McMinnville Yacht Club

What better way to celebrate the hottest day of the year so far but with a new episode and even a new season of the podcast! We've been missing for a few months, but that doesn't mean we haven't been thinking of you all. We have been busy living life and doing all the things, which gives us lots to talk about! For our return to the air, we brought in our pal Bryan Fey for Episode 58: The Fireman and The Dance. We asked Bryan to join us and share about his experience being a volunteer firefighter in McMinnville for 21 years, some of his memories of that experience and attending the infamous Fireman's Dance. We've been working hard to bring back this fun event and we share a bit about why we are doing that and we hope to see you all there! We're ready to get back into the swing of things with the podcast and we hope you're still with us. 

That's what we're all doing anyways right...trying? We loved this week's Episode 57: The Try Zone because not only did we learn about a sport we weren't super familiar with, rugby, but we also learned a lot of fun new sports terms. We had a great time talking and learning with John Mead and Christine Bader, two local youth rugby coaches. This is a fun and intriguing sport and our community and these two leaders are really offering our kids a great opportunity. From the unique rugby culture, to the skills and values the kids are learning through this sport, there's a lot to love here. Have fun with this one!

What do you expect from us when the sun comes out? We are distracted, outside, just being busy bees! So we think this light episode with two of our friends perfectly fits the season. On this week's Episode 56: Townie Talk - 2 we chat with our good friends, Tara Rich and Shannon Dunn. This is a very comfortable conversation with lots of memories and connecting about our home town. We hope you find something to enjoy in this episode and that we hit you with a bit of townie nostalgia. 

That is ultimately the question, right? Do we want and value locally owned, high quality restaurants to enjoy, or do we get distracted and not realize that if we don't show up they may not always be there? We are lucky to talk to two of our friends on Episode 55: You Want It Or Not? Ricardo Antunez from Pura Vida Cocina and Patrick Bruce from Thistle about the struggles they have faced in the restaurant business the last few years. We know some of this story, but it is good to check in to make sure we are doing what we can to help these amazing local institutions stay alive and stable. What would our downtown, and town, be without restaurants and business owners like theirs? Change is inevitable, and these guys have been weathering a pandemic, rising costs, change in dining behaviors, wage increases and more without raising their prices as much as they need to. We hope this episode inspires you to spend your dollars eating out locally and remember that we need to be there for the businesses we want to have in our community. 

It's always a good time when you get to spend an hour chatting with fellow locals. It's even more fun when you're chatting with townies, and sharing memories about growing up in Mac. On this week's Episode 54: Townie Talk, we had a chance to catch up with our friends Dan Davison and Todd Godfrey. We talk about our favorite memories, how we feel about change in town, things that we love and things that we don't. Essentially the same conversations you are probably having with your friends as well. Things aren't always easy in a small town, and our growing pains can be uncomfortable. But every time we sit down and connect on what's working and what we would like to see improved, we grow. And as long as we are growing together we will be fine. 

Sit back friends and grab your favorite book, because this episode is going to inspire you to read books by local authors. On this week's Episode 53: A Delight of Emilys we talk with two local authors, Emily Strelow and Emily Grosvenor Diesberg about their experiences getting their books published and what got them into writing to begin with. It's always fun to hear how people found themselves in McMinnville and their unique experiences before they made this their home. We were inspired by these two creative women and hope that you all can appreciate the local talent we have in our community. 

Tap tap tap ... are folks still out there? We've taken a long winter nap and are back on the microphone ready to talk! This week's Episode 52: Episode 52 is a bit of an update on what's going on with us and some of the headlines we've been reading about in the news. There's so much to talk about when you haven't done it in a while, but this was a good entry back into the podcast studio and we're looking forward to continuing the conversation with everyone. Cheers to a New Year and a great 2024!

We're ending the year in our favorite place, The Blue Moon. For Episode 51 - Holidays At The Moon - Part 2 we finish up our recent visit to McMinnville's favorite gathering place. We've been working hard this year to keep bringing you new content and sharing information about the town we love. We hope that our long time listeners feel like we put a nice bow on 2023 and our new listeners are inspired to start back at the beginning with us. This final episode of the year has more friends, more insight into what makes our town so special and more vodka sodas. Here's to another year of connecting and knowing that through it all, we are in this together. Cheers friends, and Happy New Year!

What better way to kick off our second 50 episodes than by going back to one of our favorite places in McMinnville?! For Episode 51: Holidays At The Moon we took the show on the road again and went back to see who we could talk to at The Blue Moon. We strolled in on a Tuesday to see who would be hanging out, and to our delight we ran into some good friends, past guests and some new friends. We love connecting with people at The Blue Moon and that's what makes it feel like home. We hope you enjoy the first of two episodes we are creating to end 2023 off with all the good feelings and cozy conversations. 

Horray! We've officially created and published 50 episodes of the Yacht Club! And for this milestone we brought in the people that know us the best, our spouses. So for this week's Episode 50: Podcast Spouses features Ossie's wife Lacy Bladine, and Chelsey's husband Brent Nichol. We have lots of laughs in this one because that's what you do with family...laugh at each other! All jokes aside, we are very thankful for these two's support as we continue on as captains of this ship. We hope you hear how important family is to us, and at the end of the day, even if we're not talking about McMinnville we are talking about the things that matter most to us. 

We are carrying on the holiday tradition of promoting our dad Jeb's annual "Shop Local" message he prints in the newspaper each year. We've recorded another Just The Two Of Us and for this week's Episode 49: Shop Local we are highlighting a few things happening in town for the holidays and then spend some time on a message about changes coming with our family-owned community newspaper, the News-Register. Owning and operating a 4th generation local newspaper is not easy, but it's something our family has been proud to do for almost 100 years. But times change, and we all know that the position newspapers have in a community has changed dramatically over the last few decades. And that is why, once again, the newspaper is making changes so that it can continue to be a trusted source of local news for McMinnville for years to come. We hope this information, paired with the importance of highlighting shopping local for the holidays, is something that you take to heart. We're all in this together, and that extends to the newspaper too. 

You probably haven't spent a lot of time thinking about the origin story of McMinnville. Who founded this town we love so much? What were the first businesses and buildings were built that anchored the growth of this community? Like many towns, ours has unique founders and interesting industries that lit the spark of what we became McMinnville. So on this week's Episode 48: How Mac Came to Be, we are talking with local historian Kory Knutz on some of the more interesting moments in our history that really shaped the town that we know now. Whether you have lived here your entire life or have moved here from your own hometown, this episode is full of interesting local history. And next time you hear the name Newby, Baker or Cozine, you will have a little more knowledge about the early days and how Mac came to be. 

Is it too early to play Christmas music? Ok, maybe... we will hold off a few more weeks. But that's not going to stop us from getting exciting about the upcoming holiday season! One of our favorite things is downtown McMinnville during the holidays so we thought we would kick off the season with Episode 47: Downtown Girls. This week we chat with McMinnville Downtown Association presidents Dani Chisolm (current) and Heather Miller (past) about what makes downtown so magical this time of year and what we can do to support our local businesses. We realize not everyone may know about the work that goes into keeping our downtown a place that locals and visitors want to spend time in, and we are taking a moment to recognize the sometimes herculean efforts made by the MDA to keep such a vibrant living room for our community. We hope that you're as excited as Chelsey is about the holidays and that we will see you downtown soon!

What goes better with a great wine than great friends? You would be hard pressed to find a more perfect pairing than our guests on this week's Episode 46: A Perfect Pairing. Grant Coulter and Renee Saint-Amour of Hundred Suns Wine have made McMinnville their home after relocating from Monterey, California. They're raising their family and business here and have created roots that feel strong and will no doubt last as long as they call McMinnville home. This is the first time we have chatted with a husband and wife at the same time, and if you love a sweet story, these two will give you all the feels. We love hearing how they came together and started this dream of making wine as a team. Plus getting an inside scoop into the real life realities of running a small winery in the Willamette Valley. Settle in with your favorite pinot and enjoy this one. We hope you hear in their voices how much they love this place and in ours how we feel lucky they chose McMinnville as their home. 

It's time for our annual check-up! So we made an appointment with two of our favorite medical professionals so we can see how we're holding up. On this week's informative Episode 45: McMedicine, we talk with Dr. Ashley Hyder with West Hills Healthcare Clinic and Amy Bizon from Willamette Valley Medical Center. Prepare to take notes, because we cover a lot of ground in this one and as always we learned something and left feeling like we are good hands with the health care providers we have in McMinnville. You will hear how thoughtful they are about their jobs and the health of their patients. And how McMinnville is working together to make sure we've got as many services as possible, and the care that a growing town needs. These two women carry a lot of responsibility in our community and we couldn't be more proud to call them friends. 

It's Tuesday Night Footballlllllll! And we've got two star players on this week's Episode 44: Gridiron Guys. We had a great time talking with DJ Alexander, a former NFL Player for the Kansas City Chiefs and others, and local football star and now coach with Linfield Football, Brett Elliott. It was awesome getting to ask questions about their experiences in college and after, and what experiences they shared and where their paths differed. We won't spoil this one in the intro, you're going to want to tune right in and listen to these two stellar athletes share their stories. We're fortunate they've both made this community home and we think they both deserve some high fives if you see them in the stands sitting next to you at the next game. 

We're great at multi-tasking around the yacht club and so we combined our daily workout sesh with a podcast recording. This week we laced up our tennies and hung out at MVP Performance Training on Episode 43: At The Gym. Over the last few months Chelsey has been working on her fitness at this gym and thought that it would be great to connect with others who are on their own fitness journey. So we talk with gym owner, Sean Burke, about his approach to fitness and how focusing on women's unique fitness needs is such a priority at MVP. We also invited Michele Melasecca, the owner of 5th Line Pilates about her own approach to fitness and how we can find similarities in both weight lifting and pilates instruction. We got a chance to chat with a few regulars at MVP about why the prioritize their health and fitness and what makes this gym unique. Every age can benefit from working out and we got to hear from folks at all stages of their health journey. We hope to provide a little inspiration with this one, and know though that its hard work to prioritize your health sometimes, but when you are ready there are dedicated professionals in McMinnville to help you make the commitment. 

Nothing hurts more than growing pains. But when you live in a community like McMinnville you can be sure that there will be a lot of folks doing their best to try and preserve what makes “McMinnville” the McMinnville we are proud of. On this week's Episode 42: Growing Pains we talk with our friends Mike Morris and Beth Caster, two local realtors. We discuss what they are experiencing in the real estate market, and what they can share with us about the broader growth picture in town. There's a lot to unpack when we talk about growth, and it doesn't just relate to housing availability. This topic can bring up a lot of angst, we know the feeling all too well. But when you have folks like Mike and Beth at the forefront of this effort, representing our community in a positive and thoughtful manner, you can't help but feel like there's a bright future ahead for our town. There's room at the table to get involved and share your thoughts about how you want to see the future of McMinnville look, you just have to be willing to show up and speak out. We can do this together friends!

And we're back! And we decided it was a good time to start Season 2 of the podcast, so we're here with Episode 41: Changing Seasons to chat about the last few weeks of summer and what we're looking forward to this fall. 

Kids are going back to school next week and we hope you've taken a trip to the store to get everything for their lunches! Or, you've probably stopped in to your favorite grocery store to pickup your dinners for the week, or went in to check out what seasonal fruits and veggies they've got to offer. There are so many options when you are deciding where to purchase your groceries, and we hope that with this week's Episode 40: Meet Your Grocer you are inspired to spend a bit more of your dollars with our two locally owned and operated grocery stores. This week we talk with long time owner of Harvest Fresh Grocery and Deli, Kristin Schofield and new-ish owner to the local Grocery Outlet, Mike McGinty. Both of these business owners have made contributing to the McMinnville community a priority and we are so lucky to have such giving and thoughtful business owners to support. You may not have thought you were interested in this topic, but we be you will finish and think that you can spread your grocery dollars a bit more local. 

Welcome to the summer of sustainability! We were inspired by a past episode to continue learning more about what is going on locally to encourage recycling and sustainability. So for Episode 39: Sustainable Summer, we invited Beth Rankin, one of the organizers of the McMinnville Recycled Arts and Sustainability Fair plus one of the vendors participating in the event, Julie Wilson with the The Department of Work. We had a great time learning more about this fun and creative event and think that you will as well. This is an easy one friends, there's always something you can do to contribute and learn ways to live more sustainably. Supporting this event is a perfect place to start. 

This episode will get you thinking. In the best possible way. You may be reminiscing about your college experience or feeling pride for your home town school after listening to this week's Episode 38: The University. We've known we would have an episode on Linfield at some point, and the summer seemed like the perfect time to chat with our friends from the University before the new school year begins. We're so thankful we had a chance to spend some time with Professor David Sumner, who has been an English and Environmental Studies at Linfield for 20 years and Debbie Harmon Ferry who is the Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement at the school. Both of these professionals are passionate about their school and it was very easy to hear their dedication to the student's experience. Chelsey had a great time reflecting a bit on her experience attending Linfield as well.  It is great to hear that the benefits she gained while a student are still there for new students to explore. We are thankful to have received quality college educations, and whether you go to a large public school or a small private university, if you lean in and take what is provided you really can leave with an amazing gift. We hope you find some renewed connection to Linfield University after listening this week, there's always room in the bleachers for more fans!

Summertime blues around here ... While we had to pivot from this week's planned episode we thought we would sit and console each other about what's got us down in the world. There's always a lot of change happening in McMinnville, and sometimes its ok to pause for a minute and reflect on things that mean something to this community. And at the same time there's opportunity to share what we hope to see in the future. So this week we talk on Episode 37: Just The Two Of Us - News and Blues, Ossie and Chelsey talk about whats going on in the news and give our thoughts on a few topics. Plus we share a bit about all the fun summer events coming up in town and that made us feel a little better. This is starting to sound a bit like a therapy session, and that's ok with us. Talk to us, we're listening. 

Nothing is better than sitting around shooting the breeze with friends you grew up with. And this week's Episode 36: Don't Tell The Tourists - Part 2 feels a lot like that. We grabbed locals Todd Hyder and Robin VanBuren and asked the question that started this podcast... What are the things about McMinnville that we want to keep special just for locals? We all agree that we enjoy the benefits of the tourism industry in town, but the connection we feel when we can experience things only locals know about, is something special. So we added to the list! And as it goes when you get together with friends, once you start reminiscing you start to go down memory lane a bit. So there's a bit of nostalgia and just townie's talking in this one. We hope this episode feels like a fun hang around the fire pit, catching up with your friends and remembering the things that keep us connected. 

May we officially introduce you to our new Mayor Remy Drabkin.... We are so thrilled that we got to spend a bit of time with our friend, and now Mayor, and chat about what her life is like in her new job. Remy has been known to many in McMinnville for years as the owner and winemaker of Remy Wines. And we were so heartened when the citizens of McMinnville elected her as our new Mayor last year. Remy brings an energy and enthusiasm for City government that can't be ignored and you will hear in this week's Episode 35: Madame Mayor the wide range of things she is leading and involved with on behalf of all of us. Mayor Drabkin is a listener and a doer and you can hear it in her voice when she knows that something important has been accomplished. While she is doing the work of Mayor, Remy is busy running Remy Wines and also co-founded Wine Country Pride and the Queer Wine Fest. We could have talked with the Mayor for hours, but her time is valuable and so we weren't able to dive into all of these topics. So for today, we focus on her role as Mayor and we hope that when you hear her talk you will feel encouraged by the work that is being done and motivated to engage in the work our City is doing for McMinnville. 

We talk a lot about what makes McMinnville special on this podcast, and we keep coming back to the sense of community we share when we connect through service. Our guests today are members of our local school board, and as we have all come to realize, it's an important role that we should know more about. We are thankful to our guest on today's Episode 34: The Board, for giving us a glimpse into the important work a school board does, and maybe more importantly what they don't do. Janis Braich has just retired from the board after an amazing 24 year span, and Jason Bizon has his first two years under his belt. Their approach and commitment to our local school district is inspiring and we are thankful that we got to spend some time talking about why they decided to run for the school board (because we know elections aren't easy!), and what keeps them inspired. We know that the McMinnville School District is filled with hundreds of amazing teachers, staff, administrators and board members, we've talked about it a bunch on the podcast. We hold tight to our values in McMinnville and you can see that at every level in our schools. And we hope whether you are a parent, or not, you will take away not only some new knowledge from this episode, but also a renewed sense of connectedness when you hear from these amazing community members. 

What do you do when you want a guest on the podcast but you haven't been able to get them to the studio? You take the podcast to them! And we're lucky enough that it also happens to be at a place we like to hang out. For this week's Episode 33: The Regulars, we take the show on the road again and record from the Grain Station Brew Works and chat with a few friends who have becomes regulars along with Ossie. The conversation varies widely from tech and AI to brewing to wine making. We talk with pals Chris Rowe, Joe D'Aboy and Ryan Kelly-Burnett about their day jobs, and  what they all love about gathering at their favorite watering hole. Settle in and join this chat amongst friends and maybe get inspired to connect with your friends regularly. These are truly the times that keep us rooted and relaxed and Ossie and Chelsey are thankful to the "regulars" in our life. 

Who likes to have fun? Who likes to play games? We do!! This week we chat with two locals who are working to bring fun and games to McMinnville. On Episode 31: Fun Makers we meet McKenzie Moorhead with Walnut City Rollers and Chase Estep of Nerds of McMinnville and the new NOMCon. What is about board games and roller skating that feels so fun? We ask our guests that and learn why they decided to start these new groups in town and what they are enjoying by connecting with folks through these throw back activities. We hope that this episode gets you inspired to dust off your dice and roller skates and get out and have some fun. 

What does your favorite business smell like? It's probably one of the things that keeps you coming back... or maybe it's the awesome owners and managers and people who greet you when you walk in the door. On Episode 31: Businesses We Love - Part 2, we talk with two more of our favorite local businesses, Casee Clark with R. Stuart & Co. Winery and Tayler Brisbin of Mes Amies. We were able to share notes about each of our favorite places to visit these days, on and off 3rd Street. We dive a little into cancel culture and the changes we have seen over the last decade downtown McMinnville. It's always good to touch base with our business peers, and we hope that you find yourself wanting to support these businesses as well. 

You may be thinking...wow, guys, that's a bold statement. Who ever could earn such a title? Well, we are about to introduce you to Ramsey McPhillips: The Most Interesting Man In McMinnville. We've been playing around with the idea of dedicating an entire episode to one guest so we can really dive into their story, and Ramsey couldn't be a better fit for this new format. Ramsey's family has owned their farm south of McMinnville for over a century and you will hear about the battles Ramsey has fought to ensure that the farm is able to exist for a hundred more. His story starts off in Portland under the guidance of two women who each taught him their unique approach to caring for the soil and their gardens. That experience led Ramsey to college on the east coast to study horticulture, then New York to work in Central Park, a truly unique foray into the New York art world, and beyond, before coming back to McMinnville to take over his family's farm. His backstory could have filled its own episode, but we also wanted to talk with Ramsey about his dedication to education and advocacy for climate change and how innovative approaches to farming are being cultivated on his farm through some major league investors and scientists. We know you will find this episode fascinating, and we hope, like us, you learned something and "grew" a new appreciation for the the land and soil around us. 

Sweeeeet Caroline ... bum bum bum... good times never seemed so good! So good! Doesn't that get you in the mood to cheer on your favorite team, and maybe your favorite podcast? We're in the sports frame of mind again and this week we had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with two McMinnville legends, Marianne Mills and Don Rutchman. On Episode 29: Hall of Famers 2, we check in with our friends to chat a bit more about what they loved about their coaching careers, what drove them to show up for kids every day and how they think things have changed over the years. For better and for worse. It's always an inspiring episode when you get to sit and ask questions from your teachers and coaches about what they were experiencing when we were messing around in high school. So grab your popcorn and settle in for another nostalgic sports episode with two more Hall of Famers. 

Here we are again, just the two of us. After last week's heavy topics, and a week full of fun and important events, we thought we would sit down again and chat with each other about something that is very important in our lives ... service to your community. We've spoken a lot about the value we place on giving your time and so for this week's episode we dive a bit deeper into the subject of service. We're just coming off of the annual Distinguished Service Awards, a long standing tradition of recognizing people in our community who have made service a priority in their lives. It's always an inspiring event and we're left with hope for the future of our town and an immense appreciation for all who have given in such meaningful ways. We also give a recap of the concert we threw at The Bindery last week (thanks for coming out!) and end with the message to get out and VOTE, because today is election day! 

Well, let's see how this goes. In this week's Episode 27: Just The Two Of Us, Ossie and I chat with each other for the duration of an entire episode about a few hot button issues. We went back to the root of why we started this podcast, and it was to have a voice. Sure, we could talk about sports, or our kids, or our favorite memories, but that seems too safe. Too easy? So we dig into it, and get honest and share our thoughts with you all on some important issues. Like homelessness, and elections, and historic buildings and demolition. There's nothing to it when it's just two siblings sitting around a table talking, but we've turned the mics on and are sending our thoughts out into the world. Here we go...

Sing...Sing a song...Sing out loud....Sing out strong! This is us beating the drum about local music again. We love this topic and are excited to be putting on a show at The Bindery. We were so inspired by our first McMusicville episode that we not only planned a concert, but wanted to talk to more people who are involved in the local music scene. This week we chat with local musicians, Marcus Glaze and Jamie Howe about how they got into music, some of their favorite memories around music and what they are excited about in the McMinnville music scene. Put your headphones on and tune in to the easy listening of the McMinnville Yacht Club podcast. 

Here is the exciting (and slightly more inebriated) second half to our 25th Episode fun at the Blue Moon Lounge. If you listened to the first half last week you will get a taste for the background noise and the over all vibe of us sitting in the first booth at the Moon talking to folks. In this second part, we have three groups of locals sit down to chat with us. We feel inspired that folks came to talk about specific things, and we hope to be able to do something in the future with that idea in mind. For now, here's a toast to the townies, and the strangers and how both feel like family when you're at your favorite bar. 

Oh my gosh, what a night we had! We took the show on the road and recorded Episode 25 from The Blue Moon Lounge in downtown McMinnville. You've heard us talk about how much we love the Moon, so we thought it would be a fun way to spend a night ... with our headphones on talking to people. We spent so long recorded we decided to split this fun into two episodes. So this week you get the nervous, excited hosts talking with people, next week... well, hold tight. Thank you to Justin and the team at the Moon for putting up with the shenanigans, we love you all very much. And thank you to all of the folks who sat in the booth and talked with us, it meant a lot! We're in this together McMinnville, and that's what this episode feels like. Cheers!

Turn your night light on and get your cozy blanket for this week's episode all about books and the McMinnville Public Library. For Episode 24: The Librarians, we chat with the library Director, Jenny Berg and librarian Courtney Terry about how they got into the librarian profession and what our library has to offer. We learned so much about all of the fun and important services our public library offers and really get an appreciation for the dedicated staff that guide visitors towards a meaningful experience at the library. We spend a bit of time talking about the books that shaped us, and our experiences growing up in the stacks. What we read shapes us forever, and we are lucky to have a public library in McMinnville that focuses on putting books in the hands of all of its citizens. 

It's time to get smart! We had fun on this week's episode being quizzed by Ossie about all things McMinnville, and then we randomly veer into Oregon trivia as well. We know this is the beginning of a fun series of us testing our local knowledge and have lots of laughs while we do it. We're thankful to our friends Erica Anderson and Ryan Manfrin for coming on and giving their best guesses as we test all that we know and realize how much we don't know! 

Ok, go easy on us with this one. We're tired and stressed. But we're just fine! On this week's episode we convinced two of our friends, Brooke Anderson and Kara Missildine to come on and share about how this thing called parenthood is going. We know that none of us are experts, and we're going to get it wrong probable more often than we are going to get it right. But being able to talk about our experiences raising kids is truly what keeps us going. Some days are hard, really hard. But so many days are really really good, and we wanted to talk about all of it. We share notes about where we are at in our parenting journeys and try not to stress too much about the things that we can't control. So, grab a drink, or a tea, or get in your best meditative pose, and listen with us as we connect about living in Parentville.  And be sure to listen to an extended post episode session with just us moms. 

Honor, may we approach the bench? Because we have a lot of questions... And thankfully we have two amazing law professionals on the podcast this week to answer them for us. We got to ask local family law attorney, Alexis Bishop Stern and Judge Jennifer Chapman about some of the ins and outs of the McMinnville legal system. We chat about what they love about their jobs and how they approach their professions while making sure they see the people and not just the problems. We're fortunate to have these two women in our community, as both moved from other states to settle and grow their families here. Hopefully you only run into these two moms on the soccer field, but if you happen to need either of them when life gets hard, we know you are in good and caring hands. 

How do you sum up over 180 years of a town's history in an hour? You don't...and not even more than an hour will do! But we took a good swing at things when talking with locals Ruben Contreras Jr. and Michael Hafner about our local history. We talked about fun random facts with Michael and dove into how Ruben started the popular Draggin' The Gut event in downtown McMinnville. We shared notes on how buildings and landmarks can have unique historical relevance, but also how change can occur in a very short amount of time and that our connections as a community still hold strong. Ruben and Michael both have spent years working to help share our local history so that we remember what we love about our town and that the small every day moments don't get forgotten.

Step up to the plate (you know we love a sports pun!) for this week's episode as we chat with two inspiring local coaches and athletes about their time playing at Mac High. We get to talk with Lisa Macy-Baker, who was a national basketball champ and standout star on her MHS basketball team before playing D1 at Oregon State, and now coaches youth basketball and tennis. And local legend, Ross Peterson, who grew up playing sports in McMinnville and then becoming coach to many sports, but primarily baseball and both MHS and Beaverton High School. Both guests are members of Hall of Fames for athletics and coaching. We hear about their unique experiences growing up and excelling at sports in McMinnville and the lessons they learned that helped make them the coaches they are today. We spend a lot of time supporting our kids as young athletes and we loved hearing about what they try to teach our kids as they grow through the different levels of youth sports. You will leave this conversation feeling inspired by what it means to come together as a community through athletics. 

Cheer to our latest episode! This week we belly up to the bar and chat with two local Brewmasters, Lisa Allen of Heater Allen Brewing and Piper Gladwill with Golden Valley Brewery, all about the local beer making world. We learned a lot from these two local brewers, and we started with the basics. They share what they love about brewing and their journey of how they got into making beer. The beer industry has been "brewing" in McMinnville for years and we were happy to chat about the local beer scene, and where these brewers actually like to drink beer. Cue cheesy beer pun...now!

We've set the stage for you to learn all about the local film making scene and the annual McMinnville Short Film Festival this week. Get your popcorn and settle in to hear about how this inspiring event took shape after one of the owners of Movie Time video store, Dan Morrow, and his wife Nancy would make movies with their staff at the video store.  And we also chat with former News-Register reporter, David Bates, about the importance of film as a cultural asset in the community. We hope you learn a bit and are inspired to check out the film fest ... you never know who you may bump into! 

We hope your pencils are sharped because you may want to take notes on this week's episode. In Episode 16: The Amy and Kourtney Show, we talk with two local educators, Dr. Amy Fast the Principal at McMinnville High School, and Kourtney Ferrua the Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment for the McMinnville School District.  We got to ask them what it is like to be a part of teaching our children and helping their fellow educators lead in McMinnville. There are so many layers when it comes to education, and in this episode we spend some time reminiscing about our own school experiences (it gets a little personal here), and check in to see how our kids and schools are doing. This is our longest episode yet, and we are so thankful to these two amazing women for giving us a peek into their day-to-day efforts to help make the McMinnville School District the best it can be. And we know they would want us to mention that they don't do it alone, there are hundreds of other educators, staff and volunteers working each day for our kids, and we hope this episode leaves you feeling some comfort. There is always work to be done, but when we do it together, we can help kids move mountains. 

Catchy right? Just like your favorite tune.... in Episode 15: McMusicville, you will want to put this one on repeat. Music is a big part of our lives, and live music is an important thing to have access to. In this fun episode we catch up with our friends Jerome Blankenship of the local band Ships to Roam, and Freddie Lamb of Run and Tell That (and as a solo act) about how they got into music and what they like about performing locally. We discuss where you can see live music in town, and what our hopes are for the growth of the music scene in McMinnville. There's exciting things happening locally and we hope to inspire you to go out and support our local musicians!

It's something we ask ourselves most days, and if you spend anytime in downtown McMinnville the experience you are going to have is equally as important to what food you're going to eat. We're so lucky to have the restaurant options we have, and the owners become our friends and family. In this episode we chat with long time business owner Cindy Lorenzen (who started with her first business in town, Video Yogurt Express years ago and now is the owner of The Sage) and Scott Cunningham who opened Community Plate and Pizza Capo. They share with us the struggles and joys of owning a restaurant in McMinnville and we enjoyed hearing from them why they love being a part of this special community. 

Is there a real rivalry between Mac and Newberg? Or is it all in our head? We found two people with connections to both towns who were willing to vouch for their town. Our friend Kristen Stoller grew up in McMinnville and now lives in Newberg, and bud Mike VanBuren grew up in Newberg and now lives in Mac. We have a good time pitting town against town in this episode, but also point out the things we think each is doing better than the other (Burgerville sits high on the list...). Have fun with us as we gently rib each other about their differences and connect about their similarities. Plus, what we see for the future of both of these towns. 

Is it vetch or veg? And what's up with all the political signs in the fields surrounding McMinnville? These are just two of the MANY questions we had for our guests, Marvin Bernards of Bernards Farm and Erik Grimstad of Even Pull Farm. In this episode we dive deep into the world of local farming, and at the same time it felt like we didn't even scratch the surface of this very complex and nuanced industry. An industry that has defined our local community for generations and continues to reshape itself with the changing times. Sit back and settle in, because this is our longest episode yet. We hope you come away with a greater appreciation for the abundance we are provided by so many local farmers, and next time you're eating your veggies think about these two awesome guests. 

What better way to start 2023 than to look at where we've been and talk about where we are now. And maybe a little about our hopes for the coming year. Today we are chatting with two people who have had tremendous impact on our local community, Mike Colvin, and our dad, Jeb Bladine. Their stories and experience growing up in McMinnville is one shared by many, and those connections are what helped shape our town. Whether through their businesses, or community involvement, these two talk with us about how they have navigated decades of change, and what are the things they care about now. With a little advice for us as well. Happy New Year friends, let's do this year together. 

Santa must not have received your letters asking for another episode for Christmas, because he didn't deliver this week. We weren't able to record the episode we had hoped this week, so we wanted to just take a moment and thank you for listening. We truly appreciate everyone who is taking the time to listen to our little podcast, and hear us share our hearts with all of you. Thank you for sharing all of your positive feedback and have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah,  and we will chat with you in the New Year. From your captains at the Yacht Club, Ossie and Chelsey.