(light chiming music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the citizens of Minnesota.

(light percussion music) - R-Town, the show about Rochester, kicks off a whole new season with the Rochester Downtown Alliance as we hear the lineup of new fall programming and reflect on an eventful summer downtown.

We also learn about the Med City Arts Festival and how the Alliance of Chicanos, Hispanics, and Latin Americans work to empower communities.

All that coming up next on R-Town, the show about Rochester.

(funky upbeat music) Coming to you from 125 Live in Rochester, Minnesota; R-Town.

Today we're joined by an organization that knows just how important a role the arts play in bringing communities together.

Ivete Martinez is executive director of the Med City Arts Festival and she's here with us today to tell us more about MCAF.

Thank you so much for joining us Ivete.

- Thank you to you for invite us.

- Well, tell us about MCAF, how did you all get started?

- Well I had the idea in 2018.

But at that time we didn't have much volunteers, and partners, so we really started 2019.

Since then we never stopped, because even with the COVID, we had a pop-up event here in 125 Live, in the car park, and was very fun, was very good, because I think people were too much inside, and when they have some event, safe, you know, we plan everything according with the rules at the time, so it was enjoyable.

- Wonderful, I remember seeing photos of that event in the car park, and it looks like it was very engaging.

You continue to have the festival every year, you had one just this past August, can you tell us a little bit about the highlights of that?

- Yes, we, our event has different expressions of art.

We have art classes, we have performers, we have vendors with art, and we have food too, but, you know, all the event, specific activities, you know, have a different highlights.

Like for example, in our activities I think the painting the car was very popular between children and adults, was really popular, and the puppet show, in our score went very high too.

The puppets were awesome, but what striked me at that time was that, we had all the public, usually, is children, so the puppet was there, then the children is all here, and then there is a line of elderly people in the side, and then suddenly, you know, the puppets blow up the bubbles, and this eight, older, eight, woman I think is 85 or something, get crazy going around pop the bubbles, and I took a photograph, I couldn't, (chuckling) I couldn't not to do it.

So it was very fun, was to see it.

We have performers, we have the Tokyo Drums, from representing Japan, which was very popular too this year.

We have, oh, we have the Azteca, Mexican, from Mexico, which brings completely new, public, with such an amount of Latin American, there, and thanks to this performance, which was, fantastic.

So our stage is multicultural stage, so we try to bring more and more of different culture, cultural performers.

And, oh, the music at night, was like, different, every year it's completely different, because we need the public to vote, or to choose, in our website, we have a survey, and then we ask what kind of style of music, jazz, rock, band, you know, solo band, you know, all these kind of things.

So we have a idea how to bring the next year.

And until February we don't decide anything, you know, we let the public vote first, and choose first.

- Wonderful, that sounds like quite a diverse and wide ranging event.

In terms of all of the interdisciplinary arts that you had, you had painting, and music, and dance, and I also, I loved hearing about just sort of the ways in which it was so intergenerational as well.

With the children and families, and the elderly community as well.

You don't just convene this arts event, you also do, you're an organizer of, sort of, arts programming.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you center diversity and inclusion in your arts programming.

- Well, we do different, everything goes from Med City Arts Festival, but we have different activities throughout the year.

So we curate art at Bagma Hotel, we curate art with some business downtown, and walk out, in other.

We have walls, different, we have a partnership here with Sylvia, she's awesome, she give us a lot of freedom in the wall that we have here.

And another business, we're open to new business too, and you know we are very happy with what we're doing right now.

- Wonderful, thank you so much for coming Ivete, and we hope to catch you at a future MCAF event.

- Thank you, thank you very much.

(funky upbeat music) - Be sure to stick around, we have much more coming your way on R-Town.

We take a stroll through the heart of the city, and learn about a local hair salon committed to excellence in Black hair care.

We also catch up with the Rochester Downtown Alliance after a busy summer, and get the inside scoop on what events to look out for this fall.

But up first we check out the community based work of the Alliance of Chicanos, Hispanics, and Latinos, in this week's art culture segment.

(light strumming music) - ACHLA, (speaking foreign language), Alliance of Chicanos, Hispanics, and Latin Americans.

- It's a non-profit organization to serve the southeast part of Minnesota, and we're trying to be that bridge between our Hispanic community and local resources or agencies, that provide services, here in southeast Minnesota.

- It was founded in 2004, and our goal is to empower the Hispanics, and to get them to be the best person they can be.

We offer many different opportunities for them, through education, through civic engagement, to health services.

- ACHLA was formed after several people getting together trying to bring unity in the ethnic groups, because we are so different in the Hispanic community.

So for instance the community realized that there were some newcomers, and some of us who have been here for a little bit longer, so we try to help each other.

- [Miguel] We currently have a board, and you know we're trying to have committees that addresses the needs that we hear in the community.

Right now we have a health committee, cultural committee, business or entrepreneurship, and just try to share information.

Because I think that's the key.

- One of the first committees that they established, it was education.

As the need to see the students flourish, and support the families of the students.

- We formed the "Juntos Club", that was mainly with the purpose of education, to be able to bring some enrichment to the community.

When we were able to do some of the enrichment programs, and we got together all the Hispanic, all the peers that could come and work with the migrant students, that's where the beginning of ACHLA happened.

- [Gloria] We do civic engagement opportunities.

- Where we're trying to bring awareness of the importance of being civic active in our community, at all levels.

It could be a school, it can be a church, those kind of things.

- [Gloria] We have annual events.

One of them is a bike swap.

That is usually in the beginning of the season, which is in May.

People bring their old bikes and they can get a new bike.

- We're very social.

So whenever we are doing any events, we try to outreach to the community in a way that we help each other to become successful at anything we do.

- We also do the Latino Fest.

That is a part of our education committee.

Latino Fest is an opportunity to showcase our heritage.

We are very different from each other, Latinos, we share our language, but we have very different traditions we have even food is different, dances are different, music are different from each other, but we see ourselves as brothers and sisters, we come together and do our celebration together.

At the same time we educate the Rochester community about who we are as Latinos.

It is just to showcase our heritage and also celebrate the beginning of Hispanic Heritage, which is September 15th to October 15th.

Our partners believe in us, because we are honest, we deliver, we are reliable.

- For everybody, if you're watching this, just wanna let you know that you're someone, if you wanna be a part of our club you're welcome, and you're welcome here in Minnesota.

- [Announcer] For more information about this story, and other R-Town features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter at KSMQ, hashtag RTown, or KSMQ.org/RTown.

(funky upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Danielle Teal with R-Town Spotlight.

I'm excited, we're back up and running with the show and we have an amazing guest today.

Today we have Shade Jordan with Cashmere Hair Salon; did I get that right, or it was close?

- Cashmere Lux Hair Salon.

- There we go, Lux.

- Plus hair products.

- Yes.

- Yes.

- So you've been in Rochester for a while with your business, you're doing big things, can you share a little bit about, kind of your journey in Rochester, and what you have to offer?

- Well I started styling hair, working in different salons, probably like 25 years ago, I don't wanna age myself right now, but.

- That's okay, I might have to age myself too.

- I know right.

- [Danielle] It's okay.

- So I've been doing hair a long time, and I've worked at different salons here in Rochester.

And I think the time was when I felt the need to move to pivot into being an entrepreneur and open my own business was when I got fired from a local salon here in town, and I'm like, I was lost, I'm like, "Oh my God, what I'm gonna do?"

And what I end up going to Vision's Church, 'cause they had a booth, and I could rent a booth there, and thank God to them.

The pastor let me there, and I, from there on I just start styling hair.

And built a large customer base.

And I felt the need, I said, "Okay it's time for me to move on again", and I opened up Cashmere Lux Hair Salon.

Which was a tough time because I was looking different, at different spaces, and it was hard to, get finance from other banks or anything like that, so I end up having to bootleg everything I done.

- Wow, so from the ground up you've created, I know that you do have a pretty big base of support in the community, and you've built upon that because now you're in Hy-Vee with products.

- Yes, and so I decided to, what made me start the hair products is because I sold different products from Mezziany's, Bubble and Bubble, and I was really good at it, selling products, and I knew my product base, and a lot of my clients were losing their hair, having problems with hair loss.

And I started with two products, and that was my oil, the scalp therapy oil, and the healthy hair drops, and it just went, skyrocketed from there, and I'm just grateful, and I added more products like shampoos, conditioners, sulfate free, paraben free, and actual hair care products because everyone is looking for something that's natural, that's, 'cause everybody's in the wellness, you know, atmosphere, so.

- And they wanna know what's in the bottle, right?

- And it's clean label, and you could read the bottle and be like, "Okay, I can understand some of these products."

So that's why I started it, and it's been going from there, and now I'm in Hy-Vee stores, and, going to different, doing different demos at Hy-Vee stores, so I'm grateful for that, I'm thankful that they let my products into their stores.

You know, it took some time, took about a year and a half, but I got there, and hopefully I'll be in other stores next year.

- That's great, and it's great to have that local support.

It's so awesome to have you on the show Shade.

This is Danielle Teal with R-Town Spotlight.

(funky upbeat music) - Hello, this is Michael Wojcik, delighted to be back with an R-Town Rundown.

Now if you caught us last season, you know that this segment was an R-Town Legislative Rundown.

The Legislature is not in session, and I went back and watched some of those, the guy who did it, always wore a tie, seemed kind of nerdy, probably some issues there, so I'm delighted to be filling in in whoever that person was, spot.

This summer, like every summer, a lot of great events going on in Rochester, and one of them is our summer concert series, and that's both the Down by the Riverside, and the Forward concert series, and while those are done, our civic music department is looking for feedback, and they'd appreciate it if you would go online and fill out their survey so that they can make that event even better going forward.

Soldier's Field renderings have been released for the new pool, aquatic center, and other improvements at the park and it looks pretty spectacular.

Come next season we're gonna have some incredible water amenities there, a little bit dry this season but we're looking forward to next.

Going on this weekend, one of my absolute favorite events of the fall, Porchfest in Kutzky Park, and it is what it sounds like.

You get to go porch to porch listening to folks playing music, and you get to mingle with the community in one of our leafy neighborhoods.

Also going on this weekend, and every weekend is a public arts walk downtown.

If you'd like more information on that you can visit the Rochester Art Center's website.

And finally next week I am excited for the grand opening of some new park facilities at Cascade Lake.

This includes our new amphitheater, public bathhouse, restrooms, showers, as well as an expanded playground.

Come out and celebrate all the accomplishments of the park.

This has been Michael Wojcik with your R-Town Rundown.

(light plucking music) - This is Danielle Teal with R-Town Walkabout, we are downtown at the Peace Plaza, with Naura Anderson, tell us a little bit more about your role and what is going on behind the scenes here.

- Absolutely; so my role with Threshold Arts is we work with the Rochester Downtown Alliance, and in partnership with DMC, to activate the Peace Plaza in a variety of different ways.

That's community events, that's daily popups, as well as opening the space up for private rentals or other community hosted events.

- Why do you think the Peace Plaza is such the heart of downtown, and the intention of doing this fabulous, kind of, scenario, where people can come and eat, and they can listen to music, and connect?

- Yeah, you know, the city, Downtown Alliance, they provided amenities for people, so tables and chairs, shade umbrellas, things like that.

It's at the footsteps of the Mayo Clinic, we see so many visitors coming through everyday, but also I think it really creates a sense of place for our community.

For people who live here, something that they can really connect to, you know, people bring their friends, families, visitors, downtown to see this place when they're here.

Connected to great shopping, and restaurants, right here in downtown, there's all kinds of great things to do, throughout downtown, and this is really the hub of it.

So some of the art installations, provide a, you know, a space for contemplation, reflection, a place to pause.

You know, people are going through some really, really challenging things when they're visiting sometimes, and so to be able to provide that quiet place to, to sit, to reflect.

- What is your favorite thing to do in the Peace Plaza?

- Favorite thing to do in the Peace Plaza?

Just watch, just to watch people go by.

- People watch, yeah.

Awesome, thank you so much, Naura.

- [Naura] Thanks for having me.

- Awesome, this is Danielle Teal with R-Town Walkabout.

(upbeat electronica music) - We're here with Kathleen Harrington, interim executive director of the Rochester Downtown Alliance.

Here to tell us what we can look forward to this fall downtown.

Welcome back to R-Town, Kathleen.

- Oh, thank you so much, it's great to be with you.

- So I think for many of us this summer almost felt like it was the first normal summer since the pandemic, kind of like the comeback, a comeback summer.

So I know the RDA was really busy, can you share some of the highlights of the summer?

- Well we really tried to work with all the partners in town to make certain that the summer offered activities for everyone, for families, for single people, for couples, and for children.

So, there were activities, fitness activities, in Central Park, and on Peace Plaza, thanks to a great partnership with 125 Live, we had music, all the time, in the Peace Plaza.

And of course there was Thursdays Downtown, so eight weeks of great fun, food, festival, activities, which drew well over 125,000 people over the course of that eight weeks to downtown.

So it was very, very busy, but then we continued to work with Experience Rochester to have a series of concerts downtown, for three weeks, following Thursday's closing, Alive After Five, which saw many more people coming downtown.

So downtown was vibrant, it was active, our businesses saw good activity, and I think people are feeling like downtown is a destination to come for fun and great food, and always lots to do.

- Wonderful, I was definitely, I totally partook of many of those events over the summer, and it definitely reminded me, I think, post-pandemic, of just how vibrant our downtown has been and continues to be.

But now fall is here, fall is upon us, can you tell us about some of the events that we might look forward to this fall?

- Well we're still committed to working with all of the organizations that are trying to bring vitality to downtown, so we're gonna be highlighting many, many of those activities, which are very diverse, and again appeal to different age groups, but coming up this weekend, for example, is Latino Festival, which will be at the Chateau, a great day long festival of fun, and food, and then at night great music, so that is coming up just this coming weekend.

Dogs Downtown is coming up for everybody who, to bring their furry friend, or, we're encouraging patients who come to our pet friendly hotels, to bring their pets to this event on the September 23rd, and we're also trying to talk to all of the new college students.

We have a thousand young people who've just come to town, and I'm sure some of them are homesick and missing their furry friends, so we want them to come, so we're inviting as many people as possible to come to Central Park, 11 to three, on September 23rd, to have just fun together.

So we'll continue to have music, exercise will continue through the month, and we will also be sponsoring and working with many other organizations on art, and theater, and our job really is to communicate all that there is downtown.

We have a phenomenal dining community, we have a real culinary community that's building and is very unique downtown.

We have over, almost 30 stores that sell fashion downtown, and I think people are really surprised when I say that.

And there's always lots to do, so the fall is very, very exciting ahead of us.

- Well I was up talking to RDA because you're the greatest champions for what's happening downtown, and I always learn new things about what's happening, and I've lived here about nine years now.

And you mentioned, out of, you know, those, Dogs Downtown, making sure that the downtown area is a safe space for the college students, you know, it is, we aren't a college town but we have quite a few college students that call downtown home.

And then Latino Fest is happening this weekend, can you tell us a little bit more about how RDA is continuing to support diverse and inclusive programming?

- Well I think that it's really, really important, because we wanna make certain that downtown is a welcoming place for everyone, you want people to be able to see themselves downtown, and to learn downtown about each other, and different cultures, so RDA does support through what we call startup grants, organizations who are starting to build events to educate the public and engage the public in their culture.

So we had a number of those over the summer, Pomoja Women was a great one, for example, that engaged the public and brought the public in to learn more about, you know, African women's fashion, entrepreneurism, food, so we support those, we encourage organizations, and we provide funding, but technical support, to really help them grow, in engaging the public, and educating the public about who they are.

So, we're very committed to that, it's important for a vibrant community to do that, and it's fun.

Learning is fun.

Understanding your neighbor is fun and important.

And we wanna continue to do that.

- Wonderful; you also mentioned the businesses downtown, the diversity of businesses we have downtown, things that people, that live here for really long, may not even know.

Can you just give us some tips about how we can continue to support our local downtown businesses, and just support continuing to activate downtown as the months get colder, as people are finding that there might be less and less to do.

- Well I think the most, one of the most important things people can do, is plan their time, and think of downtown first.

Think of downtown as a destination.

You know, if you live in 55902, or 5502, 900, 20, whatever, think of downtown as a destination, because there are great restaurants.

Check out our website for a list of all the different restaurants in downtown, with their menus, with photos of the food offerings, it's pretty unique.

I mean we're hearing more and more from other communities about Rochester becoming a foodie destination, so I urge people to plan first and think of downtown first.

Also, the shopping, I think many people don't think about downtown as a shopping, many locals, don't think of downtown as a shopping destination, but when I say 28 stores that sell clothing, with a brand, you know, recognizable brands, from Ribkoff, to Eileen Fisher, to Tumi Luggage, we have, one of, we have more shoe brands here in Rochester at Elle, for example, we have our job cut out for us to make sure our local residents know they have great resources downtown, for fun shopping, great dining, and there's always lots to do.

- Now I'm looking at downtown with whole new eyes.

- [Kathleen] Oh good, good, good, good.

- I'm excited for that, and to check out things that I haven't discovered yet.

As we're wrapping up here, you are the current interim executive director, can you tell us a little bit about what, if there are any next steps in terms of hiring an executive director?

- I think there are a lot of conversations going on about what's needed for an executive director, but I think the, prefaced on conversations about, what do we want the RDA to be?

And I think it's really important for a community to examine its organizations, and it's, and just, and make a determination about that, so I think there'll be a little bit more time being spent before they hire a new person.

So I feel very fortunate to be able to continue to serve for a while.

- Wonderful, well thank you so much for joining us Kathleen.

- [Kathleen] Thank you.

- Thanks for making us fall in love with downtown Rochester again.

- [Kathleen] Thank you.

- And thank you all for joining us today on R-Town, the show about Rochester.

For more content produced right here, please check us out on Facebook and Twitter at hashtag RTown.

I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of R-Town, the show about Rochester and I'll see you next week.

(upbeat light percussion music) (light piano music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the citizens of Minnesota.