November 7, 2024 • 54 mins
In this episode of Saint Louis In Tune, hosts Arnold Stricker and Mark Langston discuss various events and issues, including an interview with Brad Kovach, Deputy Director at River City Foundation and publisher of Terrain Magazine.
Brad talks about the upcoming Gateway Outdoor Expo to be held at St. Charles Convention Center, sharing details about the event's evolution, activities like a 23-foot climbing wall and a Canoe with Santa Claus photo opportunity. The episode also touches on the mission of the River City Foundation to promote outdoor activities and the benefits of engaging with nature in the St. Louis region. Additionally, the show features some entertaining segments including music trivia, word of the day, and humorous anecdotes.
- River City Foundation
- Terrain Magazine – Outdoor Recreation, Adventure & Culture | St. Louis
- Gateway Outdoor Expo Home Page - Gateway Outdoor Expo
This is Season 7! For more episodes, go to stlintune.com
#gatewayoutdoorexpo #terrainmagazine #swimspa #rockclimbing #mountainbiking #flycasting #scubadiving
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Big Muddy Adventures
- Upper Limits
- Orvis
- Terrain Magazine
- River City Foundation
- Gateway Outdoor Expo
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Do you want to go climb arock? How about getting into a canoe
with Santa Claus? You'll findout how to do that on St. Louis in
Tune. Welcome to St. Louis inTune, and we thank you for joining
(00:25):
us for fresh perspectives onissues and events with experts, community
leaders, and everyday peoplewho are driving change and making
an impact that shapes oursociety and world. I'm Arnold Stricker
along with co host SnifflesMark Langston.
I know. My allergies are justraging. The thing about it, though,
is if you're in our business,in the radio business, it gives you
(00:50):
a much deeper voice, you knowwhat I mean?
And that's always good.
It does. Sometimes it does,yes. All right.
You could sing bass now.
Really? I know, I know. I havemy cost switch rate ready to go,
so I can turn it off if I haveto cough.
Okay.
Or sneeze button. I've hadsome good sneezes here lately, so
I would say back off if yousee me raring up here a little bit,
(01:12):
but. Yeah, I know. I don'tknow what it is.
It's the mold count.
It is global warming.
But it's this time of the yearwhen things change.
Boy, they are changing, aren't they?
Speaking of change, I'm goingto give my own. I'm just going to
do a spur of the moment,return to civility.
Oh, wow. He's all right. Thisis an ad lib.
I'm not going to read one.This is an ad lib.
(01:33):
Okay. All right, I'm sitting down.
You ready?
I'm ready.
Everybody take a chill pill.
Oh.
Return to civility. Everybodytake a chill pill.
You think? Can we do that? I don't.
Yeah. We're coming out of anelection and. Which made some people
(01:54):
happy and some people sad andsome people elated and some people
depressed.
A lot of anxious things and a.
Lot of anxious people probablyon both sides of the aisle. And I
would just say everybody needsto take a chill pill. Mark and I
were talking before the show.Our country has endured quite a bit
over the course of its history.
Yeah.
(02:14):
You just think of one majorevent, the Civil War.
Oh, my.
And how states actuallyrenounced their participation in
the United States of America.And there was a whole lot of hatred
going on and a whole lot ofnonsense as it relates to rioting
and how people were takingcare of other people or not taking
(02:35):
care of them and how they weredestructive. We had a real race thing
going on back then, and it wasall about slavery, no matter what
the south says. So Our countryhas endured a lot. We came out of
that because of the leadershipof President Abraham Lincoln and
other people. And we do lookto leadership. And I'm not going
(02:57):
to make any comments aboutthat, but I'm making comments to
the citizenry who really arethe country.
And you have to say they votedthe way they wanted to vote. The
vote is the vote. And if we'regoing to live here and be here, we
got to accept that. Sometimesyou don't like the outcome. I think
we'll survive, though. Somepeople say, oh, no, it's going to
(03:20):
be. We're done, we're doomed.But I don't buy that. I don't believe
in that.
No, I don't either.
I think we're gonna. I think,you know, I think we could screw
things up pretty good, but Ithink we can also fix things as well.
I would encourage people toalways be informed and to think and
to read both sides. And wetalked about this in previous episodes,
(03:40):
about listening to both sidesof the news, reading both sides of
what people write and formingan opinion of your own, not just
hook, line and sinker.
Yeah. I can only be hopefulthat will happen.
Yes.
A lot of hope on that front.
Return to civility. Take achill pill.
Take a chill pill.
And that's not, that'sfigurative, folks.
Okay?
It's not literal.
It's not like a square pill orround round or a horse pill you have
(04:03):
to blow down your throat.
It's just take deep breathsand this too shall pass.
Okay, Good.
Okay.
Amen, brother.
But what won't pass? What isour guest here today? Brad Kovac.
He's deputy director at RiverCity foundation and the publisher
at Terrain magazine. He's aprofessional writer, editor, publisher,
creative project manager withover 25 years of experience working
(04:25):
across multiple mediaplatforms. The primary focus he has
is to create engaging andinformative content that provides
exceptional experiences forthe target audience and drives business
results. I love. That's theultimate put together of what you
are. Brad. And he's here totalk to us about the upcoming show
that's going to be takingplace at the St. Charles Convention
(04:47):
center, which is the GatewayOutdoor Expo. Brad, welcome back
to St. Luis in Tune.
Thank you for having me.Again, appreciate being here.
2024, open to the public, freeparking. And you've moved from. And
we were talking off air FromCollinsville to St. Louis to Tower
Grove Park. You were at theDome and now you're out at St. Charles.
The evolution of that.
(05:07):
Tell us why we'reunintentionally migrating west, it
seems.
Go west, young man.
Yeah, last year was the bigmove for us. We moved from being
an indoor show for a number ofyears, then moved outdoor to Tower
Grove park, which was reallyfun from the idea of having an outdoor
expo outdoors. And the problemwas it was a beautiful venue, beautiful
park, beautiful people to workwith. At Tower Grove, the weather
(05:30):
was not beautiful for us. Itknocked down half the show for us.
And we felt that it wasn't theexperience that we wanted to give
to the vendors and theattendees. Of course, this year we're
going back indoors, trying toget back to a climate, a guaranteed
climate control environment isthe way I'm looking at it. And yeah,
we will have, we will be atthe St. Charles Convention Center.
And what's great there is notonly is the expo public, open and
(05:54):
free the public. But yes, theydo have free parking. They have great
guest services there. Youknow, along with being in an area
where we don't have to worryabout the weather knocking out the
show, we'll be able to create,I think some fun services for folks
coming in to experience the expo.
That sounds great. That isgoing to be folks November 22nd.
(06:14):
That's a Friday from 1 to 5pm,Saturday, 10am to 5pm, that's Saturday
the 23rd and Sunday the 24th,10am to 4pm so you have the Gateway
Outdoor Expo going on and givepeople an understanding about what's
the whole expo about. Becausethere might be some people new to
the area or maybe they wouldlike to go and they've never been
(06:38):
and let's tease them out alittle bit there.
Sure. So the weekend actuallyconsists of two things that I would
like to explain. So on Fridaywe have the Gateway Outdoor Summit
is what we call it. It's moreof a conference style event. It is
open to the public as well,but it's more geared toward fol who
are stakeholders in outdoorrecs. So maybe it's parks and rec
(06:59):
people, it's governmentofficials, elected officials, it's
municipalities being able tocome in and we have a really lively
discussion. We have a numberof sessions that take place throughout
that afternoon, each one withits own topic, but it's really geared
toward being a discussionabout expanding outdoor recreation
in the St. Louis region andhow we can get more people outside,
remove barriers, createdevelop new projects, those sorts
(07:22):
of things. That's on Fridayfrom 1 to 5, which you mentioned.
And then on Saturday, Saturdayand Sunday is the Expo, which is,
as you would guess from thename is more of an exhibition where
we have exhibitors. We expectto have 150 plus booths. And that
can be anything from vendorswho are selling outdoor gear, whether
it's bikes, shoes, those sortsof things, to organizations that
(07:45):
are sharing information aboutwhat they do. And then other events
sometimes come to our events.So maybe it's a marathon or a bike
race or something else andthey want to reach people and share
information about signing upfor their events. So it's really
a broad number and style offolks who come there, but it's a
lot of fun. We build in also alot of activities which I'm sure
(08:07):
we'll probably talk about alittle bit more here in detail. We
want it to be fun for familiesand active. So not just coming and
looking to buy things orcollect information, but actually
participate in some activities.
What's your attendance likeon. You've been moving around a lot.
Yeah, it does fluctuate, but Ithink we feel pretty good about staying
between 6 and 8,000 people iswhat we typically get.
That's a lot of folks.
(08:27):
Yeah, yeah.
And growing. Yeah, yeah. Ithink you steadily been growing,
haven't you? Every year?
Yeah, we have over the years,which is some of the reason why we've
also moved. We've outgrownsome of the spaces that we've been
in the past. So it's reallytrying to find a space now that can
host all the booths and thefolks that we're bringing in.
I love the free parking. Yeah,you got me there.
(08:48):
Yeah.
We've heard a lot over theyears. You get a lot of feedback
and being downtown over thecourse of a few different years has
been amazing. But people say,hey, we have to pay to park. Vendors
have to pay, attendees have topay. And we want to remove every
barrier we can possibly sothat people can come out, not spend
money to come to our show. Ifthey want to spend money at the show,
(09:09):
that's great. But whatever wecan do to get people in.
Yeah, I like it. Thank you. Kudos.
We talked about at the frontend of the show about go climb a
rock. So you're going to havea 23 foot tall rock climbing wall.
Yes. That is upper limits.They come most years to the show.
They've been great partnersfor us and kids love climbing that
(09:30):
wall.
So all of Arnold holds abelay. He's. I don't know if you
knew that He's a officialbelay. Yeah. Do you know what a belay.
I belay that. No, that's how Iwould use it.
I'm A belay.
That guy.
I'm a certified belay. Yeah.
Is that. You hold the rope.
That's the guy. That's right.
That's the person that holdsthe rope. That's right.
Yeah. That's the safety person.
(09:50):
Okay.
Yeah.
Safety sand.
Yeah. And you have to. Do youdo training for that too?
You do?
Yeah.
Now, the wall they have at theExpo, which a nice facet of that
is, it's auto belay, so youdon't have to rely on a person. You
are the machinery, or for lackof a better word is built in there.
And it works fine. They workfine. Yeah. It's fun to do. I've
(10:11):
never climbed like thatbefore. We've done it in scouting,
so we do some of that stuff.
I'd love to do that. I don'tthink my knees would allow me.
Oh, you'll be okay. You go upslow. It's not like you go running
up the wall.
We're not doing that.
We're going slow. Arnold.
Now what intrigued me wasgetting your photo taken with Santa
Claus in a canoe.
(10:32):
Sounds dangerous.
Is Santa in the front or theback? Really?
I have a good question.
I think Santa's in the back.It's the first year we've done this,
so we'll see how it goes. Butyeah, it's a program called Canoe
with Claws, which is actuallyhosted by one of our vendors called
Big Muddy Adventures. And BigMuddy Adventures is a local out outfitter,
(10:52):
paddling outfitter, so theytake people out on guided trips on
the rivers around. Around St.Louis. They do this program on their
own every year, Canoe withClaws, and they typically host it
maybe in their facility orpartner with a restaurant or a bar
and maybe have it there. Thisyear, we talked them into doing Canoe
with Claws at the Expo, whichI think will be great because hopefully
(11:14):
again, kids and adults arecoming in, getting their photos taken,
and then could take them toThanksgiving or put it on their Christmas
card and send it out.Something to note there. It's from
1 to 3 on Saturday and Sundayis when we'll be doing Canoe with
Claus. We didn't want tonecessarily tie up the Big Muddy
Adventure folks all day doingthat. If you want to come and get
your photo taken, make surethey're from one to three.
(11:35):
It reminds me of some of thoseshots that you see about kids with
Santa Claus and they'rescreaming or whatever, holding the
kid outside the canoe.
It puts a different wholedifferent spin on it.
I want to see Santa with alife jacket on.
I wonder if it's red.
We could probably make that happen.
I love it.
Our big inner tube.
(11:55):
Oh, yeah. Oh, that's good.
Santa went tubing. Okay. Flycasting demo. Wow. And I know about
Orvis and those are always funto see those things happen.
And this is the first year forOrvis at our expo. They opened a
shop, I think within the lastthree or four months in Richmond
Heights. They were quick tojump on board with us as a sponsor
and want to host an activity.So we're really psyched about that.
(12:17):
So, yeah, they're hosting theflycasting demo. So I don't know
specifically what that willlook like, but I would imagine you're
going to get some quick tipsand techniques on about how to whip
that fly out there and workthe wrist and.
Right.
Whatever crazy twirly stuffthey do in the air should be fun
to learn a little bit about it.
That's a technical term, crazytwirly stuff.
(12:38):
You can see how deeply I amingrained in the fly fishing culture.
It's fun though to put on the.
Waiter, the expo tweets,whatever, mountain bike trial zone.
And I'm just going to readsome of these and you can respond.
A swim spa demo. You bringyour own swimming suit. Wow.
That's also new this year. Sowe have a vendor, hot tubs of St.
(12:59):
Louis, who are going to bringin a number of spas. One of them
is a swim spa, which I equateto a treadmill for swimming. So you
get the current coming at youand you can just paddle forward and.
But remain in place. So if youare brave enough to jump in and want
to try that, do bring aswimsuit, please. It's a family friend
(13:20):
event. We don't want anybirthday suits there. And if you
are not interested inswimming, you can at least watch.
They're going to have somedemo swimmers, I think on hand as
well. And then we also, Ibelieve have worked with one of the
other vendors, which is ascuba diving vendor called Waikiki.
I believe they were talkingwith hot tubs of St. Louis to have
(13:40):
a scuba diver in one of thespas so that you could just get a.
That's a visual on what thatmight look like.
That's fun. Have you everscuba dived?
Oh, yeah, I have. Yes, absolutely.
Open water. I love. I do openwater thing. I know.
120Ft, is that right? Yeah.
You went that deep?
Yeah.
I was in Cancun and we canonly. I didn't know, but the Cancun
(14:02):
was as clear as can be. It'sonly about 50ft deep. That's about
as deep as it gets rightthere. I'm sorry. Go 125ft.
Yeah.
That's crazy.
My head would be blowing up.
It was off the pressure.Virgin Islands.
Yeah.
Where the shelf just drops.
Oh, yeah.
Now is that a specialcertification for that depth?
I'm only certified to 100ft.
Okay. So they took us a littlelower, right?
(14:27):
Oh, well.
So yeah, I did mycertification with Waikiki a year
or so ago and it's been a lotof fun. We go out to Mermaid Springs.
Have not been to Bon Terr Mineyet, but I want to go there.
Or a dry suit for that one.
Do you? Yeah. I hear it'spretty cold.
Yeah. Yes. So there's agiveaway of gear. Prize packages
are worth more than twelvehundred dollars. There's some donated
(14:50):
things. Then there's ascavenger hunt. A photo contest gallery.
Holy. That was in so Trainmagazine each year hosts a photo
contest. We just announced thewinners in our November December
issue which just came out. Andfor the first time we're going to
have poster size blow ups ofall the photo the winners from the
photo contest and making alittle gallery at the expo. Just
(15:12):
the folks who want to get somerecognition and to allow people to
see a little art element alongwith the other vendors at the show.
That's neat. So you can getmore information, folks. It's GatewayOutdoor
Expo.com GatewayOutdoore Expo.Com. This is Arnold Stricker with
Mark Langston of St. LucienTomb. We're talking to Brad Kovac.
And Brad, you mentioned aboutTerrain magazine. Tell folks a little
(15:32):
bit about Terrain magazine.
Yeah, so we're actuallycelebrating our 10th year. This year
we an outdoor recreationmagazine that's based here in St.
Louis, but we cover all ofMissouri and southern Illinois. And
then we do also branch in alittle bit into the surrounding states.
But mostly we try to keep itregional to Missouri and southern
Illinois. What that means isall the content that we write about
and develop and show is allregional stuff. We want people to
(15:56):
not necessarily go away toother parts of the country. We love
Colorado, we love Appalachia.But there's so much here in Missouri
and Illinois that people maynot know about. So all of our content
is focused on destinations.
Kind of like a weekend trip ora day trip.
Sure, exactly.
Okay.
But yeah, destinations andevents and activities and people
(16:17):
that you can know here so thatwhen you're home, you don't feel
left out of the outdoors. Youcan still get out and have a great
time. So we're telling peopleall about that on a bi monthly basis
in the magazine.
I know there's a lot inMissouri. I get the magazine that
the Missouri that puts outconservation. But I. Southern Illinois.
I have no idea what's going onover there.
(16:38):
It's really a great place.
What are some examples thatyou could.
Yeah, Shawnee National Forestis for me a go to. I'm there at least
a few times a year. It's beautiful.
I mean.
Yeah, you really. You get thisnorthern, what they call the Illinois
Ozarks, that northern Ozarksign topography. So still very hilly,
beautiful foliage, greatchange of seasons. Now would be a
(16:59):
great time to go get all thecolor. My favorite place there is
Garden of the Gods, which alot of people have probably heard
of. Great rock formations, alittle bit like Monument national
park out in Utah, Arizonaarea. Not the desert landscape, of
course, but just these greatrock formations that have been carved
out by glaciers that you cango and hike around and tour. And
(17:20):
a lot of great cabins and treehouses and just fun glamping opportunities
out there as well. So that's areally great trip in southern Illinois.
Never knew it's not very far.
So no, within two, two and ahalf hours.
That's great.
Yeah.
I think about Johnson Shut Insand Elephant Rocks and Tom Sock Mountain
and all that kind of stuff.
Yeah, right.
(17:40):
Yeah, there's a lot of that.
So biking, you're handlingbiking, climbing, hiking?
Yeah, yeah. We camping orstuff. Truly really try to cover
all of it. But yeah, the. Iguess what you might call traditional
sports like running, biking,camping, hiking, and then we cover
things like scuba diving andeven hang gliding and paragliding.
Really any you can do outdoorsin our area, we try to put our toe
(18:02):
in there a little bit and atleast share that information with
people. It might not be foreveryone. Not everybody wants to
go parachuting, but if you do,you might be able to read about it
in the magazine.
Have you been hang gliding or paragliding?
I have no. We've done storieson that. I personally have not gone.
What's the one with where youhave the big fan behind you, you
sit down and it's got thecanopy and you.
(18:23):
And you're individually goingaround, right? Yeah, yeah, I've seen
some of those.
Around and I know what you'retalking about. I'm not sure what
you call that exactly.
It's sitting down with a bigfan and you.
I saw one so high I thought hewas probably in the flight path.
Of a jet.
Yeah.
I was like, dude, what's goingon with you?
Yeah, that's kind of scary.Sounds like fun though.
(18:44):
Oh, yeah. So that Terrainmagazine, folks, is T E r a I N-M-A-G
com terrain-mag.com and thenthere's something that I don't think
we've ever talked about andyou've been on the show a couple
times. Here is the River CityFoundation. What is the River City
foundation and what do they do?
So River City foundation isthe nonprofit group that actually
(19:05):
publishes Train magazine andhosts the expo. We launched the foundation
about a year and a half ago, Iwant to say, but we haven't really
put the bullhorn out there yetbecause we really want to make sure
that we have all of our ducksin a row before we do. But essentially
what we would like to do iscollaborate, network with a lot of
other folks here in town thatare already doing outdoor sorts of
(19:27):
programs and activities andact as a facilit, facilitator to
bring those folks together andthen connect them with youth groups,
senior groups, school groups,faith based groups, and really grow
the outdoor community andculture here in St. Louis. In that
respect, we, we don'tnecessarily have the capacity to
create outdoor programmingourselves. We do some things here
(19:49):
and there, like the expo, likethe magazine, we have small reader
events. But if we really wantto affect large change in St. Louis
and really turn it into alarge outdoor recreation community,
we need to get our arms aroundeverybody and help connect all those
dots. So that's what RiverCity Outdoors and the foundation
wants to do. And so in thepast few years, we've worked closely
with rec centers and schoolgroups around town. We were able
(20:11):
in the last year to get 3,000kids outside that previously didn't
have any outdoor activities aspart of their program. Again, we
do that mainly with workingwith other groups. So I mentioned
Big Muddy Adventures before acanoe paddling guide service. We've
had a bunch of kids get outwith them or we've worked with other
parks around town. And likeUpper Limits and the rock Wall that
(20:33):
we mentioned earlier, we'vebeen able to get Upper Limits and
other programs to come todifferent parks around town and then
work with rec centers orschool groups to get kids out there
and get actively engaged inthese programs and in these activities.
You know, the hope being thatthe more that we can get these kids
used to being outside on arepeating basis that they internalize
(20:55):
that they take it to theirhome and their family and when they're
looking for things to do. Theythink hiking instead of maybe sitting
inside and playing on thetablet or the phone or whatever.
So it's normalizing theoutdoors in St. Louis and making.
Connecting all those dots andnetworking with everyone to make
that happen. So that's more orless what River City foundation is
trying to do.
That's a huge thing because,man, I remember everybody had a bike.
(21:18):
We were always constantlyriding bikes or we were constantly
outside. We never stayedinside unless it was raining heavily
or snowing. And then evensnowing, we were out sledding.
Yeah. And you had to be homeby the time the street lights turned
on. Is that right? How do youget your funding? How do you.
The foundation is a privatelyfunded nonprofit, so we have some
(21:38):
donors and some folks who havebeen really good to us. We can also,
of course, accept donationsand go out and try to find some grants.
We were lucky enough to have agrant a few years ago which kind
of kicked off the foundationfrom a group called Outdoor foundation
is the name of the nationalorganization. The name of the grant
is called the Thrive OutsideGrant. And what that did was give
(21:59):
a $300,000 grant to St. Louis,which we then facilitate. And part
of that grant was specificallywhat we're trying to do, build this
coalition of outdoororganizations to work together to
help elevate outdoorrecreation in St. Louis. And so we've
been doing that for the pastcouple of years, and the grant was
(22:19):
just renewed, I believe, foranother year. I think we're happy
to have that happen.
I think it's great that you'regoing into schools and are you going
into north county, otherschools where some of these young
kids don't have an opportunityto do some of these things?
Yeah, that's definitely the key.
Okay. The little outreachgoing on there. Yep. Yeah.
That's. You know, gettingoutside is really beneficial. It
(22:41):
is not only for the exercise,but the vitamin D and.
Right.
I'm serious. Getting. Youknow, because you see kids and you
mentioned the electronics.They're constantly. There's no light
going on. It's dark. No,they're just gaming or doing whatever
and not getting outside. Just.That's why the pounds.
Nothing like walking through acreek, if you ask me.
Oh, gosh. Yeah. Just knowingwhich poison ivy plant to stay away
(23:06):
from all of them.
And ultimately, the hope isthat it's good for St. Louis, for
civic pride, for the economy.Outdoor recreation can do a lot of
good beyond just theindividual health and wellness of
folks.
We're going to take a briefbreak, and we will Come right back.
We're going to talk more aboutsome outdoor kinds of activities.
This is Arnold Stricker withMark Langston of St. Louis in Tune.
(23:28):
Don't go away. This is ArnoldStricker of St. Louis in tune on
behalf of the Dred ScottHeritage Foundation. In 1857, the
(23:50):
dredge the Dred Scott decisionwas a major legal event and catalyst
that contributed to the CivilWar. The decision declared that Dred
Scott could not be freebecause he was not a citizen. The
14th Amendment, also calledthe Dred Scott Amendment, granted
citizenship to all born ornaturalized here in our country and
was intended to overturn theUS Supreme Court decision on July
9, 1868. The Dred ScottHeritage foundation is requesting
(24:13):
a commemorative stamp to beissued from the US Postal Service
to recognize and remember theheritage of this amendment by issuing
a stamp with the likeness ofthe man Dred Scott. But we need your
support and the support ofthousands of people who would like
to see this happen. To achievethis goal, we ask you to download,
sign and share the one pagepetition with others. To find the
petition, please go todredscottlives.org and click on the
(24:37):
Dred Scott petition drive onthe right side of the page. On behalf
of the Dred Scott Heritagefoundation, this has been Arnold
Stricker of St. Louis Intune.The United States has a strong tradition
of welcoming newcomers andrefugees. The welcome Corps is a
new service opportunity forAmericans inspired to welcome those
seeking freedom and safety andin turn help strengthen their own
(24:57):
communities. Welcome Corps isa public, private partnership that
is inspired by what Americansrepresent to so many around the world.
A beacon of hope and refuge.All it takes is a helping hand. Are
you ready? To learn more,contact the International Institute
of St. Louis at infoystl.orgor call 314-773-9090.
(25:24):
That's infoystl.org or Call 314-773-9090.
Welcome back to St. Louis inTune with Arnold Stricker and Mark
Langston. We're talking toBrad Kovac. He is the he's the big
(25:47):
cheese for the Gateway Outdoor Expo.
The Big Kahuna.
I like that.
The Big Kahuna. Yes, he's soGatewayOutdoor Expo.com terrain-mag.com
and RiverCityFDN.org but theGateway Outdoor Expo Saturday the
23rd and Sunday the 24th ofNovember from 10:00 to 5 and then
10:00 to 4 at the St. CharlesConvention Center. That's 1 Convention
(26:11):
Center Boulevard, a greataddress St. Charles Convention Center,
1 Convention Center Boulevard.
Oh yeah.
Makes. Makes a lot of sense.
That's right before Thanksgiving.
Yes it is.
It is the weekend beforeThanksgiving when.
You were talking about this.And this is how my brain goes, Mark,
sometimes that's going to be.
That's. We're still trying tofigure that out.
Yeah. He has no clue where I'mgoing with this. We talked about
(26:33):
the swim spa demo. So I'mthinking about. You got this demo
spa that puts out these jetswhere you can swim. But, but it would
be better then to have the flycasting guy just standing there and
then Santa in the, in thecanoe inside there with the kids
getting. So you got a fly. Flyfisherman going. You got Santa in
the canoe paddling in this.
(26:56):
Right.
That's where my brain goes.
I also understand thatSasquatch might be in attendance
at the expo. So you throw himin the mix.
Really?
And who knows what could happen?
Oh my. Oh, I'm a Sasquatchfan. I'm telling you right now.
Come on out.
That's. Oh, I. Yeah, thisArnold. No Speedo though. We gotta
(27:16):
tell you that right now.Thanks for clarifying that. But yeah,
Sasquatch, that's. That's alot of fun.
Yeah, he was tough to get, Ibet. We're working on Smokey the
Bear. It's smokey the bear's80th birthday this year.
Really?
Really?
He doesn't have a walker. See,there you go.
(27:36):
I know.
You never know who could showup at the expo.
Yeah.
Wow.
Now let me ask you this, Brad.What did you do outdoors when you
were growing up?
It's funny Mark mentionedearlier creeks. So I had a creek
in my backyard. We grew up insouth county and I think every day
when it wasn't freezingoutside, I was probably splashing
around in that water. And thenwe had trails behind the creek in
(28:00):
the woods there. They weren'tobviously they weren't professional
trails. They were probablyjust old deer trails or something
that we kids would go back inthere and we'd be lost for hours.
And you know, bless my parentsfor not sending out a search party
or anything. It was, you know,it was the 80s and 70s, so I guess
times were different. Butyeah, that's how I got, I guess,
interested in just beingoutside in general. And then I was
(28:24):
fortunate. My mom, when wewere in middle school, my sister
and I took a job with a localoutdoor summer camp. The, actually
the camp itself was inWisconsin, but their, the family
that owned it was based herein Clayton. And so that's where their
winter offices were. And aspart of her employment there, the
camp owners asked me if. Orasked her if I would like to attend
(28:45):
the camp when I was of age.And so I said, sure, why not? Give
it a try. And I think thefirst year, like a lot of kids, I
was probably a littlehesitant, a little homesick, had
to go through that wholeprocess. But then the next seven
or eight years, I was a camperthere, and then I ended up working
there for three years as acamp counselor. And it just changed
my whole life. We camped, wepaddled, we hiked, we biked. Archery,
(29:09):
softball. Everything you thinkof as a summer camp, we did it there.
But it was really just acoming of age, made great friends,
really just changed my entirelife. So that directly impacted my
upbringing.
Yeah.
Yeah, you were hooked.
I was hooked.
Absolutely hooked, line and sinker.
A lot of people don't know.You can take some archery lessons
at Forest Park.
(29:29):
Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
I think mdc, MissouriDepartment of Conservation, offers
archery, an archery program.And I also know there's an archery
range out in Valley park,right along the Merrimack Greenway
there, which is probablyunderwater right now. So don't go
there right now.
Don't ride that trail. Sowhat's your. Do you have a favorite?
Is it biking, is it hiking, isit surfing or. Yeah, I do scuba diving.
(29:53):
I do. I'm a mountain biker,for sure.
You scare me. That scares me.Yeah, I have a friend that does that,
and he just. I don't mean tointerrupt, but he flies. And I'm
like, david, how do you notget hurt? It scares me when he tells
me the stories about how fasthe's going on his mountain bike.
I can't imagine hitting agully or something like that. I'm
(30:15):
sorry. Calling that.
It will happen. You do fall.That's part of it. You learn how
to fall, like skiing.Eventually you're going to fall.
And you could actually takeclinics and classes with a number
of local outdoors or, I'msorry, mountain bike groups in. They
don't necessarily teach youhow to fall, but they do teach you
what they call bike bodyseparation, which is a nice way of
(30:37):
saying how to.
You're flying through the air.Yeah, you're gonna hit a tree.
It also applies to things liketurns and going downhill. You want
to get out of your seat and upon your feet. That's bike body separation.
But it also does apply to falling.
Right.
But, you know, you get saferas you get more experienced at biking.
When things look Tricky look,perhaps a little sketchy. So it's
(31:00):
not as bad as it might seem.
Okay.
But eventually you probablywill fall. Just. I run as well. I
think I fall just as muchrunning as I do biking.
I think that would hurt more myself.
Maybe I'm just a spaz, I don'tknow. But that's the truth.
Yeah, Tillis park has somepretty decent mountain biking in
Tillis Park. I know, maybe notmountain biking, but. But when I
(31:22):
rode out there on my regularbike, I was like, this isn't really
for the bike that I'm on.
Yeah, Forest park has somenice biking trails and they do actually
have some off road trails thatI think are back in some of the greener
areas. I don't know if thoseare again, official trails, but I
know people use them. And thenCarondelet park, which is still also
in the city limits, is thefirst city based park that has a
(31:45):
official mountain bike trail.
Really?
Yeah. So it was built over thecourse of the last year by a local
group of mountain bike advocates.
Had no idea.
I thought that was fairly flat.
It's not a super hilly trail.It's about a mile, maybe two miles
at this point. There was aphase one and a phase two. I think.
I know phase one is done. Ithink phase two will make it two
(32:06):
miles.
Okay.
And two concentric loops witha connector between and yeah, it's
not a great elevation. Nothuge elevation, but the way they
have built it does give itsome up and down and some nice flowy
parts. Yeah, stuff like thatis happening all over. And I like
to think that maybe that's St.Louis awakening to the fact that
(32:27):
outdoor recreation isimportant. And it is something that
can really add another aspectto the culture here in the city and
the county. Of course. So,yeah, the more that we can build
trails, whether it's hiking orbiking or whatever, within the city
limits, that just benefitseverybody as far as I see.
Right.
And how can people get a copyof Terrain magazine? Is there a signup
list or something? Is it free?Is it electronic? Is it print? What
(32:50):
is.
It's all of the above, butI'll explain. Yeah, we do offer a
free digital magazine, so youcan sign up for that on our website.
There's a sign up area box,whatever you want to call it, right
there on the website. Youwould get the magazine, electronic
version, every other monthright into your inbox. You can also
pick up the print magazine atstores, locations around St. Louis.
(33:11):
We have 300 locations that weserve around the state in St. Louis,
I want to say there's probably150 or more of those locations. So
you want to look at runningstores, bike shops, any other sort
of outfitter, like a, like analpine shop. But then we're also
at a number of fitnesscenters, brew pubs, just gathering
(33:31):
places where we feel like theoutdoor community would. If you would
like to find those locations,if you go to our website, there's
a page you can click on thatsays magazine and it has a list of
all the locations so you don'thave to go out and search. You could
find one online and then goand get the magazine there. And then
if you like, you can alsosubscribe for an in home subscription.
(33:53):
So that's $20 a year. You'remainly paying for postage and a little
bit of the print cost. Butthen it's going to come right to
your home in mailbox everyother month.
Great stories. Here's some ofthe stories. Mark. We tried out a
fully loaded camper van.Here's what happened. Three items
to upgrade your indoor cyclingtraining. Ask Muddy Mike about getting
started. These world classathletes call the Lake of the Ozarks
(34:16):
home. They talk about 10outdoorsy gifts for everyone in your
life. Just a whole variety ofkinds of things. It's really cool.
Yeah, you and I need to sign up.
Oh yeah, I'm gonna. There's no question.
Because we like to, we like todo outdoor kinds of things.
Yeah, we'd love to have you.We'd love to have you in the magazine.
When you want to take on thatnew activity, let us know.
(34:37):
Is it that spa with Santa andthe Fly family?
Maybe that's it. You can writea great column about that. Oh my
God.
This is not gonna happen.
The time I met Santa andSasquatch in a hot tub.
A first. A first. Brad, wethank you for coming in. You can
stay and listen to the rest ofthe show. I have some special treats
(34:58):
for Mark here.
Oh boy.
Okay, I'm happy to.
Special audio treats. Butfolks, you need to get to the Gateway
outdoor Expo. Saturday,November 23, 10:00-5:00pm Sunday,
November 24, 10:00-4:00pm atthe St. Charles Convention center
in St. Charles, Missouri. Getmore information, go to gatewayoutdoor
(35:18):
Expo.com I love this.
Thank you. That's great. Yep.Website one more time.
Gateway x gatewayoutdoor expo.com.
All right. No, there. But theorganization's website.
The Terrain magazine.
Yeah, Terrain.
That's terrain mag dot com.
(35:38):
Okay.
Terrain magazine. And thenRiver City foundation is rivercityfdn.org.
So we got an Oregon a comm inthere. Okay.
And you can get all of us.
Much, much appreciate it.
Yeah, it's fun to get theseevents out there to the public. And
I want to mention again, freeparking. Folks don't have to worry
about that. Bring the kids.It's very family friendly. And there
(36:01):
be food out there.
I presume they haveconcessions at the convention center?
Yes. And then there'llprobably be some sampling from some
of the vendors too.
There you go. There you go.
All right.
How many vendors are going tobe there?
We expect 150 plus booths.
Wow, that's huge.
It is. That's a lot of peopleact. Yeah.
They'll be packed in there.
Yeah, yeah. Shoot for.
I'm hoping you get especiallywith Sasquatch there.
(36:21):
Oh, yeah. Maybe 10,000 peoplethere. We'll have 10,000 sightings
of Sasquatch. So our word ofthe day.
Oh, here we go.
Is acapella.
Oh, it's a singing thing,isn't it?
Yes. When a song is performedacapella, it is sung unaccompanied,
no instrumental music. Oh,it's all voices. So we have some
(36:46):
examples. Oh, we do, yes.Number one.
Ok.
(37:27):
In a love of somewhere overthe rainbow Skies are blue or blue
(37:51):
and the dreams that you wheretrouble smell like lemon drops Away
(38:26):
above the chimney tops that'swhere you find me Somewhere over
the rain beyond the rainbowwhy can't man.
(39:46):
Love it?
I chose this group, it'scalled Voctiv because they do a lot
of Disney songs, Mark.
Do they?
And you love Disney.
I do. Did you know theDorothy's ruby slippers were just
found? I guess they werestolen for years.
Yes, that's correct.
And they just recovered themand they're gonna put them up on
the auction block. And I guessthere's a Wizard of Oz museum that
(40:10):
is. I guess they have them ondisplay now. Temporarily. And also
we're in November when werecord this. And I think it was released
originally in November.
I think you're correct.
So all this is justintertwined. I love it.
That's right.
It's all connects.
Now for those of you whothink. And there's a lot of acapella
groups out there. There's tonsof them. There's some that sing strictly
(40:32):
what I would call classicalkinds of music. Some sing pop. Voctov
sings a variety because ofDisney. I chose them. Here's another
one. You probably know this group.
All right.
O2. Nope. Nope.
Oh, I beg your pardon. It saidEverything is all right There.
Are stars in the southern skySouthward as you go There is moonlight
(41:13):
and moss in the trees down theseven Bridges Rock Wow.
The Eagles.
The Eagles.
Now, they usually did that asa warm up before they went on stage.
(41:34):
Yeah.
And a lot of people do SevenBridges Road song. It's a lot of
instrumental stuff, but itdeals with acapella. And then there's
always a Star Spangled Bannerversion. That's. And this one just.
It makes the hair on the backof my neck. Not on my head.
Okay.
The hair on the back of my neck.
That would be tough.
Stand up at the end. So herewe go. Here we go.
(41:56):
O say, can you see by thedawn's early light what so proudly
we hail at the twilight's lastgleaming? Whose broad stripes and
(42:21):
bright stars through theperilous fight O'er the ramparts
we watched Were so gallantlystreaming and the rockets red glare
(42:49):
singing air Gave proof throughthe night that our flag was still
there O say, does that starSpangled Banner for the land of the
(43:23):
free of free and the home of.
(43:57):
Wow. If then I get the hair onthe back of your neck standing up.
I don't know what will.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah. And that is so hard todo, to sing that in tune. And I know
that because I'm a musician.
Yeah.
And that is tough.
Wow.
Now, there's some groups, theysing acapella. They'll do the, like,
613 that we've had on severaltimes. They'll do the. They'll do
(44:19):
all the instruments. And that.Another one, Take six, does that,
too. A lot of groups outthere. It's just fun to listen to
where you don't have anyinstrumental accompaniment. Now,
I have to ask, Brad, when youwere at Lindbergh High School, did
you sing in choir?
I did not.
Did you play an instrument?
I played the trumpet.
Oh. Was Lowell Bruner yourdirector? No, Bob Spiegelman.
(44:40):
That sounds familiar.
But.
But it's been a long time.
Yeah.
What'd you play?
Trumpet.
Trumpet.
Now that I'm thinking about,that was middle school. I think by
the time I got to high school,I may have opted out of orchestra.
Okay.
I had Mr. Zink.
So you can appreciate thiswhat we.
Oh, yeah. It's amazing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The funny about the Eagles,Seven Bridges Road. I will sing that
(45:02):
to myself. And, like, when itcomes on the radio, I am in there
singing it.
Are you singing a melody orsinging one?
I don't know what I'm singing,and I'm sure if it Was isolated.
It would be. People would beclicking off the radio, but I cannot
help but try to get in there.
Yeah.
It's fun when, you know, yougot somebody by themselves and you
hear them singing. It's like,what in the world? And they've got
(45:22):
headphones on.
Yeah.
And they're singing with theheadphones. People singing in the
car.
Yes, yes. I live. It's one of.I enjoy that a lot, just watching
people do that. You need toroll the window down and do it, though.
Yeah. That's how I learned tosing harmony is you listen to, like,
songs like.
The Eagles and you singharmony with them.
America. Yeah. You singharmony with them.
America was really good. Thatwas a great group for that stuff.
(45:42):
So I did that for you, Mark.The vocative group, so. Because they
do a ton of Disney stuff.
I love that.
Yeah. So our word for the day,folks. Acapella.
Of course. It is as it should be.
As it should be.
Yeah, I know.
Do you have any days of theday, Mark?
I have. Yeah, I have a couple.One is probably your favorite. Okay.
(46:05):
Okay.
It's National Men make dinner Day.
Oh, yeah.
I saw that. Yeah.
Did you see that? I did see.So this is legit. This is a legit
part of the show.
Right?
I know. It says, men, take thelead. Get in there and whip up something
nice. I'm not sure I could do that.
If you get good recipes andget some good ingredients, you're
(46:30):
okay.
And it says this particularday has been shared over 6,000 times.
Wow. It could be for me.
I think my wife is probablysharing that with me, people.
Yeah. Maria, I love to cook.
You do?
Yeah.
I know. I've been to yourhouse before or your condo or.
Yeah, whatever that thing is.
That high rise thing.
Yeah, the apartment in the sky.
(46:53):
International Stout Day. Doyou like stout beer?
Stout beer.
I'm not a big fan. I hate tosay. There are probably people that
are going to beat me up forthat National Bittersweet Chocolate
Day. Not sure about that oneat all. I know. No, I shouldn't tell
you. It's hug a bear today.Hug a bear. Did you have a teddy
bear when you've grown up?
When I was very young.
Did you?
Yes.
I have a story about it. I wasin an orphanage. I was in an adopted
(47:16):
child that later on in life, Inever had a teddy bear ever. And
I was telling my kids about ita few years back and what did they
do? They got me a teddy bear.
Oh, cool. Did you name yourteddy bear Teddy Boo? Teddy Bear.
Teddy Bear is Teddy. Boo and Istill have Teddy.
Is he here today?
Not today, but he is at home.
Support mayor.
(47:38):
Yeah, he's my support Teddy. Ithink that's very sweet that the
boys did that.
Yeah, that's cool.
Let's see. Let's see. NationalCash Back Day. I don't know about
that. We don't have a wholelot. Notary Public Day. Project Manager
Day. I'm saying, why, theseare all pretty boring. I think there's
a couple of more. Oh, NationalSTEM Day.
(48:02):
Science, Technology. That one.
Yeah.
Engineering and Engineeringand Math. And you add the arts in
there, it'd be Steam day.
Steam. Oh, I'm not. I'm notgood with that. Cook Something Bold
and Pungent Day.
Oh, that kind of goes with thefirst one you talked about.
Let's see. International Dayof Radiology. Okay. National Dunce
Day. All right. NationalCappuccino Day. You're slipping.
(48:27):
Yeah, I know. You didn't bringcappuccino in today. Harvey Wallbanger
Day. Never had a Harvey Wall.Have you ever had one? No, never.
Don't care to.
National parents is Teachers Day.
Oh. Which started in the stateof Missouri.
Is that a fact?
Yes. And then went national.
Who knew?
Yes.
Really?
Started under, I think it wasthen Governor Christopher Kit Bond.
(48:50):
Oh, okay.
He got elected to senator then.
Yeah. Wasn't. He was governorthen he got beat by Walking Joe Teesdale
who died.
And then.
Then he came back.
Yeah.
And took it on again.
Yep.
He was a mad governor. He wasmad about that loss. I remember that
world. A pianiste. So thereyou go.
(49:13):
All right.
That's a. Yeah. There's otherstoo. Like Talk Money Day.
Depoporia.
You have a potpourri of days.That's correct. Too many days.
Who could keep up? I lovemangoes. Do you like mangoes?
Yes, please. Mangoes.
So my dad bought 15 mangoesand didn't tell my mom, so she bought
10 mangoes. And now we are thepeople from the math problems. For
(49:35):
those of you that don't getthat, my dad bought 15 mangoes and
my mom bought 10 mangoes. Howmany mangoes do we have?
You should have left when youhad the chance.
Yesterday I wore somethingfrom five years ago and it actually
fit. So I'm very proud ofmyself. It was a scarf.
Wow. This is how it's going tobe, isn't it?
(50:00):
Let's see here. Oh, here wego. The first rule of cleaning while
listening to music. The toiletbrush is never the microphone.
Oh, my goodness. Oh, thathurts. Just to hear it.
And folks, don't let anyoneruin your day. You're an adult. Do
it yourself. My wife said,that's the fourth time you've gone
(50:25):
back for dessert. Doesn't itembarrass you? I said, no. I keep
telling them it's for you. Thewoman visits her husband in prison.
There's more.
Before leaving, she tells acorrection officer, you shouldn't
make my husband work likethat. He's exhausted. The officer
laughs and says, are youkidding? He just eats and sleeps
(50:47):
and stays in his cell. Thewife replies, he just told me he's
been digging a tunnel for months.
Wow, these are worse than dadjokes. You know that, right?
Told my boss I was going tothe bathroom, but did say which one.
I'm now at home now. Brad willlike this one. It's because it's
(51:12):
a fitness one.
Don't bet on it. Okay, go ahead.
This was seen outside the 24 Fitness.
Tight.
Not just 24 Fitness. This is ajoke, folks.
Okay?
Tired of being fat and ugly?Just be ugly. 24 Fitness.
Thank you very much. Wow.
(51:34):
Shazam. Okay, let's see here.I'm going to the collection now.
Okay, here we go. A man issuing smartwater for not making him
smart. And I'd like toformally announce my lawsuit against
Thin Mints. And unless hewears diapers, folks, you can't change
(51:54):
him.
Wrong.
Okay, let's see.
I think we're running out oftime, even if we're not.
Now, here are some nicknamesfor co workers. We've shared this
before, but this is always agood one. We'll end with this one.
Lava lamp. Looks good, but notvery bright. Deck chair. Folds under
(52:18):
pressure. Dr. Dolittle. Thename says it all. 007, zero motivation,
zero skills, seven bathroombreaks. G spot can never be found.
(52:42):
I have a whole slug of theseon stupid.
Do you really?
I'm not saying you're stupid.I'm just saying you've got bad luck
when it comes to thinking.
Oh, no. Wow. They're turningus off all over town. Okay, people
(53:03):
want to hear the next thingyou do, I'm sure.
Remember, if you work hardenough at your job, you get to do
other people's work, too.
Yep, that's right. I get that.I've been there, done that.
Don't stop there, folks. Okay,we thank you for being with us today.
Let's see if I can. Brad hasmy paper with my extra on it. But
I will. Let's see if I can doit. Oh, here we go. Hey, thank you.
(53:25):
It says here. Thanks. Thankyou folks. That's all for this hour.
Thank goodness.
If you've enjoyed thisepisode, you can listen to additional
shows@stl and tune.com.consider leaving a review on Apple
Podcast, Podchaser or yourpreferred podcast platform. Your
feedback helps us reach morelisteners and continue to grow. Want
to thank Bob Bertha Sell forour theme music. Our guests Brad
Kovac and co host MarkLangston. We thank thank you for
(53:46):
being a part of our communityof curious minds. St. Louis in tune
is a production of Motif MediaGroup and the US Radio Network. Remember
to keep seeking, keeplearning, walk worthy, and let your
light shine. For St. Louis intune, I'm Arnold Stricker.
Do you want to go climb arock? How about getting into a canoe
with Santa Claus? You'll findout how to do that on St. Louis in
Tune. Welcome to St. Louis inTune, and we thank you for joining
(00:25):
us for fresh perspectives onissues and events with experts, community
leaders, and everyday peoplewho are driving change and making
an impact that shapes oursociety and world. I'm Arnold Stricker
along with co host SnifflesMark Langston.
I know. My allergies are justraging. The thing about it, though,
is if you're in our business,in the radio business, it gives you
(00:50):
a much deeper voice, you knowwhat I mean?
And that's always good.
It does. Sometimes it does,yes. All right.
You could sing bass now.
Really? I know, I know. I havemy cost switch rate ready to go,
so I can turn it off if I haveto cough.
Okay.
Or sneeze button. I've hadsome good sneezes here lately, so
I would say back off if yousee me raring up here a little bit,
(01:12):
but. Yeah, I know. I don'tknow what it is.
It's the mold count.
It is global warming.
But it's this time of the yearwhen things change.
Boy, they are changing, aren't they?
Speaking of change, I'm goingto give my own. I'm just going to
do a spur of the moment,return to civility.
Oh, wow. He's all right. Thisis an ad lib.
I'm not going to read one.This is an ad lib.
(01:33):
Okay. All right, I'm sitting down.
You ready?
I'm ready.
Everybody take a chill pill.
Oh.
Return to civility. Everybodytake a chill pill.
You think? Can we do that? I don't.
Yeah. We're coming out of anelection and. Which made some people
(01:54):
happy and some people sad andsome people elated and some people
depressed.
A lot of anxious things and a.
Lot of anxious people probablyon both sides of the aisle. And I
would just say everybody needsto take a chill pill. Mark and I
were talking before the show.Our country has endured quite a bit
over the course of its history.
Yeah.
(02:14):
You just think of one majorevent, the Civil War.
Oh, my.
And how states actuallyrenounced their participation in
the United States of America.And there was a whole lot of hatred
going on and a whole lot ofnonsense as it relates to rioting
and how people were takingcare of other people or not taking
(02:35):
care of them and how they weredestructive. We had a real race thing
going on back then, and it wasall about slavery, no matter what
the south says. So Our countryhas endured a lot. We came out of
that because of the leadershipof President Abraham Lincoln and
other people. And we do lookto leadership. And I'm not going
(02:57):
to make any comments aboutthat, but I'm making comments to
the citizenry who really arethe country.
And you have to say they votedthe way they wanted to vote. The
vote is the vote. And if we'regoing to live here and be here, we
got to accept that. Sometimesyou don't like the outcome. I think
we'll survive, though. Somepeople say, oh, no, it's going to
(03:20):
be. We're done, we're doomed.But I don't buy that. I don't believe
in that.
No, I don't either.
I think we're gonna. I think,you know, I think we could screw
things up pretty good, but Ithink we can also fix things as well.
I would encourage people toalways be informed and to think and
to read both sides. And wetalked about this in previous episodes,
(03:40):
about listening to both sidesof the news, reading both sides of
what people write and formingan opinion of your own, not just
hook, line and sinker.
Yeah. I can only be hopefulthat will happen.
Yes.
A lot of hope on that front.
Return to civility. Take achill pill.
Take a chill pill.
And that's not, that'sfigurative, folks.
Okay?
It's not literal.
It's not like a square pill orround round or a horse pill you have
(04:03):
to blow down your throat.
It's just take deep breathsand this too shall pass.
Okay, Good.
Okay.
Amen, brother.
But what won't pass? What isour guest here today? Brad Kovac.
He's deputy director at RiverCity foundation and the publisher
at Terrain magazine. He's aprofessional writer, editor, publisher,
creative project manager withover 25 years of experience working
(04:25):
across multiple mediaplatforms. The primary focus he has
is to create engaging andinformative content that provides
exceptional experiences forthe target audience and drives business
results. I love. That's theultimate put together of what you
are. Brad. And he's here totalk to us about the upcoming show
that's going to be takingplace at the St. Charles Convention
(04:47):
center, which is the GatewayOutdoor Expo. Brad, welcome back
to St. Luis in Tune.
Thank you for having me.Again, appreciate being here.
2024, open to the public, freeparking. And you've moved from. And
we were talking off air FromCollinsville to St. Louis to Tower
Grove Park. You were at theDome and now you're out at St. Charles.
The evolution of that.
(05:07):
Tell us why we'reunintentionally migrating west, it
seems.
Go west, young man.
Yeah, last year was the bigmove for us. We moved from being
an indoor show for a number ofyears, then moved outdoor to Tower
Grove park, which was reallyfun from the idea of having an outdoor
expo outdoors. And the problemwas it was a beautiful venue, beautiful
park, beautiful people to workwith. At Tower Grove, the weather
(05:30):
was not beautiful for us. Itknocked down half the show for us.
And we felt that it wasn't theexperience that we wanted to give
to the vendors and theattendees. Of course, this year we're
going back indoors, trying toget back to a climate, a guaranteed
climate control environment isthe way I'm looking at it. And yeah,
we will have, we will be atthe St. Charles Convention Center.
And what's great there is notonly is the expo public, open and
(05:54):
free the public. But yes, theydo have free parking. They have great
guest services there. Youknow, along with being in an area
where we don't have to worryabout the weather knocking out the
show, we'll be able to create,I think some fun services for folks
coming in to experience the expo.
That sounds great. That isgoing to be folks November 22nd.
(06:14):
That's a Friday from 1 to 5pm,Saturday, 10am to 5pm, that's Saturday
the 23rd and Sunday the 24th,10am to 4pm so you have the Gateway
Outdoor Expo going on and givepeople an understanding about what's
the whole expo about. Becausethere might be some people new to
the area or maybe they wouldlike to go and they've never been
(06:38):
and let's tease them out alittle bit there.
Sure. So the weekend actuallyconsists of two things that I would
like to explain. So on Fridaywe have the Gateway Outdoor Summit
is what we call it. It's moreof a conference style event. It is
open to the public as well,but it's more geared toward fol who
are stakeholders in outdoorrecs. So maybe it's parks and rec
(06:59):
people, it's governmentofficials, elected officials, it's
municipalities being able tocome in and we have a really lively
discussion. We have a numberof sessions that take place throughout
that afternoon, each one withits own topic, but it's really geared
toward being a discussionabout expanding outdoor recreation
in the St. Louis region andhow we can get more people outside,
remove barriers, createdevelop new projects, those sorts
(07:22):
of things. That's on Fridayfrom 1 to 5, which you mentioned.
And then on Saturday, Saturdayand Sunday is the Expo, which is,
as you would guess from thename is more of an exhibition where
we have exhibitors. We expectto have 150 plus booths. And that
can be anything from vendorswho are selling outdoor gear, whether
it's bikes, shoes, those sortsof things, to organizations that
(07:45):
are sharing information aboutwhat they do. And then other events
sometimes come to our events.So maybe it's a marathon or a bike
race or something else andthey want to reach people and share
information about signing upfor their events. So it's really
a broad number and style offolks who come there, but it's a
lot of fun. We build in also alot of activities which I'm sure
(08:07):
we'll probably talk about alittle bit more here in detail. We
want it to be fun for familiesand active. So not just coming and
looking to buy things orcollect information, but actually
participate in some activities.
What's your attendance likeon. You've been moving around a lot.
Yeah, it does fluctuate, but Ithink we feel pretty good about staying
between 6 and 8,000 people iswhat we typically get.
That's a lot of folks.
(08:27):
Yeah, yeah.
And growing. Yeah, yeah. Ithink you steadily been growing,
haven't you? Every year?
Yeah, we have over the years,which is some of the reason why we've
also moved. We've outgrownsome of the spaces that we've been
in the past. So it's reallytrying to find a space now that can
host all the booths and thefolks that we're bringing in.
I love the free parking. Yeah,you got me there.
(08:48):
Yeah.
We've heard a lot over theyears. You get a lot of feedback
and being downtown over thecourse of a few different years has
been amazing. But people say,hey, we have to pay to park. Vendors
have to pay, attendees have topay. And we want to remove every
barrier we can possibly sothat people can come out, not spend
money to come to our show. Ifthey want to spend money at the show,
(09:09):
that's great. But whatever wecan do to get people in.
Yeah, I like it. Thank you. Kudos.
We talked about at the frontend of the show about go climb a
rock. So you're going to havea 23 foot tall rock climbing wall.
Yes. That is upper limits.They come most years to the show.
They've been great partnersfor us and kids love climbing that
(09:30):
wall.
So all of Arnold holds abelay. He's. I don't know if you
knew that He's a officialbelay. Yeah. Do you know what a belay.
I belay that. No, that's how Iwould use it.
I'm A belay.
That guy.
I'm a certified belay. Yeah.
Is that. You hold the rope.
That's the guy. That's right.
That's the person that holdsthe rope. That's right.
Yeah. That's the safety person.
(09:50):
Okay.
Yeah.
Safety sand.
Yeah. And you have to. Do youdo training for that too?
You do?
Yeah.
Now, the wall they have at theExpo, which a nice facet of that
is, it's auto belay, so youdon't have to rely on a person. You
are the machinery, or for lackof a better word is built in there.
And it works fine. They workfine. Yeah. It's fun to do. I've
(10:11):
never climbed like thatbefore. We've done it in scouting,
so we do some of that stuff.
I'd love to do that. I don'tthink my knees would allow me.
Oh, you'll be okay. You go upslow. It's not like you go running
up the wall.
We're not doing that.
We're going slow. Arnold.
Now what intrigued me wasgetting your photo taken with Santa
Claus in a canoe.
(10:32):
Sounds dangerous.
Is Santa in the front or theback? Really?
I have a good question.
I think Santa's in the back.It's the first year we've done this,
so we'll see how it goes. Butyeah, it's a program called Canoe
with Claws, which is actuallyhosted by one of our vendors called
Big Muddy Adventures. And BigMuddy Adventures is a local out outfitter,
(10:52):
paddling outfitter, so theytake people out on guided trips on
the rivers around. Around St.Louis. They do this program on their
own every year, Canoe withClaws, and they typically host it
maybe in their facility orpartner with a restaurant or a bar
and maybe have it there. Thisyear, we talked them into doing Canoe
with Claws at the Expo, whichI think will be great because hopefully
(11:14):
again, kids and adults arecoming in, getting their photos taken,
and then could take them toThanksgiving or put it on their Christmas
card and send it out.Something to note there. It's from
1 to 3 on Saturday and Sundayis when we'll be doing Canoe with
Claus. We didn't want tonecessarily tie up the Big Muddy
Adventure folks all day doingthat. If you want to come and get
your photo taken, make surethey're from one to three.
(11:35):
It reminds me of some of thoseshots that you see about kids with
Santa Claus and they'rescreaming or whatever, holding the
kid outside the canoe.
It puts a different wholedifferent spin on it.
I want to see Santa with alife jacket on.
I wonder if it's red.
We could probably make that happen.
I love it.
Our big inner tube.
(11:55):
Oh, yeah. Oh, that's good.
Santa went tubing. Okay. Flycasting demo. Wow. And I know about
Orvis and those are always funto see those things happen.
And this is the first year forOrvis at our expo. They opened a
shop, I think within the lastthree or four months in Richmond
Heights. They were quick tojump on board with us as a sponsor
and want to host an activity.So we're really psyched about that.
(12:17):
So, yeah, they're hosting theflycasting demo. So I don't know
specifically what that willlook like, but I would imagine you're
going to get some quick tipsand techniques on about how to whip
that fly out there and workthe wrist and.
Right.
Whatever crazy twirly stuffthey do in the air should be fun
to learn a little bit about it.
That's a technical term, crazytwirly stuff.
(12:38):
You can see how deeply I amingrained in the fly fishing culture.
It's fun though to put on the.
Waiter, the expo tweets,whatever, mountain bike trial zone.
And I'm just going to readsome of these and you can respond.
A swim spa demo. You bringyour own swimming suit. Wow.
That's also new this year. Sowe have a vendor, hot tubs of St.
(12:59):
Louis, who are going to bringin a number of spas. One of them
is a swim spa, which I equateto a treadmill for swimming. So you
get the current coming at youand you can just paddle forward and.
But remain in place. So if youare brave enough to jump in and want
to try that, do bring aswimsuit, please. It's a family friend
(13:20):
event. We don't want anybirthday suits there. And if you
are not interested inswimming, you can at least watch.
They're going to have somedemo swimmers, I think on hand as
well. And then we also, Ibelieve have worked with one of the
other vendors, which is ascuba diving vendor called Waikiki.
I believe they were talkingwith hot tubs of St. Louis to have
(13:40):
a scuba diver in one of thespas so that you could just get a.
That's a visual on what thatmight look like.
That's fun. Have you everscuba dived?
Oh, yeah, I have. Yes, absolutely.
Open water. I love. I do openwater thing. I know.
120Ft, is that right? Yeah.
You went that deep?
Yeah.
I was in Cancun and we canonly. I didn't know, but the Cancun
(14:02):
was as clear as can be. It'sonly about 50ft deep. That's about
as deep as it gets rightthere. I'm sorry. Go 125ft.
Yeah.
That's crazy.
My head would be blowing up.
It was off the pressure.Virgin Islands.
Yeah.
Where the shelf just drops.
Oh, yeah.
Now is that a specialcertification for that depth?
I'm only certified to 100ft.
Okay. So they took us a littlelower, right?
(14:27):
Oh, well.
So yeah, I did mycertification with Waikiki a year
or so ago and it's been a lotof fun. We go out to Mermaid Springs.
Have not been to Bon Terr Mineyet, but I want to go there.
Or a dry suit for that one.
Do you? Yeah. I hear it'spretty cold.
Yeah. Yes. So there's agiveaway of gear. Prize packages
are worth more than twelvehundred dollars. There's some donated
(14:50):
things. Then there's ascavenger hunt. A photo contest gallery.
Holy. That was in so Trainmagazine each year hosts a photo
contest. We just announced thewinners in our November December
issue which just came out. Andfor the first time we're going to
have poster size blow ups ofall the photo the winners from the
photo contest and making alittle gallery at the expo. Just
(15:12):
the folks who want to get somerecognition and to allow people to
see a little art element alongwith the other vendors at the show.
That's neat. So you can getmore information, folks. It's GatewayOutdoor
Expo.com GatewayOutdoore Expo.Com. This is Arnold Stricker with
Mark Langston of St. LucienTomb. We're talking to Brad Kovac.
And Brad, you mentioned aboutTerrain magazine. Tell folks a little
(15:32):
bit about Terrain magazine.
Yeah, so we're actuallycelebrating our 10th year. This year
we an outdoor recreationmagazine that's based here in St.
Louis, but we cover all ofMissouri and southern Illinois. And
then we do also branch in alittle bit into the surrounding states.
But mostly we try to keep itregional to Missouri and southern
Illinois. What that means isall the content that we write about
and develop and show is allregional stuff. We want people to
(15:56):
not necessarily go away toother parts of the country. We love
Colorado, we love Appalachia.But there's so much here in Missouri
and Illinois that people maynot know about. So all of our content
is focused on destinations.
Kind of like a weekend trip ora day trip.
Sure, exactly.
Okay.
But yeah, destinations andevents and activities and people
(16:17):
that you can know here so thatwhen you're home, you don't feel
left out of the outdoors. Youcan still get out and have a great
time. So we're telling peopleall about that on a bi monthly basis
in the magazine.
I know there's a lot inMissouri. I get the magazine that
the Missouri that puts outconservation. But I. Southern Illinois.
I have no idea what's going onover there.
(16:38):
It's really a great place.
What are some examples thatyou could.
Yeah, Shawnee National Forestis for me a go to. I'm there at least
a few times a year. It's beautiful.
I mean.
Yeah, you really. You get thisnorthern, what they call the Illinois
Ozarks, that northern Ozarksign topography. So still very hilly,
beautiful foliage, greatchange of seasons. Now would be a
(16:59):
great time to go get all thecolor. My favorite place there is
Garden of the Gods, which alot of people have probably heard
of. Great rock formations, alittle bit like Monument national
park out in Utah, Arizonaarea. Not the desert landscape, of
course, but just these greatrock formations that have been carved
out by glaciers that you cango and hike around and tour. And
(17:20):
a lot of great cabins and treehouses and just fun glamping opportunities
out there as well. So that's areally great trip in southern Illinois.
Never knew it's not very far.
So no, within two, two and ahalf hours.
That's great.
Yeah.
I think about Johnson Shut Insand Elephant Rocks and Tom Sock Mountain
and all that kind of stuff.
Yeah, right.
(17:40):
Yeah, there's a lot of that.
So biking, you're handlingbiking, climbing, hiking?
Yeah, yeah. We camping orstuff. Truly really try to cover
all of it. But yeah, the. Iguess what you might call traditional
sports like running, biking,camping, hiking, and then we cover
things like scuba diving andeven hang gliding and paragliding.
Really any you can do outdoorsin our area, we try to put our toe
(18:02):
in there a little bit and atleast share that information with
people. It might not be foreveryone. Not everybody wants to
go parachuting, but if you do,you might be able to read about it
in the magazine.
Have you been hang gliding or paragliding?
I have no. We've done storieson that. I personally have not gone.
What's the one with where youhave the big fan behind you, you
sit down and it's got thecanopy and you.
(18:23):
And you're individually goingaround, right? Yeah, yeah, I've seen
some of those.
Around and I know what you'retalking about. I'm not sure what
you call that exactly.
It's sitting down with a bigfan and you.
I saw one so high I thought hewas probably in the flight path.
Of a jet.
Yeah.
I was like, dude, what's goingon with you?
Yeah, that's kind of scary.Sounds like fun though.
(18:44):
Oh, yeah. So that Terrainmagazine, folks, is T E r a I N-M-A-G
com terrain-mag.com and thenthere's something that I don't think
we've ever talked about andyou've been on the show a couple
times. Here is the River CityFoundation. What is the River City
foundation and what do they do?
So River City foundation isthe nonprofit group that actually
(19:05):
publishes Train magazine andhosts the expo. We launched the foundation
about a year and a half ago, Iwant to say, but we haven't really
put the bullhorn out there yetbecause we really want to make sure
that we have all of our ducksin a row before we do. But essentially
what we would like to do iscollaborate, network with a lot of
other folks here in town thatare already doing outdoor sorts of
(19:27):
programs and activities andact as a facilit, facilitator to
bring those folks together andthen connect them with youth groups,
senior groups, school groups,faith based groups, and really grow
the outdoor community andculture here in St. Louis. In that
respect, we, we don'tnecessarily have the capacity to
create outdoor programmingourselves. We do some things here
(19:49):
and there, like the expo, likethe magazine, we have small reader
events. But if we really wantto affect large change in St. Louis
and really turn it into alarge outdoor recreation community,
we need to get our arms aroundeverybody and help connect all those
dots. So that's what RiverCity Outdoors and the foundation
wants to do. And so in thepast few years, we've worked closely
with rec centers and schoolgroups around town. We were able
(20:11):
in the last year to get 3,000kids outside that previously didn't
have any outdoor activities aspart of their program. Again, we
do that mainly with workingwith other groups. So I mentioned
Big Muddy Adventures before acanoe paddling guide service. We've
had a bunch of kids get outwith them or we've worked with other
parks around town. And likeUpper Limits and the rock Wall that
(20:33):
we mentioned earlier, we'vebeen able to get Upper Limits and
other programs to come todifferent parks around town and then
work with rec centers orschool groups to get kids out there
and get actively engaged inthese programs and in these activities.
You know, the hope being thatthe more that we can get these kids
used to being outside on arepeating basis that they internalize
(20:55):
that they take it to theirhome and their family and when they're
looking for things to do. Theythink hiking instead of maybe sitting
inside and playing on thetablet or the phone or whatever.
So it's normalizing theoutdoors in St. Louis and making.
Connecting all those dots andnetworking with everyone to make
that happen. So that's more orless what River City foundation is
trying to do.
That's a huge thing because,man, I remember everybody had a bike.
(21:18):
We were always constantlyriding bikes or we were constantly
outside. We never stayedinside unless it was raining heavily
or snowing. And then evensnowing, we were out sledding.
Yeah. And you had to be homeby the time the street lights turned
on. Is that right? How do youget your funding? How do you.
The foundation is a privatelyfunded nonprofit, so we have some
(21:38):
donors and some folks who havebeen really good to us. We can also,
of course, accept donationsand go out and try to find some grants.
We were lucky enough to have agrant a few years ago which kind
of kicked off the foundationfrom a group called Outdoor foundation
is the name of the nationalorganization. The name of the grant
is called the Thrive OutsideGrant. And what that did was give
(21:59):
a $300,000 grant to St. Louis,which we then facilitate. And part
of that grant was specificallywhat we're trying to do, build this
coalition of outdoororganizations to work together to
help elevate outdoorrecreation in St. Louis. And so we've
been doing that for the pastcouple of years, and the grant was
(22:19):
just renewed, I believe, foranother year. I think we're happy
to have that happen.
I think it's great that you'regoing into schools and are you going
into north county, otherschools where some of these young
kids don't have an opportunityto do some of these things?
Yeah, that's definitely the key.
Okay. The little outreachgoing on there. Yep. Yeah.
That's. You know, gettingoutside is really beneficial. It
(22:41):
is not only for the exercise,but the vitamin D and.
Right.
I'm serious. Getting. Youknow, because you see kids and you
mentioned the electronics.They're constantly. There's no light
going on. It's dark. No,they're just gaming or doing whatever
and not getting outside. Just.That's why the pounds.
Nothing like walking through acreek, if you ask me.
Oh, gosh. Yeah. Just knowingwhich poison ivy plant to stay away
(23:06):
from all of them.
And ultimately, the hope isthat it's good for St. Louis, for
civic pride, for the economy.Outdoor recreation can do a lot of
good beyond just theindividual health and wellness of
folks.
We're going to take a briefbreak, and we will Come right back.
We're going to talk more aboutsome outdoor kinds of activities.
This is Arnold Stricker withMark Langston of St. Louis in Tune.
(23:28):
Don't go away. This is ArnoldStricker of St. Louis in tune on
behalf of the Dred ScottHeritage Foundation. In 1857, the
(23:50):
dredge the Dred Scott decisionwas a major legal event and catalyst
that contributed to the CivilWar. The decision declared that Dred
Scott could not be freebecause he was not a citizen. The
14th Amendment, also calledthe Dred Scott Amendment, granted
citizenship to all born ornaturalized here in our country and
was intended to overturn theUS Supreme Court decision on July
9, 1868. The Dred ScottHeritage foundation is requesting
(24:13):
a commemorative stamp to beissued from the US Postal Service
to recognize and remember theheritage of this amendment by issuing
a stamp with the likeness ofthe man Dred Scott. But we need your
support and the support ofthousands of people who would like
to see this happen. To achievethis goal, we ask you to download,
sign and share the one pagepetition with others. To find the
petition, please go todredscottlives.org and click on the
(24:37):
Dred Scott petition drive onthe right side of the page. On behalf
of the Dred Scott Heritagefoundation, this has been Arnold
Stricker of St. Louis Intune.The United States has a strong tradition
of welcoming newcomers andrefugees. The welcome Corps is a
new service opportunity forAmericans inspired to welcome those
seeking freedom and safety andin turn help strengthen their own
(24:57):
communities. Welcome Corps isa public, private partnership that
is inspired by what Americansrepresent to so many around the world.
A beacon of hope and refuge.All it takes is a helping hand. Are
you ready? To learn more,contact the International Institute
of St. Louis at infoystl.orgor call 314-773-9090.
(25:24):
That's infoystl.org or Call 314-773-9090.
Welcome back to St. Louis inTune with Arnold Stricker and Mark
Langston. We're talking toBrad Kovac. He is the he's the big
(25:47):
cheese for the Gateway Outdoor Expo.
The Big Kahuna.
I like that.
The Big Kahuna. Yes, he's soGatewayOutdoor Expo.com terrain-mag.com
and RiverCityFDN.org but theGateway Outdoor Expo Saturday the
23rd and Sunday the 24th ofNovember from 10:00 to 5 and then
10:00 to 4 at the St. CharlesConvention Center. That's 1 Convention
(26:11):
Center Boulevard, a greataddress St. Charles Convention Center,
1 Convention Center Boulevard.
Oh yeah.
Makes. Makes a lot of sense.
That's right before Thanksgiving.
Yes it is.
It is the weekend beforeThanksgiving when.
You were talking about this.And this is how my brain goes, Mark,
sometimes that's going to be.
That's. We're still trying tofigure that out.
Yeah. He has no clue where I'mgoing with this. We talked about
(26:33):
the swim spa demo. So I'mthinking about. You got this demo
spa that puts out these jetswhere you can swim. But, but it would
be better then to have the flycasting guy just standing there and
then Santa in the, in thecanoe inside there with the kids
getting. So you got a fly. Flyfisherman going. You got Santa in
the canoe paddling in this.
(26:56):
Right.
That's where my brain goes.
I also understand thatSasquatch might be in attendance
at the expo. So you throw himin the mix.
Really?
And who knows what could happen?
Oh my. Oh, I'm a Sasquatchfan. I'm telling you right now.
Come on out.
That's. Oh, I. Yeah, thisArnold. No Speedo though. We gotta
(27:16):
tell you that right now.Thanks for clarifying that. But yeah,
Sasquatch, that's. That's alot of fun.
Yeah, he was tough to get, Ibet. We're working on Smokey the
Bear. It's smokey the bear's80th birthday this year.
Really?
Really?
He doesn't have a walker. See,there you go.
(27:36):
I know.
You never know who could showup at the expo.
Yeah.
Wow.
Now let me ask you this, Brad.What did you do outdoors when you
were growing up?
It's funny Mark mentionedearlier creeks. So I had a creek
in my backyard. We grew up insouth county and I think every day
when it wasn't freezingoutside, I was probably splashing
around in that water. And thenwe had trails behind the creek in
(28:00):
the woods there. They weren'tobviously they weren't professional
trails. They were probablyjust old deer trails or something
that we kids would go back inthere and we'd be lost for hours.
And you know, bless my parentsfor not sending out a search party
or anything. It was, you know,it was the 80s and 70s, so I guess
times were different. Butyeah, that's how I got, I guess,
interested in just beingoutside in general. And then I was
(28:24):
fortunate. My mom, when wewere in middle school, my sister
and I took a job with a localoutdoor summer camp. The, actually
the camp itself was inWisconsin, but their, the family
that owned it was based herein Clayton. And so that's where their
winter offices were. And aspart of her employment there, the
camp owners asked me if. Orasked her if I would like to attend
(28:45):
the camp when I was of age.And so I said, sure, why not? Give
it a try. And I think thefirst year, like a lot of kids, I
was probably a littlehesitant, a little homesick, had
to go through that wholeprocess. But then the next seven
or eight years, I was a camperthere, and then I ended up working
there for three years as acamp counselor. And it just changed
my whole life. We camped, wepaddled, we hiked, we biked. Archery,
(29:09):
softball. Everything you thinkof as a summer camp, we did it there.
But it was really just acoming of age, made great friends,
really just changed my entirelife. So that directly impacted my
upbringing.
Yeah.
Yeah, you were hooked.
I was hooked.
Absolutely hooked, line and sinker.
A lot of people don't know.You can take some archery lessons
at Forest Park.
(29:29):
Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
I think mdc, MissouriDepartment of Conservation, offers
archery, an archery program.And I also know there's an archery
range out in Valley park,right along the Merrimack Greenway
there, which is probablyunderwater right now. So don't go
there right now.
Don't ride that trail. Sowhat's your. Do you have a favorite?
Is it biking, is it hiking, isit surfing or. Yeah, I do scuba diving.
(29:53):
I do. I'm a mountain biker,for sure.
You scare me. That scares me.Yeah, I have a friend that does that,
and he just. I don't mean tointerrupt, but he flies. And I'm
like, david, how do you notget hurt? It scares me when he tells
me the stories about how fasthe's going on his mountain bike.
I can't imagine hitting agully or something like that. I'm
(30:15):
sorry. Calling that.
It will happen. You do fall.That's part of it. You learn how
to fall, like skiing.Eventually you're going to fall.
And you could actually takeclinics and classes with a number
of local outdoors or, I'msorry, mountain bike groups in. They
don't necessarily teach youhow to fall, but they do teach you
what they call bike bodyseparation, which is a nice way of
(30:37):
saying how to.
You're flying through the air.Yeah, you're gonna hit a tree.
It also applies to things liketurns and going downhill. You want
to get out of your seat and upon your feet. That's bike body separation.
But it also does apply to falling.
Right.
But, you know, you get saferas you get more experienced at biking.
When things look Tricky look,perhaps a little sketchy. So it's
(31:00):
not as bad as it might seem.
Okay.
But eventually you probablywill fall. Just. I run as well. I
think I fall just as muchrunning as I do biking.
I think that would hurt more myself.
Maybe I'm just a spaz, I don'tknow. But that's the truth.
Yeah, Tillis park has somepretty decent mountain biking in
Tillis Park. I know, maybe notmountain biking, but. But when I
(31:22):
rode out there on my regularbike, I was like, this isn't really
for the bike that I'm on.
Yeah, Forest park has somenice biking trails and they do actually
have some off road trails thatI think are back in some of the greener
areas. I don't know if thoseare again, official trails, but I
know people use them. And thenCarondelet park, which is still also
in the city limits, is thefirst city based park that has a
(31:45):
official mountain bike trail.
Really?
Yeah. So it was built over thecourse of the last year by a local
group of mountain bike advocates.
Had no idea.
I thought that was fairly flat.
It's not a super hilly trail.It's about a mile, maybe two miles
at this point. There was aphase one and a phase two. I think.
I know phase one is done. Ithink phase two will make it two
(32:06):
miles.
Okay.
And two concentric loops witha connector between and yeah, it's
not a great elevation. Nothuge elevation, but the way they
have built it does give itsome up and down and some nice flowy
parts. Yeah, stuff like thatis happening all over. And I like
to think that maybe that's St.Louis awakening to the fact that
(32:27):
outdoor recreation isimportant. And it is something that
can really add another aspectto the culture here in the city and
the county. Of course. So,yeah, the more that we can build
trails, whether it's hiking orbiking or whatever, within the city
limits, that just benefitseverybody as far as I see.
Right.
And how can people get a copyof Terrain magazine? Is there a signup
list or something? Is it free?Is it electronic? Is it print? What
(32:50):
is.
It's all of the above, butI'll explain. Yeah, we do offer a
free digital magazine, so youcan sign up for that on our website.
There's a sign up area box,whatever you want to call it, right
there on the website. Youwould get the magazine, electronic
version, every other monthright into your inbox. You can also
pick up the print magazine atstores, locations around St. Louis.
(33:11):
We have 300 locations that weserve around the state in St. Louis,
I want to say there's probably150 or more of those locations. So
you want to look at runningstores, bike shops, any other sort
of outfitter, like a, like analpine shop. But then we're also
at a number of fitnesscenters, brew pubs, just gathering
(33:31):
places where we feel like theoutdoor community would. If you would
like to find those locations,if you go to our website, there's
a page you can click on thatsays magazine and it has a list of
all the locations so you don'thave to go out and search. You could
find one online and then goand get the magazine there. And then
if you like, you can alsosubscribe for an in home subscription.
(33:53):
So that's $20 a year. You'remainly paying for postage and a little
bit of the print cost. Butthen it's going to come right to
your home in mailbox everyother month.
Great stories. Here's some ofthe stories. Mark. We tried out a
fully loaded camper van.Here's what happened. Three items
to upgrade your indoor cyclingtraining. Ask Muddy Mike about getting
started. These world classathletes call the Lake of the Ozarks
(34:16):
home. They talk about 10outdoorsy gifts for everyone in your
life. Just a whole variety ofkinds of things. It's really cool.
Yeah, you and I need to sign up.
Oh yeah, I'm gonna. There's no question.
Because we like to, we like todo outdoor kinds of things.
Yeah, we'd love to have you.We'd love to have you in the magazine.
When you want to take on thatnew activity, let us know.
(34:37):
Is it that spa with Santa andthe Fly family?
Maybe that's it. You can writea great column about that. Oh my
God.
This is not gonna happen.
The time I met Santa andSasquatch in a hot tub.
A first. A first. Brad, wethank you for coming in. You can
stay and listen to the rest ofthe show. I have some special treats
(34:58):
for Mark here.
Oh boy.
Okay, I'm happy to.
Special audio treats. Butfolks, you need to get to the Gateway
outdoor Expo. Saturday,November 23, 10:00-5:00pm Sunday,
November 24, 10:00-4:00pm atthe St. Charles Convention center
in St. Charles, Missouri. Getmore information, go to gatewayoutdoor
(35:18):
Expo.com I love this.
Thank you. That's great. Yep.Website one more time.
Gateway x gatewayoutdoor expo.com.
All right. No, there. But theorganization's website.
The Terrain magazine.
Yeah, Terrain.
That's terrain mag dot com.
(35:38):
Okay.
Terrain magazine. And thenRiver City foundation is rivercityfdn.org.
So we got an Oregon a comm inthere. Okay.
And you can get all of us.
Much, much appreciate it.
Yeah, it's fun to get theseevents out there to the public. And
I want to mention again, freeparking. Folks don't have to worry
about that. Bring the kids.It's very family friendly. And there
(36:01):
be food out there.
I presume they haveconcessions at the convention center?
Yes. And then there'llprobably be some sampling from some
of the vendors too.
There you go. There you go.
All right.
How many vendors are going tobe there?
We expect 150 plus booths.
Wow, that's huge.
It is. That's a lot of peopleact. Yeah.
They'll be packed in there.
Yeah, yeah. Shoot for.
I'm hoping you get especiallywith Sasquatch there.
(36:21):
Oh, yeah. Maybe 10,000 peoplethere. We'll have 10,000 sightings
of Sasquatch. So our word ofthe day.
Oh, here we go.
Is acapella.
Oh, it's a singing thing,isn't it?
Yes. When a song is performedacapella, it is sung unaccompanied,
no instrumental music. Oh,it's all voices. So we have some
(36:46):
examples. Oh, we do, yes.Number one.
Ok.
(37:27):
In a love of somewhere overthe rainbow Skies are blue or blue
(37:51):
and the dreams that you wheretrouble smell like lemon drops Away
(38:26):
above the chimney tops that'swhere you find me Somewhere over
the rain beyond the rainbowwhy can't man.
(39:46):
Love it?
I chose this group, it'scalled Voctiv because they do a lot
of Disney songs, Mark.
Do they?
And you love Disney.
I do. Did you know theDorothy's ruby slippers were just
found? I guess they werestolen for years.
Yes, that's correct.
And they just recovered themand they're gonna put them up on
the auction block. And I guessthere's a Wizard of Oz museum that
(40:10):
is. I guess they have them ondisplay now. Temporarily. And also
we're in November when werecord this. And I think it was released
originally in November.
I think you're correct.
So all this is justintertwined. I love it.
That's right.
It's all connects.
Now for those of you whothink. And there's a lot of acapella
groups out there. There's tonsof them. There's some that sing strictly
(40:32):
what I would call classicalkinds of music. Some sing pop. Voctov
sings a variety because ofDisney. I chose them. Here's another
one. You probably know this group.
All right.
O2. Nope. Nope.
Oh, I beg your pardon. It saidEverything is all right There.
Are stars in the southern skySouthward as you go There is moonlight
(41:13):
and moss in the trees down theseven Bridges Rock Wow.
The Eagles.
The Eagles.
Now, they usually did that asa warm up before they went on stage.
(41:34):
Yeah.
And a lot of people do SevenBridges Road song. It's a lot of
instrumental stuff, but itdeals with acapella. And then there's
always a Star Spangled Bannerversion. That's. And this one just.
It makes the hair on the backof my neck. Not on my head.
Okay.
The hair on the back of my neck.
That would be tough.
Stand up at the end. So herewe go. Here we go.
(41:56):
O say, can you see by thedawn's early light what so proudly
we hail at the twilight's lastgleaming? Whose broad stripes and
(42:21):
bright stars through theperilous fight O'er the ramparts
we watched Were so gallantlystreaming and the rockets red glare
(42:49):
singing air Gave proof throughthe night that our flag was still
there O say, does that starSpangled Banner for the land of the
(43:23):
free of free and the home of.
(43:57):
Wow. If then I get the hair onthe back of your neck standing up.
I don't know what will.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah. And that is so hard todo, to sing that in tune. And I know
that because I'm a musician.
Yeah.
And that is tough.
Wow.
Now, there's some groups, theysing acapella. They'll do the, like,
613 that we've had on severaltimes. They'll do the. They'll do
(44:19):
all the instruments. And that.Another one, Take six, does that,
too. A lot of groups outthere. It's just fun to listen to
where you don't have anyinstrumental accompaniment. Now,
I have to ask, Brad, when youwere at Lindbergh High School, did
you sing in choir?
I did not.
Did you play an instrument?
I played the trumpet.
Oh. Was Lowell Bruner yourdirector? No, Bob Spiegelman.
(44:40):
That sounds familiar.
But.
But it's been a long time.
Yeah.
What'd you play?
Trumpet.
Trumpet.
Now that I'm thinking about,that was middle school. I think by
the time I got to high school,I may have opted out of orchestra.
Okay.
I had Mr. Zink.
So you can appreciate thiswhat we.
Oh, yeah. It's amazing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The funny about the Eagles,Seven Bridges Road. I will sing that
(45:02):
to myself. And, like, when itcomes on the radio, I am in there
singing it.
Are you singing a melody orsinging one?
I don't know what I'm singing,and I'm sure if it Was isolated.
It would be. People would beclicking off the radio, but I cannot
help but try to get in there.
Yeah.
It's fun when, you know, yougot somebody by themselves and you
hear them singing. It's like,what in the world? And they've got
(45:22):
headphones on.
Yeah.
And they're singing with theheadphones. People singing in the
car.
Yes, yes. I live. It's one of.I enjoy that a lot, just watching
people do that. You need toroll the window down and do it, though.
Yeah. That's how I learned tosing harmony is you listen to, like,
songs like.
The Eagles and you singharmony with them.
America. Yeah. You singharmony with them.
America was really good. Thatwas a great group for that stuff.
(45:42):
So I did that for you, Mark.The vocative group, so. Because they
do a ton of Disney stuff.
I love that.
Yeah. So our word for the day,folks. Acapella.
Of course. It is as it should be.
As it should be.
Yeah, I know.
Do you have any days of theday, Mark?
I have. Yeah, I have a couple.One is probably your favorite. Okay.
(46:05):
Okay.
It's National Men make dinner Day.
Oh, yeah.
I saw that. Yeah.
Did you see that? I did see.So this is legit. This is a legit
part of the show.
Right?
I know. It says, men, take thelead. Get in there and whip up something
nice. I'm not sure I could do that.
If you get good recipes andget some good ingredients, you're
(46:30):
okay.
And it says this particularday has been shared over 6,000 times.
Wow. It could be for me.
I think my wife is probablysharing that with me, people.
Yeah. Maria, I love to cook.
You do?
Yeah.
I know. I've been to yourhouse before or your condo or.
Yeah, whatever that thing is.
That high rise thing.
Yeah, the apartment in the sky.
(46:53):
International Stout Day. Doyou like stout beer?
Stout beer.
I'm not a big fan. I hate tosay. There are probably people that
are going to beat me up forthat National Bittersweet Chocolate
Day. Not sure about that oneat all. I know. No, I shouldn't tell
you. It's hug a bear today.Hug a bear. Did you have a teddy
bear when you've grown up?
When I was very young.
Did you?
Yes.
I have a story about it. I wasin an orphanage. I was in an adopted
(47:16):
child that later on in life, Inever had a teddy bear ever. And
I was telling my kids about ita few years back and what did they
do? They got me a teddy bear.
Oh, cool. Did you name yourteddy bear Teddy Boo? Teddy Bear.
Teddy Bear is Teddy. Boo and Istill have Teddy.
Is he here today?
Not today, but he is at home.
Support mayor.
(47:38):
Yeah, he's my support Teddy. Ithink that's very sweet that the
boys did that.
Yeah, that's cool.
Let's see. Let's see. NationalCash Back Day. I don't know about
that. We don't have a wholelot. Notary Public Day. Project Manager
Day. I'm saying, why, theseare all pretty boring. I think there's
a couple of more. Oh, NationalSTEM Day.
(48:02):
Science, Technology. That one.
Yeah.
Engineering and Engineeringand Math. And you add the arts in
there, it'd be Steam day.
Steam. Oh, I'm not. I'm notgood with that. Cook Something Bold
and Pungent Day.
Oh, that kind of goes with thefirst one you talked about.
Let's see. International Dayof Radiology. Okay. National Dunce
Day. All right. NationalCappuccino Day. You're slipping.
(48:27):
Yeah, I know. You didn't bringcappuccino in today. Harvey Wallbanger
Day. Never had a Harvey Wall.Have you ever had one? No, never.
Don't care to.
National parents is Teachers Day.
Oh. Which started in the stateof Missouri.
Is that a fact?
Yes. And then went national.
Who knew?
Yes.
Really?
Started under, I think it wasthen Governor Christopher Kit Bond.
(48:50):
Oh, okay.
He got elected to senator then.
Yeah. Wasn't. He was governorthen he got beat by Walking Joe Teesdale
who died.
And then.
Then he came back.
Yeah.
And took it on again.
Yep.
He was a mad governor. He wasmad about that loss. I remember that
world. A pianiste. So thereyou go.
(49:13):
All right.
That's a. Yeah. There's otherstoo. Like Talk Money Day.
Depoporia.
You have a potpourri of days.That's correct. Too many days.
Who could keep up? I lovemangoes. Do you like mangoes?
Yes, please. Mangoes.
So my dad bought 15 mangoesand didn't tell my mom, so she bought
10 mangoes. And now we are thepeople from the math problems. For
(49:35):
those of you that don't getthat, my dad bought 15 mangoes and
my mom bought 10 mangoes. Howmany mangoes do we have?
You should have left when youhad the chance.
Yesterday I wore somethingfrom five years ago and it actually
fit. So I'm very proud ofmyself. It was a scarf.
Wow. This is how it's going tobe, isn't it?
(50:00):
Let's see here. Oh, here wego. The first rule of cleaning while
listening to music. The toiletbrush is never the microphone.
Oh, my goodness. Oh, thathurts. Just to hear it.
And folks, don't let anyoneruin your day. You're an adult. Do
it yourself. My wife said,that's the fourth time you've gone
(50:25):
back for dessert. Doesn't itembarrass you? I said, no. I keep
telling them it's for you. Thewoman visits her husband in prison.
There's more.
Before leaving, she tells acorrection officer, you shouldn't
make my husband work likethat. He's exhausted. The officer
laughs and says, are youkidding? He just eats and sleeps
(50:47):
and stays in his cell. Thewife replies, he just told me he's
been digging a tunnel for months.
Wow, these are worse than dadjokes. You know that, right?
Told my boss I was going tothe bathroom, but did say which one.
I'm now at home now. Brad willlike this one. It's because it's
(51:12):
a fitness one.
Don't bet on it. Okay, go ahead.
This was seen outside the 24 Fitness.
Tight.
Not just 24 Fitness. This is ajoke, folks.
Okay?
Tired of being fat and ugly?Just be ugly. 24 Fitness.
Thank you very much. Wow.
(51:34):
Shazam. Okay, let's see here.I'm going to the collection now.
Okay, here we go. A man issuing smartwater for not making him
smart. And I'd like toformally announce my lawsuit against
Thin Mints. And unless hewears diapers, folks, you can't change
(51:54):
him.
Wrong.
Okay, let's see.
I think we're running out oftime, even if we're not.
Now, here are some nicknamesfor co workers. We've shared this
before, but this is always agood one. We'll end with this one.
Lava lamp. Looks good, but notvery bright. Deck chair. Folds under
(52:18):
pressure. Dr. Dolittle. Thename says it all. 007, zero motivation,
zero skills, seven bathroombreaks. G spot can never be found.
(52:42):
I have a whole slug of theseon stupid.
Do you really?
I'm not saying you're stupid.I'm just saying you've got bad luck
when it comes to thinking.
Oh, no. Wow. They're turningus off all over town. Okay, people
(53:03):
want to hear the next thingyou do, I'm sure.
Remember, if you work hardenough at your job, you get to do
other people's work, too.
Yep, that's right. I get that.I've been there, done that.
Don't stop there, folks. Okay,we thank you for being with us today.
Let's see if I can. Brad hasmy paper with my extra on it. But
I will. Let's see if I can doit. Oh, here we go. Hey, thank you.
(53:25):
It says here. Thanks. Thankyou folks. That's all for this hour.
Thank goodness.
If you've enjoyed thisepisode, you can listen to additional
shows@stl and tune.com.consider leaving a review on Apple
Podcast, Podchaser or yourpreferred podcast platform. Your
feedback helps us reach morelisteners and continue to grow. Want
to thank Bob Bertha Sell forour theme music. Our guests Brad
Kovac and co host MarkLangston. We thank thank you for
(53:46):
being a part of our communityof curious minds. St. Louis in tune
is a production of Motif MediaGroup and the US Radio Network. Remember
to keep seeking, keeplearning, walk worthy, and let your
light shine. For St. Louis intune, I'm Arnold Stricker.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com