Hanford Insider: The Tee Box, Time Capsule Contents, Sports Update

Welcome To The Hanford Insider

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This week on the Hanford Insider, we're teeing it up at the T Box. Join us as we chat with owner Marty Keaton about how his virtual golf simulator is bringing golfers, families, and friends together for a fun and unique experience right here in Hanford. Rob will have some community news, and I'll be back with your first sports report of season four. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, august third.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Welcome to the Hanford Insider Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Bentley. Each week, we bring you trusted positive conversations about the people, places, businesses, and events that make Hanford and Kings County such a special place to call home. Through inspiring stories and engaging interviews, we celebrate the neighbors who are making a difference in our community. Thanks for listening and welcome to the show. Now let's get started.

City Council Open Seats And Deadlines

SPEAKER_02 1:15

Last week, Councilman Lou Martinez announced his retirement from the City Council. This week it was Mayor Mark Kyrus announcing that he will not be seeking another term in the November election. With our departure, that means there will be three open seats. Councilman Travis Payton will be running again in District A, and Sheldon Blackwell has also filed for candidacy. In District D, which represents Southeast Hanford, Austin Mittner and Francisco Ramirez have filed candidacy papers to replace Lou Martinez. And in District E, which represents Southeast Hanford, Shane Strong and Victor Chavreen Jr. have filed candidacy papers to replace Mark Kairos. If you're interested in running for these offices or you know someone who might be, you better hurry. The application deadline for file for candidacy is this Friday, August 7th. You can get more information at countyofkings.gov forward slash elections. Speaking of the City Council, they do have a meeting scheduled for this Tuesday. At the afternoon study session, they'll receive a report from the Kings County Association of Governments. At the general meeting beginning at 7, they'll be holding a public hearing regarding annexation and receive reports about the Fourth of July Freedom Fest and a recap of the It's Not Worth It campaign from Fire Chief Daniel Perkins. You can attend the meeting in person or you can participate online. On Wednesday, August 5th, the Measure H Oversight Board will be meeting in the City Hall Training Room at 319 North Dowdy Street at 5.30 p.m.

Community Calendar And Heat Watch

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Now let's take a look at this week's community calendar. After a cancellation last week due to the heat, the Thursday night marketplace is looking for a comeback this week, but the forecast is looking warm again. Projected high for Thursday is 103. Main Street Hanford makes the decision by noon on Tuesday to give their vendors and volunteers plenty of time to prepare for whatever they decide. The Sierra Pacific High School Golden Bear Classic Golf Tournament will be held on Monday, August 3rd at the King's Country Club. The Hanford Multicultural Theater Company will be holding an open mic night on Friday, August 7th at 6 30 p.m. Visit HanfordMTC.com for more information. The Kings Art Center presents the artwork Trousers Akembo on display from August 7th through September 12th. Visit KingsArtsCenter.org for more information. The movie Finding Dory will be shown at the Hanford Plunge Dive In Movie on Friday, August 7th at 8 p.m. On Saturday, August 8th, the Riders Haven will be meeting at the Starbucks at 11th and Lacey at 10 a.m. The Carnegie Museum of Kings County will be showing the contents of the 1976 City of Hanford Bicentennial Time Capsule

A 1976 Time Capsule Voice

SPEAKER_02 4:19

the week of August 10th through the 15th. As part of my previews of the exhibition, I've been sharing audio from the cassette tapes that were placed in the capsule in 1976. Here's a clip from Supervisor Elwood Kimball talking about life in Kings County in 1976. You're going to get a kick out of this.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Hi folks, Elwood Kimball, 5th District County Supervisor. The district includes downtown Hanford, the home garden area, El Rancho, Guernsey, and Del La Vue. I'm 53 years old and live on Catherine Street between Dowdy and Irwin. It certainly would be fun to be with you to see what changes have been made. Right now, some of us are trying to protect the courthouse to keep it from being torn down. Also, we are trying to retain our park-like atmosphere around the courthouse and auditorium. Did we succeed? How do you like the government center? It will be a little over a year before we move in yet. I suppose your conversations are much like ours were discussing the elections, arguing and betting on the football and baseball games, griping about taxes and the high cost of living. I can remember back 40 years ago as a kid, 90 years for you, bread cost 7 cents. In fact, I can remember when it went from five cents to seven cents. Hamburgers sold in those days for 15 cents a pound. Now bread is 72 cents a loaf. Hamburger 60 cents a pound. Gasoline has just gone sky high, doubled in the last three years. It's now 60 cents a gallon. Our Southern California gas bill for uh October was $9.50 at the house. Our electric bill is running about a dollar a day. You still have plenty of water to use. We're not even on meters here at this time. Is the air still fresh? I just wonder if there's still the quaint little towns throughout Kings County. We're just about to get cable TV in the Hanford area. We already have it in the Avenel area. A moment-by-moment weather report will be available in our home shortly. Home garden will have sewers in a couple of years. Tomatoes will probably be grown locally soon. We have a new uh tomato processing plant just a few miles outside of Hanford, south of Hanford. It's very doubtful that I will be with you as you play this tape, because I'd be 103 years old. But let me say that I hope and pray that you have the freedom, the luxuries, and the good life that we had in 1976. May the Lord bless each and every one of you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

The Carnegie Museum will be open Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings they'll be open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the special exhibition. Admission is free. Visitors will also get a chance to record messages to the Hanford citizens of 2076 to be placed in the time capsule. Listen to last week's episode of The Insider for a highlight of the exhibition. On Friday, August 14th, the Kings Players presentation of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap opens. Visit KingsPlayers.org for more information. If you have an event coming up large or small, and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to HanfordInsider at gmail.com. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. You can also find it on my website at HanfordInsider.com. It's the most comprehensive community calendar available.

Inside The T Box Virtual Golf

SPEAKER_02 8:40

Well, friends, Hanford, we're always looking for something to do. And this summer we have a new place that's opened in town. It's called the T Box. And I'm here with owner Marty. Keaton, welcome to the show, Marty. Thank you. Appreciate that. So, Marty, the T-Box, this place is great. Uh, let's go ahead and get started about what things that the T Box offers. I know I see a lot of golfing bays here, but you've got a lot. Let's start with the golf uh first. Uh, what uh what can people expect when they come into the T-Box?

SPEAKER_03 9:11

Well, the first thing they can expect is to come in and have a good time. We are able with our technology, it's all track man stuff. So we are able to accommodate golfers of any age, any ability, from the very beginners to the smallest children to the most experienced and the best players. Um, any of those people can come in here and have a good time or practice or just collect data on how to be better, how to get better at golf. This is a great place to do that.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

Yeah. And we'll get into the specifics of the different uh strategies that you're using to bring people in. But um, how about why you started this? Uh, it is a very unique business to Hanford. I don't think Hanford's had something like this before. So, uh, what attracted you to this site and uh why why you felt this was so needed for the community?

SPEAKER_03 10:04

So when we began this journey, we wanted to be downtown because we feel like that's a hub for Hanford for uh families and and for things to do. Um, there's not a lot of family entertainment in Hanford, and we kind of wanted to fill that niche. Uh, we owned another business here for 30 years. Um, recently have gone through a uh a small change of ownership with that, and so we thought, man, if we're gonna do it, let's do it. Now's the time. Um, this place was perfect because the the setup of the building was great for us, the amount of space that we needed was good, and parking is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

Yeah, a lot of parking. Uh, for those of you who aren't aware of the T-Box location, it's here on the corner of Phillips and 7th, uh right next to the uh Dollar Tree uh Amtrak station. Uh many of you may remember it as the former uh grocery store for many years. And uh opening up a business in any location has its challenges, but uh what uh has been some of the hurdles you've had to overcome in this particular space?

SPEAKER_03 11:10

For us, the biggest thing was because we sell beer and have have that, our biggest thing was getting the ABC license. That's quite a process, takes quite a long time. We we applied for that and we're not issued that license for almost five and a half months. So that that was quite a uh a challenge for us. And some of the stuff with the city was what was a little bit of a challenge, but once we got everything going and got started, the city was really good to work with and and very helpful. Um they were uh Yeah, they they they were good. It was it was contrary to what you might hear, working with the city. Once we were able to get in and get started, it they were really good to work with.

Beer Taps And Bring Your Food

SPEAKER_02 11:55

So uh we're sitting here at the bar and you've got lots of beverages uh for sale. Uh tell us about what you're able to serve at this point, and then maybe down the line what you're looking at.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

So right now we only have a beer license. So uh beers and seltzers, we have 12 taps. Um, and then we sell some stuff uh also out of the fridge and cans and bottles. Um I don't know that we will expand beyond that and do wine and liquor because you have to be able, you have to sell food to do that. And I don't know that we're in a position to to build a full kitchen in here there's because there was no kitchen in when we moved. So I don't know that we'll do that. That may be something we do down the road if if things change a little bit, but right now we're going to uh stick with golf and beer.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

Yeah. And you had talked about food earlier and maybe the hopes that in the future you might be able to get uh some food trucks out here.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

Correct. We are working on right now, we're working with the city on being able to bring some food trucks out on our busier nights so that our our customers will have that option. Um, there are some amazing, amazing food vendors then come to Hanford if you guys go to Thursday Night Market or if you go uh to any of the other places in town, Plan B, um a couple of other places have food trucks where for their customers, and that's kind of what we're trying to accomplish as well. And and that'll be soon, that'll be coming soon. We're we're just we're in the final stages of getting that done with the city.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

What if somebody wanted to bring in their own food? Let's say the go grab a pizza at Port Richards or a taco at uh one of the one of the places uh we can bring food in.

SPEAKER_03 13:36

Absolutely, we encourage that. Um anytime you guys come in, you're welcome to bring in your own food. Uh pizzas, sandwiches, tacos, whatever it may be. We we encourage you to do that. We want when you come in here, we want it to be the most the best time you can have. And so we're not gonna restrict people. And even when the food trucks are here, they will still be allowed to bring their own food in if that's what they wanted.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

All right.

Games Parties And Family Nights

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Let's get to the golf. That's what it's about, right? So I'll I have several questions related to golf. And I guess the first one is can someone who has no experience of golf come in here and have a good time?

SPEAKER_03 14:16

Absolutely. So you don't have to play a traditional golf course when you come in. There's a lot of interactive things that are available on our in our system. Uh, we have a bunch of games anywhere from a bowling game to putt-putt golf, which is essentially miniature golf, right here in the simulators, um, all the way up to almost 500 different courses that a person can play if that's what they would like to do. But you do it's not traditional golf in the sense that you have to play a golf course. There's many, many things that we offer.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

So, what are some things that you've seen families come in and do? Uh, I know you offer a lot, but what seems to be popular for the kids or maybe young adults to play if they're not uh a golfer in the traditional sense?

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Gotcha. So what we're seeing a lot of is families will come in and uh they'll play the putt-putt golf, it's very popular. There's a game on there called Scrapyard, which is a candy crush type of game, also very popular. The kids like to blow things up. So that that's a game where they're able to do that. It's very interactive. Um what we get a lot of is mom and dad will come in and put the kids in a bay to play golf, and they'll sit at the bar and have a have a drink or a soda and um just kind of hang out and under the air conditioning for an hour and then wear the kids out and take them home.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Speaking of kids, uh, do you offer like birthday party packages or any kind of uh special event packages where people can maybe rent out the the entire building or maybe a few bays?

SPEAKER_03 15:50

Yes, absolutely. Uh we can accommodate uh birthday parties, bachelor parties. Right now with fantasy football coming up, we're really trying pushing for the fantasy football draft parties to come in. Um we can display your entire football draft board on one of our huge screens that are 10 foot tall by 15 foot wide. Um, it's really cool. Uh, one of the kids that works for me is a big fantasy football player, and he and he turned me on to that. And so we're really pushing for that. But yes, we can do corporate events, we can do birthday parties, bachelor parties, uh anything you guys can think of, we can do it.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Okay, so let's move to the avid golfers

TrackMan Practice Tips And Easy Booking

SPEAKER_02 16:31

now. Uh they can't make it out to the course uh for you know whatever reason. Can they come in here and get a good experience?

SPEAKER_03 16:39

Absolutely. So our machines calculate data that 95% of PGA Tour pros are using. So when you see a guy at a golf tournament that's got the little machine set down behind his ball, that is a track man machine. That's what we're using here. Um the best players in the world are using it. So the data that you can accumulate in one of our bays is astounding how much information you can get. Um, I've and it doesn't take a long time. I actually have a guy that comes in on his lunch break and plays pebble beach, plays 18 holes at Pebble Beach on his lunch break. Uh he hustles through it, but he gets it done. Um so yeah, there's so much information. And if you want to come in and just practice, it is great for that because it gives you real-time actual data that that you can use when for when you do get to go to the golf course.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

What about equipment? Um, you know, we mentioned people who don't have experience in golfing, but uh, do you have clubs available here for uh how does that work if they need a uh set of clubs or you know, that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_03 17:50

We do. We have rentals available all the way from adults to all the way down to the smallest kids. We have uh all those sizes of clubs available uh for our for our customers for people that just want to come in and and are not serious about golf, they just want to have a good time hitting a golf ball. We can definitely accommodate that.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

And you have all that information on a website, your social media. How how can people find out more about the T Box?

SPEAKER_03 18:15

We are on social media. We're on Facebook, the T Box on Facebook, on Instagram at the TBoxLC, we are the T Box on TikTok. We also have a website which is the tboxhanford.com. Um, all of our information is on there. You can book your tea times on there, so you don't have to come in necessarily to do that. If you have a specific time you want to play, just go on our website, book it for whatever time you want to do. You pay for it right there. When you come in, you're ready to go. Um, no time wasted. Uh easy access. We're trying to make it as simple and and seamless as possible for our customers.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Yeah, that's convenient to have all that information. That's the way that I found out about the T-Box was on social media. So good job to your good job to your team on on that. Um, Marty, I'd like to close with just uh a kind of a deeper question for you. And uh you've lived in the Hanford area for a number of years, and like you said, you've had other business ventures, but what makes the T-Box uh kind of the next big thing in Hanford? Why should people come? And why do you think that this is so important for the community?

SPEAKER_03 19:25

That's a great question. Uh the biggest, our biggest draw here is that we are family friendly. We want you to bring the kids, we want the entire family to come in, we want the entire family to have a good time. So being family friendly, we felt was was extremely important. But it's just a cool spot. It's uh it's something that Hanford has never seen. Um, to do anything similar to what we're doing here, you have to travel to Vicellular or Fresno to do that. We were trying to fill that void as well. Um we want to be able to provide an excellent family experience so that when you leave here, you've made memories, you've you've had a good time with your family, your kids have had a great time. Um we we want it to be that kind of a place. We want it to be a place where Hanford can come to and just say, hey, that's a cool place. Let's go hang out at the T Box.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

That's fantastic, Marty.

SPEAKER_03 20:22

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Thank you.

Hanford Sports From Youth To Pros

SPEAKER_00 20:28

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

SPEAKER_01 20:38

It's good to be back, and let's start with some action on the baseball diamond, where the Hanford Bay Ruth 16U All-Star team advanced through district, state, and regionals to represent the Pacific Southwest region in the 2026 Bay Ruth World Series. The Hanford All-Stars had to compete against teams from California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Hawaii, and Guam in order to punch their ticket to the World Series in Branson, Missouri. This 16U All-Star squad is following in the footsteps of last year's 16 to 18-year-old All-Star team that won the 2025 Babe Ruth World Series, highlighting the quality of play of youth baseball in Hanford. Best of luck to our Hanford Babe Ruth 16U All-Stars in Missouri at the Babe Ruth World Series, happening August 5th through 15th. And sticking with baseball, but now out to the big leagues, Hanford High alum Jiron Watts Brown was called up to the Norfolk Tides, Triple A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. After starting the year in high A, then pitching 14 games for AA Chesapeake, Jiron was called up to AAA last week and pitched four and two-thirds innings in his debut, giving up two runs on two hits, striking out four and picking up the win. Congrats to Jiron. Hopefully the call-up to the majors is right on the horizon. And high school fall sports are right around the corner, and conference league realignment isn't something reserved for the NCAA, as the CIF Central section has made significant competition-based changes for the upcoming school year. The main change for Hanford schools is that Hanford High will now compete in the East Yosemite League with some familiar faces but a couple of new threads. Looking at football specifically, Kingsburg CBC and Redwood are all new additions to Hanford High's league schedule this year, along with former WIL foes Tularie Union, Tularie Western, and L'More. And though the Bullpups never shy away from scheduling tough opponents in non-league, this change means that nearly every week of the season will feature a formidable opponent. The advantage, a greater strength of schedule for building a playoff resume, but it also means that we might not see as many bullpup blowouts as we've seen in years past. Even with the jump to the EYL, the outlooks for the Bullpups remain the same as it always has been, a contender for a league title and a playoff berth well within their reach. I'll be back in the upcoming weeks before the season starts with full schedule previews and breakdowns for all three football teams as well as other false sports getting into gear. I'm Eric Bentley, and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Well,

Support The Podcast And Stay Connected

SPEAKER_02 23:21

that wraps things up for this week's show. If you're enjoying the podcast and want to support it, you can head over to buymeacoffee.com slash Hanford Insider to make a donation. Or you can Venmo me directly. To stay connected, join the Hanford Insider email list at HanfordInsider.com. You'll get weekly updates plus an exclusive newsletter delivered right to your inbox each Wednesday. I'd also appreciate your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing on social media, or like most people, just telling a friend. Don't forget, if you have a story idea, community event, or someone you think deserves to be featured, I'd love to hear from you. Email me anytime at HanfordInsider at gmail.com. You can follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, and YouTube at Hanford Insider for more content and updates. Thanks for listening. Stay cool and have a great week.