Now the 490 with Gretchen de Bakker, Matt, Callum and Kevin Mullen.

Com.

Welcome into the 419 powered by MGT, presented by Retro Wealth Management.

I'm Kevin mullen.

Gretchen de Becker.

Way to go, Gretchen.

Matt.

Kill me.

You know, that's the first test of the show.

It is just making sur that we all know our own name.

They get easier from here on out.

We're going to spend the show getting to know other people.

But it's, you know, in order to.

I think Isabella said you can' give what you don't have.

Yes.

And so if you don't know yourself, can you really know someone else?

And that's the show, not.

How's your day?

Not bad.

How about you?

Getting there, getting there.

Today was the first morning.

Amber said that I'd never rely on my GPS to get here.

Which is not.

I'm not traversing a wide berth either.

Yeah.

But, yeah, I. Totally understand.

That.

It is a pretty straight shot, and I still look at it as if I'm going to veer into the Potomac.

So do.

You.

Is this, like, a unique end of town that you need the GPS, or do you do you use the GPS all the time?

I'm pretty reliant on it.

I'm embarrassed to say.

I mean, this is my hometown.

If nothing else, I also get, like, an idea of how much time it's going to take me to get there, so I'll plug it in.

It's just some frame of reference.

I don't even pretend to use that excuse.

I just don't know.

I just don't know.

I don't know at anything.

I don't know North south, East west.

I don't I can't get anywhere.

I'm strong in that.

I've seen people like, oh, you just jump on 23 or 4, 75, or I'm like.

No.

Yeah, I had a I had a moment kind of early in my adult life in Toledo.

Working for Fox Toledo downtown.

Had to get to breaking news in Bowling Green.

And this is pretty like GPS.

It certainly wasn't on my phone at the time.

And I remember getting a phone call about a half hour after I left the station from the news director saying, where are you?

And I was like, I'm almost to Perrysburg.

And he was like, where did you go?

And I was like, for 75 to 23 to like that's how you get to bowling.

Just getting off the Turnpik because.

I lived, I literally.

And so the number of times I get in the car and my wife is like, where are you going?

Yeah.

And I was like my parents house, I don't know.

But I would just show up.

There was one time that I actually was driving over to where we were going, but I turned down the road to head to my parents house because I just.

I was in mindless mode.

Sure.

Body took over and it's like, yeah I guess I'm on this end of town.

This is why I'm here.

Yeah.

And you drive like this.

That's right.

I do, yeah.

I'm not.

I'm not a ten and two person.

That's right.

I'm like a, five and seven.

Seven, five.

That's right.

That's right.

Yep.

That's the.

That's how we were taught in my day.

Yeah.

Gretchen.

Gretchen rode like this.

Like you hold.

The I like this.

I have my seat up real close.

By my, like, the stirrup to, like, get the horse moving.

So I do think that, you know, I remember when I went to central, my dad, was able to drop me off all throughout the city with.

I have no idea how I knew where we were going.

Like two point place.

You know, we went into Sylvania.

Today, I we would be homebodies.

I would force my kids to homeschool.

Totally lost.

Yeah.

That's right.

We got an exciting show today.

We're going to take a look at our toledo.com community calendar driven by Tada.

John from toledo.com is going to join us.

We're also going to.

Have Ronda Sewell from the RV is going to talk about their MLK, MLK day event, and we're going to have Andrew Newby from Toledo Spirits to join us.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Is he bringing is he bringing supplies?

I've been told tha we'll have breakfast.

Bourbon.

Okay.

I don't know what that.

I don't either, we'll say.

Is that like, that's like whole grain Cheerios?

That's exactly.

Right.

That's exactly.

Exactly what that is.

All right.

So all of that and more on a Thursday edition of the 419 powered by GT.

We'll be right back.

Support for the 419 comes from Wheaton Wealth Management, where we understand that your financial path is personal.

Advisory services are offered through capital investment Advisory Services LLC, securities offered through Capital Investment Group member Finra and SIPC.

More information at Retro advisors.com.

The 419, powered by GT is made possible in part by supporters like you.

Thank you.

Introducing the Local Fred, a community news series uniting voices and storytellers from across the region in partnership with La Prensa, the Toledo Free Press, the Sojourner Truth, Toledo Public Schools, and veteran journalist Jerry Anderson.

The Local Thread brings you stories and conversations that connect our community here at weeknights at seven on FM 91, with early access on podcast platforms each morning.

The local thread only on GTV.

Welcome back to the 419.

We're taking a look at our toledo.com community calendar drive by Tata and a good friend, John.

I guest joins us again.

John.

Hello.

Good morning.

Hello.

Welcome back.

Thank you.

Happy to have you.

Yeah.

You guys are you made it a whole week.

Well that's.

Exciting.

She never left.

We never left.

And we appreciate you coming back.

And as we talked about before, toledo.com is a community calendar.

We rely on it.

The community calendar.

It really is.

Thank you.

It really is.

And so we're going to talk about some of the not some of them, but the top five picks of the week.

You want to get started?

Yeah sure.

So before we dive into them I'm curious as to the criteria that you use to determine, like, what are the top five?

Like how do how do we get there?

That's right.

It's all just money.

Money.

It's all kick.

Back.

How do you think ahead for this club?

Right.

These great pull ups don't pay for themselves.

No.

So, you know, we n one pays to be in the top five.

And because if they did, you know, I think we would lose the integrity of the list.

Pretty quickly.

But you would have more money.

We would.

I would definitely have more money.

I don't have to rethink that because we.

Yeah.

We'll talk about it next week.

Yeah.

But, no, we try to spread the love, you know?

So there are a lot of organizations that do weekly events and have a lot of things on their annual calendar.

And then there are things that, you know, we touched upon it last week, there are some nonprofits that have 1 or 2 big fundraisers, a year.

So we try to keep an eye on that whole calendar and not necessaril feature the symphony every week, or the zoo or, you know, the metro parks or whatever.

It just, there's so much going on.

And so we just try to, you know, get give everybody a chance throughout the whole year.

Anybody can submit to the.com calendar and you can submit for free.

That's right.

By emailing or going on the website and submitting, submitting their event that will be put on the calendar.

That's right.

You only have to have a working, working email address and and you're out.

And you know, people submit, we moderate it.

And usually within 24 hours it's up live on the calendar.

And, it has all the relevant details, including additional details about wha might be happening at the event, that type of thing.

And it's and it's not like when we think about, you know, this list of five.

I mean, it's not you sayin these are the best five events.

Absolutely not this weekend.

It's generally what has th the biggest impact of the week.

So it's you know, no offense to the smaller events, but we're talking about events where maybe hundreds and thousands of people are going to be there, as opposed to dozens.

And like that, famou rides to our concert in Brazil.

That's right.

Yeah, exactly.

Which is the ninth largest collection of human beings in the history of the planet.

Is that true?

Yes.

Yeah.

Rod Stewart is in the top ten list, as it should be.

Yeah, that's.

I would have expected that.

Tune in next to our entire show about Rod Stewart and his, sparkling career.

John, you, are an incredibly sweet soul so I don't know how you're gonna react to this question, but, how do I like Rod Stewart?

Yeah, I need to know.

How did you enjoy the concert that you took your family to in Brazil?

Did you have good seats?

I know whenever people bemoan the fact there's nothing to do here, as somebody who sees hundreds of event come in, your reaction to that?

I mean, what you you know, I know how much there has happened.

Yeah.

I think sometimes it feels lik my biggest beef about Toledo is there are people who just wai for ten of their friends to say, hey, this is going to be a really great event, or this is this is going to be cool versus just, you know, kind of finding out what it is that you like to do and.

Wander, you know, honestly.

Yeah.

Yeah, sure.

So just just check out all these, all the programing and places that you wouldn't necessarily expect.

County jail right there.

That's there.

You tell us about all the what happened there.

Yeah.

You're looking for an overnight experience?

No.

Places like Toledo Spirits.

You know, on one hand, some people might think, oh, that's just kind of like a place to go and grab drinks, but then you realize that they have, they have workshops and things that, you know, teaching you how to make drinks and bringing in specialists.

That's just one example.

But, I think that there are a lot of in the same way that the Mud Hens and the walleye bring in special promotion to expand the, kind of the net.

There are a lot of organizations and businesses that do the exact same thing.

So but I. Kind of feel like you are that guy.

Like, I think that's why the calendar is so good.

And can be relied upon is because you are the guy that explores these things.

You're often the person that knows about these, the small events up to the big event.

Or do you talk them up to people?

So as an individual, you you embody sort of that exploring the community.

Because this is this like chicken in the egg though a little bit.

Right.

Is that like, did you become that, that guy because of the twitter.co calendar, or did the calendar B come about because you were already that, oh, cutting.

Room and self-promotion.

Yes.

That's a good question.

I think it's a little both.

Once you do start to dive into it and you're trying to find out additional information, you start to connect, you know, with these people who are putting these things on and you realize how hard they're working to put it on for the community.

And so I've been a big believer that you got to show up, you got to show up, you got to be there, to experience it.

And I've actually put on events before.

And so, it's one of those things where you feel like, man is anybody going to show up at this thing?

And then when they do, it's great.

And when it's a little light, you feel, less enthused.

Is there an event that that, you know, maybe it made maybe it made the five, one week that you were like, you know, I'm going to go check this out, bu I don't really know what it is.

And just kind of kind of surprised you or you know, pleasantly surprised.

You just said it was the last surprise moment for John.

I guess from an event standpoint.

Man.

Ross Stewart, Brazil.

Yeah.

There's no surprises there.

Rod Stewart.

Is.

You know, I think just certain fundraisers there are certain like one that comes to mind tha we've kind of partnered with in the last couple of years is Jam City, for food for thought.

That's one where I'm not a big foodie, but I love PB and J, and it's a PB and J event.

And maybe when we get to that month, you know how that could be one of the top five.

But it's it's, a bunch of restaurants and chefs take on PB and J inspired, dishes.

So it's not just 20 different sandwiches.

It's, you know, various dishes.

And and so when I went to that, I was just kind of, you know, blown away and, have been going back every year, you know, that' just the one that comes to mind.

I remember a, Dietz barbecue had a PB and J like slider.

Yeah, that was pork with, like, a I'm going to butcher it, but it was like a peanut butter barbecue sauce, and then like a jelly nut.

Oh, it was so good.

I remember it was so good.

Yeah.

Let's just spend a few mor minutes just talking about how.

Good this was about.

Sandwiches.

Yeah, I mean, but I, but I like those, you know, as somebody who works in the nonprofit space it's always a challenge to find, a fundraising event that aligns with your mission and who you are.

Yeah.

And so I think, you know, Ja City is a good example of that.

Food for thought.

You know, passing out PB and J sandwiches, kind of throughout the year.

And so I think that, that type of event is, is challenging, right?

I worked with the, Partners in Education and the Dragon Boat Festival, right, for, for years.

But people who rode in that thing every year had no idea that it was a fundraiser.

Yeah.

For partners, education, because there was no mission connection.

Yeah, I wrote it and I just assumed it was an educational on Vikings.

Well, and you touched o something to a lot of nonprofits don't necessarily have a huge marketing budget.

And so, you know, unlike mayb the Mud Hens where you might see some print ads and some billboards and those kinds of things, people, these events sneak up on peopl if you're not paying attention.

And so, you know something like the Dragon Boat Festival, it could come and go if you don't pay attention.

So that's one of the ways I think that toledo.com is a resource, is just to you know, you're one stop shop.

We're trying to pull, you know, all that information into one spot.

And you can also go to speaking of getting that information, you can go to toledo.com and you can put your email and you'll get this list sent to you.

Yeah.

Announced each week the picks another freebie.

You can sign up for our, weekly newsletter the top five events in Toledo.

And, yeah, just.

And we don't sell that list.

We don't, use it to promote anything else.

Another mistake on your part?

Yeah, I really think in my entire.

Yeah, yeah.

But another way to be.

More Rod Stewart.

Less.

That's right.

You know more and less everything else.

But yeah, again, a free resource.

We have, also a press release distribution site.

It's a sister site called Tell Toledo.

So I get a lot of press releases, and I would encourage anyone to keep sending press releases to Johnna toledo.com.

Those would go on the site, but then on Tell Toledo in the same way that you would submit an event, you submit a press release, and it could be about a new business opening, it could be about an event, it could be about, you know, really just about anything under the sun.

We're talking with John Ike, just with toledo.com.

Take a look at our toledo.com community calendar.

And our top five had drop in.

Let's let's jump in on the five for three one.

Number one is Toledo Symphony Orchestra.

So there you're going to have handled Bach and Stravinsky at the Valentine Theate two nights Friday, this Friday and Saturday.

Not to be confused with handles.

I was this close to.

I wanted to beat you to it.

I knew.

Okay, yeah, yeah, but.

I think that's impossible.

Cross promotions, ice cream, symphony music.

That's right.

I don't doubt it.

Yeah, yeah, it.

Could happen.

100%.

Yeah.

We'll reach out to Zach, and let him know that that should be something.

Maybe he might still be here.

You might.

I want to avoid you like that.

On on that.

That's I. I want to see, just like the, like the beer mile.

Right.

But I want to see i with the symphony and ice cream.

Yeah, man, that.

How much handles can they eat while playing?

Nothing says Midwest.

Like you'r buying a fair amount of dairy.

But dairy.

Yeah, and some.

Woodwinds.

This sounds.

You can get more information about that concert at Live Arts toledo.com.

This weekend coming up is Martin Luther King weekend.

Let people have off this coming Monday.

So the rest of our events are all around that weekend.

And you wanted to highlight a couple of those.

Let's start with the, Doctor Martin Luther King Junior scholarship breakfast that's put on by the alphas.

Yeah, a Phi Alpha.

They've been doing it for years, and it is typically at the pinnacle.

And, I'm not sure tickets are still available.

They were.

When we had a child.

But they go pretty quickly.

They usually have, kind of a keynote speaker, really.

Most of these events that we'll touch on related to MLK and his legacy will be, you know, a keynote, a keynote speaker involved somehow.

But, but they also recognize and involve young people at their event.

And that's pretty, extraordinary to watch.

You know, just a room full of people inspiring young people and young people inspiring.

That's how older folks as well said.

So.

Yeah, the focus of their event is, is to give scholarship money away.

So it's always a very, very good event.

More on that can be found at on Facebook, I believe by searching for that event.

And can't get that information anywhere.

Else.

That's right.

That's right.

More information can be found by just searching for it.

Facebook.

It's you know.

It's up to the date.

And for me.

I knew this show should have been three hours.

Late, a crazy event, but I feel like they might be able to ge to more information@toledo.com.

Yeah.

Interesting.

All right.

See, it's a full circle John.

Right.

That's.

Yeah.

Go ahead.

Yeah I mean it's there's no making it but I'm.

Going to need you to put some information there.

Yeah.

Okay.

Keep me number three.

Go ahead John.

Number three is, Glenwoo Lutheran Church puts together.

They're kind of like the central hu for an annual MLK celebration.

They were doing it for years.

I think for a while it ended.

And then the last several years it's come back strong as ever.

So, the there is a keynote speaker, Clarence Smith Community Chorus fellowship.

Let me get this right.

The Fellowshi Community Choir is performing.

Doctor Anthony Payton is a is, put it puts together like th musical aspect of the program.

I've been to thi the last couple of years, and, it's it's really uplifting.

Yes.

Very music, focused and, you know, just, just amazing, to be at Glenwood.

So Glenwood Lutheran Church is the church that's directly right next to the Toledo Museum of Art.

And that's this Sunday at 3:00.

That's right.

We're running a little bit short on time, so I'm going to move on to the next event, which is the MLK day event at the Museum of Art.

Yep.

And so, you know, typically when we do this, we we talk abou what's going on up until Sunday.

Marti Luther King Day falls on Monday.

So at TMA they have the MLK day at TMA again keynote speaker.

But more importantly, just an afternoon of, things that you can do and like their family outreach center for, which is awesome.

Yeah it's a really great space.

And, so, voices of B, Bgsu, another choir that focuses on spirituals, will be performing there.

And, so yeah, the museu is typically closed on Monday, but they open back up specifically for this.

And Rhonda Sewell fro the museum, is our next guest.

So we'll get into more detail on that.

We'll get to the truth.

Join.

Well, we'll fact check you.

The last one is the MLK celebration with the NAACP of Toledo.

Yeah.

So this is at the Macedonia Baptist Church.

Again, another another way to honor the legacy of Doctor King and, a keynote speaker who is coming down from an NAACP Detroit chapter and, you know, just to, again, deliver an inspiring message and maybe give us all a chanc to pause and figure out how to, you know, turn those.

Words.

To turn those words into action, you know, to be better.

I was like that.

The idea of a day on instead of a day off.

Right.

And so instead of, you know, it's like, hey, you know, I don't have to go to work today.

So I'm going to stay home and I'm going to, you know, catch up on these things around the house.

It's really having some intentionality and say, no, let me go out and let me do some things to truly honor the legacy.

And I think there's an som educational piece as well about, you know, better understanding you know, what Doctor King was, you know, goals and dreams were, but also to look and see, you know, how those are lived out in our community and the different roles that we can play in making those.

I'm a trailblazer in that conceptually.

I've never, ever thought about taking tim to do anything around my house.

You know, if.

You did stay home and it's not on the top five, but the city of Toledo always does an online, kind of honoring of the day.

Where there are it's typically has been poets and speakers and, you know, anybody in the community who's doing some really good work.

So that's that's another thing you could do if you were if you do happen to have the day off, you can still tune in, I don't know the times off the top of my head, but it's online.

You can go to the City of Toledo's website.

So Gretchen would tell you that you could find that information by looking for it.

By looking for it?

Yeah.

That's right.

Perfect.

John, thank you so much.

Always, always appreciate kind of dive in and looking at our toledo.com community calendar, driven by Tata.

He's.

John.

I guess we'll be right back with Rhonda Sewell from the Toledo Museum of Art.

To me, community means connecting to.

Others.

And what will it really take to bring peace to Toledo's neighborhoods?

I love it, yeah, yeah.

We're a community committed to education.

Discover new ideas, dive into exciting subject and engage with the world around you.

It's all chapters in a book.

I would send them personally a t shirt.

Crim doesn't pay in the old West End.

Pass it on.

That's how we.

Cleaned up the neighborhood.

Bring you back memorie that you don't think are there.

You know.

Public media invites you to get out and play day.

The people of Toledo have really become family.

You know, they walk in and it was.

Just like, hey, it's so good to see you.

Hello there, and welcome to public media town hall meeting.

The where you come to watch.

Listen and learn.

I love PBS kids.

Welcome back into the 419.

We're taking a look at some of the top events around the region driven by Tada!

We're joined now by Rhonda Sewell.

Back for week number two.

This is just going to be a regular thing, right?

You're going to be on with us every week, all day.

All day, every day.

I love it I love it.

Well that' going to make the show better.

So no no you guy I mean the launch was amazing.

Everyone has been responding.

This has been really fun.

It really has We're I'm so proud of you guys.

Thank you I am.

Well it certainly helps when we get the star power around us all behind it.

And you had a very kind, kin post about about the show and.

Yes, about the launch and we certainly appreciate it.

Thank you.

We're talking about some of the top events, of the weekend.

Yes.

And you guys have got a big event coming up at Toledo Museum of Art.

We do, we do.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about it.

So MLK day, doctor Martin Luther King junior day.

Traditionally, the museum is always closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Everyone knows that right in town, open Wednesday through Sunday.

But for the last over five years, we have opened intentionally on Docto Martin Luther King Junior Day, which is a federal holiday, as you know, and it has been like gangbusters.

Absolutely.

You know, school's out an usually some works, workplaces honor the federal holida and people come out in droves.

And so we have always intentionally wanted to have activities, for the public to come in.

And it really aligns wit our value system and who we are.

You know, Doctor King preached about unity.

We are our mantra really is a commitment to quality and als nurturing a sense of belonging.

And so that goes hand in hand with his teachings.

Is exact opposite in terms of quality that we are approaching this.

Year.

Docto King, I think, would be proud.

Oh, how does show how.

Did that conversation start?

Yeah.

At TMA to say, you know we're we're always closed on these days.

But this is a day we talked about it in the last segment, which I like is this idea o a day on instead of a day off.

Yeah.

I'm curiou kind of where that conversation.

And the conversation starte long before I, started at TMA, which I've been there nearly about five years, but it was even I know, I know, time flies.

And it started before then, and I believe it was a fellow who actually, talked about the idea and they tried it an it was a hit with the community.

Traditionally, the University of Toledo has always done something publicly, with Savage Hall, of course, like after Covid that, you know, stopped.

But, we have always collaborated to do something really, really meaningful with other anchor institutions that are also doing things.

All of them, though, are not open on that day.

So we're sort of the place the anchor place where everyone can come.

And and the Toledo Museum of Art is always free.

So this day is free for families and kids and always grandparents and everyone to come by.

What kind of things can people expect?

And is there a, an age group that's more appropriate for this day than not?

I'm so glad you mentioned that.

And I want to add to what you just said, Gretchen.

As of January of last year, it's so weird to say that last year of 2025, we are parking is also free.

Yeah.

Due to the generosity of Taylor Automotive, a senior Taylor.

And so we are just so proud about that.

But, no, it is tailored for everyone and every single age group.

We have something, really for everyone, from craft to speakers to, performances as well.

And I just want to ad a little bit of Toledo history, if I can.

And many people don't know this, but Doctor King actually was in Toledo, spoke befor thousands at Scott High School seven months before his assassination.

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

And, it it's just it's mind blowing.

I've seen the, pictures.

I've seen some of the I mean, thousands of peopl were there, including students, but thousands of peopl from the community were there.

And one, person that yo all know in media, Lisa Guyton, her family was very active in civil rights at that time.

So there's a picture of her, and her relative holding her.

I believe it was her grandmother and her mother, and Doctor King standing in their home.

And so she.

And she's a little baby.

So, yeah, it's like we have so many touch points and connections, with, you know, I think the founding of even civil rights being that we are like the third oldest branch to have an NAACP in Toledo and all of those things.

And so I just wanted to add that, little, you know, Toledo is, here on the show, just in case your viewers and watchers did not know that.

Well, and, and this Monday you'll be creating opportunity for there to be more connective tissue.

Exactly.

We have a host of activities going on.

We will open on that Monday, which is, the 19th, from 11 a.m.

to 5 p.m.. Again, free, open to the public.

Our cafe will be open also at that time, the family center activities are the hit.

The family center.

I mean, it is it is.

It has been a it's a place for us.

It is such a hit.

It is such a hit.

I've left my children there.

Which you can do.

Your words.

Yeah Just for hours on the attended.

What are the hours again?

For am.

Yeah.

Till Three.

These are called.

I'm always forced to watch match kids there.

Yeah, sure.

Yeah.

Take away from lobbying activities that watch match.

That's right.

There's a lot of lobbying goes on.

But it.

Is.

I mean, even beyond MLK day.

Met it is such a hit with both parents and kids.

And we will have Doctor King related crafts going on, and that's for the entire time.

The staff that that.

Oh yes, they are.

They're amazing there.

Too.

I'm not, by any means artistic or theft oriented.

They are.

And it is a great place to say, so I know this conversation i of a higher purpose, but just a reminder of the deliverables at the know it is.

And and that was because of, Mrs.

Libby.

Florence Scott.

Libby.

She is the one that really, is the one that perpetuated all of that.

And so we have the family center to be thankful for her that whole week, that educational week.

Yeah.

It's is dedicated to her.

Outreach activities as well.

Our our outreach department is amazing.

We don't expect everyone to come into the museum and cross our threshold.

We now go out into the community so that they'll have activities.

And they are rock stars and everyone knows them.

Some people who com from the neighborhood or beyond, you know, give them high fives.

They know them by their first name.

It's incredible.

Well, can you talk a little bit about the neighborhood?

Obviously, you're an ancho and I live in that neighborhood.

I do too.

Yeah.

Talk to me about, Yeah.

All I mean, that to me has always been a connection there, but it appears to be on an almost meteoric rise.

It is.

I mean, we're seeing anywhere from 14 to 18% rise in, visitation just in that two mile radius.

And the two mile radius is something that we focus on because it is a very underserved population.

We've identified at least five zip codes that are very distinct and very different, but under underrepresented and underserved.

And so, many of them, you know, prior to, I would say, Adam Levine's administration, really were a little leery about, visiting the museum because they didn't know they thought that we did charge and things of that sort and they would be judged about, you know, how they looked or presented themselves.

And that was very real.

I mean, we had listening labs to reveal that information.

And then now total change, like.

I can tell you, you know, on a sort of relatively self-assured, note, you and I are collaborating, working quite a bit of late.

And, you know, the Riverwalk project is something we're immensely proud of.

But as we sort of work towards one another, both literally and metaphorically, yeah, there's a lot of individuals who live in that only two mile stretch between the river for sure institution, for sure.

We're hoping to connect more.

So that's been, a great and fulfilling experience for me.

And I think it only goes well into your outreach.

Well, and, you know, you didn't pay me to, to, you know, uplift the Metroparks, bu the Metroparks gets it as well.

The museum and the Metroparks and several other anchor institutions know that community matters.

Right?

And we are seeing high visitation rates at that Glass City Riverwalk, high visitation rates at the Toledo Museum of Art.

And to me, that means trust has been established.

And I think, you know, getting back to Docto King's principles, he would be in some of those meetings that you and I, you know, engage in, because that was his dream.

We're talking with Rhonda Sewall from Toledo Museum of Art.

They've got a big event coming up.

They're going to be open Monday for Doctor Martin Luther King Day.

What are some of the other things that people can expect to see when they come out to museum on Monday?

So I'm really excited about a particular keynote speaker that we have, and I feel really responsible for this because back in April of last year, I co-hosted a belonging symposium with people from all over in the museum field and arts and culture sector.

And one of my speakers was Doctor Morrison at and he is basically a DEA practitioner.

He's worked for the NBA.

He's worked for, you know, music industry.

He's just an amazing speaker.

And in our surveys from the belonging symposium, he was a hit with, the attendees.

And so the programing department, which is run through our education department, decided to bring him in to be the keynote speaker.

And the title or the theme is Strength and unity, which is the theme for our entire day.

And so he'll be talking, waxin poetic, definitely about that.

And he has this sort of preacher cadence.

Yeah.

And, it's going to be amazing.

And he is an Ohioan, actually.

Yellow Springs.

Yeah.

Ohio where the governor's from.

And so he's going to be speaking that's at 1145.

We have voices from Bgsu.

They will be there.

They are, an amazing choral group.

And other activities.

And so we just want everyone, the families to come out.

And you can see the entir schedule on Toledo museum.org, to get the full breadth of what we're doing.

And we've had a lot on our social media pages.

If you follow those.

Tickets required, no.

Tickets required.

Just come as you are.

Enjoy the day.

It's almost like old home week, you know, because everyone sees everyone that you haven't seen in a long time.

Lots of selfies going on and lots of people hugging.

Speaking of selfies trying to put you on the spot.

Okay, here we go.

It's time.

For Gretchen's.

Wacky.

Quiz.

They made that name.

Did they?

Yeah.

It's bad.

I don't know.

Say you don't know.

She's a true hero.

Rapid fire questions for me.

And saver thing.

Number one.

Favorite thing in Toledo from Gretchen and nine words to describe Toled is going to be coming from Matt.

Here' your four rapid fire questions.

Number one, what's your favorite way to waste time online?

I remember the FCC.

Okay.

Under the FCC regulations.

Okay, okay.

Close that website.

No, it definitely is sending memes, stupid memes to my friends.

Sure.

I can verify that.

Yeah.

At two in the morning.

How many times a day do you lose your keys or your phone?

Five.

It was a. Very like a family feud field to.

Show me five minutes.

It.

What's the best thing you've ever eaten from a restaurant?

Village idiot.

Pizza in Toledo or mommy?

Technically.

Oh, okay.

That was quick.

And your favorite place to shop?

Chico's at Levis Commons.

That's true.

I'm going to verify all this.

Yeah, just an expression.

Thank you.

What's the number one?

Your number one favorite thing?

Or that what you consider to be the best thing in City of Toledo?

The best thing is definitely the people.

We've got grit.

We've got, lasting power.

We believe in this city.

It's definitely the people.

Okay.

Use all your good words.

Oh, sorry you got rid of.

Oh, I'm taking grit.

I'm taking grit.

I'll take a shower.

So now you only have lasting power.

The best thing about the people.

The best thing about Toledo.

Oh, best thing about this?

I was the region.

Oh.

Oh, okay.

This is hard.

I'm not sure if we should.

If it was easy.

If it was.

Everyone would do it.

Okay.

Definitely.

Our waterfront.

Got it.

Our metro parks, our library system, museum.

Three left.

I would say definitely our philanthropy.

We're.

You're almost home to bring me home.

Our sense of belonging.

All right?

Belonging.

Our, sense of being a welcoming city.

Welcoming is.

No.

See, that was easy.

Look at that.

All that anxiety for me.

Maybe when she had just three left, I was like, it's real easy.

Just work your way down the line.

And then.

Yeah, no, she went, I did, I did, she did.

Yeah.

That was for the bonus round.

That's right.

You know what a bonus round okay.

It's been very interesting is that almost every guest that we've had on has said welcoming is one of the ones.

Yeah.

I mean I think it's great our.

City and our county both are welcoming, a city we're a welcoming city.

We're welcoming county.

We were one of the first in Ohio to be a welcoming county.

And then the city followed.

And I think that is very important for, you know, refugees, for immigrants, for people.

And it really tells you the vibe of the city, like who we are at our core.

Rhonda, you are an incredible leader in our community.

Thank you.

Incredible leader i the African-American community.

As we look ahead to Doctor Martin Luther King Day, this coming Monday what is your hope for for people in Toledo?

What do you hope they they take away from that day?

What do you hope they bring to the rest of their year?

It's really easy.

And I'm so glad that you asked that because, you know, Docto King talked about being judged by not the color of the of your skin, b the content of your character.

And I really think, you know, I was looking on Instagram at some story and it talked about how alike we are as people.

And when we talk about specifically races, we're so much more alike than we are different.

And I think that that was his whole point.

Everybody just wants quality of life.

Everyone just wants to live in peace.

Everyone wants that.

And, when you diminish that, it diminishes the fabric of this beautiful country that we live in with very a lot of problems as well.

But I think if we could all get together on that, I think that's for the mission of hosting events like this at the museum is for everyone to come together.

If if that's not the definition of Rhonda has spoken, that's.

All.

That's doing.

This hashtag is.

Yeah.

Thank you so much, Rhonda.

Sewell from the Museum.

Of Art.

Thank you.

When we come back, we continue our tour of upcoming events in Toledo, driven by Tara with Andrew Newby from Toledo Spirits.

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Welcome back into the 419.

We're taking a look at some of the top events coming up this weekend in Toledo, and we're joined by another good frien of the show from Toledo Spirits, Andrew Newby.

Good morning.

Thanks.

Well thank you.

Glad to be here.

You guys have a you guys hav a fancy studio and everything?

It's one.

Yeah.

Moving on up.

Impressive, because we're all very proud of you.

If people aren't familiar with Toledo spirits.

Yeah.

Obviously, I don't know what rock they've been under, but.

But tell us, what is Toledo Spirits Company?

Yeah, absolutely.

Two spirits, small craft distillery, founded in 2013 with, myself, Lucas Coomer and Dustin Wade and, just three friends got together and decided it was a cool idea to start making, craft spirits using local ingredients and a lot of ingenuity and fun and passion.

And where's the location?

Why is that important?

Yeah, absolutely.

We started it in, the Vistula neighborhood at 1301 North Summit, Toledo's oldest neighborhood to this poorest neighborhood.

And, it seemed like the right the right choice to start something that was, all about manufacturing and design and using local, local ingredient and working with local farmers.

But starting that in Toledo was very first neighborhood.

And I want to talk about what that space looks like today.

But when you guys first moved into it, I mean, it wasn't a pub, it was a palace.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, but.

We brought it.

Down a little bit.

Well, but I think about, you know, when I first found you guy was through your kind of limited releases or like, hey, Saturday, come out and and buy this.

From 2 a.m.

till til from a 10 a.m.

until 2 to 8 p.m.

and yeah, which is.

When it wtf?

Where?

Whiskey?

Yeah.

Whiskey tango Fox knows our very first whiskey.

We made it.

We still make it.

It's based off of, wor with different microbreweries.

Use their beer, turn into our whiskey.

It's a fun, experimental thing.

Wild, wild flavor profiles.

But, that's really where the ver first thing we started started making back in, 14, when we actually got our federal license to do all these things.

But, my, wife and I, Kristen Kaiser, we bought our, that building in 2001 and really thinking that downtown was going to be growing that direction.

So as we were, developing our our 2001.

Yeah.

So our technology company, avatar, we started in 97 down on Eri Street and as we were growing, we were looking for a place to expand.

We were wanting to develo a data center, wanted to help, small companie like ours incubate and develop, knowledge based economy within Toledo.

And, so we found this building, fell in love with it.

And tiny little company we did.

We need a 2000ft.

So of course, we bought a 27,000 square foot building.

And, yeah, developed from there.

We probably incubated maybe a dozen tech companies out of that building over the years.

And, but in 2013, after we opened Black Kite in the old West End, we're like, well, we live in the old West End.

We have a coffee shop in the old West End.

Maybe we should move to the old West End, or let's do something really coo with the building on cemetery.

And so we said, well, let's see what what happens if you start making making whiskey and gin?

Yeah, I was, I was a beer only like person.

I loved craft beer.

Right.

But I just could not get into, liquor at all.

Yeah.

And somebody had told me or I saw online somewhere or something about, whiskey Tango Foxtrot, novelty of, whiskey made from beer.

Yeah.

Became, kind of a bridge for me that I was like, oh, that's interesting.

Let me try this.

Right.

Yeah.

I mean, I. Never thought about it that way.

That as that as that bridge.

But one of the things we do is really try to make it.

So you taste the beer in the whiskey.

Yeah.

So it's really.

Interesting.

And so then I, then I found my way into, you know, Manhattans and all the other things.

That's, you know it was all downhill from there.

Yeah.

Do we give you the first taste for free?

Is that how this.

That's what I said.

That's right.

No, but I do remember I had I had a, a fundraising event for a friend of mine, that we did a tasting there, and I'd said after that event, I. And I still think it's a good idea, but it would need to be I think it would need to be heavily sponsored or supported by black and white transportation.

I want a tasting with the original beer.

Yes.

And the whiskey from the beer?

Yes, absolutely.

We did that with, Black Frog Brewery really early on.

They made a, they made a beer.

They made a lot of that beer.

We drank some of the beer We made some whiskey out of it.

So then you'd come in and you'd be able to taste them side by side.

And it was a wild, wild experience because you really it wrecks your palate pretty quickly.

But at the same time really getting to se how those flavors come through, especially things like the hops and the yeast and the other components of, of whiskey that we don't really, you know, really talk about.

You obviously evolved into other products as well, beyond whiskey, and you've developed a beautiful space there.

Thank you on summit to talk to us about wha the rest of the menu looks like.

And yeah, and what that space looks like today.

Yeah.

The, it really changed when we were, when the Ohio laws, were updated to allow us to open a cocktail bar before that.

You know, we could only do little samples of, of our spirits.

So, that was really kind o driving the work we were doing.

And once we were, able to open up bellwether, our cocktail bar, that really changed our perspective on what we were making, and it really became focused in on the great spirits that make great cocktails, you know, spirit as an ingredient and really thinking about how to develop, these kind of complicated, layered flavor profiles in, in a great cocktail.

So, that's really driven our R&D and our development of, of the brand, as well as the flavors we're going for, the ingredients that we seek out.

And, that's really what our focus is today, that we kind of represent each of the main categories of spirits, which is unusual for a small distillery.

And, try to continue to develop and hone that idea of how you, how you experienc the spirit is really about the other ingredients that go along with it.

And I mentioned the R&D meetings, in that building are quite fun.

And yes, the menu, the just the regular menu, it to the spirits, but also the holiday or the themed menus.

Yes.

Expansive and complex and interesting and creative.

How long like, for example, does it come?

Does it take you to come up with like the holiday menu that you put out?

The holiday one is a pretty complex one.

So that's usually conversations are starting in September or October to really start planning that out, because that's a it's a full sensory experience.

As is this.

Yes.

This is a full with the smells and yeah, amazing.

Right.

Thank you.

For that.

Yeah.

You're welcome.

The, but even like, the glassware, I mean, all that has to be planned, right?

Pretty far, pretty far in advance.

I think I know the answer to this, but you wear multiple hats as to, your partners in every conceivable way of the word partner.

Yeah.

What does a day week look like?

How do you balance all of these things?

How do you accept the fact that you can't?

Just accepting that and moving on.

You know, actually, just the idea of being able to juggle multiple things simultaneously is just a fun thing.

I really enjoy tha aspect of the work is that it's, you get a ton of touch on everything.

It's it kind of epitomizes, the history and cultur of Toledo in my mind that we are we are manufacturing based, we are engineering based, we are design based.

We have the the physical work part of our economy, and we have the knowledge part of our economy where we're physically located has a big, huge impact on who we are as a people.

Certainly not only, you know, the obvious things like the river, but even the access we have to locally grown produce, which is such a big part of my passion right now, is really thinking about the things that we grow and how those things going directly into our into the food chain for us, whether that be something like strawberries or, you know, asparagus that can be grown right down the street.

What is your big hope for where you are on some high street for that neighborhood?

Yeah, I'm sure you've seen a lot of changes, but certainly the City Riverwalk is full steam ahead.

Tell me about this.

What's this?

Well, what's going to happen?

There's this organization.

But I've been coming.

The others I've started organization.

Yes.

One of these.

They'r they're have these wacky ideas.

What what is your vision?

What is your dream for that?

What?

That's that.

That part of Summit Street is going to look like.

Yeah.

It's a, it's a continuous balance of the upliftment of the neighborhood, the betterment of the, of the neighborhood for the peopl that live in the neighborhood.

Combined with the opportunity of, Summit Street, the Lowertown Entertainment District, which includes the Riverwalk, includes Summit Street.

And thinking about how do we encourage people to to come down into the school and experience with school the way we see it?

You know, the walkability of the neighborhood.

So it's a balancing between those between those, those two things, reductio of blight, improvement of access to services and rebuilding of trust, with, with with these opportunities for people within within the neighborhood.

And one of the ways you're working to get people down on December Street and your place is some of these classes.

Yes, yes.

There's a there's there's several really fun ones, even for people that, for some unknown reason, are doing dry January.

Yes.

Or just generally don't drink.

And everything on your menu ca be made without alcohol in it.

Yeah.

So we, a couple years ago, we embraced, a dry January menu.

That we call this is not a cocktail.

And, they're all of the main cocktails, so it's usually about 12 signature cocktails for our for our that the main menu.

That's that's 12.

It's a lot.

So for January, all of those cocktails by default are mocktails.

And then you can have it as a mocktail.

You can has, have a, as a functiona which we've produced in-house.

Thc kava and ashwagandha, that you can add into your mocktail for that functional experience.

Or you can actually just turn it into a, into a cocktail.

And it's really just about the idea of embracing that culture and understanding that, moderation is a part of consumption, that, you know, we enjoy these things.

We like these things.

But it's also moderatio is also perfectly acceptable in.

That, in that context.

And so what are some of the classes?

So we do a lot of classes, really around from, from deep dive experiences coming up.

We've got our, secret lab, class, booze and beakers I think is what it's called fun.

And it's just really about, like, getting in with our with our head distiller and really understanding about some of the scienc that goes into what we're doing.

So that's a really fu deep dive into the science of, of craft spirits all the way over to, classes that include flower arranging or, or painting or, or ceramics or anything like that.

That's a combination of, again, that manufacturing piece, the crafting piece of it, have a cocktail come i and and mix and make something.

Yeah.

Cool.

Yeah.

With your hands.

It's such a great environment.

And, you know, something like that.

Fun, fun stuff from our groovy classes to bubbly Mary class style fashion classes to a. Ski.

To.

There's a soccer class on Thursday night that we're partnering with.

Black ti Coffee, rethink sock.

Come in.

Tickets, I think are $30, $35, and you get five, five sample stockings.

We'll have an expert there talking about where where the flavors of hockey come from what the different styles mean.

There's multiple different styles of socks and how it's produced.

It's really absolutely fascinating because it's such an interesting, interesting, beverage that a lot of people still know a lot about.

Yeah, very cool people looking for more information.

Where can I find it?

Toledo spirits.com or at Toledo Spirits on the socials.

All right.

Andrew Newby with Toledo Spirits.

Thank you very much.

It's time for oh great.

Gretchen's great wacky.

Quiz.

Great.

Loves it.

It's not it's.

Not the official.

That's trademark.

Here come the four, rapid fire questions for me.

Yes.

Can you live without wifi?

Not.

Yes.

I mean, there's an internet connection still, right?

I just don't have WiFi.

I mean, this is like these other methodologies.

I don't know.

I knew the tech person was going to go to, like.

Yeah, I just heard, like, you.

Guys still.

Have anything, right?

There's still.

Radio.

There's other other things I could access the internet with.

Right.

If you have an extra hour of free time every day how would you use it?

Reading.

Like, how do you like your steak cooked?

Medium rare.

And, if you could, if you know, if you had to meet any historical figure and choose him or her as your teammate.

Oh, in what way?

Team of what?

Quidditch.

What would it who would it be?

Historical figure.

And be my teammate and I figure out the team is.

Yeah.

That one's, extraordinarily difficult, but I would say William the Conqueror.

Well.

All right.

Okay.

Willie senior.

What's your number one?

AC, DC is that what he went by in the neighborhood?

It's a trick.

It was for flower arranging.

Yeah.

You ever.

If you if if.

You take a view of.

The Bayou tapestry, you'll see where it says.

Willie.

And we it.

And what is your number one most famous.

I mean, not most famous, most favorite or the best thin about slate over the region.

Oh, this is actually probably what everyone answers this, but the people I think we have a wonderful, wonderful community.

Okay.

Nine words, buddy.

Oh.

So I thank you for, I wrote a poem, so.

Yeah, I was looking for a word.

You guys shared the word with me earlier wit when you're talking to Rhonda.

So thank you very much.

You're welcome.

All right, so, I have, Toledo rises, glass River glows.

Grit feeds tomorrow.

Now.

All right.

Straight from the Conqueror's mouth.

Willie.

See?

Right, here's Andrew Doobie.

Aka DJ Willie.

See, on the one and twos from Toledo's spirits.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate.

Appreciate the time.

And, what's next for Toledo Spirits?

What's the what's the next big thing?

Next big thing is Mardi Gras.

So I just love our bow.

Other bottle menu.

Just just lean into New Orlean cuisine and culture and music.

And we just we just have a, we're on good time.

And that starts in February.

That starts February 5th, goes till, February 15th.

And then we have a Fat Tuesday Distillers dinner.

That will be amazing.

Awesome nails and cocktails and and cuisine.

What have you haven't come back.

Lots of great things.

We talk about it all the time.

There's there's so many different events and activities that are happening in Toledo.

Always something.

Yeah there's always something to do.

And I love like I said, we'll talk about it a lot or you'll hear me say, it's a lot.

I, I love when I see a full parking lot, right?

When I, when I pull in and I'm like, that's the spot closest to the place isn't available.

There's this bittersweet moment for me where it's like, I'd.

I'd love for someone to, like, pull out just in time for me to go in.

But I also love the fact that it's busy and there's a lot of stuff going on.

And all the Toledo spirits, Events can also be found on twitter.com.

There you go.

We didn't even talk about boozy brunch.

Let's talk about.

All right, quick, real quick.

Boozy brunch.

Boozy brunch.

Okay.

Saturday, Another poll.

Okay, give me a minute.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Sundays from, 11 to, 11 to 3, we do, brunch cocktails, mimosa flights, special martini flights.

Come in and get a get a lavender espresso martini.

Absolutely fantastic.

Great food.

We do bingo from 11 to 2.

Free.

Just you come in, get some food, get some cocktails, have some fun playing bingo.

And it's just a fun, great, enjoyable.

Easy enough.

Easy time for newbie.

Toledo spirits.

Thank you so much.

We'll be right back to wrap up this edition of the 419.

Stay tuned.

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Welcome back into the 419.

We're talking toledo.com community calendar driven by Tada!

There's always so man great events happening in the.

Region like Thursdays.

We talk about all this stuff going on.

It's fun.

Yeah, it's I mean, it's good to get this kind of snapshot.

And I think there's a there's a diversity in the events that are happening.

And so it's, you know, it's easy to fall into the routine of, you know this is the restaurant I go to.

This is the, you know I go to this, you know, for me, I go to this sporting event or I go to that, you know, cultural activity or I go to that fundraiser, but to kind of have a snapshot of of thing that are outside of that circle.

It's also fu to just take one of the things off here and maybe just go randomly.

You see, like the, like the, the, like date you know, like card game, right?

Where, like, you pull out a, you know, pull out a card or flip to a page in the book, and that's the date.

That's the date night.

So it's like step one, go to the court.

Just pick anybody.

Got it?

Ask about.

Okay.

And then say, I've got to.

Go somewhere.

With.

That's right.

You go to stay.

I've always wanted to did that even for restaurants like you just put it in there and it starts spinning and whatever, that's you just go.

So when we first moved here, we did that with Huntington, and I lived at LaSalle building, and every other weekend we would just walk down and just buy tickets to whatever was happening.

So I saw, like, wrestling, five wrestling, five different horse things.

Circus truck, some circus.

Yes.

That's awesome.

It was fun.

There was a, there was a business in Dallas called Fill a Seat.

Yeah.

And I always wanted to bring that to Toledo.

I don't know if our market.

I'd have to rethink the business model a little bit to make it sustainable.

But the whole idea was that I get it, you know?

Plus, we had that of Dallas.

I had an email.

Right.

That's great email or a text message saying, here's an even that, you know, has open seats.

Yeah Do you want free tickets to go?

It's always restaurant openings.

And oh, it's, you know, movie premieres and just different, you know, sporting events and comedy shows.

And and it was all like free tickets.

You pay a membership, oh, go.

But you get a free ticket.

But you, you have to show up.

Yeah.

That's where I would put it.

Yeah.

What?

So, you know, we talked about, some of the great MLK day events coming up.

Really cool activity happening at the museum on Monday.

An opportunity for folk to see the museum on a Monday, which you normally don't get to do.

Right.

And then, of course, you know, boozy brunch, which is pretty muc every breakfast with Gretchen.

That's right.

And the hours are super fast.

Yeah.

Brunch can happen any time since.

That bottle up.

You want it to happen?

Hey, if you missed any portion of the show, there's three opportunities Monday through Friday.

To tune in 7:00 am on YouTube channel, 3 p.m.

on FM 91 and 6 p.m.

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