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

♪ Wash me in the water ♪ ♪ Cleanse me in the mercy of your love ♪ - [Nicole] Coming to you from Rochester, Minnesota, ♪ Heavenly touch ♪ "R-Town".

♪ 'Cause I'll be back ♪ - The City of Rochester Parks and Recreation department has started the Soldiers Field Memorial Park master plan, update process.

And here to tell us more about it and how community members can get involved is Jeff Feece, park planner at the Rochester Parks and Recreation.

Welcome to "R-Town", Jeff.

- Thanks, thanks for having me.

- So can you tell us a little bit about what the purpose of the master plan is?

- Well, really the purpose of the master plan is to confirm, the initial master plan was done back in 2014.

So we're really looking to confirm the vision that was set forth in that 2014 plan.

And affirm the guiding principles that were laid out as part of that plan.

And so this updated master plan will really set the tone and lay out the vision and the direction for the next 5, 10, 20 years of the park itself.

So it's really, yeah, part confirmation of what we've already done.

And partially an opportunity to take another look and see if the needs and the wants and the desires are still there for continuing forward.

- I love that, a little bit of a check-in and then a little bit of a visioning forward.

- Yup, yup, exactly.

- So my understanding is that, so it's been since 2014 and you've been working on some improvements over the last five years.

Can you tell us a little bit about what some of that work has looked like?

And then also what some of the continued improvements are gonna look like as part of this project?

- Yeah, so some of the improvements that that have happened at the park, and the community may have noticed some of it, may not have noticed some of it.

But the track area was a big area for work.

We redid the track and there was really two focus points for the track being redone.

One was we wanted the track to be able to withstand events like Rochester Fest and things like that.

So vehicles need to be able to access and go over it and sit on.

But the track club and the community also wanted to maintain that unpaved type surface, the surface that's easier on the runners' bodies.

And so we redid the east parking lot, which is in front of the golf club or the golf course clubhouse and near the pool house and expanded that a little bit.

We put a permanent gate at Gibbs Drive and Sixth Avenue, southwest and closed down the eastbound or northeast outbound portion of Gibbs Drive to make the park safer and more user-friendly.

And eliminate cut through traffic through the park to downtown.

So those are a few of the high points of what's happened out there in the last five years or so.

- Fantastic, thanks for sharing that.

How can community members get involved in this update process and share their ideas?

- Yeah, so we've got a few ways to do that.

Probably the easiest way right now is to go to the Rochester Parks and Recreation website.

And we've got a link there where community members can participate in either/and an online survey that's done through Polco.

And then we also have a graphic, a map type, interactive map that people can click on and leave comments.

It's similar to a social media type situation where you can like and dislike and make comments and things like that.

And so that's a little more interactive and can be a little more specific to certain areas of the park that people may use.

So those are probably the two best ways right now.

We will be moving forward with some stakeholder engagement for or with specific groups like the Rochester Swim Club or the tennis group.

Or users, people that we know are heavy users of the park, we'll be engaging them directly.

So if community members are part of any of those groups, reach out to your group and participate in those meetings as well.

- Awesome, thank you so much, Jeff.

We know that the Soldiers Field Memorial Park is a huge park in our community and parks and parks systems are super important.

So thank you so much for giving us an update and we hope that folks will share their input so we can move forward with visioning what this is going to look like.

(upbeat music) (projector whirring) Be sure to stick around.

We have much more coming your way on "R-Town".

We learn more about the sport of curling and sit down with Cheryl Thodey and Wendell Amstutz to talk about listening to each other and inspiring ourselves in the new year.

But up first we visit a tribute to the trucking industry of the early to mid 1900s in this week's our culture segment.

(uplifting music) (gentle music) - [Greg] Mack Trucks really built America as it is today, whether it's the highways, the dams, the skyscrapers.

And so it started off when I was probably 10 years old.

We had a customer that had a 1918 Mack truck that was displayed at the Chicago World's Fair originally.

- [Bob] This particular truck, it'd never been restored.

It was at the World's Fair in 1934 in Chicago.

- [Greg] He was actually a client of my grandfather, Charlie Nuss from Rockford, Illinois.

- My dad found those trucks with a company in Chicago.

They purchased them or bargain purchase them.

- From Bertrand Carmichael in Rochelle, Illinois.

And he brought that 1918 Mack truck to Rochester for an open house.

And I can remember, I'm guessing when I was about 10 or so, looking at that truck that was 85, 90 years old at time but I was amazed at the history.

And then one day I bought an old truck that needed restoration and I was really excited.

And about a year and a half later, we restored the truck and I thought, wow, this is amazing.

Like this is it.

This is the pinnacle of collecting old trucks, is one truck.

As I talked to more people, traveled to more shows, one truck leads to two, two leads to three.

And the next thing you know, you've got a big collection.

And each one of these trucks tells a story, which I love.

I've got this Boulder Dam behind me.

This is a 1932 Mack truck that built the Boulder Dam.

It's the only complete one left in the world.

- [Narrator] An unbroken parade of heavy duty trucks.

Each handling from 8 to 10 tons of rock labored up over the steep roads, cut into the canyon walls to dispose of the material in the sculptures adjacent to the dam site.

This phase of the task, which entailed the excavation and the handling of over one and a half million cubic yards of material, was completed within a period of 13 months.

And was considered the most grueling portion of the work for both men and machinery.

- All these trucks tell a story.

They tell a story of the men and women that built this country.

And for us to put this museum together, we are honored to have these pieces in our collection.

- And I think having this museum is a attribute to what we've done.

So can show the history of our industry here.

And when kids come in and people, they just can't believe what you've done here.

- [Greg] We're kind of caretakers, I guess, of these trucks.

And we've taken it upon ourselves to bring them back to life, tell their story.

And set them up for future generations to understand the history, understand the stories and carry on the legacy of trucks that built America.

- [Bob] This is all part of the history.

And when people have a comfort level of when they come in and see this, that you built this.

You didn't just pile them money up in the corner or you can't take it with you.

Like you said, you only got temporary custody of it.

So thank you.

(soft serene music) - [Narrator] For more information about this story and other "R-Town" features connect with us on Facebook, Twitter @KSMQ, #RTown or ksmq.org/rtown.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Danielle Teal, your moderator for "R-Town" the spotlight.

This is where we talk about happenings, organizations and really cool things in Rochester.

We'd like to thank 125 Live for hosting and lining up our guests.

And today we have Aikong See from Hope Central.

Excited to learn a little bit more about that.

So Aikong, tell me a little bit more about Hope Central and full-disclosure 'cause I kind of already know, I'm a little bit involved with CAKE, my kindness group and promoting this wonderful effort.

So feel free to share a little bit more about Hope Central.

- Yeah, so Hope Central, what that's about, it's community of local nonprofits where we're bringing people together.

And selling their merchandise as well as we're looking to serve them in that way and then serve the community together instead of more separately.

So it's more of, I would say, a place where there's unity that's occurring and then also we're serving them by selling their merchandise so.

- Which is really cool and all the proceeds for these non-profits, where does that go?

- So all the proceeds goes a 100% back to the local non-profits and then we have the city of pulp shirts and Hope Central shirts that are our shirts.

a 100% of that goes back to the rent for the building.

And then we're, yeah, I was gonna say too, and also we're looking to establish a funding so that we, eventually down the road if you hear about families or like individuals that need support in groceries, bills.

We're gonna use that funding to actually help... - That's terrific and definitely a great need in the community.

That is one of the valid reasons why something like this put together was such a brilliant idea.

Why do you think it is an important addition to the community?

- Well, I think right now the reason why it matters is because I think a lot of people are starting to be more, instead of a self centric they're starting to be more community centric.

Which is what we're trying to encourage and help just kind of pave the way as leaders to show people, hey, like it's not about just me, Aikong, serving the homeless but it's about us as a community.

- And any way to create a pathway network I think is such a great benefit, right?

You can never go wrong when you have duplicacy of different groups doing these sorts of things.

Where is this located and how can people pick up the sweet merchandise?

- So the Hope Central is located across the street from Limb Lab and it's on the right of INCubatoredu.

So Rochester Public Schools INCubatoredu and also on the right of Maven.

The inspiration that we're trying to, again, share with the community is really the importance of seeing humanity as what it is.

And that's with value, that's with purpose, that's with potential.

So that way we can be more unified.

We can work together in issues and move towards solutions.

- Very cool, thank you so much for being on the show.

- Thank you, Daniel.

(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, this is Michael Wojcik with your "R-Town" rundown.

Welcome to 2022 in the Western world.

One person who did not quite make it to 2022 was Betty White, long time television actress involved in a lot of social change over her 99 years on earth.

One of the great things about Betty White is a lot of us got to express our appreciation for her body of work and what she did and her time with us.

Maybe that's something we can all learn in the upcoming year is to make sure we show appreciation for those around us and those things that they're doing to make our lives better.

One thing that can be tough in Northern climates is just keeping active in the winter.

But we do have a lot of great options here in Rochester.

It was just announced the skating oval at Soldiers Field Park is back open.

You can get skates there and skate on the oval, which is the running track in the center.

Additionally, Quarry Hill puts on a number of activities in the winter, including candlelight hikes, cross country skiing and other events, including cave tours.

SocialICE is going on from February 3rd to the 5th.

Another opportunity to get out and see the nearly complete Peace Plaza and enjoy some of the amenities that are down there.

Or just socialize in these cold winters.

Art Heads, formerly Canvas & Chardonnay has still has classes going on almost every night and every weekend.

And there's something there for all ages to enjoy.

There, another opportunity to get out.

One thing that I just learned about recently is Rochester Public Library actually has a feel-good fiction club.

You can read about that at their website.

And that's another thing that you can do to keep active in these winters.

Lastly, coming up at the Rochester Civic Theater is Girls Only, the Secret Comedy of Women.

This show completely sold out last year.

It's back again this year.

So I encourage you to get your tickets early.

There's a lot going on.

We hope you get out there and enjoy not only the great weather that we have sometimes in the summer.

But some of those days, it can be a little bit cold.

we can still get out there and enjoy them.

I know I certainly am.

Thank you for watching and I'll catch you next time.

(upbeat music) - [Stephen] Yeah, get everything moving.

There you go.

Hips up, there you go.

Nice.

I'm Stephen Russell.

I'm involved with the Curling Club of Rochester.

Right now we're at the rec center on the north rink.

We're preparing to host a family learning curl session.

Delivering a stone, sliding out of the hack is the basics of curling, is probably the most tricky or dangerous part.

So everyone's going to have step-on sliders to use.

It's very slippery.

Just really want you to get used to it.

I don't care if you slide 20 feet or you slide 3 or 4 feet.

I just want you to get used to the motion.

I start with the stone, bring my sliding foot in behind and extent.

(stone scratching) Get down, get down.

Yeah, good, very good.

Curling's kind of getting popular.

Everyone wants to learn more about it, give it a try.

And of course this year with the upcoming Olympics, the winter Olympics is even more attractive to try something new.

It's gonna be like riding a bike, is gonna be difficult the first time.

(upbeat music) We typically run these over the holidays where most people have more time to do family oriented things.

Relatives are in town visiting.

So I'm sure maybe a quarter of the people coming out tonight aren't even from Rochester.

They're just here visiting and their family wanted to come out and give this a try.

And here they are.

Is everyone here together, is everyone know each other, related or?

- Yup, we're related.

- Awesome.

And your sliding foot should move with it.

- My other hand?

- Yeah.

Now when you're ready to go leave with the stone, bring your sliding foot behind.

Good.

(upbeat music) We're just trying to deliver a stone about 120 feet down to the other end and have it ended up in place.

♪ So I hit my knee and I'm crying now, please.

♪ - It is a whole new year and while the new year is certainly a time of new beginnings and possibilities, for many it can seem a little daunting to welcome a new year with a fresh outlook in the wake of the ongoing pandemic and all that's going on around us.

We're joined today by Cheryl Thodey and Wendell Amstutz to talk to us a bit about how to motivate and inspire ourselves and each other.

And how to work toward community healing as we enter 2022.

Welcome Cheryl and welcome Wendell to "R-Town".

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- So of course, we know that the pandemic is our new normal and I'd love your thoughts on how we can center wellness and live full lives and move forward in this context.

- Well, I think, Nicole, part of the process is how we get our focus right.

If we focus significantly on the problem, we're going to have more problems.

But if we get our focus clearer in such the opportunities to encourage people, to serve people, some of these kinds of opportunities that are unexpected blessings, then good things can begin to happen.

- I know that the pandemic has taught us a lot about ourselves and each other.

Do you have any thoughts of what the pandemic has taught us in terms of resilience or some other things that can help us move forward?

- Well, when you first asked the question, we were communicating ahead of time, I thought, well, we're not to the back end yet and we certainly aren't.

But the business of keeping on keeping on is so important to know that if we will continue to persevere, good things can and do happen, not necessarily right away and not to give up.

There's an old statement that talked about never, never, never give up.

And while that sounds kind of cliche-ish, it's really true.

That in the process that good things are are happening we take time to count, so to speak, excuse me.

We take time to count our blessings.

There's an old song called count your blessings, name them one by one.

And if we could do journaling or some of these kinds of things, just write down all the good things that did happen and are happening, that will be one way to help us with resilience.

Another way is to start looking for opportunities, to make a difference in the lives of other people, to serve.

Some of these kinds of things are really worthwhile.

- Wonderful, and you've mentioned already in your opening remarks here looking for those opportunities to serve, the gratitude of being able to practice gratitude and journaling being one of those avenues.

Can you share some other methods that could help us stay grounded and positive in our daily lives?

- Sure, amongst the things that we need to do is we need to find ways to encourage other people.

Encourage means to give the gift of courage to people.

And I think as we find good things that are happening in people's lives or we find the qualities of people and we let them know we appreciate their qualities.

We encourage them to, it's really the gold in their lives.

And as we encourage people to experience the gold moments and the gold of their lives to be refined in making a difference in other people, then really significant things happen.

- You'll both be holding some space and facilitating a series of listening sessions.

And I'd love for you to tell us a little bit about what those sessions are, what are the different sort of areas that you're gonna be looking at and what you're hoping to achieve with them?

- The listening sessions will be held in the community with the goal of allowing people to communicate in small groups and one-on-one to practice effective communication and good listening skills.

What would you add with that?

- Well, I'm excited about the fact that we're also an opportunity to learn from one another and to take time to interact, perhaps disagree.

Agree to disagree is a wonderful principle.

So we'll try to, as Cheryl mentioned, we'll try to practice what we're teaching.

We use a phrase do and then teach.

And so the idea would be not only to interface with one another and to learn from each other.

But also I'm excited about the fact that we can multiply these kinds of skills in the lives of other people.

And so we'll try to give some very practical tools mixed in with the discussions.

The discussions are some exciting topics.

- Can you share a couple of the topics that you're particularly excited about?

- Thoughtful questions get thoughtful answers.

- I think also one of the things that we're, one of our new sessions that we're talking about is called sounds of silence.

And yes, we're a Simon Garfunkel fans.

But think about that, how silence is a senior partner to listening.

If we are in the process of being able to be still and to hear what's being really said.

As well as being able to think more clearly, how do you listen to sounds of silence?

What do they sound like?

What should we be learning from the sounds of silence?

That's one of the topics.

We're also gonna be talking about listening makes sense and dollars.

That's by the way a new session in relationship to the business community.

Listening is very important.

It makes a play on words here.

It makes sense and dollars.

And it really does.

I mean, there's really very few businesses or occupations that listening isn't very core to success.

And then also we have really a wonderful time.

Kind of one of our favorites is on intriguing stories, yours and mine.

And it's a great way to get to know people, to make some friends and just an incredible opportunity to see some good things happen.

And it's amazing how much we have in common and what we can talk about.

It's just a great time to make some new friends.

- That's wonderful, so much rich content there.

I'm hearing opportunities for storytelling and learning how to listen effectively, actively.

And I love how you're sort of framing this as listening being so central to being able to serve each other.

And to inspire others and encourage others and ourselves.

I'm also wondering if there are some, yeah, just some tips that you have for us just here as we work together about how we can practice being better listeners?

- Well, I'll take a shot at it and then Cheryl, take another shot at it too.

One of the things that helps me a lot is especially even when I disagree with someone is to say, please help me understand.

I'm having a hard time getting my arms around what you're saying so help me understand.

There's a humility, there's a sense of also willingness to learn.

There's a whole different mindset.

It's an attitude that says I can learn from you.

- Another great suggestion is, and I like Wendell suggestion 'cause I do use that is take a pause, take a break, take a breath or two before you react in an emotional way, just get centered.

And maybe then your response can be more of a listening response where you can say help me understand or get over that initial (growls) feeling so take a breath.

- Wonderful, so wonderful.

Thank you so much for sharing with us.

Thank you for holding these community sessions.

Hope people will take an opportunity to join in and share with each other.

So thank you for joining us and thank you all out there for joining us today.

For more wonderful content produced right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter at #RTown, the show about Rochester.

I'm Nicole Nfonoyim for "R-Town".

Be well and stay safe and I will see you next week.

♪ It's gonna help me stay ♪ ♪ 'Cause I just need ♪ ♪ O' a helping hand ♪ ♪ That's gonna help me stay ♪ ♪ It's gonna help me stay ♪ (gentle music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.