And now the 490 with Gretchen de Bakker might kill them.

And Kevin Mullin.

Welcome to the 419 powered by GTI, presented by Retro Wealth Management.

I'm Kevin mullen Gretchen Debacker, Matt killam.

It is our toledo.com community calendar driven by Tada where we take a look at, some of the top events in the region, of course, curated by our friends@toledo.com.

And we've also got, a couple of exciting guests.

Yes, lined up for the show today.

I'm super excited to have on.

And it's been long overdue, Kate, for ski with the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

The award winning, that is right.

Yeah.

And it's.

I think this is not just the first award, but I feel like they just keep winning awards.

I agree, and doing incredible work.

Kate's got such passion for, the Great Lakes, the passion for Toledo and brings all of that together.

And so it's just one of the many ways tha you can be a tourist in Toledo.

And I'm excited to talk to her about, just traffic.

Right.

How many people are coming and walking through the turnstiles there at the National Museum?

But, I'm really interested in, like, where they're coming from.

Right.

So how many are local?

How many are from, outside the area?

And I think they're both strong.

The reality is it's I think I shared, maybe on this show previously that that my family and I went, and I've been to the National Museum, a few times, but, like, for events and things like that.

And I hadn't taken the family.

Yeah.

And we took the family last summer, and it was.

They loved it the most fun.

Yeah.

I didn't expect it to be.

I mean, truly, like, I just, like I'm not a huge history person.

I was just like, I don't know.

Oh, my gosh, it was so good.

Yeah, it was so the exhibits are incredible.

The staff is super nice, too.

I went planning on being interested, and it was still, far exceeded my expectations.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then Queen Bee and Honey.

Yeah, is going to be here as well.

Another coffee shop, participating in Coffee Quest.

So we'll have them on the program later.

Of course.

Gretchen, I know while you're excited to talk to them, mostly it's the drinks.

Yeah, yeah.

And I'm a fan.

Yeah.

I was out there right in the heart of, Heinz Garden Center.

Out in Holland.

And it's just this delightful front corner of that, of that greenhouse where they're set up and quite good, quite delicious, drinks and snacks.

So excited to get to know them and and how they got into the business.

It's such a cool idea.

It is inside.

I think there were people.

It was packed.

There were people everywhere.

I love it, I love it.

All right, you want to dive in?

Let's take a look at our toledo.com community calendar driven by Tada this week.

This week.

Nailed it.

Matt, what's, what's on the, what's on the docket?

It says right here this week.

Yeah.

The Toledo Walleye playoff hockey.

Kevin do you know anything about this?

Yeah.

Game one tonight.

It's interesting the way that they play.

Right?

So they've got, the game one and two, here in Toledo.

Yeah.

Three four and five are on the road.

They play Bloomington three, 4 or 5 on the road, and then they'll be back for game six if needed.

And we hope it is in this kind of a structure, if needed back in Toledo.

That'd be fun.

I've always preferred them to play it numerically.

Yeah.

That's right, that's right.

Yeah, that's the way to do it.

But this is, I'll be honest with you, if you do not have tickets right now, you're probably not getting them.

I was just going to say we should go Friday or Saturday.

Yeah.

I mean, they might be standing room only, but it's.

I mean, honey, things that are so different from fifth Third Field in that way that like being inside a building.

Yeah.

You are legitimately fixed.

There are great sightlines everywhere, the way that you have in a Mud Hens game, but it is a great atmosphere.

The fans are fantastic.

The team is, playing well.

It's like, all right, let's yeah, let's go fish.

Let's do it.

Okay.

Another big weekend.

And these are both inaugural events as far as I, did tell.

But you actually when googling, you have to put in Toledo Pickle mania, Toledo.

Yeah.

Because there are other people, festivals.

People really d seem to enjoy the whole thing.

But so it's necessary to put Toledo in twice.

You do the pickle mania in Flagstaff.

Wasn't this this wasn't the same.

Yeah.

They just don't have the appreciation.

That's right This event is at Toledo Pickle.

Interestingly, on Water Street, down on Water Street is part of the Glass City River walk.

It's from 11 to 7 on Saturday.

Totally free pickle vendors.

There's such a thing as pickle vendors, pickle related food.

They will have music all day.

But the cool and fun thing is also the party in the park has joined forces with this event.

And so there's a, pickle fest kickoff on Friday night where the bridges are going to play at Superior in Washington.

It's going to be 70 some degrees on Friday night.

So that's going to be a real fun thing.

Go to see the bridges, the go to Pickle Fest on Saturday.

I think we had so we had the show will air tomorrow, but we had at our 419 day party, later for when I was out there, for the first time, they'll be out at party in the park, all summer, I say for the first time with the new owner.

Yeah.

But they're, I'm pretty sure that, there are pickleball shots that they're going to be at Pickle Fest on Friday as well.

But, the next event is the third on our list, and that's the Adams Street Dance Festival.

Adams Street does this is all day on Saturday.

Actually, it's all night on Saturday starts at 4 p.m., ends at 2 a.m.

so I will be asleep for about eight hours of this.

But, it's this Saturday the 25th.

All up and down Adams Street.

Multiple stages, technical music, movement.

I just had technical, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Not technically music.

Techno.

Techno?

Yeah.

Music.

That's that's that's short for technical, I know.

Okay, there can't be a cooler gal telling you.

Yeah, I'd love to do that.

I'm so excited about something that you should know about this segmen coming to a class Toledo Ballet.

If you're not in, if you're an into a different kind of dance tech dancing, it's it's it is technically dancing.

Saturday the 25th and Sunday the 26th.

The Toledo Ballet is putting on Capella which is a it's a comedy ballet.

It's a storybook ballet.

And so there should b a lot of fun kids of all ages, go to that.

And that is at the Valentine Theater.

And then finally, again, I said this morning, I did forget to sign up for this again this year.

But you've had that ankle injury.

Yes.

That's right.

For 50 years, the Mercy Corps Glass City Marathon is this weekend.

So pay attention to traffic routes and things go out and cheer people.

We have a number of friends that are relay your wife is doing the five K. Danny is not a runner.

But she has been training, because one of her dear friends, wanted those basically trying to get bac in, to running after an injury.

So Danny agreed to go run with her.

And so they're doing the five K together.

Are you guys going down to cheer him out?

We're going to cheer on.

Yeah.

We're so we're so, so proud of her.

They've been, how they've been training is they've identifie the speed of different animals.

And so now they're trying to run at the speed of different animals.

And so they are their goa is to run faster than a chicken.

Yeah.

All right, I ran a half marathon many many, many years ago in Chicago.

And I was so slow I couldn't even be in a pace group.

I was so slow.

I practically walked the whole thing, and I was.

But you ran it.

I did but I was at so far at the end that the police cars were coming to take the barricades away and saying, runners take to the sidewalk.

That was, oh my God, I was.

But it was just devastating.

I was like, I do this.

Great events that are happening.

Of course you can find all th details on them at twitter.com.

Our friends at target can get you to each and every one of these.

And so get out.

Enjoy.

Toledo.

We're gonna take a break.

When we come back, a great way to enjoy Toledo and celebrate northwest Ohio is to celebrate our Great Lakes.

You can do that at the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

When we come back, we'll have Kate for you from the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

Here on the 418.

We'll be right back.

Support for the 419 comes from Whetro 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, SIPC.

More information at whetroadvisors.com The 419, powered by WGTE is made possible in part by supporters like you.

Thank you.

Welcome back into the 419.

There are so many great ways that you can enjoy Northwest Ohio.

Get out.

Of course, as we take a look at our community calendar, there' awesome things that you can do every single week here in Northwest Ohio.

But there's one great way you can be a tourist in your own town.

And our friends of Destination Toledo are helping us talk to great people doing great things, and great opportunities to enjoy our community, get outside and enjoy all the great thing that are here in Northwest Ohio.

Kate, for Nessie with the National Museum o the Great Lakes is here with us.

Kate, thank you so much for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

I'm a fan and excited to be here.

We we appreciate that you and I have had this conversation before, and you're always the one that points out when I'm late to, upload something to Spotify.

I'm a morning person, and I need to listen early.

I didn't even know we were on Spotify, so I know.

Am I pronouncing this name correctly?

Is Kate.

Kate?

It is.

You can call me Catherine.

That's my real name, actually.

Catherine.

What the.

Why?

All right.

Tesla, the wife, Catherine with the wine.

Okay, so if people are familiar with the National, maybe we'll we'll go back and spend some time to talk about kind of where, where you came from and some of your background.

But let's just start with National Museu of the Great Lakes.

What is it?

Yeah the National Museum of the Great Lakes is an incredible spot.

I remember the first time I saw it thinking how the heck did I not know about it?

And, you know, that's primarily because it's new.

We moved here to Toledo in 2014.

But the actual we've been around for over 80 years now.

We began in the basement of the Cleveland Public Library, produced producing journals.

Yeah.

You know, what happens is when we still produce this quarterly journal to this day, what happens when you're producing journals about Great Lakes history?

You're talking to a lot of Great Lakes history enthusiasts who are also collectors.

And so we became collectors.

And pretty quickly within a decade or so, outgrew the basement of the Cleveland Public Library.

We were gifted a home by the Wakefield family in Vermillion, Ohio.

We became first the Wakefield Maritime Museum, ultimatel the Inland Seas Maritime Museum.

Our mission at that time was to preserve and make known the history of the Great Lakes.

But if anybody's been to Vermillion, it is the most beautiful but a little sleepy seaside town.

And it was that make known componen that just wasn't working for us.

So we had, our board of directors and our, executive director at the time.

They looked all over the Great Lakes.

We could have landed anywhere but by a couple of different circumstances.

First, we had the Bowyer downtown.

And this idea, there was this grassroots effort to save the bowyer.

And then we had this space that had been built by federal maritime funds.

It was supposed to be a ferry terminal.

And as a kind of say in baseball, they built it, but they did not come.

Sure.

And so it was this, you know, probably overpriced event hall for a couple of years.

And we landed there and it just made for a wonderful combination to bring the bowyer down, fully restore it back to its 1911 roots, to the Colonel James M Schoomaker, top to bottom.

I mean, we have the most exceptional museum ship, really.

I think in this nation we work really hard to care for it.

It's my largest artifac and my most expensive artifact.

Yeah.

And, you know, since the we've just been trucking along.

I joined the team in 2019, and, you know, before the boat was Adam your largest artifact that you did your first and most expensive and my most expensive.

And you know the truth teller for sure.

Yes, ma'am.

Yep.

And, of course, your husband, who is a superintenden at a lot of his schools.

Yeah.

And I'm a fan, as you know.

Yeah, I have a lovely to have a kid, I bet.

So what can people see when they go to the museu other than, obviously the boat?

What are the things that are on display?

Yeah.

So we have 14,000ft of museu exhibits, various interior wise.

So, you know, we have I think 11 different galleries.

We have, you know, underwater archeology.

We actually have an underwater archeologist on staff.

So we have shipwrecks.

We also have, passenger vessels.

We have military stories.

We have stories of segregation on the Great Lakes.

We have one of our newest additions because we just put a brand new 5000 square foot addition on last summer with new permanent exhibit space, an area called every Boat Tells Our Stories featuring the Bob Sellars Model collection.

And we have an all accessible ramp up to the pilot hous of the Saint Mary's Challenger.

This is cool, but it's cooler than it even sounds because the Saint Mary' Challenger was actually a fleet mate of the Colonel James M Shoemaker.

So we have a photo back from the early 1900s of them on the water, black and white together.

You know, ships go through a lot of different names, a lot of different donors.

But it ended up the pilot house, ended up, on our grounds.

And now it's our experience.

And that winter.

So in July or in January, when the museum ships aren't open, people can still go on, get a pilot house experience.

And you all have seen our ship out there.

It's got this really tall gangway.

It isn't super accessible to every single person that wants to be up there.

So we now have a fully accessible space for people.

This is what was the original, use for that boat.

What was it?

A military boat was a freight for the Colonel James Schoomaker and the Saint Mary's Challenger.

But they were both, you know, lake freighters, you know, in fact, the Colonel James M Schoomaker, was launched as the Queen of the lakes, which means it was the largest ship at the time.

And it was 617ft long.

It was also the showboat.

So it has some extra spaces on board where the owners, and everybody used to bring on the vendors and the people that they were doing business with to really show them what a great place this was to transport their goods.

Yeah.

And so this gunmaker and, you know, the Saint Mary's challenger were both that they were, you know, really just taking goods across the Great Lakes and, you know doing that for its entire life.

The Saint Mary's challenger is actually thought to have been the longest sailing lake freighter in the world, 108 years.

It sailed and plied the Great Lakes, and its hull is actually still operating as a tug barge today.

So it's pretty incredible and a really neat thing for people to be able to see, I'll tell you.

As we've talked, in passing, Toledo wins and people in the region are really good at talking about what we are not as possible.

We are.

We are, just a stone's throw from Lake Erie.

Why is this important for people to know?

And why is it, so such a unique part of our country?

Yeah.

Well, first of all, we really, you know, it's really my goal to make people think of Toledo is not just the Glass City, but a Great Lakes city, for sure.

Fresh water these days.

Is an a hot commodity.

That's right.

It's a very important part of our ecosystem.

We've done a lot of work at.

And Metro Parks has as well.

You know, the Miami River is the the largest watershed into the Great Lakes.

And so it's something that we should be really proud of.

Another thing that I just want to mention about specifically Toledo' location across the Great Lakes from the entrance of the Saint Lawrence Seaway all the way over to the furthest port to the west, Duluth Superior.

Toledo is a very central location, so real quick I am we are the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

Because of our scope, we cover all five Great Lakes, U.S.

and Canadian history.

Believe it or not, there are close to 100 other maritime museums just on the water.

But what makes us different is this idea that of those about 100 other museums, they are telling, you know the history of the body of water that they sit on or their maritime history in their community, or a certain type of scope like the Soo Locks or shipwreck history.

We cover all of that, both U.S.

and Canadian history and we sit at the intersection.

So when I'm traveling all across the Great Lakes regions, whether I'm at speaking, engagement at a conference, I'm always talking about Toledo and people, you know, they're asking me, so where is the National Museum of the Great Lakes?

And oftentimes when I used to say it, they'd be like, well, oh, I drive through there.

Because whether you're coming from the Upper Peninsula or Canada or Chicago or New York, you have to drive through Toledo.

And so we're really looking at making Toledo not just that place that you drive through, but that place that you stop and start to have Great Lakes conversations.

That's our vision.

What's been the gathering place of Great Lakes?

What's the name of the other national museum in our area?

National Museum in our area.

What's the other one?

You tell me.

We have some incredible museums.

I think we are the.

That's right, National Museum.

That's exactly right.

That was a it's like the Ohio State.

We are the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

And our only one this is the we are, we are.

That's right.

Yeah.

It's pretty cool.

And it's pretty neat to happen here.

And let's go back a little bit in time and and and tell our audience how in the world you ended up being a person that's an expert on, this, this topic.

How did you get to this job?

You came out of my my parents crack up because when they come to the museum, they're like, how do you know this much stuff about ships?

And big time, you know I am an arts and culture junkie.

At the age of six, I started playing the piano.

In fourth grade I picked up a string instrument.

I actually played the upright string bass in the jazz band and orchestra and in the community all the way through high school.

And then when I came to the University of Toledo here, I played all the way through, UT I have been I came to UT to study art at the Art Museum.

Where are you from?

I'm from Mansfield, Ohio.

Oh my joy.

Yeah.

So I didn't know that.

Yeah.

The heart of Ohio is what they call Transfield.

This study.

What type of art?

I wasn't really sure, you know, I ended up falling into the graphic design path.

I'm a very analytical and like, kind of technical thinker.

But I, studied.

I actually graduated degree in marketing communications, graphic design, and a concentration in music.

So what brought me to a museum?

Whil I'm an arts and culture lover, I later i life went back and got my MBA.

I've been running nonprofits for a pretty long time now.

I had about a decade wher I parented more than I worked.

I also have three children.

At that time, I got very involved in anything that I could volunteer for.

One was a local organization that supported moms.

It's called the Mothers Center of Greater Toledo.

I grew that that membership organization from 10 to 100 caught the national organizations.

I they said, hey, can you help us do this in our other places across the nation?

They hired me.

I worked from home, which was not a thing really back then.

And, you know, just kind of kept growing.

As my kids went back to school.

I kept getting, you know, higher and higher and taking on more responsibility.

The organization was based out of Long Island, New York.

So I started flying back and forth.

And but I love Toledo, and I really wanted to end up back here in Toledo.

So, you know, some years in, I started looking around and I ended up becoming I worked my way up to the assistant executive director of that organization, and then joined a United Way of Greater Toledo as their vice president of engagement and brand strategy.

I was there for a little over two years and landed about halfway through that time at the National Museum of the Great Lakes, because the United Way was celebrated its 100th year anniversary, and I was looking for a place that we could tell our history that we could have a donor celebration at.

And a colleague introduced me to it, and I walked in there and I was just like how did I not know about this?

We, you know, my kids go, we take them to the zoo, to Imagination Station, to the art museum, in the family center.

We are through our Metroparks, in and out and all about.

The library is like ou favorite place in the downtown.

Library is so incredible.

How could I not have known about this big, huge boat?

And I realize there was a lot of opportunity.

So when a role came up and at that time I was hired, as a director of communications and development, I actually took a pay cut to go there because I just believed in this institution and what it could do for the Toledo area and what it could add and the value it could bring.

And I just, you know, I love it there.

So that's kind of how I ended up there.

I have a great team that's kept me there.

Yeah.

When you have great people, you can do great things.

Yeah.

That's the antithesis of this show.

You've also built a great team.

I mean, you've you've adde some great folks to this crowd.

Well, we've grown a lot.

I will tell you when I joined the team in 2019, we had about six folks working there.

We had an operating budget of just under a million.

In Vermillion, we are around 300,000.

We've double that operating budget this year.

I have about a 2.1 million operating budget, and we're growing and we need to grow.

We need to continue to grow because we've got a diverse audience.

The majority of our folks ar coming from outside of Toledo.

We have about 6000 individual members, and about 72% of those member are located outside of Toledo.

Q can you repeat that one more time?

I think that' a really important thing.

Yeah.

72% of our membership is located outside of Toledo.

We also had our largest visitation last year with.

Yeah so we had over 32,000 visitors that came to the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

We just put together a five year strategic plan, which has us doubling that visitation to over 60,000 visitors.

Really something important to share about us.

We are really diverse revenue structure, and we do not receive any local, state or federal operating support whatsoever.

We work really hard to make sure that we're accessible to the community even though there's a price tag connected to it.

About four years ago we instituted museums for all, which is a program that allows people to use their Snap benefits.

And user ID card to access the museum.

And now all of our programing, thanks to some generous sponsorships through the Toledo Refining Company and New Toledo Health, so that they can come and visit our museum at any time.

Well, your expertis and your leadership is evident.

And the the sharp rise of awareness and the improvements that are made to that museum since you've been there, are clear not only to us, to the community, but also to the people that pass out awards for this, kind of work.

So we're going to get to that.

Yeah.

Okay.

Don't don't do it yet.

Okay.

Yeah.

I just want to work quickly.

Yeah, yeah.

You got 50s.

Yeah.

You know, we're going to take a break.

We're talking with Kate phonetically with the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

When we come back I want to talk about the award.

You also just yesterday opened, new exhibit.

So we'll talk about that as well when we come back on the other side of the break here on the 419.

To me, community means connecting to others.

I'm Dani Miller and welcome to the Point.

I lost it yesterday.

We're a community committed to education.

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

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.

Vision loss for people is not the end.

It's the story.

It's the next chapter.

There we go.

Public media invites you to get out and play day.

Monday through Friday.

It's the 419 powered by W GT with Matt Gillum, Gretchen de Backer, I'm Kevin Mullen.

What can people expect on the show?

Give me an hour.

A reminder of why this is a great place to live, work and play.

Where you come to watch, listen and learn.

Welcome back into the 419.

We're talking with Kate Vanessa Ski with the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

Gretchen, I'll hand it back to you, because you were just about to tee up, some great breaking news.

Yeah, I actually saw on social media.

Kate.

So congratulations.

But a couple of big awards coming your way.

Can you tell us about those?

Oh my gosh, that was so exciting.

We we were, recognize as the Ohio Museum Association Institution of the year, as well as recognized for exhibit of the year.

The top exhibit of these give us some context for the the substance of that award.

It's a big deal, bu not everyone may be aware of it.

Yeah, no, it is a big deal.

You know, the Ohio Museum, High Museum Association represents all of the museums in the state of Ohio.

And there are a lot of them.

And so every year they try to recognize the institution that has really gone above and beyond you know, done thing that can really inspire others.

And we're just thrilled t have been the recipient of that.

Let me tell you a couple things about last year.

It was chaotic.

It's beautiful.

But it was craz because not only were we opening up our new 5000 square foot expansion, but we were doing so many other great things.

We had just launched our five year strategic plan, something that our team worked really, really hard at putting together.

Afterwards we had the th grand opening, which was crazy.

Then, of all the things and we had been partnering with cruise lines for some time now.

We actually became partners with Victory Cruise Lines close to four years ago.

Actually over the pandemic when they donated, a ten day cruise to us to raffle off to help us raise some significant funds.

So they victory cruise lines as a cruise, that really only sails the Great Lakes.

And they were really interested in what we had to offer.

Well, we had negotiated thanks to our great friends at Destination Toledo.

They were.

And people were going to pay extra every time they stopped their cruise ship in Detroit to take a 40 to 50 minute bus ride down to visit just the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

And so we were in partnership.

We also had temporary exhibits on boat, on board both of their museum ships.

And Shelly from Victory Cruise Lines.

Happened to be in town visiting and doing a couple things, and she's like, oh my gosh, we have this instance that w can't use the dock at Detroit.

I don't know what to do.

Do you know anybody?

I was like, do I know anybody?

Let's get you here.

So of all the things on top of opening up our new expansion, on top of the five year strategic plan for the first time in decades, Toledo saw cruise ships and it ended up not being just one, but seve different visits from victory.

Is it this the the images that we saw on the news and social media where the mayor went down in he and there was, you know, a big celebratio for people getting off the boat.

They looked a little confused as to why so many people were there welcoming.

But it was such an event.

And I'm going to tell you we gave them the best showing.

And I know Metro Parks was there as well.

So you got to see it lik we had a band out there playing.

They were just totally welcomed.

It was the people loved it here and I think that's why they're coming back.

Because you saying it wasn't just a one off either.

It wasn't, it wasn't.

They are coming back next year and we've got another cruise line that's going to be joining us this year.

It's exciting momentum, it seems to me, just based on where the boat is, is the Glass City Riverwalk and the just the number of visitors that are going to be coming in and around that area.

And the development, is that part of your.

Well, we have the most beautiful downtown ever.

And they saw the potential.

I mean, construction means progress, right?

I think I've heard you say that.

I've heard other people say that it really is true.

And they knew they were just starting off here.

I mean, we've got Dean Davis painting the beautiful mural where the boat was going to be stopping.

It was just incredible.

And we showed them that we could do it well, and we got them here.

And this year they're coming back.

But I got to tell you, on to of everything else we're doing, all of a sudden then having, you know, seven cruise vessels along with 20 other visits, we brought in over 500 passengers last yea from Victory Cruise Lines alone.

So that was a lot.

And then we also, you know, you can't not honor and pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, very much a Toledo story but very much a great Lake story as well.

And the 50th anniversary is a special one.

So it wasn't something we can ignore.

So we that was a part of kind of this winning the award.

We it was a over $100,000 weekend for the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

And that's just us internally, we partnered with Quench and Tempered Brewing, who actually launched a beer, and they were so great.

It was so funny.

I mean, they the beer was amazing and they served the last dinner, what was thought to be the last dinner of the ship and crew and I'm telling you, from noo when they opened up their doors until they closed at night, there was a line, they said they did more sale and that one day of that launch than the entire year.

And every day it was it was amazing.

For those who don't are familiar with the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, do you mind giving us just a little snippet of why that's relevant particularly?

Yeah, they've never met Wade.

Who who brings up the other.

Yes, I think I actually think the mayor would be a muc better story to tell her story.

Well, it's in Toledo and you do a good job.

You know, can move along quickly.

We talk about the new exhibit.

Yeah.

Okay.

Sure.

Yeah.

So we are we last year when we opened u our new expansion, we opened up we have finally dedicated space for, rotating gallery.

And last year's exhibit is now award winning as well too.

It was called Dark Waters True Crime.

And Mystery in the Great Lakes.

This year and every year we plan on opening, another large scale temporary exhibit.

It'll open up on Earth Day.

It's called Currents of Change.

A Living History of the Great Lakes.

And we start to look at the ecology of the Great Lake and what that means in history, what that looks like in history.

And, you know, Metro Parks was a partner in this.

Our good friend Zuri was our final reader.

We also, you know, weren't we're the storytellers were not necessarily the content knowledge folks.

So we work with a lot of partners to make sure that we're developing the right content that tells the right story.

And you should see this exhibit.

It is incredible.

So, we've opened it up as of Earth Day, and we're excited to welcome people into it all the way through October.

Where does the we talked to some other folks like we've talked to Imagination Station.

We talked to the museum.

Like where do idea for like these kind of exhibits?

Oh, it's so fun.

It's so interesting.

It's not anything, you know.

You know, what I love most about this job is no day is the same.

And you get to do so many different, unique and creative things.

So remember, I have a very creative background.

So being able and I have this tea that is just so, so incredible.

We just we sit down we do a bunch of brainstorming.

We have a long list of different exhibit ideas, and we try to think of stuff that first of all, in our new strategic plan, one of our core values is partnership.

So being able to partne with people is really valuable.

And this brought a lot of opportunities for us to really partner with our neighbors, the Metroparks, and with some other entities that we had been building relationships with.

If you've and I know you've been at the museum, you know, maritim history is very industrialized.

But the truth of the matter is is that we really want to bring the next generation of Great Lakes history enthusiast into the work that we're doing.

And a big part of the last, you know, you know, I don't know, two quarters of a century, right, is really the ecolog and the changing of our waters.

And that story really needs to be brought more.

And so probably about four years ago, we started doing a little bit more with that.

In our programing, we have a Great Lakes book Club that we always bring i an environmental book into that we have a lecture series in the fall, in the spring where we bring in an environmental lecture.

We do some kids programing in the summer, summer, our captain Scuppers programing just a little bit, just a little bit and got a lot of stuff going on there.

And so we brought that way.

But this is this Currents of Change exhibit is our first time to be able to bring it in as a rotating exhibit.

And quite honestly, my next goal is that our organization can bring it in as a par of our permanent exhibit space.

What's the what's the maintenance thin that has to be done to the boat that people would be surprised about?

Like, especially like in the winter months?

What what is something that has to be I mean, it's well, I will tell you what surprised me.

And you people see us doing it maybe trying to hotel.

The paint is a huge structural part of our museum vessels.

The paint i the most expensive thing to do.

I mean, I spend a couple hundred thousand dollars on an annual basis painting that museum Kevin is in makeup for two hours before our show.

I think it's like matching.

What, the 617ft.

What, are you afraid it would be?

The same size roller on this would get you so you start, and by the time you get back around, you're starting again, basically.

And you've got the exterior, you've got the interior.

We also, and I haven't mentioned this, but we have a 12 plus year old tugboat as well, the museum tug, Ohio, which last year we fully repainted.

And that required kin of a stripped down of the paint.

And it was it was it also had a little friend there for a while.

Yep, yep.

Living under here, that's that's how it refers to me.

Yes.

We were more on that with it, but we were, first of all from a Metroparks perspective, we have absolutely benefited from such a great neighbor.

Our visitation is the inverse of Kate's, cruise, meaning most of our visitation is from Lucas County.

So we have seen tens of thousands of, of people who have happened upon, to just thanks to which is mutually beneficial for us because we really want Lucas County to start to wrap their arms around these Lucas County people.

You don't want them, right?

Just talk to me a little bit about that.

I mean, you've got so many visitors from outside the area that are validating how important this story is, how cool this museum is, that it's worth the trip.

And we've got so many folks here in northwest Ohio, I think we we just we miss the thing that's right under our nose.

What is the number one reason why somebody should should make their first visit to the National Museum of Great Lakes?

This is easy to answer.

The number one, why reason why especially people around here.

I swear to God, we have the best view of downtown Toledo on board the Colonel James and Stan Baker.

In fact, during the downtown 4th of July fireworks, we do a members only viewing.

And so we have about 200 people on board.

The Colonel James is goin to make sure that our members, if that is your reason fo becoming a member, I say do it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah, yeah.

What a great opportunity to be a part of a piece of history.

Yeah.

To be able to see it, to see the way, you know, and really it's just it's it's incredible.

It's a really great experience.

Speaking of incredible, great experience.

It's now time for Gretchen walking.

Of course, she's come prepared like a total nerd.

Right that I am, I'm going to ask you for rapid fire questions.

Gretchen is going to ask yo to describe Toledo in one word.

Okay.

And then you and Mat are going to list out the nine best things in really hard eight.

Well, you've got three kids in it.

Yeah.

The husband.

Yeah.

All right, here we go.

Yeah.

Halfway down the question number one.

What was the last time you wanted to scream?

Kevin called yesterday when Kevin called.

Oh, my God, it's been a really long day, and we have a really long night, but anything for you, Kevin.

Oh.

Thank you.

All right, what's one thing about, what's one thing your parents constantly nag you about?

What's one thing my parents constantly nag me about?

Maybe, I don't know.

It used to be when I was little to pick up my room.

I'm a really neat freak.

Now.

Then I think it was to call them more.

Now they live around the block from me.

So stop coming.

I think I listen to my parents.

That's the story, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's a good story.

So you're saying that it worked?

It worked.

It must have worked.

All right.

You said you're a neat freak who's the messiest person you know?

Yeah, sure.

Matt.

There you go.

Right.

Right there at.

Yeah.

Well, All.

And what's the best purchase you ever made?

The best purchase I ever made.

Oh, we love our home.

We live out in Sylvania.

We actually built that home.

It's been where we've raised our three kids, and my husband and I love it.

Yeah, I love that answer.

What's the one word you would use to describe the city of Toledo or the region?

Collaborative.

Love it.

Collaborative.

I will tell you if I had multiple words though, I would want to call us the Cultural Capital of Ohio.

I agree with you 1,000%.

Well, now you've got the hardware to prove it.

Yeah that's right.

Yep.

You seen so.

Yeah.

All right.

You and the lady.

Yeah.

Okay.

That are your favorite parts of the city or region?

Okay.

Well, of course I have to say the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

You got to be number one.

Yep.

And then I'm going to combine a couple things because I'm going to cal the mommy River and Lake Erie.

My number two.

Okay.

I think that's really important.

Our park systems thank you.

And it's not just metro parks, right.

It's also, the, outdoor Sylvania 100%.

I live in Sylvania, and I love living by parks.

Especially during the pandemic.

We were inside and outside of parks all the entire time.

My disloyal daughter Lucy's favorite park, was Oleander.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah, it's a great.

I actually, served at one poin in time as a marketing advisor.

When we were going through a of campaign, the parks were jus really important to me, myself and my family.

Our library system, 100%, especially the main library.

My husband, myself an our three kids have been fans.

If you go to the archives, we've actually been on commercials for them.

Yes, I love the library.

And so I usually in fact, I was telling people as they're getting off the boat, you know, that they're going over to the museum, but they're like, you know, what can I do that I can?

I was like, oh, if you want to walk to the library downtown.

Yeah.

Oh my God, you could spend hours in there, right?

You know, and then, well, I actually have to say, you know, Live Arts Toledo.

Yes.

I am, a symphony person.

I don't go as much as I would like to, but I'm really proud of what they're building over there.

I just think the new space is incredible.

My goal is eventually to get back to taking piano lessons again.

And so I eventually I' going to get back to doing that through live ar with you into their free time.

Oh, well, you know, I've done an MBA where I've worked full time.

I have three kids.

Wife one time I just finished building an expansion an so I've got time to do a 2 a.m.

to 3 a.m.

is back open again?

At art museum, of course.

I have actually a gallery grou that gets together on anywhere from 2 to 6 times a year, and we go tours with docent led tours.

And so I loved love that really be, I love our art museum.

It's fabulous.

I cannot go without saying Tollhouse.

Because that was my home away from home, my office, when I had no office space in the last year as we were building.

And so it was a great space.

And I'll combine that with jazz because I am just a I love jazz I love listening to jazz music.

If you asked me to name a jazz artist, I'd be hard pressed.

And I think we have five hours for this one more great last one.

Bike paths in the University of Toledo.

Go, rocket!

Nice.

The rockets go.

Rockets!

I told you I was trying to get it all in there.

You said on your list, as you do in most things.

That is so much so fabulous.

If people want more information on National Museum of the Great Lakes, where can they find it?

Visit us at N m Gaylor that stands for National Museum of the Great lakes.org, but just stop by.

It's beautiful, it's fantastic.

And you guys are open seven days a week beginning May 1st.

Goodness.

So we're closed on Tuesdays.

November through the end of April and beginning May 1st, we open up the museum ships.

So exciting.

In a couple weeks.

Come see our new exhibit, Currents of Change.

We'd love to have you opened yesterday.

Get out and see it.

Kate.

Francesca, thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

When we come back, we will continue our tour de cafe that is Coffee Quest with our friends from Queen Bee and Honey.

We'll be right back on the 419.

Support for the 419 comes from Whetro 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, SIPC.

More information at whetroadvisors.com work.

Spring HR issues and employee well-being go hand in hand.

Work spring supports employers through compliance, training and wellness.

Because healthy workplaces don't happen by accidents.

Learn more at work.

Spring dawg.

Toledo Refining Company, a subsidiary of PDF energy.

Toledo Refinin Company is a supplier of fuels that keep our region moving.

Located in Oregon, Ohio the refinery processes crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other petroleum products.

and Tada!

Celebrating its 55th yea of connecting Northwest Ohioans to their community.

More information@tada.com.

Welcome back into the 419.

There's so many cool things to do across northwest Ohio.

And so many great small businesses to get out and support.

And one great way to do that is by participating in Coffee Quest.

Our friends at Destination Toledo, are inviting some of their friends from coffee group to come join us here on the 419.

We're joined no by ro from Queen Bee and Honey.

Hi, guys.

How are you?

Thanks for being here.

Thanks for being here.

I've been jam and you guys for a while.

I love you guys.

I'm watching you guys.

Yeah, I just think it's fun.

It is fun.

So, let's just start.

So you brought, some, some delicious treats for us?

Oh, yeah.

What did you bring?

So we so we're we brought some.

This is this is our, our new house latte.

So it's organi brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon.

And it's all housemade.

And then we brought our housemade cold brew, and it's interestin cause we're, like, piled drinks.

We've had so many people call and go, can you cater?

Can you?

Because the truck that we have now used to be mobile.

So people think that we can still just pick it up and, you know, fly it like this magic school bus.

Yeah.

And and so we had a lot of people calling about things and I'm like, you know what?

I've always wanted to do a drink.

Some people will buy 2 or 3 and go, yes.

Can you not put ice in it?

Can we, you know, can I bring it back home?

And so we thought, you know what, let's do bottle drinks.

And this is so we're not we haven't brought them up quite yet.

We did it for the zoo.

Oh sweet, crazy success.

We did, slow brew.

Amazing.

Big shout out to the zoo.

They were.

They always treat you so incredible.

Yeah, yeah.

They should make you feel like a king.

And they will do anything for you.

And it was amazing.

But we under planned in a great way.

And we sold out of ou bottled drinks within minutes.

People are like, wait, this is this.

Okay, I'll take it.

And then we're like, I'll take six.

Yeah, yeah.

Super.

Honestly super humbling.

Very, grateful experience because whenever you create something, you put yourself out there.

Yeah.

It's always scary.

Yeah.

Because you're like, are people actually going to like this?

That's the party That's my feeling.

My children.

Yeah.

Right.

So yeah, we go, we don't.

You got any ideas?

But Queen Bee and Honey is a coffee shop that is inside of Heinz Garden Center.

Yeah, yeah.

So that whole story is wild.

What is that story that people love?

This story.

So, Matt, you know, this, my wife and I, along with, So Stephanie was, the Heinz daughter and her husband worked at Heinz.

They were the marketing director.

And like the he does everything in the back and all the design all the tech, all the website, all the SEO, all the in because their their business is a behemoth is a good word for it.

In.

So Brie and I were working in corporate America lost their jobs.

I'll keep it really short.

And, it was on a Friday.

They, the accountant goes, hey, you got to get you a new company car.

And I'm like, I'm this is fine.

And it was that's like normal.

Then on Monday the doors closed during Covid and so we lost our jobs.

And, you should have taken the company car.

Yeah, I'd be like, I'm gonna take this.

You guys can take the job.

Yeah, and I need a blowtorch.

Yeah, I need that access to the internet.

Yeah, like it's going to be fine.

Just trust me.

Like the old office space where they're out, you know, I'm going.

Gonna burn this place down.

And so, long story short, we were home.

Mila was just new.

A new baby.

And she had.

She was a miracle baby in the first place.

We couldn't have kids had her.

It was a miracle.

And so we're looking and going, okay, we're employable.

This is great.

We know how to do things.

We're smart people.

Obviously, you guys know everybody's been furloughed or laid off.

Her doors were closing and and so, unemployment didn't kick in for 16 weeks.

It was crazy.

Nobody's fault.

It was just millions of peopl were all under the same thing.

Well, I'm from I'm 16.

Yeah.

On a Friday.

So that Friday, when w I was going to get the new car, we ended up getting, a check mailed to us at my, my stepmom's, cousin decided to make us a check for a lot of money out of nowhere, and then we lose our jobs on Monday.

So what a blessing that was.

It carried us through unti we got everything figured out.

And so Brandon and, Brandon an Steph decided, hey, come over.

We all sat in the backyard, start love the people.

Ethical sustainable clothin company know all about it.

Yep.

And fair trade.

All this good stuff.

And, so we started that.

And then six weeks after we launched, Steph passed away.

Every time I say it, sorry.

And, so we'r we're sitting there doing crap.

We just started this.

Let's just not do it, man.

It was funny.

All the family, her family in Brandon.

Like she'd kill us all if we decided to stop this.

And so super close to the family because of that.

Known them forever, you know, grew up with the boys a little bit in school here and there.

And so when Steph had her celebration of life, some friends that used to have the truck, brought there as a surprise to say, hey, we want to we didn't have a funeral.

We had a celebration of life down at Metroparks, actually.

Yeah.

Glass city pavilion.

Right.

You go.

And so beautiful.

It was like a party and and then.

So, the dad Bob we call pop h. He was long story short he ended up acquiring the truck, bought it from them because Steph always wanted coffee shop and greenhouse.

Well, they had it for almost a year and a half.

We just popped in and hi, had the family and we call mama Theresa said, hey, you guys have a consulting thing, right?

Like you guys, would you guy want to build this out for us?

And we said, let's get to Christmas, you know, like retail sales and we'll we'll build it out.

Yeah, we'd love that.

But just thinking we're gonna help the family get it built out an started falling in love with it.

And we've always been in love with coffee.

Tons of friends from, you know, all over the U have coffee shops that we know.

And so we jump in and the girl we hired was amazing.

Her husband was a teacher at Saint John's and actually end up getting pregnant and couldn't continue.

So we're like, oh no, it's no big deal.

And it was sad to be loved her to death.

Yeah.

But the but we were so happy for them.

They had an awesome little boy.

And so we jump in and we're like, every night we go home, we're like this is we really dig this.

Yeah.

And we knew we were iced coffe people, but it just felt right.

And it's the one day here in the boys in, in Papa H they were like, you know, we're building it out and well, here's the crazy part, guys.

This is the shocker to a lot of people while we're building it out.

But 80% of the way in, they los their dad and unexpectedly 61.

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

And so he literally wrote it because the place is so big.

He rides his bike over and he did this.

One of these things, he goes, hey, ro, I see you, sir.

Remember Shawshank Redemption?

I said, yes, sir, get busy living or get busy dying.

And he said, get busy living.

We don't know if we're going to be here tomorrow because he's going for an outpat and he writes back by again and hugs me again and goes, love you so much.

If anything happens to m tomorrow, I'm going to be okay.

If he was supposed to be back to the green House that afternoon.

And we were actually doing a pop up and with one of the local breweries and we got a phone call that things aren't going well.

We flew over to the hospital, he gets LifeFlight to Cleveland and died in Cleveland.

Come on guys.

And so they lost their daughter and there and the dad husband in year and a half time.

Yeah.

And so we're facing I mean, people tease me now don't start a business with ro.

Yeah.

Just, you know, you can laugh.

It's okay.

But, Yeah.

So that was like, okay, so what we did is in actual coffee, jumped in, and all these people jumped in to help us because the truck was stripped down.

We get it put together and they have a big house in the back that grows tons of stuff, wheeled it out there, had celebration of life for Papa H. And so the last two times it was used was for Stevie and then for Papa H. And then we launched a mother's day weekend.

It be two years ago this Mother's Day, two years that wonderful.

And the story behind that is so meaningful certainly to you and it you can really feel the the warmth and the, the comfort of the whole location, the way it's tucked in.

Nice.

Thank you.

The greenhouse.

Yeah.

I mean, I didn't know anything about, that story when I was there.

It's just such a welcoming environment.

There were so many people there.

They have cafe tables in there.

Yeah.

So to be able to be in a space that's so full of life, when that's the story, it's s amazing and such a good product.

But people love you.

And anyone that's met you both love you and your beautiful bride.

But I will tell you, there is a real coffee snob here amongst us.

It's Gretchen and she has been drinking this product.

So let's talk about the pros I, I have no, I've never seen it.

It's like a zombie's two brains over here.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

You know, it is interesting.

We we, Because when we, when we're just going to hand the whole thing off and just be like, okay guys, we got to stay after we got to do this.

And then all the all the things happen.

And so the boy and Theresa, came in and said, you guys just want to become partners.

Yeah.

And so we're operating partners from free, and I do the whole thing.

And so, like, we love the people.

We want to do things.

We want to do it well, do it with intention, do it with purpose.

And we anybody can go.

There's so many amazing heads, coffee quest, so many amazing coffee shops.

And so we're like, we want to do things with really intentionality.

And so we use actual coffee.

Lance honest to God, he's so incredible.

And becom an incredible friend over this.

Oh yeah.

Over all this.

And so all of our sirups are either housemade or they're organic.

They're shipped in glass bottles if we need them.

We we try so hard to presen a very clean, beautiful coffee forward product.

And people are like, it's not overly sweet.

It's good.

It's balanced.

Well, it's in I feel like I'm bragging, but it's not me.

I'm bragging.

On our team, we honestly, I always say w put our team up against anybody.

We have the best girls that work for us.

We almost treat them like our family and they are seriously the best in.

I don't know what we do without them.

I think that's the truth.

Tell us a little bit about Coffee Quest and why it was importan for you to participate in that.

You know, I've always I've always loved it and it's always so much fun.

And it opens up people's eyes to new shops, the new opportunities to new people like some people may have never heard of thi shop over in this little pocket, this little town.

And and I love it.

They expanded so much.

Now you can go to Washington and you can go to, you know, I've always dreamed to go into yarn.

Yeah.

Now you can.

Maybe now you can.

You know, you got Walbridge you got Bowling Green, you got in.

It opens up an opportunity for one, it helps boost their booster sales.

It helps boost the economy in the area.

But when we jumped in and jumped into all this, doing this, I was like I want to get the coffee quest in because I knew this from being a part of i and watching it and learning it.

It's it' one of the things I love about the city is we're all abou helping drive small business so.

Well, just for peopl that may not know, Destination Toledo sort of taken over Coffee Quest that started organically with some coffee places and it runs through, the end of June.

You can go to an of the participating locations and get a card and register and win all kinds of prizes.

And it's just a fun, oh, it's so fun.

It's fun way to have 50 differen some people.

And no it's extended to three months.

They said we don't have to cram 12 shops in a day, right?

Yeah.

So we took the weekend.

So you go ahead, you know, I mean, when you think about I mean, you talk about all of the great local businesse that are around the community.

Oh it's amazing.

I had this conversation.

You know, my my daughter is notorious for saying, hey, dad, can we go get Starbucks?

And and my response every time is no.

Yeah.

No.

But I tell her like a but if you would ask me, can we go get sip?

Right.

Can we go?

Oh yeah, I would love I'll take you.

Yeah I'll take you every day.

Oh, yeah.

Every day.

Why is it important?

You know, just not specifically about your business, about the local businesses.

For somebody to choose loca when they're going to pick up a cup of coffee.

My biggest reason for this, and I. Excuse me, I have this conversation often with people in the shop.

Small business drives America.

You can do the research on it, and it employs so many people and without that, there wouldn't be places for people to go get jobs.

Honestly, and I know it sound so silly to say it that way, but so much of America is driven by small business, and if we decide and so many of these corporate companies now are buying each other out, and one company own eight, nine, ten companies now.

And we I think we need to pus even harder for small business because it does employ so many wonderful people and it creates community.

And it I think it grows cities personally, because when people go to move places, they're like, well, what's the small business community like?

What's the what's the community like in general?

What's this like, what's that like?

And so it's just a beautiful.

Yeah, that's that's my a become a more of a fan of plants since you've been there.

Your is your house full of plants?

Tons.

I love I've always loved plants.

I've loved nature, I love.

It's why I love the Metroparks.

No, no pun intended.

We and we spend so much time outside in our mill.

Our daughter just got a brand new bike and so spoke life.

Another bike last time I yeah yeah yeah.

So she's like into the oak openings now.

Heavy.

She's learn how to ride the ramps.

She does the trail.

She does the.

Yeah.

And she's turned seven.

And so yeah plants are huge.

Like plants are amazing.

We're talking with Rose from Queen Bee and Honey promoting Coffee Quest which is going on right here.

As you've built this out what's been the most surprising part of entering into this kind of entrepreneurship journey?

I think one of the shocking part, you hear it all the time, like you're going to work nonstop, but it won't feel like work.

I think that is the shocking part.

You go seven days a week, even on accident, even when you take time off, you're still on the clock.

But when you love it so much, it doesn't feel like that old adage if you find something you love, you'll never work a day in your life.

Yeah, you'll work your butt off.

But yeah you're going to go home happy.

Yeah, I didn't realize how fulfilled that would be.

And how much.

Just me personally.

I know some people are built for corporate, some people are built for this and sales.

And I realized I wasn't built for that.

I was built for community an built for people and built for.

And so I love I think the most shocking part is how enjoyable it can be.

Yeah.

What's your go to coffee drink?

Me?

I'm.

I am a cold brew.

Yep.

Straight cold brew or an Americano.

And once in a blue moon, if I'm getting sassy, I'll take, like, that much organic oatmilk.

I'm talking like oh yeah, I know, watch out now.

Yeah.

Gotta look out for that minor figure smoking.

And then I do like six.

We measure everything in grams.

So that's where coffee i always very consistent as well.

It is six grams of agave so it's like a bloom.

And that's from feeling dangerous.

That's right, that's right.

Yeah I always iced.

Yeah.

Always.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

People want to find Queen Bee and Honey.

Guess one more tim where where folks can find you.

Oh, so we're around the corner.

So if you're on airport highway and you're heading like, like away from Spring Meadows almost to the in Perrysburg.

So come up there where the Chick-Fil-A is, you turn left on Harlem, Perrysburg, you go past the Sherwin Williams right there where the like the main drive on the right hand side, right there by the Douglas Building.

Incredible Queen bee and inside.

Welcome, guys.

Greenhouse.

Heinz Garden center.

Yep.

You got it.

Yeah.

And it is Heinz.

Because everybody thinks it's Joanne's.

Because it's eons.

And I was teasing.

We need to do a real and heavy right where Heinz underwea and just walk around like it's on every turn.

Yeah.

Just be like, yeah, inside a window.

And.

Yeah, I was in transition for firm.

Yeah.

Everybody bring a pair on these.

Go like I get a first for these Heinz underwear.

Wonderful road.

Thank you.

So thanks you guys so much.

Just bathing coffee question.

Appreciate you bringing in the treats for us today.

Of course.

Man, was it was an honor to be here.

Enjoy Coffee Quest through June.

Tons of great opportunities.

You can find more informatio on Destination Toledo's website.

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

Every day when you laugh with us, you learned with us a neighbor.

We made sure your child had with special memories that could only be provided.

PBS and you.

For generations, we've given you programs that made a difference.

Programs that entertain, inform and inspire.

And today is no different.

This is WGTE public media in Toledo.

It's where you belong.

Welcome back in to the 419.

As you wrap up, our Thursday edition took a look at our toledo.com community calendar driven by Tada!

Some great events happening across the region.

You got to get out and enjoy northwest Ohio this weekend.

Kate and Ro definitel brought the energy this morning.

Woke us up.

We met.

Yep.

I wanted to mention one more quick event, happening this Saturday at noon.

And that's the Peace Choir is meeting at the main branch of the library.

If you want to gather and join with our friend Gayle.

What time is it again?

It's at noon at the main branch library.

And my kids.

Musical.

Yeah.

Dare to dream.

Yes, they.

Speaking of standing room only.

Got to get those tickets.

Get the tickets?

Yeah it's going to be a great show.

So excited.

If you missed any part of today's show at 7 a.m.

on YouTube, 3 p.m.

on FM, 91 or 6 p.m.

on Connect channel 30.4.

Thanks so much to Kate for ski and ro from Queen Bee and Honey for joining us.

And thanks to you for being here as well.

It's the 419 powered by presented by Retro Wealth Management.

Take you with you wherever, whenever.

With the newly redesigned wget app, watch our locally produced TV programing and your favorite PBS shows.

Listen to our FM 91 live stream our podcas and stay in touch with NPR news.

Plus, get access to PBS Kids great entertainment when you're on the go.

All on demand in the palm of your hand.

Download the app on the Apple App Store or Google Play today.

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

Thank you.