Community, Connections, & Commerce Season 2, Episode 1 - Intro

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to community and connections. They say all good
things come to an end. Well, we must not be
that good because we're back for season two. I think
that's what I said the first time. For full transparency,
I'm your host, Drake Watson, And for the sake of transparency,
we have already recorded this for season two. We're redoing
it because we've had some shuffling around. I guess we
have the luxury of halfway knowing what has already happened

(00:23):
in season two. Our other co host for season two
is Belmont County recorder Jason Garsig.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Jason, we're so glad to have you on it, Drake.
Good to you, yes, and great to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
The conversations we've had so far with some of our
guests have been just nothing short of incredible. Jason provides
great insight and a lot of great questions as well.
As you might be a little more familiar with Sam
from the radio. Sam, give us a little introduction on yourself.
You've appeared on season one a couple times, and I
did going to play a heightened role in this next season.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, I had to add some estrogen to these conversations.
So can't just be a boy's a boy's room. No,
if you don't recognize my voice, I am the co
host of the morning show on news radio eleven seventy
w w VA. So I do that every morning Monday
through Friday. And what else about me, I'm a huge

(01:18):
football fan. I'm a High State girl, and I'm a
Cleveland Browns fan.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Mixed two of us everything you just said.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
We have something in common there, Drake. So yeah, I
mean that that kind of wraps it up for me.
I mean, I'm not that I'm not that exciting, but
I have opinions and I'm not afraid to share that.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
That is right.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
So I'm here for the female point of view. How
about that?

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Well, And we're looking to get some opinions from a
lot of the guests that were coming on that that
we're having on a lot of these guests have strong
opinions likewise with us about the Ohio Valley and what's
attractive about it. A lot of them do business here
and own businesses here. They have family here, and kind
of their whole lives are here, and that's no different

(02:05):
than the three of us. And that's why I think
it's a cool thing for us to kind of kind
of come together with a lot of people that are
impactful in the area, you.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Know, in all different.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Walks of life, and bring awareness to the Ohio Valley
and the things that are going on, and really the
community aspect. I mean there's you know, the connections that
we have and then the connections with the guests between
them and the people of the area, and of course
that all fosters community.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Well in Drake, you are in your early twenties, correct,
that is correct. I am in my forties, mid sort
of early forties. We'll just leave it at that. And Jason,
you are thirty one, okay, so we've got a good spectrum. Yeah.
And I was born and raised in the Ohio Valley
and I went to Buchey Local now live in the

(02:57):
Saint Clairsville area.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Drake, you from New Athens and then moved to Saint
Clairsville and probably went to Harrison Central. And now, of
course I'm at OUI and my going to be in
my third year by the time all of this comes out.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
And Jason, are you originally from.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
Outside I grew up outside of Maynard around a farm
out there, but I went to Saint Clairsville and then
went to Oue from my undergrad and now just I've
stayed in the area.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Love this place, Maynard Adena, New Athens, all kind of
Ohio valley, deep cuts, gotch.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Ridge is what we're talking bayor nobody even knows where
that is at babs Well. And that's the thing that's interesting.
I think we're going to have a really good perspective
on Like I said, we have a broad range of ages, demographics.
And then also we're all three born and raised here,
so it's not just talking about the community. We were

(03:49):
part of our community and we love our community. That's
why we've stayed here. So I think we have we
bring that to the table too in this conversation.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
And one other thing we record right here in Wheeling,
and Wheeling is kind of a breeding ground for so much,
so much community, so many things that foster that sense
of community that I think we all look for every
day in the area and a lot of people I
think can benefit from. And it's one of those things.

(04:16):
I know, you know, I can't necessarily speak for the
two of you, but I know for me, community is
one of the most important things that you can have
in your in your local area, because there's nothing like,
you know, bringing a bunch of people together, and you know,
it's one of the reasons I just love. There's nothing
better than, especially in this area, a high school football
game on a Friday night, because in a lot of cases,

(04:38):
now our goal is to kind of bring awareness to
other things outside of that, but in a lot of cases,
a lot of people, you know, that's their biggest sense
of community all year because you get a thousand or
so people in the same set of stands for the
same cause. You know, maybe on two different sides of
the field, but you've got concession stand and marching back.

(04:59):
I mean, there's just nothing better better than that atmosphere
and bringing all those people together, and it really opens
up I think, a door for a lot of people
to talk to one another, which is very important and
kind of behind the connections part of what we do.
And when you have people coming together talking to each other,
you know that all that does is bring more community

(05:19):
and that's great.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
I'll tell you, I don't know a whole lot about sports,
but I've been to a few local football games. I'm
gonna tell you the energy is riveting. Yeah, there's there's
nothing that quite matches.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
It well that's one of the things you know, I
do in the fall is broadcast play by play for
Harrison Central. And then in this this past summer, I
was doing the Ohio Valley Ironman, and that's one of
the things that you love to you know, I feel
incredibly honored to kind of through the TV screen, you know,
bring that and communicate that energy that's in the building

(05:53):
to people in.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Their living rooms at home.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
And but that's not the only place that you can
get that kind of energy in the valley. We talked to,
you know, a guy from Wheeling Park and some of
the things that they have going on there, just to
get into what we've talked about so far, what's to come,
You've got I think he talked about Java Jams on Monday.
They have their music, their live music on Friday evenings
at the park, amongst many.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
Other things in their Friday festivals.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've been to that and the amount
of people it's almost it's just a sea of people
and they're all there.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
For you know, somewhat the same reason, but at the
same time, in.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
This really cool way, they're all there for different reasons,
which I think is neat You also can.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Go to the river.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Heritage Port has a really great scene throughout the week
during the summer.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
Always something going on down there.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
And we've also had great conversations with people who have
attempted to make an impact in people's lives in the
community in more of an indirect way. They're more so,
I guess, a vehicle to provide something for people to do,
as opposed to as opposed to, you know, being the

(07:02):
direct cause. I guess of you know, adding things to do,
if that made any sense. But we did speak to
that one kind of went off the rails. We did
speak to Manny Matt Sakis of the Ohio Valley Ironman,
and unfortunately their season ended up concluding early in twenty
twenty five, but I mean his vision for what he
wanted to do with that, with that organization, and how

(07:24):
community oriented it was. I mean I always said, you know,
live on TV, this is just as much about the
community and what's happening out you know, off the field
as it is on the field.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
And it was pretty pretty darn good on the field
as well.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Well. And I think one one thing to keep in
mind with this podcast, especially for the younger fodes younger folks,
the students at Ohigh University Eastern, which of course we're
tying it all together through through the school. When we
talk connections. I've been in media for twenty five years now.

(07:59):
I mean I literally left the hilltop and came to
work here. I've been with these radio stations my entire career.
And first of all, the landscape of media has changed drastically.
It's amazing what has happened in the past two decades
with media. But one thing that I have learned, probably

(08:20):
over the last five to seven years, probably more than that. Actually,
you know, time flies as you age. But I digress
is connections is a very broad term. But when it
comes to the business world and employment, those connections you
can't put a price tag on whether it is joining

(08:42):
something called B and I which is a business networking group,
to joining and being an active member of the chamber
or Jason, you and I have in common being a
member of the Saint Clairsville Rotary Club. Now, that is
about service above self and that is no quote unquote
business driven. It is not to build a book of

(09:05):
business or anything like that. But what you develop with
an organization like Rotary or like the chamber is you
build these connections, in these relationships where you trust people
on a human level first, and then from there when
there's a tie into business, you're kind of top of
mind because they know who you are as a person

(09:27):
and they trust you and they see that you know
you have a volunteer spirit if you're part of Rotary.
And from there and you're a part of your community.
And that's again going back to the title of this podcast,
community and connections. They're right, there are two elements that
you know, again, for any young person listening who is

(09:47):
going to be starting their professional career, I can't reiterate
enough being a part of your community giving back it
will pay off tenfold and you won't even realize it
is paying off, but it is. So there's my two cents.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
But we talk about community and I think sometimes I'm
sorry connections and you look at it sometimes as a spectrum.
There's the extreme on one side, where you're shaking hands
and you're looking for the right hands to shake and
you're looking for the right numbers to put in your
cell phone, and you're really trying to build up those
things that could help you later on, those things that

(10:24):
could help you professionally or in a business environment. And
then there's the opposite side of the spectrum where it's
very loose and free and you're kind of just meeting
people to meet people. And that's where some of those
events like we talked about here and wheeling can really
play a big part, you know, just meeting people that
are different. And even with what we've done in season one,

(10:45):
I can't tell you how many times in just conversation
and everyday life, you know, something will come up and
I'll be able to draw on the fact that we've
spoken to that leader or that owner or whatever, and
I therefore am able to promote whatever they were doing
to foster community and connections in the valley well.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
And it's so reassuring that when you come across something
that you have a question about or you need guidance
in a particular arena, and you may know the bare bones,
but you don't live and work in that day every day,
so it's not your world of information. When you have

(11:28):
those that network of people that you've met throughout the community,
you have a trusted person to turn to, and that
is that's a nice balance to your life that you're
not just randomly googling somebody and saying I need this,
or you know, looking for a plumber, just as an example,

(11:51):
and you get this random person, well then they scam you,
you know. So to have that community around you of
folks that you trust is a huge, you know, a
huge thing. And then you know, you make relationships where
it could lead to a job, or it could lead
to this, or somebody sparks an idea in you and
you go, oh, that's a great thing to bring a wheeling,

(12:11):
or that's a great contact to bring to Saint Clairsville
or a Dina or wherever. You know, if you don't
have the conversations, then that's when things get stagnant and
nothing happens. And unfortunately, you know, we've kind of seen that,
but we're slowly beginning to dig out of that way

(12:31):
of thinking here in the Ahigh Valley. That negative dark
cloud seems to be dissipating, you know.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
No, And in addition to that, I think one of
the things that consider, and especially for our listeners, is
getting involved with these organizations. Meeting and making these connections
can provide especially young people, in valuable experience. And I
think that's kind of one of the directions that I went.
I had a few very strong mentors in my life
growing up, and you know, they oriented me towards the

(13:04):
volunteerism route, you know, thinking in those terms helping other
people out, getting involved. And I found looking back that
you know, the more you got involved in these organizations,
the more you found that there was a need in something,
there was some kind of a void to fill there,
and you gained invaluable experience. And that experience not only
is beneficial within that realm, but it carries over, you know,

(13:28):
and then you're able to say, yeah, no, I did
this in this organization and it gave me a valuable
experience perhaps in a job interview leading into your career,
seeing you and your education, whatever that may be. So
I think that's another powerful tool to get involved with

(13:48):
is not only I mean you're going to you're helping
a lot of people, but you're also getting a lot
of out of it as well.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
It makes you a more well rounded person, no.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
Doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
Well, you talk about getting involve and you know, especially
with regard to young people, In speaking as a young
person myself, you know, I can kind of see the
attitude of a lot of people around my age is
how kind of difficult that can seem, whether it's getting
involved for reasons you know, very important to community or

(14:19):
their future career or business endeavors or whatever, all the
way to just getting involved with things that are more
you know, less serious when it comes to you know,
coming to different events or whatever. I think a lot
of people are kind of confused as to how to
get involved.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
You two are not old, will ad that, but you're
older than me.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
And we'll take it. That works.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
And I think one of the things that having a
spectrum of ages as as co hosts, you two especially,
could add kind of that insight as to you know,
here's the first step a young person should take when
it comes to this. You know, here's here's where to go,
Here's what to do. Yeah, here's who's hand to shake.

(15:06):
You know, here's kind of the the nuts and bolts
of connections, if you will.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yeah. Well, and I and I think the young person.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
I kind of stumbled into it.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
I can't really say that I've done the hard work
of like doing making connections. You know, I've kind of uh,
you know, been fortunate with a lot of opportunities, but
for for many folks my age, you know that they're
going into the into things blind and they don't know,
you know, they don't have some of the experience to say,
you know, they've done this in the past when they

(15:39):
walk into a job interview or you know, maybe there's
a multitude of things that they could be worried about.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
Well, one thing that I mean, I remember this Hank
in the day. You know, you always hear as a
younger person just graduating college or high school, you know,
whatever endeavor you're going into, because you know there's there's
so many different routes, well you don't have enough experience.

(16:06):
And that was always so frustrating for a lot of
people that I knew. Now they they took me here.
I don't know why, but they took a chance on
me with the experience or not. But well, you just
want to say, I'm not going to have any experience
until somebody takes a chance on me. So it's this,
it's this kind of evil circle of I understand I

(16:29):
don't have experience, but I'm never.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
Going to need to work.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
But you need work to have experience.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
The other thing, though, is they you have to be
willing to listen to and learn, take your face out
of your phone, put down the social media like that's
one of the biggest things that I have experienced here
is the younger people. They don't know how to communicate.

(16:58):
Like I said, put the phone down, Well, I tweeted
this person, really go and have a conversation. You know,
you have to speak to people when it comes down
to it. This goes back to the conversation about connections.
You connect with people face to face. A friend on
Facebook is not a friend, it's a number.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
Our listeners will hear Manny Matt Sachs talk about this
almost in the exact same way. He hears people, you
know all the time talk about how they've got two
hundred friends this, and you know, eight hundred followers that,
And he's like, how many of them? First of all,
do you even have their cell numbers? And from that
group of people, how many of them if you were

(17:39):
really you know, whether you're in a time of need
or you really just wanted to talk to somebody, how
many of them could you just call and have a
conversation with You might not have seen him for a year,
but you pick up the phone, and you know, you
just resume right.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Where you left off right.

Speaker 4 (17:52):
It's a real good point.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
And I think one of the things that is just
incredibly interesting to me is this idea of a third
place home being one, work being.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Too, or school.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
But where do people go outside of that? What do
people do outside of that? And I think there are
many things that go into it, a lot of which
I won't get into because much more research is required.
But that's why I think it's so important personally for community.
That's one of the reasons community is, you know, holds

(18:28):
a lot of value in my eyes, because that's how
you develop people being able to talk to one another
and be in the same place for you know, maybe
the exact same, maybe similar, maybe slightly different reasons. You know,
going to going to Wheeling Park just to enjoy some
music on a Friday night, Well everybody else is there
to enjoy the music too.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
There's I don't know.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
Maybe hundreds, if not a thousand people to walk up
and talk to. If you find somebody similar to your
to your own age, I think what's important is the
more things like that you have, the more opportunities you
have for somebody to put the phone down and start
talking to people.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Because at the end of the day.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
I mean, even if it's something at something as simple
as you're both there wherever it may be, whether it's
a Friday night football game or a or if you're
a little bit older and you're just happening to be
at one of the many bars in Shady Side, Like
you're all kind of there for similar reasons. There's one
thing right there to talk about, and there's one reason

(19:32):
to go up to somebody and start a conversation, you know,
if you don't know what to say, and maybe.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
You're at of course this is probably.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Done and over with by now, but you know you're
listening to music at Wheeling Park. We'll talk about the
music that's being played. And now I'm just saying the
same thing in different ways. But I think I think
the point is clear that there are there are many
ways to start talking to people. And then once you
start talking to p whether it's something that could develop
into something professionally or not, One, you gain the experience

(20:05):
of talking to people, which I think is incredibly important.
And two, the least you could gain out of it
is another friend. And you know who couldn't use those.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
Yeah, you can't just have you can't just wake up,
go to work, come home, wake up, go to work,
come home. Sure, I mean you have to. And you said,
this is what third third place? What did you say
it was called third place?

Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah? I wish I could remember the author from I
think the mid twentieth century that coined that phrase.

Speaker 3 (20:33):
Have you heard that before? The young teaching us something.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
I think it's you look at a lot of foreign
places and we go but we can go back to
we could go into a lot of things that I
that it's best for me not to, but.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
Just look at kind of the way.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
Our society is designed, and compare that to a lot
of foreign countries or more dense European countries. When you
have a town enter you know, a plaza or a
piazza or something, and first of all, housing is so
much more dense. You also don't have the zoning laws
that separate where people live versus where people work, and

(21:12):
that allows people to first of all, walk abilities through
the roof you go to I mean you can experience
it here in the United States. You go to DC,
you go to New York, people kind of tell you
be prepared for all the walking you're gonna do. It's
even more when you go to places like Europe. I'm sorry,
and I've never been. That's just you know what I've
heard that makes sense with all the you know, with
how dense everything is. But you could go to you

(21:33):
can wake up, go to work, and then from work
or your house, you could walk to the local bakery,
you could walk to the.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Local coffee shop.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
And you don't have anything else to do, so you
go to the plaza and you kind of sit down,
you walk around, you talk to people, maybe you stop
in another shop for something else, but you have this
environment where there's just a lot of people and they're
just there to be there, and they start talking to
each other, and you could just you know, just talking
about it. I could feel the community emanating from the

(22:01):
from the imagination. But I think things like that that's
why I look for things like that in the valley.
That's why places like Wheeling are incredible, and especially with
what they've done to kind of revamp the at least
the main street so far, it's it's incredible.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
I think it also, though, when you're talking about Europe,
I think it also goes back to the fact that
a lot of these cities are were formed in a
completely different point in time where they were so centralized
number one for safety and security purposes. So that's their

(22:37):
only way of living. To me, living in New York
City or Washington, d C. Sounds like hell on.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Earth to me.

Speaker 4 (22:44):
Yeah, I'm not interested in it.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
In any way, shape or form. Do I want to
be sharing a wall with other people like I don't
want to be living on top of one another. I
have been to New York City three times. You couldn't
pay me to go back now. I like the world community.
I like small town us say. I like knowing my
friends and neighbors. I like feeling safe in my community.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
I think that's what we want the balance to be.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Is you have urban I'm sorry, you have rural communities,
and you know, if you can even call it that,
rural could mean one house on a township road with
a field next to it. But at the same time,
you have many places to go to. You know, let's
say you know a small town. Like you said that
small town is great, it would be even better if
that small town had something that everybody kind of went

(23:32):
to and you know, formed community around. And that's one
of the things that we look to highlight in the
Valley and whether you're living because I completely agree. I
don't know that I could do that either. I make
too much noise with the guitar at night.

Speaker 3 (23:46):
But well, I think a great example of what you
just pointed out if you have not been there, is
Community Coffee and Tea in bel Air.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah. Oh yeah, I've been there.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yes, Yes, it's a it's a perfect I mean, let's
you know, we can't sugarcoat it. Bel Air is a
struggling small town. Unfortunately, they you know, have their their
issues with a lot of different subjects and we're not
going to get into that, but you know, with I
think Community Coffee and Tea opened maybe two years ago

(24:17):
now maybe three, And I don't know their entire background,
but it was a couple that started it, and they've
made it almost like this comfortable living room. Yes, and
there's games, and there's books, and there's you know, they
have great sandwiches at lunch time, they have fantastic breakfast,
and it's something that that small community has not had

(24:41):
since its heyday.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Probably that's it's walking distance from everything.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
Both high schools well yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Now one yeah, and also it's part of that I
for forget what it's called I think it's Belmont Street.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
There's a couple spots on there.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
I haven't been to any other than that than that
coffee shop that you talk about. Also, if you do
go there for the listeners, if you go there and
you get cutest couple of the day, you get a
free cookie.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
Oh I didn't know.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
I may or may not know from experience.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
But Leonardo's Coffee House is another great example up in
Steubenville on Fourth Street. Fourth Street in Steubenville is is great.

Speaker 3 (25:17):
And that's the thing though, when things like that open,
like leonardo Is like community coffee and tea, like community
and coffee, they'll say that is their goal. That is
the name of their business is community. So if we
want things like that to stick around and be successful,
we as the local community have to support them also.
You know, usually a lot of the times there's a

(25:39):
big like blitz of excitement when something new opens and
everybody goes, and they go and they're like, oh yeah,
it's a great experience and they never go back. Yeah,
and then they close and people will say, ah, well
that sucks, Yeah, why did they close? Same thing about
like sports teams and different things that come to the
valley and they'll say, oh, yeah, that didn't last. We

(26:02):
knew it wouldn't last, And then there's that negative attitude
that comes out. I I'm not surprised. I knew it
would't last. And then you ask him and say, when
was the last time you bought a ticket?

Speaker 1 (26:10):
Sure? Oh well I saw the score on Facebook?

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Does that count right? And it's like it's a lot
of the talking's done.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
Yeah. Again, if you want things to stick around and
be successful, you have to support. You can't just sit
back and armchair quarterback and judge and complain when something
isn't successful or closes, because if you're not supporting him,
other people aren't either, and that's when we end up
with doors being closed.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
There's an economic factor to all this as well. And
I'll be you know, I don't like to, you know,
but I don't think they'll care Walmart, Kroger, Starbuck like
then they can lose your they can they can.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Afford for you to not go there.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
Absolutely, But these small local places I'll tell you that
we spoke to.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
His name escapes me.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
I can usually think of it, but across the street
and Newbridge Cafe.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Chris is his first name, Yeah, pastor yes, I mean,
I was over there this morning.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
I go over there almost every time I'm in Wheeling.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
It's great.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
I go down to mug Shots, like those are the
places that kind of make that local community and the
local scene really thrive. And those are the things, as
you said, that ought to be cherished and patronized.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
That's one of my favorite things at Christmas, Like I
make it a point to shop local and shop small,
and I try to do it throughout the year also,
but really at the holiday season I really kind of
focus on that kind of stuff again, because if we
want these stores to stay open and we want these
connections to grow in our community to grow, you know,

(27:45):
we have to be advocates for them. And I just
and you find unique stuff. Listen. You mentioned the big boxes,
the walmarts of the world, and you're right, you know,
you you don't go there, it's not going to affect
them in any way, shape or form. But when you
go to somewhere else, like a community coffee, you go

(28:07):
to Jacob and Sons, you go to a melting pot
that's on Main Street in Saint Clairsville. Your fifty dollars
purchase there twenty five dollars is probably a ten thousand
dollars purchase at a store like Walmart. That's how important
it is to them. So, you know, again the community,
that's part of being a part of the community and

(28:29):
part of what we're trying to do and educate and
inform our listeners about what we do have here in
the valley. Because we all tend to live in our
own little bubble of comfort of where you go to eat,
where you go to shaw that's your own little world
that you create for yourself. I think with this podcast,
one of the things I think it's great is we're

(28:49):
exposing folks to other bubbles. Yeah, you know, Eberts is
a great example. You know, somebody who lives in Stupenville
may not be familiar with Eberts.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
Yeah, but they but they've got to go to you know,
they've got to go to Powhattan to see their their
you know, distant aunts and uncles. So maybe stop at
Saint Clairs but on the way there. M h yeah,
you know, kind of making that up.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
We've got amazing hidden gems in this valley, we.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
Really no doubt about it.

Speaker 4 (29:15):
And and and something else to keep in mind is
when you patronize these local businesses, you form connections, or
at least you have a better chance of doing so. Yeah,
you're not gonna necessarily do that at the big box stores.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
I still need to get the guy's name, but I
but I see the same you know, the same guy
makes my coffee almost, you know, five times out of
six when I go to New Bridge, right, so it's
about time I asked him how he's doing once in
a while.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
I'm pretty sure he made my egg my egg and
cheese bagel last week.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
If he's out there and he knows who he is,
we love him. He does great work, great stuff over there.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
Which, by the way, they've got ice cream now, yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
I saw that.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
I don't know that I'm in any need of ice cream,
but I'm always in.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Nobody needs ice cream, It's I mean, come on now.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
Well, Sam, Jason and myself obviously and clearly love community
and feel strongly about connections, and obviously those the namesake
for the show, Community and Connections. We hope you're as
thrilled for season two as we are. Again, we've got
a lot of exciting conversations lined up. We spoke with

(30:24):
the folks from Evert's Farm and you talked about kind
of breaking out of your comfort zone. You know, I
might have planted a seed in Grandma's backyard once and
then it got mode over the next week, and that's
about as far as my farming experience goes. So talking
to them really kind of opened it up. And you know,
I probably won't get into farming, but if I know
or if I need fresh produce, I know where to go,

(30:47):
and I know what's important to them, and I know
that although them and myself and many other people have
many different aspirations and interests and things like that, we
all are kind of driven by the same thing. Both
of those are community and connections. So for Sam and Jason,
I'm Drake Watson. We are your co hosts for season

(31:08):
two of Community and Connections. We hope you enjoy listening.
You can reach us by email with suggestions or any
kind of feedback at OUE podcast at Ohio dot edu.
Once again, that is OUE podcast at Ohio dot edu.
Thank you for listening, stay tuned, and we hope you
have a great day.