Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Good morning and welcome to the Cannon County Chamber Connection.
And this is a nice rainy day for November, but but it's going to be 70 degrees, so that's not bad.
We needed the rain, by the way.
And my name is Carolyn Motley and I'm with the Chamber of Commerce.
And my buddy over here is Keith Reddy and he is also with the Chamber of Commerce. He is the president and he's also with the Canon Courier.
And on this side of me is Sue Patrick and she owns her own business. She's a cpa. She here in town and she is also a member of the Lions Club and she is here today to talk about everything. Lions.
Right, Sue?
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Right.
We've got a lot going on in November and December.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: We. Do you want to talk about some of the what's your first thing that you do? We'll talk about
[00:01:17] Speaker B: the coats for Cannon.
That's event that we have that we give out coats to anyone in our county who needs a coat and they can come. It's on November 13th from 4 to 7, that's Friday night and November 14th, that's a Saturday from 9 to 1.
And we have all sizes.
And we're still accepting donations, too. If anybody would like to bring any, they can bring them to my office at 109 Lester street and we try to help everyone. We always are in need of children's coats.
And then in this Lions Club room, we have all sorts of giveaway, like clothing and blankets and all kinds of things. And we'll be in here at those same times giving those items away. All you have to do is be a Cannon Countyan and bring some sort of an id.
And if you don't have a driver's license or you can bring a utility bill or phone bill, something like, you know, something like that to prove you are from Canning County.
And we like to help people. And our motto of the Lions Club is we serve.
So that's what we're doing with this. And we could use some more gloves, socks. You know, people really like to get good warm socks. So, so families come. You're to bring your children if you're coming to get coats for your children because size doesn't mean a lot anymore. And we'll try to try the coats on and see if those will work for the children.
And we have heavy, heavy coats and we have lightweight coats. And we've been doing this now for about 15 years.
So this is one of the ways we like to help Canning County.
[00:03:20] Speaker C: That's pretty cool. Fifteen years I didn't know you were doing it that long.
That was one of my questions, asking how long you've been doing this, but
[00:03:28] Speaker A: doesn't seem like it's been that. But I believe you.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: You know where we've been everywhere. I know. We were up there in the old Reach building.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: And then we tried that a year or two. And then we bought our shed and we've got all our coats in the shed and we. We used to have to storm at my office and then the prisoners would come and help us move them out here the day of the thing. So we.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: That was a lot of work.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: It was a lot more work than it is now. Now we have a storage shed that's on the.
Beside the building here, and that's where all the coats are. And if some reason you can't come or you can't get out, you know, an elderly person or something like that, we'll try to work with you and help you get a coat or whatever it is you need. And then we also are having some other events this month and we're fundraisers. We're selling nuts. We sell pecans that are $13, cashews that are $10, and double dip chocolate covered peanuts that are $12. And we have a new company this year. And those chocolate, chocolate peanuts are wonderful, I'll just tell you that. I guess they're all good, but they're the only ones I've eaten so far. Well,
[00:04:47] Speaker A: what have you got? Cashews and pecans.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: And pecans and the chocolate covered peanuts. And that's what we have. We have those for sale all over different places in town and I have them at my office.
And then this year we've got a new ornament and it's the old high school gem, the Veterans Memorial Gym.
And we try to have historic things that we can find them. And every year they go up. So they're $20 this year. But it really was a good looking ornament, so I think we like that.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: Oh, there's a lot of people that collect them all.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Yeah. And
[00:05:32] Speaker A: we've been doing that for.
Oh, golly. I came know how many years. I was
[00:05:36] Speaker B: gonna see how many. This one. This is the 18th ornament we've had, so we've been having ornaments. This is our 18th and I think a lot of people play ball in that gym and it's a reminder. And they're $20.
So that's another fundraiser we're having. And then we'll be having our pancakes with Santa and that's on the 6th of December. Is that correct, Carolyn? The 5th of December. And we'll be doing that. And you. We don't have a photographer, but we'll have Mr. And Mrs. Santa here. And you can bring your phone or camera and make your own picture and the kids can see Santa and tell them what they would like. And that same night we have the Lions Club Christmas Parade, which. Which is gonna be at 6 o' clock.
If you want to be in it, you need to have lights on your entry, whatever it is, and show up about 5 o' clock here at the Lions Club building to line up.
So. And then there's. Carolyn will tell us about another event that we're gonna have about people decorating outside.
[00:06:57] Speaker A: Right. We usually have the tour of homes on that same day, but it's been more difficult in the last couple of years to get homes that people will want you to go through. And I understand that. I see their point.
But we also have a lot of homes that light up everything on the outside.
So we're planning a tour of lights and that will be on the 4th of December, the day before the Christmas parade and everything.
And you will come to the lions Club about 4 o'. Clock. We're going to have refreshments. The Christmas Village will be set up.
We're also going to have a drawing for a basket that someone will win.
And you can drive yourself, but we're trying to get a bus that for people who don't drive at night or don't drive out of town can go on the bus.
Now it will be $10 for a carload if you drive your own car. We'll give you a map of all the places when you come and pay your for your ticket. But you're invited to eat for that.
And the basket will be worth a lot more than that. Now, if you're going to go on the bus, we have to pay for the gas.
So it's a $5 charge if you ride on the bus. And it will go around to all of the homes that don't mind. I mean, it be a drive by. You won't be going in their homes.
So this is something new that we're doing this year and we're hoping that this turns out to be a good thing because we have a lot of homes in Cannon county that go all out lighting up for Christmas. And it's fun just to go around and see what everybody does.
[00:08:59] Speaker C: Now, this is interesting that you guys are doing this. Now, is this just catering to Woodbury Homes? Are we going camping?
[00:09:05] Speaker A: Yeah. No, we're. No, we'll go out in the county.
[00:09:08] Speaker C: Okay, so like say
[00:09:09] Speaker A: somebody
[00:09:10] Speaker C: from Auburntown wants to be on this tour. How do they get in touch with you guys? Anybody that wants to be on this, they
[00:09:16] Speaker A: can call me at the chamber. And My number is 615-563-2222.
And I will put you on the list and we will have a map of all the homes that are lighting up big time.
And like I say, it'll be a drive by and there won't. You won't be going in the homes
[00:09:39] Speaker C: right now when you get on the bus to go. When is the bus going to leave to start touring the homes?
[00:09:45] Speaker A: You will come here about 4 o' clock so you'll have time to eat and view the village here and sign up for the basket to be given away. And then probably about 5 o' clock because you wait till it gets
[00:10:00] Speaker C: dark. A little dark around five. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: You know, because it'll probably take.
It'll take an hour or so, you know, to go around all the houses, depending on how many we have and what area they're in.
But this is something. People seem to be very receptive to it. So.
[00:10:21] Speaker C: So. Short Mountain Distillery. Decorate your Christmas. No, put some Christmas lights out, decorate it up really good and get on this tour. I think a lot of people should jump on the bandwagon and decorate their homes and make it a good. You
[00:10:35] Speaker A: don't have to worry about giving out refreshments or anything because we're gonna have them here at the Lions Club. And you're welcome to. We'll have cider and a lot of finger foods and you're welcome to eat, talk to each other, sign up for the basketball.
[00:10:53] Speaker C: One of the hardest things to do is take a picture, a good picture of homes that are decorated up in the evening time, you know. But I like to try to take a stab at that. So if you are wanting to put your home in this tour of Christmas lights decorated up and we'll see if we can't get a good picture and we'll put those pictures in the paper.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: And you'll
[00:11:16] Speaker A: have bragging rights
[00:11:17] Speaker B: too. Yeah, bragging rights. I've have.
[00:11:20] Speaker C: And then you can leave your lights up the whole entire year and you'll have it ready for next year.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: I don't think so.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: Well, I know people that do that. I know
[00:11:29] Speaker C: people that do that. Yeah, I got neighbors that do that.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: I do too.
But this is something new and we hope that it'll be Something good that the community will take a part in. The reason we have the bus is because there's a lot of older people that don't drive at night. There's a lot of younger people that probably shouldn't drive at night.
But this is open to all ages. And if you want to go on the bus, it's $5 to get on the bus or $10 a car load.
[00:12:01] Speaker C: And if you live on. Was it River Road? Is that the one that's so narrow that you can't get down and the tour buses take topple over and stuff. What's the. I
[00:12:09] Speaker B: don't know.
[00:12:10] Speaker C: Yeah, there's our.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: I know we had a road.
[00:12:12] Speaker C: Well,
[00:12:13] Speaker A: one thing is, Keith, we take everybody's safety.
[00:12:17] Speaker C: Yeah. You're disqualified if you live on River Road. Don't decorate your homes. And. No, I'm just kidding. I.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: We don't want. Now, I will tell you that we have a lot of areas right here in Woodbury that do that. But we have some homes right outside of Woodbury.
[00:12:34] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: That decorate everything in the yard. And I like that.
I like people who decorate real big.
I don't care what they decorate, as long as they decorate real big, it's okay.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: And we also have old ornaments of past years. Last year we had the steeple, the Courthouse Steeple. It's $16.
And all the older ones that we have are $5. So they make neat Christmas gifts if you're just looking for a little something to give somebody. And we have a lot of those available and we'll have them on sale here for the pancake breakfast. And also for the tour. We'll have the ornaments here. I have them at my office.
The new ornaments are all over town. Jennings Jewelers, the courthouse, the Woodbury Funeral Home, the First national bank of Middle Tennessee, Trio Wessel, Cannon County Chiropractic.
I'm trying to think where else. The chamber has some
[00:13:40] Speaker A: new
[00:13:41] Speaker B: ones.
Yeah.
[00:13:43] Speaker A: But I can tell you where to get them if you need them. So that all works out well.
[00:13:48] Speaker C: So on these old ornaments that you have. I know there's collectors and there have been people that have collected. I think you've run out of some, haven't you? Yeah,
[00:13:56] Speaker B: there's some we don't have, like the Goat Motel and the.
The library and there. Some of them we don't have.
[00:14:04] Speaker C: Ever thought about getting those back? You know, trying to. I know. I'm sure you have to order so many.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: I don't think that business
[00:14:14] Speaker B: went out of business. And we've had to find Some new companies. So one time we did that with the courthouse. We reordered it, and we
[00:14:24] Speaker A: still do have some of them.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: We still have some of them. So we've got a lot of the Church of Christ. We've got the art center.
There's just a lot of the older ones that we do have, but a lot we don't have. We're
[00:14:38] Speaker C: gonna put the Cannon Courier building that we're in, we're put that up for you all can make a little ornament out of our building. No, I'm just kidding. I mean, I'm sure you could, but I don't think you want to. Well,
[00:14:52] Speaker B: we have a committee that decides every year who the ornament will be. And if we don't have a lot of success with our ornaments, you know, they've gotten so expensive, we may have to quit doing it. But we all enjoy it.
[00:15:08] Speaker C: Should we jump the gun a little bit? And you say you got a committee this year.
When it came to figuring out that you were going to do the old gym, what were some of the other ideas that came up?
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Well, I
[00:15:22] Speaker C: don't want to make anybody mad. The
[00:15:24] Speaker B: post office was one.
I can't even remember. But somebody wanted to do the nursing home.
We had different ones, but we like to have, like, all the readable meal ones are all gone. And then after we had the tornado, you know, we had a read mill that had four buildings on it.
I believe they're all gone. So just a lot of the historical ones are gone. And somehow houses don't do as well. If we take an individual house and make an ornament out of it, they don't seem to sell as well.
[00:16:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: Isn't that funny? Because you would think that they would.
And did we do the senior center?
[00:16:08] Speaker B: No, I don't think we've ever done the senior center. That
[00:16:11] Speaker A: might be a
[00:16:11] Speaker B: pretty good idea. Yeah.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: See, every now and then, Carol, a blind squirrel finds a nut. So that's how.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Yeah. But if you have any suggestions, you could call and let us know that you think it would be a good ornament. So we have fun doing this. And a lot of people collect the ornaments. So they have all 18.
And then some of them, like one of those old ones or something, the water towers one, that's all gone. It was a really pretty one. And so we just.
We have fun doing it. And all of our funds that we raise go to charities. Charities.
So they're not used for anything else. And we have them. You know, we help Other organizations 501c. Three organizations in the county.
We raise money, but then we help other organizations in the county.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: And there's one thing that we don't charge for that is a service to our county, and that's the bloodmobile. And it will be at this building, the Lions Club building, on the 19th.
And I believe that it starts at 12, 11 or 12 until 6,
[00:17:29] Speaker B: 6.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: So if you want, if you'd like to give some blood for the cause, they always need that. So that's a good thing, too.
[00:17:38] Speaker C: And that is this November
[00:17:41] Speaker A: 19th?
[00:17:42] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll be having that November 19th. I was trying to see if we have any other.
[00:17:47] Speaker C: And your coats for cannon.
Friday, November 13th, from 4 to 7pm Saturday, November 14th, from 9am to 1pm Right. Remember those hours.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Bloodmobile be on the 19th. And then we jump ahead to.
Because we got to fit Thanksgiving in there somewhere.
[00:18:07] Speaker C: Do we?
[00:18:07] Speaker A: And then we. Yes, we do. And then we think jump ahead to the fifth and the sixth of the fourth and the fifth. I'm sorry, of December. The fourth of December will be the tour of light.
If you have a home that you would like for it to be on the tour, please give me a call and I'll put you on the map.
And then you have pancakes with Santa on the 5th. That will be from 7 to 10am and the Christmas parade, you'll line up here at the lions Club at 5 o'. Clock. The parade starts at 6 o'. Clock. And if you want, want to enter a float or something in the parade, just be here. They will be people to line you up. But it is a nighttime parade and so you.
You want to light up whatever your entry is because otherwise it's going to be kind of hard to see in some places. So the more light you can put on it, the better it is.
Last year was our first year and it was a big hit.
So I've already had a lot of calls. I've had a lot of calls from people out of town that want to be in it.
So just take that into consideration and I will tell you. Because the most controversial thing we did last year, but it's for safety reasons, is we did not throw candy from the entries. We hand out candy. We have walkers that will hand out candy to the kids, but we don't throw it, mainly because we have a lot of vehicles, like the fire trucks that are in it. They set up high and your little child runs out there to get candy. The fire trucks can't see them.
So I would hate for a real joyous occasion to be a disaster. So last year, that was probably the biggest complaint we had, was this one man told me that he knew that it was just politics that they didn't throw out candy. And his girls did not get one piece of candy. And he was
[00:20:29] Speaker C: for.
[00:20:29] Speaker A: He was so. He. He was so belligerent about it that finally I told him, I said, just go buy him a bag of candy
[00:20:37] Speaker C: if
[00:20:37] Speaker A: that's the case.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: So, parents. Yeah. Go buy
[00:20:40] Speaker A: your kids, bring it
[00:20:42] Speaker C: to the parade, and hand it out to them. While the parade's going through, I
[00:20:45] Speaker A: will tell you this. Our rescue squad handed out stuffed animals.
I was there, and that's the first time we had that. Now, they didn't throw them at anybody, but they would get out there and hand them out. So you never know. You might get a stuffed animal, probably can't eat them. But like I say, we just got over with Halloween, and I don't know if you were here or not, but I'll bet they had 6,000 people on college street and up in Beaver Dam, because my niece lives on College Street. She said she bought $300 worth of candy, and she gave out every bit of it and could have given out more.
So we had a pumpkin festival on the square that went over big time.
So, you know, there's something going on here all the time.
But this is.
This is really the Lions time of year, because they have a lot of events during November and December and, of course. And then we have to make time for Christmas.
The other thing that we have.
And, Sue, I know you got to get back to work, and I got some other guests. Okay. We appreciate you coming for the Lions Club, and
[00:22:02] Speaker B: thank you.
[00:22:02] Speaker A: You might come back as a feedback on this after we have all this. I'll tell you how this works. I
[00:22:09] Speaker B: want to emphasize if you have coats at home you're not wearing, if you want to bring them to. Or give them to a Lions Club member, or you can bring them by my office at 109, Lester. Then we'll give those out. So we're looking forward to helping people with that.
[00:22:26] Speaker A: They do need new underwear.
All sizes. Boys, girls,
[00:22:31] Speaker B: socks.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: Socks especially.
You'd be surprised how many people don't have socks.
So.
And like I say, they need to be new, so.
[00:22:43] Speaker B: Well, thank you for having us.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: The other
[00:22:47] Speaker C: kind of weird.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: He needs underwear.
[00:22:49] Speaker C: But, hey, you got to tell them that, because people probably would bring their old underwear. They got to distinguish.
[00:22:56] Speaker A: I don't even want to go there. I don't.
Okay. The other thing that we have before I bring the other group up here is on the 20th and the 21st will be the Canon Country Christmas.
And this is always a big deal. On Friday night Santa will arrive.
I believe this year the chief of police is bringing him in at 5 o'. Clock.
And then at 5:15 we'll have the tree lighting around the square.
The church of the Kissani Slope Church Baptist Church is having a live Nativity scene with live animals. And yes, there is usually a camel and one year there was even a kangaroo. He got in there because nobody rented him.
So this is a good thing. But the church is set up and some of the chamber members, since the Chamber does sponsor this. But this event is for our merchants because we believe in shopping at home.
And this is the week before Thanksgiving because if you wait any later, the shopping season's already on right now.
But we like a big crowd. The merchants will stay open late on Friday night.
And last year we had a group of churches and I've got some more this year that are going to set up around. Around the square.
They give out things. There's no vendors to sell things. They give things away. Maybe refreshments. I believe last year we had one group that gave walking tacos. If you've never had one of those, you need to.
And then, like I say, it's all free.
Huff and Puff will have the Polar Express there.
If you've never seen that, that is a train that actually snows. It produces its own snow.
So you certainly want. The kids love to get on it and act like they're going somewhere.
But that's okay. We'll have a lot of things around the square. The dance studio will have a live performance.
All of our merchants will have refreshments and giveaways and everything. It's just a fun time. And it doesn't have to be just the merchants around the square.
A lot of the banks get in on it on Friday because they're closed on Saturdays.
But during the day they get in on it and you can go in and they'll have refreshments or cookies or something. But if you are a nonprofit and you would like to set up that nine night on Friday night, give me a call at the Chamber and I'll put you down for it.
Like I say, there's. You can't sell any items.
But we had Casa one year did cookie decorating. They let. They had cookies there and they let the kids decorate them. So it's a fun time and it's for our merchants because we want Our merchants to do well.
And we invite everybody to come to that. Now on Saturday, that will be on Friday the 20th. And really that starts about 4 o' clock in the afternoon. Santa will be here at 5.
And then on Saturday, we more or less leave that open to whatever the merchants want to do and whatever hours they want to be there. But a lot of people that don't get out at night don't want to fight the crowds. They'll come back on Saturday.
They still have the same giveaways and the same things they have on Friday night. So that takes care of that.
Now then, we're going to bring two girls up here from the high school.
We did this last year. And it was so informed that we decided that this would be a good thing to do again.
What is your names?
[00:27:09] Speaker D: I'm Braylee Parker. I'm the Woodbury FFA president.
[00:27:12] Speaker E: I'm Isabella Powell. I'm one of the vice presidents.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: Okay, that's fine. And you're here to talk about ffa, right?
[00:27:20] Speaker D: Yes, ma'. Am.
[00:27:21] Speaker A: What all do you do in ffa?
[00:27:23] Speaker D: Oh, wow. We do everything.
So from community service and competition and chapter meetings, we have lots of fun.
We love doing community service and chapter meetings that we do once a month for all of our FFA members.
And we go to conventions. So, state convention in Gatlinburg in the spring, and then in the fall, national convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.
[00:27:47] Speaker C: So tell us a little bit about how your national convention went. I know you're just coming off of that. How'd that go? Some of the result?
[00:27:54] Speaker E: Our national convention was very well. We were able to take 39 kids up to Indianapolis. We competed in two national contests. I competed in agronomy, which is plant and seed ID, and also pest and disorder IDs. And I was 46, high individual. And we also took a Certified Crop Advisors test. I was able to pass that and get my certified crop Advisors certification.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: Well, that's cool. That's cool. It is.
[00:28:22] Speaker D: Yes. And I was able to compete in farm business and management up there with my team.
It was really fun to learn more about taxes and farm math problems and things like that.
[00:28:35] Speaker A: Everybody needs to know that. Yes. Do you live on a farm?
[00:28:38] Speaker D: I own a small poultry farm.
[00:28:40] Speaker A: Oh, okay. You own a small poultry.
[00:28:43] Speaker E: Yes, in my family farms row crop.
[00:28:45] Speaker A: Okay,
[00:28:46] Speaker C: okay. Now when you say team, who all was on your team?
[00:28:50] Speaker D: So a team consists of four members. So it was me and then Alex Gannon, Ty Fan, and Briley Teachout, which are four other members in our chapter.
[00:28:59] Speaker C: And did you have a team that you competed on?
[00:29:01] Speaker E: Yes, sir, it was me, Keely Powell, Kenley Underwood and Weston, Lafitte Verdet.
[00:29:07] Speaker C: All right. And I know probably T. Wayne Williams is up there.
[00:29:12] Speaker D: He was the National Vice
[00:29:13] Speaker C: President. Right. Because he was. It was the end of his term.
[00:29:16] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:29:17] Speaker C: And they showcased him a lot and stuff. So
[00:29:20] Speaker A: I read something that T. Wayne wrote mainly about Mr. Pitts.
[00:29:27] Speaker D: Yes. It was in his
[00:29:28] Speaker A: retiring speech. Yes, that was great.
[00:29:31] Speaker D: It was.
[00:29:32] Speaker A: And Mr. Pitts was principal at Eastside when my kids were in school.
And everything he said about him was exactly true. I think he's one of the finest men that I've ever known. Really?
[00:29:46] Speaker D: I agree.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: And yeah, he is. And it doesn't matter to him whether he's principal or janitor.
You know, he told me one time, if there's a job to do, it doesn't matter what the job is.
You know, it's not like a status exam symbol. So. He's a smart man.
[00:30:05] Speaker D: He is.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: But T. Wayne, that was a great write up about that.
[00:30:09] Speaker D: Yes. And T. Wayne was a senior whenever I was a freshman. So getting to see like firsthand him grow and become who he is was truly amazing. And his retiring address, it made me tear up. I cried a little bit. I did,
[00:30:24] Speaker A: I kept
[00:30:25] Speaker D: it. Yes. It was moving. And to be there in that moment was just. Just amazing.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: Right. And like I say, it was about a real person who is still working out there today at the high school.
[00:30:36] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:30:38] Speaker C: What kind of influences do does Mr. Pitts and T. Wayne and even your advisors, what kind of influence do they have on you? How have they made helped you grow throughout your career? Let's go that way. Because I call it a career because that's what it is.
Yeah. A lot of people tell me, you know, well, we focus on sports. Well, I'm going to tell you, FFA is a sport because they compete, you know, and anytime that you get in a competition and compete, you're coached, you've got advisors. This is a sport. And I know you play softball, Right. Do you play any sports? You don't?
[00:31:17] Speaker D: I shoot trap.
[00:31:17] Speaker C: You shoot? That's right. Okay. Yep. That's right. I've seen you.
[00:31:20] Speaker A: I trap team.
[00:31:22] Speaker C: So what kind of influences do you get through being a member of the FFA like that.
[00:31:28] Speaker D: So my biggest influence was from my advisors my freshman year of high school.
I didn't really come from an agricultural background. I owned a few chickens and that was it. And they taught me about CCM and public speaking and pushed me into those competitions and it changed my life.
[00:31:47] Speaker A: Public speaking is difficult.
[00:31:49] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: If it doesn't come to you naturally, it's difficult.
[00:31:55] Speaker D: It is. But after lots of hard work and practice, and I got T. Wayne to help me. And Ms. Haley's an amazing public speaker, so having her help really has shaped who I am.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: That's my next question.
What is Ms. Haley to you? Is she a teacher, an advisor? What does she do? She's with you today.
[00:32:15] Speaker D: She's a mentor. Like, okay, yes, she is our advisor. She is our teacher.
She teaches us in class so she can change. You know, she's our advisor whenever we're in ffa and she's our teacher in the classroom.
[00:32:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:32:30] Speaker E: If it wasn't for Ms. Haley, I would not, like, be in the position I am. Like, freshman year, I was a very shy, quiet kid. Ms. Haley
[00:32:38] Speaker A: made you mouthy.
[00:32:41] Speaker E: She encouraged me to compete on a team, and it changed my life. Becoming
[00:32:46] Speaker A: an ffh.
You're not mad
[00:32:48] Speaker C: now you're both seniors at Cannon County High School or you're a junior. I'm a junior. I'm a senior. You're a senior. Okay. All right.
[00:32:54] Speaker A: But you touched on something that's so important.
You might come from a farming background and grew up on a farm, but a lot of times, what's missing with that is the business part of it.
Because it is a business.
[00:33:12] Speaker D: It is. And when. Whenever I was pushed into agriculture my freshman year, I fell in love with it. And I wanted to change my three chickens that I had at home and just make. Make more. Make money off of that. It became my passion. So now I own Parker's Poultry and Farm Stand. I have a farm stand. I have over 100 chickens.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:33:33] Speaker D: Yes. And I'm very passionate about agriculture.
[00:33:36] Speaker C: So you. You participate in that. What is it? The 4H chick chain or whatever they call it?
[00:33:41] Speaker D: No, I
[00:33:41] Speaker C: don't. You don't. You don't do that.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: That's 4H.
[00:33:44] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:33:45] Speaker C: I
[00:33:45] Speaker D: like to do my own chicks.
[00:33:46] Speaker C: Okay, so you do your own chick chain type of thing now? Where are you located if somebody wants to come out and buy chickens off of you? Where are you located?
[00:33:54] Speaker D: I'm located in Bradeville, so 270 Rogers, road is where my farm stand stand is. And I've had it since I was 16.
[00:34:01] Speaker C: Do you have, like, signs and stuff, or is it just.
I'm sure, Yeah,
[00:34:05] Speaker D: I
[00:34:05] Speaker C: have, like,
[00:34:06] Speaker D: Facebook and social media and my percent out there. Okay, but
[00:34:10] Speaker C: give your Facebook a shout out. What is it?
[00:34:12] Speaker D: Parker's Poultry and Farm Stand.
[00:34:14] Speaker C: Oh, just the same, like your business
[00:34:17] Speaker D: easy name, but because of ffa, I. I probably wouldn't have that now. Yeah. Really wouldn't.
[00:34:22] Speaker A: But your family row crops, right?
[00:34:24] Speaker E: Yes, ma'. Am. Which without ffa, it really took me a step to, like, start learning how to do everything on my own. This year. I put out 55 acres of my own and managed it, planted it, sprayed it, harvested it, and just learning how to fully operate a farm, just knowing. Well,
[00:34:42] Speaker A: I'm impressed.
[00:34:45] Speaker C: You know, the next time that I ask you, when I put you guys in the player spotlight, what are your hobbies?
You can talk about farming if you'd like, because that, to me, that's a lot of hard work. I'm sure in the hours that you put
[00:34:59] Speaker A: into this. Listen, chickens are.
They can be a lot of hard work, but row cropping, if you're actually planting and harvesting and spraying and everything.
I've got neighbors that do that. I watch them all the time.
[00:35:16] Speaker D: Yes, it takes a lot. And it takes the right people to be able to feed everyone.
[00:35:22] Speaker A: Yeah,
[00:35:23] Speaker D: It's a passion.
It is.
[00:35:25] Speaker A: You sell eggs?
[00:35:26] Speaker D: I do, yes, ma'. Am.
[00:35:27] Speaker A: I bet you do.
[00:35:28] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. I sell a good amount of eggs, yes.
[00:35:32] Speaker A: Okay. Well, I think my grandson has four or five chickens up there at his house.
My great grandkids think they're wonderful till. Well, sometimes they do. And then sometimes they'll say, well, the chickens got in the way, and I thought, goodness sakes.
But they have a lot of eggs, too.
[00:35:56] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:35:58] Speaker A: Sometimes you have more than you know what to do
[00:36:02] Speaker D: with. That is the truth.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: But I remember when eggs were selling, they were like gold.
Not too many years ago.
[00:36:11] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:36:12] Speaker A: I think the price has gone down now a little bit.
[00:36:14] Speaker D: Yes, they have. They did get expensive for a while.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: Okay, what do you plan on doing after graduation? Are you just going to run your poultry farm?
[00:36:23] Speaker D: I do. I want to expand my business, obviously, but I most importantly want an education.
So I want to further my knowledge over agriculture. And I've applied and. And been accepted into UT Martin and UT Chattanooga, as well as Tennessee Tech and mtsu. So I have options. But all I want to go for agriculture and agriculture, engineering so I can be better prepared in my business and be able to make a difference in the agricultural industry.
[00:36:53] Speaker A: Oh, it's very important. You know what my biggest fear is? And I've told everybody that live. Listen, we have a lot of farmers, especially in Cannon county, but as the youth come up, it used to be if you had a farm, your family kept it going.
My biggest fear is when the older ones are no longer available or the younger ones want to do the job because it's hard work.
[00:37:23] Speaker D: Yes. The average age of a farmer is nearing 69 years old, but there are a lot of government help for younger farmers. And, you know, you have people like Isabella who's starting to learn already.
And will you take over the farm eventually?
[00:37:39] Speaker E: I plan on taking over the farm.
See,
[00:37:42] Speaker A: that's good. This is a good thing.
That's my biggest fear, is that the younger generation, and especially with the prices that land is bringing now, you know, if they don't have a desire to do that, I'm wondering if they think, well, I can get so much an acre, you know, I can go do something else. And then they subdivide it. So my biggest fear is the farming is going to go away.
[00:38:11] Speaker D: Yes. It is definitely frightening to think about, but I'm sure it will get done. Agriculture will always be needed. We have to.
Yes. We have a growing population, so we need growing farms.
[00:38:26] Speaker A: Right. And we need the young people to stick with it.
[00:38:29] Speaker D: Yes. And that's what our biggest concern is, being FFA officers is trying to get that next generation of agriculturists into FFA so they can learn about agriculture and they can participate and have fun and enjoy it.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: Right.
And want to do it.
[00:38:48] Speaker D: Yes. Yes.
[00:38:49] Speaker C: What's the next step for you guys in the FFA program? What are you competing in next?
[00:38:55] Speaker E: Next week we have our meat judging contest.
I believe that's next Wednesday.
And then two weeks we have our horse judging competition, the 17th at MTSU. We are both on that team.
We're really excited for that.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: Okay, on your meat judging, what does that involve?
[00:39:16] Speaker D: So it's a lot of ID IDing cuts of meat and where it came from, if it is lamb or pork or beef, and they do a little bit of grading it as well. So, like the protein and the fat in it.
[00:39:30] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:39:30] Speaker C: Interesting.
[00:39:31] Speaker A: It is. I didn't know exactly what they judged in that.
[00:39:36] Speaker C: Now, judging horses, what do you do in that?
[00:39:38] Speaker A: Oh, I know what you're doing.
[00:39:39] Speaker C: Well,
[00:39:41] Speaker A: go ahead, girls, tell them.
[00:39:43] Speaker E: On, like halter classes, you judge the structural correctness of the horse, as long as the appearance of the horse. And then in riding classes, you will judge if they. If it is a pattern class, you will judge how correctly they done the pattern. And if they challenged some of the pattern, you'll give them extra points.
And then on the rail classes, you just look at which one is most consistent, challenging it. And
[00:40:09] Speaker A: is it any breed or do you separate the breeds? Like the walking horses from the saddle horses from the quarter horses.
[00:40:19] Speaker D: Well, usually there's horses for certain jobs. You know, quarter horses you'll see mostly in ranch riding, and you might see them thoroughbreds, they're out there. But there's not much variation in the MTSU that we do. But I'm sure at world shows, there's Tennessee walking horses and lots of other breeds.
[00:40:38] Speaker C: So let me ask you something. If you judge walking horses, too, is. I mean, is that part of it?
So, like, say, the Woodbury Lions Club put on this walking horse show once a year. Right, Right. You could come out and kind of, you know, do some commentary and kind of inform the public on what to look for in certain, you know, gates and all that good stuff, I guess.
[00:41:02] Speaker D: Yes, we could.
[00:41:04] Speaker C: Really.
Where have you been all my life?
Back when I was doing radio. I'll make this quick. When I was doing radio, we had to do the walking horse show, and I didn't know what I was up against. And when I got out there, Bruce Stillman, who was the extension office agent at the time, he was telling me, no, you've got to do the show.
And I'm thinking, well, we've never done this before, but okay.
And I pulled a photographer that was taking photos of the horses because I know nothing about these horses. Right. We had a good old time, but, you know, to have somebody there that knows horses and what to look for, that would have been incredible, you know, And I've done it ever since. And we'll do it next year, too. So I'm gonna probably ring y' all up and see if y' all want to come down and help.
You could
[00:41:58] Speaker A: be trophy girls.
[00:42:02] Speaker D: Good. If you want to stick.
Yeah. Horse judging, it's not an easy task. You know, you have to practice. And we've been practicing for months, you know, and we did it last year, and we're really hoping that we'll have a good turnout this year.
[00:42:15] Speaker C: And I know there's this series things, and of course, we've got AI now chat GPT. You can go on there and say, hey, horse Judging for Dummies, and probably teach me a few things. But if you already know it, let's get together next year or next July and we'll put on a pretty good production, I think so.
[00:42:33] Speaker A: You know, I've had horses all my life.
Mainly I came from Colorado, so quarter horses are the main horse out there. Thoroughbreds, quarter horses. So I moved down here, and there was the walking horses. Okay. When I look at them and when they do their gaits and everything. And I think, golly, these are some of the prettiest horses that I think I've ever seen.
But you know, what it came down to as far as for judging and the rider and what their suits look like and how they set the horse.
[00:43:14] Speaker D: Yes, the rider does play a good part. They have. They have to be a strong rider in order to
[00:43:21] Speaker A: stay on the saddle.
[00:43:23] Speaker D: To stay on the saddle and be able to perform great with the
[00:43:26] Speaker A: horse, right? It is, yes. But that was what my judging gotten down to because I think they're all pretty.
You know, some of them do a better job than others, but they're still beautiful. But I look at the rider and how that rider sets a horse and what kind of riding suit they have on.
I always wanted one of them. I didn't really want to show the horse. I just wanted the suit.
Okay, girls, is there anything else you want to tell us about?
[00:44:00] Speaker D: Yeah. So after horse dredging, we do have ag sales.
So it is. It's a competition where we have to sell Lincoln Electric welders this year.
[00:44:11] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:44:12] Speaker D: So we'll have to market those and try to sell those to the judges. And then we have our team events. So Parley Pro and ccm. CCM is the conduct of chapter meetings that is designed only for freshmen and first year members. And they conduct a business meeting and Parley Pro takes it a step further with any age, age range for that. And they debate things.
[00:44:33] Speaker A: Okay.
Oh, you gotta have debate, don't you?
[00:44:37] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:44:39] Speaker A: Even if you're on the team that you don't believe that, you still gotta learn how to debate it. Okay.
All right, girls, you're gonna come back in the spring then, right?
[00:44:49] Speaker D: Yes, ma'. Am.
[00:44:50] Speaker A: And tell us how. How you're doing.
[00:44:52] Speaker D: Yes, ma'. Am.
[00:44:53] Speaker A: All right, well, we've enjoyed having you and we hope you do come back. And we wish both of you well.
[00:45:00] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:45:00] Speaker A: We really do. And your chickens. And I'll remember that you're selling eggs.
[00:45:04] Speaker D: Okay, thank you. And thank y' all for having us.
[00:45:07] Speaker A: Well, that's quite all right. And thank you, Ms. Haley, for bringing them.
All right, let's see. You have anything as far as sports, Keith?
[00:45:16] Speaker C: I've got all kinds of sports.
[00:45:18] Speaker A: Oh, well, don't. We've only got a little
[00:45:21] Speaker C: while. It's all good. We're in the middle of football playoffs. Hopefully we can continue by the time that this airs.
Football playoffs is coming up. Start this week and then hopefully we can win at home and then keep going. Basketball season going to be starting in the middle of November. The middle school's already started.
So be sure to check out all the action on our Schools Huddle Canning County Schools Huddle app and on Canning Career News Events Facebook page.
[00:45:53] Speaker A: One thing I didn't get on this was the kids show for the art center is going to be November 7th and November 14th at 2pm and it's going to be the Boxcar children.
And tickets are on sale now for, for that show. And I think it's adults $10 and student seven.
And you can check out the art center also.
One of the things that the art center will be doing is they have their bazaar.
And I believe that it starts on the.
Let me see here.
[00:46:37] Speaker C: I think it was the 28th. I
[00:46:39] Speaker A: think it was. No, it was. Yeah. 28th of November is their Christmas bazaar.
And they'll have it set up in the big room. You can come down there and shop for all of those artisans that make great things and they have Christmas gifts that you won't find anywhere else. So that's just check out the art center because there's something going on there all the time also.
And I think that's about all that we have.
Like I say, don't forget the coach for Cannon Moretown FFA is having a ham breakfast. And that will be on Saturday, November 7, and it will be at Cannon South Elementary.
And they will have, they always have a great breakfast. And it is a country ham breakfast with all the fixings.
Okay.
And with that, we're going to wish you a happy Thanksgiving because we don't want to forget that somehow it gets squeezed in between Halloween and Christmas and you don't really hear a whole lot about it. But I love Thanksgiving. I love the fact of everybody getting together.
The election is over, so no more commercials.
Okay? Happy Thanksgiving and we'll see you in December.
It.
