McMinnville Yacht Club

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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