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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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