November 7, 2024 • 29 mins
How do beer and hymns come together to build a community? In this episode of the Four Bars podcast, we uncover the creative journey of Ken and Casey Weatherford, the innovative minds behind Beer and Hymns. Their story takes us from the cobblestone streets of Edinburgh, where the global tradition of singing hymns in social settings first inspired them, back to their church's Sunday school class, and eventually to a large, thriving community event. With the help of Chad Markley, they navigated early skepticism and crafted a unique space where music and fellowship create powerful connections among diverse individuals.
We also explore the intersection of community, music, and professional life. This episode reveals how our everyday roles in fields like real estate and architecture naturally intersect with the mission of fostering inclusivity and connection. Personal anecdotes illustrate the magic of Beer and Hymns, where live music becomes a universal language that brings together people from all walks of life. Whether it's a playful interaction with a fellow attendee or the discovery of a familiar hymn, these moments highlight the joy and enrichment found in creating welcoming environments.
Finally, our conversation shifts to the cultural exchanges experienced in Edinburgh in 2010. We reflect on the lessons learned from working with the Methodist Church and adapting to the slower, more deliberate pace of Scottish life. This chapter reminds us of the importance of patience and presence, as we celebrate life’s simple pleasures—like a rare sunny day or a conversation over pints. The episode doesn't end without touching on how these principles extend into promoting growth and reducing bias through innovative endeavors like Edges Inc. and Unform your Bias, showcasing how storytelling can transform perspectives and foster inclusivity.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the 4.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Bars podcast.
I'm Ken Leith and I'm PattiLeith.
We're your hosts for somecompelling dialogue, encouraging
our listeners to strengthentheir connections and build
strong communities, lifting eachother up and connecting in ways
that matter.
We named the podcast 4 Bars asa reference to how hard we work
to find a 4 Bars connection onour devices.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And we wondered what could happen with relationships
if we worked as hard atconnecting.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's find out.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, welcome back to another episode of Four Bars,
and I'm Ken Leith, along with myco-host.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I'm Patty Leith.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
You sure?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I sure am, I sure am.
Last time I checked, anywaythis time, that's what my
driver's license had.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And we are fortunate and happy to welcome in the
co-founders of Beer and Hemsthis week, ken and Casey
Weatherford.
Welcome, thank you so much Goodto be here.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Thanks for having us.
Well, we're excited to hearabout Beer and Hems.
For those of you who aren'tfamiliar with what Beer and Hems
brings to the table, it's anamazing nonprofit that supports
other nonprofits and buildscommunities, so we're going to
have a chance to talk about yourorigin story and some of what
you see for your future.
So very exciting, fantastic,thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
So, kind of starting off on that theme, how did you
come up with the idea of Beerand Hems?
What was your inspiration?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
You want to go, or you want me to go, all right,
I'll go in there.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Well, I wish we could say that was an original idea.
It's most certainly not Beerand Hymns.
You can find communities quiteliterally all over the world,
from Hong Kong, australia, muchof Western Europe and all over
the United States.
So there's differentexpressions of Beer and Hymns
(01:46):
and in its purest form it isexactly what it sounds like it's
getting together and sharing apint and singing old school
church hymns, and that resonatedwith us.
Just that by itself.
We loved the idea.
We had read several blogs aboutit.
We, of course, used to live inEdinburgh, scotland Our oldest
son was born there, and so justthe idea of beer and hymns it
(02:11):
resonated around our time thereas well, kind of its modern
iteration even.
It got its start in the UK at amusic festival there called
Green Belt, where it's okay tobe Christian and drink at the
same time.
And so at a Christian musicfestival they had a beer tent
and some folks brought someguitars into the beer tent and
(02:31):
they started singing old hymnsand people loved it and so they
took it back to their local pubsand it spread from there.
And so we kind of took thatsame idea based off of what we
were reading, based off of ourlove of the pub culture of the
UK, where you know you go into apub there there's no TVs on,
(02:52):
there's no, there's rarelysports yes, you can find those
bars certainly, but atraditional pub, none of that's
there.
You gather to share a pint andto share a story, to share a
laugh, to reach across the table, and that's kind of what Beer
and Hymns was to us as well.
And so we kind of started outwith that simple mindset of just
(03:13):
bringing people together tosing and get to know one another
.
And it has grown and changedmuch since.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Tell us about when you first started.
How is it different from theway that it is today?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
It's much different than when it first started.
It started kind of out of ourchurch, our Sunday school class.
We kind of, you know, threw theidea out there and they said,
well, let's do it.
Let's go to a pub and to abrewery and sit around and sing
house, and so our first one.
We probably had 20, 30 peoplearound a big table.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I think the number was 34.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
That's how many people viewed our first podcast.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
You got to start somewhere.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
You got to start somewhere.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
Yeah, so it was mostly people from our church
that were kind of rallyingaround the idea and we were on a
patio.
It was june, it was swelteringhot the brewery didn't know if
they wanted us to be in there.
They were like is this aworship service?
This is kind of weird, so um,it's not a worship service, I
promise slowly.
(04:18):
We were at um, we were at thislocation and it caught on and
everyone realized this is kindof fun, you know, it's not a
bait and switch situation.
We're not inviting people to achurch, or we were at this
location and it caught on andeveryone realized this is kind
of fun.
You know, it's not a bait andswitch situation.
We're not inviting people to achurch or praying over people,
or it's just community and it'saround songs that a lot of
people know and grew up with.
So you know, the concept becamevery compelling to a lot of
(04:42):
different kinds of people and weended up moving in inside.
The number started growing,became very compelling to a lot
of different kinds of people andwe ended up moving in inside
the numbers started growing andit still stayed small.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
At that point it was a smaller venue.
It was a smaller venue, I think.
The capacity of your fire codewas like 80 or 90 folks.
We did at one point go wellover that, but we won't go into
too many details about that.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
That was a long time ago, you can't come after it.
And then, so our biggest eventin the beginning we started in
2016 um, and our biggest event,uh, that year was our christmas
event and we did baron carroll'sum, and a guy named chad
markley, who leads the baronhims movement in Orange County,
(05:24):
knows some folks in NWA.
So he was like, oh, let me comeplay with y'all and kind of
show you what we do and we'll doa collaborative one.
And so he came and he startedchanging the trajectory of beer
and hymns for us, because theyplay an hour of hymns and an
hour of cover songs.
And we're like, well, that'skind of fun because you know.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
If you're not into the hymns, then stick around.
The next song is Tom and Daddy.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
So we did that.
We played some cover songs andsome holiday songs, not just
hymns, and after that we startedadding in the cover songs and
eventually we got to the pointwhere we sing a hymn and then a
cover song and then a hymn.
You know we kind of alternate.
So, um, you get kind of best ofboth worlds.
Um, and there's really whereelse in the world are you gonna
(06:13):
hear a taylor swift song andthen sing how great they are?
Yeah, like it's just so.
So the music part has changed alot since the beginning I mean,
every month it's a differenttheme, you know it's.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
You know so, from february it's love songs,
typically, or march is women'shistory month, so it's it's uh
all female artists and uh, itjust keeps going and going.
June, we do pride, july, uh,stars and stripes, yeah,
different things.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Right, right, and you do a Beatles one most years,
which is one of my favorites.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
That's one of my favorites too.
One of my faves.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
yeah.
So in 2017, we ended up movingto a larger venue Bike Rack
Brewing in Bentonville and theyhave a great kind of community
patio and the first event we didthere was our biggest event.
Everyone was really excited wehad taken a break.
We had what?
125 people.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
About 125.
Which blew us away in time.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Yeah, that's great, I mean that was huge, and Bike
Rack didn't know what to expecteither.
But then they saw what washappening and kind of caught on
as well.
At the time, ken and I happenedto be doing TriFfest for ms,
the triathlon, and raising moneyfor the rampy ms research
foundation, and we had a certainamount that we were promised,
(07:31):
you know, to raise for the race.
So we said, well, let's justuse this platform, we have a
microphone, let's raise somemoney.
Um, and we did.
We raised a few hundred dollarsand thought that was cool.
Like you know, we gathered allthese people in a place to sing
and we ended up raising moneyfor a good cause.
Is there something here?
You know, and I mean you put.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Well, yeah, and I mean I will say we both really
loved what that was and we hadapproached Bike Rack as well and
said, hey, you know, would youall donate a percentage of your
sales for the night?
And so they, they gave a smallpercentage that night and and
other things.
But I think the the bigcatalyst too that that helped us
kind of really say, yeah, let'sdo this every month, was brooke
(08:17):
and jeff charlson uh, some ofthe owners of bike rack company.
They were there that night and,uh, they had not been before.
This was, you know, they werechecking it out, seeing,
honestly, if they probably evenwanted us to be there at all.
And, hey, I get that.
But fortunately they had agreat time and they came up to
us afterwards.
They were like, look, we wantto pay you, we want you all to
do a different nonprofit everymonth, and they kind of gave us
(08:43):
the kick in the pants, so tospeak, to take that next step
and really expand what it became.
And so you know it was you know,those first days it was just
whatever nonprofits Casey and Icared about or could find to
care about.
Even you know, we were stillrelatively new to NWA so we were
still figuring out our way way.
But it kind of quickly got legsunderneath it and started
(09:06):
taking off in a much bigger waythe charity ad and the cover
songs ad and expanding the band.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
It used to just be, and now we have what?
Six or seven piece band?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
yeah, most months it's eight or nine musicians on
stage now, um, but you know thatthat all began growing mostly
organically.
Uh, you know differentmusicians.
Uh, you know scott burford anduh, and I always go back to him.
I think he was one of the thefirst who just came up to us
after an event and just said hey, I play bass if you ever need
(09:46):
somebody to sit in.
And he was in with us the nextmonth you know, yeah, that's
great.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, scott's that kind of guy too.
Indeed.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
And I was going to ask how you come about getting
the different musicians you have, because you have some people
who are always there seeminglyfor a long time, and then you do
mix and match and everyoneseems to be seamless when they
come in and out of the band.
You don't really notice.
With respect to the skill sets,I mean they're very talented.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
I would just say we're very fortunate.
Look Northwest Arkansas.
I feel like it gets underrated.
We have an incredible roster ofmusicians in this community.
It's really and we work withyou know, relative to the amount
that are here, we work with ahandful of them.
(10:34):
But there is such great talentin our community.
So, yeah, we've been veryfortunate that along the way and
as we've grown, you know Scottcan't be there one month, that's
not a problem I've got threemore bassists in our back pocket
now.
Uh, you know, and as wecontinue to grow, our name is
(10:55):
spread.
More musicians have reached outand said, hey, if you ever need
, um, we do pay some musicianshere and there.
Um, you know, month to month um.
And we're very fortunate to getto work with our good friend
Matt Nelson, who now kind ofhandles all the music for us.
He organizes the charts and thearrangements and he's kind of
(11:19):
the band director, I'll say.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
And so we pay him each month to help us pull all
that together and execute, sothat I can just focus on all the
other aspects of running Beerand Hems now.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Matt does the music for the podcast, that's right.
He composed the set we have atthe beginning and the end of the
podcast.
Great guy, he's so talented,yeah.
And when you first starteddoing it well, you're not
musicians in your full-timelives, tell us about that but
when you first started doing italso, how did that evolve?
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Well, we used to be, and Ken is a part-time I still
am.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So what do you do when you're not doing that?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, but when we're not doing this today, I wear
that.
I'm founder and director ofBeer and Hymns.
I am a worship director atFirst United Methodist Church in
Bentonville, arkansas, as wellas do commercial real estate
with a wonderful firm herelocally called Moses Tucker
Partners.
(12:26):
What's wonderful with all ofthose is it's amazing, even in
the real estate, how much theserelationships bleed over into
each other and you know each onekind of helps build community
through them all.
I kind of get to focus a lot ofmy energy and effort with the
(12:47):
commercial real estate byhelping nonprofits in that space
.
You know we looked at themarket and guess what?
They make up 20% of the marketevery single year, but very few
firms around the country arefocusing on them.
There's about 10 nationwidethat listed as a specialty and
and and so, uh, that's kind ofmy area of focus is helping them
(13:09):
at.
We're not a big enough marketin the in the country to to
necessarily be so specialized.
So, yes, I work with just aboutanybody, but I help uh,
nonprofits, uh communities offaith, uh, schools, hospitals,
things like that in particular.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, and Casey, what about you?
Like that in?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
particular, and Casey , what about you?
So for my day job, beer andHems is a purely volunteer thing
for me.
I am marketing director atBurdent Studio, which is a
woman-owned architecture firm indowntown Rogers.
It's owned locally and we do alot of work in Northwest
Arkansas and all over the nation.
We have a national retailstudio as well, and Burdent is
(13:47):
also all about communityconnections and placemaking and
creating places that people love.
So I feel like it allintersects.
It does it all intersects inthis kind of human centric,
creating environments wherepeople can connect with one
another.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, and when we do our podcast.
There's something that I'mpretty consistent in saying that
really communities are people,places, activities and things,
and so it comes together in allfacets of your life.
I met Casey at a women'sretreat just before the pandemic
, but I had been a frequent andavid follower of Beer and Hymns
(14:29):
prior to meeting her, and sowhen I actually met her, I was
sort of fangirly.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
I was like oh my gosh , you're the lead singer of Beer
and Hymns.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And then she told me that she does graphic art.
So she actually came in andworked with Edges, our firm, for
almost two years, I think, andcreated the Four Bars logo I
sure did.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Before I left for Vernon, I had the branding,
which was super fun.
Yeah, we've had a lot of funwith it too.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
We've been able to expand on it, and so it's yeah
that's great.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, one of the things you're talking about past
there was our first time seeingyou all perform.
There was our first time seeingyou all perform.
We were out for a bike ride ona Sunday afternoon and we were
happy to be riding past a bikerack.
Where we were going sounds likemusic.
What's music doing here onSunday afternoon.
And when we came up, it waslike there was a crowd of people
(15:20):
.
We're like, well, we need tocheck this out and we might as
well have a beer while we'rehere.
So that was very helpful, butwe were.
It was our first experience.
We were like going, this is acool experience and we were
catching on okay, beer and hymns, it's all assigned beer and
hymns.
It's like we can connect.
And okay, there's beer, there'sa hymn.
And then again you were playingoh, there's a rock song.
Oh, this is home, this isrelaxing.
(15:40):
So we just watched it and stuff.
And there was a thing thatoccurred that day where we knew
it was the right place for us,when you were talking about
supporting the ArkansasRazorbacks, and there was a
gentleman there who yelled rolltide and you gave him a nice
(16:00):
response, so to speak.
But after your response, weknew that we needed to be there.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Because then you rolled right into Amazing Grace
after putting him right in hisplace.
It was pretty funny.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I was going to say I don't know if it was a nice
response, but I grew up inTennessee so I was taught to
viciously be unsupportive ofAlabama we'll see we love
hearing stories like thatbecause that happens all the
time.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
still, People will just happen to be a bike rack
before we start and say what isthis?
What's going?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
on.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Or they'll come up on a bike ride or they'll hear
about it from a friend and be alittle bit curious.
And we love to welcome peoplewho are curious about it,
because that's usually ourpeople, you know.
We think, oh, beer and Hymns,what is this intersection about?
And it turns out that we canattract all kinds of people, and
(16:57):
I think that's the beauty ofBeer and Hymns is that you have
people that have, you know,lifelong church members that
love to sing the hymns.
You have people that just wantto come hear live music.
You have people therespecifically for the charity,
because they support thatparticular nonprofit, and you
have people that have neverstepped foot in a church or that
(17:18):
grew up hearing hymns, going totheir grandmother's church.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
People of no faith, people of varying faith, people
of differing faith.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Yeah, it's a wide variety.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
We can all sit around together and connect through
music and through giving to ourcommunity and you know we have a
real passion for inclusion andopenness and inclusion of
everyone, and I think your eventdoes that beautifully well.
Beautifully well because itenables people to come to the
table, regardless're wherethey're coming from, and feel
(17:49):
like they're included.
And then music is such aconnector in community.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
And the other thing that happens is that people that
would not normally be in thesame spaces get to connect, you
know, over the table and asksong sheets and raise their
glasses together to ask songsheets and raise their glasses
together A little facilitatingthat.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
We always point back to when we got started, which
was 2016.
And you know, unfortunately,politics haven't gotten much
friendlier since, but you knowthat was a very contentious year
, and what was so fun in theearly days, and what's still so
wonderful today, is that peoplevoted one way, they voted
another or they said no, I'm notvoting for either of these
(18:34):
people.
And they were all hanging outat Beer and Hymns, raising a
glass, raising their voice andgiving back to their community,
supporting a local nonprofit.
That you know.
At the end of the day, you know, despite what media tells us,
despite what the world continuesto try and tell us, we have
(18:54):
more in common than anybody everwants to admit.
We care more about the samethings than anybody wants to
ever let you believe we justwant to see our communities
thrive.
Believe we just want to see ourcommunities thrive.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
We might go about it different ways but here we can
come together and find ways todo that together, and that's
what I love about it in so manyways.
Well, and then what you justsaid is the realization that I
think helps all of us come tothe table with a more open mind,
and that is really.
All are wanting the same thing.
We might have different ways ofgoing about it, and I think
(19:30):
that's important to remember,especially as we rapidly.
By the time we air this, theelection will have been two days
earlier.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Yeah, yeah Right, but it's still true.
No matter what happens, it'sstill true.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah, absolutely it remains true, and I know that's
a real passion for you allbuilding community and building
openness in the community.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
What experiences in your life, journeys have led you
to really commit your passionsto building community.
That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
That is a great question.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah, I think You've got one.
I'd start with Edinburgh.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
That's what I'm going to start with, too Awesome.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Casey and I got to travel to Edinburgh in 2010.
We were dinks at the time,living in.
We had been in Memphis.
We just recently moved toNashville.
We didn't own a house, we hadno debt and we just said, hey,
let's go do something different,let's go serve in another part
of the world.
(20:36):
And how we landed on Skyline wecould talk about for a really
long time We'll get to the point, but the first year there we
really just spent listening andlearning the land, learning the
society, learning the culture,learning the land, learning the
society, learning the culture,and that became such a big and
(20:58):
profound thing.
But one of the things that weexperienced there is we were
working with the MethodistChurch in Edinburgh and trying
to help them start a newexpression of worship.
Ultimately, but we did soecumenically.
And, um, but we did soecumenically.
Uh, so we, we ended up, um,doing a methodist service in a
(21:19):
cafe at the catholic church.
Oh wow, uh, which that in andof itself, in edinburgh having a
catholic church was alsocontentious in and of itself.
So, like it was just a, therewas such a a synergy and and
learning for us of working wellwith the perceived other Right
(21:43):
and and everywhere we went wewere the other.
I mean, we were Americans inthe UK.
We're not looked upon wellelsewhere in the world.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
It's true.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
That's not something new, and so you know learning as
well to listen in thatenvironment rather than, as my
personality often is, big andloud.
I'm short, so I'movercompensating.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
That's my reason too.
Um, that's my reason too, and Ialso in edinburgh we, you know
we're used to.
We both grew up in the biblebelt in tennessee and arkansas,
and we're used to being in aplace where when you say you
work for a church, you sayyou're going to church.
That's pretty much whateverybody does and they know
what it means.
Um, in the uk, you know, thechurch at the time, and still in
(22:33):
all of Europe, was on decline,in decline, and so, um, when we
said, you know well, what wecame here to do was work with
the church, we got a lot ofblank stares and um questions,
yes, and lots of questions andwe ended up engaging in so many
conversations over a pint in apub about what we were doing.
(22:53):
you know what we, whatMethodists, believe, what we
thought about God, you know andum, and then it would go on into
life and you know all kinds ofother things, but, um, I feel
like it really expanded ourhorizons on um spirituality as a
whole and kind of being acitizen of the world, um being a
(23:15):
good human in the world nomatter what that means for
people.
I mean, I just think it it weneeded to go somewhere else
besides the, besides the south,yeah, to really meet different
kinds of people, um, and seedifferent kinds of things and
experience different beliefs.
Uh, and I I can't imagine whereI'd be without that experience.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Well, I think most of us, in our faith, find hope.
For those who have a strongfaith, they rely heavily on that
.
For those who are experimentingwith it, it's partially there,
but then I think there's alsoreligion that shapes the way
(23:59):
faith is presented.
That is more worldly andsometimes has some challenges
with it that you can begin tounderstand if you sit and talk
about it.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Oh, absolutely, just sitting and connecting and
listening to one another was, Ithink, we eye-opening yeah and
uh, and it taught us a lot aboutlistening like yeah, yeah, yeah
, it's sometimes that, that, um,a skill of the art of inquiry,
you know.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
And then the listening part.
Um, from your perspective andyour experience there outside of
the US, were people kind ofsimilar to?
I mean, here we hear people arefast-paced, sometimes we don't
slow down, we don't reallylisten, sometimes We'll get a
sound bite and move on.
Was it any different there thanhere?
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Dramatically, yes, the pace of conversation is
dramatically different.
People are more present.
It's just slower, not as readyto fill the space with talking.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I found that in the time that I spent in the UK as
well, I did some work there.
They chew longer than they do Idon I know it's okay.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Yeah, I mean they just live slowly.
They live slower, they go onlonger, vacations they take
longer pauses and we would just,we would feel awkward, and then
finally we learned to just it'sokay, the silence is okay,
fighting in pauses.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Yeah, I was just, you know, laughing.
As you're thinking about that,I'm thinking about our time in
Edinburgh and the leisure.
The attitude of leisure is justso much better.
It rains a lot in Scotland.
I think a lot of people knowthat, but it's very true, it
really does.
(25:47):
It's not heavy rain, it'smostly this light mist all the
time, but it's referred to oftenas as the fog is coming in over
the, the Firth of Forth, whichis the water right beside
Edinburgh.
Uh, it's, you know, and that'shappening and it's drizzling and
it's windy, it's, it's a threeday.
Uh, you know, it's just thiskind of miserable uh weather at
(26:10):
times.
It really is.
There's a beauty in it, butwhen the sun comes out, there's
not a more beautiful place inthe world in my opinion.
But when the sun comes out,everybody walked out their door.
I mean, like they stopped whatthey were doing and they went
and played in the parks andthrew Frisbees and whatever and
(26:33):
played golf or whatever, youknow, scowling, but people went
outside and experienced the sun.
I laugh because, especiallyCasey, she was like a plant and
was you know, the second the suncame out, it was like where'd
she go, Casey, wait, yeah.
It was like where'd she go.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Casey, wait, that's very exciting to hear the
differences sometimes I get.
But it's community and that'sthe beautiful part of that and
the people coming together thatmake that up.
I think about Edinburgh and youtalk about that and definitely
on the bucket list to go there,but it is that connectivity
we've always talked about.
You will watch an old movie,for example.
I remember as a kid watching anold movies, yeah, with john
(27:19):
wayne and stuff, but it was in Ithink that was in ireland and
stuff.
But it's just like that wholething of people just slowing
down, being in a slower pace inorder to hear each other.
I think here in bettenville,arkansas, for example, I think
there may not be to that degree,but it's slower paced than
maybe like a major metropolitanarea with respect to that,
Absolutely, certainly slowerthan a major metro, for sure.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
I still long for the pace that we had in Edinburgh,
I'll admit.
Yes, but yeah, it's certainlyslower than you're going to find
in New York or Chicago or someof our major metros, for sure.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Well, we are going to wrap this episode up here and
we have a second part to thiswhere we'll be looking at what's
ahead.
But just for those who arewatching, you have an event
coming up in December.
Can you tell us a little aboutthat and then we'll?
We'll go deeper on that in thenext episode, but yeah, we do.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
We have our annual holiday event.
It's our biggest event.
We usually have around 700people.
I think we have capacity for800 this year, so it's a big one
.
It's called beer and carols andit's at the metroplex in rogers
, which is a great venue.
We um sing christmas songs,holiday songs, uh, people dress
(28:43):
up and it is a just a really funtime, have drinks and food and
we raise money for the northwestarkansas children's shelter.
That's always our Decembercharity.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Tickets and sponsorships are still very much
available and we'd love to seeyou there.
Visit our website,beerandhemscom.
You can find out more there andthat kind of thing.
But yeah, food's included onthe night, so it's great, great
fun.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Good, good, and we'll put that in our resources
Awesome.
Thank you so much for beinghere today.
We look forward to the nextconversation where we hear a
little bit about what you'reenvisioning for the future.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Thanks for being here .
The 4 Bars Podcast has beenbrought to you by Edges Inc.
A growth advisory firm based inBentonville, arkansas.
I founded the company in 2001.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Edges promotes growth of people, companies and ideas.
Our team collaboration tool,called Interface Methods, is a
basis for teams to work togethermore collaboratively,
understand each other and acceptdifferences and address
challenges together.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
We also started a nonprofit called Unform your
Bias.
We teach kids and their adultinfluencers how to utilize
storytelling as a means toreduce bias in the world.
No-transcript.
Welcome to the 4.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Bars podcast.
I'm Ken Leith and I'm PattiLeith.
We're your hosts for somecompelling dialogue, encouraging
our listeners to strengthentheir connections and build
strong communities, lifting eachother up and connecting in ways
that matter.
We named the podcast 4 Bars asa reference to how hard we work
to find a 4 Bars connection onour devices.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And we wondered what could happen with relationships
if we worked as hard atconnecting.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's find out.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, welcome back to another episode of Four Bars,
and I'm Ken Leith, along with myco-host.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I'm Patty Leith.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
You sure?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I sure am, I sure am.
Last time I checked, anywaythis time, that's what my
driver's license had.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And we are fortunate and happy to welcome in the
co-founders of Beer and Hemsthis week, ken and Casey
Weatherford.
Welcome, thank you so much Goodto be here.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Thanks for having us.
Well, we're excited to hearabout Beer and Hems.
For those of you who aren'tfamiliar with what Beer and Hems
brings to the table, it's anamazing nonprofit that supports
other nonprofits and buildscommunities, so we're going to
have a chance to talk about yourorigin story and some of what
you see for your future.
So very exciting, fantastic,thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
So, kind of starting off on that theme, how did you
come up with the idea of Beerand Hems?
What was your inspiration?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
You want to go, or you want me to go, all right,
I'll go in there.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Well, I wish we could say that was an original idea.
It's most certainly not Beerand Hymns.
You can find communities quiteliterally all over the world,
from Hong Kong, australia, muchof Western Europe and all over
the United States.
So there's differentexpressions of Beer and Hymns
(01:46):
and in its purest form it isexactly what it sounds like it's
getting together and sharing apint and singing old school
church hymns, and that resonatedwith us.
Just that by itself.
We loved the idea.
We had read several blogs aboutit.
We, of course, used to live inEdinburgh, scotland Our oldest
son was born there, and so justthe idea of beer and hymns it
(02:11):
resonated around our time thereas well, kind of its modern
iteration even.
It got its start in the UK at amusic festival there called
Green Belt, where it's okay tobe Christian and drink at the
same time.
And so at a Christian musicfestival they had a beer tent
and some folks brought someguitars into the beer tent and
(02:31):
they started singing old hymnsand people loved it and so they
took it back to their local pubsand it spread from there.
And so we kind of took thatsame idea based off of what we
were reading, based off of ourlove of the pub culture of the
UK, where you know you go into apub there there's no TVs on,
(02:52):
there's no, there's rarelysports yes, you can find those
bars certainly, but atraditional pub, none of that's
there.
You gather to share a pint andto share a story, to share a
laugh, to reach across the table, and that's kind of what Beer
and Hymns was to us as well.
And so we kind of started outwith that simple mindset of just
(03:13):
bringing people together tosing and get to know one another
.
And it has grown and changedmuch since.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Tell us about when you first started.
How is it different from theway that it is today?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
It's much different than when it first started.
It started kind of out of ourchurch, our Sunday school class.
We kind of, you know, threw theidea out there and they said,
well, let's do it.
Let's go to a pub and to abrewery and sit around and sing
house, and so our first one.
We probably had 20, 30 peoplearound a big table.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I think the number was 34.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
That's how many people viewed our first podcast.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
You got to start somewhere.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
You got to start somewhere.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
Yeah, so it was mostly people from our church
that were kind of rallyingaround the idea and we were on a
patio.
It was june, it was swelteringhot the brewery didn't know if
they wanted us to be in there.
They were like is this aworship service?
This is kind of weird, so um,it's not a worship service, I
promise slowly.
(04:18):
We were at um, we were at thislocation and it caught on and
everyone realized this is kindof fun, you know, it's not a
bait and switch situation.
We're not inviting people to achurch, or we were at this
location and it caught on andeveryone realized this is kind
of fun.
You know, it's not a bait andswitch situation.
We're not inviting people to achurch or praying over people,
or it's just community and it'saround songs that a lot of
people know and grew up with.
So you know, the concept becamevery compelling to a lot of
(04:42):
different kinds of people and weended up moving in inside.
The number started growing,became very compelling to a lot
of different kinds of people andwe ended up moving in inside
the numbers started growing andit still stayed small.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
At that point it was a smaller venue.
It was a smaller venue, I think.
The capacity of your fire codewas like 80 or 90 folks.
We did at one point go wellover that, but we won't go into
too many details about that.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
That was a long time ago, you can't come after it.
And then, so our biggest eventin the beginning we started in
2016 um, and our biggest event,uh, that year was our christmas
event and we did baron carroll'sum, and a guy named chad
markley, who leads the baronhims movement in Orange County,
(05:24):
knows some folks in NWA.
So he was like, oh, let me comeplay with y'all and kind of
show you what we do and we'll doa collaborative one.
And so he came and he startedchanging the trajectory of beer
and hymns for us, because theyplay an hour of hymns and an
hour of cover songs.
And we're like, well, that'skind of fun because you know.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
If you're not into the hymns, then stick around.
The next song is Tom and Daddy.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
So we did that.
We played some cover songs andsome holiday songs, not just
hymns, and after that we startedadding in the cover songs and
eventually we got to the pointwhere we sing a hymn and then a
cover song and then a hymn.
You know we kind of alternate.
So, um, you get kind of best ofboth worlds.
Um, and there's really whereelse in the world are you gonna
(06:13):
hear a taylor swift song andthen sing how great they are?
Yeah, like it's just so.
So the music part has changed alot since the beginning I mean,
every month it's a differenttheme, you know it's.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
You know so, from february it's love songs,
typically, or march is women'shistory month, so it's it's uh
all female artists and uh, itjust keeps going and going.
June, we do pride, july, uh,stars and stripes, yeah,
different things.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Right, right, and you do a Beatles one most years,
which is one of my favorites.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
That's one of my favorites too.
One of my faves.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
yeah.
So in 2017, we ended up movingto a larger venue Bike Rack
Brewing in Bentonville and theyhave a great kind of community
patio and the first event we didthere was our biggest event.
Everyone was really excited wehad taken a break.
We had what?
125 people.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
About 125.
Which blew us away in time.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Yeah, that's great, I mean that was huge, and Bike
Rack didn't know what to expecteither.
But then they saw what washappening and kind of caught on
as well.
At the time, ken and I happenedto be doing TriFfest for ms,
the triathlon, and raising moneyfor the rampy ms research
foundation, and we had a certainamount that we were promised,
(07:31):
you know, to raise for the race.
So we said, well, let's justuse this platform, we have a
microphone, let's raise somemoney.
Um, and we did.
We raised a few hundred dollarsand thought that was cool.
Like you know, we gathered allthese people in a place to sing
and we ended up raising moneyfor a good cause.
Is there something here?
You know, and I mean you put.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Well, yeah, and I mean I will say we both really
loved what that was and we hadapproached Bike Rack as well and
said, hey, you know, would youall donate a percentage of your
sales for the night?
And so they, they gave a smallpercentage that night and and
other things.
But I think the the bigcatalyst too that that helped us
kind of really say, yeah, let'sdo this every month, was brooke
(08:17):
and jeff charlson uh, some ofthe owners of bike rack company.
They were there that night and,uh, they had not been before.
This was, you know, they werechecking it out, seeing,
honestly, if they probably evenwanted us to be there at all.
And, hey, I get that.
But fortunately they had agreat time and they came up to
us afterwards.
They were like, look, we wantto pay you, we want you all to
do a different nonprofit everymonth, and they kind of gave us
(08:43):
the kick in the pants, so tospeak, to take that next step
and really expand what it became.
And so you know it was you know,those first days it was just
whatever nonprofits Casey and Icared about or could find to
care about.
Even you know, we were stillrelatively new to NWA so we were
still figuring out our way way.
But it kind of quickly got legsunderneath it and started
(09:06):
taking off in a much bigger waythe charity ad and the cover
songs ad and expanding the band.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
It used to just be, and now we have what?
Six or seven piece band?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
yeah, most months it's eight or nine musicians on
stage now, um, but you know thatthat all began growing mostly
organically.
Uh, you know differentmusicians.
Uh, you know scott burford anduh, and I always go back to him.
I think he was one of the thefirst who just came up to us
after an event and just said hey, I play bass if you ever need
(09:46):
somebody to sit in.
And he was in with us the nextmonth you know, yeah, that's
great.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, scott's that kind of guy too.
Indeed.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
And I was going to ask how you come about getting
the different musicians you have, because you have some people
who are always there seeminglyfor a long time, and then you do
mix and match and everyoneseems to be seamless when they
come in and out of the band.
You don't really notice.
With respect to the skill sets,I mean they're very talented.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
I would just say we're very fortunate.
Look Northwest Arkansas.
I feel like it gets underrated.
We have an incredible roster ofmusicians in this community.
It's really and we work withyou know, relative to the amount
that are here, we work with ahandful of them.
(10:34):
But there is such great talentin our community.
So, yeah, we've been veryfortunate that along the way and
as we've grown, you know Scottcan't be there one month, that's
not a problem I've got threemore bassists in our back pocket
now.
Uh, you know, and as wecontinue to grow, our name is
(10:55):
spread.
More musicians have reached outand said, hey, if you ever need
, um, we do pay some musicianshere and there.
Um, you know, month to month um.
And we're very fortunate to getto work with our good friend
Matt Nelson, who now kind ofhandles all the music for us.
He organizes the charts and thearrangements and he's kind of
(11:19):
the band director, I'll say.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
And so we pay him each month to help us pull all
that together and execute, sothat I can just focus on all the
other aspects of running Beerand Hems now.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Matt does the music for the podcast, that's right.
He composed the set we have atthe beginning and the end of the
podcast.
Great guy, he's so talented,yeah.
And when you first starteddoing it well, you're not
musicians in your full-timelives, tell us about that but
when you first started doing italso, how did that evolve?
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Well, we used to be, and Ken is a part-time I still
am.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So what do you do when you're not doing that?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, but when we're not doing this today, I wear
that.
I'm founder and director ofBeer and Hymns.
I am a worship director atFirst United Methodist Church in
Bentonville, arkansas, as wellas do commercial real estate
with a wonderful firm herelocally called Moses Tucker
Partners.
(12:26):
What's wonderful with all ofthose is it's amazing, even in
the real estate, how much theserelationships bleed over into
each other and you know each onekind of helps build community
through them all.
I kind of get to focus a lot ofmy energy and effort with the
(12:47):
commercial real estate byhelping nonprofits in that space
.
You know we looked at themarket and guess what?
They make up 20% of the marketevery single year, but very few
firms around the country arefocusing on them.
There's about 10 nationwidethat listed as a specialty and
and and so, uh, that's kind ofmy area of focus is helping them
(13:09):
at.
We're not a big enough marketin the in the country to to
necessarily be so specialized.
So, yes, I work with just aboutanybody, but I help uh,
nonprofits, uh communities offaith, uh, schools, hospitals,
things like that in particular.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, and Casey, what about you?
Like that in?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
particular, and Casey , what about you?
So for my day job, beer andHems is a purely volunteer thing
for me.
I am marketing director atBurdent Studio, which is a
woman-owned architecture firm indowntown Rogers.
It's owned locally and we do alot of work in Northwest
Arkansas and all over the nation.
We have a national retailstudio as well, and Burdent is
(13:47):
also all about communityconnections and placemaking and
creating places that people love.
So I feel like it allintersects.
It does it all intersects inthis kind of human centric,
creating environments wherepeople can connect with one
another.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, and when we do our podcast.
There's something that I'mpretty consistent in saying that
really communities are people,places, activities and things,
and so it comes together in allfacets of your life.
I met Casey at a women'sretreat just before the pandemic
, but I had been a frequent andavid follower of Beer and Hymns
(14:29):
prior to meeting her, and sowhen I actually met her, I was
sort of fangirly.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
I was like oh my gosh , you're the lead singer of Beer
and Hymns.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And then she told me that she does graphic art.
So she actually came in andworked with Edges, our firm, for
almost two years, I think, andcreated the Four Bars logo I
sure did.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Before I left for Vernon, I had the branding,
which was super fun.
Yeah, we've had a lot of funwith it too.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
We've been able to expand on it, and so it's yeah
that's great.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, one of the things you're talking about past
there was our first time seeingyou all perform.
There was our first time seeingyou all perform.
We were out for a bike ride ona Sunday afternoon and we were
happy to be riding past a bikerack.
Where we were going sounds likemusic.
What's music doing here onSunday afternoon.
And when we came up, it waslike there was a crowd of people
(15:20):
.
We're like, well, we need tocheck this out and we might as
well have a beer while we'rehere.
So that was very helpful, butwe were.
It was our first experience.
We were like going, this is acool experience and we were
catching on okay, beer and hymns, it's all assigned beer and
hymns.
It's like we can connect.
And okay, there's beer, there'sa hymn.
And then again you were playingoh, there's a rock song.
Oh, this is home, this isrelaxing.
(15:40):
So we just watched it and stuff.
And there was a thing thatoccurred that day where we knew
it was the right place for us,when you were talking about
supporting the ArkansasRazorbacks, and there was a
gentleman there who yelled rolltide and you gave him a nice
(16:00):
response, so to speak.
But after your response, weknew that we needed to be there.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Because then you rolled right into Amazing Grace
after putting him right in hisplace.
It was pretty funny.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I was going to say I don't know if it was a nice
response, but I grew up inTennessee so I was taught to
viciously be unsupportive ofAlabama we'll see we love
hearing stories like thatbecause that happens all the
time.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
still, People will just happen to be a bike rack
before we start and say what isthis?
What's going?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
on.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Or they'll come up on a bike ride or they'll hear
about it from a friend and be alittle bit curious.
And we love to welcome peoplewho are curious about it,
because that's usually ourpeople, you know.
We think, oh, beer and Hymns,what is this intersection about?
And it turns out that we canattract all kinds of people, and
(16:57):
I think that's the beauty ofBeer and Hymns is that you have
people that have, you know,lifelong church members that
love to sing the hymns.
You have people that just wantto come hear live music.
You have people therespecifically for the charity,
because they support thatparticular nonprofit, and you
have people that have neverstepped foot in a church or that
(17:18):
grew up hearing hymns, going totheir grandmother's church.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
People of no faith, people of varying faith, people
of differing faith.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Yeah, it's a wide variety.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
We can all sit around together and connect through
music and through giving to ourcommunity and you know we have a
real passion for inclusion andopenness and inclusion of
everyone, and I think your eventdoes that beautifully well.
Beautifully well because itenables people to come to the
table, regardless're wherethey're coming from, and feel
(17:49):
like they're included.
And then music is such aconnector in community.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
And the other thing that happens is that people that
would not normally be in thesame spaces get to connect, you
know, over the table and asksong sheets and raise their
glasses together to ask songsheets and raise their glasses
together A little facilitatingthat.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
We always point back to when we got started, which
was 2016.
And you know, unfortunately,politics haven't gotten much
friendlier since, but you knowthat was a very contentious year
, and what was so fun in theearly days, and what's still so
wonderful today, is that peoplevoted one way, they voted
another or they said no, I'm notvoting for either of these
(18:34):
people.
And they were all hanging outat Beer and Hymns, raising a
glass, raising their voice andgiving back to their community,
supporting a local nonprofit.
That you know.
At the end of the day, you know, despite what media tells us,
despite what the world continuesto try and tell us, we have
(18:54):
more in common than anybody everwants to admit.
We care more about the samethings than anybody wants to
ever let you believe we justwant to see our communities
thrive.
Believe we just want to see ourcommunities thrive.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
We might go about it different ways but here we can
come together and find ways todo that together, and that's
what I love about it in so manyways.
Well, and then what you justsaid is the realization that I
think helps all of us come tothe table with a more open mind,
and that is really.
All are wanting the same thing.
We might have different ways ofgoing about it, and I think
(19:30):
that's important to remember,especially as we rapidly.
By the time we air this, theelection will have been two days
earlier.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Yeah, yeah Right, but it's still true.
No matter what happens, it'sstill true.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah, absolutely it remains true, and I know that's
a real passion for you allbuilding community and building
openness in the community.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
What experiences in your life, journeys have led you
to really commit your passionsto building community.
That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
That is a great question.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah, I think You've got one.
I'd start with Edinburgh.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
That's what I'm going to start with, too Awesome.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Casey and I got to travel to Edinburgh in 2010.
We were dinks at the time,living in.
We had been in Memphis.
We just recently moved toNashville.
We didn't own a house, we hadno debt and we just said, hey,
let's go do something different,let's go serve in another part
of the world.
(20:36):
And how we landed on Skyline wecould talk about for a really
long time We'll get to the point, but the first year there we
really just spent listening andlearning the land, learning the
society, learning the culture,learning the land, learning the
society, learning the culture,and that became such a big and
(20:58):
profound thing.
But one of the things that weexperienced there is we were
working with the MethodistChurch in Edinburgh and trying
to help them start a newexpression of worship.
Ultimately, but we did soecumenically.
And, um, but we did soecumenically.
Uh, so we, we ended up, um,doing a methodist service in a
(21:19):
cafe at the catholic church.
Oh wow, uh, which that in andof itself, in edinburgh having a
catholic church was alsocontentious in and of itself.
So, like it was just a, therewas such a a synergy and and
learning for us of working wellwith the perceived other Right
(21:43):
and and everywhere we went wewere the other.
I mean, we were Americans inthe UK.
We're not looked upon wellelsewhere in the world.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
It's true.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
That's not something new, and so you know learning as
well to listen in thatenvironment rather than, as my
personality often is, big andloud.
I'm short, so I'movercompensating.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
That's my reason too.
Um, that's my reason too, and Ialso in edinburgh we, you know
we're used to.
We both grew up in the biblebelt in tennessee and arkansas,
and we're used to being in aplace where when you say you
work for a church, you sayyou're going to church.
That's pretty much whateverybody does and they know
what it means.
Um, in the uk, you know, thechurch at the time, and still in
(22:33):
all of Europe, was on decline,in decline, and so, um, when we
said, you know well, what wecame here to do was work with
the church, we got a lot ofblank stares and um questions,
yes, and lots of questions andwe ended up engaging in so many
conversations over a pint in apub about what we were doing.
(22:53):
you know what we, whatMethodists, believe, what we
thought about God, you know andum, and then it would go on into
life and you know all kinds ofother things, but, um, I feel
like it really expanded ourhorizons on um spirituality as a
whole and kind of being acitizen of the world, um being a
(23:15):
good human in the world nomatter what that means for
people.
I mean, I just think it it weneeded to go somewhere else
besides the, besides the south,yeah, to really meet different
kinds of people, um, and seedifferent kinds of things and
experience different beliefs.
Uh, and I I can't imagine whereI'd be without that experience.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Well, I think most of us, in our faith, find hope.
For those who have a strongfaith, they rely heavily on that
.
For those who are experimentingwith it, it's partially there,
but then I think there's alsoreligion that shapes the way
(23:59):
faith is presented.
That is more worldly andsometimes has some challenges
with it that you can begin tounderstand if you sit and talk
about it.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Oh, absolutely, just sitting and connecting and
listening to one another was, Ithink, we eye-opening yeah and
uh, and it taught us a lot aboutlistening like yeah, yeah, yeah
, it's sometimes that, that, um,a skill of the art of inquiry,
you know.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
And then the listening part.
Um, from your perspective andyour experience there outside of
the US, were people kind ofsimilar to?
I mean, here we hear people arefast-paced, sometimes we don't
slow down, we don't reallylisten, sometimes We'll get a
sound bite and move on.
Was it any different there thanhere?
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Dramatically, yes, the pace of conversation is
dramatically different.
People are more present.
It's just slower, not as readyto fill the space with talking.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I found that in the time that I spent in the UK as
well, I did some work there.
They chew longer than they do Idon I know it's okay.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Yeah, I mean they just live slowly.
They live slower, they go onlonger, vacations they take
longer pauses and we would just,we would feel awkward, and then
finally we learned to just it'sokay, the silence is okay,
fighting in pauses.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Yeah, I was just, you know, laughing.
As you're thinking about that,I'm thinking about our time in
Edinburgh and the leisure.
The attitude of leisure is justso much better.
It rains a lot in Scotland.
I think a lot of people knowthat, but it's very true, it
really does.
(25:47):
It's not heavy rain, it'smostly this light mist all the
time, but it's referred to oftenas as the fog is coming in over
the, the Firth of Forth, whichis the water right beside
Edinburgh.
Uh, it's, you know, and that'shappening and it's drizzling and
it's windy, it's, it's a threeday.
Uh, you know, it's just thiskind of miserable uh weather at
(26:10):
times.
It really is.
There's a beauty in it, butwhen the sun comes out, there's
not a more beautiful place inthe world in my opinion.
But when the sun comes out,everybody walked out their door.
I mean, like they stopped whatthey were doing and they went
and played in the parks andthrew Frisbees and whatever and
(26:33):
played golf or whatever, youknow, scowling, but people went
outside and experienced the sun.
I laugh because, especiallyCasey, she was like a plant and
was you know, the second the suncame out, it was like where'd
she go, Casey, wait, yeah.
It was like where'd she go.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Casey, wait, that's very exciting to hear the
differences sometimes I get.
But it's community and that'sthe beautiful part of that and
the people coming together thatmake that up.
I think about Edinburgh and youtalk about that and definitely
on the bucket list to go there,but it is that connectivity
we've always talked about.
You will watch an old movie,for example.
I remember as a kid watching anold movies, yeah, with john
(27:19):
wayne and stuff, but it was in Ithink that was in ireland and
stuff.
But it's just like that wholething of people just slowing
down, being in a slower pace inorder to hear each other.
I think here in bettenville,arkansas, for example, I think
there may not be to that degree,but it's slower paced than
maybe like a major metropolitanarea with respect to that,
Absolutely, certainly slowerthan a major metro, for sure.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
I still long for the pace that we had in Edinburgh,
I'll admit.
Yes, but yeah, it's certainlyslower than you're going to find
in New York or Chicago or someof our major metros, for sure.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Well, we are going to wrap this episode up here and
we have a second part to thiswhere we'll be looking at what's
ahead.
But just for those who arewatching, you have an event
coming up in December.
Can you tell us a little aboutthat and then we'll?
We'll go deeper on that in thenext episode, but yeah, we do.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
We have our annual holiday event.
It's our biggest event.
We usually have around 700people.
I think we have capacity for800 this year, so it's a big one
.
It's called beer and carols andit's at the metroplex in rogers
, which is a great venue.
We um sing christmas songs,holiday songs, uh, people dress
(28:43):
up and it is a just a really funtime, have drinks and food and
we raise money for the northwestarkansas children's shelter.
That's always our Decembercharity.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Tickets and sponsorships are still very much
available and we'd love to seeyou there.
Visit our website,beerandhemscom.
You can find out more there andthat kind of thing.
But yeah, food's included onthe night, so it's great, great
fun.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Good, good, and we'll put that in our resources
Awesome.
Thank you so much for beinghere today.
We look forward to the nextconversation where we hear a
little bit about what you'reenvisioning for the future.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Thanks for being here .
The 4 Bars Podcast has beenbrought to you by Edges Inc.
A growth advisory firm based inBentonville, arkansas.
I founded the company in 2001.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Edges promotes growth of people, companies and ideas.
Our team collaboration tool,called Interface Methods, is a
basis for teams to work togethermore collaboratively,
understand each other and acceptdifferences and address
challenges together.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
We also started a nonprofit called Unform your
Bias.
We teach kids and their adultinfluencers how to utilize
storytelling as a means toreduce bias in the world.
No-transcript.
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