Podcasts about Cascade

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is made in the USA. Thank you for supporting independent ski journalism.About CaberfaeOwned by: The Meyer FamilyYear founded: 1937Pass affiliations:* Ikon Pass: 2 days, blackouts* Freedom Pass: 3 days, no blackouts Base elevation: 1,076 feetSummit elevation: 1,561 feetVertical drop: 485 feetSkiable Acres: 200Average annual snowfall: 120 inchesLift count: 5 (1 fixed-grip quad, 3 triples, 1 carpet – view Lift Blog's inventory of Caberfae's lift fleet)The Zoom transcript (click “transcript” above for the Substack transcript, then click on any text block to teleport to the associated point in the video; timestamps below DO NOT MATCH THE VIDEO; also since Tim and Pete were on one screen, the transcript does not differentiate between them).Stuart Winchester: Welcome to the storm. I'm your host, Stuart Winchester. Today is Thursday, September 17th, 2026, and we are going to mix things up a little bit today. Instead of starting with the takes, we are starting with the guests, and I have some great guests today.00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:40.000Stuart Winchester: They are the general managers of Cabrifay Peaks, Michigan, with over 200 acres of terrain served by 4 chairlifts across 3 peaks, with a 485-foot vertical drop.00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.000Stuart Winchester: Cabar Fay is one of the largest ski areas in Michigan's Lower Penins.00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:49.000Stuart Winchester: The ski area averaged 120 inches of lake effect snowfall per winter.00:22:49.000 --> 00:23:06.000Stuart Winchester: Their family has operated Cabaret since 1980. They are co-general managers, with Tim Meyer on the right, handling everything on the mountain, and Pete Meyer on the left, taking care of everything off. Tim and Pete, welcome to the storm. I'm always hyped to talk Cabaret. How are you guys doing today?00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:11.000Pete Meyer: Good. We're doing awesome. Thanks for having us. Yeah.00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:26.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, and trigger warning for any Sparties or Buckeyes out there who want to go to the video version on stormskiing.com or YouTube. Me and Tim are both proudly rocking our Wolverines gear. This is a shirt I wore to the maze out when Michigan blasted Oklahoma in the big house this past weekend. So we're feeling.00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:31.000Stuart Winchester: Although I understand Tim's also got a little Sparty, side loyalty.00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:35.000Pete Meyer: Yes, my children, both my sons are Spartans, so that's…00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:44.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, as soon as my daughter got into college, I bought all the gear for her place. So, you know, there's tons going on at Cabaret, and I want to start…00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:36.000Pete Meyer: It.00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:54.000Stuart Winchester: with this coming expansion, and you, you announced this a while ago, and I'm gonna share my screen here so that everyone can see, uh, see this as we talk through it.00:23:54.000 --> 00:24:13.000Stuart Winchester: And this is where I am never quite as fast as I want to be. Uh, but… okay. So, here is the Cabra Fay trail map. This is the one I took off your website this morning, so it's the most current that I have. Uh, and last time I talked to Tim in, I think, 2021, when you came on the podcast.00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:15.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, it…00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:31.000Stuart Winchester: This East Peak triple chair was still still in a theory phase and you hadn't built yet. Now that's in place and we'll talk about that in a minute and how that's gone. But talk to us about the Green Mountain triple chair, what we're getting and why you're building it.00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:34.000Pete Meyer: Yeah, so, um…00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:40.000Pete Meyer: I'm going to start with why, because it's kind of an interesting story, you know.00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:51.000Pete Meyer: we… when we put in the East Peak lift, we took out the shelter chairlift, the double. They started in almost the same place, but the shelter… the shelter lift.00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:47.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:54.000Pete Meyer: let off about halfway up the hill.00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:04.000Pete Meyer: And because we we have our dads before us and then and then we also have continued to develop the terrain.00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:13.000Pete Meyer: the terrain changes and the flow changes. And what happened over time, like, especially over the last.00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:16.000Pete Meyer: 25 years or so.00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:23.000Pete Meyer: we kept adding on to Smiling Irishman and making it wider and wider and wider, and it got busier and busier and busier, so…00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:29.000Pete Meyer: The shelter chairlift was essentially letting off these new skiers.00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:33.000Pete Meyer: in the middle of flowing traffic. And…00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:37.000Pete Meyer: We thought when we put in the East Peak lift.00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:41.000Pete Meyer: Now we're gonna take these lower end skiers to the top.00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:55.000Pete Meyer: we're going to give them a longer run, and the new part we're giving them is actually the easier half. They're already negotiating the tougher half, the steeper half, and the narrower half. If we add the upper half, it's easier, it's wider, it should be fine.00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:51.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:06.000Pete Meyer: And that's what we thought. And so we put it in and then but then what we found and this is the this is the piece that you learn as you go.00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:07.000Pete Meyer: is…00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:15.000Pete Meyer: The new skiers accepted being let off at the lower level, and having to merge into traffic, because.00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:32.000Pete Meyer: They didn't really know any different and that it was the psychological factor. Well, I'm only halfway up the mountain. I can, I can do this. When we took them up to the top, you know, that East Peak lift actually feels like a out, it almost feels like an out West lift. It has.00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:43.000Pete Meyer: like, three rises, you know? So you ride… you go up over a break, and then you… and then you go again for a while, and then up over another break, and then you're coming into the top, and you… you know, you're above…00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:47.000Pete Meyer: Tree line, basically, and you can see the horizon, and it just…00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:51.000Pete Meyer: would kind of psych out that new skier, you know, they would just, they would.00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:51.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:55.000Pete Meyer: They'd get up there and kind of freeze and panic, and…00:26:55.000 --> 00:27:06.000Pete Meyer: say, there's no way I'm gonna go down, you know, I'm not gonna go down that hill. And, uh, so we found our ski patrol having to give a lot of lessons just to get people down the hill, and…00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:00.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:13.000Pete Meyer: And, um, and so we, we just, we kind of knew that we had a, you know, a little bit of an issue that we had to work through.00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:21.000Pete Meyer: And so Pete and I would be talking, you know, and I would say, I think I have it all figured out, you know, I'm saying, um…00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:34.000Pete Meyer: we just need to give them… make sure that all the… every single new skier gets a lesson, and we get them ready to… you know, we get them ready to go. And a lot of the… a lot of this is the school groups, you know, the different groups, and we do offer lessons.00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:40.000Pete Meyer: to everybody, but sometimes they don't take them, and, you know, they slide, they slide through, and…00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:42.000Pete Meyer: And so.00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:50.000Pete Meyer: Pete and I were having a meeting on Green Mountain with our ski patrol director, Katie, and Dennis, one of our top instructors.00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:59.000Pete Meyer: And we think we have it all figured out. You know, we're just we just need to put them through a lesson and then and then problem solved.00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:00.000Pete Meyer: And…00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:12.000Pete Meyer: And Dennis, our ski instructor, was like, almost grabbed right onto my jacket. He's like, you don't understand. I can't get them ready for East Peak on this.00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:23.000Pete Meyer: we need something in between, and I… and… and so it's like, oh, oh, well, what do you need, Dennis? And he pointed up at the Green Mountain, and he said, we need that.00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:41.000Pete Meyer: And I… I said, well, I think we have a plan for that on a cocktail napkin somewhere. We could go look at that again. So basically, what… what hap… what it was is we… we had always had this. We… we actually had lift lines staked out, and we hadn't been looking at doing this. We just thought it would be…00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:51.000Pete Meyer: the last thing that we do. We thought we would… we would continue to develop into the… into the backcountry area, and then do the Green Mountain expansion later.00:28:51.000 --> 00:29:06.000Pete Meyer: But what the… what the customer told us was, no, you need the Green Mountain expansion now. So that's the why and the how, that all of a sudden that thing kind of appeared out of nowhere, and why it was a two…00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:14.000Pete Meyer: why it's a two-year construction, because there's nothing over there. No services. Um, so we've had… we had to…00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:18.000Pete Meyer: You know, we had to do the final planning kind of fast.00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:30.000Pete Meyer: so we wanted to take 2 years to do it. Um, and so what are you getting? You're getting about 135 vertical feet, a brand new Doppelmayr triple.00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:38.000Pete Meyer: uh, that's just like East Peak and just like Vista, so it's gonna show this, you know, it's gonna take the new skier, um.00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:43.000Pete Meyer: Uh, and get them going on a lift that's similar to what we have throughout the area.00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:55.000Pete Meyer: it runs a little bit slower, has a bigger chair spacing, so it's going to be a little bit easier to load and unload. And when it's all built out, we should have 4 or 5.00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:00.000Pete Meyer: really, uh, easy trails, but with character. I mean, these aren't just…00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:14.000Pete Meyer: you know, a football field at 10 degrees that doesn't have any character. These are, you know, tree-lined, um, interesting slopes. Uh, the lift itself actually goes through the woods.00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:20.000Pete Meyer: and part of the way, and it's just a really neat development. So we think that.00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:32.000Pete Meyer: You know, even though it's not big vertical, it lifts about a thousand feet long. The terrain has really good character and we think it's going to be really popular.00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:47.000Stuart Winchester: I've always loved that about Cabaret. My favorite section of Cabaret for the folks who are watching is this sort of lower section where all the trails split off. And I've always found it a little confusing and fun. And I like confusing. I like it. I feel like it makes ski areas feel bigger than they are.00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:59.000Stuart Winchester: I want to zoom out a little bit and connect this expansion to some larger ski industry narratives, because the narrative that won't die is that the big corporate consolidation and big passes are killing the independents.00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:15.000Stuart Winchester: here I'm looking at Cabra Fay, family-owned for the last 46 years, and in 2016, you put in a brand new triple chair right here on North Peak. In 2022, you put in the brand new East Peak triple chair, and then you're putting in this brand new Green Mountain triple chair next year, at least that's the plan. I mean…00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:31.000Stuart Winchester: So you're affording three new chairlifts. Uh, you know, Monarch was willing to tell me out in Colorado. Yeah, we, and we paid cash for them. I don't know if you, if you have, you know, theories on debt. I know a lot of scare operators like Platykill in New York, like to stay out of debt, but, but how did Cab.00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:40.000Stuart Winchester: How is Calgary managing all these capital upgrades, and what does it say, do you think, about independents competing in 2026?00:31:41.000 --> 00:32:05.000Pete Meyer: Yeah, I don't have access to the checkbook, so you have to let me answer that one. No, that's a great question, Stu. And Tim kind of hit on this on his first podcast with you, but when Tim and I got moved back here in 2001, we had what I call like soul crushing debt. You know, it was just crippling, like every dollar we made had to go and service the debt.00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:49.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:08.000Pete Meyer: Uh, we didn't have…00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:18.000Pete Meyer: really any money to even make capital improvements or to do much of anything. So our our main mission early on was try to try to get out of debt and get out of that hole.00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:35.000Pete Meyer: And, you know, our dad's done a nice job developing and building, and they got it out of bankruptcy. So when you get something out of bankruptcy, they've already cut every corner and done all kinds of deferred maintenance, pushed it all off. So we had quite a bit to deal with, and it was a long…00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:36.000Pete Meyer: Um…00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:46.000Pete Meyer: the long slugfest. Tim and I call those the dark days, you know, about 10 years of just really grinding. And then, finally, right, you know.00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:58.000Pete Meyer: about 2015, we were able to, uh, to get out of debt, and then… and then we started to, um, really put capital back into it, and that's why we decided on… on…00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:02.000Pete Meyer: Uh, putting in some new chairlifts, and yes, we have not gone back into debt since.00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:14.000Stuart Winchester: That's fantastic, and as you think to the future, okay, you have this North Peak quad chair, built in, I think, 92, and then you have the South Peak triple, which I think early 80s lift, it's a riblet, which…00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:29.000Stuart Winchester: As you know, is out of business now. I think this one's a SeaTac. So, I don't know if when, you know, you give a really good summary, Tim, of how East Peak changed traffic around the mountain. Uh, I, I've seen a, there's a ton of comments. I was just scrolling through, through Lyft blog for the folks watching.00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:41.000Stuart Winchester: to show Peter's excellent pictures of that lift. And the Cabaret page on there has a ton of comments, and I'm sure you've seen them. So, there's a lot of wondering, it seems, among skiers.00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:44.000Stuart Winchester: Why the quad is still here, because it…00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:57.000Stuart Winchester: they don't seem to think it runs a lot, and they think the triple does the job. Is there any thought of moving the quad, or do you really need 7 seats here? Or, just thinking long-term, what does the lift distribution look like across Cabaret Fay as you look at this map?00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:13.000Pete Meyer: Well, I think that we do need the quad on the busiest days, right? Otherwise, the reason we put the Vista Triple in there is the lines on the quad used to get so long. And it was like, that's the artery. I mean, you know, more people.00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:02.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:04.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:17.000Pete Meyer: go through the North Peak complex.00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:34.000Pete Meyer: every day than than the others, you know, because it's the middle. And so it's you go through there on your way to and from South Peak, and a lot of people just ski there because it's really really good inter advanced, intermediate and intermediate type terrain, and even some advanced beginner terrain. So it.00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:20.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:43.000Pete Meyer: It services a wide range of abilities. So I think you want to have the two lifts.00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:45.000Pete Meyer: Um…00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:58.000Pete Meyer: I think ultimately, though, we want to have more places for people to go, more pods of skiing, so that actually you do run the quad less and less, but you have it there so that on the really busy days.00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:14.000Pete Meyer: you can turn it on and have, you know, a lift that doesn't have a line that somebody can sit on and ride up. But, um, I don't know if that answers the question. Yeah, right now, Stu, we run it 3 days a week, Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays, the busier days, and so…00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:13.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:24.000Pete Meyer: Uh, we don't run it, uh, Monday through Thursday, just because it's a redundant lift, and we don't need the uphill capacity, um, is… is why people say it's not running some of the time.00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:41.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I guess what I was getting at is, is there a world where you move the quad over here to serve some of this backcountry terrain and in the top of Green Mountain? As it's, as there's kind of open space on the trail map and, and knowing Gary Milken, how he designs maps, he sometimes leaves that space.00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:57.000Stuart Winchester: for expansion. So, so what's the thought around, you know, and you alluded to it earlier when you were thinking about a lift for backcountry, and Tim, you had mentioned even maybe reviving those halls. I don't know if that's still a possibility. I don't know if they're still sitting at the bottom of the mountain here, but what's the thought on.00:35:57.000 --> 00:36:02.000Stuart Winchester: potential expansion over in this area or lifts in this area long term.00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:17.000Pete Meyer: I think that would be the next frontier. So, somewhere in the bottom… because you've skied here, Stu, you know if you go through the backcountry, you run out of gas, and then you have… and then you have to walk, and that's why we call it backcountry, because it's a…00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:10.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:12.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:27.000Pete Meyer: Because it's a tearful experience for many people coming out of there in the flats. And so somewhere down in that basin.00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:23.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:40.000Pete Meyer: there could, there could be a lift someday that goes up to east of the top of East Peak. And Stu, what Tim had alluded to earlier in his first answer is that that was our original plan, so that would have been.00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:34.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:58.000Pete Meyer: Uh, that was the plan to be our next chairlift, was to service that area. But due to the reaction and the response of our skiers, you know, we deviated and focused on… and moved to Green Mountain. Um, and, you know, one thing we found is that transition from the magic carpet, right there on the trail map, you can see, to the East Peak chair.00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:57.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:36:57.000 --> 00:36:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:15.000Pete Meyer: was just too much for most of our skiers. And not only were we not doing Cabaret any favors, but we're not doing the industry any favors. You know, it's just, it was asking them to do too much, too big of a, make too much of a jump. So by putting in this East Peak.00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:03.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:30.000Pete Meyer: chair, and then we'll have all green runs that'll all be, um, varying degrees of difficulty of a green run, but all of them will be in between the Magic Carpet slope and the Smiling Irishman slope, so it'll be a really nice.00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:18.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:43.000Pete Meyer: transition, and quite frankly, we think a lot of school groups and a lot of skiers are going to come out, um, and never get off that chair, and stay on Green Mountain all day, and have a wildly successful day, and want to return, um, to not only Cabaret Fay, but to other ski.00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:48.000Stuart Winchester: I love it, and I can confidently say, because I ski all over, uh, that Cabaret is now…00:37:48.000 --> 00:38:04.000Stuart Winchester: And, and especially once you put in this new lift, it's one of the most modern up to date ski areas in the entire region. And, and that wasn't always true. When I first skied at Cabaret in the nineties, it was a lot of haul double chairs. I mean, these, these guys were over here, the, the quad and the, and the triple, but.00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:11.000Stuart Winchester: that, that throwback feel to it. And I know, Tim, when you were on last time, uh, you, you talked, you lamented a little bit.00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:23.000Stuart Winchester: getting rid of the last rope toe for the carpet, and just sort of the emotion of it, even though you knew it was logically the right thing. What if you could bring back a little throwback by putting a little rope toe right here to bring people out of the backcountry?00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:27.000Pete Meyer: Well, you know, it's funny, I…00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:36.000Pete Meyer: I was kind of slow to warm up to getting rid of that rope toe. I guess, you know, I always had that old school…00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:52.000Pete Meyer: you know, I learned on a rope toe, my kids learned on a rope toe, your kids are going to learn on a rope toe, which is just backwards thinking, right, for a for a ski area manager to have that kind of thought process. I'm not sure. I know where you're going. I mean, no one knows what the future holds.00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:41.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:43.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:38:52.000 --> 00:39:09.000Pete Meyer: I do see ski areas having a lot of success with train parks with fast tows that service them. Again, another cocktail napkin plan that we have that we're not going to get into in this interview is something like that on our property down the road.00:38:58.000 --> 00:38:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:16.000Pete Meyer: Um, so there, you know, I could see that kind of a thing, but, um…00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:26.000Pete Meyer: And… but I think… I don't know if we would ever want to put a surface tow out of the backcountry area unless, for some reason, we weren't going to lift serve it.00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:27.000Stuart Winchester: Got it.00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:31.000Pete Meyer: But, you know, I guess, you know, no one knows for sure.00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:31.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:37.000Pete Meyer: Um, but I wanna… I wanna back up on the Green Mountain expansion a little bit, if… if you'll let me.00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:36.000Stuart Winchester: Sure.00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:38.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, do it. Let's do it.00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:44.000Pete Meyer: When we were at the Midwest, uh, show this year, there was a, there was a fireside chat, and we were talking about.00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:54.000Pete Meyer: We're talking about, you know, turning first-time skiers into second-time skiers, and making the experience the best it can be.00:39:54.000 --> 00:40:06.000Pete Meyer: And so that we have… we have success in that arena. And the Green Mountain… the Green Mountain is… is really a missing piece, because you're looking at our trail map, and you see how the parking lot is laid out.00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:07.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:12.000Pete Meyer: Um, so if you're, you know, trying to make it as easy as possible for somebody who's never skied before.00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:17.000Pete Meyer: You can park on pavement right in front of our ticket office.00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:18.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:24.000Pete Meyer: Get out of your car, walk a short distance on heated sidewalks to the ticket office.00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:23.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:36.000Pete Meyer: Get… pay for everything you need. Pay for your skis, pay for your ticket, pay for your rentals, pay for your lesson, and then walk up to the… walk up to the, um…00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:37.000Pete Meyer: Rental.00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:38.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:52.000Pete Meyer: In your, in your regular boots, so it's easy walking, go inside, take your stuff off, take your boots off, get your boots, get your skis and come and then, and then secure your lesson at the end and then walk out the door.00:40:52.000 --> 00:41:09.000Pete Meyer: And you're 30, you know, you're 30 feet from where the ski school meets and you're right at the bottom of the conveyor. So it's really easy to start out and we can get you going on the conveyor. We can virtually get anybody that can stand up on skis or snowboard up to the top.00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:10.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:13.000Pete Meyer: And then put, you know, all their energy into getting them down the hill.00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:28.000Pete Meyer: And then once you outgrow that, you just get off the conveyor and you ski down a little slope right onto the East Peak lift. Or, I'm sorry, onto the Green Mountain lift. So now you're right there, and you have this real easy area.00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:24.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:37.000Pete Meyer: to learn to ski, and then when you, when you're ready, you just ski down, just ski down the hill to the east peak lift. So the, the flow.00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:42.000Pete Meyer: for that never ever in the in the ah, the the.00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:51.000Pete Meyer: possibility of getting them to come a second and third and fourth time is really real, and I think… I think we're in, like, a new stratosphere for getting…00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:59.000Pete Meyer: you know, getting people, uh, skiing. And then as it flows, you know, the next step, the next place to ski is East Peak.00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:10.000Pete Meyer: And then as you get a little more daring, you work your way into the North Peak complex, and then eventually over to South Peak. So the flow is really natural, and I think it's going to work out extremely well.00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:21.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, it's like a mini, uh, Copper Mountain. I know you're a Winter Park guy, but it, you know, the, the, the viability… You know what, the exciting thing, I think, for skiers who are not novices, who know Cabaret Faye well.00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:12.000Pete Meyer: Yeah.00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:38.000Stuart Winchester: starts to creep back into old Caber Fay. And, and when we've talked a while ago, Tim, I, I didn't have a good perspective, but some new maps have popped up on ski map.org, which is my go to for old trail maps. And this one I think shows the old terrain really well. So here's the road looping around, here's the parking lot.00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:47.000Stuart Winchester: And then here's all the terrain. And so I… Google Earth also makes it really easy. So as I go here…00:42:47.000 --> 00:43:02.000Stuart Winchester: I am, for those who are watching, I am zooming in on… so this is what you were talking about, you kind of just park on pavement, you get out here, for those watching on YouTube or StormSkiing.com, the carpet's right around here, and then this will be green, is that right?00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:07.000Pete Meyer: No, if you go, if you, if you go back to that old, old trail map, like you can see right to there, there's a.00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:06.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:14.000Pete Meyer: A rope toe — there's two rope toes right there, right up that line, top of that peak. There was two rope toes.00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:12.000Stuart Winchester: Right there? Okay.00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:13.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:19.000Pete Meyer: Uh, heading up that way, and another rope tow coming out at 90 degrees from… from the top.00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:19.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:20.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:37.000Pete Meyer: And that shack still is up there to this day. It's a two-story tow shack where we had three different rope tows coming in. So it's going to come right up to the top of that. And that area was always called practice area. That was the old name of it. So if you look at old trail maps, you'll see that word practice area.00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:24.000Stuart Winchester: That's cool.00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:26.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:43:37.000 --> 00:43:41.000Pete Meyer: It's a great name for a learn to ski area.00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:54.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, here's another map, the 1971 map has it as practice area. Okay, so I was assuming that you were digging that up, but I guess you're taking earth from there for the other… is that where you took it for East Peak? Is that what this big sandpit is?00:43:53.000 --> 00:44:07.000Pete Meyer: Oh, that's more of the West Ridge area out into that area. So we're actually off to the left. It's all still green. Up into there, yeah, so it'll be a nice natural hilltop with big mature trees, tree line runs. It's gonna be really, it's gonna be really nice.00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:57.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:00.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:02.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:18.000Stuart Winchester: So as you… so you can see, for those watching, this is old cab buffet. These are… this is all abandoned, right? I… do you still own this? I mean, it… because once you put the lift up here.00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:37.000Stuart Winchester: It seems like it could potentially open some of this backside terrain. I know people would love that. It also makes you very big. I don't know if that's on your radar as Cabaret continues to grow and succeed, but what are the thoughts on this really cool abandoned terrain that you have back here? And Tim, I know we talked about this a few years ago, but I also know that thoughts evolve over time.00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:44.000Pete Meyer: So we do still own all of that. So that area you're looking at, we do own it.00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:41.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:55.000Pete Meyer: I think that we don't have any plans to go back into that area at this time, but you never know.00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:52.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:44:53.000 --> 00:44:54.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:44:55.000 --> 00:45:04.000Pete Meyer: Going back, though, a little bit, we don't want to get too far into the weeds. Unless you want to get into the weeds, we can go. Um, I brought my machete, so we can…00:45:03.000 --> 00:45:06.000Stuart Winchester: I live in the weeds, man, that's, uh, my…00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:22.000Pete Meyer: we can do what we need to do. But when… way back, going way back to 1982, 83, when South Peak opened, you know, South Peak was redeveloped, all that… a lot of that terrain was still running back then. We were riding T-bars and rope tows on the North Ridge, and West Ridge was alive, and.00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:09.000Stuart Winchester: Yes.00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:13.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:18.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:21.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:31.000Pete Meyer: The practice area tow was still running. So I remember that stuff, you know, as a kid, all happening. And when South Peak was built.00:45:31.000 --> 00:45:43.000Pete Meyer: it was so much bigger than all that, you know, vertical-wise. It was, like, twice, you know, twice the vertical, um, real snowmaking, real grooming.00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:37.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:56.000Pete Meyer: people just abandoned the back… the back hills. They just went… they left that. They left that area, and they went to Salt Peak. And that's really why it all closed, is people just stopped going back there. It just wasn't as good. So…00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:46.000Stuart Winchester: Or did they?00:45:56.000 --> 00:46:00.000Pete Meyer: I often think maybe it just is better to be a memory.00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:05.000Pete Meyer: But but who knows? You know, down the road it could be what it could be.00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:16.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I think between opening the backcountry and that, uh, the Green Mountain expansion, I think you excited some folks. Alright, that, that's, uh, that's, that's all really cool. I appreciate you taking me inside that. Let's talk passes now, and I'm.00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:19.000Stuart Winchester: the screen share here. So, uh…00:46:19.000 --> 00:46:36.000Stuart Winchester: Cabrefe joined IndyPass as an inaugural member in 2019, and has been on that pass every season since, for the 2026-27 season. Cabrefe has, and I'm just laying this out for the listeners, uh, Cabrefe has departed the IndyPass and has joined.00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:51.000Stuart Winchester: The full icon pass, uh, on their two day tier, which is only on the full icon pass, not on the icon base, there's no access, and there's also holiday blackout, so the only mountains that are holiday blacked out on the full icon are the, the two day mountains, of which.00:46:51.000 --> 00:46:55.000Stuart Winchester: Cabaret is now one. So, so talk us through.00:46:55.000 --> 00:47:03.000Stuart Winchester: your experience with IndiePass and the decision, ultimately, to leave that partnership and to join up with ICON.00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:09.000Pete Meyer: Yeah, sure, Stu, we have a feeling this might be a topic of conversation today, so…00:47:07.000 --> 00:47:08.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:11.000Pete Meyer: So we.00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:11.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:22.000Pete Meyer: There's a lot of layers to this answer, and this decision was not made quickly or lightly, and a lot of analysis and discussion went into it.00:47:22.000 --> 00:47:37.000Pete Meyer: To be quite honest, we were… we've been frustrated with the IndyPass a little bit for a couple years, and we kind of… we kind of laid out a bunch of, um, the pros and cons list, and the cons list was a lot longer than the pros, and so we… we ultimately kind of came to this decision to exit, and um…00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:53.000Pete Meyer: We're going to talk about — I'll talk about a couple of those reasons now. But before I do, I think it's important to provide some history and some context with Cadbury and IndyPass. So as you mentioned, Indy launched in 2019. We were an early adopter. We had some great conversations with Doug Fish that summer.00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:41.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:46.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:47:53.000 --> 00:48:10.000Pete Meyer: Doug worked really hard to get this pass going. We really enjoyed our conversations. He kind of could answer the questions that nobody could answer. He knew things that nobody else knew. And I still remember to this day, I'm like, Doug, how do you know all this? And he's like in his raspy voice.00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:21.000Pete Meyer: I just know, you know, so it's like, it was kind of cool. So we had confidence that, uh, that he could implement this pass and make it successful, um, because he knew what it took. So we…00:48:19.000 --> 00:48:26.000Stuart Winchester: I'm sorry to interrupt. I may have been the first ever Cabaret Redemption on the Indie Pass since November 2019.00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:25.000Pete Meyer: You know what? That's this.00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:30.000Pete Meyer: It wasn't, it was December 5th, 2019.00:48:29.000 --> 00:48:31.000Stuart Winchester: Okay. It…00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:39.000Pete Meyer: So, I was gonna get into that in a little bit, but now I'll hit on that. So then, um, in digging through all these redemptions, which I was gonna get into.00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:34.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, okay, go ahead.00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:40.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Sorry, I spoiled it.00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:56.000Pete Meyer: And pouring this data, I was like, Stuart Winchester, you were redemption number one for us. I don't know if you knew that. And I remember it to this day because I never heard your name. I never heard of your podcast. I don't even know if you had it going then.00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:42.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:48:47.000 --> 00:48:49.000Stuart Winchester: Wow, that's cool.00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:53.000Stuart Winchester: Yah.00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.000Stuart Winchester: It launched, uh, that October, so it was brand new. Mm-hmm.00:48:57.000 --> 00:48:59.000Pete Meyer: That October? Okay.00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:14.000Pete Meyer: So the… our… my office is right behind the ticket window, and the ticket teller… our office… the ticket manager wasn't in there, so the ticket teller came and got me when he came to the window. I have this, uh, IndiePass, I don't know what to do with it. So I was showing her how to…00:49:03.000 --> 00:49:04.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:09.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:18.000Pete Meyer: redeem it in in Brooklyn.00:49:18.000 --> 00:49:43.000Pete Meyer: New York pops up. Oh, I got to talk to this guy. I go, you mean that you drove all the way here just to ski at Cabra Faith in Brooklyn, New York? And you're like, yeah, I did. And I thought, I'm like, this pass is awesome, right? It's great, guys. But then we talked a little bit more and you said you had family in the area and we're in the area for a while. So I was really high for a long time on the UniPass because of that. But I didn't know it was you until I was digging through the data. I'm like, oh, that's.00:49:19.000 --> 00:49:20.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:36.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:37.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:40.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, so.00:49:42.000 --> 00:49:44.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, that's cool.00:49:43.000 --> 00:49:58.000Pete Meyer: That's that's so. So anyways, anyways, we'll where was I? So okay, so then we were the first as part of that. Then we were the 1st ski resort in the Lower Peninsula to to commit to the to Indy Pass, and I'm not sure about.00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:46.000Stuart Winchester: Love that.00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:01.000Pete Meyer: Um, the UP, uh.00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:16.000Pete Meyer: But the only one in the Lower Peninsula. And so we knew at that time, well, this isn't going to do anything unless we get a couple more ski resorts to join. So we had reached out to a few. And Pete Bigford was interested. And he was the CEO and president of Shanty Creek at the time.00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:30.000Pete Meyer: And Pete had said, yeah, we'll do it, but we need a couple of downstate resorts to join as well. So then we reached out to Jamie at Swiss Valley, she said yes, and Doug at Cannonsburg, and he said yes. So that first year, we had four.00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:33.000Pete Meyer: Um, resorts on the Indy Pass. And…00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:45.000Pete Meyer: During that time he that 1st year he charged resorts a thousand dollars to get in. So we we had conversations. We're like, well, let's let's try it. The worst we can do is be out a thousand dollars right? So we had these.00:50:45.000 --> 00:51:00.000Pete Meyer: 4 ski areas in, and we did… I think we did 44 redemptions that first year. It was… it was virtually nothing. I don't even think it covered the… the $1,000. It might have come… but… but we liked the concept, it was neat, and the word got out, and then… and then Crystal Mountain joined, um, the next year.00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:53.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, wow. Okay.00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:06.000Pete Meyer: Uh, and then, so we kind of hit a critical mass there, and then it was a really good pass, um.00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:16.000Pete Meyer: for a long time, for a while, for several years. And one thing that Doug had said, and during that first year, I think in 2019, they had about 50.00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:32.000Pete Meyer: ski resorts on the pass, if I remember. And he said, I really hope to get it to 80 to maybe 100 passes. Um, and you as an early adopter, um, Cabaret will have say who gets in, in, in your particular region, because I really want to keep it, do just a couple ski resorts per region.00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:37.000Pete Meyer: not to not to oversaturate the market. Like, yeah, great. This sounds sounds really good.00:51:37.000 --> 00:51:40.000Pete Meyer: So then as we go on, um…00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:50.000Pete Meyer: he sells the pass to, uh, Entebani and Eric. Um, and great for Doug, we're happy for Doug, he worked really hard to make that pass, good for him for selling it. Um, can't fault him.00:51:50.000 --> 00:52:05.000Pete Meyer: Um, and then we like to say, like, Eric, Eric took the pass and put it on steroids. You know, it's just, he, he's, he's done a wonderful job with it. You know, he's obviously very, very intelligent, very successful, running three different businesses, um, um, and doing well at all of them.00:51:56.000 --> 00:51:57.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.000Pete Meyer: But he's blown it up. He just had a different mission.00:52:09.000 --> 00:52:13.000Pete Meyer: than than Doug had. Right? So what did that evolve into?00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:14.000Stuart Winchester: Blowing it up, you mean making bigger, right?00:52:14.000 --> 00:52:22.000Pete Meyer: Yeah, making it bigger. Like, Doug was gonna keep it small and couple to each region, and we were gonna have an input on, you know.00:52:14.000 --> 00:52:15.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:17.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:52:23.000 --> 00:52:35.000Pete Meyer: to try to prevent it from being oversaturated. So, I know the Midwest has a lot of ski areas on the pass, but, like, our world is Michigan and our, more specifically, northern Michigan.00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:27.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:36.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:38.000Pete Meyer: So it got down to where we had 6.00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:56.000Pete Meyer: um, ski resorts within a 60-mile radius in northern Michigan, right? So if you drop a pin, you can drive within, within 60 miles, you can get to six resorts on it. Um, that density just became too much for us, because that's 12 visits, right? If a skier buys an Andy Pass, they can ski 12 times, two at each place. It's great for them, they get a lot of.00:52:42.000 --> 00:52:43.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:52:57.000 --> 00:53:12.000Pete Meyer: Um, the problem is, is what we're seeing, and we're watching the numbers every year, um, and it was easy to do because there's not a ton of redemptions, but how many of those people were former Passovers, right? And that percentage kept rising every year.00:53:11.000 --> 00:53:12.000Stuart Winchester: Mmm.00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:25.000Pete Meyer: So what it became and evolved into is just a direct competitor of our own season pass product. And that's ultimately reason number one why we — it just oversaturated.00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:25.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:26.000Pete Meyer: And.00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:27.000Stuart Winchester: So, go ahead.00:53:26.000 --> 00:53:28.000Pete Meyer: And, you know, so…00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:34.000Pete Meyer: I and I think the the Indy Pass really for a lot of ski resorts.00:53:34.000 --> 00:53:51.000Pete Meyer: doesn't move the needle a ton, um, financially. Uh, for… for us, it really didn't, and I felt like we were… did a reasonable number of redemptions, so we could… we could take it… take it or leave it. It doesn't have a big impact. It affects the customer more. Like, that decision was hard, the person who bought it in the past.00:53:51.000 --> 00:53:56.000Pete Meyer: Um, but I think Eric's a stand-up guy. He'll let anybody who…00:53:56.000 --> 00:54:07.000Pete Meyer: who bought an E-Pass, and their favorite resort is not on that, they'll give a refund to anybody who wants one. So the Cabaret listeners know that, and I think that's nice of him to do. Also, for those.00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:02.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:54:07.000 --> 00:54:19.000Pete Meyer: um, Cabaret, uh, listeners who bought an Indy add-on. He'll honor that for this year, from what I understand. So, it's a couple of really good things that he's doing there, so we're thankful, thankful for that. But, um.00:54:19.000 --> 00:54:28.000Pete Meyer: through conversations, and we just decided it was time to get out. So that's reason number one. I got a couple more reasons if you've got time.00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:26.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:41.000Stuart Winchester: Well, let's linger on that for a second. I mean, for me, it just comes down to good old-fashioned free market competition, right? Where there's another pass available that is looking for smaller mountains like Caber Fay. It also signed mountains like Buck Hill and.00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:58.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, and uh… Wild Mountain over in Minnesota, just small areas near populations that are popular. I saw you catching some heat in comments to me, you know, on my platforms and social media, because you go from the Indy Pass, which maxed out at $419.00:54:58.000 --> 00:55:16.000Stuart Winchester: to the full Icon, which is $1,449 right now, and I know you can upgrade and buy a discounted Icon session pass, but I don't want to overstate it. What's the reaction been like from your pass holders, and how have you handled that?00:55:16.000 --> 00:55:24.000Stuart Winchester: The fact that you're no longer available on the cheap discounted pass, multi-mountain pass, but you are available on the very expensive one.00:55:24.000 --> 00:55:27.000Pete Meyer: Great question, great question, because we've been getting…00:55:27.000 --> 00:55:42.000Pete Meyer: Uh, we've been getting both, uh, good and, and bad feedback from it. So, what, what it comes down to is the, is the decision to, to, uh, leave Indy and, and join OCCON. Those, those decisions were, were mutually exclusive. Like, like, we had made the decision to.00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:43.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:52.000Pete Meyer: to leave Indy, um, before we even started to Icon. And we had a lot of conversations of, hey, let's just… let's just be… let's just be independent and not on any… any, uh…00:55:52.000 --> 00:56:08.000Pete Meyer: Multi resort pass, you know, there's a lot of really successful and really nice ski resorts that have that model, like Perfect North Slopes, Cascade in Wisconsin. We always go out and ski somewhere every spring and I went out to the Tahoe area this year and skied at Mount Rose, you know, that place is.00:55:58.000 --> 00:55:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:03.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:09.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:18.000Pete Meyer: that place is phenomenal. They're not on any, any, um, any pants. And, um, it was neat to ski there, and just see they had a similar vibe and feel that, um, Cabaret had, right?00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:11.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:56:11.000 --> 00:56:13.000Stuart Winchester: Right. That's right.00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:18.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:56:18.000 --> 00:56:23.000Pete Meyer: So quite a bit more, quite a bit more. Yeah, yeah.00:56:18.000 --> 00:56:21.000Stuart Winchester: Just a little more elevation.00:56:21.000 --> 00:56:24.000Stuart Winchester: They're at, like, 9,000 feet.00:56:23.000 --> 00:56:27.000Pete Meyer: Absolutely, but it was great terrain. So.00:56:24.000 --> 00:56:25.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:26.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:56:27.000 --> 00:56:29.000Pete Meyer: After we left the Indy Pass.00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:31.000Pete Meyer: Then we, um…00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:46.000Pete Meyer: Started talking to the folks at ICON, and I want to give a shout out to Aaron Keene and Caitlin Windauer, those girls are really sharp and would answer all the questions. It kind of reminded me of the early DuckFish days where they were all knowing and knew a lot of answers to everything.00:56:46.000 --> 00:56:53.000Pete Meyer: We talked to them for a long time. We weren't in any rush to make a decision to go down this road.00:56:52.000 --> 00:56:54.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:56:53.000 --> 00:56:57.000Pete Meyer: And you know what ultimately decided for us is.00:56:57.000 --> 00:57:10.000Pete Meyer: We want to do what's best for our core customer, and our core customer is our season pass holder, okay? And this IndyPass or this IconPass brought on this reciprocal benefit of a three-day.00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:27.000Pete Meyer: 3 day session pass you can get for 50% off. Right? And that adds a lot of value. To our pass holders. And so we've been hit as much as the negativity that you've seen online for leaving any pass, we've been getting messages from our pass holders saying, hey, thank you for this benefit. This is great.00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:13.000Stuart Winchester: It's.00:57:13.000 --> 00:57:15.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, three day. Yeah. Okay.00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:19.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:57:27.000 --> 00:57:43.000Pete Meyer: I'm gonna use it. I'm gonna take a trip. And then we've known we've gone out west together and 3 days of skiing is plenty. Like we like to ski bell to bell and it's you're by that 3rd day you're waking up and you're like you can't even move your legs for you know we're so so we think it's a nice.00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:31.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:57:37.000 --> 00:57:38.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, yeah.00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:41.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:57:43.000 --> 00:57:55.000Pete Meyer: Uh, you can ski locally here, you can head up in, um, hit up, hit up both Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands, or drive over to, uh, Blue Mountain, Ontario, so you don't have to get in a plane. So it's.00:57:55.000 --> 00:58:11.000Pete Meyer: Uh, of our pass holders. Cause we know, we know, Stuart, that nobody's going to buy a full icon pass for two days at Cabaret. We, we know that that wasn't even the, like Pete said, we're, we do like our independence and, and.00:57:57.000 --> 00:57:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, yeah.00:58:03.000 --> 00:58:04.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:06.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:58:11.000 --> 00:58:25.000Pete Meyer: And we like to create these partnerships that are good for our core customers. The people that commit to us, we're going to give you the best we can. And so, you know, that that three day session pass is just it's it's.00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:29.000Pete Meyer: It's a it's a great benefit for our core customers.00:58:29.000 --> 00:58:47.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, it's like you take a trip to Steamboat, or Palisades Tahoe, or a lot of the mountains that are on that. So, you know, it all makes sense, and I like the, you know, Boyne, Cabaret, sort of on one team, and then you have Nubs, and Crystal, and Treetops, and Shani on the other. I think that's good for skiers, it's good for.00:58:47.000 --> 00:59:03.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, two more, two more things I wanna talk about and then we'll get out of here. Uh, I, I really wanna talk about your season pass. $299 unlimited. I think it was even a little cheaper for early birds, but that's what it is right now. Uh, 219 for weekday, 129 for Sunday. That, that's an awesome, awesome deal.00:59:03.000 --> 00:59:18.000Stuart Winchester: by any measure. I noticed you no longer have the Saturday-Sunday pass, and I think it's been a couple years, and it also… Saturday lift tickets are more than Sunday, so it seems as though, from my point of view, you're really trying to manage the experience on Saturday. So, talk about your season pass suite.00:59:18.000 --> 00:59:27.000Stuart Winchester: And how that relates to your mountain management as far as making sure when people show up, they have a good experience.00:59:27.000 --> 00:59:42.000Pete Meyer: No, you're exactly right. You hit the nail on the head right there. We're trying to preserve the Saturday experience. That's the day everybody wants to ski. So if you're going to be on a pass and ski at Calgary on a pass, you got to have the seven-day week pass.00:59:42.000 --> 01:00:00.000Pete Meyer: And we wanted to protect that experience and not get overcrowded, not get overrun, and that's one of the main reasons that we got rid of the weekend pass. The weekend pass, we roll out, it was a $99 weekend pass in 2007 when we launched that, and that thing went all the way till.01:00:01.000 --> 01:00:14.000Pete Meyer: I think 2000 or 2001, we had that, so we had that for a long time, and that brought a lot of skiers here and exposed us as we continued to get better, and they saw the resort that we had, and all the work that Tim was doing on the hill.01:00:14.000 --> 01:00:21.000Pete Meyer: And then that just evolved into trying to manage the volume levels on Saturdays.01:00:21.000 --> 01:00:38.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, it's a, it's, it's a great deal. And, uh, you know, even, even as it's risen past 99, I mean, you know, 299, there's, there's a lot of resorts in the West that are charging more than that for a day this year. Beaver Creek's topping out at 392. So I love it. Okay. The last thing I want to.01:00:38.000 --> 01:00:48.000Stuart Winchester: This one's a little personal, and I know I talked to you about this, uh, it was about 4 years ago, Tim or Pete, I forget, it was maybe both of you I was talking to. So I want to talk about this Trail Starkey.01:00:48.000 --> 01:01:03.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, I knew Dick Starkey. I'm friends with his daughter Crystal from way back. We went to school together. Uh, and, and I met him and I, I was always just remember being very impressed by him. He had a really good presence. Uh, he was, he was very fit and active and, and did a lot of things.01:01:03.000 --> 01:01:09.000Stuart Winchester: Um, I didn't know him super well, but I met him a few times, and… and I… I just want to talk about, you know, he passed.01:01:09.000 --> 01:01:25.000Stuart Winchester: Four or five years ago now, and I noticed this trail and, and I said, oh, is that, is that named after Dick? And, and you said it was. So, uh, can, can you talk about the Starkey trail? Talk about Dick Starkey and, and, uh, his legacy at Cabre Fay and, and, and why it was fitting to name a.01:01:27.000 --> 01:01:34.000Pete Meyer: Yeah, Dick was a volunteer patroller at SP, patroller at Caber Fay for…01:01:34.000 --> 01:01:42.000Pete Meyer: I think… I… I think as long as… as my dad was around, you know, uh, Dick was there, and so, you know.01:01:39.000 --> 01:01:40.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.01:01:42.000 --> 01:01:52.000Pete Meyer: 40… however many years, 40… 40-some years, he was a patroller at Cabaret, and uh… you know, just had a big presence, you know, you knew him.01:01:52.000 --> 01:01:53.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.01:01:52.000 --> 01:02:01.000Pete Meyer: Played football at Ferris. Great stories about that. He was a captain and so he's tough.01:01:54.000 --> 01:01:55.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.01:02:01.000 --> 01:02:02.000Pete Meyer: And.01:02:02.000 --> 01:02:17.000Pete Meyer: just a… just a great guy, great patroller, great mentor, um, a ton… lots and lots of stories about Dick Starkey for another day, but, uh, just somebody that we wanted to honor, and, um, so, you know, we made that change.01:02:17.000 --> 01:02:21.000Stuart Winchester: And why this trail? Why this, uh, why did you choose this one?01:02:24.000 --> 01:02:35.000Pete Meyer: you know, that… I don't… I don't know why we picked that one. We just… we… we… I think we… the, um… the previous name was an old, you know, an older name that… that… that honored a…01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:47.000Pete Meyer: an older ski instructor, but I think we thought, you know, maybe… maybe it was time for a change there. Some… maybe just something a little more relevant to… someone more relevant to…01:02:41.000 --> 01:02:43.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.01:02:47.000 --> 01:02:52.000Pete Meyer: You know, this this last, you know, 40 years of caprophage tradition.01:02:51.000 --> 01:02:57.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. And, and I believe, I believe Crystal still, uh, volunteer patrols there as well, right? Yeah.01:02:56.000 --> 01:02:59.000Pete Meyer: Yes. Yes, she is.01:02:57.000 --> 01:03:03.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, that's great. I haven't talked to her in a minute, but hi, Crystal. Hope you're doing great. Pete.01:03:03.000 --> 01:03:05.000Pete Meyer: No, no, not about the trail.01:03:04.000 --> 01:03:22.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, okay, all right. Well, hey, listen, guys, I really appreciate catching up with you. There's so much always going on at Cabaret, and we were long overdue, so let's do it again soon, and I gotta get up there and ski that East Peak lift, because I haven't been in a minute, so I really appreciate that, and I'll talk to you guys soon, and thanks so much.01:03:22.000 --> 01:03:25.000Pete Meyer: Thanks, Stuart. Thanks a lot, Stu. Appreciate it.01:03:24.000 --> 01:03:26.000Stuart Winchester: All right, talk soon.01:03:26.000 --> 01:03:28.000Stuart Winchester: All right, let me just…01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:43.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, that was Tim and Pete Meyer of Cabaret. I love Cabaret. It was my pseudo home mountain when I lived in Michigan. It was just 90 minutes down the road, so I never had a season pass there.01:03:43.000 --> 01:03:51.000Stuart Winchester: but I would go there a lot. I mean, and this was, you know, lift tickets were $20 or something back then, so it didn't really matter, and they had a lot of specials. So, I want to…01:03:51.000 --> 01:03:57.000Stuart Winchester: wrap up today, I want to talk about lift tickets a little bit, because there's some lift ticket deals going on.01:03:57.000 --> 01:03:59.000Stuart Winchester: And…01:03:59.000 --> 01:04:14.000Stuart Winchester: I'll tell you about the deals first, and then I'll, I'll tell you what I make of them as a, as a theme. So we're gonna focus on Colorado for a moment. So Arapahoe Basin, to celebrate its 80th anniversary, is doing $80 lift tickets every Wednesday.01:04:14.000 --> 01:04:29.000Stuart Winchester: from late December through April, except for December 30th, which is holiday week, of course. Uh, they are $50 on Wednesdays outside of those windows, so early season at A-Basin, and then late season, and of course, uh, the mountain typically goes until June.01:04:29.000 --> 01:04:35.000Stuart Winchester: $80 lift ticket today, based in on their anniversary weekend, Saturday and Sunday, December 5th and 6th.01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:45.000Stuart Winchester: Also, anyone born in 1946, making you 80 years old, skis free all winter. Uh, A-Basin has a lot of ways to get in cheap. They have 3-day packs.01:04:45.000 --> 01:05:00.000Stuart Winchester: With no blackouts, any day, use any 3 days for $249. They have midweek packs, 5 days for $319. Midweek season pass is $539, and a full is $699, and of course, A-Basin is unlimited on both the Icon and the Icon.01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:03.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, base pass, and I wanna see…01:05:03.000 --> 01:05:08.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, they did get rid of the fall pass. I had…01:05:09.000 --> 01:05:21.000Stuart Winchester: I had emailed, because… because A-Basin used to have this great pass for, like, 250 bucks. It was from opening day until Christmas, but they did get rid of it. Uh, and… and they… Shayna from A-Basin emailed, and she told me.01:05:21.000 --> 01:05:37.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, for background, that was a very small audience for, for us who were interested in the Fall Pass pack. So, uh, so thank you, Shayna, for getting back to me so quickly, and I'd sent that right before the podcast started. So, so A-Basin deals on Wednesdays, you know, put that down in your.01:05:37.000 --> 01:05:55.000Stuart Winchester: List if you, if you wanna actually day ski and maybe you have an epic pass, but you wanna, you miss a basin. Uh, and then Thursdays Copper Mountain is again doing $99 Thursdays. They're play for every Thursdays and a portion of that goes to a good cause. They're doing that every Thursday from January 7th to April 8th.01:05:55.000 --> 01:06:04.000Stuart Winchester: Including the holiday week in February, I don't know if that's a mistake, but grab it while you can, because I don't think they can take it back once you buy it. Uh, and then.01:06:04.000 --> 01:06:05.000Stuart Winchester: $99 a copper.01:06:05.000 --> 01:06:19.000Stuart Winchester: starting Monday, April 12th, which is pretty awesome. So, if you wanted to do a little day ski, and, you know, right now you can still buy tickets and everything, or still buy passes, because we're recording this on September 17th.01:06:19.000 --> 01:06:30.000Stuart Winchester: But if you're listening in the future, you could do a Wednesday $80 a day basin, a Thursday $99 at Copper Mountain. It's not a bad couple days in Summit County for a pretty reasonable price, given.01:06:30.000 --> 01:06:44.000Stuart Winchester: prices in 2026 for lift tickets at most mountains. Uh, down the road, Aspen, for its 80th anniversary, is doing $80 lift tickets Saturday and Sunday, December 12th and 13th. They also offered…01:06:44.000 --> 01:07:01.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, tickets for $3 and 75 cents for Monday, December 14th. But those are sold out and they, I'm pretty much sure they sold out instantly. And it's funny ‘cause they didn't even market it at first. And, and Aspen folks tell me they just blew off the shelves. So that is for Aspen's 80th anniversary.01:07:01.000 --> 01:07:17.000Stuart Winchester: Same year as, uh, a basin is celebrating right now. And of course, some of the little guys around there, you know, ski Cooper hasn't announced their lift ticket prices yet. And I know it's small, but it's still, it's, it's a place you can go. It's high. There's no snow making. It's all natural snow.01:07:17.000 --> 01:07:22.000Stuart Winchester: $49 midweek tickets at Ski Cooper last year, maxed out at $99 on weekends.01:07:22.000 --> 01:07:30.000Stuart Winchester: Down the road, if you're on your way to Aspen, Sunlight, which has 1,750 feet of vertical drop.01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:46.000Stuart Winchester: And two brand new lifts. Well, one was from a base and used, but it was only 20 years old. So they put in two brand new lifts last year. Big vertical. Uh, their lift tickets max out at $109. Midweek, they're $74 to $94. It's a fun little area. It gives you Colorado.01:07:46.000 --> 01:07:53.000Stuart Winchester: with a little bit more of a… a throwback Colorado, old Colorado feel. So, so the question here is.01:07:53.000 --> 01:07:57.000Stuart Winchester: Are we starting to see a rationalization?01:07:57.000 --> 01:07:58.000Stuart Winchester: In the lift ticket market.01:07:58.000 --> 01:08:04.000Stuart Winchester: Are we starting to see ski areas value the skier that.01:08:04.000 --> 01:08:19.000Stuart Winchester: maybe has an Icon Pass, but wants to ski another mountain for a day? Or I guess more in this case, since Copper and A-Basin are both Epic Pass mountains, are we seeing them take advantage of the fact that right now, if you look at prices for.01:08:19.000 --> 01:08:27.000Stuart Winchester: Breckenridge, it's $153 to ski on Friday, November 6th. Who knows what they'll have open? Probably not a lot.01:08:27.000 --> 01:08:43.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, it's 180 that day. Breckenridge goes over 300 for peak days. Uh, and on Monday, April 19th, as, as copper has dropped to 99, Breck right now is set to have a $179 walkup price for Monday, April 19th. So.01:08:43.000 --> 01:08:49.000Stuart Winchester: I think you're seeing some smart reactions from some of the…01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:55.000Stuart Winchester: larger players and showing there's still a competitive market in Colorado. The question is…01:08:55.000 --> 01:09:07.000Stuart Winchester: will Vail follow? In their earnings call, one of their earnings calls recently, uh, Rob Katz, or their end-of-year earnings, their CEO, Rob Katz, said that Lyft ticket sales had softened considerably.01:09:07.000 --> 01:09:14.000Stuart Winchester: To absolutely no one's surprise, uh, because of the price of lift tickets. So, Ken Vale…01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:27.000Stuart Winchester: find a way in the softer seasons to start to compete, because it's clear that their direct compe

CVA has been known for muzzleloaders for decades but that's only part of the story today.Tony Smotherman from CVA Firearms joins us to talk about how the brand has evolved, from the Cascade bolt-action rifle lineup and Scout single-shots to some pretty wild advancements in modern muzzleloader technology.We get into why the 7 PRC has taken off, what makes a single-shot rifle a different hunting experience, suppressor-ready platforms, turkey guns, and how CVA approaches building capable firearms at an attainable price.Then Tony drops something that definitely got our attention: modern CVA muzzleloaders being pushed effectively to 800 and even 1,000 yards.We also talk hunting ethics, making the first shot count, how much muzzleloaders have changed since the old days, and where CVA is headed next.If you still think of CVA as just a muzzleloader company, this conversation might change that.

On February 22, 1910, passengers board the Seattle Express train in Spokane, Washington. They include a pair of lawyers, a new widow, and a paper salesman. They are due to arrive in Seattle the next morning after traveling over the Cascade mountain range. But when a snow storm hits, the train gets stuck at a small, isolated railroad depot. Railroad superintendent James O'Neill must work to free the train and get them off the mountain before they run out of food or an avalanche strikeIf you'd like to learn more, you can listen to the audiobook version of “The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche by Gary Krist right now on Audible.Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Against the Odds ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is going to cover Midwestern skiing whether you like it or not. Don't worry, Colorad-Bro, it's your turn tomorrow.Welcome to the Storm's short-form, news-focused podcast. Don't worry, I will still write newsletters too. To browse a (robot-generated) podcast transcript, click the “transcript” button above - click on any block of text and the audio will jump to that point in the conversation. Paid subscribers can leave a comment in the article below, or by joining The Storm's chat (also below). I'll respond to some comments in the next episode, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 15.The Zoom transcript (click “transcript” above for the Substack transcript, which will zoom to any point in the video when you click on the associated text block; timestamps below DO NOT MATCH THE VIDEO)Stuart Winchester: Welcome to the Storm! I'm your host, Stuart Winchester. It is Monday, September 14th, 2026. Welcome to week two of the New Look Storm Skiing Podcast. If you missed last week, I am still doing the longer form pod.00:15:53.000 --> 00:16:08.000Stuart Winchester: But I'm cutting way back on the frequency of those. Instead, I am doing a shorter, news-focused pod that I release more often, and whenever possible, that I release the same day that I record it.00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.000Stuart Winchester: And the reason that I'm doing that is because…00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:19.000Stuart Winchester: the world has changed a lot since 2019, when I launched the Storm Skiing podcast, and when I launched it, there really wasn't anything quite like…00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:26.000Stuart Winchester: what I was doing with the long-form audio stories of a ski area's background.00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:29.000Stuart Winchester: I've done a couple hundred episodes at this point.00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:31.000Stuart Winchester: I feel like…00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:47.000Stuart Winchester: They're evergreen. But what they don't allow me to do is to really talk about what's happening in a ski area right now. Uh Especially when there's a lot of things happening and there's a lot of pieces and parts shuffling around as there is right now in the Midwest.00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:51.000Stuart Winchester: with multi-mountain passes. So, what I'm doing…00:16:51.000 --> 00:17:06.000Stuart Winchester: is I'm trying out a little bit of a new format today. The format… we're gonna experiment, we're gonna play around with it. Sometimes there'll be a guest off the top, sometimes I'll have a take off the top, uh, sometimes I'll have a guest on for a longer period, and that's gonna be the case today.00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:22.000Stuart Winchester: Because right now there is so much happening in the Midwest with multi mountain passes and different mountains leaving and joining is completely changing the landscape there. So I want to bring in someone to talk to us at length about that. We'll do a couple other fun things as well.00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.000Stuart Winchester: Let's bring…00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:27.000Stuart Winchester: I'm in now.00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.000Stuart Winchester: And there he is. Can you hear me, Matthew?00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:34.000Matthew Zabransky: Hey, how's it going, Stuart?00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:36.000Matthew Zabransky: I can.00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:41.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, I can't hear you. All right. This is a flub, and this is why I haven't heard her.00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:41.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:45.000Stuart Winchester: Because I am not that smart.00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:49.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, you there?00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.000Matthew Zabransky: Can you hear me?00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, yes, I can. Look at that.00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay, perfect.00:17:52.000 --> 00:18:07.000Stuart Winchester: The technology known as headphones. Matthew, this is why you're the production guy, and I generally stick to writing, because I'm an idiot. Alright, I want to introduce today the founder of MidwestSkiers.com.00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:13.000Stuart Winchester: He founded that in 2018, and in 2020, founded MWS Productions.00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:29.000Stuart Winchester: He is making all the Midwest content that I was dying for in the 1990s when I was a teenager living and skiing in Michigan, and the ski mags would completely ignore the region and maybe mention Boyne Mountain or Luton once per year, but he makes.00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:20.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:38.000Stuart Winchester: Top quality content. I link to it all the time in my stuff because no one else quite does it, as well as Matthew Zabranski. Matthew, welcome to The Storm. How you doing today?00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:56.000Matthew Zabransky: I am doing fantastic. Stuart, thank you, first of all, for the opportunity, but more importantly, for also repping the Midwest. I think it's such an important, obviously, region, and you have ties to it, I obviously have ties to it as well, so it's great that we're getting recognition, not only, obviously, in our region now, but on the national, even international scale, so…00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you so much for doing that. I appreciate it. I'm excited to be here.00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:08.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I love covering the Midwest, Matthew, and I still make it a point to go back and take a Midwest trip every year, because there's…00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:27.000Stuart Winchester: when I'm doing this podcast, there's nothing quite like making relationships, like showing up at, you know, a 200 vertical foothill in the boondocks in Minnesota. People are like, okay, I'll talk to this guy, even though, you know, I've never heard of him. So, but you are 100% Midwest-focused. I cover it where I can and whenever I can.00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:21.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:26.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:37.000Stuart Winchester: There is so much happening in the Midwest that we could talk about. I really want to focus today on multi-mountain passes. So…00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:34.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:37.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:53.000Stuart Winchester: I'll start by, I'll just set this up and then I'll, and then I'll, I'll let you comment on it. So if you go back about 10 years, there was nothing in the Midwest on multi mountain passes. You know, Vale had started to add a few things to Epic Pass and B Brighton and Afton Alps and Wilmot and such.00:19:53.000 --> 00:20:03.000Stuart Winchester: But the real inflection point came in 2019, when IndiePass came along. 2018, Icon added a couple things. So, right now, I'll give you some stats.00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:09.000Stuart Winchester: Of the 124 ski areas that I have inventoried in the Midwest, that you might have a different count.00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:15.000Stuart Winchester: They're 117 of those are public. 89 of those are public with aerial lifts.00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:28.000Stuart Winchester: 58 of those, although there's a couple that are just surface toes only, so 58 ski areas in the Midwest are now on a national multi-mountain ski pass. 10 on Epic.00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:32.000Stuart Winchester: 11 on Icon, 37 for Indy. So, so to start out with, Matthew.00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:34.000Stuart Winchester: How has…00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:47.000Stuart Winchester: the acceptance of the Midwest by multi-mountain national passes change the calculus for skiers as they're planning out their winter in the Midwest, compared to what it was for most of history up until just a few years ago?00:20:47.000 --> 00:21:02.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, it's changed dramatically. It's even going back a little bit further. I think the first initial, if you look at the statistics and you obviously know all this offhand, but back when you go back to Vail's acquisition of Wilmont, Afton.00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:19.000Matthew Zabransky: Brighton back in like 2012. I mean, that's really what started to to kick off this like idea of like. Maybe the Midwest has some legs in it, as far as like developing skiers, and then, you know, bringing them into a pass portfolio that could bring them out west. So that was the very early set, you know, early iteration of this. And then, obviously, as we went along, there wasn't.00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:37.000Matthew Zabransky: too many options outside of just the epic pass. But then, like you mentioned, Indie Pass came in, and I knew, and it's you know, as we dive into this, I do want to do a little disclosure here, and like Indie Pass was my very 1st client from a production side of things. So Doug and I, because I I saw the opportunity like there was an absolute gold mine here. I'm like.00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:32.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:33.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:55.000Matthew Zabransky: Because I got to travel around, that's why I started MidwestGears.com, because we were… we were traveling for my wife's job all over the Midwest, and every time we'd go to a new city, Columbus, Akron, I'd be a pass holder at one of these little ski areas, and I'd be like, holy crap, there's a lot of them here, no one's talking about them.00:21:55.000 --> 00:22:15.000Matthew Zabransky: But you know, once you start to realize there was this many, then you're then you're starting to think, okay, like, why isn't somebody coming in here and starting to develop a past that could actually stand on its own. And that's what we've seen the last, I would say, 5 to 10 years. Specifically, we've seen more people traveling around in the Midwest. You'll catch people at any stereo across the Midwest. That's not their home hill, and that's not how it used.00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:27.000Matthew Zabransky: you go ski or one little local place for the most part, you might do your weekend trip up to Boyne or something, but you would never catch people going to some of these really small places, you know, outside of just the local crew there, so it's been really cool to watch people.00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:45.000Matthew Zabransky: travel and discover, more importantly, the different areas, uh, throughout the Midwest. I think a lot of that had to do with IndyPass's push in the Midwest, because, as we're gonna talk about here in a second, it was an absolute auto-buy. Like, there was not even a question about it. From the day it started, when it was, you know, what was that, $99?00:22:45.000 --> 00:23:02.000Matthew Zabransky: up until even just the last year. It was like you almost just were gonna if you lived in the Midwest, and you like skiing, and you don't. You know you like traveling around checking out new things. There was no reason not to buy it. You'd be silly, basically not to, just because how much saturation there was in the Midwest, which I think is going to lead us into our next conversation a little bit here.00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, so, so the…00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:15.000Stuart Winchester: Just being on the ground, before we get to the shuffling around, you know, I'd imagine you're pretty connected with a lot of pretty hardcore skiers, pretty frequent skiers.00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:13.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:17.000Stuart Winchester: How much has…00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:24.000Stuart Winchester: that a… a season… a multi-mountain pass becomes something that the person in the Midwest just…00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:40.000Stuart Winchester: considers or, or automatically buys it as compared to several years ago where you might buy your local season pass, but, but you, you probably, like you said, you wouldn't go around. And when I lived in the Midwest, actually, I always appreciated how close the areas were, so I would just kind of bounce around a lot for.00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:36.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:46.000Stuart Winchester: for deal days or whatever, back when those were still a thing. But how automatic has it become?00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:42.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:23:46.000 --> 00:24:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Very. I mean, there's people that have been buying the IndyPass specifically now. Up until this season, it was like they were probably on their fifth year of doing it and just continue to. And to be honest, there wasn't any reason not to because the pricing has stayed relatively affordable.00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:17.000Matthew Zabransky: they keep they kept strengthening their pro, their their product. I mean, like they just kept adding more ski areas in the Midwest. And so in in a lot of times the pass would pay itself off within a couple of visits based off of some of the redemption rates that you'd be getting at some somewhere like Lutz and Snow River.00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:34.000Matthew Zabransky: um, those are all, like, you know, $100 tickets, so you buy… you go there once or twice, you get two days of each of them, and basically that's already done. So if you already had one of those trips kind of on there, and if you lived in Chicago, you're going to Granite Peak usually once or twice a year. If you lived in Minnesota, you're going to Lutz.00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:52.000Matthew Zabransky: So it almost became this thing. And then you shuffle in like nubs, knob, and all that. So it it very much was like, yeah, we're gonna buy it every single year, you know, we might not. And some people are hardcore and going to all the places they could. And some people were just, you know. Hey? I'm gonna buy it because I'm gonna go for a weekend, so I might as well. And then I have this option of going some other places.00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:47.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:24:52.000 --> 00:25:03.000Matthew Zabransky: it was huge. I mean, I don't… of course, I don't have any of the IndyPass numbers, but I would… I would venture to say that the Midwest had to be a very big portion of their portfolio from the sales and redemption standpoint.00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:20.000Stuart Winchester: So the traditional numbers that Indy has given me, and it's been a couple years since Doug Fish provided these round numbers to me, but he told me about half of their sales came in New England, and 25% came in the Midwest, which is a really big number for a national pass. So you figured the other quarter were coming from somewhere else.00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:05.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:16.000Matthew Zabransky: Cool.00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:19.000Matthew Zabransky: For… yeah.00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:25.000Stuart Winchester: I always give Doug Fish credit, because he's a Pacific Northwest guy, and…00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:40.000Stuart Winchester: Western skiers just love to hate on the Midwest. Everyone loves to hate on the Midwest. It's like the national pastime. It's like the safe thing to make fun of, and you know, I hope you take that personally, because I always do, and I really appreciated that Doug.00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:32.000Matthew Zabransky: Is…00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:38.000Matthew Zabransky: I do.00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:55.000Stuart Winchester: Included the Midwest from the start. That first year in 2019, he had Little Switz, he had Crystal, he had Cabre Fay, he had a bunch of other ski areas. Really got big in 2020 when he added Lutzen and Granite Peak. Now, I always say his insight was…00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:45.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:02.000Stuart Winchester: that Doug's great insight with the IndyPass was realizing there was value in the mountains that are not.00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:08.000Stuart Winchester: super destinations when you put them all together for skiers across the country. He also…00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:23.000Stuart Winchester: the fact that he extended that to the Midwest is huge, because, yes, I… so, before Icon started adding in into the Midwest, which we'll talk about in a minute, I would always say, Indy Pass is the pass to go to in the Midwest, no one else has anything, and everyone would always say, oh, wait, Epic has 10 mountains. I was like.00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:16.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:18.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:34.000Stuart Winchester: But the Midwest is gigantic. Unless you live in Ohio, they're very spread out, and they're near cities, and there are actually mountains in the Midwest that are more…00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:44.000Stuart Winchester: of, of what you would consider, like, regional destinations. And that, that's your Boyne, Nubs, Lutsen, uh, even, even Spira with the bigger, uh, all the stuff over in the UP.00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:38.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:57.000Stuart Winchester: So Indy really collected them all together, and it was almost too good to be true, because they had over 40 ski areas in the Midwest. Talk about Indy at its peak.00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:02.000Stuart Winchester: And how great of a pass that was for the Midwest here.00:26:58.000 --> 00:26:59.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:17.000Matthew Zabransky: It was too great. We're going to get into this, I'm sure, but I think that's part of the reason for the course correction. There was a moment two or three years ago when I literally turned to Nick, my associate who edits for me and stuff, and I said, with some of the additions they announced at that time, I said.00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:06.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:33.000Matthew Zabransky: this is too saturated like it's got to fix itself at some point like it's just. It's too good of a value, and like for skiers, we like anybody that was buying the passes like this is amazing. It makes it like again. It's an auto buy like, why wouldn't you do this? But I knew that this time was going to come at some point. But I'm you know, at least we got to.00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:50.000Matthew Zabransky: to see what it like. The peak of that was for a little while. We got a couple of years. We've got to be happy for that, to be honest. We're starting to see some of those what I'll call course corrections now and and we're going to continue to see this. I mean, you know that every every year it's going to be something new. Someone's changing. It's just kind of the nature of the business. But.00:27:50.000 --> 00:28:02.000Matthew Zabransky: it was not a shock to me when, um, when these changes were announced, uh, both in the spring and then more recently in the last few weeks and stuff, so it wasn't… I kind of saw it coming, it was just a matter of, like, when was it gonna happen.00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:14.000Stuart Winchester: So everyone left… they seemed as though… Epic and Icon seemed like they were just leaving the Midwest to Indy, to take. And I've always thought that Icon's original sin was when they killed the Max Pass.00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:08.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:15.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:30.000Stuart Winchester: And launched the Icon Pass. They brought all the Powder Mountains, all the Boyne Mountains, uh, all the Intra West Mountains, but they didn't bring Granite Peak and Lutzen, which are the biggest ski areas or most modern, however, whatever metric you want to use in Minnesota and, and Wisconsin.00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:27.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:31.000Stuart Winchester: So…00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:46.000Stuart Winchester: for a long time, Indy just built up this huge coalition. Started to see some cracks last year. Icon had just two mountains, Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands, and honestly, and Boyne has never affirmed this to me, but my hunch is, Boyne said, include our mountains or you don't get Big Sky.00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:48.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, yeah.00:28:46.000 --> 00:29:01.000Stuart Winchester: So, so, Icon was like, okay, I guess we'll add these stupid little things. Uh, which is not my opinion of them, but I think that's probably what they thought from Colorado, which is why they dropped Lutzen and Granite Peak. So, last year, we started to see the first crack in Indy's armor.00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:55.000Matthew Zabransky: I was like, don't do that.00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:02.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm.00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:12.000Stuart Winchester: when the Icon Pass… they call them bonus mountains, I call them two-day mountains, because that's what they are. If you have an Icon Pass, you get two days of these mountains. Uh, Buck Hill, Minnesota.00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:27.000Stuart Winchester: Uh joined the icon pass as a two day mountain, which for the listeners, that's no, you get no base pass access, you only get full icon access and there are holiday blackouts. So that's what the two day tier is. They added Buck Hill. Uh Indy said, no, you're not allowed to do that. Remove Buck Hill.00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:30.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, which is a great little, uh, you know.00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.000Stuart Winchester: kind of trainer hill outside of the Twin Cities.00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:40.000Stuart Winchester: And every square inch is used with very maximum effect. So Indy removed them.00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:53.000Stuart Winchester: Buck Hill has been on Icon, and that was sort of the first… when you first saw that, did you think, okay, here we go, Icon is finally starting to realize the value of the Midwest, and if not, what was the moment that you did think that they got it?00:29:53.000 --> 00:30:09.000Matthew Zabransky: I would, you know, the whole time I've been shaking my head a little bit because it's just ironic to me that Boeing, Boeing, one of the biggest companies in, you know, that started in the Midwest, that literally has its roots here. And I'm just shocked that Icon hasn't.00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:26.000Matthew Zabransky: made this push earlier, and it took this long. But that was like the 1st that was the 1st like mention of that. And the other connection that was really kind of just crazy to me is, there's so many people from the twin cities that go to Big Sky like a lot like you talk to people all over the place. They have cabins up there. They.00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:24.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, so. Yeah.00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:27.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:42.000Matthew Zabransky: They're traveling there all the time. It's a huge destination for specifically for Minnesota, it seems. So I was always thinking, man, like if they were just to strengthen this pass a little bit in the Midwest, give somebody a reason to, to jump on to the icon pass. They're probably going out to Big Sky anyway.00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:57.000Matthew Zabransky: now all of a sudden, you give them another reason to buy the full pass, you got some… some more local hills, some day… like, weekend trips, you can go up to Lutzen, things like that, and I think that's when… when Lutzen and those guys came on, that was, like, full-blown, that's gonna… that changes everything. Like, everything.00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:14.000Matthew Zabransky: As you know, the lake, Lake Michigan, is a huge divider for the eastern and the western side of what I'll call the Midwest. Basically, if you're on the eastern side of the lake, you're kind of going to stick to mostly your lower peninsula, maybe go up to the UP occasionally. But if you're on the western side over here, in the Minneapolis.00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:31.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, there was really no offerings for Icon, so it really made no sense at that point to buy an Icon Pass. You know, maybe Chicago, you drive up to Boeing, but you're kind of on that cusp there, where it's like, mmm… but I think once they strengthened it this past year, now it's like… it's a fair fight, in my opinion. Now we're.00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:46.000Matthew Zabransky: You know, which one is gonna make more sense for you, or your situation, which it was not, it didn't used to be that way, it just, there was never an opportunity for most people that were on this side of the lake, or in Minneapolis. Sometimes it didn't make sense, unless you're going out to, you know, Big Sky for a week and a half, it, you know.00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:50.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, so just a little background for the listeners.00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm.00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:52.000Stuart Winchester: Boyne Mountain and and.00:31:52.000 --> 00:32:08.000Stuart Winchester: what they call the Highlands at Harbor Springs. I'll call it Boyne Highlands because no one knows what I'm talking about when I say the Highlands. So Boyne and Boyne Highlands are two of the nicer ski areas, more built up ski areas in Michigan, and they were long on Icon. Uh, Lutzen and Granite Peak.00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:58.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, this…00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:14.000Stuart Winchester: that, uh, Midwest Family Ski Resorts, which owns Lutzen and Granite Peak, bought, immediately took.00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:25.000Stuart Winchester: four old riblet lifts, put in a high-speed six-pack, the first one in the UP. So, those three ski areas had been indie anchors in the Midwest for years.00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:24.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:30.000Stuart Winchester: This year, for 2026-27 winter, they're going as 5-7 day…00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:42.000Stuart Winchester: mountains each on Icon and Icon Base, and so they are leaving the Indy Pass as a result of that. Now, Icon has also added some more two-day mountains. I'm gonna put those to the side for a second.00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:42.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:50.000Stuart Winchester: How big of a loss was Lutsen and Granite Peak and Snow River for Indy Pass in the Midwest?00:32:51.000 --> 00:33:06.000Matthew Zabransky: It's it's an easy question. I mean the answer just like, go look at the comments on the thread when it was announced, and you could just read how an impactful it was. And I think that was my argument when people started talking about like, Oh, they're you know, hey? Like they're leaving. They're leaving us in the dust, and we we don't like them anymore.00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:29.000Matthew Zabransky: It's probably justified. If you guys are this upset about them leaving, it means they probably had a little more leverage than they should have in that past portfolio. And I think it to that. And again, I don't know that it needs, like, a passion never be so strong, in my opinion. And I'm talking about the business side of things. You're not talking about the skier. Trust me, if I was, like, just skiing Matthew, put my skiing thing on, I'd be like, yeah, absolutely.00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:12.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:25.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:28.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Uh, but from the business side, as an area owner, operator, you gotta look at it, like, what kind of value are we getting back out of this pass? Are we the ones carrying your product? Like, that's the other thing to think about, too, right? We don't… you don't always necessarily want to be the top dog in the pass lineup. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn't. Uh, and in this case, I think that they…00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:56.000Matthew Zabransky: they were carrying that pass line up, and I think nothing speaks more to the volumes of how upset people were when they came off of the pass.00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:00.000Stuart Winchester: So we're… I've kind of looked at this as it's…00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:12.000Stuart Winchester: sucks for Indy, it's probably good for the consumer in the long run, because, like you said, you never want too much market concentration, so now you have… you have the Snow Pass coming up, which is… which is Snow Partners in two days…00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:05.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:28.000Stuart Winchester: at each mountain. There's none in the Midwest yet, but I suspect there may be at some point. Right now, they're mostly in the Northeast. And then you have Icon. So, before, I think a lot of people in Michigan probably had Icon, because you could use it for the Boynes, but like you said.00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:44.000Stuart Winchester: if you're not from the Midwest, you're probably just thinking it's like a big square, but there's a lake there, and you can't… I mean, you can take a ferry over it, but it takes all day, right? You have to go to Ludington, and it's like a whole thing, right? So really, you have Michigan, the Lower Peninsula, and then you kind.00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:33.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:58.000Stuart Winchester: Wisconsin. So, you live on the west side of that, I believe, like, around the Minnesota-Wisconsin line. How immediately did you see people say, okay, well, now, yeah, let's consider Icon that maybe never would have before?00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:04.000Matthew Zabransky: I think the original, like, when it first was announced, there was just a lot of, like.00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:17.000Matthew Zabransky: oh man, this sucks. Like, now what? You know, what do we do? Because the initial reaction was like, well, I'm not gonna auto-buy this now, I gotta think about it a little bit more. I'm curious because I haven't… it's still so fresh, to be honest, and I haven't, like.00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:07.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:12.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:32.000Matthew Zabransky: but to, like, really figure that question, like, the answer to that question out, but I have… the one thing I have been seeing is a lot more people starting to weigh those options, right? They're starting to look at the passes differently now. Now it's, like, not just, like, we're gonna pick up Indy automatically and, you know, whatever might throw a different pass on there. Now they.00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:26.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:49.000Matthew Zabransky: think about, how am I using my pass? Am I going up to Lutzen for a weekend or 2? Does it make sense for me to just get an icon pass? Am I a pass holder at Lutzen, and want to add it on now that that's an option, and maybe do an out west trip, or if you're granted peak. So I'm starting to see more people analyzing.00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:44.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:35:49.000 --> 00:36:03.000Matthew Zabransky: in an area where they haven't before. So I'll be curious to see this upcoming season will be a really good test to kind of figure out, like, where are those numbers starting to shift a little bit. But, um, from my first reaction is I have a feeling that there's gonna be a pretty big drop in IndyPass sales in the Midwest.00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:20.000Matthew Zabransky: For that reasoning. Um, and then I do think there's gonna be a bit of a spike, um, in, in IconPass sales. I don't think it's gonna obviously affect much on the Michigan side, Lower Peninsula side of things. I think that'll stay pretty stable. But I think this side, for sure, this market, Minneapolis specifically, a little bit of Chicago.00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:25.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, but I would expect to see a pretty good little spike in sales on the IconPass side.00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:35.000Stuart Winchester: So, Lutzen and Granite Peak, I think, huge losses for India. Snow River, less so, just because Powderhorn is right next door, and it's kind of the same size, and it's, you know, gets the same s.00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:30.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm.00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:32.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:53.000Stuart Winchester: Continued building by Icon after that announcement, and, and some, and some continued bleeding by Indy. So, so Icon had a Giants Ridge, which is an excellent ski area up in Minnesota. It's, it's kind of in the middle of nowhere, but it's worth it. Uh, Devil's Head, which is a nice, uh, Madison ski area, and then.00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:45.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:36:53.000 --> 00:37:10.000Stuart Winchester: in Michigan left Indy to join the Icon today, so those all joined Icon today. And then Indy also lost Little Switzerland, Nordic Mountain, and Crystal Ridge in Wisconsin. As of now, they are passless. So, you know, those are small ski areas, but they're really important sort of urban.00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:21.000Stuart Winchester: collectors, but do you worry, Matthew, and I'll say, Indy still has 37 ski areas in the Midwest, but do you worry that their coalition is splintering a little bit, starting to fall apart?00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:17.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:40.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, a little bit. So I'm going to dance around this as carefully as I can because I have connections with all these owners, operators, and I talk to them on a regular basis, so I kind of know more than I probably should. But I'll try to navigate this the best that I can.00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:36.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:56.000Matthew Zabransky: with… when IndyPass started, Doug Fish and the team did a really nice job of making sure that when they signed a ski area on, that they were being very, very intentional about its location, what… who was serving, and then when they would add another person on, a lot of times they would even approach.00:37:56.000 --> 00:38:04.000Matthew Zabransky: some of the nearby ski areas, and be like, hey, we're adding so-and-so, or making sure that those partnerships were all, you know.00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:22.000Matthew Zabransky: You're not too close where you're starting to monopolize business in different ways. I'll talk a little bit more about this in a second. So that was the approach for many, many years. However, I noticed a pretty big change a handful of years ago when it became more about a statistical difference than building those partnerships and.00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:41.000Matthew Zabransky: making those owners feel valued, if that makes sense. So it was like, okay, how can we just continue to pump numbers, get more? And in that process, what happened was a lot of ski areas in a small geographical area. And why has that caused a lot of issues for owners and operators? Is the idea of the IndyPass was, yeah.00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:50.000Matthew Zabransky: to create value with a portfolio of ski areas across the Midwest to rival that of, like, you know, other multi-mountain passes.00:38:50.000 --> 00:39:06.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, but what some of the owners and operators were starting to see was that instead of skiers buying a season pass at their local ski area, what they would do is buy the Indy Pass, ski two days at the ski area that would have been their local ski area, and then.00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:03.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:22.000Matthew Zabransky: You know, in some cases, like in the Twin Cities, you have a handful that are within a two hour drive. So then it became this thing of like, oh, we're starting to see RR like personal season passes drop for then people that are using IndiePass redemptions to treat it as if it were basically a season pass.00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:12.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:40.000Matthew Zabransky: I'm summarizing a lot there. There's a lot, like, to dive into, like, the details, but I can't, unfortunately, go into too much of that. But I think you can probably get the idea of why that was a little bit frustrating for some, um, owners and operators. So they really had to take a deep dive into some of those numbers and start to look at, like.00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:25.000Stuart Winchester: Yes.00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:26.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:30.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:50.000Matthew Zabransky: Where are these people coming from? How are the redemptions being used? And then, you know, how is this pass either, you know, net positive or net negative for us? And, you know, I always tell everybody, it's…00:39:50.000 --> 00:40:00.000Matthew Zabransky: the ski business is, you know, Stuart, is just a very, very low margin business, and it is a business. Like, at the end of the day, like, they have to treat it like…00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:22.000Matthew Zabransky: you know, like you gotta find out where you're losing money, or is there opportunity? And that assessment has to happen on a yearly basis. And sometimes when they run it for their business, they might be finding out that this might not be a great option for them. Or maybe it was, and things have changed. And now it's not so. It's an ongoing assessment. And like I was mentioning earlier, this is going to be a game that is going to play out over the next 10 years, probably where people are going to be switching teams all the time. And.00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:28.000Matthew Zabransky: and just get used to it. I mean, this is gonna be the way it is, unfortunately or fortunately, you know.00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:31.000Stuart Winchester: If you're Indy, what's your next move to try to build your coalition back up?00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, I think the biggest thing they need to do is get some sort of anchor on this side of the lake. I mean, you've got Nub's Knob on Lower Peninsula, which is a great offering. I think that that really does anchor that side for sure. Over here, you gotta start eyeing up some areas that would serve as that anchor ski area. I know Whitecap was added.00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:38.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:40:49.000 --> 00:41:04.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, which is good, but I think, like, you gotta think about, you know, what is that replacement for? You know, what is that replacement for Granite Peak? And it immediately comes to mind, like, a Cascade, right? Or one of those. And we all know, like, it's just gonna be a tough sale for some of these operations, because it's always that, like.00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:00.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I think so.00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:09.000Matthew Zabransky: If you're an anchor skier, you've probably got a good operation and a good thing going already, so…00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:29.000Matthew Zabransky: you know, what is the pitch? Why should I join your indie pass? So it's always this give and take a little bit, but, you know, given that we've had a bunch of ski areas now come off of indie, there might be an opportunity to fill that little bit of a void and be kind of that new anchor spot that would then highlight that side of the lake. I don't know. It'll be curious to see kind of how things play out, but.00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:37.000Matthew Zabransky: Um, I think we'll see a little bit of this course correction go on for the next year or two, and then I think maybe we'll see some moves in the future. It's hard to say.00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:43.000Stuart Winchester: That was really good, so I'm gonna extend that question. If you're Icon, what's your next move in the Midwest, and if you're Epic?00:41:45.000 --> 00:42:02.000Matthew Zabransky: If if I'm icon, what I'm circling right now to be quite frank is somewhere in the Chicagoland area. There's an opportunity there, and I don't, you know, of course. What is it? We don't know, but I think if you could add an offering like a full offering to which is a little bit tricky to do. But yeah, like you think of something like.00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:24.000Matthew Zabransky: Cascade, Devil's Head, one of those areas, if you can get it into, like, a full area where you can now grab that Chicago market and have it really well solidified, because right now you're kind of in a, you know, it's about four hours from up to Granite Peak, and then Boeing the other way is something like that, five or something. So you're kind of in that weird dead zone there, so I think there's still a huge opportunity to grab that market, which obviously is a huge market of skiers and s.00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:15.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:30.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm. And if you're Epic, I mean, they have all city stuff, so what do you do if you're Epic?00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:29.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:49.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, I mean, I think Epic's playing the card that they want. The one thing that I am curious to see with Epic is not necessarily that, it's what's gonna happen with some of these smaller regional ski areas that have kind of been left in the dust a little bit. Paley Peaks is the first one that comes to mind when you start to think about this Snow Creek.00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:46.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:42:49.000 --> 00:43:06.000Matthew Zabransky: These ones that are just kind of in no man's land a little bit. They kind of got brought in with the Peak Resorts acquisition. I'm not sure that they necessarily wanted some of these ski areas, but they came in as a package deal as part of that. So it's just gonna be kind of interesting to see. They need a lot of reinvestment over the next, you know.00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:23.000Matthew Zabransky: 10 to 15 years, for sure, if not even sooner than that. So it'll be curious to see kind of how they approach those sort of areas in those regions, because some of those are in their own land like there is no ski area relatively close to some of them, or a couple of hours to the nearest ski area. So it'll be curious to see how they leverage that going forward.00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:44.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, Matthew, I could sink into that one for about two hours and we could have a talk. I'm going to have to bring you back for that one. But for now, let's move on. And some of the folks who may not be familiar with the Midwest, we're going to talk about some of our favorite Midwest ski areas in just a moment. First, I want to tell you that this podcast is brought to you today by Profile Search International.00:43:44.000 --> 00:44:03.000Stuart Winchester: Profile Search is the only talent acquisition firm in the entire world that is 100% focused on the ski industry. They have used their intimate understanding of skiing and related industries, and of available candidates worldwide, to place hundreds of transformational leaders at the best and most progressive ski areas over the past.00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:19.000Stuart Winchester: 30 years. Profile Search has offices in the US and Canada, and they find and negotiate with the right leaders for their team. If you want to reach out to Profile Search, you can find them at profilesearch.com, and you can get their email or phone number there, or send me a note and I will.00:44:19.000 --> 00:44:26.000Stuart Winchester: make that connection for you. That is profilesearch.com. All right, Matthew, I gave you a challenge.00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:43.000Stuart Winchester: Or, or homework or something. I don't know. I'm sure you didn't have to think too hard about this, but we are going to break down our five favorite Midwest ski areas. We each have five. We'll, we'll start with five and, and, uh, and we'll take turns. Now, these are not what we think are the best necessarily because that's a whole different.00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:47.000Stuart Winchester: Conversation and I tried to think about.00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:59.000Stuart Winchester: If you've never skied the Midwest and are only going to ski here once in your life, where would I tell people to go? So, Matthew, I'll start with you. What is your number five favorite Midwest ski area and why?00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:14.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah. So I'll just just key this up with like, yeah, I agree with you. I went with kind of like I took an approach of uniqueness. There's different things that I enjoy about this years for different reasons, and I'll obviously unpack them as we kind of go through number 5 for me was perfect north slopes.00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:08.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:15.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:32.000Matthew Zabransky: And at its face, you might not think that that's… it's, you know, it's a ski area right outside of, uh, Cincinnati, um, and the southern tip of Indiana down there. And for, you know, for people that have never heard of it, they'd be like, why does this… why is this even on here? Uh, but the moment that you visit there, I think it all becomes very clear. Their throughput.00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:51.000Matthew Zabransky: their snowmaking capacity, their operations. It is a gold standard when we think of how to run a ski area in extremely challenging conditions and environments. Perfect North is the one that comes to mind. The way that they can move people through their rental department is phenomenal. The way that they can have a stable season based off of where they are.00:45:51.000 --> 00:46:08.000Matthew Zabransky: is just absolutely mind blowing. And they've been doing this since day one. So this isn't something that they have. You know they're new to. They've been doing this for many, many, many decades now at this point. So it's it's definitely worth a visit. Their train's really good as well. They have some Olympians that have come out of there just some some good stuff going down at at perfect north slopes.00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:23.000Stuart Winchester: I'm so glad you said Perfect North, because I did not include it on my list, but I think they are one of the best operators in the country. My number 5 is Chestnut, Illinois, and everyone's… you know why, but everyone's gonna say, Illinois? Like, what does it matter with you?00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:23.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:29.000Stuart Winchester: It is so unique, because you get up there, and it's about 500 vertical feet.00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:45.000Stuart Winchester: and you ski down to the freaking Mississippi River. It is… there is nothing else like that in American skiing. It is such a gorgeous view, and there's a train that goes by, and, and, and… the lift system is fantastic. Bunch of, you know, really maintained quads.00:46:45.000 --> 00:47:00.000Stuart Winchester: They have bars, which I like, which most Midwest ski areas don't, but they've retrofit them. Their grooming is phenomenal. Terrain's really good, steep and varied, and then one of the best things is on the backside, and the name of this probably is escaping me, it's like the backyard or something.00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:48.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah. Okay.00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:00.000Matthew Zabransky: Uh, far side.00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:15.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, yeah, so they have a terrain park that could be its own ski area, and it has a lift by itself, and so all the badly behaved teenagers go over there and throw cans around and smoke. Maybe it was just the day I was there.00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:02.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:20.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, but, but my number five is Chestnut, Illinois. Uh, number four, Matthew.00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:37.000Matthew Zabransky: This is gonna be. This is gonna be a deep cut here, and I'll give you my reasoning. So I'm a sucker for community rope toe ski places like it. It warms my heart every time every year there's at least one or 2 that I go to every time I show up. It's just the kids are so excited to show me around.00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:25.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:29.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm. Oh, love it.00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:38.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:47:37.000 --> 00:48:00.000Matthew Zabransky: They're so passionate and it really brings me back to why skiing is important and what it really is about, right? We talk about the steeps and all this fun stuff all the time, but like when you go to these places, there's just to see a kid just in jeans or whatever it may be after school ripping down. It's so fun. So one of my favorite, if not my favorite rope to ski area in the entire Midwest is a place called Hickory Hills. It's in Traverse City.00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:00.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:18.000Matthew Zabransky: It's a beautiful setting overlooking the bay, and they have just all ropes and one conveyor, and it's stacked. And it was one of the first ski areas in the Midwest to offer night skiing, which I thought was really, really cool as well. Obviously, not a lot of vertical, maybe 200 feet of vertical, depending on which rope you're going on, but it's one of those places you just show up.00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:12.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:30.000Matthew Zabransky: And they've reinvested, as recently as 2018, they built a new lodge, new snowmaking, and you just show up there, and you're just like, it brings you back to that, like, oh yeah, this is some good skiing, like, just…00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:37.000Matthew Zabransky: fundamental, good stuff, you see kids ripping around after school, it's like, it's what I think of when I think of, uh, rope tow places.00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:42.000Stuart Winchester: And long live the rope tow. I mean, it is amazing that I think they run five or six there, right?00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:46.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, I think they have six total, I believe, yeah.00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I've been there in the summer. I've never skied there. I used to ski at Sugarloaf down the… down the road till that went out of business. My number 4 is one you already mentioned, Matthew. Whitecap, Wisconsin. I just love this crazy ski area. It is…00:48:49.000 --> 00:48:51.000Matthew Zabransky: Yo.00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:04.000Stuart Winchester: I like to be confused when I'm skiing. I like it when a ski area…00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:05.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:22.000Stuart Winchester: Kind of hides its secrets and has lots of little trails and the trail map doesn't quite match up with the, with what you actually see. And, and there's lifts all over the place and there's little pockets and there's, you can tell that they don't care if you ski in the trees. And, and, and Whitecap is, is one of the most confusing ski areas I've, I've ever been to and I love.00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:23.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:49:22.000 --> 00:49:40.000Stuart Winchester: it's in the great snow pocket off of Lake Superior, gets 200 or more inches of snow average per year, which is a good thing, because they don't have a lot of snowmaking, uh, there. But I really, really love Whitecap, and by the way, we did not share ours before, so we may have some crossover here. So, uh, what's your number 3, Matthew?00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:39.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:55.000Matthew Zabransky: Number three, I am going with a ski area that I think people around here would know, but I think people on the other side of the lake would not. And it is going to be Welch Village. Welch Village is an area that just, you look at the numbers, you read the stats, and you're like, this place…00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:51.000Stuart Winchester: Mmm.00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:15.000Matthew Zabransky: cannot be that good. But it really is. It skis so much bigger than the stats suggest. I think it's about 300 feet of vertical. They have like 50 something runs. But I think what Welch Village has that a lot of skiers don't is the amount of terrain variation and stepping that they have is just phenomenal for beginners, and the fact that it's only about 40 minutes from the Twin Cities.00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:31.000Matthew Zabransky: is amazing. So they have basically a run for every progression. If you want super steep, now obviously it's only 300 feet of vertical, so it's gonna be a handful of turns, but they have that. If you want something very, very gently sloped, they got that, and basically everything in between. And it's just one of those areas that is a perfect.00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:24.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:50:31.000 --> 00:50:41.000Matthew Zabransky: Kind of like just outside the urban reach, right? It's not like in your backyard, but it's close enough where you can easily go for a few hours and just a perfect place to learn how to ski and snowboard.00:50:41.000 --> 00:50:57.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I love Welch Village. I was super impressed when I went there a few years ago, and it's not too far from Vail's Afton Alps, so you can do both in a day easily if you want to, but Welch Village, first-rate operation, absolutely one of the best in the Midwest. My number three is a nostalgia play, and I'm gonna say Boyne Mount.00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:44.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:50:57.000 --> 00:51:13.000Stuart Winchester: The reason I love Boyne Mountain is not because of the fast lift, so they were the first six-pack in North America, and, you know, they put in the first eight-pack in the Midwest, and there's a lot of history there. The first chairlift in the world is there. They moved it from Sun Valley.00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:23.000Stuart Winchester: the single chair from Sun Valley back in the… in the 40s, and it's now the Hemlock double chair. But what I love Boyne Mountain is because when I… back in the 90s, when I lived in Michigan.00:51:23.000 --> 00:51:30.000Stuart Winchester: they would stay open into May. And back then, there was no social media, so no one knew about it, so I'd show up, and there would be…00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:26.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:47.000Stuart Winchester: not kidding, 10 people skiing, and they would be running that six-pack all day, and they would let it bump up, and just run idiots to light, and it's where I learned how to ski moguls, and I've always just been tremendously fond of Boyne for that reason. So while it is one of the nicest ski areas in the Midwest, just on its own terms.00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:34.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:51:47.000 --> 00:52:02.000Stuart Winchester: It's also very steep. It's just, I have that feeling of, you know, that memory of skiing in my t-shirt in May in 1996, you know, down the moguls at Boyne Mountain with five other people, and it was just, it's one of my favorite ski memories ever, and the fact that they.00:52:02.000 --> 00:52:13.000Stuart Winchester: empowered that and did that. When they lost money, there's no way they didn't lose money doing that. It just speaks a lot to the spirit that still animates that company, even though it's a bigger company now.00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:16.000Stuart Winchester: Number two for you, Matthew.00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:31.000Matthew Zabransky: We'll get to this, I'm sure, at the end, but it's cool to see some of that going full circle. I don't want to give too much away. We'll get into that in a second. Number two for me is a pick that I think is going to change a lot this year, specifically because of the new lift alignment, and that's Marquette Mountain.00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:19.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, yeah.00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:32.000Stuart Winchester: Mmm.00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:50.000Matthew Zabransky: They have phenomenal terrain up there, they get great snow, and the thing that was always just missing was a little bit of polishing around the edges, and I think they're finally getting to that point now with, uh, you know, a lot of snowmaking investments over the last handful of years. This new chair from Dolphin Meyer, uh, triple gonna run up basically the center of the ski area, and I think it's really gonna change the way that this.00:52:50.000 --> 00:53:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Uh, previously, it was divided into kind of two almost separate pods. It kind of had this weird split down the middle. It was kind of hard to navigate. But given that this one's gonna go right up to the center there, you're gonna be able to get full top-to-bottom access a lot more easily, be able to access a lot more of the terrain across the port, the entire, you know, trail map off the front side there.00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:55.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:53:07.000 --> 00:53:23.000Matthew Zabransky: and I think it's 1 of those that like it. This they have the terrain, and there's not many areas in the Midwest that have the terrain. It's usually the other way where it's like, Yeah, okay, we have. You know the infrastructure. We have the location, but we don't have the steeps, or we don't have the trees, or whatever it may be.00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:16.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:20.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:34.000Matthew Zabransky: It's a Marquette, good city up there in the UP, really the only major city in the UP, but they have a good demographic up there. And I think with the changes that they're gonna see this year with the new lift, it's gonna be really fun to watch.00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:28.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:53:34.000 --> 00:53:44.000Stuart Winchester: Not only do they have the terrain, they have the snow. I mean, they're another one of those Lake Superior. They don't get quite as much as up in the Keweenaw or Snow River, but they do get a fair amount.00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:38.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, yeah.00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:45.000Matthew Zabransky: They do.00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:54.000Stuart Winchester: So my number two, I'm kind of going chalk on these last two, so you can probably guess what my number one is. My number two is a very obvious one, and that's Lutzen.00:53:54.000 --> 00:53:56.000Matthew Zabransky: Mm-hmm.00:53:54.000 --> 00:54:10.000Stuart Winchester: You know, for, for folks who have never been to Lutzen, it, first of all, it has a gondola. Now, now it's more of a transit lift. It goes more sideways than up and down, but it does have, is it eight or 900 feet of vertical? I think 800 and, or you could ski down to, yeah, of lift served vertical. And the.00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Thank you.00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:07.000Matthew Zabransky: It's… yeah.00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:26.000Stuart Winchester: enormous. It's really four separate mountains and it goes in all different directions and they have two six packs and they have that Gandhi, which is fairly new. I think within the last 10 years, they built that to replace their older one. Uh That is one of the best run ski areas in the Midwest. Another one that will stay open into May.00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:42.000Stuart Winchester: when they can. Oh, and speaking of views, I mean, the view off of Moose Mountain of Lake Superior just knock you on your ass. It is so good. I really love Lutzen Mountain, which takes us, Matthew, to your number one ski area in the Midwest.00:54:42.000 --> 00:55:01.000Matthew Zabransky: Man, man, this is one, and it's funny ‘cause I'm working on this video right now, and it's a place that every time I leave this ski area or while I'm at this gear, I just have a smile on my face the entire time. It has nothing flashy, but they do everything right, and that's nub knob. I mean, you go to this place and you just…00:54:42.000 --> 00:54:44.000Stuart Winchester: Favorite ski area.00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:00.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:55:01.000 --> 00:55:17.000Matthew Zabransky: It's just crazy to me that we were working on this video and my editor, Nick, we got to the end of the video and I mentioned like, “Oh, it doesn't have any high-speed lifts, but it almost feels like it does just because of the way that they're aligned and the way the traffic flows and the way that the runs are cut and everything.00:55:17.000 --> 00:55:34.000Matthew Zabransky: It feels like another one that just, you read the stats and you're like, okay, that sounds decent. But then you get on site and you're just like, this is just a really well run ski area. Snowmaking is always top notch. Grooming is amazing. Lifts spin, they don't stop very often. I mean, everything is just really well polished.00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:33.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:55:34.000 --> 00:55:45.000Matthew Zabransky: the core skiing experience, and they really nail it, and again, it's one of those, like, every time I come off the hill there, I'm just like, man, that was a great day of skiing, even if, you know, it's raining outside, I feel like.00:55:43.000 --> 00:55:44.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:55:45.000 --> 00:56:01.000Stuart Winchester: And as a… just to underscore how good of a scary it is, it's right across the street from Boyne Highlands, and it has been, you know, obviously its whole time, but for a scary to succeed, a lot of times, a smaller scary will fail next to a big corporate area, but Nubs has managed to flourish. Matthew, we actually had no crossover, because.00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:47.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:51.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:16.000Stuart Winchester: as you can probably guess, is Mount Bohemia, and I'm sure that's probably why you left it off. Uh, Mount Bohemia, for the folks who are not familiar with it, I wrote an article last year, I called it, Mount Bohemia, the scarier the Midwest deserves, because when Mount Bohemia opened in 2000, it.00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:03.000Matthew Zabransky: Hey.00:56:04.000 --> 00:56:07.000Matthew Zabransky: Yep.00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:31.000Stuart Winchester: And it has 900 feet of vertical. They do not groom. They have no snowmaking. They get 300 inches annually. It's all, almost all, glades. Their glading is some of the best I've ever seen anywhere, because there's a lot of underbrush in Michigan.00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:22.000Matthew Zabransky: Okay.00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:48.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, the place is an absolute riot. Talk about culture. You get on the ground and you're like, oh, what's here? They don't even have a proper base lodge. It's, it's all these yurts and then they have this giant complex of hot tubs for some reason that, that everyone's always in there drinking beer and.00:56:48.000 --> 00:56:55.000Stuart Winchester: And the skiing is just… it's great! It's… it's… there's nothing else like it anywhere in North America, where there's just…00:56:55.000 --> 00:57:12.000Stuart Winchester: that much just free skiing available off of a lift, and Lonnie, the owner, has been on a couple times, and I cannot say enough good things about Nubs Knob, including… and I'll let people do their own research on this, but their season pass is $117, or $99 for… you don't want Fridays and Saturdays, and you get all kinds of reciprocals with it, so…00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:16.000Stuart Winchester: It's not a bad multi-mountain pass on its own. So…00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:14.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah.00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:30.000Matthew Zabransky: I was so. I was so nervous the 1st so I went to Bohemia last year for the 1st time ever, and I it has been on my list forever, and I keep like I want to hit it right, because I don't want to like. Just go there and not be able to ski everything. And the entire time I've been super fortunate to see a lot of amazing places in in North.00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:26.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, yeah.00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:49.000Matthew Zabransky: And I was super nervous it was not going to live up to the hype, because I was like, this place is hyped up so much, there is no way that it is going to live up to the hype, and it absolutely did. It's one of the most unique scary areas that you'll ever go to, the operations, the bus system, the hot tub. Nothing makes sense there, but it all does in a weird way. It's an absolute riot.00:57:49.000 --> 00:58:04.000Stuart Winchester: I couldn't have said any better. I always tell people, if you ski one place in the Midwest in your life, make it Mount Bohemia. All right, now, Matthew, what I want you to leave us with today is… I imagine, maybe deliberately, you didn't mention any of these ski areas, but one of the…00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:15.000Stuart Winchester: things that you do an awesome job with every year is covering the race to open in the Midwest. So, so tell us about the race to open. Who's involved?00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:19.000Stuart Winchester: When it generally takes place and how you cover it.00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:35.000Matthew Zabransky: Yeah, so the race to open is a pretty big deal across the Midwest. It was something that before I started this website and YouTube channel, I did not really realize a lot, but the Midwest is always usually fighting for one of the first areas to open in the entire country on occasion. It really just depends on the weather.00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:52.000Matthew Zabransky: But what

Welcome to the Celestial Insights Podcast, the show that brings the stars down to Earth! Each week, astrologer, coach, and intuitive Celeste Brooks of Astrology by Celeste will be your guide. Her website is astrologybyceleste.com.  

The 2026-27 premier episode of Prep Sports Weekly for Monday, September 7, 2026. We start with a football coaches carousel with new Cascade head coach Richard Stuart, Shorecrest's Brandon Christensen and Marysville Getchell's Davis Lura.

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States by sharing vintage audio from KIRO Radio from the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. In this 45-minute recording (one side of an analog tape, made by Feliks at home that morning 25 years ago), we hear Newsradio 710 KIRO deep in its "peak news & talk" years - when a big newsroom was in operation around the clock to gather and report the facts, and wise and eloquent talk show hosts (including Dave Ross) calmly analyzed and interpreted what was going on . . . in real-time. Some of the beloved local voices heard on this tape include Dave Ross, Gregg Hersholt, Kirsten Kendrick, Heather Bosch, Tim Haeck, Tony Minor, Jon Repp, Brian Calvert, Ursula Reutin and the late Jane Shannon. We also hear national updates from the radio division of CBS News - which, as of earlier this year, is long-gone. This recording was made beginning around 10:45am Pacific Time, or about five hours after the attacks; it's not breaking news, but it's still a chilling audio time capsule from one of the darkest days in American history. Through it all, the local voices we hear are steady, and these radio professionals did their part to help the community process the shock and disbelief. Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

Back in 2022, I had a marker board covered edge to edge with ideas. I'd write a launch date right next to each one, feel the rush of excitement, and sprint at it with everything I had. And then somewhere around week four, I'd realize I was building the plane while flying it. Sound familiar? If you've ever had a big idea that fizzled out somewhere between the excitement and the finish line, this episode is for you. Today I'm walking you through the shift that changed how I plan every launch, every program, every big scary idea since 2022...backwards planning. I'll break down the five steps I use with every client who shows up with a big idea in their head, walk you through Rory Vaden's eight core departments of a business, and take you behind the scenes of something I'm working on right now in my own hometown of Cascade, Iowa, so you can see exactly how this plays out in real time. What You'll Hear The worst business plan I ever made, and what it cost me (credibility, energy, and a little bit of faith in myself) The real difference between forward planning and backward planning Rory Vaden's eight core business departments, and how to use them as a lens instead of a checklist Why naming what could go wrong isn't pessimism...it's leadership Where I still struggle to ask for support (hint: it's a Human Design Manifestor/Enneagram 3 thing) A real, in-progress example: backwards planning a downtown revitalization effort in Cascade, Iowa Resources & Links Mentioned Rory Vaden's eight business departments framework Follow along with Molly: @mollyknuth on social Email Molly: molly@mollyknuthmedia.com Share the Episode If this one hit home, send it to the person in your life with a big idea and no map yet. And if you're backwards planning something right now, I want to hear about it. Message me @mollyknuth or shoot me an email at molly@mollyknuthmedia.com.  

The Cubs are tusslin' with the Brewers over the next week and a half, and it's going to take a miracle run for the division race to tighten. The guys discuss position players pitching, Why BJ Murray Jr. makes no sense as a name, how good Clay Holmes is, and who the most egregious picks to the Cubs All 150 team were. They also discuss a promotion at the Korner Tap in Cascade, Iowa that you haven't heard of, and Andy tells one of his favorite jokes. All that, and more.

This special LIVE REMOTE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY originated from the public memorial for beloved historian Paul Dorpat at the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) in Seattle on Sunday, August 30, 2026. Paul's dear friends Clay Eals and Jean Sherrard organized the event and served as emcees (emscee?). Speakers/performers included Ken Workman, Chief Seattle descendant, of the Duwamish Tribe; Mayor Katie Wilson of Seattle; Marie McCaffrey of HistoryLink; Ann Ferguson, retired Seattle Public Library "Seattle Room" Librarian; Washington Governor Bob Ferguson; folk musician Al Hirsch (performing “The Old Settler” - aka “Acres of Clams”); Bob Donegan, CEO of Ivar's; Greg Nickels, former Seattle mayor and current HistoryLink board chair; Mike James, longtime newsman and anchor for KING TV and KIRO TV and old friend of Paul Dorpat; and Leonard Garfield, executive director of MOHAI. Before and after the public memorial, CASCADE OF HISTORY was joined by a number of special guests, including: Leonard Garfield, Governor Bob Ferguson, author David B. Williams, musician John Roderick and radio legend Steve Scher. Special thanks to Benjamin Warren of SPACE 101.1 FM for running the board back at the station, and to SPACE 101.1 FM donors for their year-round financial support of the station and its hyperlocal programming. Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory This live remote broadcast was presented from 6:00 to 9:00pm Pacific Time on Sunday, August 30, 2026. CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is author David B. Williams. His new book, "In The Range of Fire and Ice: A Human and Natural History of Washington's Cascades" is available now from booksellers around the Pacific Northwest, and he's about to embark on a series of author appearances and book talks throughout the late summer and into the late autumn around Western Washington. Williams has written a number of popular books, including "Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound" (UW Press, 2021), and often leads walking tours and writes and speaks about Northwest history. CASCADE OF HISTORY spoke with David B. Williams on Thursday, August 27, 2026. "In The Range of Fire and Ice" from Mountaineers Books: https://www.mountaineers.org/books/books/in-the-range-of-fire-and-ice-a-human-and-natural-history-of-washington2019s-cascades Upcoming author appearances by David B. Williams: https://geologywriter.com/walks-talks/ Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

For this final hour of Indiana Sports Talk, Coach Bob Lovell continues the high school football madness with a breakdown of more games. Greg Rakestraw of the ISC Sports Network shares about Hamilton Southeastern winning against North Central. Then, Head Coach of Sullivan High School Mike Caton details how they beat South Vermillion, 55-7. WRBI’s Rob Moorhead breaks down East Central’s 14-6 win over New Palestine. Danville’s Head Coach Jayme Comer also shares about beating Cascade 34-21. Then, Evan Ulery, Batesville Head Coach, gives a rundown of how they beat Milan 28-27. Westfield High School Head Coach Josh Miracle shares about them beating Carmel 38-34. WKLO’s David Deaton gives the recap of Scottsburg’s 40-6 win over North Harrison. Head Coach Patric Morrison of Madison Consolidated High School shares about their 42-6 win against Jennings County. Mike Skvara of Tiger Sports Network and Head Coach of Evansville Memorial John Hurley details the 21-17 win against Evansville North. And Network IN Updates Anchor Landon Coons rounds out the show with Coach to share about the Colts preseason game against the Detroit Lions and about the Fever win against the Connecticut Sun. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sonia raconte un voyage en famille près de Marrakech, au Maroc, avec sa fille Brune, 8 ans : le riad réservé pour six nuits est fermé, son propriétaire est décédé accidentellement la semaine précédente. Le début d'une série de galères en cascade sur ce voyage de repérage.-----------Si l'épisode vous a plu, laissez-moi une note 5 ⭐️ou un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify

Send us Fan MailToday's episode of 5-Minute Parenting is a real treat, because Host Karen Ferguson gets the pleasure of interviewing her oldest daughter, Alyssa Wedemeyer, about her new picture book series, ABCs of America for Kids! Alyssa's passion is creating books that spark a love for history among young readers, teaching them important historical facts in a fun, engaging way, so they will learn, remember, and love learning US history.  Listen in and get to know Alyssa and her book series better, then connect with her online and grab a copy of her books for your special young readers! In this episode, Alyssa will answer these questions: Tell us a little bit about yourself and what inspires your writing.Tell us about your book ABCs of Civil War History and what inspired you to write it.Do you have a favorite part of this book and did you discover anything surprising or fascinating as you wrote and published it?How can parents, grandparents, teachers and librarians use this book with young readers? What do you hope young readers take away from it?Give us a sneak peak into the other books in the series!About Alyssa Wedemeyer:Alyssa Wedemeyer is a homeschooling mom of multiple littles in a growing family. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Religion with a focus on Apologetics from Liberty University, and has completed advanced coursework in American history at Liberty University online. Alyssa has extensive experience writing teaching curriculum for elementary to middle school aged children and has been published in Brio magazine and was a finalist in the 2026 Cascade awards for speculative fiction. Links:Website: https://alyssawedemeyer.com/Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/ABCs-Americas-Civil-America-Kids-ebook/dp/B0GX3B1DV3?ref_=ast_author_mpbEtsy:https://www.etsy.com/shop/KidsBooksbyAlyssa?dd_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Falyssawedemeyer.com%2F*Are you looking for fun, gospel-inspired merch for your family + discounted picture books for your kids and grandkids? Visit my Etsy store at KarensBooksandMoreBook 3 in the Questions for Kids picture book series is now available! Check out Guess Why God Made the Rainbow on Amazon or your favorite book retailer!

On this special BONUS NOW & THEN EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel speaks with Clay Eals and Jean Sherrard of Seattle Now & Then and with Devlin Donnelly of the Port of Seattle about a rare photo from The Beatles' 1966 Seattle visit. The image was recently re-discovered by Devlin Donnelly in the port's archives, Clay and Jean chose it as the “Then” focus of their Now & Then column for The Seattle Times . . . and many more of them live next door. The column appears in print in the Sunday, August 30, 2026 edition of the newspaper; the online version was posted on Thursday, August 27, 2026. In this conversation, Devlin explains the origins of the photo, and Clay and Jean describe how they produced the “Now” image. There's also much talk of everyone's favorite Beatles songs and albums . . . and you know you should be glad. Beatles 1966 Seattle Now & Then from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/60-years-ago-the-beatles-played-twice-at-seattle-coliseum/ Beatles 1966 Seattle Now & Then Bonus Material from Clay & Jean: https://pauldorpat.com/2026/08/27/seattle-now-then-and-here-they-are-the-beatles-sea-tac-airport-1966/ Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

Drift into deep relaxation and restful sleep with soothing gentle stream and cascading water sounds, perfect for meditation, stress relief, and calming your mind. Let this peaceful ambient nature soundscape create a tranquil atmosphere to help you unwind and focus.

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel presents complete audio from a grassroots media event held at the National Archives in San Bruno, CA on Monday, August 24, 2026. CASCADE OF HISTORY has been covering this story since late June 2026, when word was leaked that the National Archives and Records Administration – or NARA – was taking steps behind the scenes and with no stakeholder cosultation to shut down National Archives locations in the Bay Area and Chicago. Opposition to the closures has been considerable, and is growing. The main speaker for the event is Representative Kevin Mullin (CA-15). Representative Mullin is joined by Rosalyn Tonai of Save Our National Archives (SONA) and the Japanese American Historical Society; Julie Su of SONA; Heather Hostler of Californian Indian Legal Services; and Dr. Satsuki Ina of Tsuru for Solidarity. Following the planned remarks, Representative Mullin takes questions from the media and others gathered for the event. Special thanks to Grant Din for sharing his recording of the event. Rep. Mullin's page about the NARA closures and growing bipartisan opposition: https://kevinmullin.house.gov/2026/08/20/lawmakers-work-to-save-national-archives-historic-records/ Save Our National Archives (SONA) website: https://www.saveournationalarchives.org/ Densho NARA campaign website: https://densho.org/catalyst/densho-opposes-plans-to-close-national-archives-facilities-chicago-san-bruno/ Tsuru for Solidarity website: https://tsuruforsolidarity.org/ CASCADE OF HISTORY Playlist with multiple episodes about this story: https://soundcloud.com/cascadeofhistory/sets/grassroots-fight-to-save-the Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

The homeowners association of Four Seasons Resorts Nevis filed a lawsuit against Nevis Peak Holdings on Tuesday, August 11 in Delaware Chancery Court. Nevis Peak owns the luxury resort and surrounding property, which sits at the base of a volcanic mountain in Pinney's Beach, a roughly three-mile stretch of beach on the Caribbean island—just north of Charlestown, Alexander Hamilton's birthplace. Nevis Peak is owned by Cascade, the family office of Bill Gates, which bought the resort a decade ago. As of January 2022, Cascade also owns 71.25% of the Four Seasons, according to the suit. While Four Seasons manages the property, it wasn't named as a defendant in the suit. He's owned the Four Seasons with Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, whose Kingdom Holding has a 23.75% stake, since 2007. According to the suit, each homeowner paid $100,000 to get in the door at Four Seasons Resort Nevis, the luxury Caribbean island resort long reported as a quiet retreat for such celebrities as Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep and Justin Trudeau. They then pay upwards of $13,000 a year to keep using the place, plus a management fee of 25% on any bills for work the resort does for them and another 15% for major construction. By Alicia Park, Reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

00:00 – 25:15 – The last time JMV was out at Taylor’s Bar & Table, his mom was dealing with a fire. With him back at Taylor’s for a Football Friday, he’s happy to report there’s not a fire crisis, but instead, a crisis on trying to explain to his mom how to watch the Pacers this year. Then, he’s joined by friend of the show Brent Holverson from Heaven Hill distillery as they start their Tavern Tour. They get into the Colts and why a fast start to the season is vital before JMV touches on the Fever. Jacob Rheinheimer is the Race Marketing Manager for Hoosier Park, he joins to give information on everything he does for Hoosier Park. 25:15– 38:41 – The great coach Bob Lovell joins the show on a Football Friday. He puts on a nice shirt before going on with John and they go through the best games of the week and the outlook for Eric Moore and Center Grove. Outlooks on Lafeyette Jefferson, Cascade, Bloomington North and South, and others. 38:41 – 44:33 – John does some giveaways at Taylor's Bar & Table before Pat Sullivan of Sullivan Hardware and Garden joins for his Friday appearance. 44:33 - 1:06:51 – From the Indianapolis Star, Joel A. Erickson joins the show as he starts his weekly appearance on the show to ponder where Daniel Jones ranks among NFL QBs, the kicking battle and what he’s expecting to see in the second preseason game tomorrow afternoon. Also, what kind of start do the Colts need to get off to? 1:06:51 – 1:19:58 – Pat Sullivan rejoins to discuss why people love the fall so much and more. 1:19:58 – 1:26:26 – John gives away a prize to someone with a unique last name. 1:26:26 – 1:55:40 – The voice of the Indiana Hoosiers, Don Fischer, joins to give a full breakdown on the Indiana Hoosiers football team as we are about two weeks out from the season opener against North Texas. How will they replace what they lost, who are the newcomers, and Don and JMV marvel at people upset at the IU schedule. 1:55:40 – 2:02:27 – Chelsea from Taylor’s Bar and Table joins the show before Brent Holverson runs through some rapid fire questions on IU, the Colts, 2:02:27 – 2:06:09 – JMV gives away Deep Purple tickets, wraps up the show with Brent.Support the show: https://1075thefan.com/the-ride-with-jmv/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00– 10:53 – The great coach Bob Lovell joins the show on a Football Friday. He puts on a nice shirt before going on with John and they go through the best games of the week and the outlook for Eric Moore and Center Grove. Outlooks on Lafeyette Jefferson, Cascade, Bloomington North and South, and others 10:53 - 23:18 – From the Indianapolis Star, Joel A. Erickson joins the show as he starts his weekly appearance on the show to ponder where Daniel Jones ranks among NFL QBs, the kicking battle and what he’s expecting to see in the second preseason game tomorrow afternoon. Also, what kind of start do the Colts need to get off to? 23:18 – 44:15 – The voice of the Indiana Hoosiers, Don Fischer, joins to give a full breakdown on the Indiana Hoosiers football team as we are about two weeks out from the season opener against North Texas. How will they replace what they lost, who are the newcomers, and Don and JMV marvel at people upset at the IU scheduleSupport the show: https://1075thefan.com/the-ride-with-jmv/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Marion raconte deux anecdotes de voyage : le coup de cœur d'une sortie bateau à l'Île Maurice où toute la famille finit par nager auprès d'une baleine, et la frayeur d'une randonnée en pleine jungle thaïlandaise vers un sanctuaire d'éléphants, avec une halte pique-nique au bord d'une cascade aux pierres glissantes. Malgré les avertissements du guide, sa fille glisse et tombe la tête la première, à trois heures de tuk-tuk de la première route. Écoutez ce récit pour découvrir comment cette famille a réussi à rejoindre l'hôpital le plus proche.-----------Si l'épisode vous a plu, laissez-moi une note 5 ⭐️ou un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify

Host Richie Tevlin and Co-Host Evan Blum talk with Mike Contreras, Director of Sales and Marketing at 2SP Brewing Company, the Aston, Delaware County brewery born out of the Two Stones Pub group. He came up through Rogue Ales & Spirits and Dogfish Head before co-founder Mike Stiglitz called him about starting it in 2014, and he has helped build 2SP into a top Pennsylvania brewery that distributes across neighboring states and exports to Japan. https://www.2spbrewing.com/ @2spbrewing _____________________________________________ THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!: Norris McLaughlin P.A. https://norrismclaughlin.com/ted-zeller Ted Zeller - Epi 91 Email: tzeller@norris-law.com (484) 765-2220 - Liquor Attorney The Beer Accountant: https://www.paddymaccpa.com/brewerysolutions Patrick McDonald Email: pmcdonald@paddymaccpa.com 267-566-4077 - Licensed CPA _______________________________________ EPISODE NOTES: Mentioned Brands 2SP Brewing Company - Aston, PA Two Stones Pub - Delaware & Pennsylvania pub group Iron Hill Brewery - Media, PA Dogfish Head - Epi 100 - Milton, DE Sacred Vice Brewing - Epi 40 - Philadelphia, PA Forest & Main Brewing - Epi 17 - Ambler, PA Workhorse Brewing - Epi 54 - King of Prussia, PA Rogue Ales & Spirits - Newport, OR Triumph Brewing - New Hope, PA Other Half Brewing - Brooklyn, NY Tired Hands - Ardmore, PA Ballast Point - San Diego, CA Hardywood Park Craft Brewery - Richmond, VA Evolution Brewing - Salisbury, MD Flying Fish Brewing - Somerdale, NJ Avery Brewing - Boulder, CO Founders Brewing - Grand Rapids, MI Boston Beer Company - Boston, MA Alaskan Brewing - Juneau, AK CopperTail Brewing - Tampa, FL Alpine Beer Company - Alpine, CA Pizza Port - Carlsbad, CA Paulaner - Munich, Germany Miller Lite - Milwaukee, WI Coors Light - Golden, CO Twisted Tea - Cincinnati, OH Wawa - Wawa, PA Herman's Coffee - Philadelphia, PA Little Goat Coffee - Philadelphia, PA Mentioned People Michael Stiglitz - Owner of 2SP Brewing & Two Stones Pub Bob Barrar - Brewmaster of 2SP Brewing Andrew Rubenstein - Epi 40 - Co-Owner of Sacred Vice Brewing Marnie Old - Epi 45 - Sommelier & Wine Author Sam Calagione - Epi 100 - Founder of Dogfish Head Pat McDonald - CPA & Owner of Beer Accountant Casey Hughes - Former Brewmaster of Flying Fish Brewing John Maier - Brewmaster of Rogue Ales Patrick Jones - Former brewer at Triumph Brewing Jay Michon - Former brewer at Triumph Brewing Patrick E. McGovern - Biomolecular archaeologist Patrick O'Leary - Philadelphia chef Martha Stewart - TV host Robert Plant - Musician Other Mentions Delaware County (Delco) - Pennsylvania Standard Tap - Epi 57 - Philadelphia, PA Art Goes to School - Delaware Valley arts non-profit Philadelphia Museum of Art - Philadelphia, PA The Barnes Foundation - Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia Union - Chester, PA Sons of Ben - Philadelphia Union supporters group Susanna Foo - Philadelphia restaurant Striped Bass - Philadelphia restaurant Green Parrot - Newtown, PA bar Pickle Pig Pub & Pig + Fish - Rehoboth Beach, DE Goff's Suds and Soda - Delaware County beer store Bistro Poplar - Cambridge, MD Origlio Beverage - PA beer distributor Harbor Distributing - Southern California distributor Beer Business Daily - Industry publication Newport Folk Festival - Newport, RI Doylestown Men's Rugby Club - Doylestown, PA N.C. Wyeth - Delaware County artist John James Audubon - Naturalist & artist Public Domain Series - 2SP art-label series What We Drank? Wild Life West Coast IPA | 6.6% | Chinook, Mosaic, Amarillo, Centennial 2SP Brewing Company -------------------- Up & Out IPA | 6.0% | Columbus, Cascade, Simcoe, Mosaic 2SP Brewing Company -------------------- Delco Lager American Amber Lager | 4.0% | Perle, Saaz 2SP Brewing Company _______________________________________ STAY CONNECTED: Instagram: @brewedat / @thebrewedatpodcast Tik Tok: @brewedat / @thebrewedatpodcast YouTube: @brewedat / @thebrewedatpodcast LinkedIn: BrewedAt Website: www.brewedat.com

The Cascade Cougars are preparing for the 2026 football season after finishing last year with a 7-3 overall record and a 4-1 mark in district play.Head Coach Ryan Altiere joins the Dubuque Area Sports Podcast to discuss replacing a highly productive senior class, the returning players ready to step into larger roles and the areas Cascade must improve to remain one of the top programs in Class 1A.We also discuss the quarterback position, potential breakout players and how the Cougars plan to replace the production and leadership of Mick Hoffman, Brody Otting, Eli Fritz and the rest of last year's graduating class.

Thinking about East Grand Rapids? Amazing schools, walkable streets, and Reeds Lake views come with a real price premium and limited inventory. Here are the honest pros and cons before you buy.What This Video CoversIn this video, local realtor Abby Cribbs breaks down the honest pros and cons of living in East Grand Rapids: what locals love (top-rated schools, walkability, Gaslight Village, Reeds Lake, and a short commute to downtown Grand Rapids) and what they don't always mention (the price premium, older homes, low inventory, and higher property taxes). By the end, you'll know exactly what you're trading off, and whether it's worth it for you.Who This Is ForThis is especially helpful for families weighing top schools against home size, buyers comparing East Grand Rapids to Ada, Cascade, or Forest Hills, and anyone relocating to West Michigan who wants a straight answer instead of just the highlights.Timestamps0:00 — Introduction 0:35 — Why everyone wants to live in East Grand Rapids 1:22 — Walkability (Gaslight Village, Reeds Lake) 2:02 — Community and top-rated schools 2:17 — The real downsides (price, lot size, taxes) 3:03 — Older homes and limited inventory 3:40 — Who East Grand Rapids suits best 4:18 — Closing thoughtsIf you're thinking about moving in or to West Michigan, our team would love to help. Subscribe for more honest neighborhood breakdowns, and if there's another area you'd like covered next, drop it in the comments below.

Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Rachel Cushman, Secretary-Treasurer of the Chinook Indian Nation, in a conversation marking 175 years since the negotiation of treaties at Tansy Point near the mouth of the Columbia River and looking ahead to what comes next. According to their website, “The Chinook Indian Nation is made up of the five western-most Chinookan speaking tribes at the mouth of the Columbia River. Our nearly 70-year-old constitution codifies who we are and identifies our five constituent tribes – the Clatsop and Cathlamet (Kathlamet) of present-day Oregon and the Lower Chinook, Wahkiakum (Waukikum) and Willapa (Weelappa) of what is now Washington State.” Early August 2026 marked the 175th anniversary of the negotiation of five treaties signed at Tansy Point, in present-day Warrenton, Oregon. Those 1851 treaties were never ratified by the U.S. Congress, and the Chinook Indian Nation is not currently recognized by the federal government. CASCADE OF HISTORY's conversation with Rachel Cushman was recorded on Thursday, August 13, 2026. Chinook Indian Nation website: https://chinooknation.org/ Confluence Project website: https://www.confluenceproject.org/ Chinook Resilience (UW Press) website: https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295742267/chinook-resilience/ Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

Tim and Tyler share the news of Cascade Energy acquiring Yield Energy! They also discuss their break from the podcast and what's to come for The Modern Acre. — Links Cascade Aquires Yield - https://cascadeenergy.com/news/cascade-energy-acquires-yield-energy-to-address-load-growth-for-utilities-and-large-energy-users/

Send us Fan MailAuthor, ministry team leader, pastor's wife, and mom of nine, Melinda Poling, is back on the show to piggyback on her last topic of the "With Me" parenting strategy, in episode #116. In today's episode, Melinda takes us down a different path to share about the sometimes hard realities of parenting, with encouragement and advice to help during those challenging seasons. Or as she refers to it, Parenting When Life Throws You a Curveball. Listen in as Melinda shares personal stories and practical ideas for strengthening your mind, body, and spirit during tough times. Melinda Poling is a ministry team leader in her church, an active apologetics coach, speaker, pastor's wife, and the mother of eight sons and one daughter, and seven grandchildren. Melinda delights in bringing Christ to the center of any conversation or story by engaging hearts. She has aired on various podcasts, published in magazines, and her fiction has made her an Award winner in both the Cascade and the ACFW Kidlit contest. She and her husband enjoy country life and educating their youngest two children at home, praying daily to finish strongVisit Melinda's website, connect with her online, and check out her books: https://melindapoling.com/Social media:  Join 20,000 others to follow along with Melinda on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook—personal profile and author page.)Book 3 in the Questions for Kids picture book series is now available! Check out Guess Why God Made the Rainbow on Amazon or your favorite book retailer!

Having survived a rather strange encounter even for supernaturals, our party disperses to recover on their own.“Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information, please visit worldofdarkness.com.”

Feliks Banel's guests on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY are Naomi Ostwald Kawamura, Executive Director of Densho and Skyla Sachiko Tomine, National Organizing Fellow of Tsuru for Solidarity. Densho and Tsuru for Solidarity have paired up to lead a grassroots effort to halt the closure of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) branch in San Bruno, California. Densho and Tsuru for Solidarity convened a webinar earlier this week with nearly 100 participants. In this conversation for CASCADE OF HISTORY, recorded on the evening of Thursday, August 6, 2026, Ms. Kawamura and Ms. Tomine describe why their respective organizations are collaborating in this effort, what they hope to accomplish, and how people can get involved by contacting legislators and doing other grassroots outreach. CASCADE OF HISTORY has been covering this story since an internal NARA memo was leaked in late June 2026 with details that have still not yet been shared publicly by NARA. That memo describes the closure of NARA regional archival facilities in Chicago, Illinois and San Bruno, California, and imminent removal of archival materials from both sites. Densho NARA campaign website: https://densho.org/catalyst/densho-opposes-plans-to-close-national-archives-facilities-chicago-san-bruno/ Tsuru for Solidarity website: https://tsuruforsolidarity.org/ Previous episode with Grant Din of Save Our National Archives (SONA): https://soundcloud.com/cascadeofhistory/bonus-grant-din CASCADE OF HISTORY BONUS EPISODE from June 27, 2026 with more information: https://soundcloud.com/cascadeofhistory/bonus-nara-closure Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

Host Richie Tevlin and Co-Host Evan Blum talk with Jessica Infante, Managing Editor at Brewbound, the B2B trade publication covering the beer and beyond beer business. A certified Cicerone with a magazine journalism degree from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School, she spent nearly a decade in craft beer marketing, including a run at Boston Beer Company, before joining Brewbound in 2019. https://www.brewbound.com/ https://www.brewbound.com/podcast @BrewBoundJess _____________________________________________ THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!: Norris McLaughlin P.A. https://norrismclaughlin.com/ted-zeller Ted Zeller - Epi 91 Email: tzeller@norris-law.com (484) 765-2220 - Liquor Attorney The Beer Accountant: https://www.paddymaccpa.com/brewerysolutions Patrick McDonald Email: pmcdonald@paddymaccpa.com 267-566-4077 - Licensed CPA _______________________________________ EPISODE NOTES: Mentioned Beverage Brands Boston Beer Company / Sam Adams - Boston, MA Night Shift Brewing - Everett, MA Constellation Brands - Victor, NY Ballast Point Brewing - San Diego, CA Kings & Convicts Brewing - Chicago, IL Tilray Brands - Vancouver, BC BrewDog - Ellon, Scotland Athletic Brewing Company - Milford, CT Michelob Ultra - St. Louis, MO Heineken 0.0 - Amsterdam, Netherlands Modelo - Mexico / Chicago, IL Budweiser / Bud Light - St. Louis, MO Miller Lite / Coors Light - Milwaukee, WI / Golden, CO Twisted Tea - Cincinnati, OH Surfside - Iced tea vodka RTD Cutwater Spirits - San Diego, CA Spikeade - Hard sports drink New Belgium Light Strike - Fort Collins, CO Hard Mountain Dew - PepsiCo RTD Stone Brewing - Escondido, CA Firestone Walker Brewing - Paso Robles, CA 21st Amendment Brewing - San Francisco, CA Evil Genius Beer Company - Philadelphia, PA Two Towns Ciderhouse - Corvallis, OR Schilling Cider - Manchester, NH / Portland, OR Blake's Beverage Co. - Armada, MI Angry Orchard - Walden, NY Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey - Shelbyville, TN Best Day Brewing - Tiburon, CA Partake Brewing - Calgary, AB Rationale - NA beer brand Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Chico, CA Deschutes Brewery - Bend, OR Peroni Nastro Azzurro - Italy Stella Artois - Belgium Corona Hard Seltzer - Constellation Brands Carlsberg - Copenhagen, Denmark O'Doul's - AB InBev NA beer Mentioned People Justin Kendall - Editor-in-Chief of Brewbound Zoe Licata - Reporter at Brewbound Dave Infante - CBC Special 11 - Beer journalist Steven Grasse - Epi 90 - Narragansett, Hendrick's Gin & Sailor Jerry Sam Calagione - Epi 100 - Founder of Dogfish Head James Watt - Co-Founder of BrewDog Martin Dickie - Co-Founder of BrewDog Jim Koch - Founder of Boston Beer Company Bart Watson - Chief Economist of the Brewers Association Troy Aikman - NFL Hall of Famer Kellyanne Conway - Political strategist Fawn Weaver - Founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey Other Mentions NBWA (National Beer Wholesalers Association) - Beer distributor trade group Brewers Association - Craft brewer trade group Beer Institute - Large-brewer trade group CBC (Craft Brewers Conference) - Brewers Association event GABF (Great American Beer Festival) - Denver, CO TTB - Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau Circana - Retail scan-data provider NIQ (NielsenIQ) - Retail scan-data provider IWSR - Drinks-market research firm Blue Cloud Distribution - PepsiCo beer distribution network Brewbound Podcast - Weekly show Equity Punks - BrewDog crowdfunding community Three-Tier System Federal Excise Tax 2026 FIFA World Cup What We Drank? Of Hops and Clouds NEIPA | 5.5% | Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe Vault Brewing Company -------------------- Breaking Brews West Coast IPA | 6.4% | Centennial, Cascade, Chinook Space Cadet Brewing Company _______________________________________ STAY CONNECTED: Instagram: @brewedat / @thebrewedatpodcast Tik Tok: @brewedat / @thebrewedatpodcast YouTube: @brewedat / @thebrewedatpodcast LinkedIn: BrewedAt Website: www.brewedat.com

Cascade gets Bergeron'd, and while dad is asleep the girls decide to get into a little trouble...Cast:  Collateral – MaddieBinary – DotEris – ShannonJet - CydContinuity Editor- DotEditor/Producer- CydGamemaster/Executive Producer – EricIntro Music by SynthezxOutro Music by Austin MillerBackground Music by Machinima SoundSupport us on Patreon at patreon.com/restingglitchface for behind the scenes clips and early episode releases!

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel digs for a second time into the “This NOT Just In” archives for three installments from the occasional history series that aired from 2010 to 2016 on KUOW 94.9 FM in Seattle. The premise of “This NOT Just In” was to use archival audio to shed light on forgotten or not fully understood stories from Pacific Northwest history. In this second "This NOT Just In" Archival Revival, we hear about when President Harry Truman killed time at Mount Rainier in 1945 while waiting for the first meeting United Nations to get underway in San Francisco; the sad tale of Bobo the Gorilla and his time in Anacortes, Washington and at the Woodland Park Zoo in the 1950s and 1960s; and the one and only season of Major League Baseball's Seattle Pilots in 1969. This material was originally produced by Feliks Banel with editing and other assistance from KUOW's Jim Gates. “This NOT Just In” was initially awarded a Program Venture Fund grant from KUOW in 2009 which funded production of the first three episodes; KUOW ultimately green-lighted more than 30 additional episodes during the run of the series. The episodes remained online for many years, but most are no longer accessible via the KUOW website – so it seemed like a good time to share them once again as a public service. Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

AI is everywhere, but are property management companies asking the right questions before implementing it? In this episode of the #DoorGrowShow, Jason Hull sits down with Mo Hussain to discuss why successful AI adoption has far less to do with technology and far more to do with operational clarity. Instead of chasing the latest AI tools, Mo introduces his Measure, Map, Automate framework to identify operational bottlenecks, uncover hidden profit leaks, and build workflows that actually improve business performance.  Together, they explore why clean data is the foundation of automation, how undocumented processes create costly inefficiencies, and why AI should enhance human decision-making rather than replace it.   You'll Learn [00:00] Meet Mo Hussain and the Measure, Map, Automate Framework [03:20] Why Most Companies Ask the Wrong AI Questions [08:10] The Role of Clean Data in AI Success [12:45] Mapping Workflows Before Automating Them [15:30] The Process Myth and Better Operational Systems [21:10] Building Accountability Into AI Workflows [25:15] Designing AI Agents That Actually Perform [27:45] Turning Operational Data Into Business Growth [29:15] Final Advice for Property Management Leaders Quotables "AI value really truly is workflow value." Mo Hussain  "AI depends on trusted operational data." Mo Hussain  "The winners are not gonna be the companies that have the most amount of data, but they're the ones that can convert data into consistent operating actions." Mo Hussain  Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript Jason Hull (00:00) welcome everybody. I'm Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we have brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry.   At DoorGro, we are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. Now let's get into the show. And my guest today is Mo Hussain, and we're going to be talking about how property management companies can stop drowning in data and start turning it into real operational growth. In this episode,   Mo is breaking down the measure, map, and automate framework that he has built and approach an approach to uncovering hidden margins, reducing manual oversight, and getting more value out of every door in your portfolio.   right.   is Mo Hussain. Mo, welcome to the show.   Mo Hussein (01:01) Hey Jason, happy to be here.   Jason Hull (01:03) So today we're going to be chatting a little bit about how property management companies can stop drowning in data and start turning it into real operational growth. And Mo's going to break down the measure, map, and automate framework, his approach for uncovering hidden margins, reducing manual oversight, and getting more value out of every door in your portfolio. So cool, measuring is important. We'll get into that. So before we get into that, Mo,   Can you give people a little bit of background on yourself? How did you get into entrepreneurism? How did you get connected to property management? And help everybody understand who Mo is. Yeah.   Mo Hussein (01:42) Yeah.   great question. So I I've been in this industry now for probably coming up on 20 years at this point. I I worked at some of the prop tech and software providers that are prevalent in the space. Namely, I worked at both YARTI App Folio, which are both kind of headquartered in in Santa Barbara. and a little bit over ten years ago, I started a consultancy and accounting CPA practice that specifically focuses on   Jason Hull (01:56) Namely, I worked at both YARDIE and at Folio, which are both kind of headquartered in in Santa Barbara. a little bit over ten years ago, I started a consultancy and accounting TPA practice that specifically focuses   on prop tech and real estate. So we offer consultations with implementations, custom reporting, operationalizing around technology, which is which is now the buzz around kind of AI and automation at this point.   Mo Hussein (02:11) Prop tech and real estate. So we offer consultations with implementations, custom reporting, operationalizing around technology, which is which is now the buzz around kind of AI and automation at this point. and then   we've also built products for the space to help with automations, help with you know accounting compliance and bringing visibility and custom reporting capabilities to operators. So kind of leveraging all the experience.   Jason Hull (02:25) And then we've also built products for the space to help with automations, help with you know, accounting compliance and bringing visibility and custom reporting capabilities to operators. So kind of leveraging all the experience   Mo Hussein (02:40) from working as a consultant and also as an accountant and even working as some of these tech providers now being a actual supplier in the industry.   Jason Hull (02:41) from working as a consultant and also as an accountant and even working as some of these tech providers now being a aqua supplier in the industry. Very cool. Very cool. So you're a little bit nerdy.   Mo Hussein (02:52) A little bit. Data. I love data. Right.   Jason Hull (02:53) Okay, so am I. So am I. All right. So   cool. So let's talk nerdy to me, Mo. All right. So let's let's chat about this. So let's get into it. So t tell us about this. Wha why is this wh how'd you come up with this framework? Why is this important? I love frameworks because frameworks are usually where we take something that we notice a pattern in, there's some complexity involved, and we make it simple. So explain to us.   Mo Hussein (02:59) Yeah.   Jason Hull (03:18) Where does the measure map and automate framework kind of come from?   Mo Hussein (03:22) Right, right. And this is this kind of stems from a conversation you probably have with plenty of your your clients and even prospects when you start engaging, you know, the the the very popular question now of how do we use AI? I want to streamline and automate. And it's a very loaded, it's a very loaded, fairly ambiguous question, right? How do we use AI? We want to implement AI into our operations, right?   Jason Hull (03:23) And this is this kind of stems from a conversation you probably have with plenty of your   You know, the the the the very popular question now, how do we use AI? It's a very loaded, fairly ambiguous question, right? How do we use AI? We want to implement AI more.   Mo Hussein (03:48) when conversely, like you know, operators and property managers should be starting with a different qu set of questions, right? Like how like where are we losing things like NOI, margin, time, control, or even consistency, right? AI really only matters when it connects and automation really only matters when it connects to a to a revenue lever or some type of a cost lever or productivity gain or or risk reduction, right?   Jason Hull (03:50) Conversely, like you know, operators, property managers should be starting with a different set of questions, right? Like how like where are we losing things like NOI, margin, time, control, or even consistency, right? AI really only matters when it connects in automation really only matters when it connects to a to a revenue lever or some type of a cost lever, productivity gain or or risk reduction,   right? Yeah. there's there's a couple   Mo Hussein (04:14) and there's there's a couple of key components   Jason Hull (04:16) key components in even conversations that you've probably even had with with property managers today is that firstly like you know operators today they already have a lot of data. They probably have access to a lot of different data sets across, you know, operations, but it's probably, you know, disconnected and disjointed and different reports and disconnected systems, hidden in spreadsheets and and dashboards that probably don't drive much much action, right? and everybody wants   Mo Hussein (04:17) in even conversations that you've probably even had with with property managers today is that firstly, like, you know, operators today, they already have a lot of data. They probably have access to a lot of different data sets across, you know, operations, but it's probably, you know, disconnected and disjointed and different reports and disconnected systems hidden in spreadsheets and and dashboards that probably don't drive much much action, right? and everybody wants to   Jason Hull (04:43) to automate and execute   Mo Hussein (04:43) automate and execute an   operational kind of workflow. But the hard part is not whether, you know, AI can really do something, but the hard part is whether a company even knows where value is leaking and who owns that action and and whether these workflows are even clear enough to to be able to automate. And that's kind of the premise of this framework is to kind of measure what that pain is, you know, map that workflow, automate that repetitive work and manage   Jason Hull (04:45) an operational kind of workflow. The hard part is not whether you know AI can really do something, but the hard part is whether a a company even knows where value is leaking and who owns that action and and whether these workflows are even clear enough to to be able to automate. And that's kind of the premise of this framework is to kind of measure what that pain is, you know, map that workflow, automate that repetitive work, and   manage ideally performance through some type of closed loop accountability. We just put an actual word to it, right? A framework to it, I'm sure   Mo Hussein (05:07) ideally performance through some type of a closed loop accountability. We just put an actual word to it and a framework to it, but I'm sure very   similarly to the conversations that you're probably having also even with customers.   Jason Hull (05:15) Very similarly to the conversations that you're probably having also with customers.   Yeah, yeah, got it. Yeah. it's interesting because we're now seeing a lot of these tech companies or tech forward companies that are kind of backtracking on AI a little bit. They were giving out basically blank checks to use AI as much as they could. Some were even creating sort of a contest internally, incentivizing like who could use the most tokens.   Mo Hussein (05:29) Mm.   Right.   You're right.   Jason Hull (05:41) Which is a little bit insane   to just give people a blank check as if that always the more tokens you burn, the more productivity is being created, right?   Mo Hussein (05:51) Right, right, right. And we're seeing, yeah, and you know, as we're seeing these newer models that are coming out, whether it's, you know, through Cloud, Anthropic or even these other these other LLMs, the token utilization is becoming more and more expensive, especially with these newer models. And so now the question of just like, hey, how is that utilization actually translating to actual business value? Right. And this was a question that eventually would have been would have been pushed, right?   Jason Hull (05:54) Yeah and you know.   Of just like, hey, how's that utilization actually translating to actual business value? Right.   Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Like how to use AI. Yeah. Bad question. A better question is how do we actually make sure we're creating more profit? How do we actually make sure we are lowering costs? Like   And that's the the idea, they think, well, AI must be so much cheaper than people. And what's interesting, I've also seen some reports lately showing the amount of money these different LLMs are losing right now. They're spending a massive amount of money to deliver AI to us at a super cheap price right now. And but they're losing money. Every time we're chatting, they're losing money.   Mo Hussein (06:47) Mm-hmm.   Right.   Right.   Jason Hull (07:01) And that's that's a wild business model. They're obviously hoping to win some sort of AI race. They're hoping to get us maybe in the future. And there's a lot of talk lately as well of people thinking we gotta shift to local models. Like we gotta I gotta run this AI stuff on my own computer and not be giving all my money to anthropic or open AI you know, open AI or whatever. So okay.   Mo Hussein (07:15) Mm-hmm.   Right, right.   Right.   Jason Hull (07:26) Cool. So let's continue on. Me measure, map and automate. Yeah. Yeah.   Mo Hussein (07:29) Yeah. Yeah. And   by the way, going on your point, Jason, it's you know, you you also, you know, creating automation and leveraging these models locally, it there's definitely value in that. But you know, now more than ever, f you know, teams are kind of distributed, right? And so ideally, if you've built automations and leveraging these L LMs and   Jason Hull (07:35) Yeah, y you also you know   Locally it is definitely that   Teams are kind of distributed, right? Yeah. Ideally, if you've built automations and leveraging these LLMs   and   Mo Hussein (07:52) And things of that sort.   You probably want to have like some type of an interface that's like cloud based, right? Or for folks to be able to kind of collaborate in some type of a ideally like a safe environment, right? and so measure, map and and automate. So you know, there's there's kind of those three components to be able to actually fully ideally leverage leverage AI. But   Jason Hull (07:55) some type of a an interface that's like cloud based, right? Or for folks to be able to kind of collaborate in some type of a ideally like a safe environment, right? yeah. So measure, map and and automate. So you know there's there's kind of those three components to be able to actually fully ideally leverage leverage AI but   there's there's a couple like kind of key core components that feel like   Mo Hussein (08:20) There's there's a couple of like kind of key core components that I feel like   is very important for folks to to really understand before they can they they can even take advantage of of AI, right? so one is you know AI, AI value really truly is workflow value. And so like the most the biggest opportunities when it comes to automation leveraging AI is things that are repetitive.   Jason Hull (08:25) is very important for folks to to really understand before they can they they can take advantage of of AI, right? so one is, you know, a AI AI value really truly is a workflow value. And so like the most   automation leveraging AI as things that are   repetitive, you know, judgment heavy, ideally high volume workflows. Think about things like you know, leasing follow-up, delinquency, turns, maintenance, triage, variance explanations. another another key thing to understand is you know AI depends on trusted ideal operational data. And so if you don't have accurate or clean property unit, resident, vendor,   Mo Hussein (08:44) you know, judgment heavy, ideally high volume workflows. Think about things like you know, leasing follow-up, d delinquency, terms, maintenance triage, variance explanations. another another key thing to understand is, you know, AI depends on trusted ideally operational data. And so if you don't have accurate or clean property unit, resident vendor   payment data and it's and it's inconsistent, you know, AI just   Jason Hull (09:10) payment data and it's and it's inconsistent, you know,   AI just helps accelerate the wrong answer, right? This notion of like hallucinations also kind of exist. and you know insights without ownership is is just is really just theater. And so although AI may identify a problem and recommend an action, things need to be routed, right? And asci you know action needs to be assigned, there needs to be some accountability that gets created there and then a measurement of of of   Mo Hussein (09:13) helps accelerate r the wrong answer, right? And the this notion of like hallucinations also kind of exist. and you know insights without ownership is is just is really just theater. And so although AI may identify a problem and recommend an action, things need to be routed, right? And as I you know action needs to be assigned. There needs to be some accountability that gets created there and then a measurement of of of a   of of a of a result.   Jason Hull (09:40) of of a of a   result. and then lastly like humans humans control still matters, right? Things that have a very high potential opportunity cost. you know, operators should be very careful on how they utilize AI. So, you know, things around fair housing, sensitive sensitive decisions like screenings, evictions, legal communication, you know, employee decisions and maybe even large payment loopholes and so   Mo Hussein (09:42) and then lastly like humans, humans control still matters, right? Things that have a very high potential opportunity cost. you know, operators should be very careful on how they utilize AI. So, you know, things around fair housing, sensitive sensitive decisions like screenings, evictions, legal communication, you know, employee decisions and maybe even large payment approvals. And so   Once we   have these kind of these table stake table stake items, if you will, kind of address, then you know we can move on to kind of you know the our framework of kind of measure, map, and automate. And so in each of these different components have different purposes, you know. The whole point of the measure step is is to quantify where pain exists and to validate kind of being buying versus buy like building. And so you want to ask things like where   Jason Hull (10:09) Once we have these kind of these table stakes stakeheads, if you will, kind of addressed, then you know, we can move on to kind of, you know, the our framework of kind of measure, map, and automate. And so and each of these different components have different purposes, you know. The whole point of the measure step is is to quantify where pain exists and to validate kind of being buying versus buy like building. And so you want to ask things   like where   Mo Hussein (10:36) where   time, where margin, where service quality or accountability is lost today, right? Examples can be things like, you know, days vacant, you know, delinquency rate, maintenance response times. These would be kind of like outputs like invoice coding time, reporting hours, renewal conversions, right?   Jason Hull (10:37) Where time, where margin, where service quality or accountability is lost today, right? Examples can be things like, you know, days vacant, you know, delinquency rate, maintenance response times. These would be kind of like outputs like invoice coding time, reporting hours, renewal conversions, right?   Yeah. Got it. Yeah, that that makes a lot of sense. So you've got to be you have to have good data.   Which the crux of th where their data is all probably housed is inside of their property management software.   Mo Hussein (11:06) Right.   Jason Hull (11:07) And so hopefully that software is kinda tracking some of this stuff. But, you know, everybody's had a CRM that the team didn't put enough notes in. And then it becomes kind of useless, right? So you're like, what happened with Fred on that call earlier, you know, or previously? I I think I think we talked about this. Can't remember. Why aren't you putting in notes? And so then the flaw becomes the human in the loop in a lot of instances. But then you're saying, you know, also humans matter. Like   Mo Hussein (11:14) Right.   Right.   Jason Hull (11:34) Related to fair housing. We've got to have the human in the loop making decisions. I don't think it would go fair very well to be standing in front of a judge and say, Well, the AI messed this up. It wasn't me.   Mo Hussein (11:43) Right. Right.   Right. Yeah, that's very that's very correct. the the the other thing is is that you know software is a tool, right? So they you know, for like that example that you just gave of like, hey, you know, I had a conversation with Freddie or an owner or what have you, and you know, the notes weren't captured. And so if there's if if if if there's there needs to be also a cultural   Jason Hull (11:46) Yeah, that's very that's very   Yeah, they you know, put like that example that you just gave of like, Hey, you know, I had a conversation   And you know, the notes weren't captured. And so if there's if if if if there's there needs to be also   Mo Hussein (12:06) shift within the organization to become more performance kind of driven, right? And using, you know, places of truth. You know, I, you know, we use Salesforce in our own internal kind of CRM and you know, there's this old ad like this old saying of just, you know, hey, if it didn't happen to Salesforce, it didn't happen at all. In other words, if your system of record hasn't been updated and things haven't been added to it   Jason Hull (12:06) cultural shift within the organization to become more performance kind of driven, right? And using, you know, places of truth. You know, I you know, we use Salesforce in our own internal kind of CRM and you know, there's this this old like this old thing of just, you know, hey, if it didn't happen in Salesforce, it didn't happen at all. Right.   Mo Hussein (12:29) to to ensure that it is correct and accurate and up to date, then   Jason Hull (12:29) to it to to ensure that it is correct and accurate and up   to date, then the organization sees it as, you know, as it didn't happen. And somebody, you know, using anecdotal feedback like, well I did this, but I just didn't update this. And so that's it's very important that, you know, whatever system you're using to kind of measure different KPIs and metrics, that that, you know, that behaviors within the organization are shifting towards that. And it's it's something it's a cultural shift that needs to also   Mo Hussein (12:32) the organization sees it as you know as it didn't happen. And somebody, you know, using anecdotal feedback of like, well I did this, but I just didn't update this, it means it didn't happen. And so that's it's very important that, you know, whatever system you're using to kind of measure different KPIs and metrics, that that, you know, that behaviors within the organization are shifting towards that. And it's it's some it's a cultural shift that needs to also cascade   also from from leadership down as well.   Jason Hull (12:57) Cascade also from leadership down.   Yeah, the advantage we have nowadays with all the AI stuff that's come out is now pretty much everything gets transcribed everywhere. So calls get transcribed, notes can be created automatically. You can also go back and ha check the transcription on a call or a zoom call or recording, figure out what happened. So that you know, not leaving notes in the CRM is a little bit less of a problem than it was in the past.   So we've so we've chatted a bit about measure. What is what's important about mapping or map? Yeah. So this is this goes back to my previous point about like you know AI value being it it is workflow value. Yeah so you know you've measured you've identified you know your measurements and KPIs. So whatever those KPIs may be. Next what you need to do is map what the actual   Mo Hussein (13:30) The mapping. Yeah. So this is this goes back to my previous point about like, you know, AI value being it is workflow value. And so, you know, you've measured, you've identified, you know, your measurements and KPIs, you know, days vacant, delinquency, whatever those KPIs may be. Next, what you need to do is map what the actual what   the actual workflows that are happening, not how leadership or staff thinks it's happening.   Jason Hull (13:53) what the actual workflows are happening, not how leadership or staff thinks it's   happening. There's a very key kind of a distinction is that, you know, a lot of operators and teams kind of assume, hey, you know, we have a set process, but it may not be happening the way that they are envisioning or the way that they're assuming that this is happening. Yeah. And and map that entire workflow end to end.   Mo Hussein (13:59) The very key kind of distinction is that, you know, a lot of operators and teams kind of assume, hey, you know, we have a set process, but it may not be happening the way that they are envisioning or the way that they're assuming that this is happening. And and map that entire workflow end to end.   identify what systems are involved, where handoffs occur, where approvals are required.   Jason Hull (14:21) identify what systems are involved, where handoffs occur, where approvals are required,   Mo Hussein (14:27) where judgment calls are are are are kind of made. And so, you know, every company has, you know, things like experienced managers and accountants and maintenance folks and and they usually know what good looks like versus what bad looks like. And so AI here is to help kind of convert that tribal knowledge ideally into a repeatable operating model. And so examples of how that mapping   Jason Hull (14:28) where judgment calls are kind of made. And so every company has you know things like experienced managers and accountants and maintenance folks, and and they usually know what good looks like versus what bad looks like. And so AI here helped kind of convert that tribal knowledge ideally into an overviewable operative model. So examples of   that mapping would be is you know, hey, what is the entire need to lease workflow?   Mo Hussein (14:50) would be is, you know, hey, what is the entire lead to lease workflow? You know,   Jason Hull (14:54) You know, what is the work order to completion, you know? what is our renewal offer to sign and executed actual renewal? And so and actually and again documenting that, a a lot of organizations have some notion of what that workflow kinda looks like. but   Mo Hussein (14:54) What is the work order to completion? You know? what is our renewal offer to signed and executed actual renewal? And so and actually, and again, documenting that. A a lot of organizations have some notion of what that workflow kind of looks like. but you know, they   haven't actually done they may not have documented, or if they did, it's not updated and they have an out of date SOP or a process diagram.   Jason Hull (15:12) you know, they haven't actually gotten any INOT documents in or if they did, it's not updated and they have an out of data so P or a process diagram.   Mo Hussein (15:22) And that's that's and that's that's that's a very important kind of key aspect of kind of this process.   Jason Hull (15:22) and that's that's and that's that's that's a very important kind of key aspect of kind of this process. Yeah, yeah. Well I a lot of times I end up talking with clients and I've noticed kind of this pattern or trend in the industry of I call it the process myth where everybody thinks if we just had better processes   all of our hopes and dreams would come true when it comes to the off side of the business and we would be more profitable. And especially see this in the two to four hundred door range in single family or small multi-residential property management. And so the challenge there is th that it's impossible to create enough processes, KPIs, and systems to make mediocre people be great. But they pe that doesn't stop business owners from trying. They they're like   Mo Hussein (15:59) Right.   Right.   Jason Hull (16:04) They they they wake up in the morning, they're like, I want to play an impossible game today. And they they still try. And I call it the process myth because if you have really great people, even if your processes are garbage, that I've seen these businesses still perform well. But the reverse is not true. You have mediocre people, you could have insane amounts of systems and processes and stuff, and the business still has a lot of headaches and problems.   Mo Hussein (16:16) Mm-hmm.   Jason Hull (16:29) And so I've kind of noticed this pattern. I call it the three levels of process. And level one is documentation. It's just like writing stuff out. But that's kind of like the owner's manual in the glove box of the car. Nobody looks at it, it doesn't get updated. You know, it's like it's it's it's gathering dust, and people don't actually, that's not actually how the processes are run. And over time, things gravitate towards ease or grace or what the flows best for the person doing the job.   Mo Hussein (16:39) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.   Jason Hull (16:57) Not for what's best for the job sometimes. And so it gravitates a little bit towards chaos or being worse. Then there's this level two, which is checklists. This is where people are using things like Asana or Process Street or Lead Simple or they some sort of checklist space system where now they're verifying the works getting done in a certain way. But checklist has its own problems in that it's very linear and not every process is linear.   Mo Hussein (16:59) Right, right.   Read simple. Mm-hmm.   Mm-hmm.   Jason Hull (17:24) There's decisions   and splits and merges and sting things happening concurrently in property management. And so the challenge with checklist also it can tend to slow things down. It's not as efficient. So the next level and the problem I had with checklist, we used to use process street, is that it it if anytime a process got complicated, I had to build logic and you know, if-then sort of situations into it.   And it usually got to the point where I didn't even understand it. Like a year later, I'm looking at a process. I'm like, I had to retranslate this back into something that made sense to my brain. And I always, and the nerd had to be the one that did all the updates on it because nobody else could understand it. So then we eventually graduated to level three. So level three is visual workflow. This is for humans.   Mo Hussein (18:01) Right.   Mm-hmm.   Jason Hull (18:13) And so, and with with this, my tip to everybody listening, if you have a system, whether it's checklist or it's any of these three levels, you know, documentation, checklist, or visual workflow, that you your first two processes you make as an operator or as a business owner is how to create a process in this system is number one. And number two, how to QA.   Mo Hussein (18:26) Did   Jason Hull (18:37) A process that is made in the system to know it's actually a good one. If you just make those two, you don't have to do any of the other stuff. Everybody else can do it. You just make those two. That's my tip for all you business owners. And now with AI, you can start adding AI. Once you have things visually mapped out, it's you've got the map like you're talking about. Now you can figure out all right, where can AI take over some of this stuff? And where do we still need the human in the loop? Right. So yeah.   Mo Hussein (18:43) Mm.   And automation. Mm-hmm. Yep.   Yeah.   Right,   Jason Hull (19:05) So any tips for those listening to this that are already geeking out with AI, they're doing a little bit of this measuring and mapping and automating. What are some of the biggest challenges you've noticed where this kind of breaks down or people are making mistakes?   Mo Hussein (19:19) It's it's honestly it's the it's the you know, AI value. it's it's a lot of the small individual decisions that are made in a in a repetitive fashion and that that are made a lot that really are gonna unlock like true value for for any operator. And so like, you know, having very clean data, standardized, you know, systems of truth by what we mean by that is that, you know, hey, you know.   Jason Hull (19:20) It's it's honestly it's the it's the you know, AI value it's it's   like true value for for any op   clean data, standardized, you know, systems of truth. But what we mean by that is that, you know, hey,   you know, you know, whatever work order system that you're using, for example, has accurate, you know, work order data. People, you know, you're making a segment for actually closing out the work order when they complete it. Hey, the end of the week, I'm gonna now try to remember what I did earlier in the week.   Mo Hussein (19:47) you know, whatever work order systems that you're using, for example, has accurate, you know, work order data. People, you know, your maintenance technicians are actually closing out the work order when they complete it. Not just, hey, the end the week, I'm gonna now try to remember what I did earlier in the week.   Close it out. So the data is   the data can't be trusted, then AI is just going   Jason Hull (20:04) data the be trusted and AI   Mo Hussein (20:07) to cause additional kind of confusion. And so having accurate systems of record. And I gave that example of of of a work order when a technician kind of closes that, right? the process map, I think the you know, the three buckets are like three level that you kind of gave, I think is a great, great.   Jason Hull (20:20) Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.   yeah.   level that you kinda gave I think it's a great,   great anecdote and framing of how processes should be kind of looked at. And and I think one thing that a lot of operators usually tend to overlook or assume is you know how things are being done versus how they actually are being done within the schemes, right? So an owner somebody at some point said, okay hey this is a process we're gonna take and then over time that just kind of got changed.   Mo Hussein (20:29) anecdote and framing of how processes should be kind of looked at. And and I think one thing that a lot of operators usually tend to overlook or assume is you know how things are being done versus how they actually are being done within the teams, right? It's an owner, somebody at some point said, okay, hey, this is the process we're gonna take. And then over time that just kind of got changed. And there   may be, you know, two different property managers   Jason Hull (20:55) And there may be, you know, two different property managers   Mo Hussein (20:58) operating in two different regions in the same company that are doing leasing renewal differently, right? That going back to that point that you mentioned about systematizing and having accountability loops and task base or like checklist items and ensuring that those things are actually done in that same quality and that same fashion is very, very key. And so getting data, like getting the right data, accurate data,   Jason Hull (20:58) operating in two different regions in the same company that are doing these things renewal differently. Right. That point that you mentioned about synthesizing and having accountability loops and task based or like checklist items and ensuring that those things are actually done in that same quality, in that same fashion is very, very key. And so getting data, getting the right data, accurate data   Mo Hussein (21:23) and then also like your process mapping and your   Jason Hull (21:24) And then also like your process mapping   and your processes kind of documented. I think I think the visual representation is a great way to have that. And those are the two key things that ninety percent of folks that are trying to leverage AI and automation and even the folks that are starting to try to jump into this space and try to automate and use AI for these things like usually we're like where where they're really struggling with. got it. Yeah, I think   Mo Hussein (21:26) processes kind of documented. I think I think the visual representation is a great way to have that. Those are the two key things that ninety percent of folks that are trying to leverage AI and automation and even the folks that are starting to try to jump into this space and trying to automate and use AI for these things like usually we're like we're where they're really struggling with.   Jason Hull (21:50) I was just on a webinar recently and they were talking about building AI agents and they were talking about if you want to make really effective AI agents, you need to give them a really good job description, just like a human. And what what's really funny is if you we coach clients on this a lot, but if we tell the clients to to go, we coach clients on   Creating job descriptions. We call our version of them R docs because each section starts with an R, like role, responsibility, et cetera, all the typical stuff. But then we have some additional sections that we found really paramount. So what we'll tell them to do is go ask your team members, give them this framework, and have them create their own R Doc. And then you take a look at this and see if that's what you would have created. Because it's never like what they think their job is. It's usually very different than what the business owner thinks their job is.   Mo Hussein (22:25) Mm-hmm.   Right.   Jason Hull (22:36) And maybe even different what the manager, the ops person thinks the job is, but then you can actually literally get on the same page with them. You can be like negotiate this and be like, this is what we think your priorities should be, and what your outcomes should be, and what we want you to be able to accomplish. And this is helpful for them to know what they're aiming for so that they can please you because your team members want to please you if they're good. But usually there's a big disconnect, like you're saying, between what   Mo Hussein (23:00) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.   Jason Hull (23:05) the the employee thinks their j role and job is versus what their manager thinks they should be doing versus what the business owner thinks everybody should be doing. And so nobody's on the same page. And then you're everybody's roles are a little messy. And then you're going, let's give them processes now to work on. And they're not even clear on what their job is or what their role is. Yeah. And so same thing if you were going to build an AI agent and you were like, I want you to try and be good at everything. And then suddenly it's like really   Mo Hussein (23:29) Right.   Jason Hull (23:34) Hallucinating a lot and it's messing everything up and yeah. And it's not a realistic creature, you know, just like some people give create job descriptions that are for like four different personality types. Right. And then they hire somebody that maybe can actually do all four things, and we call those really highly adaptable, weird creatures entrepreneurs. And then they wonder why that property manager left and stole all their clients.   Mo Hussein (23:34) Horrible.   Right.   Yeah.   Jason Hull (23:57) Instead of finding somebody that's like really good at being one thing. Right. Yeah. And that's how you should see Asia.   Mo Hussein (24:00) Right. That that that that role clarity is very, very, very important, right? And that's how you should see agents as well, is that   like, hey, it's like a trained employee. And so you should exp you should expect the same level of, you know, investment involvement, if you will, and trying to and try to help them be the best of like, you know, whether it's a leasing agent, a maintenance coordinator, or whatever that their role may be. And I I think another aspect is and I'm curious how like how   Jason Hull (24:12) you should expect the same level of you know investment involvement if you will and trying to and try to help them be the best of like you know whether it's a leasing agent a maintenance coordinator or whatever that their role may be and I I think another aspect is and I'm curious that   like how you know when you guys are having conversations with clients around role descriptions stuff it's the concept of ownership like hey what you know how to how to align ownership to and lining that up to hopefully the mental business   Mo Hussein (24:28) you know, when you guys having conversations with clients around role descriptions and stuff, it's the concept of ownership. Like, hey, what, you know, how to how to align ownership to and lining that up to hopefully an eventual business outcome or KPI   or something so that, you know, their performance drives also the business performance, right? How have you guys had this conversation or how do you talk about kind of that concept? I can kind of allude to it without kind of explicitly calling it out.   Jason Hull (24:42) Kate guy or something so that you know their performance derives also the business performance, right? Yeah. How do you talk about kind of that concept? You kind of allude to it without kind of explicitly calling   it out. Yeah, I think well, sometimes I'll just totally call a business owner out on things. But I think what I think will be interesting is people are building starting to build agents. I think that they should.   They should have an understanding of personality types. I think they should have an understanding maybe or a conversation with AI about what Myers Briggs type might be good for this agentic role. And because like somebody that's really good at like strategy and the strategist role, which would be like an INTJ in Myers Briggs, might be good at some operational stuff, but they would be really terrible at customer service.   Mo Hussein (25:19) Mm-hmm.   Jason Hull (25:33) Because a lot of INTJs don't even like humans, right? And so they're logical thinkers and they're really judging and they're practical and they're in you know introverted and they're really bad at understanding how the other person feels or even expressing that. And so you're you you don't want to create these try and create AI AI agents that are multiple split personality types, because I don't think they're gonna be as effective. And you can't also, just like you wouldn't want somebody building the process.   QE QA QA of the process. You don't want them both. You don't want AI to be checking itself. Right. Right. The the brain that had problems doing the messing things up, maybe, or didn't do it totally right. You don't want them checking their own work. Right. And so, yeah, so I think this is going to be interesting that people are going to be building agents and they usually think just logically here's the context it needs, here's the role, whatever. But I think also maybe give it the personality that it.   Mo Hussein (26:08) Right, right.   Right.   Jason Hull (26:29) What's the disc assessment for this person, this agent? What's the Myers Briggs type for this agent? And then if especially if they're communicating with humans or doing a task that you want them to be somewhat human like, they're going to be much better at doing this if you give it you create them in the right way. Just an idea.   the other thing to know as a business owner, you need to know who you are so that you can build your dream team around you. So your advisors, whether they're agentic or human, your advisors, your team members, it should be built ultimately around you thriving and being healthy in your own business so that you've got the tea the tools and the resources that fit you. But most business owners make the mistake.   Of trying to build the business around the business and then wonder why they're miserable and why they're kind of a slave to their own business. Right.   Mo Hussein (27:16) Right. Right. Right.   Jason Hull (27:20) So anyway, Mo, measure, map, automate, MMA. Doesn't involve fighting too much. You know, like mixed martial arts. It's a little bit on the, you know, less physical side of things. fun chatting about.   Mo Hussein (27:26) No.   Jason Hull (27:34) all the the AI stuff that's going. How can people anything else that you want to add to our conversation here about yeah this model? And then could you tell us a little bit about what you do and how maybe you help property managers with this stuff? Yeah. Yeah. so I guess just to put it succinct, kind of a a sandwich kind of takeaway. So yeah, operators need to wait for a perfect AI.   Mo Hussein (27:48) Yeah. Yeah. so I guess just to put it succinctly, kind of a a a sandwich kind of takeaway. So, yeah, operators don't need to wait for a perfect AI strategy.   Start by identifying, measuring where value exists, where things are leaking, then mapping workflows and then deciding what can be safely automated and measuring whether those actions improve performance. and so   Jason Hull (28:00) Identifying, measuring where value exists, where things are leaking, then mapping workflows, and then deciding what can be safe and automated, and measuring whether.   Mo Hussein (28:10) like you know, over time we'll see that you know the winners are not gonna be the companies that have the most amount of most amount of data, but they're the ones that can convert data into consistent operating actions across how they've operated every door. if you we help clients with you know putting together SOPs, also mapping their technology needs, where where they're where they're having operational leaks in the business can be   Jason Hull (28:10) So like you know over time we'll see that you know the winners are not gonna be the companies that have the most amount of most amount of data, but they're the ones that can convert data into consistent operating actions across how they've operated every door. if you we help clients with you know putting together SOPs, also mapping their technology needs, where where they're where they're having operational leaks and the business   can be optimized.   Mo Hussein (28:37) Optimized further using   Jason Hull (28:38) Further using technology and automation, we have a platform that we've built, Prop Strata, to actually connect and help with that automation type effort. and we're also we also do a lot of accounting and and CPA work. you can reach us at www.balanceasset solutions.com, and my emails mo at propstrata.com, or you can reach out to our team at info at balance asset.   Mo Hussein (28:39) technology and automation. We have a platform that we've built, Prop Strata, to actually connect and and help with that automation kind of efforts. then we're also we also do a lot of accounting and and CPA work. you can reach us at www.balanceasset solutions.com and and then my email is mo at at propstrata.com or you can reach out to our team at info at balanceasset solutions.com.   Jason Hull (29:03) Cool. So they could take a look at this at propstrata.com.   Mo Hussein (29:07) Correct. W dot propstrata.com.   Jason Hull (29:11) Okay, cool. Very cool. All right. yeah, check that out, everybody. It sounds interesting. All right. Well, Mo, I appreciate you coming out and hanging out with me here on the DoorGro show and sharing everything.   All right.   So if   If you have ever felt stuck or stagnant in your property management business and you want to take it to the next level, reach out to us at doorgrow.com. We are the world's best at creating high-growth property management companies in the single-family residential space or the small multi-space. And if for a free training or how to get unlimited leads for free, text the word leads to 512-648-4608. That's 512-648-4608.   Also, join our free community just for property management business owners at doorgrowclub.com. And if you want tips, tricks, and ideas to learn about our offers, subscribe to our newsletter by going to doorgrow.com slash subscribe. And if you found this even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on whatever channel you saw or heard this on. We'd really appreciate it. And until next time, remember the slowest path to growth.   is to do it alone. So let's grow together. Bye everyone.

On this BONUS "LIL' THUNDERBOAT" ENCORE EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel once again presents vintage audio from KIRO Radio from 2018 with the history of "street hydros" - those miniature plywood hydroplanes that Seattle area kids made from scratch and towed behind their bikes from the 1950s to the 1980s. Included in the story are observations and memories of street hydros from John Keister, Dave Dederer, Bill Wixey, Chip Hanauer and the late, great Pat O'Day (who also performs the play-by-play for an imaginary street hydro race). Street Hydro Story and Photo Gallery: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Jj4g99gKm/ Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

It's Monday, July 27th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Pakistani Supreme Court releases Muslim murderers of Christian couple The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered the release of the final three men on death row in the 2014 murder case of a Christian couple, Shahzad Masih and his pregnant wife, Shama, reports International Christian Concern. With this decision, along with the dismissal of a state appeal against the acquittal of 102 other suspects, no one remains convicted or in prison for the attack.  Here's the back story.  On November 4, 2014, in a village in the Punjab Province, a violent mob attacked Shahzad and Shama after they were accused of desecrating pages of the Quran, Islam's misguided book. The mob severely beat the couple before throwing them into a hot brick kiln, where they both died.  While five men were sentenced to death and nine others received short prison sentences, they all were released back into society. Let's pray the prayer of Amos 5:24. Lord, “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Wildfires in France and Spain have displaced 250,000 people France sent a hulking military cargo plane to dump tons of flame retardants as it battled raging wildfires on Saturday and slashed the final stage of the bicycle race, Tour de France, to redeploy security personnel to the blazes that forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, reports the Associated Press. The giant A400M transporter swooped in low, its long plume of ochre-colored retardant trailing over drought-hit woodlands on the ground that fought flames that authorities feared could spread toward the wine region city of Bordeaux in southwest France, 310 miles away from Paris. Wildfires in southern Europe last week have now displaced more than 250,000 people. Former Maine lawmaker replaces Graham Platner on Democratic ticket On Saturday, former state lawmaker and logger Troy Jackson secured the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine and will face longtime GOP Senator Susan Collins in November in a race that could decide which party controls the Senate, reports The Associated Press. Jackson replaces Graham Platner, who won the Democratic primary in June, but withdrew from the race earlier this month following an allegation of sexual assault that Platner has denied.  Maine Democrats met Saturday to choose a new Senate nominee to face Collins. Trump's CDC nominee commits to abortion data reporting Former Deputy Surgeon General Dr. Erica Schwartz, President Donald Trump's nominee to head the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, testified last week that it is “absolutely critical” for the CDC to gather reliable abortion data upon which policymakers and health analysts can make decisions, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Nominated in April, Schwartz is currently appearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for her confirmation hearings. Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri raised the matter of abortion data collection and analysis which the CDC had paused in November without explanation. HAWLEY: “The CDC collects data on abortions that are committed in the United States of America through a system called the ‘Abortion Reporting System.' This system is voluntary, and so a number of states, not coincidentally large blue states, do not turn over any data so that it's difficult to get a picture of just how many abortions, and under what circumstances, are committed in this country. We do know the numbers are going up, way up. Since the Dobbs decision -- well over a million abortions last year.  “Would you commit to collect the data on the number and circumstances of abortions, as is provided for in this system, and to work with those states that are currently holding out and not giving it to actually get the data so that we can know we can get a picture of what really is going on here? Will you do that? SCHWARTZ: “Senator, you have my commitment. Abortion surveillance is absolutely a critical component of what the CDC is currently doing. I will look into that.” HAWLEY: “Thank you.” SCHWARTZ: “But I also want to make sure that certain states are not conflating emergency services and hiding abortions in that emergency services case definition. We need to make sure we're pulling out true abortions and making sure that we're really having clear case definitions regarding abortions, so the data is actually accurate.” HAWLEY: “Fantastic!” Christian WNBA star attacked for opposing men in women's sports Sophie Cunningham, an eight-season WNBA veteran, got re-baptized earlier this year to reaffirm her Christian faith as an adult, reports The Christian Post. Appearing on “The Travis Hearn” podcast, she was asked about her faith. HEARN: “What's it like being a believer in Jesus Christ, a follower of Jesus, a woman of God, in the WNBA?” CUNNINGHAM: “For me, to be a believer in the W[NBA] … I think there's a lot more believers than you would actually, because a lot of people don't speak out about it. I am loud, I am confident, and I think being actually a woman of God, it's allowed me to walk into rooms with my shoulders back. I have a different type of swag and confidence about me because I know God has me.” Cunningham made headlines in 2022 when she approvingly retweeted an X post by CBS host Josh Prate opposing trans-identified male swimmer Will Thomas, who pretends to be a woman named “Lia,” being allowed on the women's team. As a result, the Left spewed hateful remarks about her on social media.  Indeed, 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “All those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” During an interview with ESPN last week, Cunningham asserted that she does not hate transgender-identifying people, but believes in standing up for young girls in their private spaces. CUNNINGHAM: “I think it's really important to protect children, and that's little girls who are also involved in that category. And so, I do have beliefs. I have morals, and I'll always stand on those and be true to who I am. And when it comes just to protecting young girls in sport and women in sport, I feel very strongly about that.” On July 23rd, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed the Trump administration's solidarity with Sophie Cunningham. LEAVITT: “This is something the President feels strongly about as well, and the American people do too. Men should not be playing in women's sports. It's completely ludicrous that anyone could support that.  “It's even more ludicrous that you do have Sophia Cunningham, a female athlete herself, very accomplished in her own right, coming forth and speaking that truth that men shouldn't play in women's sports. We want to protect women and girls. “The backlash she is receiving from Democrats is astonishing. They are clearly very out of touch with the American public on this issue, which is an 80/20 issue. It's common sense. It's rooted in basic biological fact that men should not be competing against women on playing fields across the country.” And ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith affirmed Cunningham's insistence that men, pretending to be women, should not compete against biological women. SMITH: “I can't applaud her enough. This notion that you're hating on the ‘trans community' because you are not a proponent of them participating in female sports is utterly ridiculous. Sophie Cunningham said every word right on the money. There's no hate involved. There's only love we're talking about.  “But what happened to loving girls who are born biologically as girls. What about their rights? What about fairness associated to them?  Smith cited the story of Will Thomas, the male swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, who is now pretending to be female as a good case in point revealing how demonstrably unfair it was to let him compete against biological women like Riley Gaines. SMITH: “'Lia Thomas.' I'm gonna keep bringing that name up: 400+ in the world competing as a male, transitions to female and he was number one. If we're gonna act like transitioning from male to female doesn't involve an advantage for that trans athlete, I have nothing to say to you. You're not exercising common sense.” Pastor Robert Jeffress' ministry surpasses 1 million YouTube subscribers Pastor Robert Jeffress' Pathway to Victory YouTube channel has surpassed 1 million subscribers, reports the Christian Post. Jeffress, who leads the 16,000-strong congregation at First Baptist Dallas, said the YouTube channel's launch was "an amazing opportunity to share the Gospel through our Bible-teaching ministry. We're grateful for the response.”  Amazingly, the church only launched the channel in 2024. Pathway to Victory was launched in 1996 and serves as the broadcast ministry for First Baptist Dallas and airs on 900 radio stations across the United States. Pastor Jeffress said, "Our mission has always been to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word, and this [1 million subscriber milestone] is a testament to the power of the Gospel to transform lives." Worldview listener in North Carolina: Your news gives me hope! Karen Heyda in Hillsborough, North Carolina wrote me and said, “Mr. McManus, I was just listening to an episode of your tremendously uplifting, edifying and encouraging newscast. I am deeply grateful to you for giving us the world news from a Biblical perspective.  “That Biblical perspective gives me hope. Why? Because world news is typically BAD NEWS. It's often frightening and depressing. Yet when world news is presented from a Christian perspective, there is hope because Christ, our Redeemer, reigns and we are able to pray to Him and trust in Him Who makes all things new. “Reminding us of this truth encourages us to listen to your news program and to get on our knees and unite ourselves in prayer with and for those we've just heard about who need our prayers. Thank you for waking me up to a deeper and better way of responding to the world news today and every day.” 17 Worldview listeners gave $6,320.25 And finally, by Saturday night at 7:00pm Central, 17 Worldview listeners stepped up to the plate and invested their treasure to fund the six-member team behind The Worldview for another year. Our thanks to the McVeda Family kiddos in Great Falls, Montana who raised another $42.25 on Friday selling chocolate chip cookies and glasses of tea.  This is their third donation. One lady bought 10 cookies for $20, a glass of tea for $5, and then donated an extra $10.  Their initial two gifts, which totaled $347, have inspired a growing number of Worldview listeners to donate $347 or make a monthly pledge of $28.92 for a year totaling $347. And that was exactly what 10-year-old Anna McVeda had prayed – that God would somehow use their fundraiser to excite others to contribute. I am so touched by the McVeda kiddos. By the way, Fred and Cathy in Cascade, Montana, the grandparents of the McVeda Family kids, were so inspired by what their grandkids are doing that they contributed $347 themselves last Thursday.  McManus is crying again! We appreciate the donations of Edward in Oro-Medonte, Ontario, Canada who gave $50, Logan and Quinn in Manzini, Eswatini, Africa $120, and Eli who is also from Eswatini, Africa and pledged $10/month for 12 months for a gift of $120. We're grateful to God for Marty in Roseburg, Oregon and an anonymous donor in Phoenix, Arizona – both of whom gave $200, Jason in Seffner, Florida who plans to continue his $25/month pledge for a gift of $300, and Bradley in Damascus, Oregon who gave $300. We were touched by the generosity of the McVeda Family-inspired donations of Frederick in Kennesaw, Georgia who pledged $28.92/month for 12 months for a gift of $347 as well as Rick in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Charlene in Wallkill, New York, and Keith in Watrous, Saskatchewan, Canada – each of whom gave $347. And we were touched by the sacrifice of Sam in Fellsmere, Florida, Brian in Dassel, Minnesota, and William in Lee's Summit, Missouri – each of whom gave $500. Plus, as I mentioned on Friday, an anonymous donor in Naples, Florida has just matched those first three gifts of $500 with another $1,500.   So, if you are one of the next 9 Worldview listeners to give a one-time gift of $500, the man in Naples, Florida will match your gifts as well. And we are appreciative of Andrew in Calgary, Alberta, Canada who pledged $50/month for 12 months for a gift of $600. Those 17 gifts add up to $6,320.25. Ready for our new grand total? Drum roll please. (drum roll sound effect) $62,383 (sound effect of people cheering) We need to raise $61,117 by midnight on Friday, July 31! That means in order to hit our final goal of $123,500 by this Friday, July 31st, God needs to prompt folks to give an astounding $61,117 in order for the 6-member Worldview newscast team to be fully funded for another year. At this newscast, we champion the truth and use the Bible as our plumbline. So, if you have been waiting until the last minute, this … is … it!  We could really use your help.  The finish line is this Friday! Would you consider being one of 25 people to pledge $100/month for 12 months for a gift of $1,200, one of 26 people to pledge $50/month for 12 months for a gift of $600, or one of 52 people to pledge $25/month for 12 months for a gift of $300? Just go to TheWorldview.com, click on Give, select the dollar amount, and make sure to click on the “recurring” button if that's your wish.   And remember, if you want to continue your monthly pledge to The Worldview that you started in a previous year, please let me know so we can count your generous ongoing gift toward our total. What does God want you to give? Go to TheWorldview.com and click on Give. Close And that's The Worldview on this Monday, July 27th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel digs into the “This NOT Just In” archives for three installments from the occasional history series that aired from 2010 to 2016 on KUOW 94.9 FM in Seattle. The premise of “This NOT Just In” was to use archival audio to shed light on forgotten or not fully understood stories from Pacific Northwest history. In this first of what will likely be many episodes sharing “This NOT Just In” installments in the months and years ahead, we hear about when President Harding gave a speech in Seattle in July 1923 that turned out to be his final public appearance ever; when The Beatles visited Seattle in August 1964; and when Kirkland, Washington won the Little League World Series in 1982. This material was originally produced by Feliks Banel with editing and other assistance from KUOW's Jim Gates. “This NOT Just In” was initially awarded a Program Venture Fund grant from KUOW in 2009 which funded production of the first three episodes; KUOW ultimately green-lighted more than 30 additional episodes during the run of the series. The episodes remained online for many years, but most are no longer accessible via the KUOW website – so it seemed like a good time to share them once again. Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

Feliks Banel's guests on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY are Gretchen Neidhardt and Hilarie Pozesky of the group Chicago Area Archivists. They are part of a grassroots effort to mobilize and halt the quietly announced closure of the Chicago branch of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). CASCADE OF HISTORY has been covering this story since an internal NARA memo was leaked in late June with details that have still not yet been shared publicly by NARA. That memo describes the closure of NARA regional archival facilities in Chicago, Illinois and San Bruno, California, and imminent removal of archival materials from both sites. Ms. Neidhardt and Ms. Pozesky describe how under the aegis of their professional association - Chicago Area Archivists - a group of concerned citizens is pushing back, and coordinating an effort to stop the closure. The Chicago team is also in contact with California-based Save Our National Archives (SONA), a group which has been featured on previous episodes of CASCADE OF HISTORY and which is fighting to prevent closure of the San Bruno NARA facility. CASCADE OF HISTORY spoke with Gretchen Neidhardt and Hilarie Pozesky on the evening of Friday, July 24, 2026. Chicago Area Archivists Website with links to multiple resources related to fighting the closure: https://www.chicagoarchivists.org/ Change.org Petition to stop the Chicago NARA Closure: https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-closure-of-the-national-archives-at-chicago Previous episode with Grant Din of Save Our National Archives (SONA): https://soundcloud.com/cascadeofhistory/bonus-grant-din CASCADE OF HISTORY BONUS EPISODE from June 27, 2026 with more information: https://soundcloud.com/cascadeofhistory/bonus-nara-closure Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

On the BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, we present an ENCORE of our LIVE REMOTE BROADCAST from the ruins of the Ryan House in Sumner, Washington in July 2025. Feliks Banel's guests include Nick Biermann of Save Ryan House, Nancy Ryan Dressel (descendant of the builder of the Ryan House), Tina Patton Burnett, and other grassroots historic preservationists and lovers of local history who had been working for nearly two years to try to save one of the oldest structures in the Evergreen State. It was part vigil, part wake, part celebration of life, and an attempt to process a serious amount of collective grief. The broadcast originated from 1228 Main Street in downtown Sumner, Washington where the historic Ryan House stood for 150 years - until late on the evening of Thursday, July 24, 2026 when it was demolished by the City of Sumner, against the wishes of one of the most engaged groups of citizens Sumner has seen in decades. This LIVE broadcast of CASCADE OF HISTORY was originally presented at 8:00pm Pacific Time on Sunday, July 27, 2025 via fearless flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM and gallantly streaming live via space101fm.org. CASCADE OF HISTORY usually broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park - formerly Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Special thanks to Mark Patterson for in-studio engineering for the live remote; and special thanks to Save Ryan House volunteers for graciously hosting this broadcast on very short notice. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

It's Friday, July 24th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus British pro-lifer brutally murdered There's a brutal update about the murder of a retired British pro-life politician. Shockingly, the man accused of murdering former British politician Ann Widdecombe on July 8th struck her 21 times in the head with a hammer before taking her wallet and leaving her home, reports Human Events. After she failed to appear for a scheduled television interview that afternoon, her body was discovered the following day by her gardener. Joshua Kerry, age 28, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 21st after being charged with murder in the death of the 78-year-old former Conservative Member of Parliament. Prosecutors said police are also investigating whether the killing had a political or terrorist motive. According to the Associated Press, Widdecombe was eating lunch at her home on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in southwest England, when Kerry arrived. Widdecombe served as a Conservative member of Parliament from 1987 until 2010. Listen to her articulate defense of the unborn baby in a 2020 debate hosted by the Queen's University Belfast Literary and Scientific Society. WIDDECOMBE: “When a child is born, you cannot take its life. Not one minute after birth can you take its life. It does not matter how disabled that child is, how profoundly sick it may be, how stressed the mother is, how poor the mother is, whether the mother has suddenly decided that she didn't, after all, want to have the child. You cannot take that child's life. At the moment of birth, it has full civil rights. It is protected as much as you and I are protected by the law. “Yet, one day earlier, that is not so. But hang on. It's the same child! Nothing has happened to change that child into something different, other than the fact that finally it can be seen, that it is quite visibly here among us. But it's been here among us in the days and the weeks and, indeed, the months before that birth. “So, I would say that the law, which has now been imposed, I can't put it any other way, on Northern Ireland is a law that actually is illogical. It is immoral and it is unkind. If a child can enjoy our protection one day, that same child should be able to enjoy our protection the day before!” Proverbs 31:8 says, “"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.” The brutal death of pro-lifer Ann Widdecombe is a profound loss. Samaritan's Purse aids thousands after Venezuela earthquakes Evangelist Franklin Graham visited Venezuela this week to meet with earthquake survivors who were being aided by Samaritan's Purse after the June 24 back-to-back magnitude 7.5 and 7.2 earthquakes killed at least 5,000 people and injured even more, reports The Christian Post. Samaritan's Purse Emergency Field Hospital, which has 60 beds and two operating rooms, has helped 2,500 people since it opened on June 30th. Graham said, "These people are surrounded by so much death and destruction. We want to bring the light of Jesus Christ into these places of pain.” Thomas Ovington, the Team Leader in Venezuela, gave his overview of the earthquake trauma and the help that Samaritan's Purse is offering. OVINGTON: “We're seeing complete chaos around. There's fallen buildings. There's people sleeping in the streets. Football stadiums packed full of people. It's also the huge number of people that are missing. There's just an incredibly high level of desperation. “But it's also an amazing opportunity for us to serve. We have a lot of different capabilities. This is the emergency room that we're in right now. Two operating theaters in the back where we can do the surgeries. A lot of the needs we're starting to see are trauma from fallen buildings. There's crush injuries, broken bones. “Additionally to that, we're doing distributions of tarps, non-food items, and potable water. “At Samaritan's Purse, our number one priority is to share the Gospel of Jesus and the hope we have in Him. And so here, we're in the midst of an incredibly hopeless situation for tens of thousands of people. It's really an incredible opportunity for us to live out our mission, relieving suffering and doing it all in Jesus' name.” You can make a donation to help the efforts of Samaritan's Purse on the ground in Venezuela through a special link in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com. Trump blasts Democrat Communists as greatest threat to America Ahead of the November midterm elections, President Donald Trump launched a broadside against the Democratic Party, saying the up-and-coming Democratic Socialists are "communism by another name" and "the greatest threat I've ever seen to our country.,” reports Real Clear Politics. TRUMP:  “While our administration is lifting up the next generation with the power of freedom and American capitalism, proven all over the world when it's done right, the radical Left is actively trying to destroy our children's future with the disaster known as communism. This isn't social democracy; these are communists by another name, right? “Communism is the single greatest threat to our country in its history, including even World War I and World War II, Pearl Harbor, 9/11. These people are stone cold crazy. “You know they want to give everything away. You want free rent? You want [a] free house? What they don't say is that a year from now, there'll be absolute squalor, turmoil, and death. And that's why we declare again today that the United States of America will never be a communist country!” NYC Mayor threatens to arrest Israeli Prime Minister as a “war criminal” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a socialist, has been threatening to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he addresses the United Nations this September in New York City.  This was in response to the International Criminal Court's November 2024 issuance of a warrant for Netanyahu's arrest for what it alleges are war crimes and crimes against humanity. MAMDAMI: “Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal, the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people. As I've said, I agree with the [International Criminal Court] that Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested and tried for his crimes. “My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here. It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does, and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.” Appearing on American Family Radio, Mike Huckabee, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, had some choice words for the New York City mayor. HUCKABEE: “He certainly doesn't have the legal right to arrest a diplomat because he has diplomatic immunity if he comes to the U.N. So, this is nonsense on the part of Mamdami. He ought to be focusing on fixing potholes, picking up the trash, keeping the parks clean, and the needles from drug users off the streets. But instead, he's injecting himself into something about which he is utterly ignorant. “When he says Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal, on what does he base that? Benjamin Netanyahu is the elected leader of a country that very much mirrors the United States in terms of complete, wall-to-wall freedom. And if he's talking about Gaza and says, ‘Oh, they're guilty of genocide. Israel didn't start the war in Gaza; Hamas did by murdering 1,200 innocent civilians and taking captive 250 people, including 16 Americans.” Ambassador Huckabee explained what a similar attack on America would look like when scaled to the size of our population. HUCKABEE: “If Americans had the similar kind of assault on us in one day, if you looked at the scale of population, it would be the equivalent of 40,000 Americans being murdered in a single day, and 10,000 people being taken hostage, raped, starved, beaten, and abused. And I wonder what would Americans demand? What would Americans do if we had 40,000 people slaughtered, including pregnant women butchered in front of their children? If we'd had that in one day, I wonder if America's response would be to just gently write, maybe a strongly worded letter and say, ‘Please give our 10,000 hostages back.' “The Israelis prosecuted the war against Hamas for the sole purpose of getting their hostages back, but Hamas wouldn't let them go. This war should never have taken that long.” Homosexual Fox News host buys surrogate child On July 15, Fox News political analyst Guy Benson, a self-proclaimed homosexual,  announced on Instagram that he and his homosexual partner, Adam Wise, became so-called “fathers” again with a picture of himself holding a little girl named Madison Halsey, reports LifeSiteNews.com. This is the second child the two men have procured through surrogacy. Their son, Conrad James, was also birthed by an anonymous surrogate mother in November 2023. The culture war over surrogacy – the practice of renting the body of a woman to gestate a child created outside the womb through in vitro fertilization – has been growing louder over the past several years. The New York Post noted that Benson's announcement “drew an outpouring of well-wishes from prominent conservatives, including former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Fox News host Dana Perino, and political commentator Sarah Cupp.” On the other hand, Christian commentators such as Megan Basham emphasized the injustice. She wrote, “Benson is an incisive pundit. But there is nothing conservative about deliberately creating motherless children. I pray Benson, and those like him on the Right, would consider what they are telling the world about how unnecessary they believe mothers (or if we're talking about two women, fathers) are to the needs of children.” And Katy Faust, a children's rights activist and founder of Them Before Us, wrote, “What did you think was going to happen after we legalized gay marriage? … What Obergefell enabled was something else. It accelerated the legal replacement of biological parenthood with intent-based parenthood.” Romans 1:26-27 says, “God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” 24 Worldview listeners gave $10,569.75 And finally, by Thursday night at 10:00pm Central, 24 Worldview listeners stepped up to the plate and invested their treasure to fund the six-member team behind The Worldview for another year. Our thanks to Elizabeth in Lubbock, Texas who gave $50, Craig in Rochester, New Hampshire who gave $86.75 as well as Robert in San Antonio, Texas and Jane in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania – both of whom gave $100. We are grateful to God for Elaine in Hampton, South Carolina who gave $120, Jennifer in San Jose, California, Alexander in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and Jason in Lakeland, Florida – each of whom pledged $10/month for 12 months for a gift of $120. We were touched by the generosity of Daniel in Santa Cruz, California who pledged $22/month for 12 months for a gift of $264, Sarah in Madera, California who gave $300, and George in Leesburg, Virginia who pledged $25/month for 12 months for a gift of $300. We appreciated the sacrifice of Fred in Cascade, Montana, Michelle in Sparta, Michigan, Todd in Davenport, Iowa, Mary in Highland, New York, Caroline in Live Oak, Florida, and Clarence in Stone Ridge, New York – each of whom gave $347 as well as Michele in Kindersley, Saskatchewan, Canada who pledged $28.92/month for 12 months for a gift of $347. And we were blown away by David in Tall Timbers, Maryland who pledged $30/month for 12 months for a gift of $360, Rosilin in Waynesville, Missouri who gave $500, Tammy in Cascade, Idaho who gave $1,200, Elizabeth in Carol Stream, Illinois who gave $1,200, Emmanuel in Madison, Alabama who gave $1,200, and Calvin in Waldorf, Maryland who gave $2,000. Those 24 gifts add up to $10,569.75. Ready for our new grand total? Drum roll please. (drum roll sound effect) $56,062.75 (sound effect of people cheering) Wow! That is the single best day so far in the month of July.  More and more Worldview listeners are catching the vision, thanks in part to the McVeda Family in Great Falls, Montana. Can you feel the momentum? We need to raise $25,163.25 by midnight on Friday, July 24 But we still have a steep hill to climb. So, if you have not stepped up to the plate yet, we could really use your help.  By tonight at 12 midnight, we need to raise a whopping $25,163.25 to hit our $81,226 goal! But listen to this.  I got a call yesterday morning from a Worldview friend in Naples, Florida right before I swam my 72 laps at the outdoor pool at my gym.  He said, “Adam, I will match, dollar for dollar, the next 12 people who give a one-time gift of $500.”  He is willing to invest $6,000 to encourage 12 people to collectively give another $6,000! If those gifts come in today, then we have to raise the difference of about $13,000. Would you consider being one of 6 people to pledge $100/month for 12 months for a gift of $1,200, one of 5 people to pledge $50/month for 12 months for a gift of $600, or one of 10 people to pledge $25/month for 12 months for a gift of $300? Just go to TheWorldview.com, click on Give, select the dollar amount, and make sure to click on the “recurring” button if that's your wish.  And remember, if you want to continue your monthly pledge to The Worldview that you started in a previous year, please let me know so we can count your generous ongoing gift toward our total. What does God want you to give? Go to TheWorldview.com and click on Give. Close And that's The Worldview on this Friday, July 24th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

As we wrap up Season 8 of the podcast, we take time to catch up with prolific chemist-theologian-pastor-writer and much-loved Regent professor, Dr. Ross Hastings. Ross's new book, God and Molecules: Chemical Evolution and Divine Providence, explores how God has been working purposefully in his creation all the way back to the first molecules. This is a conversation that stretches the limits of knowledge in the two disciplines Ross is integrating, inviting intellectual humility. Claire and Rachel sought to model this by asking many non-specialist clarifying questions! Even if you are not a scientist, we invite you to listen and learn from the insights chemistry can bring to our understanding of God, his divine agency in the world, and his relationship to creation. As Ross says, these insights inspire our awe and worship, reminding us that our God is too small and our God isn't small enough. See you in September!Ross's BioDr. Ross Hastings, a Zimbabwean Scot, holds PhDs in organometallic chemistry and theology. He currently serves as the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology at Regent College, where he teaches systematic and pastoral theology. Ross's most recent books are Pastoral Ethics: Moral Formation as Life in the Trinity, 2nd ed. (Cascade, 2025) and The Glory of the Ascension (IVP Academic, 2026).More from RossWade Even Deeper (Regent Convocation Address 2026)The Son Went Up . . . and the Spirit Came Down: Lessons from the Ascent of the Son and the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Regent Vine Article, May 2026)Sport: Idolatry or the Image of God … or Both? (Regent Vine Article, February 2026)The Ascension and the High Priesthood of Christ (May 2025)The Resurrection of Jesus Christ (February 2022)Pain, Suffering and Depression in the Life of the Believer (April 2019)Sources MentionedPaul Rimmer's research in chemical evolutionBiologos - Faith and ScienceIntelligent Design - Ken HamRegent College PodcastThanks for listening. Please like, rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice and share this episode with a friend. Follow Us on Social MediaFacebookInstagramYoutubeKeep in TouchRegent CollegeThe Regent VineSummer ProgramsRegent College NewsletterSupport UsGive Back

Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Lloyd Lytle, a leader of the grassroots group that had been fighting over the past year to save the historic Masonic Home of Washington in Des Moines, Washington. On Thursday, July 23, 2026, the group announced an end to their legal battle. Lytle posted a message on social media earlier Thursday. In this interview, he shares the group's thinking and what might come next as far as a possible timeline for demolition of the Masonic Home. CASCADE OF HISTORY spoke with Lloyd Lytle on the evening of Thursday, July 23, 2026. GoFundMe Campaign to Retire Legal Fees: https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-the-historic-masonic-home-of-des-moines Background via the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation's List of Most Endangered Places https://preservewa.org/most_endangered/masonic-home-washington/ Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has launched a formal review to determine whether the Cascade red fox and three native Goose Lake fish should receive federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.

Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Paula Johnson, Senior Archaeologist and Director-at-Large based in the Seattle office of WillametteCRA (CRA stands for “Cultural Resources Associates”). In this conversation, recorded on July 23, 2026, Johnson describes how the federal historic preservation regulations known as Section 106 work, and then outlines the threat facing 60 years of precedent in how the federal government treats historically significant resources. She also describes how the historic preservation community is mobilizing to push back against what amounts to a gutting of the rules - including elimination of public notice and input and tribal consultation - and how concerned citizens can get involved. A federal body known as the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is scheduled to vote on the proposed changes on Friday, July 24, 2026. National Trust for Historic Preservation Section 106 website: https://savingplaces.org/stories/section-106-under-threat WillametteCRA website: https://willamettecra.com/ Advisory Council on Historic Preservation website: https://www.achp.gov/ Links to more information as well as images related to most topics discussed on the show are often available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms' quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle. Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes. "LIKE" the Cascade of History Facebook page and get updates and other stories throughout the week, and advance notice of live remote broadcasts taking place in your part of the Old Oregon Country.

If you've been sitting on an idea for your small town, a business, a side hustle, a project you keep circling back to, and something keeps stopping you every time you get close to pulling the trigger... this episode is for you. This week it's just me. I'm walking you through six reasons why right now, in this economy, in your small town, is actually the best time you'll ever have to start building something of your own. Not hype. Data, stories from my own backyard here in Cascade, and almost ten years of running my own business to draw from. We're talking security, income, community, access, opportunity, and identity. Six reasons, one big permission slip. Grab your coffee (or your feed bucket, no judgment) and let's get into it. What You'll Hear Why 5.2 million new business applications were filed in 2024 alone, and what that means for you The real math behind small town word of mouth, and the Creator Club story that proves it Why 92% of entrepreneurs say they don't regret starting, even the ones whose businesses didn't go as planned Local small business shoutouts: Rotunno Auto Detailing, Something Sweet Bakery, and Totes McGoats The one thing Molly wants you to do before this episode even ends Resources & Links Mentioned Ana of Lovely Little Light and Creator Club (referenced episode from early 2025, linked on the website) Rotunno's Garage Auto Detailing Something Sweet Bakery Totes McGoats Share the Love If this one hit home, send it to the person in your life who's been sitting on an idea. Screenshot it, tag me, or just send it in a text that says 'this is us.' Let's get more small town dreams off the ground.

The smarties stay at the safehouse to study while the idiot squad go to relax with Cascade and Dogleash. Ooo, and they may as well stop for NukitBurger...Cast:  Collateral – MaddieBinary – DotEris – ShannonJet - CydContinuity Editor- DotEditor/Producer- CydGamemaster/Executive Producer – EricIntro Music by SynthezxOutro Music by Austin MillerBackground Music by Machinima SoundSupport us on Patreon at patreon.com/restingglitchface for behind the scenes clips and early episode releases!

In both 2024 and 2025, Jake Watt, head brewer at Trap Door in Washougal, Washington, took home gold medals in the GABF fresh hop category for his beer, Fresher Than Fresh. Interestingly, the recipes for each of those beers was quite different—and the recipe for the 2026 edition that he'll submit this year will see more changes as well. Fresh-hopped beers are a moving target, ephemeral in nature, and making the best possible beers today means using all the things—unkilned cones harvested that morning, Cryo Fresh pellets, flowable hop products, and even a touch of Riwaka here and there. In this episode, Watt shares insights into the iterative changes and evolving ingredients in Trap Door's medal-winning fresh-hopped beer. Along the way, he touches on: unlocking the best Mosaic character with Krush and Riwaka using deep-cut Cascade with additional thiol character flavor stability in fresh-hopped beers when hot-side hopping taking advantage of fresh-hop season to gain access to specific lots from certain growers focusing on Oregon-grown hops for fresh-hopped beers due to earlier pick windows mechanically chopping fresh cones controlling dilution and pH rise in fresh-hopped beers layering in character with fresh-frozen hop pellets sneaking smaller amounts of Cryo Fresh into beers not labeled as fresh hops And more. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers G&D's new Elite 290 Micro-series is built for brewers who care about sustainability and performance. It runs on a natural refrigerant with near-zero global warming potential (GWP), has a compact footprint, and features variable-speed fans for efficiency. We've chilled beer for more than 3,000 breweries across North America, and with 24/7 support and remote monitoring, your cold side stays dialed in—day or night. Get the details on natural-refrigerant technology at gdchillers.com/podcast. Berkeley Yeast At the World Beer Cup this year: Gold for West Coast IPA; Gold for Session IPA; Bronze, Silver, and Gold for New Zealand IPA; Bronze, Silver, and Gold for Classic IPA. All these beers were fermented with one yeast: FRESH™ Chico, Berkeley's low-diacetyl ale yeast.There's something you need to know: Diacetyl is not just a pass or a fail. Yes, at high levels, it's tragically bad. But even at low levels, it masks the good flavors. So if you want hop notes to pop, you need diacetyl to be ultra-low. These brewers trust Berkel ey Yeast for an ultra-clean fermentation because on the finals table, every little detail matters. And now FRESH™ Chico is available in dried bricks for as low as $88 at berkeleyyeast.com. PakTech This episode is sponsored by PakTech—delivering craft-beer multipacking you can trust. Our handles are made from 100 percent recycled plastic and are fully recyclable, helping breweries close the loop and advance the circular economy. With a minimalist design, durable functionality you can rely on, and custom color matching, our carriers help brands stand out while staying sustainable. Trusted by craft brewers nationwide, we offer a smarter, sustainable way to carry your beer. To learn more, visit paktech-opi.com. Indie Hops Oregon hop country is heaven to world-class lager varieties, and Indie Hops is proud to have introduced Oregon's newest lager hop, Lórien, in 2022. Lórien is in a growing list of beers that have found their way to the podium and—more importantly—into the hearts of lager lovers across the country. Discover Indie Hops Lórien. (Side effects may include rampant festivity, sales bumps, and exceeded expectations.) Indie Hops—Life is Short. Let's Make It Flavorful. Midea 50/50 Flex This podcast is sponsored by the Midea 50/50 flex—the industry's first dual-compartment three-way convertible freezer. The 50/50 Flex is designed to flex with your life. It can convert to all fridge, all freezer, or half and half with just the touch of a button. Plus, with reversible doors and adjustable storage compartments, you can stay organized no matter your food-storage needs. The 50/50 Flex is also designed to maintain a stable temperature even in non-climate-controlled spaces. So it's perfect for your garage, man cave, or wherever you need a little more space. Maybe use all 20 cubic feet as a beer fridge! Check out Midea.com/us/ for more information on how to take your beer storage to the next level. Briess Malting Briess Malting has been supplying craft brewers with the highest quality base and specialty malts since the early 1980s. As Briess celebrates their 150th Anniversary this year, they are proud to remain a fifth-generation, family-owned company. They love to support the creativity and passion in craft brewing that results in amazing beers. All Briess malts are made in America, so you can count on a reliable supply chain. Barley is sourced from 300 growers in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming and Montana. Plus, technical support is available through their Center of Malting Excellence. With 150 years of malting expertise, check out why so many craft brewers trust Briess for their specialty malt at BrewingWithBriess.com. Wyeast Laboratories This episode is brought to you by Wyeast Laboratories. If you've brewed with our 1056 American Ale, you've brewed with the strain that helped build craft beer from the ground up. Four decades later, it's still one of the most-used strains in the country, delivering the same quality and consistency. As legendary liquid-yeast providers, we celebrated our 40th anniversary alongside America's 250th on the 4th of July, and as part of the celebration, we're offering 10 percent off every order of 1056 American Ale scheduled by July 31 and shipped by August 30. Already have an order in that window? Don't worry, your discount will be automatically applied. Here's to 40 years of living culture and best-in-craft liquid yeast. Check out the anniversary at wyeastlab.com.

I'm angry this week. Not flip-a-table angry. The kind of angry that makes you sit up and say: this is wrong, and I want to be part of the solution. Rural America has been talked about, talked at, and politicized for years...by people who don't actually live here. So this week, I'm doing something different. Seven truths about rural America, backed by real data and real stories from my own small town of Cascade, Iowa. No spin. No agenda. Just the truth about a people and a place that deserve better than they've been getting. This one isn't political. It's personal. Grab your coffee (or your chore gloves) and let's get into it. What You'll Hear Why rural America's $2.7 trillion GDP contribution tells a different story than the one you've heard The truth about small town business owners as some of the most underestimated entrepreneurs in the country Why community isn't a soft value...it's an economic strategy How rural values got mistaken for political ones, and why that's a tragedy What it really means that rural America feeds the world and funds the country Why the next generation of rural leaders isn't leaving, they're choosing to stay The ripple effect of one small town business growing, and what it costs a community when it closes Resources & Links Mentioned Join Molly's email list for what's coming this fall: mkm.myflodesk.com/email Berning Acres Farm Camps (Western Illinois) Listen and Subscribe Spotify Apple Podcasts If this one landed somewhere in your chest, do me a favor: send it to somebody. Somebody in a small town who's never heard their story told with pride instead of pity, or somebody in a city who thinks they already understand rural America. And leave a review while you're at it. It's the easiest way to help this conversation reach a bigger room.