And now the 419 with Gretchen DeBacker, Matt Killam and Kevin Mullen.

Welcome in to a Tuesday edition of the 419 powered by WGTE, presented by Whetro Wealth Management.

I'm Kevin Mullen, alongside Gretchen Debacker back here.

Good job Gretchen.

Thank you.

Yeah.

You know, sometimes I say alongside, sometimes I just, you know, I kind of a, a comma.

We're off and running.

Yeah.

It's great.

Hey, we obviously the intro to the show, is something that we haven't talked about yet, and we're, you know, a month in and, I know I've sent a message to the the person that created that for us, but I want to take a moment just on the show to kind of talk about the origin of that.

And also, just give a huge shout out to.

Thank you Jameil Aossey, an incredibly talented producer.

I feel confident that he would say of everything he's ever done, this is his best work.

If you compare his work with Beyonce.

Yeah, yeah.

And then with me, I mean, I don't know how he's telling the difference because we're so similar.

Yeah.

I was thinking the same in style and in talent.

You're carbon based and the rest but yeah.

So so I do want to tell some of the, like, the story behind this guy.

I think it's interesting that, you know, reached out to Jamal saying, hey, we're we got this partnership.

We want to sort of evolve our, you know, we had the same theme for two years on the podcast, which is just me weeping.

That's right, that's right.

And so reached out, said, hey, would you be interested in doing this?

And he, I mean, responded right away, which first of all, like, it's just a really cool thing to be able to text someone with that kind of, resume and star power.

And you're not used to people respond, no, no, you guys don't respond that quickly to me.

You guys haven't done anything cool.

That's right.

And so sorry, Matt.

I'm talking about Gretchen.

Yeah, sure.

Yeah.

That's right.

And so he agreed right away.

He was like, yeah, I'm in.

I'll do it.

Sends me the, like a demo.

And then included this, like, joke part at the beginning because he wanted me to hit play and then just, like, be like, oh, God, that's terrible.

Right?

Like, no, we fell for it.

And so I decided to play the same joke on you guys, and I sent it, and Gretchen responded in all caps with like 18 exclamation points.

I love it.

And then didn't even make it to the real song.

I respond, that was it.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Matt did not respond.

I still don't yet.

I have a theme song on the show.

Yeah, the plays.

We're doing the intro, but it is.

But it is great.

So the kind of the the vocal, you know.

And now the 419, is, is really cool.

And then of course, the actual song that he produced for us, you'll hear throughout the show, behind some of our like, sponsors and promos and things like that.

So it is still, what he intended to be on the show is still incorporated.

But it's great.

So a huge shout out and thank you to Jameel and a local talent to your point.

Yeah, that's we had him on the podcast and I remember asking him, you know, I've asked a few people this question like, why do you live in Toledo?

Right.

Like you could live anywhere.

And quite honestly, like I got to believe his career would would take a, would take a different direction or a different trajectory if he was in LA or New York or, you know, Nashville or some, you know, Atlanta, some Music City.

But he raises a family here and chooses the lifestyle that Toledo gives.

Yeah.

And I think that's important.

So I, you know, I want to caution myself saying like, hey, he'd be more successful if he was somewhere else.

Sure.

Because success is defined differently for everybody.

That's right.

And I think when you look at it and say, hey, I want to I want to, I want to live in a community where I can raise a family safely.

I can know my neighbors and I can, you know, make really almost anything happen.

And, oh, by the way, he still gets a chance to work with Eminem, Beyoncé, and a ton of other artists that I don't.

I don't know their names, but a huge Steely Dan, Steely Dan.

That's right.

I think he produced the beats.

I will tell you.

He also has the best eyebrows in northwest Ohio, and I don't mind saying it on the show today.

There's no competition.

Thanks, Gretchen.

You're welcome.

You know, it's a Tuesday edition of the 419.

When we come back, we're going to be joined by Zachary Huber from the Toledo Lucas County Public Library.

It's part of our conversation.

You know, we try to have conversation with folks making a real impact in our community.

The Community Foundation supports us in doing that.

And we're excited to have that conversation with Zachary.

When we come back on the other side of this break, it's the 419.

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.

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

The Local Thread brings you stories and conversations that connect our community.

Here at weeknights at seven on FM 91, with early access on podcast platforms each morning, the local thread only on WGTE.

Welcome back into the 419.

Powered by our friends over the Community Foundation.

Or helping us tell stories with folks that are making a real impact in our community.

We're pleased to be joined by an individuals doing just that.

Zach Huber from the Toledo Lucas County Public Library.

Thanks for being with us.

Thank you.

Tell us, I know you've had a couple different roles at the library, but let's talk about what is your current title and current role at the library.

Yeah.

So, just six months ago, I started as, department manager at the main library, in the my department's faction section.

So I'm in charge of all facts, and I'm in charge of all fiction.

That is a big responsibility.

Yeah.

Which one do you prefer?

I prefer the fiction side.

Yeah, that's what most people are coming for anyway.

That's right.

They're starting to blend anyway.

Yeah.

Just on the literary side.

Right.

Exactly.

But know that that is the, if you've got a main library, it's the back portion of the building where majority of the collection is, if people are just coming in to browse and check out books that that's that's my area.

Very nice.

What what drew you to that, that role in that position.

So it's very much traditional like librarianship, you know, the reference questions that you're getting the research, the, the, the portion that you would immediately think of a library, that's kind of where I wanted to come back to.

I spent about six years doing some specialty work in the small business and nonprofit department, and, it was time for that change up.

But also kind of that, that coming back to where it all started for me.

Can you talk in general about what, someone has access to when they have a library card?

So that is a big question.

So, when someone has a library card, not only do they have access to, you know, everything that we think of with with books, but they're going to have access to a lot of specialty knowledge with our, our, our team.

They're also going to have access to a lot of specialty services.

So for example, just in my department, we have the home delivery service.

So if someone can't make it to any of our branches for any medical reason, they can sign up for a delivery every month.

They have access to our computers, the internet, copying, faxing, all of those components, but also some of those other services like our local history and genealogy group, our small business, a nonprofit department.

So there's a lot of different specialty departments, just that main library alone, that that that whole world opens up to them.

It's a, you know, my our library is Sanger.

And we and we also love going downtown to the main library as well.

But like, when my kids were younger, I felt like we, you know, would visit libraries like amusement parks, right?

That it was like this, like destination visit because they all sort of have their own personality.

Right?

So we go out to, the King Library in Sylvania, because the kids section there is unique and really cool.

We go downtown.

But I, my kids love going to the library.

I appreciate that there are no longer late fees because, because or at least one of my, one of my negligent monsters will, well, you know, leave it under his bed and we'll find it a month and a half later.

But but, I mean, they each of them take a, you know, reusable bag to the library, and I swear, each kid's walking out with 15 books every time it it is.

Yeah.

It's all my favorite questions to answer is, how many books are I allowed to check out?

And the answer is the limit does not exist.

So, they can check out as many books as oh, I'm sorry, that's exact opposite of how we answer that question.

That, Metroparks system.

But books like nothing.

Oh, true.

Check out, where are you from?

How did you get into this line of work?

Why is this, obviously this this works for you.

How did you get to there?

And why is that true?

Yeah.

So I actually spent most of my life so far in the 419.

I wasn't I was originally from, a small town called Coldwater, Ohio.

I love Coldwater, really?

You know, Coldwater.

I spend most a lot of my springs there.

Okay?

I'm not going to believe that for a second, but I like, Do you know the the Smiths?

I have heard of that.

Yeah.

That's.

They're very kind to for.

All right.

So for those of us that aren't familiar with.

So I know Coldwater, Michigan.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So like I said, it's it's still a village.

So it's in Mercer County, so very close to the Indiana border.

But still in the 419.

And I went to college at Ohio University, so it briefly left of the 419.

But I actually started magazine journalism, very specifically magazine journalism.

And what a growth industry.

Right.

And that's why I anyway.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, I went into, a newspaper layout design for a couple of years after I graduated, and, you know, it wasn't wasn't for me.

It was second shift work, and it was all, you know, it was very hard to connect with the community that I had just moved into.

So I walked in.

It was.

I was living in Indiana.

I walked into the library there, and I was like, this feels right.

So I moved back home in Indiana.

Anderson, Indiana.

So I go from cold water to Anderson, your favorite two places.

You know, you've been following spring.

Summer?

Yeah.

I don't realize how much it follows you.

Yeah.

Do you know the Smiths?

I'm going to check my social media later.

Yeah, I would, there's a real feud between the cold weather Smiths and the Anderson.

Not well, I can tell whose fault that is, but that's a different show.

There's a big divide there.

It's the Indiana Smith.

What an uppity group of jerks.

So what's do you.

The library in Indiana.

And you're like, I'm.

I'm home.

Yeah.

It was nice to see how alive it was.

And so Anderson, as a community had obviously experience, you know, a little bit of that Rust Belt, experience as well.

And so it was nice to walk into that space and see, you know, abuzz with the community, even in a slightly depressed area.

And so I moved back to Ohio.

I originally kind of set my sights on that, but started with nonprofit work.

Worked in Findlay, working for an arts nonprofit while I got my Masters of Library science, and then hopped over to the University of Findlay for a little bit.

And then this position opened up and, it was so perfect because it was libraries, but it was serving nonprofits, or I just worked in Zack, your folks, are community oriented.

They are in the nonprofit business.

How what is your back?

What is your upbringing that kind of puts you in this or made you want to do this as a result of.

Yeah, rebelling against them, but sure.

Yeah, sure.

So, I when I worked for that small nonprofit in Findlay, it was one of those experiences where everybody did everything.

There were only four of us, so we all had to learn how to do everything.

And so, I loved that, and I really wanted to take that experience and find ways to help it, help other organizations, leverage their community resources.

And not everyone thinks of a library as offering.

That's very specific set of resources.

But that is, honestly, when you boil everything down, no matter what, a library is connecting people to resources.

And, it was then my job to connect people to those specific things that might help them, you know, find, you create a database of people to fundraise for or, what were those, you know, grants that they could go seek through our grants database.

So it was again, just connecting people to the right resources through the lens that I had with that nonprofit experience.

I think I was I mean, I was thinking of a library, like we had this conversation with, you know, with Adam Levine about, you know, what a waste of time.

And, you know, I think about, you know, museum is sort of being this place that just has old things, right?

That it isn't about innovation or kind of the, you know, looking forward.

It's just about like this, like time capsule in the past.

And I think it, you know, it's easy to think of a library just as a bunch of shelves with books.

And then, you know, and I, I felt that way until, you know, really when we moved back to Toledo, probably about ten, almost 15 years ago.

You know, I think, you know, I interacted with and started to pay attention to the small business, services that the library provides.

And I've got a number of nonprofit clients that rely on, on going there and getting help with finding those donor databases.

Talk to me a little bit about that.

That department and those services that that people may not.

Yeah.

So is it unique to Lucas?

Kind of mean I, I love our branch.

I think the leadership is exceptional.

I mean, I love the Lucas County library system, but.

And I might not be familiar with others.

Is that a unique offering to our, library system, or is that sort of ubiquitous?

I would say it is.

The version that we have is pretty unique.

So, we were part of a cohort, across the country with urban libraries and their business services.

And so we were uniquely lucky to not be, tied to working a reference to a service desk and being able to meet one on one with people.

Yeah.

That felt like it was the most unique component.

Across the board usually only find the service at urban libraries.

There's not a lot of capacity at smaller libraries.

But most of them still had to juggle other things.

And so we had a dedicated team toward that.

And so and again, just kind of expanding on that idea of meeting one on one, we, that's what we would do is, set up a time with folks because we knew that the conversation wasn't going to be, here's a quick recommendation, and you're on your way.

It was going to be a whole conversation that was going to take time to explain.

And I always saw that as the benefit.

It is a scary thing to start, whether it's a business or a nonprofit or even if you already have one.

It's a scary thing to navigate.

And so we were the people who knew the the language, who knew the terminology, and could explain things in a way that was gonna make sense to someone who just had never done that before.

Even something as simple as starting an LLC.

Not the most complicated thing to do once you know how to do it.

Not so much a step.

Exactly.

The barrier.

You know that the legalese of that, Gretchen is an attorney, allegedly.

But that, you know, that is intimidating, right?

And it opens you up to a lot of potential scams.

Once you open something like that, it is all public record, and you're going to get something in the mail.

It looks very convincing.

So we get to be the people that say, don't do that.

That is not something that you're gonna want to follow up on.

That is just something that looks like they're trying to get to.

I'll tell you what, I, I, was helped out early on, and that's why I knew that the Nigerian prince that I was funding was legit.

Yeah, that is good.

That's great.

And the number of when I started my first LLC, the number of letters that I got in the mail, telling me that I have to post, they come anyway, you know, some sort of employment disclosure, safety, you know, flier or something in the break room.

And I'm like, what do you mean, breakroom?

Like I'm working out of my house, right?

And it's just me.

Like what employees need to know that, you know, this is a safe workplace.

They're like, right, you're trying to run your business.

You don't have time to figure out all those little things that could pop up.

That might be a little scary.

So what did a typical day look like for you in that role?

So when we first started out, it was completely, one on one based.

We were just appointments or potentially walk ins.

But over the years we tried to build some additional components to that.

So we started to go to branches and offer our appointments at branches.

But what we saw was, you know, it was working, our numbers, grew every single year.

We were serving about 1200 people that first year.

And there was just two of us.

Yeah.

And then it grew the last year or so I moved just over this last year to my new position, and we are serving 4400 people with between our classes are one on ones are partnership events.

So the need was was very much there.

But what we saw was we needed a stable home base.

So, about two years ago, we took a space at Main Library, made it a small business, a nonprofit workspace.

So that became the home that where people could come for that service.

And we could have our partner organizations come in and also offer their services.

So it just kind of spiraled.

Do you have a favorite nonprofit or, small business that's now running that you helped get started?

Yeah.

So I have my my favorites because they are, you know.

Yes.

Like I can claim that.

Yeah.

I have my favorites because, you know, that we did spend a lot of time with people.

One that I think I would draw attention to is, families for fitness.

They were a really small organization that came about, and, her name was Marsha, and we talked about her in the past with some of our publications before.

And, Marsha came in and she had just gotten a grant, but that was about as far as she had gotten.

And she knew that she, needed to learn how to do it on her own.

She had some outside help with t And so we had, countless one on one sessions on going through the steps of that at the risk of putting you on the spot, you know how where is the boundary of your role?

Have you had to have gotten a business come in, or a business suggestion that made no sense on paper or even in the market?

In your opinion, what is your role of, and when does it begin?

And and saying like, yeah, this doesn't make any sense to me and you should not do this.

That's a really good question honestly, because it is hard.

It's a really good question.

It is hard to navigate that actually, because you're so we're librarians at the core.

We are not business advisors.

So everything that we would do, we would try to tie it to something else.

And so we had these expert ways of making that conversation happen.

So, a lot of it was around creating a business plan.

And so if we could point them to the right thing that says, okay, well, maybe these numbers aren't aligning or, you know, the research should dealing with the color red, right?

So we would we would lean on the work that's already out there in the world to try to help that conversation.

And, you know, I'm not an expert.

You know, there might be something that I don't understand that's going to be the next big thing.

So it's also not my job to say no.

But it might seem my job to lead people to the information tool.

Yeah, exactly.

To make that decision such a unique perspective on.

Right.

And you think about, you know, the library has all the answers, right?

They're all there.

And you're saying, well, it's not my job to know all the answers.

It's my job to point you to them.

Yeah.

There's a building full of answers.

Yeah.

That's right.

And so but the idea of I'm not going to tell you that's a bad business idea.

I'm just going to kind of help you walk down the road.

And if we get there together, we I got to believe, like, what is there?

Just I see the the number of food trucks that are popping up, like, I feel like that is that kind of, a common, like, hey, I want to start a food truck.

Is that.

Yeah.

So the cycle business, it came in waves.

It peaks definitely at kind of the tail end of, like, the Covid 19 era.

For obvious reasons.

And so, yeah, it's always been one of those staple businesses, but that was also one where we also try to make people realize that it's incredibly difficult to do.

Because it does have a startup cost that you don't think of.

But also you're very limited.

And if your truck breaks down, there goes your revenue.

So again, we kind of lean into that business plan a little bit.

But yeah, that one popped up a lot there.

There were certain businesses that, a lot of times it was you could see it with someone's good heart, trying to step in and create something for the community.

But maybe it wasn't right for them.

Tell us, one, if I were spending a weekend in cold water.

Co-Founder Ohio.

What's a what's a can't miss experience in cold water?

Oh, God.

Well, are you from the Metroparks?

There's a pretty good park and, cold water.

I got the question.

Yeah, I've.

You've never been a real partner.

All right, so let's let's take a break.

When we come back, I want to talk.

I'm sure we'll talk a little bit more about your previous role.

I want to talk about, more about your current role.

And really what?

That what that looks like day to day.

And then also kind of just looking to the future of the library.

Where from from your seat, where you see this going?

And I'm sure we'll talk a little bit more about, cold Ohio.

Yeah.

As well.

Or cold.

Got over the the best parks in northwest Ohio.

Yeah, well, I've got the trophy to prove it.

Well, that's true, and you know what?

Let's talk about some awards, too, because I know the library.

Yes.

Has won a couple of those.

Yeah.

So we'll do that and more when we come back 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.

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Crime doesn't pay in the old West End.

Pass it on.

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Monday through Friday.

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

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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 to Zach Huber, the fact and fiction manager at the Toledo Lucas County Public Library.

Your previous role is where you and I interacted quite a bit, working with small businesses and nonprofits.

You know, you talked about, some of the organizations that you really liked.

I mean, from a partnership standpoint, this obviously wasn't work.

You guys were were doing alone.

Who were some of the partners in the community that that are helping do that work?

Yeah, I actually would love to draw attention to the ecosystem that was in the Toledo community for businesses.

It was it's very unique to this, this space.

So we would work, with this group originally called the Business Growth Collaborative, and that had a number of partner organizations.

And I think we interact their jumpstart originally, because they had a cohort of, of pitching competitions.

And so we had this network renew, and that was actually the leveraging point for us is, we could make referrals to these organizations.

We all had our own areas of expertise.

So we might have someone who would come in with the business plan and they would need to work on their financials.

Well, again, we're librarians.

I'm not an accountant.

So we would send them over to Small Business Development Center.

But, at the Chamber of Commerce, to work with someone on their financials.

So that ecosystem allowed us to, automatically plug into all of those services.

And really, the library ended up being like that entry point into it.

They would start with us because, you know, we were going to kind of honestly weed out a little bit of it before, you know, someone shouldn't automatically start at one of those organizations.

They should maybe have done a little pre-work first.

So a lot of groups would start with us, and they would then enter into that ecosystem.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, it's jump start was where we first connected.

I loved that organization.

And I think the work they were doing was so, so needed in our community.

And I think, you know, it's it's an area where we've sort of struggled as a community to figure out how we, we hold and kind of maintain and fund that kind of work.

But, yeah, my first interaction with that, was watching, junior, steward, pitch her vision for Jerry's heavenly sweet to break out of the basement of one Seagate to get her own space.

And she was almost single handedly killing my stepdad.

Yes, she's on Bancroft, within walking, and.

Yeah.

And he walks to it.

Yeah.

On a daily basis.

Probably there right now.

So the new role, I'm interested in how this functions.

Right.

So, again, repeat the title manager of fact and fiction.

So that's the department.

I mean, it covers everything.

It is all thing.

So it used to be two separate departments before we renovate in 2019.

So you could think of it as the humanities desk.

And then the business technology science desk became one.

So that was the the fact in the fiction, that made that that's exactly how I think of it.

Anyway.

So business was the fiction part sometimes.

Yeah, sure.

Yeah.

That's cool.

So, how does all this work on a daily basis?

I think people, you know, walk into a library and just see everything out.

But how does it get there?

How do you make a decisions annually on what should be there, potentially.

What shouldn't what's mothballed?

How do you decide?

It takes a lot of folks, and especially at Main Library, it takes a lot of folks.

But, you know, it's changed over the years.

So once upon a time, librarians were making those individual purchase decisions for their library, but now it's all centralized.

So we actually have two, two people who work in collections development at Main Library who do a lot of that purchasing.

So they are making those those I would not not easy decisions.

It's not easy, but the ones that, we would know we would purchase no matter what your James Patterson's but they rely on the librarians, who are talking to our customers, to hear a lot of those materials and make those suggestions.

So it's really it's the public that's informing that, interesting.

We also love our local authors.

Those are easy adds to our collection.

And then, you know, of course, the, the opposite of getting books is how do we get rid of books.

And so some things over the years are just a little less loved, a little less well known.

And, and they naturally go.

But at main we have that extra space that we get to keep a lot of those things.

So we'll have that books back from the 1800s.

And we have two, two secret levels of basement storage, below the building that are just, again, full of those books that people might need for research.

Sure.

But maybe I have seen better days and shouldn't be maybe handled a lot.

What do you see the difference between, you know, traditional books and the, the audio books, which you can get through your app, which I love.

Yeah.

And check those out.

Are you seeing growth in the, in the audio side.

So E media.

So that will cover both audiobooks and ebooks.

It has increased over the years, but it seems to have kind of plateaued a little bit at a certain percentage.

And I think that's around 30 to 40% of people use that.

You know, when, when I'm working with customers at the library, we'll go through our catalog.

And a lot of times the people who are physically there in the building, might not be interested in the e media.

I might say, oh, we don't have that, that title, but we do have an audio book.

But they might not be interested in that because they wanted to get that physical copy.

So it just depends on the person.

But yeah, about 30 or 40% people are you and I imagine you're an avid reader.

What about I have to say that contractually I do it as part of the job.

Yeah sure.

What about I mean about how many books are you tearing through in a year.

So I so I have to say I love a large book.

So I don't get through as many because of that.

I'd like to get those books for you dive into that world building.

Yeah, I didn't realize you're at the head of the excuses department.

You know?

Yeah.

So I usually set my goal around 50 bucks a year.

Good lord, that's me too.

Yep.

That's, but I don't.

There's only 52 weeks, and I love that you qualify this with.

I don't get through that many books.

Yeah.

And then said 50 over 50 in your lifetime.

I thought that was I read 50 books total.

Yeah.

You got to come in.

So.

Yeah.

Oh, how dare you.

That's my my reading go.

But I also, I often have to do books for our book club, which we have a number of book clubs through the library.

And so I'm one of the leads for the horror Book Club.

Oh, cool.

And then sometimes I'll sub for one of my staff members at the coffee shop book club, very different books.

The horror genre that you, that you're particularly climbers.

That's something you read on your own?

Yeah.

It's actually, a growing, like, a trending topic right now.

Like, people love, horror and romance right now.

Maybe not together, but, yeah, maybe they're probably.

Yeah, I actually like.

Yeah, but it's just it doesn't, the title of my favorite book.

No.

We may need to get Celtic elected to come back down.

Yeah, yeah.

Address that.

So I there's, there a we've asked this, for a number of people that have come on that have a certain expertise.

Is there a national group that you look for in terms of that gets trends, feels like a lame way to ask it, but that's the only way I know how to, for national library trends or what the collection should look like.

What is the the pantheon or gold standard that you look.

Yeah, there are a lot of organizations, some of that stuff with with the collection development, those standards have been around for decades.

And it's usually, you know, individuals who what you want the collection to be.

But, you know, we have the, the ala, the American Library Association, and they has many sub organizations like the Public Library Association, which is kind of where I spend a lot of my, my time.

And then we also have a great state level organization, the Ohio Library Council.

Okay.

And because of our size, there's the Urban Library Council.

So like the, the library librarianship field, we love, a group.

Yeah, sure.

So there's a lot for us, to stay in touch with.

And, and all it has to do with your individual work.

Interesting.

Yeah.

And also, and, I'll do the bragging for you.

In terms of the gold standard, our library system represents that you have a pretty impressive piece of hardware that you've won in the last few years.

Do you want to Yeah, we won the national Award, which is through the Institute of Museum and Library Science.

And we, only a couple libraries are awarded and museums are awarded that every year.

And so we do you get it?

The MLS is, it's located in Washington DC.

And it's, I think we won the medium size award.

So, it pretty special.

And very few receive the award ever.

Especially in any given year.

And it is awarded to the institution by the president, by the first lady, by.

So it's through the federal government.

So, yeah.

Why are libraries in this climate?

And they're welcoming position important in, in the world.

Yeah.

Libraries are and will hopefully always be that third space.

So it doesn't matter who you are to come into our building and use our services.

And it's almost like a natural equalizer.

You know, we're all in that read that book, the Equalizer.

Is it a book?

I didn't even know it was a book.

I don't know either.

But it's a great idea, I promise you.

There is a book that titled The Equalizer.

Have you read?

That will do.

I have not had that.

Not on my list.

That was a book first.

Yeah, of course it was.

But we.

Oh, crime.

Punishment.

We're not only do we are we a host to outside organizations, but we do have our own programing.

But something that I always like to tell people is, so I believe this came out in the late 90s.

The book on Bowling Alone, and then the documentary that was made off of it, Join or Die, really about the decline of civic participation.

Yes.

And how that has separated us.

And so I see libraries as the solution.

One of the solutions to that, so you not everyone has the ability to pay to join a bowling league, which is what bowling alone is about.

So we have those programs that anyone can come to, and we're not going to charge for anyone to, to attend those.

And like I said, also open to outside organizations.

You guys are a incredibly welcoming, organization.

And our community doors are open for everybody.

Part of what makes you so welcoming is just how kind hearted I think, you know, certainly you, Zach and everybody at the library, I've had great interactions.

One of my requirements on this show is that you have to show your hospitality in physical form.

You must give us a gift.

And I understand that you brought a gift to you, as is your appropriate payment to be on.

All right.

The unboxing.

Oh, yeah.

We get to, you since you're dressed like Santa.

Yeah.

So you.

Oh, yeah.

Get your very own winter read, and this is going to go in my head and not on the shelf.

You know what?

That matches it.

You know, all you have to do is sign up for winter reading.

You'll get another one.

So is that true?

Yes.

A briefly what when I read, so when I read and then the complimentary, a summer read program.

So everyone that signs up for either of those, you get an automatic registration prize is what this hat is.

And it changes from program to program.

But we just wanted to get folks to read.

Yeah.

And so all you have to do for the winter read is, is read two books by the end of February, and then you're entered for additional prizes.

So you have to read you do an audiobook.

Okay.

Good.

Where can people get information about all of the these programs?

So it's going to be on our website to the library.org.

Great website.

We have a number of tabs.

And under the that we have programs and services are probably the primary ones as well as a research tab for people who are looking for it for that as well.

Isaac, it's now time for Gretchen's wacky.

All right.

I'm going to ask for rapid fire questions.

Gretchen's going to ask you for your favorite thing in Toledo and mask, and to ask you to describe the region in exactly nine.

Well, let's do it.

All right.

That's I randomly draw a card out of our, rapid fire questions, and they always surprise me how applicable they are.

What is the worst job you could have?

The worst job I could have, something where I'm alone and not talking to anybody.

I don't know what that is.

I guess let's say it goes into telemarketing, but that would not be talking to somebody.

Yeah, but I've done telemarketing, and it was not great.

If you could be any flavor of ice cream, which flavor would you be?

I would be, peanut butter cup.

Yes.

What were the last two books you read?

The last few books.

So I'm reading a series right now and it's called, Dungeon Crawler.

Carl.

And those are the last two books that I read, both in that series.

Wow.

I would say cool, but I wouldn't mean it.

What do you think is an important life lesson?

An important life lesson is don't overstress about things.

And that that is something I'm still learning.

Every day.

Okay.

And what's your number one most favorite or what you would describe as the best thing in our city?

The food.

I love the restaurants.

There's so many good options in there.

There are new ones forming every day.

So I love the restaurants right here.

All right, nine words to describe the Toledo or the region.

Okay.

These could be fact or fiction.

Doesn't matter.

Oh I but I have all on that.

Maybe this is also, a city that does not give up on itself.

Wow.

And the bonus.

Yeah, that is a great answer so far.

A very resilient community.

Toledo, you already answered.

Don't stop.

There's no more extra.

Come on.

No.

Yeah.

Some subcategory.

That's right.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for having me being on the program and for the work you're doing, as you got cool things going on, you know, be it fact or fiction.

Come on down.

Yeah.

Love it.

Thank you very much.

Zach Huber, Toledo, Lucas County Public Library.

When we come back, we'll be joined by Steve Miller, the general manager of the Huntington Center, with some great ways that we can be a tourist right here in Toledo, courtesy of our friends from Destination Toledo.

We'll be right back.

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Welcome back into the 419.

Our friends at Destination Toledo encourage you to be a tourist here in Toledo, whether you live in Toledo or not.

And there's some great opportunities to do that.

We're joined now by Steve Miller, the general manager of the Huntington Center, the Glass City Center, Stranahan Theater.

Have you added anything else since last we talked?

Not not that I'm aware of from taking over the studio.

All right.

Perfect.

And and the general manager of the 419th.

Yeah.

What what is that?

What does that role entail?

What is what is GM.

Why have you done this to yourself?

Yeah, right.

Well, you know, we talk for the grand theater about two years ago about trying to help out out there.

They they've got they had some challenges with some capital stuff.

They've had some challenges with some staffing and, and really wanted to take the strain into the next level.

And so we were able to, come to an agreement because we're a management company.

Right.

So I work for Lucas County, for the Huntington Center and the Glass City Center, but I don't work for Lucas County.

I'm a manager for a private management company.

And the same thing at the street and theater.

The Street and Theater Trust owns the training and theater.

And, they wanted, you know, a professional management company to come in and run that.

And so there's a general manager out there.

His name is Joe Santiago.

He's doing a great job for us out there.

But I supervise the the theater and help out out there.

And then, you know, the Huntington Center and the Glass City Center.

It's it's amazing that we're in the 18th season of Toledo Walleye hockey.

How about that?

And I and I came here in 2008 to open that building from where I'm from, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Sure.

All right.

And it's, it's been a it's been a fun run.

It's there's been a lot of fun stuff that's come through the facilities.

You know, we just did a $70 million renovation of the convention center thanks to the Lucas County Board of Commissioners committing to that.

And so now the convention business is starting to pick up and there's just a lot of there's a lot of stuff going on.

I mean, obviously, you can touch your horn a little bit with the Metro parks doing stuff across the river from us.

That's just another thing.

Yeah.

For tourists to do when they come to visit us and do their business in the convention center and have their fun outside.

Sure.

And that is in tandem, potentially for one of the first times in our region.

Right?

I mean, we do plan, and design based on what we think this should look like, concur with one another.

But, Steve, what was little Steve Miller like, reorganizing, things your whole life?

Where you always dreamed of putting on shows, right?

Right.

I mean, are you a sports enthusiast?

You go to shows.

The what little free time you've now allowed yourself?

Well, I can tell you just a quick 32nd history is I'm.

I'm from a small town in Michigan called Homer, Michigan.

Everyone calls me a Homer Simpson.

I love Homer, yes.

So, I went to University of Michigan.

I was the first person since 1984.

Remember Greg Martin, who was the Olympic kayaker that won gold medal in 84 and 88?

I love Greg Barton.

He's from Homer, Michigan, but I was just kidding me.

I was the first person to go to there since he went in 1980.

So in ten years and and that's a big deal.

It was overwhelming for me.

Yeah.

Coming from a small town of a small, small, I mean, how big is Homer?

About 1600.

I graduated my class with 72 people.

So it was pretty small.

And, I got to Michigan and really had a, awakening.

Yeah, because I wasn't ready for college, and I came home.

My my mom actually was a schoolteacher in Homer, and she was my teacher for two and a half years for certain subjects, because the school was so small, there wasn't another teacher to teach it.

And I came home with a with a C minus a C and a B, and my mom, what the heck is going to you?

And I said, well, it's hard.

Yeah.

Right.

And so I, I gravitated to sports.

I was an above average athlete, wasn't a great athlete, but I played football, basketball and baseball in high school and, and walked down to the Michigan baseball team and threw five throws from the outfield and took ten swings.

And Bill freehand was the coach at the time.

And he said, son, we really appreciate you coming out, but that we won't need your services.

Sure.

Yeah.

So I got into the sport management side, and so I drove the Zamboni for, hockey games at Michigan for two and a half years and and got into the sports and entertainment world and then kind of pivoted.

Was one of my professors at Michigan who, pushed me to Ohio University.

But believe it or not, in Athens, Ohio, the Ohio University Sports Administration program is the number one program in the country.

Interesting.

And, Athens, Ohio, what are you ready for that jump?

I was ready for that jump at the time.

And then I end up working for the Charlotte Hornets for a little bit, and then ended up in Grand Rapids here.

Where are you with the Hornets?

I was with the Hornets in 95.

Okay.

They were on a on a consecutive sellout streak.

I think the last I remember, they were at about 930 in a row that they had sold out.

That's post Larry Johnson that was with Larry Johnson.

He was there Alonzo Mourning they were the stars.

Yeah.

So that was, Mugsy, Bugsy.

Mugsy.

Both.

I played golf with Muggsy Bogues.

He is five, three, two, you know.

Right.

That's five three and can dunk.

Yeah, he could dunk the ball.

Yeah, well, his dad Dell Delco.

Yeah it was his dad.

Now you've actually played more defense an NBA team than Dell Curry did.

That is national sports.

Trivia.

All right.

Fan.

So so journey brings you to Toledo.

You open up the Huntington Center.

You know, we're the community was not unilaterally excited about the transition from storm to walleye.

But but now, 18 years later, it's safe to say that hook, line and sinker, no pun intended.

Nailed it.

What?

What other thing?

So, obviously, we know hockey takes place in the Huntington Center.

What other events and activities are happening there?

I mean, we're doing concerts, you know, family shows.

The Disney on Ice is the professional bull riding motorcycles there.

A couple weeks ago.

We're we've got a, an event next Saturday called the Redneck Brawl.

If you remember the old, tough man competition, of course.

So Michigan versus Ohio next Saturday is going to be in the building.

So we've got some pretty unique things that take place.

But you know, my goal when I came to town is coming from Grand Rapids.

You know, they're kind of out on a little island.

So the routing if you know the the business the routing is important.

We're 50 miles from downtown Detroit.

So there's a challenge with us getting a lot of shows all the time.

Because if they play Detroit, the promoters think that the people are just going to drive right to, to to Detroit.

And so it was my job to really educate the promoters that Toledo is its own market.

And I think that we've had some very good success.

And I think it's not just because of me, it's because of the staff taking care of folks, but it's also because Toledo sells tickets.

They love to go to shows, and they sometimes buy at the last second, but they love to go.

And so I think we've we've kind of punched above our weight a little bit and that we've gotten the Eagles, we've gotten Elton John twice and we've gotten Luke Bryan gotten Chris Stapleton.

We've gotten some pretty big acts that have been able to play our market because we sell tickets and been able to convince the promoters to do that, and the agents to do that has made a big difference in us being able to pick up the shows that we get.

I do want to talk a little about this, and I don't know if this would be boring to others.

It's really not to me.

But talk to me a little bit about the planning of this.

Or a year out for.

So how many years out ahead do you plan, Steve, in this?

This is day one of that planning on a whiteboard or how do you fill a calendar?

Well, it well, it starts out with, with the way our lease is set up with the walleye, they get three weekends a month to sell Sundays to the league for games.

So that's why the majority of the walleye games are on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Okay.

And it's for them to be successful if they want to play on the weekends, right.

So those are locked in.

So those they're not necessarily locked in, similar to the league.

I get one weekend a month to lock in.

And so that's when I pick Disney on ice in professional bull riding and monster trucks.

And where do you find the inventory of things that are available?

Well, well, the family show inventory is pretty easy because those are every year events.

Okay.

The the concerts typically book anywhere from four months to about a year and a half out.

And it's all a function of routing.

It's all a function of what's playing in Detroit.

Unfortunately for us, and making sure that we're able to, if we get the show, on a, Wednesday, as an example, maybe they play Detroit in, you know, 45 days.

So there's a little bit of separation between the events and then and then just working on the calendar to route those events, because everybody wants to be on a Friday, and Saturday is every day was a Friday.

And Saturday my live I would probably sit at home doing nothing.

Right.

It's not that way.

Yeah.

And so we're playing shows all my life, Steve.

Like every day's a Friday and Saturdays, right?

Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And so so we're working.

We're working to get the shows into the building.

And typically we get Wednesdays, Thursdays and sometimes Fridays.

It's rare that we get Saturdays unless the walleye schedule happens to fall where they're on the road that weekend, because they always submit those dates to the league.

They submit 60 dates, okay.

And and they get 36 confirmed dates.

And then we release all those dates and we try and fill the rest of them.

What's the quickest turnaround that you've ever done?

Request for between events.

The quickest turnaround that we've ever done while in Toledo.

We haven't done what we call a quick change.

But when I was in Grand Rapids, we had a basketball team and a hockey team, and so we would play basketball at one.

We play hockey at 730.

Holy cow.

And so when the when the game would end at 3:00, we have an army of people, about 60 people to go out and we would flip the rink in about 2.5 hours in Homer, and there's only 12 people.

So you guys are constantly doing everything all the time.

So you are perfect.

That's right.

And that's what I that's what I'm out there slinging glass and making sure we're the mayor and the fire chief.

Yeah.

So talk about Huntington Glass City center, massive renovations.

Yeah.

Beautiful facility.

Yes.

You did a wonderful job with that.

The ballroom is incredible.

I just love the the the concept of that renovation that you.

I mean, where the ballroom is now, that has what I think might be one of the best views of Jeff Third field.

In our community of that balcony there, overlooking the ballroom.

But that was unused space above our loading dock.

Yeah.

And now it's this beautiful facility.

What types of events are coming into that city center?

Well, you know, the ballroom was a game changer.

Originally, when we were designing this renovation, the ballroom was going to be on Summit Street.

Out of that motor court between, you know, the old Seagate Hotel and the new Hilton's.

Now there.

Baldwin's going to go there.

Well, then they realized that and you don't really notice it, but the slope is about nine feet from the floor of the convention center to the road.

So there would have been a nine foot wall and on Summit Street and would have kind of been uninviting.

It would have looked well.

And so the consultants that we worked with said, well, why don't you just put it above the loading dock?

This makes sense.

And we're kind of like, wow, why don't we see that?

That's what I said.

That's right.

I've always said that for years.

Yeah, yeah.

And it has really been a game changer because we have been able to get you know, a lot of great conferences and conventions and our food and beverage revenue was increase.

We were doing about $850,000 in food and beverage revenue when we before we opened, and we're doing over $2 million now.

And so it's it's really made a big difference.

I mean, obviously with you being the former president of the Rotary Club, I mean, we do all of our rotary means on Mondays.

And honestly, that's helped us sell the ballroom because there's a lot of business people that have fundraisers.

Things are going on and like, wow, this is a great space, Steve.

It is such a complicated, business.

Right?

I mean, you have so many different moving parts and so many bodies to execute all this.

Just out of curiosity, what is the sheer number of people that that work and all the venues that you oversee?

Well, we have in the, Huntington Glass City Center, we have 42 full time employees.

That includes our maintenance staff, operations staff, and then we have about 350 part time seasonal employees.

I includes concessions workers and part time cleaning staff, changeover and operations people that help out.

It's it it is it is a it is an interesting business in that, everyone thinks that there's so many people doing the work in there.

Are there just not that many full time people?

Because in our business we can go, you know, 5 or 6 weeks in a row and then maybe have three weeks off.

Yeah.

And so you've got to kind of manage that process and it it can be challenging at times because right now is really our busy time.

Believe it or not, it's freezing cold.

But I believe it.

Really busy.

Yeah.

Tell me, what does Steve Miller's downtime look like?

I mean, how do you disconnect?

How do you are you just incapable of doing it?

I mean, really 26 years old.

You look terrible, right?

I'm pretty incapable of doing it.

I'll be honest.

I guess in my spare time, I'm a I'm a, an official.

I work, high school football, high school basketball, umpire, Division one, college baseball.

And actually, I'm on the list for the Mustangs.

I do 2 or 3 Monahans games a year.

You.

So you are a baseball junkie?

I'm a baseball junkie.

It's.

It is, I think, coming up on less than two weeks before spring training starts.

I can't wait to go.

Iowa Tigers fan.

I'm a huge Tigers fan at it.

Disappoint me every year, but yes, I'm sure Tiger fan.

Yeah, right.

And Steve is a fantastic official.

I've had a chance to see, I think some basketball and I know football games.

You do a wonderful job with that.

That that is a, I mean, truly thankless job.

I was going to ask Steve of all these things.

At the risk of putting you on the spot here, what, you and I, run each other with some regularity, in our our lives.

What?

You are great at this.

What characteristics makes you good at this?

At officiating?

No, the whole ball.

Oh, yeah.

You know, I think you've got to be organized.

You've got to have, people skills.

You've got to be able to, work with your employees because, I guess I'm one of the old school employees that works all the time.

Yeah.

You know, I, you know, you if you put in a 15 hour day, I still show up the next day.

The clerk it's not very smart, but I still do, in our, in our younger folks that we have now are smart and they budget their time.

I have a balance.

Yes.

Yeah.

That's right.

And and I get frustrated sometimes because they're off.

Right.

And I want an answer to something that I can't get right away.

And then I have to think, well, you know what?

They're probably the smart people aren't that they're, they're, they're they're having fun and doing things.

And again, I don't I have a lot of fun.

I've been married to my wife that will be coming up on 30 years in June.

And she puts up with it.

Yeah.

And understands it and gets frustrated with it sometimes.

But she, she's been she's been great.

She's been the rock for all of us.

You know, we've had two daughters that we've raised.

And now where they, one lives in Guam.

She's a marine ecologist in Guam.

Okay, so get your master's degree, and and we're sponsored by the Guam convention.

I was going to say perfect.

It was a previous joke on the show.

Yeah, but do you actually know the capital of Guam?

Is it too much?

No, we have no idea.

Okay.

Yeah, I think this is this is a bad show.

This is not education.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, you can say anything about the fact and fiction guy just left.

I was just there two weeks.

Your visitor, and it was great.

It was 85 and sunny, but the 14 a half hour flight from Detroit to.

So what's the, best snack to buy at a walleye game?

And what's the number one thing you would say?

Someone is going to book a convention.

They're having a big dinner.

What's something on your menu that you would recommend?

They they absolutely have to order.

You know, the best thing at a walleye game?

Gosh, it's so funny that we that we just do.

We're, we're we're really good at hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos and popcorn.

I, I personally love, our chicken fingers, with fries.

From from a from a convention perspective.

You know, I think that, we're going to take care of you.

We're going to make sure that you have a good time.

We're going to make sure that everything is good.

From a food and beverage perspective.

You know, our our chef does a really good risotto, believe it or not.

Sure.

And when you're making risotto for you and and the three of us, it's one thing when you're making it for 700 people to have a friend.

Yeah.

It's magic.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's right.

You you mentioned basketball.

You're an official, Glass City Wranglers professional basketball team here in Toledo is now playing at the convention center.

Yes, they're going to be in one of our exhibit halls.

We're we're setting that up.

I believe the first game is February 27th.

All right.

We're really excited about having them in downtown, having some great conversation with Josh and his team.

They're really excited about being downtown.

I think that, they think this is going to be a game changer for them.

They've been playing at local high schools over the past few years and kind of jumping around, and they kind of want to make downtown their home.

I think obviously their ultimate goal would be to end up moving over to the Huntington Center and playing over there.

But we're going to take baby steps and grow this thing the right way.

And and Josh is really thinking this through, we're coming up on the end of our time here, today.

But I'm curious, you know, we talk about tourism and being a tourist in and around Toledo for folks that are attending, you know, walleye hockey games and concerts and, you know, Nate Lagasse and, you know, a record setting attendance there.

What's the radius that folks are coming from for hockey?

It's really about a 60 mile radius, but for for concerts, it pushes into the 90 and 100 mile radius is I mean, we get a lot of people from in Arbor.

We get a lot of people from south of Findlay in Lima area that come I mean, the neighbor.

Gotcha.

That that just happened here last weekend, was was a, three, 4 or 5 hour radius.

And, you know, with the weather that we had that came in, we got a lot of phone calls because people were driving that far.

And, you know, we still had 93% of the people show up, which is great.

That's great.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Looks like a great crowd.

Congratulations.

You're doing great work.

No kidding.

I mean, you've got three beautiful facilities that I enjoy visiting each one of them every time.

So thank you for that.

Thanks for being on the program straight.

Steve Miller, the general manager of Huntington Center City Center, and oversees the Stranahan Theater as well.

We appreciate you being on the program.

We come back, we'll wrap up this Tuesday edition of the 419.

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Welcome back into the 419, wrapping up a Tuesday edition of the show.

Man, just another, good, good day.

Talking to good people.

I'm curious.

So Steve Miller manages, you know, some of the coolest facilities in our region.

Here's what was the last, big event you attended in, Huntington Center or Glass City?

Center Street and theater.

Huntington Center, I think, was a rotary meeting.

And Stranahan was the Nutcracker.

December, glass city center, the, honey, honey city center.

Yeah.

Huntington's.

You go to the neighbor.

No, I didn't I didn't make it.

All right.

Huntington, I took, I was walleye game, and it was packed.

I mean, the national anthem before Ruby, my youngest decided that this was not for her.

And I would say from the Stranahan, the last time I was there, I got to perform with one of our, previous guests, in The Nutcracker.

So I got to be a part of that, the show, which was wonderful.

Honored.

And, got to see a little bit of behind the scenes.

A whole that functions, Steve mentioned today, and although he's been doing it for a long time and Steve a as a humble guy, but the overwhelming amount of orchestration that happens with a relatively small, staff, like, as you mentioned, is, is really interesting to me.

And I don't know that I've ever seen him, like, stressed.

Right.

I just think there's, and maybe it's some of that's what what helps him be, you know, sports official as well.

It's just that I want to see if he still drove the Zamboni.

I we I've got to ask him that, but to ask.

That's a good question.

Yeah.

Do you want to drive this?

I do, yeah.

Me too.

I would or I would stay.

Let kids sometimes sit on that little seat and do as well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And tie the ribbon.

Yeah.

People love Zamboni.

They do.

The, love affair is the Zamboni at the ribbon.

Is it a normal size Zamboni, or did you have to get it?

Yeah, it's a normal size Zamboni.

Yeah, it's.

Yeah, yeah, we.

It's an average sized Zamboni.

Sort of rude.

Also had a great conversation with Zach Huber from the library.

I mean, certainly I'm excited about, you know, his new role.

Yeah.

And what that means for him in the library.

But he did incredible work with the small business center.

And that's just a really cool kind of service and resource for our library that that we don't, regularly think about.

I also like to read between, our guess and just a coincidence, but and not an uncommon story from smaller towns, have come to a big place, certainly bigger than their, than they're familiar with.

Everyone talks about the downsides to a small town.

But this is cold water.

Ohio than Anderson, Indiana.

Homer, Michigan.

And, found, that northwest Ohio was the best place to live, work and play.

Which, of course, is the premise of this program.

Well, and both individuals helping us sort of punch above our weight as a community as well.

Right.

Which I mean, a, you know, absolute award winning library and, you know, real class act facilities that that are bringing, you know, from a convention center.

Without that renovation, we're not getting, some of the events and conventions that come into our community that drive revenue, hotel stays, all of that.

And without those, you both sign up for the winter read at the library.

All right.

So we're going to skip right past that.

Let's see what happens.

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