(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to The Journal.

I'm Steve Kendall.

It seems that August is outdoor event season, Ohio, and nowhere is this more evident than what's going to happen in Bowling Green in just a weekend or two.

Especially the weekend of August 18th.

There'll be the National Tractor Pulling Championships, move in for Bowling Green State University and on Friday night, Firefly Night.

Joining us from Visit BG, Ohio is Kat Patterson to talk about all of that and all the other things that are going on in Bowling Green.

So, thanks for being here, Kat.

- You're welcome.

Thank you for having me, Steve.

- Yeah.

And as we said, there's gonna be a weekend- - Yes.

- ...In just a short time from when we're doing this program, that a lot of people will show up in Bowling Green on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

And it's what happens and everybody somehow, it all works out.

- It does, yeah.

- But talk about everything, that's gonna go on that particular weekend.

- So, we have quite a bit.

So the biggest part of it is our National Tractor Pull Championship, out at the fairgrounds.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- It is a huge event, it's already sold out as far as our campgrounds.

I'm certain that our hotels are sold out at this point.

- [Steve] Sure.

- And I think that they're on the way to break records as far as attendance for this year.

So it's gonna be a well attended event.

If you like motor sports and you haven't been before, it's definitely an event I would encourage you to come out and experience.

It's very thrilling.

So, yeah.

- And about how many people roughly do you- - [Kat] Oh my goodness.

- They typically say show up for that event, 'cause it starts on Thursday and goes through Saturday.

- [Kat] Correct, Correct.

- Okay.

- So, there's thousands and this year, like I said, it's looking to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest that they've ever had.

And part of that is because this'll be the first one since COVID, since 2020, that they've been able to have the Canadians come back in.

- [Steve] Oh, I see.

Okay.

- So, I think a lot of people really wanna come back and I think it's a, I don't know.

I know I grew up going to camps and I think this is kind of like the same idea for adults.

(Steve laughs) So, because these are people you only see once a year.

And so some of these people haven't been able to see their friends for several years.

- [Steve] Oh, sure.

- And so they're really excited.

They're looking forward to it and it's just a really great time.

Families come out and camp.

So you've got all kinds of generations there and it just, I mean, thousands of people.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- Which is really exciting.

- Yeah, and I guess I hadn't thought about the fact that, yeah, people, probably even if they travel the circuit... - Right.

- It's probably not exactly the same group of people.

As you said, the Canadian people, a lot of the international people we do, there is a large contingent of those.

- Right.

- Have not been able to, so it is just sort of like a reunion kind of for them.

- Right, yeah.

So it'll be exciting to see everyone get together and really be able to, it's a celebration.

They get to be able to get together and celebrate and then there's the competitive end of it.

And I know a lot of people, I know for me watching sports is fun, but being able to be there in person, it just gives that another like layer of excitement and you've get the, all the fans and it's a great time.

- Well, and I think the other thing too, people come as we said from all over the world, but also all over the country, because if you drive through there, there are license plates from literally every state- - Oh from everywhere, yes.

- And union.

And, and then you add the international part of which, we don't think of like, oh that, because I know there are people there from Sweden- - Oh right, yeah.

- We don't think of Swedish tractor pulling.

Somehow this doesn't sound like something they would do, but okay, but they come too.

So it's yeah.

It's, it is quite a thing.

And of course it puts Bowling Green on the map.

- Correct.

- And it's promoted year round.

- [Kat] Correct.

Yes.

And you have to believe that in some cases, people come back to Bowling Green, other times, other than the tractor pull, they know what's here now.

- [Kat] They know what's here, yes.

So they can enjoy the other things that go on here as well.

- [Kat] Yeah.

- Now, the preparation for that, obviously there's gonna be these tens of thousands of people start to arrive and they'll probably start arriving Tuesday, Wednesday of that week as soon, whatever, whenever the campground is open.

- [Kat] Right.

Right.

- And they bring a lot of, there's trailers, there's RVs, there's all kinds of things.

How does the preparation work for that?

Because this is sort of like for three days, it's almost sort of like Wooster arrives in Bowling Green for a three day period only it's got tractors and big jet engine, powered tractors.

- Big jet engine powered tractors, yes.

So the preparation, I mean the National Tractor Pull Association, they're working on this year round.

So the day that it ends, they start planning for the next year.

And so this, it takes a lot of planning and a lot of organization and it takes a lot of organization and camaraderie throughout the city and throughout the community, which is just, it's an excellent opportunity for us to work together.

I know one of the big ways that Visit BG, Ohio has partnered along with the tractor pulls is through a scholarship.

They actually, we provide shuttles, that'll go from the tractor pull to the hotels and then it also stops downtown as well.

So it gives a nice, it's a nice addition to the pulls for people if they wanna get away, have a different dinner atmosphere and it gives that opportunity.

And then they don't have to try to worry about parking their cars and all those things too.

- Sure.

Well and it's probably an improvement too.

Because that way you have fewer cars always try to get to that one destination at the same time, it allows a little more flexibility.

- A little more flexibility.

- And keeps a few cars off the road.

- Yes.

- That sort of thing.

- Yes - Now, the other thing too, and I know when you look at the retail operations going, like the supermarkets, things like that, I mean, they have to stock up, because again, this is not the normal traffic they're going to see on a weekend.

And so there's- - [Kat] In addition to move in.

- Yeah, exactly.

- [Kat] So it's a big, it's a big weekend for that, yes.

- And people have always wondered how it all ends up on the same weekend, but then by the same token, you might as well just do it and to the, the sidebar is, and just get it over with because it is gonna happen.

You might as well do it all at once.

- [Kat] Right.

- And generally it all goes well.

I mean, I-75 gets busy obviously, and Wooster gets busy.

- [Kat] Right.

But I notice, some of the signs will start to go up in all around the city, and outside of the city saying, okay, this way to get to the tractor pull, don't go this, that kind of thing.

- [Kat] Right.

- So it is, I said, you said they start thinking about what to do better the following year.

The day after this one ends.

So, it is quite an event.

But generally, it's been going on long enough now that there's a pretty good plan in place already.

It's just, you keep tweaking it to improve it all the time.

So yeah.

Yeah, anyway, so you talked a little about the fact too, that we've got move in coming up and that's 20,000 students arriving as well that weekend.

Now, the good news is they're on different parts of they're town.

- [Kat] They're different parts of town.

- So that helps a little bit.

- Yes.

Yes.

- But as I say, they're gonna use Wooster a lot and they're gonna use Poll Road and things of that nature.

- And a lot of the families will stay in the hotels as well.

So our hotels are very busy because they're all in that same location.

So yeah, that Wooster area gets very well- - Yeah and I guess when you think about that we think about move in and it is, it's quite an event.

It's similar in a way to tractor pull in terms of people bring everything they're gonna need for the next, in this case, for the next year.

- Yeah.

Or six or eight months, anyway.

So it is a different sort of thing, but it is families.

It's loads of furniture and other things coming into town as well.

We come back, let's talk a little bit about move in.

And how you guys deal with that.

- Okay.

Sounds good.

- Back in just a moment.

We're talking with Kat Patterson from Visit BG, Ohio.

Back in a moment.

Thank you for staying with us here on The Journal.

Our guest is Visit BG representative Kat, Patterson.

And we're talking about one of the biggest weekends that the City of Bowling Green encounters every year, and it's the weekend when the, National Tractor Pull Championships are in town, Bowling Green State usually move in, starts for students.

And then there's also the Firefly Nights, which go on all during the summer and into the fall in Bowling Green.

With regard to move in, I know that this year besides move-in, there's also, you try to have events for the students.

- Right.

- I'm not sure I'm gonna get this right.

But is it called BG on Main?

Is there some event that happens- - So the rally BG on Main.

- Rally, okay that's what it is?

- Yes so that happens the next weekend.

- That's the following weekend, okay.

- Correct, right.

- But it's sort of once they're here, you have okay other things going on.

- So their classes will start the 22nd.

- [Steve] Okay.

- And then that Saturday we'll have Rally BG on Main .

- Yeah.

okay.

I knew there was a connection there.

The same thing happens there, obviously there's planning to accommodate the inflow of traffic.

Then of course, most likely a lot of those people aren't staying for three or four days as the tractor pull people are.

- Right.

- But that getting people in and out and keeping it all functional so that people don't get frustrated.

Although with that amount of traffic coming in, it's gonna be a little slower on the streets than maybe you'd normally encounter.

When it comes to the students returning.

And again you mentioned the event, the following weekend, the city then does a lot that revolves around the students being back and the businesses, all of that take that into account.

- Right I think like we love when the students are here.

We love when they come back, it just adds a different energy to town.

You definitely can feel it when they leave for the summer.

And when they come back, it just increases the energy.

It kind of adds a little bit more vibrancy.

And I think that we're just so lucky to have such a good student population and that they do enjoy coming into the downtown.

And I'm really excited to see that just grow more and more.

I think the way that they're doing the Church Street and bringing the Archway and the Welcome Way, I think that'll just really kind of open up, like we're all together, we're all one unit too.

- Yeah and it's always a challenge in any university town to meld the university population and the city population, town gown thing.

And most times for all intents and purpose everything goes really well.

But that's what you try to do is say, look, it's all one community.

Yes, there's an entity out there called, the university and it does what it does, but that population is just part of the community.

The students are citizens of Bowling Green while they're here and all of that.

So, you try to make sure everything's as seamless as possible.

And you're right too, the students bring back a lot of energy and of course they're working in places, they're going out to eat.

They're doing all those things that students do.

But they are just part of the community.

And it's yeah, it makes it work better when get everybody together in that way.

When you talk about planning for events, and we know that you you've talked about the fact that things start a year out in advance in many cases, if not longer.

Are there things that you guys look at to adapt from other cities that are doing things?

What are some of the things that other cities do that have universities like this, that ideas they come up with?

- So there are actual organizations.

There's a town and gown organization that several of our, we have people that go to those and do research and figure out different ideas.

But, Bowling Green is unique in different ways.

And so we have to kind of take it and then- - [Steve] Modify.

- Modify it.

So that it'll work.

I think one of the great things is we have a great downtown community that really wants to see it thrive and they want to see students be a part.

So, I think that makes a difference too.

- And one of the things that people will see it behind us, I mean, the park lets are out there now.

- Right.

- And that seems to have gone really well.

And you notice that a lot of the businesses there are decorating them and trying to, sort of thing, not that they stick out, but that they blend in and they look very comfortable and convenient and... - Right.

- ...People can eat outdoors.

Even if it's 90 degrees, it's still not bad to eat outside.

So there's that to kind of make the downtown more pedestrian friendly, I guess.

That's a big thing because and I know that the city's talked about the fact that fewer people, at least there fewer people are using cars, more people wanna walk.

- Ride bikes.

Right.

- They wanna ride that sort of thing.

So the idea is to make the town more pedestrian friendly.

You can walk places and you have to get in your car to get there.

You try to make the access better for people on bikes or on foot or whatever.

Than the implementation eventually of the scooters that will be here, that sort of thing.

So which again, aims at a demographic that typically would probably be a more college age, but... - [Kat] Right.

- Because I'm not too sure how good I'd be on a scooter.

(Kat laughs) But I don't know that I wanna find out actually.

- That could be a great journal episode.

(laughs) - Yeah yeah.

Like.

Yeah.

Yeah.

- Steve on a scooter.

- Yeah, it could, it starts out okay, and no, maybe it ends well, maybe it doesn't.

But yeah, but that's another way to try to, again, bring people together because that tries to tie all the parts of the community, the neighborhoods to the downtown, make it easier for everybody to access, - To stay connected.

- To get around and access what's here.

When you look at this, bringing the student population back in, as you talked about the Rally on Main, are there other events that are planned like during the year that kind of look at the student, at the university as a population to attract to the downtown.

- Right so I think that from the city's point of view, it kind of goes hand-in-hand.

So, I know for homecoming, it's gonna be BGSU's 100th homecoming.

- [Steve] Right.

- And I know that they're going to have an event.

I believe that it's gonna take place on Church Street again.

- [Steve] Okay.

- Which this will be as far as I know the first time that they're gonna take like homecoming onto Church Street, which will be kind of exciting.

And so I think just blending some of those things and taking them, not necessarily all staying on campus and blending them into a community wide event because we can all celebrate BGSU 100th.

I did not attend BGSU, but I can still be a part of it as part of Bowling Green.

- [Steve] It's part of our community.

- Right, it's part of our community, they're part of our neighborhood.

- Yeah, and the universities in the process of developing their new gateway at the end of Court Street.

- Correct.

- Which looks directly into the downtown.

- Yes.

I apologize.

I said Church Street and I meant Court Street.

- Court Street, yeah.

Yeah yeah.

- Thank you.

- And if you look at that, the idea is to make that a thoroughfare, an excess, not a auto thoroughfare, but a pedestrian friendly, thoroughfare, from the university right to the downtown.

- [Kat] Right.

- And the new gateway is gonna be that Archway kind of that gateway that the university has looked for for years to say, look, yeah, this is the public access to Bowling Green State University.

And it will look to the downtown.

And so if you look up court toward the university, you'll see that.

And likewise, as you look down court to downtown, you'll see all the things that are going on down there.

So, again- - [Kat] And court is one of my favorite streets in Bowling Green.

- Yeah.

- I don't know if anyone else has a favorite street in Bowling Green, but Court is my... Because it does.

And then it has like the cobblestone.

- [Steve] Yes.

- Oh.

And there's a really cool mural on the right.

And there's like the house that used to be a church.

It's one of my favorites.

- [Steve] Yeah.

And it's been, I won't say neglected, but it hasn't been- - Overlooked.

- It's been overlooked.

It's potential has not been maximized until now.

- Correct, yes.

- And that'll be another nice thing.

And again, as people come into this city, they'll see that as well, so yeah.

We come back, let's talk more about the, Firefly Nights.

- Okay.

- And some of the other events back in just a moment with Kat Patterson from Visit BG Ohio here on, The Journal.

Thanks for staying with us here on The Journal.

We're talking about Visit BG, Ohio and our guest is Kat Patterson.

We've talked about that specific weekend where you have, National Tractor Pull coming in.

Bowling Green State University student move in.

Also that weekend, the Friday is a Firefly night, which those go on each month and throughout the year or throughout the summer, the warmer weather.

Talk a little about what's gonna happen at that particular Firefly night.

Because obviously there's gonna be a lot of people in town.

- That's what we're hoping.

We're hoping, we wanna give an opportunity.

So one of the reasons we really wanted to have a Firefly Nights on that Friday was because we do know there's a lot of people in town.

We figure there's people that have families that are coming in.

They want a different change of pace from the tractor pulls or they're coming in dropping off their siblings and they need something fun to do.

- Yeah.

- So, Firefly Nights will-- This is our final Firefly Nights for the year.

- [Steve] Okay.

Okay.

- We are going to have a similar footprint as we have, similar plan as to what we've had in June and July.

The one big change over in Wooster Green, we're adding a corn maize.

- [Steve] Oh.

Oh.

- But not just any normal corn maize.

- [Steve] Okay.

All right.

- An inflatable corn maize.

- An inflatable corn maize.

- Inflatable corn maize.

- Okay.

- So you can go in and go through the corn maize.

We actually had it over at our third of July festival.

- Okay.

- So if you were there, it'll be the same maize.

So, it's big.

- [Steve] Right.

- So it gives, but we figure that'll be kind of nice to come in.

It gives that like a cool different vibe.

And then we will have a bounce house on North Main, down on-- I'm sorry, on South Main, we'll have a bounce house on North Main.

We'll have some face painting going on.

We're going to have just all kinds of stuff, live music.

We have some different bands will come and perform and lots of vendors and Dora will be going on.

- Okay.

A lot of our merchant members will have specials going on.

And again, we couldn't be done without all of our wonderful supporters in the area, including our sponsors of fair and state being.

So yeah, yeah.

- And I know we talked about this the last time you on that, besides what everybody sees, those events, all of those activities, you have all that infrastructure, but all that support structure behind it from first responders to the city crews that come and make sure everything stays clean and all, and that the streets are barricaded and signed correctly.

So people don't end up driving into where there are people, that sort of thing.

And that's a big part of that because that's a huge weekend for them.

And then they have these events.

So having them involved obviously is a very important part of this.

- Critical, yes yes.

We can not do it without that.

- Yeah.

And they, again, they've seen this before, so they kind of know how this is going to work.

But still, it's a challenge.

- Right.

- It's a lot of work that weekend and because they want everybody to be here, have fun, be safe, come in.

And then when they leave everything's good again.

- [Kat] Everything's good, yeah.

- But I'm always amazed when I watch the day after these events or the night of how quickly things transform.

It's as if that the event took place.

And then you'd never know it was there the next day.

- [Kat] It never happened.

- It never happened.

- Right, right.

- And it says something about the dedication of all of those people that they return things to normal.

- Key points of volunteers.

- Yeah.

Oh yeah.

There we go.

That too.

- Our volunteers are critical for that.

Yes.

- Yeah.

And I'm sure everybody's still looking for volunteers for that particular weekend to do that.

- Absolutely, yes.

- Because I know the university gears up a lot of people to help with move in because it's a major undertaking.

- Absolutely.

And they have all kinds of events for their students and everything going on.

So, it will be a great weekend.

And this is actually the first weekend where Firefly Nights will be going on and we'll have the shuttles.

- Ah, okay.

- So we're really excited to see how that'll help too, shuttles going from the hotels, they'll take people downtown.

So I think that'll be really helpful too.

- Sure.

Because then you're not having to deal with more traffic.

- Yeah, trying to find a place to park.

- Right.

You're just getting in and out.

Yeah.

I mean the good news is there are a lot of people there, but then that comes with a little congestion, little traffic flow- - Everyone has to be kind to one another.

- Yes.

And they will be.

Yeah.

And the other thing is that we talked about this too.

I remember the last time that people are just happy to be able to get out and do something.

- Oh absolutely.

- This is a great way to invite people back.

- Absolutely.

- And get out.

- Absolutely.

Yes.

- And see their friends again and do all those things that we weren't able to do for a year or two.

- Right.

Right.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Great.

So it's fun.

It gives a really great, and then this just is launching into the next two weeks are gonna be quite busy as well.

Like we mentioned, Rally BG on Main, there's Black Swamp Arts Fest.

And I think these like almost run yes.

It's Rally BJ on Main, Black Swamp Arts Fest and then the 100th homecomings.

- [Steve] The homecoming, yes.

- So it's boom, boom, boom, boom.

- Wow.

The month of September's gonna be pretty busy too.

- [Kat] Yes.

- Yeah and we look about that because normally, summer ends fair stops.

That kind of thing, used to be, then things got sort of quiet and it was like, but this shows you that there's... And there is that desire to have all those things going on.

- [Kat] Yeah.

- Now I know we're talking about things that are gonna happen the next couple of months, as you said, you always start thinking about a year out in events.

So, have you guys talked about what's gonna happen after we get through the winter.

Well there's of course there's a winter event that takes place.

- Well we'll have, so this winter we're looking forward to the parade coming back.

- [Steve] Ah yes.

Okay.

- Yes yes.

So that'll be our big winter event.

- That's in November.

- Yes.

- That's in November.

- So the holiday parade will come back.

- [Steve] Yeah yeah.

That'll be good.

- Yes.

- That's always and it's funny because the weather for that can be either, sometimes it can be extremely mild and other times it can be... - It's true.

- But it's November in Ohio.

- [Kat] It's November in Ohio.

(laughs) - Yeah.

Yeah.

You have to expect that it's gonna be, it'll be different every time.

- Right.

- Now, have you started to think about next summer, next spring, the events that are gonna- - Oh my goodness.

- Yeah.

- We have not quite gotten there.

I think so I'm on the Firefly Fest committee and I think we will start probably pretty... We might take a month to- - [Steve] Got to just take a deep breath.

- To deep breath.

- And not think about that for a little while.

- But I would say October, we're gonna hit the ground running again and start planning for next year, so we're excited.

I mean, just to have the opportunity though, to plan it's a huge blessing to be able to get that.

So yeah.

- Well, because as we know, you even with in '20 and '21, you could plan, you could do all these things, but whether or not you're gonna be able to do them- - Execute.

- Through no fault of any ones, really.

- Absolutely.

- In terms of the organizations that you just didn't know if you were gonna be allowed to really bring people together like that.

And the good news is now you can plan with a greater degree of confidence that the event will take place as you've designed it to and hopefully without having to modify things or do whatever, so that's always a good thing.

- [Kat] Yeah.

- Yeah.

And I guess what you wanna make sure is that, if people wanna find out information about these events, obviously they can go online.

There's social media that will show what's going on, how to get around town, the shuttles that are available, all of that information available to people.

- Correct.

Correct.

Visitbgohio.org is the best way to get all of our information.

- [Steve] Okay.

- Yeah.

- Great.

- Yeah.

- Well, Kat Patterson, thanks for coming on... - Thank you.

- And talking about not only just that big weekend, that's coming up, but all the subsequent weekend, but every weekend's gonna be busy for the next month or so here in Bowling Green.

So thank you so much.

- [Kat] You're welcome.

Thank you.

- Yeah, you can check us out at wbgu.org.

You can watch us every Thursday night at eight o'clock on WBGU PBS.

We'll see you again next time.

Good night and good luck.

(upbeat music)