Hanford Insider with guest Michelle Brown: Boosting Local Businesses and Celebrating Community Events with Main Street Hanford

On this episode of The Hanford Insider, Michele Brown from Main Street Hanford stops by to let us know about all of the great things that have been going on. Rob will give us a quick rundown of events, and Eric will update us on the high school football action heading into the playoffs. 

 This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, October 30th. 

Welcome to this episode of The Hanford Insider. I'm your host, Rob Bentley. I'd like to thank you for listening to the show. We had a special midweek episode last week about high school rivalries, and that brought a lot of new listeners to the show. If that was you, welcome to the show. I'd encourage everyone to go to the website at Hanford Insider and check out some of the previous episodes. I'd also like to encourage everyone to leave a review on the website or on your favorite podcast platform. It helps me get the word out about the show. This week's weather is going to be very nice with temperatures in the mid 70s. Let's check our community calendar. 3s There are a lot of community events happening this week with Halloween on Tuesday. The easiest way to see most of them is to visit your favorite community interest page on Facebook. Like events in Hanford, Hanford Happenings, King's Network News, or Hughes News. The Chamber of Commerce also has a good list of events on their website. 

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 1:31 

 The Kings players are presenting the play Much Ado Out West during the month of November. This is a children's production. For more information and tickets, visit Kings Players. Org The Carnegie Museum of Kings County presents the Atlas Exhibition of Portuguese History each Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.. They are also currently selling tickets to their December 9th fundraiser to restore the original 1905 wood flooring in the old Carnegie Library building. For more information, visit Carnegie Museum of Kings County. Org. The Kings Art center is holding the Art of meditation classes with Sara Powers. Visit their website at Kings Arts Center. Org for more information. The Hanford Fire Department is holding their annual toys for tots drive now through December. You can drop off your donation to Fire Station Number one on Greenville Boulevard between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.. The Hanford Chamber of Commerce is still seeking sponsors for the winter wonderland. The Hanford Christmas break. The ice skating rink will open on Saturday, November 18th, and the annual parade will be held on Friday, November 24th. Visit Hanford Winter Wonderland for more information. The soup kitchen is in need of more volunteers for this busy holiday season. You can visit their website at Easy Savior. Org for more information. I'll be grabbing events as I see them on social media. If you have an event coming up and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to Hanford Insider at gmail.com. 

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 3:09 

 Catching you up on bandtober. The craziest month of the year for school marching bands. In the Selma Band Review Saturday, the Sierra Pacific High School Band took first place in Division four AA. Also on Saturday at the Golden State Tournament of Bands in Clovis. The Hanford High School band placed third in the two eight division. You'll get a chance to see all of the Hanford bands in action on Wednesday, November 8th in the Neighbor Bowl at the annual Hanford Band Showcase. The show begins at 6 p.m. admission is free, but donations are always accepted. 11s I'd like to welcome to the show Michelle Brown, who is the executive director of Main Street Hanford, one of the busiest women in Hanford. She and her staff are always planning the next big event, but their main purpose is to promote downtown Hanford and help businesses thrive. Welcome to the show, Michelle. 

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 4:06 

 Thank you so much, Rob. I appreciate you inviting me today. 

 U1 

 4:10 

 I feel like I've caught you at just the right moment. I know you guys just wound up the Blues Festival, Thursday night Marketplace and Witches Night Out, and now you're putting the finishing touches on the wine and chocolate event. But before we get to the event specifically, can you tell us a little bit more about how Main Street Hanford supports local businesses? 

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 4:27 

 Absolutely, yes. It's the busiest time of year for us. Here. We are wrapping up Thursday Night Marketplace, and all of our events are all kind of running into each other, but it's my favorite time of year. I like the busyness. I get to interact with the business owners a lot. But Main Street in Hanford, the events are a big part of what we do, but they serve a big purpose. Not just the fun, not just the party, but the events serve a huge purpose in attracting foot traffic and commerce and exposure for the businesses. But that's not all we do. We actually have a great facade grant program where we have some beautification efforts in downtown Hanford. So where do I begin on how we support downtown businesses? 1s I guess one of our big 1s efforts, like I said, beautification our facade grants businesses in downtown as they open or they're reinventing themselves, can apply for our facade grant, which we pay half of their costs to improve the facades of their business. So, for example, right now, Ola Cafe Quito just opened right here on the corner of West Lacy Boulevard and Irwin Street, which is an incredible little coffee shop. So cute, so inviting. The coffee's delicious, but we actually paid for half of their signage, their outdoor seating. Yeah. So they have signage on their window. They have a hanging sign, they have a sandwich board sign that sits on the sidewalk. And then they have some outdoor seating. And we were able to give them a grant for half of that cost. So we we really love doing those. We try to do as many as we can throughout the year, and we actually seek businesses out because when they open up downtown, they don't necessarily know that we offer that. So the other thing that we do here is we're very active in helping fill vacancies. Property owners know this, and the city of Hanford knows that. We are here to help businesses start from the very first step, which is, I have a business idea I really want to open up in downtown Hanford, or I have a current business in Visalia or whatever city, and I really like to open in downtown Hanford. So we are usually the first step where they'll call me and they'll say, what? What are some availability options? What are some vacancies that are available? What are some options for me? And we can really work one on one with a property owner and that prospective business and say, this is what this person's looking for. Connect to them. And then we get to be there every step of the way through their initial marketing ideas, the process of permits, and then that that grand opening moment where we can use our social media to really get their name out there. We have a large following, so I love that part of this job. When Hop Forged was brewing beer in their garage, we were the first person they called. I remember actually, I wasn't the executive director at the time. There was Shelley was Shelley Talbot was our executive director, and I was an assistant. And I remember them calling her and saying, hey, we're just a couple of guys brewing beer in our garage, but we want to open a brewery. 1s And she was like, oh, that's great, let's find you a spot. And then I was lucky enough to get into the position of executive director shortly after, and I was able to be there every step of the way with them as they opened up that brewery and did everything that they've done. And then now to see them. Five, six years later. What they've done with with Hot Forge Brewing Company is so amazing. And Brian was one of the owners on our board of directors now. So we're really active in the experience of getting new business, new small business owners opened. And here in downtown Hanford, Quesadilla gorilla is another example. They're a vendor at Thursday Night Marketplace, and they loved Hanford and they had such a great following. So they're like, hey, we really want to open a business in downtown Hanford. I'm like, of course we need to have you here. And I had I had this spot in mind where they are now, and I believe it was called Rock and Roll Deli. When they closed, I called Miguel, the owner, and I was like, hey, we've got a spot for you. This is perfect. You have to be here. And and funny enough, they had already been eyeballing that spot and kind of hoping for it. And so yeah, it's great to see. As for me personally, it is so wonderful to see the idea come to life, come to fruition and watch them get to see their their dreams come to life. And and with Quesadilla Gorilla doing so well and Hot Forge Brewing Company doing so well. And those are just two examples. But we really do get a hands on experience as businesses open and the processes they go through, and we're really here for a support. I don't have all the answers, of course, but we're we're really here to like, hey, you know, here's the next step or this is a great idea and how can we help you gain exposure, which we do through our events and through our social media. So the events are fun and it's great for people to attend. But I don't know that the people who attend realize how wonderful it is for these small business owners to have that exposure. I my favorite thing to hear. And the most common thing I hear is I didn't even know this place was here. You know, we're walking around during wine and chocolate tasting or which is night out or any of our events that involve the businesses. That is the most common thing I hear is I didn't even know this place was here. So that's the that's really the point. But there's so many reasons why we do what we do. But that's one of the biggest is we're really trying to gain exposure for these small businesses, especially those new ones. And it's so much fun coming out of these events. Right now, we're just kind of on a high. We're exhausted, but we're also very, very happy. It feels so good, which is nice. That was so wonderful, such an amazing turnout. And then last night, the last Thursday night marketplace. Wow, it was so great. 

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 11:08 

 All amazing stuff and many things I know that in our conversations with Brian Johnson and we had a great conversation with Brian, and then we also interviewed Maritza Fuentes. And I know that they're going out and recruiting new businesses to come to town. So it's a great partnership that you have with the city. And I would agree, in my experience with Main Street Hanford that, you know, I've been to like the Everybody's Irish, I've been to the wine and chocolate tasting, participated in that. And, you know, you see these businesses downtown and you're like, exactly what you said people are like, I had no idea that these businesses were down here. And it's really neat, too, because the maps that you provide for some of the events you look at, oh, down the street, I had, you know, you go down sixth Street or you go down Irwin or something, and somebody is opening up a new business. So that's really great that you're doing these kinds of events, but more importantly, you're supporting more downtown businesses. 

 U3 

 12:11 

 Yeah, I agree, I love it. 

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 12:14 

 So as you said, the Thursday night marketplace just wrapped up. I know you've got a lot of people to thank. It certainly is a huge community event. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the people that were involved? And if there's anybody that you'd like to particularly thank? Think that would be wonderful? 

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 12:30 

 Absolutely. So many people. The Thursday night marketplace, first of all, is not possible without our volunteers. The market we have two full time staff at Main Street Hanford. Myself and I just hired a new assistant, Nadia Gonzalez, who's wonderful. I think she's going to be a great part of the team. And then we have a group of high school kids that come, and they're doing some of the heavy lifting as well as picking up trash, but and they do such a great job. I was lucky enough to have my son, who's 16, on the team this year, and my nephew, so that was a lot of fun for me. But the volunteers, I would say there's about an average of ten volunteers working every week. And these people are so wonderful. They put their heart and soul into this. They're dedicated, committed. And it's not just about a fun place to be on Thursday. It's it's really a family. We have with Main Street Hanford and our volunteers. There's some of my favorite people that I interact with on a regular basis. And Jim Castleman, who's been booking the music and been the emcee for Thursday Night Marketplace for 23 years, is he's like a brother and uncle, a father, all the things. Like, I just love that guy. And he's so dedicated to Main Street, Hanford and to Thursday Night Marketplace, I just I can't imagine doing it without him. And Sandy Beal, who is the manager of the opera House apartments. Both Jim and Sandy are on my board of directors, and she as well has been a part of Main Street Hanford for, I want to say, at least 15 years. But before that, her mom was a big part of it and now her daughter. So three decades and her granddaughter was on my team last year. So amazing people that have really kind of given their their lives to this organization. And it's been such a such an important role. Sandy runs the bar and recruits volunteers to bartend, and a lot of her friends and family are back there with her. And I love all of these people. We have a great volunteer appreciation dinner coming up next Thursday, but also our sponsors. We need to raise at least $60,000 in sponsorships to in order to be able to run the marketplace. Just selling beer and having the vendor fees is not enough to make it happen. We really do need that community support. So our supporters have been Hanford, Hyundai, Bueno Beverage, Amtrak, San Joaquin, T-Mobile, Family Health Care Network, Adventist Health, College of Sequoias, some of our major players in the community who have been there for us and continue to be. Every year we have to raise that money or else we can't be out there. The bands, the security, the staff, the permits, the insurance there are so much that goes into the market nobody could ever know. It would take me many podcasts and moments to explain everything that goes into Thursday Night Marketplace, not to mention a year round effort with our staff. So we're so grateful. And yeah, there's just so many people to thank. I love it. I've always loved Thursday Night Marketplace, even before I worked for Main Street Hanford, so I'm really honored to be able to be the host of the event. 

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 15:55 

 Yeah, we can definitely hear it in your voice. You have a passion for the marketplace and I've enjoyed it for so many years, as well as many of our listeners. And as you said, you could totally have a whole show. And I'm glad that you do get a chance to recognize your volunteers and an event coming up. So let's talk a little bit about Witches Night Out, another successful event. This 

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 16:17 

 one is really interesting because it's it's so popular and I really I get it I get why it's popular. It's so much fun to dress up and to get out. And the event is there's so many layers to it. It's it's probably one of the most difficult single day events that we host, to be honest. To execute it is very difficult. It takes a lot of staff, volunteers and hired help as far as closing the street. And we have a we have a huge band, we have a huge stage. We have over 30 businesses that participate. There are so many pieces to that event. I mean, and then it sells out in five minutes, which is incredible. I mean, I can't believe the the hype and the excitement behind Witches Night Out. It blows my mind every year. Oh my gosh, when those tickets go on sale and we're standing, we're sitting in our desks and we're looking at our computer. We're watching the inventory of tickets go down in minutes. Like, is this really happening? This is crazy. Every year I'm shocked, but I get it. It's so much fun. But what people don't know about this event is we we sell out in five minutes. We sell 1300 tickets, $45 a ticket. Plus we sell beer and we have a cover charge for the after party for people that didn't have tickets. So we bring in about $60,000 with this event. But my favorite part, and what people don't know, is that every single dollar that we spend to host this event is spent right here in downtown Hanford, over $40,000 that we spend with local vendors and with downtown businesses. And this is the only event that I can say that we do that because we have goodie bags and there's gifts inside the bags. The bags are purchased from all Valley Printing. The cups are purchased from Target Marketing. Then there are five gifts in the bag and all five of those gifts are purchased from downtown businesses. But all of the bags are different, so we were able to purchase hundreds of items from about 20 different businesses. So literally in the month of September, we spent Main Street Hanford with the money that we raised from those ticket sales. We spent $40,000 in downtown Hanford. And then the vendors that we purchased from that we couldn't get from downtown, our Hanford locals. So I'm the I think I'm the most proud of that in itself, other than Thursday Night Marketplace, because what that event does for the community is is next level, but which is night out, I think. It's such a fun party and it's it's so amazing. But I'm so proud of that, that we get to spend every single dollar in that event in downtown Hanford, and then we still get to fundraise a little bit for ourselves. I think our net profit after I do all of the the budget is going to be like 16 to $20,000 for our organization, which is great because we need to keep the lights on here. We need to pay the bills, we need to pay our employees, and we need to do we need to be here. So I'm really proud of that. 

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 19:35 

 That's so cool. And I wish listeners could see me nodding my head yes, every single time you said something. Because it's it's so special what you've been able to, not you. I know you're not going to take all the credit because you certainly have a good team with you, but your team has created so many special moments for so many people, and I just can't thank you enough. Let's wrap it up with the wine and chocolate tasting. That's one that I really enjoy. I get to perform with my brass caroling group every year, and tell us a little bit about what's planned for this year. Well, 

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 20:10 

 the wonderful thing about wine and chocolate tasting is it's been going on for 23 years and it's fine tuned. So we really don't have a bunch of changes or anything new that we do. We're just kind of carrying on the beautiful tradition of the event. And I have to say, I love you, your brass caroling group. As an addition, I was going through photos from last year, and I saw some pictures of you guys, and I was like, man, that was so cool. I loved having you guys out there. So we do love that aspect of it. We're hoping to have about 25 to 30 participating businesses. Businesses are signing up now. We're getting ready to start ordering wine. I've already been in contact with our chocolatier, so yeah, I mean, we're really excited. This is my favorite event to to be at. I love all of them. But this one, there's some there's a sense of ease to it and the festivities, you know, it's like a kickoff to Christmas. And this is one where I get to actually walk around and say hello to the business owners and even maybe try some wine. So I'm really looking forward to this. It's going to be amazing. Tickets are going to be on sale on November 1st, which I believe is Wednesday $40. Same prices last year. We plan to have a different wine at each location. Some locations will have two different wines, so people can expect to get a huge variety of wines to taste, probably 35 to 40 different wine to try, and then plus the chocolate so you can't go wrong. And then these amazing business owners. Bring in food, and some of them have catered the event, so you really can't get a better night for $40 a person to go and taste wine and have some snacks. There's like music. I mean, as you said, we we have your group that's walking around and playing beautiful music, and then we have our chorus that walks around too. So mean. What a nice night. And you said something. You mentioned the experiences and the smiling faces. That truly is the one thing I can say that is my favorite part of this job is with every event. I get to just walk around and see people enjoying themselves, enjoying each other and smiling and laughing and taking pictures and creating memories and creating moments. And that's what life's all about. And if we can do that here in Hanford for the community, I feel like that's priceless. So I'm really looking forward to wine and chocolate tasting. It's our it's our last event of the year. After that, I'll probably take a little couple of weeks vacation and I'm looking forward to that as well. Yeah. So it's been an amazing year. This is definitely it's crazy how the organization continues to evolve, and it's such a wonderful organization to work for. 

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 23:10 

 Well, Michelle, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been such a special year for Hanford. We've had our ups and downs, but I can certainly count a lot of the Main Street Hanford activities in the UPS this year. So thank you for coming on the show, and we look forward to seeing you at the wine and Chocolate event and all the other wonderful things happening in 

 U3 

 23:30 

 Hanford. Thank you so much, Rob. Thank you for doing this and shining a light on what we do. I really appreciate you. 

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 23:40 

 And. 

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 23:45 

 And now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley. 

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 23:53 

 It was a week of rivalries in high school football. Let's get you caught up on the action in the clash of the claws between Hanford West and Sierra Pacific. It was the Huskies that got off to a good start, as they were able to score 13 points in the first half, but the Golden Bears made some halftime adjustments that were too much for the Huskies to handle, as they were able to score 27 points in the second half in route to a 34 to 19 victory. Sierra Pacific will be the 13 seed in the Division four playoff bracket, and they will look to play spoiler as they will head on the road to take on the number four seed. Kalinga and the Milken was a game featuring two teams that were really looking to make a statement, and it was the bull pups who did just that as they shut the Tigers out in the first half, and the offense backed them up with 27 points in the half. Lamar was able to get on the board in the second half, but it wasn't enough as the bull pups take the rivalry game and the West Yosemite League crown in a 27 to 13 victory. That sets up a huge playoff game, as the Bull Pups will be the number nine seed in the Division one playoff bracket, and they will head on the road to take on the number eight seeded Clovis West at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis. As always, if you're a fan or a coach that wants your team featured, send us an email Hanford Insider at gmail.com. I'm Eric Bentley, and this has been your Hanford Insider sports report. 

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 25:31 

 Well, that's it for today's show. If you'd like to join the Hanford Insider email list, stop by our website at Hanford Insider to sign up for updates. I also need your help getting the word out about the show. You can help me by liking and sharing the page on social media, or telling a friend for more information about the show. You can find this podcast on Facebook, Instagram, threads X, and YouTube at Hanford Insider. If you have a show idea, be sure to email me at Hanford Insider at gmail.com and I'll get going on it. Thanks for listening. Have a great week!