(rock music) (rock music continues) - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag."

I'm your host, Rob Sharkey.

Do you wear a lot of hats?

Everybody thinks they do, but today's guest, well, she definitely does.

Today we're talking with Kathy Carey from El Paso, Illinois.

How you doing?

- Hey, good.

Thanks for having me.

- Yeah, that's a wonderful cap.

- Yeah.

You know.

- And now is that a cowboy hat?

- It's not a cowboy hat.

This is called a rancher hat.

And so what I do is take all different types of hats and this is a fedora and I burn artwork into 'em, so I can pretty much burn any kind of hat, including straw, very carefully.

- You can burn any hat.

- Yes.

Burn artwork.

I can, everybody can burn a hat, right?

Burning artwork into hats.

You got me.

- You are the owner of KCLids, which is the company that we're going to be talking about with the hats.

But let's start with your background.

You're from El Paso.

Did you grow up there?

- I did not grow up in El Paso.

I grew up just north of Chicago.

- Oh.

- In a town called Waukegan, Illinois.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Up by the Wisconsin border.

- Okay.

And now don't they have a Six Flags there?

- Yeah.

In Gurney.

- In Gurney.

That's what it is, yeah.

Did you ever go there?

- We, every weekend.

Yeah, we had a season pass.

- Really?

- Absolutely.

- They had all like the fancy, like the Batman that went upside down.

But it didn't matter.

The one was the old wood one.

- Yes.

The Screaming Eagle.

- Yes.

They had to drop right down to Hades.

- Yes.

Pretty, that's what it felt like, right?

No, we went a couple times a summer.

It was a big deal when family would come into town.

That's where, you know, the big highlight.

- [Rob] Yeah.

Is that where your love of hats came from?

- No.

- Don't they sell hats there at Six Flags?

- Probably.

- Yeah.

- I'm guessing, - You went to what school?

A Catholic school up there?

- I did.

So I went through Catholic schooling through elementary.

- Okay.

- And then I went to an all girls Catholic high school, Carmel.

- [Rob] Oh, no dudes, huh?

- Well, the dudes were in another building, but we shared the cafeteria.

- Oh, is that where love...?

- True love started, yes, and sometimes ended right there in the cafeteria.

But we were managed.

So, you know.

- What's your opinion on a school that's either all girls or- - I loved it.

- Really?

- I absolutely loved it.

I did.

It was, high school was super fun for me.

And I just feel like some of the distraction.

- You hate men?

- No, I'm married to a man.

Yeah, no, men are, that's cool.

- We're okay.

- We're good.

No, but I think with my education and the distractions of boys, and I think it's, I preferred it, you know, I had a choice of going to the public school, but.

- Are the stereotypes about the Catholic schools, you know, where you did something wrong and they said, "Hold out your hand" and- - 100% true.

- Really?

- No.

- Oh.

- No, no.

In my grade school sometimes, yes.

- Did you ever get your hand whacked by a ruler?

- I never did, but my brother used to get paddled.

- Oh, well that's not bad.

That's how we used to do that.

- Well.

- You're a Gen Xer, right?

- I am.

- Yeah.

So anyway, we.

- We did, we got.

- We used to do that to each other for fun.

- Right?

No, they had one of those fraternity paddles sitting in the office and that's, you could hear people getting swatted.

It was pretty intense.

- I had one and the teacher had drilled holes in it, and it's like, "Oh, 'cause you can..." - Yeah, that was a good one.

- What kind of psycho would like, "Oh, I'm not paddling fast enough with my board."

- I'm a teacher today.

And we just didn't have kids behaving like they do today, you know?

No chairs went flying because we had the paddle.

- That's... - You know?

- That's a good point, folks, yeah.

Bring back the paddle and drill some holes in it.

- No!

I don't... - How about a rubber hose?

Would you like one of those in your classroom?

- Well, let's just, yeah.

Let's say no.

- Oh, went to ISU?

- Went to ISU, got my teaching degree, and graduated in four years and started teaching in the Chicago area and lived up there for a little while.

- Where were you teaching?

- My first teaching job was in Batavia, Illinois at the middle school.

- Okay.

- Yep.

And then I just started growing my family.

So I took several, well, a decade and a half off and raised four children.

And now my kids are in their twenties and thirties.

And I still teach seventh grade in Central Illinois.

- Oh, you do?

- I do.

- Okay.

Do you like that?

- I love it.

- Really?

With the kids?

- I absolutely, yeah.

With 12 and 13 year olds all day.

It's a different circus every day.

Yeah.

- Okay.

That's an age.

I don't know how these kids do it.

With the social media, with the phones and all that.

'Cause like when you and I went to school, you had a bad day, you got picked on or whatever.

You went home, at least you were home.

Right?

And then everything kind of diffused.

Yeah, you might have a little carry over the next day.

Now it never stops.

- It just never stops.

I feel sorry for the kids these days.

They just, it's a constant 24/7.

A lot of the kids don't get managed with their phones even at night.

So we have a lot of tired children in school a lot of times.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Do you, like counter that?

Do you give 'em like Monsters when they're, Red Bull?

- No, no.

We just plow through the day and get our work done.

- What's your classroom like?

- My classroom.

So I am in the mentality, how I like to run my classroom is creating a safe atmosphere is my first priority.

And so my classroom is very homey.

It always smells good.

I've always got melting candle wax or you know, something that smells homey in my room.

I've got couches and rugs and I don't turn on the fluorescence ever.

And I always have the, you know, shades open and lamps all over.

- You don't turn on the, why?

- You know, statistically, and what they've studied with fluorescent lights is that it's actually not good for people that suffer from ADHD and, 'cause they chatter.

- They what?

- They chatter, fluorescent lights.

And so all of mine are covered.

- The little, okay.

I think I know what you're talking about.

- The light bulb, they actually chatter really, really fast.

- That's a white noise that I go to sleep at night.

'Cause I just like vu-vu-vu.

- I like a fan.

- Oh, that too.

- Yeah.

- That sounds like kind of new age stuff.

Is it a hippie dippy?

- A little bit.

Yeah.

But it works.

- It really?

- It really works.

I've got bean bags and I've got floor chairs and then I have a coffee table that has little floor seating around the coffee table.

- Do you have lava lamps?

- No.

No, we have lamps.

A lot of lamps.

- But not fluorescent.

- Not lava lamps, yeah.

But just no fluorescent lights.

Yeah.

And so we build a community in the classroom and it's based on trust and, you know, care, and listening to each other.

And respect, mutual respect.

Yeah.

I love my job.

- I always thought if I was a teacher, my classroom would have like the rows perfectly straight.

And if a kid got his desk off a little bit, then he would have to stay after school and like maybe do some sewing for me so I could- - Sewing?

Okay.

- Sewing.

And then we could sell those products that they were sewing.

- So a little child labor.

- Well, it's also, yeah.

A deterrent from getting your desk.

- Yeah.

I don't have any desks.

Just tables and... - Now does this go back to your childhood as far as like?

- Yeah, it does.

I knew in second grade that I was gonna be a school teacher.

- Really?

- I did.

In the Catholic schools, we, back then, anyways, we prayed a lot about our vocation and, you know, what God was wanting us to do and be as an adult.

And I knew back in second grade that I wanted to be a teacher.

I thought you had to be a nun at first to be a teacher.

I did.

- 'Cause you were always getting hit by the nuns.

- Okay.

- No, I didn't get hit.

But you know, there was some, there were some rough times, I'm not gonna lie.

And I just knew that that's not what I wanted for my students.

- Okay.

And that's why you wanted to become a teacher.

So you wanted to be like a better environment and... - I did, I wanted it to be a safe learning environment and somewhere where kids could, a soft place to fall, but yet mutual respect.

And, you know, they need, I need obedience and I need, my classroom is very strict.

We have rules and the kids live up to 'em because they respect where they're at and they respect me, and vice versa.

- What's the first and last name of the teacher that was mean to you?

- Stop.

I'm not gonna do that.

Sister, no, I can't.

- Are they still around?

- I'm friends with one of them on Facebook.

- Oh, really, 'cause you're biding your time and you're gonna sneak up behind them.

- Yeah.

No.

No, no.

- Okay.

Faith is a big part of your life.

- It is.

- Tell me about praying for a business.

- Okay, so it was October of 2022 And I- - Was that COVID?

Or is it past COVID?

- It was just after COVID.

So we started, my husband and myself and then probably seven other families.

We started, all the churches were closed.

And so there was just groups of friends and we started a church outside during COVID.

And at first it was just like a trailer with a karaoke machine.

I'm not even joking.

And we met in a pasture, one of our friend's pastures, and we all social distance and, you know, 'cause we didn't know a lot about COVID.

- So it was... - Go ahead, take fun of us.

- Did the preacher, when he was giving the sermon, was like "Ice, Ice Baby" playing in the background?

- There was no like, no, no.

No, we weren't playing any karaoke.

But he did preach with a karaoke machine.

His name's Mick Duffy.

And today we have over 700 people that actually attend our church.

- You're kidding me.

- Nope.

It's called The Pasture.

- Yeah?

- And it's in Hudson, Illinois.

And it's non-denominational.

- Started from there.

- Yeah.

It started from an outside church in the pasture.

- All right.

Do you guys have a building now?

- We have a huge building and a big, you know, children's center and you know, middle school and high school huddles and, small groups, we have the whole thing, yeah.

We kind of pride ourself on simplicity and not making it a production because some of us came from large mega churches that just didn't work for us.

- Do you have drums in your?

- We do.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- You know what they say.

- What, what do they say?

- I don't know.

It's of the devil.

- No!

Stop.

Stop.

- Okay.

So you started this church and then what happened?

- And then, so I was sitting listening to the sermon and while I listen to sermons, I take notes in my Bible and I have a journal and I journal notes and, you know, things that I'm thinking about.

- Instead of listening to the preacher?

- No, I'm listening also.

Or something.

- Okay.

I don't know.

When I go to church and the preacher takes his time to recite the sermon that he prepared, I like to listen to him.

You're doodling.

- I am doodling.

I'm not gonna lie.

So Mick, who's also a family friend of ours, he's our senior pastor.

So he was doing his thing and I was listening and wrote down a prayer and I write down prayers a lot for my kids.

And I asked God, I said, this was in 2022, I asked for a business, and I didn't know what kind of business.

I was getting close to retirement.

And I prayed for a business.

And by November I had attended a wedding and the bride had wore a beautiful hat that had burned artwork on it.

And I saw it and I thought, "I'm gonna dig into this."

And so I found two wool hats on Facebook Market for $5.

- Apiece?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- Yeah, and then John went and bought, John's my husband, went and bought me a woodburning kit from Menards.

- Really?

And that's what this is?

- It is a wood burning tool that I use, but it's a different one.

- Oh, okay.

- Yeah.

And then I didn't know what to burn.

And my daughter was like, "How about you do my little tattoo?"

And it was just a little flower.

And so I tried it and took a picture and put it on Facebook and people were like, "How much do you charge to do that?"

And you know, and then I'm like, "God, is this it?

Is this the business?"

And it just, different things kept unfolding.

My dear friend Erin who owns Branded in Peoria, she, what?

(bell dinging) I can't name things?

- It's an unsolicited plug.

Yeah.

- Oh.

- It's PBS, they frown on that.

- Oh, for real?

(Kathy chuckling) No?

- Branded, Peoria, Illinois.

- Stop.

- You're welcome.

Yeah.

- No, that wasn't on purpose, I just, 'cause you and I were talking about it before.

- It's fine.

We'll move on.

We'll move on.

- I thought you were serious.

- Huh?

- Notice my face turned all red.

I'm like, "Oh geez.

Okay."

So anyways, my friend who owns a store in Peoria.

- Yes.

- She helped me get hats.

'Cause I didn't have a tax ID number yet.

- Oh yeah.

Yeah.

- So she got me consistently some hats until I had my own tax number.

Yeah.

And it worked out.

- Okay.

So you take a hat like this.

- Yep.

- And this is one you made for my wife.

- Yes.

- And it is gorgeous.

Beautiful.

- Thanks.

- And this is, I see you got like three crosses.

And then what do you have here?

- So I kind of asked her for a little bit of information before the show and asked, you know, what are the birth months of your kids and you guys, and so then I just put some daffodils are for March, and then sweet peas and I put the flowers all around and then I cut around the edges to make it, I call it a live edge.

- Yeah.

That's really cool.

- And then I took a torch to it.

- [Rob] Yeah.

It kind of gave it that burnt look.

- Yeah.

Like a rustic type look.

- And you made one for me too.

- I did.

I did.

- This is really cool.

- But you don't have to try it on 'cause you got your hair all fixed.

- I'm gonna try it on.

- Oh you are?

- Yeah.

I'm just, I'm trying, we're building it up.

- Oh, okay.

- Now you ruined the magic.

- All right.

Sorry.

- But anyway, you got Shark Farmer right there.

That's my digital name.

And you got my logo.

- There you go.

- And then you've got, what's this?

- This is a horse hair hat band.

And then I just took a casing.

- A live round.

- Yep.

It's not live, no.

And then I designed the front so that it kind of has a, just like a tuck behind.

It's kinda cool.

- Yeah.

That's different.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

That's, my favorite cowboy wears a hat like that.

- Oh really?

Who's that, who's your favorite cowboy?

- John Marston.

- Really?

- Yeah, he used to run with the Van der Linde group, but then he turned his life around and went straight and he got a wife and kids and that's all he cared about.

But you know, when you care about something, then the law can use it against him.

So the Pinkertons said, "Hey, you're gonna find your old gang members or else we're gonna arrest your wife," and.

- Wow, that's a story.

- Some people are really laughing hard.

- I am like so gullible.

I can't even stand it.

- And this is the front.

- Yep.

- Yeah.

All right.

- Dude.

Not bad.

- All right, hold on camera two.

Ready?

- Yeah, go ahead.

Oh boy.

Go like this.

Yeah, that's right.

- It reminds me of Brad Pitt in that movie.

- Which movie?

- "Legends of the Fall."

- Okay.

- Except, he looked really good.

I like my hat though.

Yeah, that's fantastic.

Okay.

- So it's 100% wool.

So like this is wool as well.

You can like shape 'em a little bit too.

If you take some steam off, you know, a tea kettle, you can get that going and then you just kind of manage it.

- The front of it though, is that a different, is that a new style?

- It is, so like I said, my friend Aaron, we went up to Chicago.

I'm not gonna have you ding that bell again, but there's another business up there, that we went to, and the owner of that hat shop taught Aaron and I how to do, you know, different things like that.

How to start with a open hat and create all different looks.

- Okay.

So you're not just selling, what's a hat bar?

- A hat bar.

So I do open hat bars for weddings and corporate events and I have a whole bunch of, I call 'em naked hats.

- Oh.

- I know.

So they just have no hat band, they have no artwork.

They're not torched.

But I have hat brands as well.

- Oh.

So it's quick.

- It's quick, and they can pick out a hat band, but they're super fun to do at like, weddings, corporate events.

So I have a full hat bar and some of my employees help me out and we get that for people.

- So tell me how this works.

So if you go to a wedding and you just have a bunch of hats.

- Yep.

- And the people come up and they're like, "Okay, I want this, this and this."

You can stamp that hat.

You can give it to 'em.

- Yep.

- Are they buying it there or is that part of a wedding package?

- You know what, it depends on what the bride and groom want.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- Sometimes, the bride and groom, you know, pay a certain amount and then the people have a way discounted price.

- Ah.

- But then everybody gets to wear a hat.

It's kinda like a party favor.

- Oh.

- So that works out really well.

Sometimes all the hats will have like the wedding date stamped on the back just so that, you know, the people who purchase it remember where they got it.

And then we can personalize it.

- But if the bride and groom are cheap, then you can just, yeah.

- But I can just be there and offer hats at, you know, a different price.

- Okay.

That sounds... - Yeah, so fun.

- Do you do it for other events?

- So corporate events, yeah.

- Yeah?

- I do that.

I think I've done some quinceaneras, which are 15th birthday parties.

- What are they?

- A quinceanera, which is a 15th birthday party in the, Latinas celebrate, it's just a coming of age type party.

- That's like the real, like got like prom dresses and stuff like that.

I've seen the TV shows.

Yeah.

Well that would be an awesome thing for, yeah.

- It's super fun.

- Do the kids wear hats nowadays?

- A lot of kids do, just, and it's super nice because I carry a variety of styles so it's not just cowboy and it's, you know, not just, you know, a certain style.

I do carry a large variety of colors of cowboy hats.

But something like this, I mean, people, women especially can wear to church or, you know, however they like.

- You can wear that to your church.

- I can.

- Yeah.

I think we talked about this on the XM show, but there's a passage in the Bible that says "Thou shall not wear hats."

- Buddy, there's just not.

I looked.

- I think it's in Deuteronomy.

- Okay, nice try.

- I'm pretty sure.

It's like towards the beginning of it, but when they're setting up all the rules.

So don't put anything on your head.

- Okay, so you're doing great 'cause you've got a full majestic beard going on.

It says don't shave your facial hair.

- That was Old Testament.

- Oh, so we're in the new covenant now, right?

So there is something about hats?

I must have missed it.

- Somewhere around John.

- I must have missed this.

Darn it.

- Well is this something when you retire from teaching, that is gonna become your gig?

- It is my gig.

I have to be very careful actually, because teaching is a huge commitment and, you know, nine months out of the year, it's really draining.

And I have to be really careful with what I book as far as, you know, what I put on my calendar.

So I started a couple summers ago and just did the small markets.

- Yeah.

- And now I've migrated, I do rodeos and then weddings and corporate events.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- Is it just like if they had like a girls' night out, like how big would it have to be before you say, "Okay, let's make this a thing"?

- Okay, so I usually, if you're hosting a hat bar, I like to say, so my hostesses always get a free hat of their choice.

And then I like seven to 10 women who are purchasing, hat buyers, to be able to attend so that it's worth my time.

- So it doesn't have to be a huge gathering.

- Oh no.

- Yeah.

Or you know, like three women, but they buy two hats.

- We could do that.

- Or three hats.

- The more the better.

- You're a hat peddler.

- Yeah, kinda.

- What is the most popular cap?

- I would say something like this is a popular one, only because it can be really versatile depending on how you wear the brim of the hat.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

Like a rancher hat.

- All right.

And do you do the old like Stetson style?

- I do, mm-hm.

- But that's probably a little bit more.

- They're actually, all the hats are the same price.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- Yep.

I try to make it easy for my customers.

Yeah.

So if we could- - And that's because of Branded in Peoria?

- It's, do I get to ding it?

You said it.

- No, don't you touch my bell.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- It's just your orange bell.

I'll stay over here.

- It's from the board game Pit.

- Ah.

- You ever have that as a kid?

- No, never did.

We're into a marble game right now that's pretty intense.

It's a big round board and you move marbles- - Chinese Checkers.

Yeah, we've all- - It's not Chinese Checkers.

It's something different.

I don't even know the name of it, but- - Now we've gotta talk about this.

'Cause I, what kind of?

- I'll have you all over sometime and we'll have some beverages and play this board game, it's really fun.

- With marbles.

- It's a big wooden board and you have to get your marbles and it's kind of like Sorry.

You can knock people off and... - Look at the camera guys.

- Yeah.

- They all think you're lying.

- I'm not lying.

Who's the fibber here?

(Rob chuckling) No, it's really fun.

- If people want to hire you, how would they go about it?

- So I have my email, is info@KCLids.com.

They can also take a peek at my website.

- Okay.

- And the website is KCLids.com.

So it'll give you instructions on how to contact me, but you can also go through and take a look at some of my designs that I offer.

And I also offer customization of hats right online.

So, yep.

All that information's right there.

I also am available at 309-706-2193.

- Oh, you're throwing out the phone number.

- Just throwing it out there.

- Okay.

Is that's your home number?

- We don't have a home number anymore.

That's just my business number.

- I thought Gen Xers, we all kept our landline.

- Do you still have a landline?

- No.

- No, so.

But are you a Gen Xer?

- Well, yes.

- Well, I don't know how old you are.

- I'm older than you.

- Well you've got a really dark beard, - Yeah, but I dye that.

- All right, well.

- So it's, yeah.

- I dye mine too.

- Okay.

- That's all right.

- Maybe we should stop telling secrets.

- I know.

Stop sharing.

Oversharing, that's, yeah.

- So thinking back to when you wrote the prayer, about this, I mean, is this anything what you expected?

- This has been fast and furious for me.

Very much not what I expected.

I really have to be careful, like I said, with how my calendar looks in the summer and how I manage things in the winter because it's so much fun and I have so much passion.

I pray over all my hats when I'm making 'em.

- Do you?

- I do.

Even though I don't know who's gonna be wearing them sometimes, but I do pray, and listen to worship music as I burn and, you know, just think about what a cool gift God gave me.

And I've never had a art class.

- Really?

- And I do all my artwork freehand.

Thanks.

- That's all free, you didn't stencil or anything?

That's really good.

- Thanks.

I pull up different pictures, black and white pictures of like tattoos and ideas so that I can, you know, get some detail in there.

But for the most part it, I just kind of do my thing.

- Okay.

- And it's really fun.

- I think it's a really cool idea because you've never heard, I've never heard of it before.

- Yeah.

- But you know, everybody's looking for something different when they're getting married or when they're having a party or whatever.

And to have everybody go home with a hat instead of like, I don't know, a deck of cards or something dumb that they'll throw in a, I mean every- - A bottle opener.

- Well you use that.

- True.

- Yeah, if you drink.

- Or what are some other crazy ones?

Anyways, yeah, it's nice.

- A marble game.

- I didn't get that at a wedding.

No.

No, it is nice.

It makes for a really nice party piece while you're at the party.

And then customizing anything, people love that.

I love that.

You know, making it my own.

- Well, Kathy Carey from El Paso, Illinois.

Thank you for the hat.

- Hey, you're welcome.

- And thank you for Emily's hat too.

I know she absolutely loves this.

- Cool.

- So I- - And when you don't wear 'em, you can hang them on the wall 'cause they're super... - It's like a piece of artwork.

- It is.

- Yeah.

Look at that.

Owner of KCLids, make sure you go check her out if you want to do the hat party.

- Right.

- The hat bar.

- Or just purchase one hat for yourself.

You can do that too.

- You can do it all.

- You can do it all.

- Can you drink out of 'em?

- I bet you could.

I don't recommend it, but yeah.

- Kathy Carey for El Paso, Illinois.

Thank you very much.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next time.

(rock music) (Rob chuckling) (rock music continues) (rock music continues) If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to explore more of our local content.

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We can't wait to see you next time on "A Shot of Ag."