from a perspective that you just can't get anywhere else.

Absolutely.

And it just goes to show you that, like how well these planes were built.

But they can still be with us today.

And I know a lot of restoration and upkeep goes into that, you know.

But no, it's absolutely wonderful.

And when you do come out here on September twenty fifth, that's the thing you'll see is a variety of all kinds of different planes.

So once again, for anyone with kids that wants to come along, young eagles, how can they sign up again?

They go to young Eagles day dot org and we'll have what we've had.

And it will have anywhere from about 12 to 15 different kind of planes.

They'll be anywhere from certified twins.

We got a couple of twin, which is two engine airplanes.

We've got some big six single engine airplanes, some 170 to 180 2s, some experimental, some ARV's, some vintage, some vintage planes like this, as well as somebody who just won big award up at Oshkosh, is going to be flying maybe in their plane here.

And so so it's a it's a it's a variety of planes.

And we even have an hour long easi, which kind of looks like a fighter jet where instead of the engine in the front, it's in the back.

So it's all kinds of varieties and stuff for kids and stuff.

So young eagles de dawg.

Yep.

And you go and you just click the registration button, give some information about you, the permissions and what have you.

When you get here, what they'll do is, well, we'll put you on a flight based upon, you know, what we can accommodate.

It's not Delta.

So there isn't that you do not say, hey, I've got a scheduled 10 o'clock flight.

There's no peanuts.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's no peanuts.

And so what we do is we actually have a ground volunteer that will what they'll do is they'll keep an eye on the kids, keep them safe.

But then when they go out there, they clean the plane, make sure everything's good.

They change out the protective guard on the microphones and stuff.

That way.

Then kids are safe.

Pilots are safe.

And then then they get a chance to escort.

If mom and dad want to make take pictures with the pilot or with the plane, and then they're they're safely escorted behind a safety line and stuff.

So they'll be able to come out there.

So a lot of times I encourage people to come out, come out early, stay long and just be able to see all the activities happening, because it is a kind of a well oiled machine.

This this club has been able to get the second largest single event flight.

We flew one hundred and thirty nine kids in four hours, about four, three and a half years ago.

So it was so but it was just relaxing because everybody knows their job and everybody's working really well together.

All right.

So Young Eagles Day dot org is where you can sign up.

Dr. Doug Busch, my friend, my fellow aviator, president of the AAA, Chapter one.

Thirty two.

Thanks so much Thanks for coming out.

We appreciate it.

OK, if you're like me, you have your costume closet in your basement.

OK, maybe not everybody has a costume closet, but I have one.

But there is a gigantic costume closet here locally in Michiana in South Bend, and I'm here today with Credit who is the executive director for the Cassaday Costume Company, and I'm showcasing one of the beautiful pieces that you have here.

This is just an amazing you already gave us the tour and we're going to work our way through it.

But there is so much to see here, and this is just phenomenal.

How long has this been in place Since 1938, when James's cassaday went to Central and started to teach as a drama teacher.

And he started making and collecting pieces that were going to be in service at Central High School for their drama productions.

And Central High School is no longer now.

So this has got since 1970.

Yeah.

So he did it until the early 70s, actually.

And then he had this huge collection of stuff and they had to decide how to move forward with it.

And it was obvious that it would be really helpful to keep it.

So it's been maintained all these years and we still make those pieces available to the public.

And you have some of his original pieces here, too.

We do.

We do.

We have pieces he made.

He was famous for not working with a pattern and being able to just fit a girl by looking at her.

He also had a lot of lady friends, mothers of students and people who would sew for hi or give him pieces.

So he had quite a bit of stuff on its way in and he kept everything.

So we're lucky enough to have a lot of that stuff now Now, I know you've mentioned that there's kind of three different components to the costume company here.

What are those three components?

So we have a large amount that we are renting out.

And so when you come in and you want to dress up, you can the idea.

But there are also pieces here that are either very fragile or very small and very special.

And we don't want to see them damaged or they just aren't wearable, but we keep them for other reasons.

And so in here, we have a lot of archival pieces of vintage fashion that are either really brittle or really small, but they're really awesome things.

And so we use them to reference when we're making other things or to show people how they were making clothes in a particular era.

How has that changed over time?

Obviously, you're seeing some of those pieces and you're also creating new pieces.

How has just the textile changed over the years?

Well, that's a big question.

The way the way people could put things together, the time people had to be able to construct garments, the machines they were using.

I mean, we still have stuff here that's made by hand that Mr. Cassaday famously didn't use an electric machine.

He used a very credible machine even into the 70s.

So just the nature of sewing and putting together a garment has changed quite a bit.

And that's very different to make a garment for the fashion world and to make a costume that's going to go on the stage.

A person who goes to work in their business suit may not need to dance in it or get splattered with maybe, you know, something in the show So we have to have different things in mind when we make costumes versus somebody who might be a tailor making a suit.

So our suits need to do things a little bit differently.

Now, I think there was a huge selection for just women.

Sure.

Can we go check that out?

Absolutely.

Let's do that.

OK, OK.

I'm feeling more in character now.

Oh, so awesome.

And this is a big room just for the women's area.

And how do you organize this?

Well, in here, it's mostly by time period.

So when somebody is doing a show in a particular period or they're going to their murder mystery dinners are popular.

We can take them to the 20s and find them a flapper dress, for instance, because all of those things are in one place with their bones, with the bone Absolutely.

And this is a beautiful dress here.

Tell us about that one.

So it's part of the group.

We put our thirties, forties, evening gowns together.

And so when you're trying to do a show or have that moment, this reminded us of Ginger Rogers dancing with Fred Astaire.

So it's it's one of the pieces that we have here.

It's so wonderful.

And now I know you mentioned that people can come and they can rent these pieces.

How does that work and what's the cost for that?

So we charge twenty dollars per ensemble.

So whatever it takes to make that one look happen.

And so if you're a flapper and you need the boua, we aren't charging every piece you put on.

It's 20 dollars and you make an appointment with us You can contact us via our Facebook page or our website, or you can call in and we'll put you on the calendar.

We are by appointment only, and then it takes generally about an hour to find whatever it is you're looking for.

Fit you in.

Unless you're me, you're going to be here for hours and make sure that you're happy and comfortable in whatever it is, because you need to be able to, you know, get in your car and dance all night and do whatever you're going to do in it.

So we'll work with you for that.

And then you have a week after the event to return that to us.

Oh, great.

And we take care of the laundry and the dry cleaning and anything that happens to the people.

So with Halloween coming up, is this probably a pretty popular time for you right now?

It's one of the busiest times of year.

And so people can come in and we never know what people are going to say that they want to do.

They can show us an album cover or they can, you know, have some very particular idea or maybe something from anime.

And we have to figure out if we can get close to the.

I had a woman go as a slot machine once and, you know, people who rent from all over around the region even.

Yeah, people can come about a 100 mile swing all the way around.

We definitely do business in a in a wide area.

That's amazing.

So I'm going to bring my friends here because I love to host theme parties.

What's the most popular theme?

The 20s are definitely in high demand.

OK, so are the 50s.

People really like that?

Look.

We do a lot of bobbi's boxers and 50s parties.

Yes.

OK. And 80s prom dresses have been having a resurgence.

So I wanted to really have my that retro eighties party classic.

We can such a perfect, perfect.

And I know I have some extra materials laying around, too.

What are some of the things people can donate here?

Absolutely.

As well as volunteer their time as a donation to tell us what you need right now.

Well, the thing that is actually most in demand is men's clothing.

If you have extra dress shirts or suits or things like that, hats in particular, we use those things all the time.

So men's wear is a really high demand thing for us.

Women's wear, obviously, we're happy to have anything.

If it's a larger size, that's good for us because a lot of our collection runs small.

So we take fabric.

We take zippers.

We take anything that you can make a costume out of, even drapes and bedsheets and zippers.

But I've seen that good stuff.

And I know we were talking earlier, too, that, you know, sizes have changed so much over time.

And so a lot of these original pieces maybe won't fit everyone like they might now today.

So that's great that you have the option.

And I saw some volunteers earlier who were helping to create some of those new costumes, too.

Absolutely.

So we build things all the time and we understand pretty well where where the holes in the collection are, where it would be nice if we had a few more pieces or a few larger pieces.

And so we work on that all the time, every single day.

We're making more things, new things, updating the old things and largely trying to fill holes that we know exist in the collection so that people can come in and find whatever it is they want.

Yeah, we really want people to find what they're looking fo when they come in.

Even some local South Bend labels.

Yes.

So you have some of those showcases.

We're very mindful of the fact that a lot of these clothes came from stores that people have fond memories of, downtown South Bend, Mishawaka, or were made here locally.

And we try to conserve a little bit of a museum of that kind of thing so that we can talk about those things.

Well, this has been so much fun, and I think I'm getting ready for my next theme party and maybe I'll go twenties, maybe I'll go sixty's.

So I don't know.

What's your what's your what's your thought Which one should I go for?

I think the 60s were pretty hot right now, too.

And there's a lot of fun to wear a pants, a tiger print pantsuits so we can see what we can do.

It sounds like fun.

Thanks so much, Greg.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

So wonderful to have this as an option for our community here.

Absolutely.

We want everybody to know we're here and come in and have a good time.

Today is a beautiful day to be in the park.

And we're in Elkhart at Roosevelt Park with Nekesa to find out all about hot girl fitness.

It's not even hot girl.

It's like you got to growl.

That's a growl there.

So before we even get to talk about the event, I want to find out about this title, because normally when you hear about a hot girl, you kind of start thinking about some things.

And I don't think that's what you're talking about.

No.

So, yeah, there was a huge song, Hot Girl Summer this summer, and I just decided to do a play on words and do Hot Girl Fitness.

OK, but Hucko Fitness in the park.

But there's that growl, right?

Yes.

Girl Fitness.

So what inspired you to do this event?

Oh, gosh, that's a long story.

But I'll I'll keep it brief.

Essentially, in the pandemic, I was became a part of a group called Happy, Healthy, Whole and paid on Zoom.

And it's women from all over.

There are women in New Jersey.

There are women in Florida.

There are some of us in Indiana And the group really transformed my life.

Like I can't express enough what it was like to go from not being a person that worked out, not being a morning person, not being somebody that ran to literally one day I woke up and I was doing a plank on the floor and out in the bed, OK, pajamas And I haven't turned back since.

And so that group has not only been a place to work out my bod and really grow and loving, exercise, loving fitness, but also a place to really connect with other women.

And so we've been very supportive of each other, as some of us have been meeting for over a year.

I started in December, and the energy and the vibe of that group five days a week, I am ready to go.

I'm excited about life.

And these women are a part of that.

And that's something you want to pass on to the women that come in.

It starts this Saturday and it runs for four weeks.

Tell us what each week will look like.

Yeah.

So definitely want to communicate some of that online energy.

Due to the local women here.

So we start on Saturday.

We're meeting from eight thirty to nine in terms of just having resources out here.

So that's another part of it.

It's not just fitness.

Yes, it's fitness and financial fitness.

It's emotional fitness.

It's physical fitness.

So we'll have people in the community, different organizations.

Center for Healing and Hope, superb success.

Croa Heart Foundation, a financial education foundation, is our lead sponsor They will have tables.

So from eight thirty to nine, the women will be able to come and kind of browse around, pick up what they need, pick up our get fit cards and connect with each other.

And that's important, really.

Like, see who else is out here?

Hot girl that likes to be fit.

And then from mine, you know what kind of get the crowd going, a little bit of energy, some motivation, and then we'll work out.

So we have Chantes and Kayla Gary who are working out this week.

We have Angie and Michelle, weightlifting women.

They're nice out next week.

We've got mindful meditation kind of working out.

Every time will be different.

We're going to have a deejay.

Yes, every time.

So we're not just going to be working out in silence.

And then, you know, we'll close with meditation.

And we're trying to do eight, 30 to 10, get the women in, get the women here, get them active and on with the rest of their day.

Now, I see that there's such a holistic approach.

Why is it so important for women?

I mean, all people, but particularly women, to focu not only, like you said, on physical fitness, but emotional and mental as well?

Yeah.

I mean, I think as women and particularly as black and brown women, but women all over the spectrum there's a lot that we take on.

We are with some of us, our moms, some of us are working.

Some of us are single in the world just trying to make it Lord.

Oh, you know, we're we we're taking on so much.

And some of the things that are the first to be sacrificed are our health.

Yes, our health, our well-being.

Sometimes we don't have resources and we don't know who's out here that can help us or support us.

We don't maybe connect with other women.

And in the happy, healthy Holen paid group that I've been in, I've seen women who are single mothers of three They're transitioning from Section eight housing to new housing for their kids.

That's great.

I've seen women in this group just from being together and sharing our struggles and our joys and sharing informatio have really changed their weight and their emotional health.

And so if our bodies are working and we're looking good, but our minds are not operating the way that we want it to or our emotions or our finances aren't where we need it to be.

You know, we can look as good as we want, but something will always be missing.

Right.

Now, you mentioned black and brown women.

This is open for all women, but there's something to that underrepresented group that you really want to reach out to.

Yes, very much so.

Wellness, when you think about wellness, when you think about fitness, you know, there's a stereotype of who does those kinds of things, of who's at the gym, of who's on a peloton.

Right.

And so it was really important to me to make this open for everyone, but also really to program our South Side parks where there are a lot of black and brown women who are here.

And to say we all deserve to be well, we all deserve an hour and a half out of a week to, you know, take the opportunity to feel good, t to energize ourselves, to energize each other like we're worth that.

We deserve that.

Yes, we are.

Yes, we do.

Yes, we are.

Now, you also mentioned mothers, and this is a great thing that's going to happen, because I remember as a mom, I might want to go and do something, but I got the kids.

Now my kids are grown.

I don't have to worry about that.

But for women who find themselves in that situation, there's a playground right here.

And you have people that will watch the kids while they work out.

Yes.

So we're grateful to have this event be a part of the Elkhart Parks and Recreation Department where a program under them.

And so they will have workers here.

And so we really didn't want that to be a barrier.

Yes, this is free so that women can come and not feel obligated around, you know, what can I afford?

We're giving away these get fit kids.

Yeah.

Look, we're free.

Yes.

So that, you know, people can get started on their journey.

So every woman that comes will get this.

Yes.

As long as supplies last.

Yes, ma'am.

And what's in here?

So we've got some detox, some cleansing teas, both in a fruit punch.

You know, I like I like my food fun sometimes.

Yes.

And a regular tea.

We've got almond and all natural.

Everything in here is all natural energy supplement.

You know, women.

We're running after the kids.

Sometimes we need an extra boost of energy, but we want to do it naturally.

There is a vegetarian starter guide.

Nice.

Actually, two of them.

One is an African-American vegan starter guide.

One is just the all encompassing vegetarian starter guide.

And we have in another pack, one that is in Spanish.

So recently trying to make sure we also reach out to our Latin community and women.

So there will be more information that's added to the get for kids.

But we just wanted to give people a little bit of a starter.

You know, here's it's great.

Try these products, you know, see how they make you feel.

And again, to help prioritize our wellness and our well-being, too.

Now, I know this is a big event and you must have tons of sponsors that that you'd like to thank or maybe just give a shout out to.

Well, I would love to say thank you to our lead sponsor, which is Croa Heart Foundation.

They have just been phenomenal.

They're responsible for helping us get these kids together.

They are taking care of the fitness instructors.

So without Croa heart, really, we could not be doing this event.

Of course, Elkhart Parks and Recreation for taking over their office.

They're doing printing for us.

They're supplying us with workers.

So, so glad for them.

Junc to jazz is making sure that we have the deejays here.

We had a wonderful private sponsor who helped us get all of our material.

This great.

This is this very professional.

Very cool.

Yes.

All right.

And lift women ladies inspire and fitness together.

A regular walking group.

They have been a part of this, too, so could not be happier.

And also, of course, shout out to happy, healthy whole.

And our founder, Christina Bright.

Really, the idea this was not a thing I would have ever dreamed up without being a part of that group.

So that is wonderful.

And it starts this Saturday.

Rain or shine?

Yes.

Rain or shine.

If it is raining, though, I'm I'm I'm a trooper, but I'm not an all weather trip.

If it's raining, I will be at the Tulsans Center, Jim.

Oh, God.

We're just praying for good weather for the 11th, the 18th, the 25th and October 2nd.

All right.

All right.

Well, I'm so glad to be out here.

Congratulations to you.

It sounds like it's going to be a great event.

And I'm glad there's another black woman out there who understands.

We don't like to get out here when it rains open center, but it's not right here.

Well, Isabel Park, thank you so much.

You thank you so much.

That is it from this week's show.

Thank you so much for joining us.

And remember that we want to hear about your experiences here in Michiana.

You can share those experience with us by tagging experience.

Michiana on Facebook.

So until next time.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

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

Thank you.