Episode 1054 – Toledo Jeep Fest

Interview with Whitney and Jerry from Toledo Jeep Fest

– Hi, boys and girls, it’s time for the Jeep Talk Show interview. And today we’re going to be talking with the Toledo Jeep Fest people. I think that’s okay to call you that. I know you do much more than that, but certainly Toledo Jeep Fest is what we talk to you about every year. I think this is the third year that we’ve been talking to you guys prior to the event, which is coming up in August, but we’ll more into that here in a few minutes. But we’ve got Whitney and Jerry here. If you guys are longtime Jeep Talk Show listeners, you know these two people. And now you can see them because we’re doing the YouTube. You know how you kids love the YouTube.

Whitney, Jerry, Whitney, you go ahead and start. Just give me a quick introduction.

– Sure. Well, I’m Whitney Rothkar, the Toledo Jeep Fest event director. And I helped start Toledo Jeep Fest seven or eight years ago. So we’re going on the seventh iteration of Toledo Jeep Fest.

It’s the first weekend in August, August 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. We’re really excited that we have expanded things this year and people can find out more on ToledoJeepFest.com and plan your trek to Toledo Jeep Fest. It’s a really dynamic festival with good food, good music, lots of Jeeps, and much more than I’m sure we’ll get into today.

– Jerry, how about you? – Hi, Tony. This is Jerry Huber. I’ve been involved with the Jeep Fest since 2016. That was our inaugural year, and it was to represent the 75th anniversary of the Jeep vehicle and its production here in Toledo. My history is that I’m a retired plant manager for the Jeep plant and have been involved with Jeep clubs and Jeep activities in and throughout southeast Michigan, northwest Ohio for several years. – Very, very good. We always love having both of you guys on here.

Jerry, tell us about your beloved XJ real quick, because we have some XJ lovers here on this show.

– Yeah, we’ve had some discussion about the XJ. It’s one of my favorites, but over the years, there’s been so much activity with the Wrangler and now the Gladiator, both currently being produced here at Toledo, that I’m probably shifting my focus a little bit. – Really? Are you getting a Gladiator? Are we breaking some news here today? – No, we’re not breaking any news. This wouldn’t be a good place to do that. My wife would come through the internet lines and strangle me, but probably next year. You never know. I’ve been waiting for the Hurricane Six to become available in the Wrangler platform and Gladiator platform. – We do a roundtable episode, and I was talking to Greg Henderson, an unofficial use only the other day. He was talking about a build that he’s doing. Hopefully, he’s going to be putting the Hurricane engine in the build. I was like, “Yeah, the Hurricane is a pretty nice engine.” It’s not a 4.0. It’s not a legendary 4.0, but the DNA is there.

– Yeah, it’s an interesting engine and drivetrain combination.

Probably it would be something that’s very radical if it finds its home into the Wrangler and the Gladiator.

There’s going to be a lot of Dodge Rams out there with it, and we’ll get some experience and some ideas about whether it’s going to be a good thing or what before we hit the trails. – Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ll have to talk to you about that down the road after you get some on-hands information on it. – All right, Whitney, we’re doing Toledo Jeep Fest again this year, and we just can’t stop you guys. You just keep going and going and going. What would you say is the other than just the event itself, what is the most popular thing about the Toledo Jeep Fest? – Our signature event is really our all Jeep parade, which is 1,400 Jeeps that roll down

several blocks of downtown Toledo.

It’s just such pride that I would say 80% of the Jeeps that roll in the parade are made right here at the Toledo Assembly Complex, Wranglers and Gladiators. The parade is really for everybody. You’ll see a Patriot here or there or a Grand Cherokee here or there, but it’s a huge source of pride for Toledoans from the 419 to see the Jeep, all Jeep parade happen. – I want to correct you really quick. I think you’ll see the parade full of Patriots because we all believe in America and Jeep. – That’s right. – Of course, she’s talking about the Patriot, the Jeep Patriot. So I know I’m jumping ahead here, but I think this is a good point to make. Now last year, you could watch the parade live, and that was a lot of fun. I think I got to watch it for the first time last year. Is that happening again this year online? – Yes. Our partners at Buckeye will be airing the parade live, so everyone will be able to see that again. – And that is going, I think I saw it online, so it’s going to be available locally over the air or is it all online? How does that work? – We’re still talking with them about how it will be out there, but one way or another, people will be able to watch from home. – And finding out the updated information, they would just go to ToledoJeepfest.com to see how they could view it. And maybe they could view it straight from the site. I don’t know. – That’s right. It will be aired live for an hour, no matter what, at 10 a.m. But then it will be streamed online as well, and that will be in its entirety. So we’re trying to look at how other ways that it could get out, but for now, those are the main two ways. – So if you guys don’t know, this isn’t some dinky little parade. What do you guys have? What’s the cutoff? Is it 1,000 or 1,500 or 2,000? – 1,400 is what our goal is. Some years we sneak in a few more sponsor vendor Jeeps, so that fluctuates a little bit, but 1,400. – And it’s a wide variety of Jeeps. I mean, you get the really old World War II Jeeps, and it’s certainly up to the modern day Jeeps. And let’s see, what was it last year? They’re not supposed to throw candy, but they were throwing candy at the crowd?

(laughs) – Yeah, folks are so excited. And so they will throw candy. They will throw ducks. We discourage throwing of those things. – Sure. – But this year we’re doing something a little different. We are going to line the parade route with some bike rack to make sure kids stay back and safe. And we’re going to have some security guards that help swipe any candy that doesn’t make it pass the bike racks into the crowd so the kids can enjoy the candy. So we’ve come up with a way where we can have the best of both worlds. We’ll have lots of ducks, lots of candy, lots of safety. – Well, nobody was paying attention last year. They were throwing that candy. It’s fun, and it’s just fun seeing all those, everybody loves a parade. I mean, a Jeep parade, you can’t go wrong. – That’s right. This year, it’s really interesting. The Glass City Crawlers are hosting our opening block party on Friday night. So that’s a little different, and I’m sure we’ll get more into this. But they’re going to have a cruise in the evening that will really excite folks, I think, with a spectacular light show. I’m promised a spectacular light show, so I’m excited to see. – So it’s coming up on August 1st through the 4th. And when would you say is the big day? Is that Saturday on the 3rd, or how does that work? – Yeah, I think the biggest day of the event would be on Saturday. Again, that starts out with the signature parade, vendor midway. We have the historical vehicles in display in the exhibit hall at the Glass City Convention Center. The RC course will be up and running at that time. And there will be so many things to do. We’ve got kid zones in a couple of different locations.

There’ll be plenty for people to do and see, as well as shop the vendor midway and get ideas.

– Yeah, that’s a good place to get ideas.

So now you’ve got the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, and the 4th. What’s going on on those four days? I mean, we know about the 3rd, but what’s happening on the 1st, the 2nd, and the 4th? – Well, there’s a lot going on this year that’s different, so I’m glad you asked this question. On the 1st, on Thursday, August 1st, our friends at Monroe Superstore, that’s only about 20 minutes outside of Toledo, they’re going to have our kind of a welcome party. They have 18 obstacles, a really cool course out there. There’ll be vendors, music, fun, food. So folks that especially drive down from Michigan often hit up our welcome party on their way down for the weekend. So that’s on Thursday, August 1st. And that’s not in downtown Toledo, that’s out at Monroe Superstore. Then on Friday, August 2nd, that’s going to be our big opening day downtown. And so for the first time ever, around 6 o’clock, the Glass City Crawlers are going to host a welcome block party. And so that block party should be really fun with car crushing and balance blocks and all the fun tricks that they bring out. And then our vendor Midway will be up and running for the first time ever on Friday. And inside the convention center that the Jerry curates personally, that’ll be up and running on Friday night. Lots of music, lots of food trucks, lots of fun. So Friday will be different than in years past. It’ll really be booming and all things will be going on Friday, Saturday. Jerry already kind of talked about the activities on Saturday. And then we keep it going into Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. We do a run with Dave’s Running, which is really fun, a four-miler and a family walk, which is one mile. And the vendor Midway is open and that’s going to kind of be like a sale day for our vendors and like a pack up and go home around noon. So that’s the whole weekend in a nutshell.

So I know last year you made it a point that there was some more family friendly, not that the whole thing isn’t family friendly, but I guess kid friendly, where you guys had done some additional things just for the kids to help keep them entertained. Are you doing any of that this year? Yes, one of the things that we were able to do last year is with the small electric jeep from Power Wheels, we had a fleet of those at the Imagination Station and we actually had it in a parking lot where we had a couple of the data, big rigs, display vehicles parked there and the kids were able to drive around that area.

It was really very well received and we’re certainly going to do that again this year.

We also have a kid zone area down by Fifth Third Field that’ll have some blow ups and we typically we get the Metro Parks folks and they’ll bring a climbing wall and last year they had a tank with the kayak training and I mean there’s just so many things going on. Tony, it’s man. You guys are just juggling over there. You have been really really busy getting all this stuff lined up.

We have been and the great thing is almost everything with Toledo Jeep Fest is free. We always wanted to make it, starting in 2016, we wanted to make it free and open to the public and really accessible to enjoy all things Jeep, but also pride in our city and the amazing workforce that kind of makes it all possible.

Tony, I think the other thing I’d mention is that the city has really embraced the event over the years and we’ve been able to grow not only with attendees and so forth, but as Whitney mentioned, this year we’re able to open up on Friday, which is going to be a big opportunity for our vendors and so forth to get their product out in front of the target market if you will, but we’re able to close down about a 20 square block area in downtown Toledo, which is one of the things that makes us significant, our event significantly different than other events. We’re not, and yeah, it would be nice to have the Daytona Beach facilities and so forth, but we don’t. So what we do have is we’ve got all the amenities of the downtown. It’s a lot of the businesses make special accommodations, restaurants, the bars that we have. It looks like this year we’re going to have two great concert venues, one at the Huntington Center and one in an amphitheater setting like right on the riverfront. And that would be on Friday night and Saturday, along with this block party event, which is really focused on the Jeep and the Jeep community. So it’s just amazing how many folks have gotten behind this and participate. And that’s what makes it a unique and exciting event. Well, I think it’s ultimately, it’s up to the hard work you guys are doing because you’re making it interesting. There’s lots to see and do a lot of things that are going on. And I’m sure it’s like a pilot. You have to have your head on a swivel on things you’re looking at and you got to keep up the kids if the family’s with you, which this is very much a family event.

Yeah, the partners that we’ve, you know, established and developed over the years we’ve been doing this have really gotten again behind us to support us. The Metro Parks has a new facility across the river. We thought we were going to be able to do some downtown camping at that location, but we found a spot on this side of the river where the festival. It’s just, it’s within walking distance of the staging area for the parade.

And it’s right underneath the one main bridge. So the scenery and the photographs that come out of that, we call it our Jeep base camp,

are just incredible. So we’ll be talking with those folks to see where we’re at with registration. I know one guy personally contacted me and they reserved four sites already to get the thing, get the party started. I’m glad you brought that up because that there are various ways that you could attend this event. If you’re, if you’re coming from a far enough away where you’re not going to be able to travel back and forth between your home and the event, there’s, there’s camping, there’s lots of hotels in the area. Do you guys keep up with the hotels as far as their availability? As you get closer to the event.

Yeah, we actually have on our website, we have a hotel listing. It kind of looks like Expedia. And so we’ve negotiated with the hotels to get good rates for the folks coming in town for Jeep Fest. And there are two hotels downtown. One of them is our official partner hotel, the Hilton, which is actually connected to the convention center where we’re doing a lot of our activity.

So the communication between us and the hotels is really great. I do think they sell out every year. You know, so you do want to plan early to come to Jeep Fest. And then we do have some surrounding suburbs that have gray hotels as well, which ultimately sell out, you know, the closer you get to Toledo Jeep Fest weekend that first weekend in August. Now, I know in the years past, Chris, a Jeep Talk Show team member has gone out there. I’m sure he’s going this year as well. He is camped out. And I think it was there was a an overpass or something where he was camping out last year. So camping out is still available. And that’s close enough to the event where you can go back and forth, park your Jeep, camp out, walk into the event.

Yeah, Chris was camped at our base camp there at the at the right next to our staging area for the parade at the Metro Park. It’s Middle Grounds Metro Park. And it’s a great facility. They’ve got good restrooms and so forth. So that is certainly a very viable option for somebody who was, you know, not going to stay downtown or doesn’t want to travel back and forth. So I’ll I think most most of the Jeep Talk Show listeners know Chris traded in his JK. So he’s going to be out there in a 2020 Gladiator this year. It’s not it’s not red. So it’s not perfect. So well, we’re excited to have him. We love to see Chris. It’s always great. Again, Chris is just has so much fun going to the Toledo Jeep Fest. I think this is going to be his third year there representing the Jeep Talk Show. So we’re very lucky to have Chris.

So you got the camping and about how many people do can you can you accommodate for camping or do you even you don’t worry about it? They just wedge in however they can. I think it’s about 50 campsite. Yeah, I think I think depending on the rigs that they have. If they’re just tent camping, you know, we can handle more. But I think the the actual RV type spots where they have set up been around 30. OK, so you could drive your RV in and there’s hookups for the RV there. Well, we don’t have hookups. It’s not you know, this is this is overlanding attracted to camping. And you know, some of the folks have a small pool behind a trailer that they use one of the old M416s or possibly a teardrop. And those don’t require much in the way of hookups. Some of the folks, again, the overland crew particularly enjoy not requiring any kind of. No, of course, the the purists. The short duration that we do this, you know, we don’t have we can’t really accommodate, you know, a big motor home or, you know, I was the same. I just want to bring it out in case you did that way. People with RV’s go, oh, this is sweet. We’re doing that type thing. But next year we will have that ability. But this year we’re more primitive. So next year we’ll come back and tell you an update. Nothing wrong with Jeeps and primitive. That’s the way most keepers like it anyway.

All right. So what have you added this year? You may have already covered some of this stuff, but this gives you an opportunity to highlight it. What are you having this year that’s different from last year?

Well, I really think I just want to backtrack in terms of what sets us apart from different Jeep Fest around the country is what you hit on, Tony, and that it’s really family friendly. If you don’t own a Jeep and love a Jeep already or if your wife and kids don’t love Jeep, but you do, or maybe you’re the wife and your husband, I got you. It’s something for everybody. And we’ve designed it that way. So when you walk our vendor midway, it’s not only Jeep related vendors. There are some others, awesome sunglasses, awesome coolers, things that are the outdoor lifestyle that we feel like are related, complimenting brands that we allow to be part of our vendor midway.

So I think you’ll see a lot of cool stuff this year. We just signed on Mark Farner with Grand Funk Railroad to be doing music on Saturday night.

And on Friday night we have, why am I blanking on his name? Oh, I get like that every time I do a show.

Yeah.

Jordan Davis.

I think he’s a rising country star, Jordan Davis.

My husband’s named Jordan. So I was second guessing myself. Right. Remembering the wrong Jordan. Yeah. Yeah. So there’s something for everybody at Jeep Fest. And I just, I love that there’s the family zone and the kids zone and good music and good food and the parade. The glass city crawler block party is new. And so that’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ve moved that to downtown to be more of a part of our activity. We’re opening the vendor midway early on Friday, which is new and different. We really heard from the people attending Jeep Fest that if they’re going to come all the way from Kentucky or Chicago or Pennsylvania, that they want to stay for the whole weekend and have Jeep related programming to entertain them. And so we’re trying to answer that call. It’s so funny. We do the Jeep talk show off road Texas event every year about the first part of June. And I mean, we had people coming from out of state. I mean, just this getting there from when you get in Texas is a long ways. We had people coming from out of state. We’ve actually expanded iris this year as well for the same reason, because if you’re going to drive 20 hours to get to something a day of wheeling, which is fun and great, maybe there should be, there could be just a little bit more, you know, to break up that long drive. So I think you’re right on it there. That’s great. Thank you. People do come from 40 different states last year. Um, and we expect a similar even record attendance this year, 40 different states, uh, folks from Canada, folks from Mexico. I heard the other day that, uh, one of my friends is hosting a couple from Switzerland that’s coming specifically for Jeep Fest. Isn’t that cool? All over the world. It’s just amazing. Um, and so I think that’s the mistake that I make in prior years when we’re talking about the utility Jeep Fest is I love bringing up the numbers, the attendance numbers. Uh, but I, I don’t, I think about it like, well, gee, people go, wow, there’s going to be 75,000 or whatever, wherever it was last year, uh, coming is there’s just to be no room to breathe, but this is a very large area. You have more than enough areas to accommodate a very large group.

That’s right. And it’s spread over four days, you know, so we are including. August 1st, out of Monroe super store things happening on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So collectively that’s around 70,000 people who come at various times and various days. So there’s never a time when it feels, I don’t think, uh, overwhelming. The most popular event is certainly the parade, uh, where people are driving in the parade and then people are watching the parade. And that’s probably 30,000 people downtown just for that one, you know, event, our signature, uh, event, the parade, the city is this gotta love you guys, uh, bringing all those people in, uh, in that area and the downtown area now in the businesses as well. But the, um, are there, do you guys have vendors at the event that is selling drinks and foods and stuff, or, or is it a combination of that and restaurants in the area that, uh, people can go to? And I’m feeling all this is, even though there’s a large area, it’s still very closed in walking distance for, for these things.

Yeah. You know, like I said, it’s about a 20 square block area, uh, that encompasses downtown Toledo along the riverfront and then back about, uh, two, three blocks, uh, from the river. And yeah, there are a lot of restaurants and so forth in the area. Uh, we have an area around the, uh, the fifth third field, which is our, uh, minor league baseball team that, uh, they’re not in town this weekend, but there are, as an entertainment district there that includes a lot of restaurants, uh, bars, uh, you know, activities and so forth. So there’s a, there’s just a lot of activity and support, but you mentioned the food trucks. Yeah. And that’s one of the, one of the, uh, issues every year. I mean, we have food truck vendors contacting us and say, Hey, we do, you know, lemonade or we do ribs. Where can we, where can we get it be included in your event? We love the event. So, uh, you know, there’s a whole separate, uh, committee that deals with placement of food trucks and so forth. You know, it’s, uh, it’s just another one of those multitudinal added activities that we have, uh, that manage themselves once you get the ball rolling. Organizing this thing is no small task. And Whitney and her team, uh, you know, I barbell every year at how they could keep the juggling this many balls in the air at one time. God. Yes. And, and, uh, tell me, Jerry, unless it’s going to get you in trouble, do you have certain vendors come by and do you give you a sample like the, the, the barbecue or did they come by your house and just draw off up the sampling? No, we don’t, we don’t get a whole lot of samples that way. There’s one gal that does some, uh, some cookies that we call her the cookie lady. And she does some of the most fabulous sugar cookies that you’ve ever seen. And most of them have, uh, they’re both type piece. They have the body of the Jeep. They have the grill and then to have the spare tire and everything is all iced at the theme. So, uh, you know, one of our favorites. Oh, if she gets, if she gets a cease and desist from Jeep, let me know. I want to have her on the show. That’s funny. Um, we did have a lemonade vendor this year. He’s the new lemonade lemonade guy called the squeeze. He has a truck called the squeeze. It’s really neat. It’s this high school student who started the squeeze as a, as a kind of like senior year project, and, um, they were so excited to be included in G Fest this year, which is our pleasure, I mean, uh, but they came and, uh, gave free lemonade to our staff to just say thank you. Uh, and they’re excited about the partnership. So, yeah. So cool to do something that people want to be a part of. It’s just, it’s such an honor. I mean, you guys put on a lot of time and effort and work. So, but it’s nice when people contact you and say, how, how can we be part of this? A lot has changed in seven or eight years. You know, when we started this, um, we, we had to work pretty hard to get people on board and now it is a really good position where folks are coming to us to say, how can we be involved in the roles have been reversed? So it’s very, I mean, it’s a big deal. The whole thing is a really big deal. Uh, people are knowing about this. They know when it’s about what it’s going to be, and they can start checking out the, the, the event and the site to lead a Jeep Fest, uh, dot com. Now, uh, now I, and correct me on this because I don’t know the area at all, but, uh, Chris, uh, Jeep talk show Chris, uh, talks about, uh, the Paco hotdogs. Is the Paco place close by? Yes, sir. We have one that’s right in the, uh, in the event footprint and they’re going across the original one is across the river, but, uh, uh, a couple of years ago, we, we’ve done a mash breakfast there and we brought in a military Jeep and, uh, you know, set up like a little kitchen. Uh, and then last year, I believe the, uh, the glass city crawlers had a breakfast there, I believe Sunday morning. Uh, nothing like a chili dog for breakfast. Oh, I agree. It’s like cold pizza. It’s always good. So as you may know, Jamie far made, uh, Tony Paco’s famous on mass. And so a lot of people know Toledo for our saying, you know, holy Toledo and, and from Jamie far on mash. And, uh, they’re actually one of our official restaurant partners. Uh, they do a great job making sure people get fed on Jeep fest weekend folks that want to go indoors in the air conditioning. So we have lots of food trucks. We have restaurants like Tony pack. I was welcoming people in and I’ve never heard a complaint from folks at Jeep fess that say, I couldn’t find food or a restaurant was so packed. I couldn’t sit down. Uh, so that’s, that’s great that the whole community comes together to make sure that when, uh, thousands, hundreds of thousands of people come into town, they have a nice experience. So, uh, and the reason why I bring this up, and I think a lot of people this way, it’s like going on a road trip. Uh, a road trip is a license to eat and do things that you wouldn’t normally do. Cause you know, you’re, you’re out having fun and certainly go into a Jeep fest is similar. So I bring that up because I know when people go and do these things, they certainly want to see the event and do all the things at the event, but it’s also an opportunity to eat food. That’s not good for you. It’s not the lettuce. It’s not the stuff. Let’s have a really greasy, nice hot dog.

Oh my gosh. A hundred percent. You know, we’ve been working with the convention and visitors bureau here in Toledo to offer a package. And so if there are any folks that are part of Jeep clubs listening to this, um, we have a package where you can get discounted tickets to, um, the museum here, which is amazing. The Toledo zoo, which is amazing. Uh, Jeep Fest. Uh, if you bundle and package your, your, uh, trip here, and maybe you’ve got, you know, 15 other club members that want to join you, uh, we offer some group deals that are kind of interesting. So they could reach me, uh, and learn about that. But, but we’re trying to think of new ways to have people enjoy Toledo and Jeep Fest and to your point, enjoy the road trip and all the things that Toledo has to offer, not just the things that Jerry and I create. Yeah. Tony, for a lot of people, uh, particularly in the Jeep community and the folks that, uh, you know, dabble in the history, it’s, this is like a homecoming for them, for them and their vehicle. So when people come, they’ll want to know, well, how do I get to get my picture taken in front of the big Jeep letters at the Jeep plant? Right. You know, can we take it through? We don’t have access to for tours or anything at this time, but you know, the, the opportunity for taking vehicle pictures in front of the big Jeep letters, uh, is, is always available. There’s a site, uh, not too far from the downtown area, uh, that was the original site of the old Willy’s Overland plant. There’s a single stack that remains there with a plaque and historical markers. In fact, a Toledo, uh, driveline, which is one of the data and corporations, newest, uh, factories that build axles for the Jeep plant here in Toledo is located on the old site. So there’s a lot of history. Uh, and again, right, uh, just blocks from downtown, there’s the old John North Willy’s mansion that, uh, people like to take their pictures over their vehicles with, and then I think the other thing that’s interesting with the Jeep communities, they like to take pictures of their Jeep in all different locations and so forth. So there are a ton of murals in the Toledo area. Uh, we were, my wife and I were just out a couple of weeks ago. There’s a small shop on the other side of the river that has a military Jeep painted on the side of their building and people, you know, they actually put up guard rail so that people could pull up next to it and take the photographs. Oh, that’s neat. So they made an area, a safe area to pull over to take the picture. That’s, that’s neat. So for the folks that don’t know, uh, Toledo really is the, the home, the, the center of all the Jeep stuff. A lot of Jeeps were built, uh, in that, uh, that area and the, the Jeep, uh, the Jeep logos that you’re talking about, the Jeep logo is actually at a Jeep manufacturing plant. And is that something you can do all the time or it’s only, uh, only certain times that they make it available, the area? It’s right off of a route 75. And there is a, uh, you know, there’s a public street that you can get right on and get you right in front of the, uh, the big Jeep letters.

And, but this is something that’s going to be a possibility to do. Uh, yeah, it’s a possibility. Uh, you know, three 65, uh, okay. So the reason why I mentioned that is I’m sure people have seen these images on social media and didn’t understand the relevance of it. Uh, it’s, it’s kind of like going to the hospital where you were born.

Taking your Jeep to some where it was created. Uh, so that, that, that’s kind of a cool thing to do, especially if you’re in the area, but the whole Toledo thing is a very much a historical, um, uh, monument to the Jeep and it’s a, it’s very important there. So this is one of the reasons why I think that everybody ought to go to Toledo Jeep Fest, uh, at least once, because it’s an opportunity to be where the Jeep came from and where so many Jeeps have been built. I mean, Jerry, you worked at, uh, one of the plants. What did you do for Jeep? I was, I was the plant manager at the, at the old Jeep complex at North Cove. And we had responsibility for the, uh, the Stickney Avenue operation where we built the grand wagon ears and, uh, Wranglers as well.

Uh, well, I know it’s not military, but from a Jeep owner, I want to thank you for your service because you made my Jeep possible.

Well, you know, I would, I would also encourage people that come in or want to interested in taking their, getting their pictures taken with the big Jeep letters is less than a couple of hundred yards around the corner from that. The Jeep plant has a, uh, a veterans memorial and it’s really, it’s really interesting. Uh, we helped put them to help put it together a few years ago. And there’s an old military Jeep that sets on a, uh, a big rock pile, if you will. So it’s elevated. And, uh, adjacent to that is, uh, you know, there’s flags and so forth, but one of the skilled tradespeople cut silhouettes out of stainless steel of soldiers in different positions kneeling and real standing next to the Jeep and so forth. And, uh, some of my favorite pictures that I’ve seen from that are taken like on a foggy morning or, uh, when the sun is coming at an angle, because this with the reflection of the way that the, uh, the image picks up the stainless steel in those soldiers, it almost, uh, it looks eerie, but it is really impressive. Yeah, it’s really neat. So, uh, the switching gears here real quick before I forget about it again. Um, I know I certainly understand if you, if you can’t do this, but I want to, we have a co-host that takes his dog everywhere. Uh, he goes, uh, is this a dog friendly? Event or do you need to leave the dogs at home? It is dog friendly, but you know, it’s a downtown environment with not a whole lot of grassy spots, so, um, people do bring their dogs. Pooper scoopers are encouraged. They’re dog lovers for sure. So we wouldn’t tell you no, but it is a tough day for a dog. Right. Right. Right. Um, so, uh, let’s see what else kids, dogs, uh, wives, I’m sure are okay. Uh, husbands for the wives that are the jeeper in the family. Uh, so all really, really cool. Oh, I remember. Uh, so in the past you’ve had, uh, events where you’ve had speakers, uh, people that were talking to the audience. Are you doing any of that this year? Yeah, we’ll have speakers in the convention center again this year. Uh, and we’re really excited. I don’t know what that lineup will be. You might be able to tease some of the speakers. I don’t have the complete lineup yet, uh, but, uh, in the past we’ve had some very interesting speakers, uh, had, uh, uh, one of the folks that would, uh, participated in the rebel rally. Uh, we’ve had, uh, uh, Dean Shirley, who’s an overland runs and overlanding outfitting operation out of, uh, I think the Appalachian mountains there somewhere. I know he’s planning to be here this year. Uh, we’ve had the, uh, Kip Miller from the wagon master down in curtak curvil, Texas. Uh, so, and we’ve had, uh, uh, several of the folks from, uh, uh, the Jeep brand that have been here in the past, uh, Mark Allen from design, uh, the, the folks that handled their, uh, four by E program, uh, Doug Dave gray, I believe his name was, but, uh, anyway, uh, yeah, we’ll have people that you could listen to and perhaps even talk to, uh, and ask questions of. Well, and that’s one of the things that you, you had mentioned that, uh, when Chris comes, uh, he spends a lot of time in the convention center and interacts with the, uh, uh, the, the folks that have their vehicles on display, because as you know, most of these vehicles have a, an individual story that goes along with them sometime far more interesting than the vehicle itself. Well, it’s a combination. It’s like the history of Toledo, uh, having to do with not only Jeeps, but just in general, it’s, it’s, there’s a lot of story there. There’s a lot of years that have gone through there. And there’s so many things to, to, to know. And then really the best way to find out is to go, um, you know, and, uh, and be there and interact with people. Yeah. Chris, Chris is a great, I mean, he’s just really good to have part of the show. I can talk, but I can’t talk like Chris.

Chris really enjoys interacting with, with everybody about everything.

Well, we enjoy him as well. So I think you guys had Dan Grek, the road shows me as a speaker at one time. Uh, he has a very interesting story, actually several stories of, uh, overlanding across the various continents in the world. So, uh, that I know that was one of your past speakers. Now the, the, that if everybody’s interested in finding out what speakers are going to be available and I guess when they’re going to be speaking, uh, they can just go to Toledo Jeep Fest.com for future updates. That’s right. Yeah. Well, I’m sure once we get the, uh, the agenda, you know, finalized, we’ll post that, uh, probably on our, on our Facebook page, uh, as well as on the, on the website and, uh, you’re right. I talked to Dan and tried to get him every year, but you know, he’s usually busy and it, uh, sounds like he’s got a new young one now that has joined, uh, their traveling crowd. Yeah. Apparently, uh, the, uh, the fleeing, the, uh, the area, he still got caught.

Yeah.

All right. So, uh, let’s see what else, what else do we have to cover here? We’ve covered the, the parade. Uh, oh yeah. How do you get into the parade thing? We would not, somebody’s screaming go parade. I want to be part of the parade. How do I get into the parade? Is it, is it too late to get into the parade? It’s not, but we are about 80% sold and it’s, you know, we still have two months left, so it will sell out. It sells out every year. So I would say get online at Toledo Jeep Fest.com and buy your parade ticket. I think it’s 50 bucks. It includes a t-shirt and a swag bag. And basically we just use those funds for police and to keep order. Um, we wish we could make that free as well. But you do need to reserve your spot and pay for a ticket. It’s basically the only thing you, you pay for when you come to Toledo Jeep Fest, other than if you choose to buy a beer or food or whatever. Um, but yeah, so the parade is not full yet. Um, we have, uh, two, at least 200, 300 spots left. Uh, so jump on though now before they’re, before they’re gone. So have you guys considered a tiered pricing like a Jeep renegades, the, you know, the newest, the models that pay, they pay like $60 and somebody with a Wrangler pays 45. I mean, I’m just a suggestion.

We have not considered that yet. That’s the first I’ve heard the idea. We’re always open to suggestions though. So we’ll, uh, we’ll take a look at that. We can ignore any bad suggestion I can make. I understand people. I like winding up the renegade people.

Um, I want to go back to one thing you mentioned and, and that’s, uh, Toledo being just the home of the Jeep and having so much pride in history here for 80 years, we’ve been making Jeeps and Toledo and 6,000 people work at the Toledo assembly complex right now, cranking out Wranglers and gladiators every day. I mean, it’s wild. And then there are thousands of retirees that have so many stories and the history of Jeep. So Jerry’s a good example. I mean, you could fill an entire week talking to him about his experience running the plant, building Jeeps, spending time in his own pole barn, you know, um, but these retirees, I mean, they remember and it’s in their blood and so it’s really cool. I think it’s been fun for me as a newer person into the Jeep culture to learn all these things and to talk to all these folks. Uh, but if you make the track to Jeep Fest and you meet the people of Toledo who have lived their lives working at the plant, supported families, uh, you know, and it’s not just the Toledo assembly complex, it’s, uh, partner organizations like KUKA and MOBIS and Magna and so many others that, uh, supply the Jeeps with bumpers and seeds and you know, you name it, uh, it’s all this, uh, amazing fabric. And, and there’s a wonderful pride and camaraderie here in Toledo that I would submit. You just can’t find anywhere else. And so that’s one reason why, like you said, you know, you gotta go to Toledo Jeep Fest at least one time and hopefully we make you love it and you come back more than once. Right. Well, I mean, it really is all related to how much, uh, uh, how much fun you have at the event. And I get the feeling that this is a very fun event and I’ll mention this again. It’s a family fund event. You guys have really made this a family, uh, situation. And like you say, if you’re, I mean, I said, you’re doing, you can do PR with the family. Uh, this is a great opportunity to get, uh, the, uh, the spouse and the kids excited about Jeeps, uh, because, uh, the Jeeps don’t always make a lot of sense, uh, because the, the, the fuel mileage and, uh, the other aspects, the driving, like you’re driving a sail ship, uh, in the wind, you know, you have to really control that thing. And I tell my wife, she’s a big Jeep lover as well, but I tell my wife, uh, the, the, uh, all the little, uh, nuances that are typical to driving Jeeps, that’s all part of being one of the cool kids. Uh, and, and when you’re, when you’re in the Jeep family, you understand this, and it’s not for everybody. Uh, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be because I mean, especially if you’re in traffic, I want to see over that traffic. I don’t want to see the guy, the person’s bumper in front of me. That’s right. It’s, it’s, it’s really fun and it’s so pervasive and so infectious to be a part of the Jeep community and you’d be surprised or maybe you wouldn’t be surprised and your viewers would not be surprised, but half of our folks that attend Jeep Fest are women and half of our Facebook followers are women. You know, it really divides right in the middle between men and women. So a lot of folks, um, might think that it’s a male driven, uh, fan base, uh, or Jeeps Jeep enthusiasts are overwhelmingly male. But what we find at Toledo Jeep Fest is we’ve got a really nice mix. Oh, women love the Wrangler, uh, taking that top down, uh, the, the wind in their hair. I mean, absolutely. They’re no different than the rest of us. Uh, and I, and I’ll say this too, for you motorcycle riders out there, uh, a topless Jeep is a hell of a lot safer than riding a motorcycle. Uh, you’re, you’re most, you’re most, uh, less likely to get struck by somebody. If you drive in a Jeep instead of a motorcycle and I think the motorcycles are great, but it has that open air experience just like a Jeep cam.

All right. So we got food, we got things to do. Uh, we’ve got, uh, we could break our dogs. Uh, it’s, uh, we, you got more days of this thing going on. You’ve got camping, uh, lots of hotels in the area. And I would think that now is a good time to get the book, the hotels. So we’re a couple of months out. Uh, we’re recording this again. It’s, uh, on August, uh, for our first through the fourth, I believe I brought the screen down. So I don’t have it in front of me, uh, Toledo, Jeep Fest.com. And, uh, let’s see, is there, we’ve covered a lot here. Oh, uh, do you know who’s going to be, you usually have entertainment singers every year. You mentioned one or two, I think Jeremy row was at, uh, at the one last year. Uh, is Jeremy back this year? No, this year we have Jordan Davis at the Huntington center, which is a rising country star. We’re excited to have Jordan Davis coming. And then we’re having, uh, uh, Mark Farner with grand funk railroad on Saturday night. And so that’s a multi-generational, uh, group and appeal that we’re really excited about. And then we’ve got a variety of stages and, um, music around the footprint of the festival throughout the weekend. So, uh, so that’s, that’s a lot of music for folks to enjoy. Oh, and I mean, plenty of, plenty of DJ activity going, playing, uh, you know, country Western and Jeep songs and so forth. Very good. Very good. So, uh, I just happened to notice on your site, you have the top of the website to lead a GPS.com where it says volunteer. Is it too late to volunteer? No, we love our volunteers so much. So we have over 3000 volunteers that make Toledo Jeep fest happen. And every year we need more volunteers. Um, one of the reasons, uh, Tony is because we utilize those retired UAW local 12 folks, um, who love Jeep so much. And they want to continue to give back and be a brand ambassador, but we want them to enjoy the festival at the same time. So while they’ll put in a few hours of work and we so appreciate that, then they spend the other hours going out and watching the parade and enjoying the beer garden or music. So that’s why it really requires so many, uh, because we don’t put them to work for a full day all weekend long. We like to mix it up and have variety. And, um, we like to make sure that our volunteers, uh, work hard, play hard, kind of thing. So I use a volunteer group to, uh, to help put the, uh, the radio control, the RC course together in the, uh, in the convention center. Uh, and then one of the big tasks that we have, uh, is parking the vehicles as they come out of the parade. You know, we’ve got 1400 vehicles to park in downtown Toledo and, uh, that’s going to be a nightmare. So it’s quite a challenge. And, uh, so far we’ve, uh, we’ve had some good success and we try to tweak that each year to make it more pleasant experience for the participants.

Now, uh, for you, you people that are listening to this, uh, audio only, I want to remind you, we have a YouTube channel that you can watch this. And the reason why I mentioned that is cause there’s a large duck on a Whitney’s desk, uh, behind what is the, is there any duck components to the Toledo Jeep talk? So Toledo Jeep, I like that. Toledo Jeep Fest this year. So actually last year we really leaned heavily in the ducks. This one is a new ducks unlimited cells. These, um, you can look them up online, but they have a magnet on the bottom. How cool is that? So you can put them on your, um, on your Jeep and they’ll stay, uh, shockingly on the highway even. So in our G Fest swag bags for parade participants, they’ll all get a duck, not this big, but it’s bigger. It’s probably this big. I don’t know if you can see that.

So, um, but I mean, ducking is so pervasive throughout the G Fest culture. So there’ll be lots of ducks, uh, at G Fest, but the Alison parliament who started the ducking trend will be down from Canada, uh, signing ducks. I think, uh, we are looking into having a new element for, um, 2025 there might be a duck race in our future. Um, which a few other events around the country have a duck race, but we’re not ready to unveil details about that. Uh, so, so this year, uh, there’ll be lots of ducks, uh, but not one big, wow. Uh, duck moment, uh, it’ll just be ducks pervasively through the entire event weekend. Yeah. And that’s, that’s funny. You talk about the duck race. Uh, you may be referring to the rubber duck regatta, uh, and Jeep festival. Uh, I think they just started doing the Jeep part of it a year or two ago. And we had a Jeep talk show team member. They do a, uh, a Jeep giveaway. And we had a Jeep talk show team member, uh, that actually won the Jeep two years ago. And, uh, we now, we now call him asshole.

It’s so, it’s so cool. I mean, so many ducks, uh, we have, we’re Toledo was on the mommy river. Um, and, and, and that’s really an important part of why Toledo is a big deal in terms of trade, um, and in, you know, industry. Uh, so we’re looking, we’re looking at that. Yeah. I mean, I’m not saying you got, you have to give away a Jeep. I just think people like, uh, you know, being a part of an event like that. Um, so, uh, real quick now last year there was reports of Stellantis and Jeep not being a part of several, uh, shows. In fact, I wasn’t sure that they were going to be at a Easter Jeep fest this year. I mean, you would think they got to, they have to have the concept vehicles and stuff, but you know, they don’t have to, they could choose not to, uh, is jeeps involvement and Toledo Jeep fest, uh, similar this year as it has been in the past. Yes. And they’re turning the volume up. I don’t know if you want to answer this, but they will be a Jeep fest. We’re in their backyard. And so we have a great relationship and we’re, we’re very fortunate to have them coming this year. So we’re excited about that. Every year we’ve been blessed for them to bring down some of the Easter Jeep safari vehicles that you know, you see in all the magazines, this way you get to see them upfront and personal, uh, in the, uh, historic, historic and custom Jeep display in the exhibit hall. Uh, typically we’ll have a, you know, there’ll be, you know, one of the engineers there that knows the vehicles and so forth, uh, they could chat with, and we’re getting more and more participation from the local plant as well. Last year they helped hosted an employee event, uh, right outside on the patio. And it looks like we’re going to do that again this year. And that’s what he says. We’re going to pump up the volume a little bit. So if you attend the Toledo Jeep fest, you have the potential of rubbing elbows with the people that work at Jeep that are responsible for this. And, and Jerry, you’re not against rubbing elbows, are you?

No, no, we’re, uh, you’re going to meet a lot of people, uh, that have worked there in the past and work there today. And, uh, each year we, we invite, uh, the people from Jeep brand to come down and be a part of the show. And, uh, each year we seem to get a few more people to come down. And, uh, hopefully, you know, uh, we’ll, we’ll continue that trend this year. Yeah. I would guilt them as it’s in your backyard. Just, just walk over here, man. It’s just, come on over here. And that’s what you guys should do. You know, uh, the Jeep talk show loves this Toledo Jeep fest because it, it’s all about Jeeps. It’s where the Jeep was, uh, was born. It’s where a lot of Jeeps were made. Uh, like I said, I think you gotta go to this at least once. And, uh, but that’s how they get you. You go there, you have fun. Then it’s an every year type thing, right? That’s exactly right. That’s the whole, well, Tony, thank you for the friendship and thanks for being a fan of Toledo Jeep fest. We can’t wait to see Chris. We can’t wait to do this. I mean, Jerry and I, while we have two months left of planning time, um, we look forward to this weekend every year and it’s a huge source of pride for us, um, to shine a bright light on our city and on the workers who, you know, they put so much love into making the Jeeps. And if you’ve seen the Easter egg, the heart four one nine, you know, in the bed of the gladiator places, um, you know, it, it’s just, again, you know, really a source of pride for us. And so many, you know, thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who worked at the plant, um, supported their families, you know, on that income, et cetera. So I know we’ve mentioned Toledo Jeep fest.com several times, uh, but you guys are on social media, other places that you want to tell people about your, your social media presence, how they can find you. Yeah. Facebook, we’re really prolific on Facebook. Um, so 45,000 Facebook followers were posting all the time. Uh, we started this year, the Jeep fest minute. Uh, and so that’s just one minute videos that tell you about different elements of Toledo Jeep fest, whether it be the glass city crawler block party or the parade or our new swag that just came out. Uh, so we’re trying to make information easy, uh, to come by. If you’re a potential attendee. Um, so we’re on Instagram, we have a YouTube channel. Uh, so we’re out there and hopefully easily accessible. But if your listeners, viewers think otherwise, let me know. And we’ll try and do that. Feedback is always great. Uh, absolutely. Well, Whitney, uh, Jerry, I really appreciate you guys being here. And, uh, like I said, I think this is our third year doing this. I appreciate you guys being available and open to talk to us and our audience about this. Uh, hopefully we get a few people out there that, uh, maybe didn’t know about the Toledo Jeep fest or they knew about it and they said, Oh, damn it. I’ve been meaning to go to that. I’m going to go. I mean, uh, especially we don’t have to worry about the pandemic anymore. We can get out and go and do things. So remember when you were trapped in your house, uh, and watching them neighbors going outside going up, I got a, I got a call and tell the authorities about this. You can now get out and mingle and get around people and see a bunch of Jeeps at the same time. That, that to me, that’s just a wonderful life. Toledo and the Jeep community welcome you. So come on down. And you guys have a Tony Paco’s, uh, uh, hot dog for me. You guys too, but all the, all the people out there that are watching this, Oh real quick. This is a Chris ism, uh, that I’m going to tell on him. For some reason in his head, he called it Tony, uh,

actually Paco’s tacos.

So when he went there for the first time he was looking at the menu, he didn’t see any tacos and he had to ask the waitress. So it’s not just you’re wrong by yourself. He actually publicly,

Oh man. Yeah. No, Tony Paco’s is Hungarian and Polish me. So it’s chicken, popper, kosh and hot dogs and,

it sounds wonderful. It’s stuffed cabbage. It’s so good. You got to come. And they have these amazing spicy hot pickles that I love. They have some fried pickles that are outstanding. Yeah, that’s really cool. So go, go there for the event and Tony Paco’s. That’s right. Don’t miss Tony Paco’s when you’re in town. Guys, thank you so much for being here. Great interview. And of course, we’ll have to have you back for the next to lead the Jeep Fest and maybe some other things you have coming up. Sounds good. Well, thank you. Well, look for Chris in August.

Hey, take care. Okay. Bye.