October 30, 2025 • 9 mins
Tune in here to this Thursday's edition of the Brett Winterble Show!
We’re joined by Mike Conger from Camp for Heroes to talk about HeroFest 2025 and the organization’s mission to support veterans, first responders, and their families. Mike explains that Camp for Heroes, located in Fairmont, North Carolina, is a 300-acre retreat dedicated to healing, connection, and community for those who have served. HeroFest, running from October 31st to November 2nd, features a golf tournament, live music, food trucks, veteran-owned vendors, and a powerful parachute flag ceremony. The event culminates with a worship service at the camp’s newly renovated chapel, honoring the sacrifices made by service members while bringing people together for reflection and celebration
Listen here for all of this and more on The Brett Winterble Show!
For more from Brett Winterble check out his YouTube channel.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I I News Talk eleven ten, not a nine three
WBT Brett Waterable show could be with you seven oh
four or five seven oh eleven ten. Don't worry, I'm
not gonna I'm not gonna do any of this uh
stuff today, you know, like what's your favorite okay candy
(00:30):
for Halloween or any of that sort of stuff, because
we got stuff we gotta break down, and we are
breaking down a lot of things all at the same time.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Now. One of the things that I think is interesting.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Is how uh it feels to me and this is
just me, It's just Brett Okay. Uh, it feels to
me like Mandamie has peaked and people are now starting
to get kind of sick of this guy. Mundami is
coming across kind of like a low budget version of AOC.
(01:02):
But she had skills. He doesn't. She was able to
make a margarita. He has absolutely no idea what he's doing.
This is a guy who is trying to be famous
for being famous.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You see all these.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
People, these influencers, these these silly gooses that show up
on these uh on these channels, and the reality is,
I mean, ladies and gentlemen, the reality is these people
are not ready for prime time. People sacrifice their lives
for this country. People sacrifice their lives for this nation.
(01:37):
They bleed, they die. This is not a game when
antifuzz involved, When when the leftists are out there saying
that no, we're just gonna take over these streets, We're
gonna take over this that the other thing.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
No, no, no, you don't get to do that. That's not
what you get to do.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
We kicked the toukis of of of mother you know,
of of Mother England, and we fought a very important
war in the Civil War, and we fought in World
War One, in World War Two, and of course everything
(02:15):
since you know this is this is what we're dealing with.
This is one hundred percent go home or die, you
know what I'm saying. That's that's that's what it is.
And there's a whole lot of people who do a
whole lot of good in our community. And one of
my favorite people to talk to and they're always so
(02:37):
generous and wonderful when they come over to the to
the news and brus and I want to welcome to
the show Mike Knger, who is joining us here to
talk about hero Fest twenty twenty five, Mike, thanks for
coming on, man, how are you?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Oh, I'm doing well. Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Oh, it's our pleasure. It's our pleasure.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And I know you have an incredible event coming up
here starting tomorrow and there are folks who may or
may not have heard about it, and I would just
love to get you to lay it out there for
the folks.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Great. I appreciate that. Yeah. So Camp for Heroes is
a three hundred acre camp with a fifteen acre lake
and we are dedicated to serving veterans, first responders, their families,
and their caregivers. And every November, beginning of November, we
do our largest event of the year, which is called
hero Fests. So this year's hero Fest twenty twenty five.
(03:34):
It's a three day event. Friday there is a golf
tournament at the Fairmont Country Club. Saturday is our big
festival which starts at noon and goes till probably Tannish
Wow and we have music all day, vendor and first
Responder owned our veteran first responder owned vendors, food trucks, cornhole.
(04:00):
At four o'clock, the All Veteran group will be parachuting
into the camp with the American flag while the national
anthems being sung. And then we have a barbecue, dinner
and a round or a fire pit round table wherever
just hangs around the fire pit. And then Sunday morning
we have a worship service, a non a nominational worship
(04:21):
service in our newly renovated chapel.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
That's great, That's that's phenomenal. How how did how did
you get involved with this?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Like?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
How did you?
Speaker 1 (04:30):
How did you first connect with with all of this
great stuff?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Completely by accident? I mean, I am a firm believer
that things happened for a reason. It was actually Veterans
Day about six or seven years ago, and I myself
am an a veteran, and so I was just sitting
in a local taphouse and every single person that walked in,
if I asked them if they were a veteran, and
(04:55):
if they said yes, I bought them a beer. Well,
one gentleman walked in and asked them if he was
a veteran. He said no, but we have a camp
for them. And I sat down next to him and said,
tell me more. And for seven years now, my wife
Lika and I have been fully involved with the camp.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And it's such a blessing for you guys to be
a part of this because hero Fest twenty twenty five,
October thirty first to November second. This is helping people
to connect, reconnect and understand the sacrifices that have been
made and have a really good time about it. I mean,
that's what's really awesome about it.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
It is an amazing place. I mean, we do have connections,
you know, to get veterans versusponders and help that they need.
We do do trainings for you know, people exiting the service.
But the whole premise behind the camp started around a
fire pit many years ago. The founder was holding an
event for veterans around a fire pit and the veterans
(05:54):
started talking to each other. They started opening up and
they were telling stories that their family and caregivers have
never heard. And if light bulb went off in his
head that I need to have a place where this
can happen. And so that's why everywhere on the camp
we have large fire pits, and that's kind of the
central of our serenity and piece that we give people.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Fantastic absolutely fantastic where do people go, Like, where is
this located? So people can kind of put it in
their GPS or look it up or any of that
sort of stuff. How do we get them to come
out and celebrate with the veterans and first respond So the.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Camp is at one seven six zimp ZIMP Road in Fairmount,
North Carolina. It's props about two hours east of Charlotte's.
We are on Facebook and we do we do heavy
website and it's camp the number four Heroes dot org
all veterans and first responders. The event on Saturday is
(06:55):
free and anybody who supports or family members, we charged
five dollars for entry.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Awesome, awesome, great stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I'm so happy about this and I'd love to find
out what the after action report looks like when when
you all come back from from the from the event.
It's going to be wonderful and we really do appreciate
you being out there, Mike and all the stuff that
you're doing. Once again, here Fest twenty twenty five, October
thirty first to November two, and you're you're at one
(07:26):
seventy six one seven six zimp z i MP Road, Fairmont,
North Carolina two eight three four zero.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Awesome stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Well, thank you, Brett, and we hope to see as
many people down there on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
As we can one hundred percent, absolutely and looking forward
to catching up with you again down the road.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
A real pleasure to hang out with you last night.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Thanks so much, absolutely, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
You got it best to you and your lovely bride. Uh,
this is great, This is this is amazing when when
we get to connect with these sorts of things, and look,
I would challenge anybody, anybody to you know, the idea
of who's got more pride in the military, who's got
(08:14):
more pride in in first responders than than North Carolina,
South Carolina and beyond. I mean, this is this is
a really special thing. And I'm really excited that he
was able to catch up with us on that Camp
for Heroes, a really great organization. WBTV did a package
on them just in the last couple of days.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So it's a it's a really great opportunity.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
When we come back. I'm going to be due for
a break here in just a moment, but when we
come back, I want to dive into what it is
that we're seeing. And as I was saying before we
had Mike join us, we were talking about this this
Mundamie thing, because I think it has hit the peak.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I think it is peaked, and it is ready.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
To start falling back to Earth. And it does have
to deal with the idea of what are you accomplishing,
what are you trying to do? And this guy's not
ready for prime time. But you got to understand it's
not going to be limited to New York. It's going
to be in every community across this country.
I I News Talk eleven ten, not a nine three
WBT Brett Waterable show could be with you seven oh
four or five seven oh eleven ten. Don't worry, I'm
not gonna I'm not gonna do any of this uh
stuff today, you know, like what's your favorite okay candy
(00:30):
for Halloween or any of that sort of stuff, because
we got stuff we gotta break down, and we are
breaking down a lot of things all at the same time.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Now. One of the things that I think is interesting.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Is how uh it feels to me and this is
just me, It's just Brett Okay. Uh, it feels to
me like Mandamie has peaked and people are now starting
to get kind of sick of this guy. Mundami is
coming across kind of like a low budget version of AOC.
(01:02):
But she had skills. He doesn't. She was able to
make a margarita. He has absolutely no idea what he's doing.
This is a guy who is trying to be famous
for being famous.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You see all these.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
People, these influencers, these these silly gooses that show up
on these uh on these channels, and the reality is,
I mean, ladies and gentlemen, the reality is these people
are not ready for prime time. People sacrifice their lives
for this country. People sacrifice their lives for this nation.
(01:37):
They bleed, they die. This is not a game when
antifuzz involved, When when the leftists are out there saying
that no, we're just gonna take over these streets, We're
gonna take over this that the other thing.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
No, no, no, you don't get to do that. That's not
what you get to do.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
We kicked the toukis of of of mother you know,
of of Mother England, and we fought a very important
war in the Civil War, and we fought in World
War One, in World War Two, and of course everything
(02:15):
since you know this is this is what we're dealing with.
This is one hundred percent go home or die, you
know what I'm saying. That's that's that's what it is.
And there's a whole lot of people who do a
whole lot of good in our community. And one of
my favorite people to talk to and they're always so
(02:37):
generous and wonderful when they come over to the to
the news and brus and I want to welcome to
the show Mike Knger, who is joining us here to
talk about hero Fest twenty twenty five, Mike, thanks for
coming on, man, how are you?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Oh, I'm doing well. Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Oh, it's our pleasure. It's our pleasure.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And I know you have an incredible event coming up
here starting tomorrow and there are folks who may or
may not have heard about it, and I would just
love to get you to lay it out there for
the folks.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Great. I appreciate that. Yeah. So Camp for Heroes is
a three hundred acre camp with a fifteen acre lake
and we are dedicated to serving veterans, first responders, their families,
and their caregivers. And every November, beginning of November, we
do our largest event of the year, which is called
hero Fests. So this year's hero Fest twenty twenty five.
(03:34):
It's a three day event. Friday there is a golf
tournament at the Fairmont Country Club. Saturday is our big
festival which starts at noon and goes till probably Tannish
Wow and we have music all day, vendor and first
Responder owned our veteran first responder owned vendors, food trucks, cornhole.
(04:00):
At four o'clock, the All Veteran group will be parachuting
into the camp with the American flag while the national
anthems being sung. And then we have a barbecue, dinner
and a round or a fire pit round table wherever
just hangs around the fire pit. And then Sunday morning
we have a worship service, a non a nominational worship
(04:21):
service in our newly renovated chapel.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
That's great, That's that's phenomenal. How how did how did
you get involved with this?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Like?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
How did you?
Speaker 1 (04:30):
How did you first connect with with all of this
great stuff?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Completely by accident? I mean, I am a firm believer
that things happened for a reason. It was actually Veterans
Day about six or seven years ago, and I myself
am an a veteran, and so I was just sitting
in a local taphouse and every single person that walked in,
if I asked them if they were a veteran, and
(04:55):
if they said yes, I bought them a beer. Well,
one gentleman walked in and asked them if he was
a veteran. He said no, but we have a camp
for them. And I sat down next to him and said,
tell me more. And for seven years now, my wife
Lika and I have been fully involved with the camp.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And it's such a blessing for you guys to be
a part of this because hero Fest twenty twenty five,
October thirty first to November second. This is helping people
to connect, reconnect and understand the sacrifices that have been
made and have a really good time about it. I mean,
that's what's really awesome about it.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
It is an amazing place. I mean, we do have connections,
you know, to get veterans versusponders and help that they need.
We do do trainings for you know, people exiting the service.
But the whole premise behind the camp started around a
fire pit many years ago. The founder was holding an
event for veterans around a fire pit and the veterans
(05:54):
started talking to each other. They started opening up and
they were telling stories that their family and caregivers have
never heard. And if light bulb went off in his
head that I need to have a place where this
can happen. And so that's why everywhere on the camp
we have large fire pits, and that's kind of the
central of our serenity and piece that we give people.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Fantastic absolutely fantastic where do people go, Like, where is
this located? So people can kind of put it in
their GPS or look it up or any of that
sort of stuff. How do we get them to come
out and celebrate with the veterans and first respond So the.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Camp is at one seven six zimp ZIMP Road in Fairmount,
North Carolina. It's props about two hours east of Charlotte's.
We are on Facebook and we do we do heavy
website and it's camp the number four Heroes dot org
all veterans and first responders. The event on Saturday is
(06:55):
free and anybody who supports or family members, we charged
five dollars for entry.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Awesome, awesome, great stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I'm so happy about this and I'd love to find
out what the after action report looks like when when
you all come back from from the from the event.
It's going to be wonderful and we really do appreciate
you being out there, Mike and all the stuff that
you're doing. Once again, here Fest twenty twenty five, October
thirty first to November two, and you're you're at one
(07:26):
seventy six one seven six zimp z i MP Road, Fairmont,
North Carolina two eight three four zero.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Awesome stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Well, thank you, Brett, and we hope to see as
many people down there on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
As we can one hundred percent, absolutely and looking forward
to catching up with you again down the road.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
A real pleasure to hang out with you last night.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Thanks so much, absolutely, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
You got it best to you and your lovely bride. Uh,
this is great, This is this is amazing when when
we get to connect with these sorts of things, and look,
I would challenge anybody, anybody to you know, the idea
of who's got more pride in the military, who's got
(08:14):
more pride in in first responders than than North Carolina,
South Carolina and beyond. I mean, this is this is
a really special thing. And I'm really excited that he
was able to catch up with us on that Camp
for Heroes, a really great organization. WBTV did a package
on them just in the last couple of days.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So it's a it's a really great opportunity.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
When we come back. I'm going to be due for
a break here in just a moment, but when we
come back, I want to dive into what it is
that we're seeing. And as I was saying before we
had Mike join us, we were talking about this this
Mundamie thing, because I think it has hit the peak.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I think it is peaked, and it is ready.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
To start falling back to Earth. And it does have
to deal with the idea of what are you accomplishing,
what are you trying to do? And this guy's not
ready for prime time. But you got to understand it's
not going to be limited to New York. It's going
to be in every community across this country.
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