Katy Acheson on Cape Cod Blue Economy Foundation is our guest host today talking all

where Stephanie never read the right book and Stephanie was terrible at this book I really sto at book club I did not fabulous I'm what I just had a visual I just had a visual I had a proud of it hello and good morning on a Thursday everybody I've got Katie aeson in the show with me today and she's from the Cap Cod chamber yes you are also part of our big blue economy yes talk to me about the foundation a little bit before we like jump into other things because I tend to ADHD my way out of conversations um so the the Cape Cod chamber created the Cape Cod blue economy foundation in 2017 um as their 501c3 Foundation uh specifically to hold a grant large project um from seport economic grants um to create the waypoints that are um all across the cape on the waterfront and Wendy and Chris and um so many people were involved in that project oh yeah it was huge yeah um Leslie and McGee and Bert Jackson shout out how you do to do and miss you um they created this incredible foundation and these incredible goals and initiatives they created waterware they created these um beautiful sort of structures out in the world where if you stand in front of them you look out onto the Waterway and it tells you why it's important very educational right um and then they put them up and then Co yeah right it's like we did all these cool things no one could see it stay in your home yeah and they weren't able to do like the big sort of ribbon cuting and around it so then I came to the cape cut chamber about two years ago and sort of here's this blue economy Foundation did they offer it to you or you like this is something I find myself interested in um I'd expressed interest in it uh I don't know that it was necessarily on the cards for me when I started there um but Paul news Wiki is a little bit of a mysterious person so you know he really is an interesting cat but he also I think you know noticed that I was interested enough in it right so um I've been able to take the foundation and start to grow yeah right it's still kind of a baby 2017 really wasn't that long ago for an organization um and so it's it's a sister organization Cap Cod chamber um and that's probably about 90% of what I work on is the blue economy Foundation it's really nice I really am a big fan of the Cap Cod chamber I think they do a lot of great works and a lot of stuff you might not even know that they're working on uh and it's much more than just a chamber role for for you but I mean you've been with the chambers for a long time it's kind of like where you found your nich yeah I started in the mashby chamber in the early 201s I can't remember it was it was my whole role there um but it really is connecting with the community and now you're finding yourself in a in a bigger role I feel like because this is such a big deal for us as Cape cotters we're coming into the season people come here as tourists for our water for our beaches for our places yeah and if we don't start protecting them and doing a little bit more for them um we are in trouble yeah I mean I've already started to see online the notifications about which ponds are safe to swim in or for safe for dogs or not that's already happening we've only had a few hot days so um yeah protecting our freshwater ponds as well as protecting our coasts and our marine life which is going wild out there there's so much happening what is happening so much happen serious this is what I put on my Facebook page yesterday I was like this was not my Big O card the amount of freaking pollen that we've got right now couple that with orcas flamingos I heard the flying venomous spiders are on the way we're like what it's it's it has to be environmental I don't know what's going on with the flamingo okay my husband's like there is no way somebody brought that as a pet there is no way I'm like are the flamingo's Rog allow allowed to have a flamingo pet and my pal Travis from lemoner was telling me give us back our flamingos cuz that's where they created the plastic lawn Flamingo that's where those are from Lem mass of course they're from Massachusetts yeah of course they are um Johnny apple seed and plastic flamingos yes L we are on the map everybody he's texted me said send back our Flamingo like how do you even know what's yours come on man that's so awesome fling go are on vacation um yeah right they like cape cot as well and I don't know how much of climate impact necessarily um for the flamingo uh we have had orcas before we've had killer whales before it's just not the usual it's not typical um but I don't know the the ocean's a wild and crazy place right uh and we are surrounded by it and we get to see it because we have like deep ocean and shallow ocean we get to see everything yeah and I feel like as a community Cape cot is super connected we are really in each other's business for the good and for the bad that we are we are though we're like what's happening over there we need to know even though stay in our town proper we need to know what's happening everywhere listen I'm not going all the way to Dennis not today no not today want know what's going on with the flamingo 100% and people um I find when I talk about Cape Cotter when we go places they really forget or don't understand how large of a land mass it is to cover it's 30 miles an hour almost everywhere to get anywhere so yeah yeah so like it's just as easy for us here in Mash p and go to Providence it's actually closer than going to Province Town but I mean I still identify with all of this little arm as my people well I went to nset so I did my lower Cape Outer Cape time so awesome yeah I think I I DJ often in naset to the fact where they like send me letters and I think they think that I'm from there which I I just appreciate thank you for assimilating me I am part of your community I've been around I'm the bad Penny like I said not going anywhere so the big blue economy is what we all are focused on right as we're heading into tourism season and um what are some of the things that you guys are focused on at the foundation so the blue economy Foundation um the focus for me right now on a day-to-day is doing tons of stuff behind the scenes to we've got a couple of really um wellestablished popular events now we've done the big blue conference two years look so well attended I really wished I could have gone because uh first off robots yeah I'm just interested in that electric planes robots and kipi shoot how can you not have you know I have come into contact with Kip on several spaces I was teaching in class at foras during pandemic and she took it for podcasting she's so cool so it's so cool and she was like I want to do this thing and she's like then she gets an oyster Grant now she's like the mermaid oyster lady she's pitching e for all like I find her in all these very cooles and just one of the most down toe humans you've ever talked to in your entire life but working on um her water podcast was so wonderful for me as a person that really always you know you hear recycle you hear do better you hear posos you hear all these Buzz words that are like scary and what's happening but to sit there and have actionable steps to just change small amounts of things was really eye opening for me yeah um you can actually do things yeah right yeah it's not unattainable right good morning Miss Emily thanks for joining us on the show we've got Katie aeson from the Cap Cod Chamber of Commerce we're talking blue economy the foundation that she's working on behind the scenes trying to um find all these cool people engineering things like great creative minds yeah finding solutions to our problems yeah so we've got the big blue which is really like you know a two-day conference about about showing the world the scope of blue economy what does it incorporate like it's oysters but it's also robots it's also uh you know renewable energy sources and communities working together to find solutions to big problems uh it's construction on the water which is a whole wild time it's scary right now for people you know everyone's kind of in their own little space about it but we have to do better with with everything right so it's really about you know understanding how how broad and and deep the blue economy can be especially around here where we are um and then Waterworks was the the event that I adopted y um that is just incredible so the Community College opened up their doors to us to bring in businesses to put up tables and uh meet high school students from both the islands the cap and Plymouth uh and both times I've done it so far we had the worst rain ever in March uh and then we had a snow delay so you know it's going great you know you're running a good event when the weather never cooperates right for sure but I mean if it's an event about water um this doesn't help you might as well have all of the precipitation like let's just bring it on let's do it U but weather storm severity sure uh speaks to The Climate impact right but the coolest things happen when you put young people people together with people that are in their jobs and their heads in their desk all day and get them to talk everyone leaves inspired yeah and especially the adults in the room just leave like oh wow these kids are bright and Brilliant and this is why I do what I do yeah they're gonna do stuff oh it's so so cool because let me tell you Cape Cod uh Island students are bright hella bright I'm so like I love working with students because they are excited and smart and they're going to you know no pressure to change the world for the better but I don't think that they feel the pressure at this point I think that they're I I've got to say from my graduating senior this year that group of kids is just really they're mindful of their environment they're mindful of themselves they're doing a better job with self-care like I've never seen before they're they're really feeling the impacts of of that weight but also not taking it so stressfully so shout out to all the parents of this generation we did a good job that's what I for real seriously you you have to have been shown that it's possible yeah right well and I love these bright Minds that are coming up you work programming robots like we did not do these things when we were in school so they're already a leg up and they're where their mind works they're coding they're literally engineering robots yeah they're battling them at the airport how did you connect this whole thing so talk about the the conference for just a hot minute because it was just an amalgamation of cool stuff yeah so we um we just this conference is going to move around all the time we want to talk about the hottest topic and the g Cape Cod Gateway Airport are building their own micro grid so they'll be their own power source and relying on their own shout out to Katie over there doing so many things which also by the way the first American Airlines uh flight came in yesterday at the airport so we've got American Airlines um so that's really cool for the airport um and so the airport are doing this huge project so I called Katie and I said if we're going to talk about this I'd love to do it at the airport the terminal is kind of long and skinny it's not really conference shaped so she put me in contact with um the owner of aoft Aviation who's renting one of the airplane hangers big metal box that's where we have the conference there we go perfect uh but it was just one big metal box and so I wasn't able to create a space for my exhibitors so we added the big blue Expo in the terminal in between the two nights and I also wanted there to be some kind of a additional draw something a little more interactive so I was like what if what about robots because I read about a year ago now that mashby had sent a team to like Texas or somewhere for a national competition and what started off as just an after school program turned into like something just very very cool and shout out to mass higher uh Workforce board for helping bring that Vex to the cape which is so shout out Cara once you start showing up at these conferences you're going to find the layers upon layers of people groups um just regular Cape Potters all with their hands in something all this work trying to figure out how we're going to elevate ourselves into a better space and it's just it's really been joyful for me to throw myself into this ring jump on the mash P chamber work with mass hire work with eforall work with all these groups that are all in little ways making a small little difference that we're just such an interconnected community so I'm so thankful for that and then it manifests as a bunch of high school and middle school kids got to battle robots at the airport right so cool and and it was cool and the kids were cool they had cool shades and one kid came in his karate outfit and one kid was in her ballor a costume she's these kids are busy people one kid legit went School karate robots how do they have time to do homework I don't know right I know but they do it and they're getting it done it was it was really so it it really did come out of um the planning process which sort of organically happened and I have the pleasure of being able the program the conference and the pieces that go around it based on like what I'm curious about what want to learn about kind of fun um and I'm like oh electric airplanes let's talk about that I know you and I were talking before I forget what group we were in and we were connecting and you're like would you take a ride in it I'm like probably but I don't know if it's a great idea I feel a little nervous about it but I would do it yeah yes yes because it's it's wild yeah but also really super cool did you plug it in does it have enough battery do I even want to get in this thing it's awesome so so I got to curate this conference with like stuff that I wanted to hear about like you know it's a great excuse to reach out to Greg scl to be like hey can you come talk about sharks please well here we are we're getting into the water season and everybody's like first and foremost the Sharks what's in the water we've got orcus that's fine they can kill the Sharks a little bit I I don't know what the deal is with that or how long Greg scl is gonna be here talking to us with all of whatever it is his funding I don't know we'll we'll do a GoFundMe and right stay with us don't leave us please I know we're like the the Pinnacle of Shark Week it was very funny when my J arrived from Jamaica and we were talking about you know I was like haven't you seen the movie Jaws and they're like yeah I was like that was filmed in marth's Vineyard and they were like wait what like you could have seen like the connection in their brain and then how terrified they were scared them it's fine we only eat tourists it's not a big deal they only take a bite and then spit you out they don't want to eat the whole you know talk to me about Greg scel I've never been in a room with the man and I definitely want to know more about him uh so he was sort of our like keynote for the second day he was the speaker that kept people at their tables yeah want to hear about the Sharks right um and so I didn't actually really get to talk to him very much other than making sure he was gonna be there um my cooworker Haley kotay was the one that got to do sort of the video interview with him ahead of time um but he Rock starred showed up five minutes before he's going to go on stage I'm calling his office going oh Craig um and he just killed it with you know information he spoke to a level that everyone could understand wasn't scary unless you are a whale that's been bitten by a shark that was that was not a good day for you graphic um but you know um but he was just you know a we think of these people as like they're super super intelligent I think that you're not going to be able to understand what they're getting at but they're good communicators yeah right that's why you get them to come speak that's why he's you know doing all this shark stuff sence and education also CU he can speak about what he does really well so it was just a really um exciting you know 15 minutes and then he took some questions and um I think most of the conversation was actually really about the seal population which was interesting yeah because a lot of people blame that on this you know yeah and it's Buffet of sharks we have now right one of the one of the the key takeaways that he presented was really that sort of nature abs and flows just like we do like we have good days and bad days Nature has big populations and small populations and you know Cape history is we've gotten involved a little too much in the past right and now Nature's just sort of like self-regulating it's correcting itself as much as it can given all of our impact continuous yeah um that was really interesting just like really cool com collected Guy saying like yeah they're sharks it's okay that's all right yeah right he's out there every day tagging him stabbing him checking him out and oh watching the videos of him doing the the tagging it's no fear he's so it's Zen he's so smooth and then he gets it and he releases all of his energy which is just really really cathartic to watch because he's like the mo like he's the man if you've ever watched any Shark Week footage she's absolutely in there hop on YouTube after this show and and put in Greg schl y yeah check out it's really really his masterfulness on the ocean World ocean Day is coming up on Saturday and um we've got a lot going on here in mashby I want to ship the focus a little bit to talk about that just because we've got Coastal resilience we're having a huge party over at knockabout beer garden and um just better ways in which to not get so worried about it I saw a study this week that 50% of our population has Clement anxiety sure okay and I was like is that that can't be real no it probably I know but then I was looking at it and I was like that's actually scary for people more than 50% just have anxiety you just have regular anxiety so throw that in climb on top oh I know but when I read that I was like that's that just can't be real but maybe it's just the regular anxiety of everything which is seemingly very high in this day and age yeah so we're just going to have this celebration of ways that we can be less anxious when we've got big storms when we've got crazy precipitation when we've got a hurricane when we've got a tornado you know all of this weird stuff is going to happen when we were not planning for it yeah or whenever Katie's gonna plan an event just watch for the weather there we just don't go just just plan for the weather to be funky poor ktie for Waterworks at least um but yeah I'll be there on Saturday oh good wonderful we'll we'll be coloring that is perfect from 1 until 4 in the mashby Commons they're setting up the big tent so regardless rain or shine we're going to be there also simultaneously I believe going on at the Cape Cod Children's Museum that morning yeah that morning right that's what I said to Lisa I'm like I will try to do both I promise y they are unveiling something she has been working on with hooie for two years three years working on funding um and and like getting in the seaside L mons securing that money like really making a permanent exhibit at the kpod Children's Museum which is exciting to me because we've been members there for 25 years and to see something new and fresh and sciency so cool come into our Cap Cod children's Museum Lisa had this vision of making it Boston making it Providence bringing those exhibits to our kids in our Ever Changing way we're learning in stem and steam and all of the things that have been not showcased not at the Children's Museum yeah exactly because as they're getting smarter we have to keep up with them to make sure that they're challenged we all need to go to the children's museum serious start learning coding right start learning about underwater species and and she's done a great job of making sure there's a teen area so something to continue these kids so that they're not just babies playing dress up which is also very important play of all kinds is really important um but she's I'm just really excited for this exhibit and I know she's worked her tail off whoie has been instrumental in getting this done um just all of the people behind this new exhibit is exciting so yeah it's gonna be an awesome World oceans day so as I'm talking is gonna be wild and then Sunday is um Amity day as well Mash B busy weekends I know Mash B's got Amity day and also our Farmers Market which has been really incredible yeah what time is the farmers market so it's it's kind of going on at the same time but it's four whole hours so if you want to do both you can do both we're supportive of that ours goes from 11 to 3 they're 12 to 4 so you can sneak start up the yeah you can sneak in our quiet shopping and that's twofold because we're not going to bother our neighbors over the church but also if you've got um anyone with sensory issues and just can't take loud noises in big crowds dogs especially it's such a great dog friendly space to bring everybody we have Wellness programming So Lisa Z is going to be there on the green doing some mindful meditation some yoga some energy healing help with the climate anxiety absolutely and this is all free by the way so it's really important to take advantage of some of these amazing programs and things that we're setting up for us to be less anxious so that we can be more educated so that we can do better for everyone I think some of the anxiety comes away when you get together with people that are interested in the same sorts of things as you and want to explore the same things as you that commun sense of community helps with that anxiety too I feel like yes and I feel like also education I feel like it's just really yeah okay I know about it now I'm not so scared about it I think that is super important right look at us today at using I Lauren thanks for joining us the show oh places is always there every single Sunday putting a magical smile on the kids's face whether it's blowing bubbles painting faces throwing up that big parachute that we all used to use when we were in the gymnasium Middle School yes Elementary School she bust that thing out and I'm just immediately happy I'm immediate good mood yep we have them for you we also have a daytime disco it's a big marshmallow blowup tent that we have disco music and fun little strobe lights in there for you to just go in and dance around if you feel like School trays with wheels and race them down would be fun I don't think that they would allow that I'll talk to I'll have to check my insurance I don't think Kristen would like that she's gonna text me in an hour like no um Kitty that is a no you say no to that good morning Jen and Sarah thank you so much for joining us on this on the show today we've got Katie aeson from the Cap Cod Chamber of Commerce also talking about her blue economy Foundation you inherited this space uh and and then it was kind of like okay what are you gonna do with it yeah so yes right here's the thing okay we did all this now we're leaving by yeah and we love you Wendy I saw you at um Cape Cod Caris she's still out there working on environmental issues still working on impactful issues in the area in the arena y adjacent but left you this foundation and was like yeah well and it kind of was uh you know an incredible organization that sort of didn't have a long enough momentum to sustain covid it was just sort of inactive for a while which is okay it was just still so now I'm just bringing it back to life right um there's an incredibly overly long I don't expect anyone to read it implementation plan with a lot of incredible aspirational ideas um Waterworks was one of them they manifested that and so I'm working on manifesting those incredible ideas right um instead of Reinventing anything taking what is there in black and white and trying to bring it into the world right right um so behind the scenes working on um some good collaboration so rebuilding the website so the website was um designed very informational but not very active there's not a lot of ways to continuously update it so working with our friends at dative to create a space that is a little bit more updatable news and articles and event postings and stuff like that that you find in typical websites these days'll just more active um working on sort of building up the social media thank goodness for high School interns because they don't so good right anything you've seen on Blue Cape cod's Instagram has been done by 17-year-olds and I love Kyle Connor you guys were incredible um that's amazing yeah so I will continue to Forever let other people do the Instagram um and then also doing some collaborative um projects so we're working with cape class on a line of merch really ex I love Pat um and so that'll be out like any minute as soon as I get it like in production right now oh I'm so excited Pat we went to the same High School many many years apart but it's really funny like I'll get uh the bishop fan magazine or whatever and I'll go through and I'm like oh Pat I saw you in whatever and he's like my mom's probably real proud a but just creating all their things he he practices what he preaches yeah and if you look at like so I was looking at the website and like I've got like probably eight pairs of glasses but all these collaborations with all these economy like Film Festival whoie the Atlantic white shark Conservancy I'm like why AR haven't I done one yet called him up be like all right let's do he's super excited his team did some really cool ideas and we've got an idea now I think that is going to be like interchangeable year on year with the theme oh I love it it's a little bit sort of like World War II we want you kind of poster Vibes um but with oyers Oh yay so that'll be out really soon so so doing some of those sort of um collaborations that help bring the mission to life a little bit more um focusing a little bit more now leaning into understanding advocacy and action understanding you're talking about like little things we can do to make it better the ocean safer little things we can do to help our businesses you know work for a chamber of commerce so businesses is really high up on my priority list of supporting our small businesses um and what can we do to help every small business you know um working with folks that take care with Adam and Jill on bringing sustainable um or compostable takeout containers to different places stuff like that anything I can do to help that sort so really taking what what Wendy and her team created and just bringing it to life now yeah which it sounds you know um the practicalities of that are like you know calling Stephanie and saying hey let's do something what I and I was like okay when are you avail tomorrow that sounds good let's go um and so that's really what is about talking about it with people showing up to places to you know but it's the little things that's it we've got the sustainable cups that I was working with um Jill on and Adam uh to bring to the Beer Garden because every piece of plastic like we're working I said before I get this thing going I really want to be mindful of all the stuff the trash the the what we're leaving behind and it really doesn't take a ton I've done a few events now we've just had you know you have a trash bin and a recycling bin yeah and we added a compost bin big blue and people know what to do yeah and it's just like the good messaging though you don't put it there people can't do it if you do they will but and that that's exactly it I think if we just start doing these little things then everybody just kind of comes along and it's less like why do we have to do that right that's not going to make a difference most people bring their favorite coffee thermos thing with them wherever they go now too so you don't have to tell them like well yeah we brought here's the coffee yeah I've got my Stanley got my Yeti I've got my thing everyone's got a branded maybe I should do a a branded there you go Blue economy Stanley Cup or something right hey if it gets it in people's hands so they're reminded that's why I love the cape clasp idea because it's on their arm it's a talking key where'd you get that bracelet I got it because of this why because they're doing this it's just a nice way to start a conversation with people about making small changes like I said with um um one drop leads to another with Kia's podcast that we have here on our Network at lemon Ado it's just those small little things my children love thrifting and it's the best thing you could be doing maore song I don't know whether it became popular or not but we were always Thrift Shoppers just to find something different unique and cool uh no matter where we are in the world we love to go thrift shopping it's something that we love to do my favorite hoodie in high school was like a mold Athletics Leisure gray something hoodie that I found at like a thrift store in in Orleans so right like yeah I didn't even know where Malden was at the time but the impact of fast Fashion on our our recycling situation has become really a big problem and uh just listening to Amy and kipi talk about just one garment and how much water goes into the use of creating it and then destroying it basically I love that Mash B now at our town dump um they you're not allowed to get rid of your clothes you have to recycle them they're they're we're making small choices and and directions that we need to go in but we need to do better yeah I will forever text Big Brothers Big Sisters for clothes pickup forever isn't that a nice little convenient that you call them they will come and get your stuff you don't have to call them if you don't like talking to people on the phone you can text them you can sign up on the website when did that happen we don't call anybody anymore I don't I don't know call if it's about my cats I'll call my vet that's problem call my vet because they're they have caller ID and they know who I am and I'm laugh yeah right Lauren says she needs some teen media help we've got people for you and our kids never want to help us but they'll help other people no problem yeah get them on Instagram just give them the keys to the kingdom and they'll go crazy it's wonderful well that was it like all of these conversations videos with music behind so cool so I know and our chamber have been utilizing this and I know I definitely have been talking we have a brand new host with lemon Ado that is from Cape Cod Community College and he wants to be a writer and he wants to do this but he's like a little nervous in front of crowds by the end of his first training period he's like when do I get on the microphone yes so it was so nice to see that just step into a space where it made them feel a little awkward because they text because they communicate on a device it's very different now yeah to get them in public and talking to people so it's it's nice and this is the only way we're going to make a change is if we talk to each other y um speaking of talking to each other we've had a lot of chatter socially about our uh our new Margaritaville that's coming up who's excited on Carro heads let's go somebody posted an article that they were trying to get traction on you know this is like a new writer or whatever and he's like and there's a new Margaritaville in Cod and he was posting it on all Cape Cod spots and the only thing that I said was on because I'm a jerk but other cap CS immediately were like yep yes and it's who cares honestly it doesn't matter what it looks like it's a little brighter over there in that spot yeah I think the some of the concern is that some of our previously locally owned businesses are being bought by much larger corporations that is a concern they're funneling funds into our economy right and they're employing local people so there's there's got to be a balance too right we're still primarily small businesses still you know 90% locally owned and all that great stuff but I think also there's a comfort level you give to visitors when you give them something familiar as well and then you let them you know stay in the familiar place and then explore the unfamiliar I think that's a nice balance I think it's the Aesthetics that scare people they're like it was cape cter already a pirate ship in there hell's the difference there's already a pirate ship in there so there's also going to be a flipflop and that's okay that's okay right I think it's great yeah um my partner Ryan wants to book a few nights as soon as they open well why the hell not you want it when it's fresh and new and nice right uh and I can't wait for the first like parot head Festival they're right I'm in i w to go right so um so I think that there's balance I think that there's there has to be some recognition of you know we are such a desirable place for people to invest in which is good we've done a really good job here yeah we've done a really good job here and it's going to be a little brighter a little more colorful but you know what that part of hus is glowing up big the Whole Food's moving and getting bigger all this stuff that's going on in that Plaza get fancier even across at the mall they're doing some new stuff so that I think you know it'll fit in with the but there's still family regular businesses across the street with their parot outside yeah right so it'll be a good Synergy like anyone staying at Margaret be's going to want to go to San Diego yeah guaranteed yep it's gonna it's gonna be fine everybody energy all right it's gonna happen for us I know we've got a big party going on over there in September I know that that's like fast forward this summer but it's not uh eforall is doing a giant fundraiser I think it's the first time we've ever done something like this on the cape and I'm really excited I get to DJ which I'm kind of pumped for but it's so much fun to be around our eforall people it's all baby businesses and and people that live here work here work hard for our community and I'm just so thankful to be a part of this group that has done so am like so many amazing things and the amount of businesses that they've fostered since coming on six years yeah Kristen has done such an amazing job and Kristen I got her on the blue economy board excellent so we're pumping that energy into it um and they're meeting at the chamber office pretty regularly me really happy because I kind of get to like poke in and well that's a benefit of being a chamber member I know a lot of people always ask which chamber what we have Marty bremel on the show tomorrow so he can talk to us tomorrow about all the things that are chamber and Father's Day and car show car show oh yeah it's it's it's a big thing going on also another car show that is happening this weekend here we are full circle going from doing better to Where it All Began the classics uh the 52nd annual car show is happening over at Heritage Museum in gardens this weekend and I know 502 pack your lunch bag it's going to be a busy weekend yeah it really is a busy weekend there's stuff going on all throughout the cape and if you're just sitting at home complaining that it's raining don't get out right they've got a rain date they've got a rain day for Sunday you can just add that into the mix of the things that you're out there doing need to mow your lawn every weekend get out well that go that's the stuff that I've been learning when I went to Farm School this year don't know NE never found myself in a space like this but while I was listening to these podcasts while I'm watching this blue economy while I'm here and I'm doing a little research for our town being on the mashby board of chamber uh Chamber of Commerce and also for the boys and girls club and I'm like what do we need in our community so I find myself building a farmer market because why not in all my free time but then finding that we've got this swath of environmental justice we we have like not we need more working farms in mashby we need better food we don't have a seafood place um so bringing all of this y that's that's Economic Development and environmental it's good for the community totally and it I am so I don't even know ver cled without a lot like you know me I don't have a loss for words often to see 500 people show up on our first Sunday so cool and our vendors run out of food so good and run out of things because they were just like oh whoa and to have everyone even Cape shark come over and we're like this is this is so joyful thank you for doing this and I'm like you well it's just one of those moments where I'm just so excited it little things make a difference and if you sit and listen and absorb what your community is telling you you will hear it too and do the thing you need to do yep listening is the first yes absolutely I know it's a little scary everybody you can do it talk to me about e forever um so will Rubenstein uh and I U met over zoom in 2021 during the consumate entrepreneur he's great um and so I was at the mashby chamber at the time and I was thinking like hey how come like we don't have like a mashby group for this entrepreneurs forever entrepreneurs forever is sort of like the graduate school version of eforall um where your business has to have been active for about a year uh you're working primarily on your business and at your business and like a certain income sort of Brack there's a few qualifiers but what it is is a threeyear commitment for a cohort of 12 um to meet for like an hour and a half a month to be together to share their pain points to share their successes to share advice with one another but also hear from experts um getting folks in that are experts in hiring or insurance or looking for Brick and Mortar all these different things um and so will and I were like oh wouldn't it be so cool and so I knew that there was like a funding element to it and I kind of had to put on the back burner and I moved over to the m the Cap Cod chamber but I never really let the idea go um and then I started talking with the folks at e forever a little bit more and then I started talking to my friend Patrice at Rockland Trust amazing Patrice is wonderful um if you need an energy boost just get Patrice in the room um and so you know I my my work sort of model is just talk to a bunch of people until I think it can actually happen and then write it down this um so uh I got e forever to sort of draft up a contract if I could get the funds and we could have it in person and I could kind of like you know wedge will in there as the facilitator which is really advantageous to me as a small business owner he worked at the Cap Cod chamber we've known each other for a while he' worked for E forever for all um for E forever before and so I pitched it to Rockland Trust they were super excited as a three-year Financial commit for this cohort Wills on board and they meet at the chamber office and so we've got 12 local businesses that are invested in each other now and uh invested in supporting one another and building their businesses so it's really a great way to give local small businesses some stability and to give them the hardest thing I think about running your own business is how lonely it can get even if you're doing with a partner it can still feel really isolating right and so having a community to fall back on is the most valuable and so there's no cost to the entrepreneurs um it's all paid for by the Rockland Trust charitable foundation so we're so grateful to them um and yeah it's just a really beautiful way of supporting some local businesses and your Cliff is one of them I know I know I'm laughing because Sarah Freeman said I'm old man suspicious of chains like that meaning Margaritaville sure also I don't like change LOL which I totally get my husband old man suspicious about everything so when we were talking I I saw will you know send out the thing this group is starting this group is starting and I I went for the informational session for me always but I I sat there and Cliff was in the car with me and I was like this this is something you are definitely doing it is something that you need because he's I don't need that I need this and I need that and I said what you need are other people not me that is support to you for your business to look at it from different eyes yeah and to have that space for just you to go and work on your business because it is different than our business or my business you know we're because once again we um ADHD we we're hands are in a lot of projects which is nice but every project has its box and I have to close that box at the end of the day and move on to the next project and keep it in that box or else stuff gets messy yeah and so he was old man suspicious about this group and last week he had came out of the meeting because you meet once a month and he was just like I'm glad I'm doing thises and I really am getting stuff that I didn't think that I would get out of it and so that made me really happy too because I think it was something that he didn't know he needed yeah and the nice thing is so instead of like me trying to teach businesses stuff or create something myself uh entrepreneurs forever have a tried intrude tested curriculum yeah they have they measure everything um and so you know they know what they're doing yeah Will knows what he's doing yeah um and the group that have assembled are like just some really awesome people person beautiful group of people um really like eclectic um in the types of businesses you know we've got photography and bookkeeping and ins and like con business there's like a a high degree of sort of this busino business Consulting Group um but then there's also like therapeutic massage right Services yeah which is just really and bricking mortars it is a good mix of people yeah it's a really good a good mix of businesses good mix of individuals totally um so that's something that I got to do being at the Cap Cod chamber that I don't think I would have been able to do in other places that um was also one of the things were like yeah I think I can do this yeah why not let's try you I love it um and it it really SU Rockland Trust charitable Foundation as well because it's a nice long-term commitment um and it gives us all some sort of sustainable structure and that relationship which is really beautiful so grateful to them for that KC con chamber rolled out their new branding this year truly yours I I like it yeah it looks good it's an update it needed to be updated yeah Kristen and Liz been a long time talking to people that visit talking to people that live here talking to people that work here um and really trying to understand what it means to experience Cape Cod and the the catchphrase truly yours at first I was like oh that sounds kind of oldfashioned like signing a Truly Scrumptious from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang this is all that's where my brain went to Bandy sorry that's right though um but if you think about whenever you leave Cape Cod and someone asks you where you're from and you say Cape Cod every single person has a favorite Beach yeah or their parents had a summer home or something there's a memory here or they went to a wedding somewhere every single person in other countries or they've got a favorite movie Jaws that was you know something right or they love Cape Cod potato chips right you get those all over the world there's a place in um Osaka Japan called Cape Cod bar and they sell beer and Cape Cod potato I love that okay so it's everywhere so the truly yours part resonates with me because that person that's asking you oh do you know this beach that's their bit of Cape C that belongs to them in a really meaningful way that they want to share yeah their souvenirs and memory and that's really cool and it's that's what gets I'm like oh like that's what gets me like kind of like right exactly is that every single person and that's the beauty of what we can offer everyone that comes with six million people a year is Coast Guard Beach can be yours times four million people which is really really special really special so the more and more I like think about it and ruminate that truly yours really resonates yeah very cool because I I had the immediate thought too but I love the way you explained it yeah see that's why you're at the Cape Cod chamber yeah and then the logo is like a thumbprint yeah but also has 15 lines so every town can fight over which line they want one for all of us pick which one you want it's up to you with the bottom one thank you there you go pick your favorite color out of the three I love it it is very cute we've also got coog day coming up with Doug this this thing Doug the Cog I remember when Cog Day first started and I remember the sales guy at the time Mark Schmidt absolutely love you to pieces Mark says to me all right the chamber's doing this thing and you're gonna think it's dumb you got to make fun of it do you have your hat but I want you to do it of course I have my hat of course I have it and and just letting you know will anybody do it and I was like I will absolutely do that I will absolutely do that and rock that yes please and so there from then on I've been a part of this in some way shape or form every single year because you were like Doug's like love interest or one of them I'm not sure um something like that there was one year that I was in California when I was first laid off from the the radio station and I was working on this podcast trip which was amazing working with Amtrak and um I know right so they sent me on this like California Whirlwind tour to talk about their um their specific line in right so I got to go stop to stop to stop and just do the entire California coast and it was visiting all the different chambers and working with all of their different Regional stuff it was so super fun and I'm like guys I can't be there I'm actually doing weirdly chamber adjacent activities so they worked me into The Narrative of where was where's The Voice because I was the first female security at the time also so then I got to um post pandemic I I got to to host one of the the events which was really really super fun and and to be the person um this year we've got Eric Fischer he's coming back who's always fabulous he's been doing some serious meteorological training he's such a wonderful weather nerd though I connected with him when I forget he had asked us to come down at the beginning of the summer one time and to like a live shot from Mayflower Beach and so we're there like I'd never met him before and we just sat there talking weather for hour weather beer running in lobster rolls okay and I was like you may stay sir we W you an honorary Cape coner yeah and he's cute so that helps it does help but he's just like a really genuinely kind human yeah his his Instagram stories fun are mostly about his kids and Ducks which is adorable yes so if you're not following Eric Fisher on Instagram I think should it's like a little daily dose of dopamine yeah it's very bright well I like it cuz my kids are all big now so I get to see him have this joyful moment with little people which is so fun and get to redo all of the things that we love about Cape Cod but as little people yeah so it is like another lens to look at Cape codon yeah um but yeah so he's gonna be Master of Ceremonies once again Paul Ned Wiki is the only one that can talk to Doug now the only one that can understand I know John Johnny kog retired uh and left his left his hat behind he did he did listen there's a lot of lure a lot of like back backlog Cannon whatever you want to call it and you if you have no idea what we're talking about then you've got more YouTube homework to do well this is also just another cave Cod tradition this has become a tradition in our house in our family c-w day is very important it really and it just symbolizes something fun hey this is the kickoff the official summer kickoff that we've got it's always the first day of summer it's on the 20th it's going to be over at the chart room this year so that's a new area of the cape I know they try and move it around to our towns and get a little bit of Doug the Cog everywhere and he's gonna predict how many Beach days this summer again and it'll be Clos last year he got it off not he was not right last year so he's gone he's done some training he's done some intensive meteorological training with Eric Eric has schooled him I love this uh if you haven't watched the latest Cog dayy but I love it uh Doug went to therapy Doug did some yoga on the beach with reconnected with the nature around him and then also learned a little bit more about about yeah I sent to myself if I'm starting this farmers market we're gonna have another summer like we did last year I'm gonna be I'm gonna be everyone's gonna be the Children's Museum inste yeah I need therapy and the Children's Museum we'll we'll find out we'll find out on coh Hog Day how The Summer's gonna look yeah and I feel like it's going to be pretty fantastic and Doug is returning closer to his original roots from mashney Island we're a little bit away over at the chart room and one of our new DJs Cindy G is gonna be there playing some tunes in the background and providing a couple microphones so everybody can hear what uh the prognostication will be because uh this is one of those dorky Cape Cod Traditions that you just need to jump on because it's fun it and just come have a laugh in a Mudslide yeah summer crying out loud exactly yay Cindy Sarah says we are so excited to have Cindy as part of us she was a DJ on N Tucket years and years ago and uh she's working on her own little baby business right now but she's like you want me to come out of retirement I'll do some stuff for you and we said yes to that so you can see her playing in between the Baja Brothers tonight over at the Boys and Girls Club we've got our beach party tonight and uh if you've never seen the Baja Brothers horns dancing on tables that's the only thing that I can say to you yeah like full on brass section while dancing on tables four dimensional SCA and I just get a little nervous because they're getting up there in age and I get a little I'm like can you put some pads yeah right honestly can just some like gymnastic mats or something I need to go see Lisa for some foam pads or something for the Children's Museum every time I'm like okay they're okay every time I'm so nervous it's mothering me I can't help it so that'll be tonight over there are still tickets available so if you'd like to go and jam out with the Baja Brothers it's not going to be a nice day outside we create quite an atmosphere at the pessa in and all of the money goes to the children yes I'll drop a link in this so you can donate because we are working on a teen center cool yes and it is so needed if you've been following the news in Mash P um uh alah has been found um but she's in my son's class and to hear from the inside of that conversation is just really truly upsetting these kids need a place to go they need a place to connect with each other and it needs to be in a safe environment uh and it's truly needed so what we're doing yeah we're having a fun beach party but at the end of the day we're raising money for a teen center that is a place for our kids to go at from any town on the cape and we're working on transportation to get them there and a place that is specifically for teens because I feel like that is the age bracket that gets lost so few third spaces for teens correct and I know hyenas youth in um Community Center is doing a great job Brian Morrison and hyenas fabulous kudos to you guys you do such a great job but we need a space here on the upper cape for sure and I know that you know we've been talking about the YMCA that looks like that's starting to happen good spaces for our people to go it's it's we're making we're making changes we are anything else you want to talk about before we leave today oh this is fun I know please come back I would love to have some blue economy specific things yeah and topics that we talk about a little bit more so absolutely keep an eye on the wildlife and what comes up so yeah we can talk about turtles cters and turtles turtles Dolphins horseshoe crabs you name an animal we've got it somewhere can talk about it and please when that Cape clasp collab drops I will I need you to even just pop into the studio and be like it's here here it is so we're gonna be doing stickers hoodies and t-shirts yay it's G to be really fun and really cool so absolutely I am thrilled for it kateson how do people get a hold of of you if they want to donate to the foundation if they feel so compelled to I I need to be a part of this yeah to be a part of it um you can reach out it's KD KY capecod chamber.org you can probably Google it um you can go to capecod chamber.org and just look up the staff page or blue cap cod. org U which is under construction but um my information is on there too also if you've got a project that you're working on that you think is a great fit we all need to know we all need to know about it I just started this group events on Cape Cod yes um and it's people are jumping in there and sharing everything from everywhere and it's really it's unrestricted do your Don't Be a Jerk yeah be nice that's one rule be be nice but just share uh what it is that you're working on in your community because if you don't talk about it and share it we're not going to know it's there yep and look out because there's going to be more blue economy stuff popping up you know I've got a a summer of desk work to do to get us the digital presence needs to grow bit so working on some some stuff but I like that your busy time is in our time of you know when it's just us yeah yeah well the businesses are busy in the summer so they don't need me right they they need me to leave them alone a little bit we're trying to survive over here um so it's triage only in the summer but then you know I get to do all the sort of behind the scenes stuff and then things kick off with Water Works in the Falls we usually have it in January so there's a lot of work in the event space then but in the meantime time yeah you're going to see stuff start to pop you see me start to pop up I'll be on as many radio stations and stuff get out there do in the media I had a really interesting moment with you that you are are not aware of I was in provinc toown uh for for 420 stayed at a friend's house but I had a bunch of events that I had to go and I had to get back up early so it's 5 o'clock in the morning and I'm listening and I'm scrolling through the stations and it's when all the radio stations put their public Outreach out to that's me I'm I was on like four stations on one morning at like 5 in the morning 5 in the morning they're like we're doing good whatever guys I see you but I I sat and listened to your entire interview yeah which one so it I was I think it was I was listening I did like five you're right it was great it was fun but they were all on at 5 in the morning correct it was so I was scrolling through and I was like oh there's Katie oh there's Katie sit she's on the stage the St I literally did cuz you know that's what I do I'm like what are they doing what are they doing what are they doing Katie Katie Katie Katie so I did I I just sat there and I was like oh I guess I have to listen to her now just like and then all of a sudden you popped up into my Vortex and I was like meant to be we need to talk yay right yeah I was thinking on the way here that we're kind of like because we've not done this before we're kind of like you know Cape cot is a TV show and we're both wellestablished characters we've not been on on screen together yet correct so here we are there we are we did a collab kids I would like more collabs it'll happen we promise please yes everybody have a great day um you can connect with us on Facebook Instagram Roku TV Alexa play lemono radio whether you're listening to us or watching us we really do thank you for helping us in our small little space on the cape lemonade Co is Off to the Races we've got to thank our staff here Hank um uh Bri we've got um Emily back behind the scenes that is doing all of the hard work for us we're really excited there's a fair in the air and I just heard yesterday that we are doing the Demolition Derby this year nice so I know so I would love to talk to you about maybe some mindful merchandising purchases that are a little bit more sustainable than the usual correct I was like there's got to be a balance here so we're gonna be there for that event and it is going to be all Hands-On deck we've got Amina over at our Farmers Market um Liz Sandy I thank you all so much for just putting your time and effort all of the people that we've been working with over at Cape Cod Community College thank you I appreciate you as students Nate and also Lisa Z You've Been instrumental Monumental in getting this off the ground and I'm talking like I'm going because I actually am we're leaving for a conference in Dublin on Sunday after the farmers market so all of my people are going to be running things so I really hope that you're just kind and warm and is energetic as you are to us while we're here uh I'll see you in July I'll be back on the show tomorrow with Marty brummel and uh we'll be talking all things chamber again but a little bit differently Father's Day is coming so I know henus has been working on some other fun things interconnective too Katie thank you thank you Stephanie bye everybody have a good day we'll see you