#32: Season 1 Recap and July 4th Parade Bonus Footage

Join us for a trip down memory lane as we recap what was an unforgettable season 1 at the Octagon Podcast. We revisit the epic tales, personalities and history that makes Stowe such a special and unique community. In this episode we will also throw out some teasers for what to expect in season 2!

Stay tuned in after the season 1 recap for live footage of the sights and sounds of the famous Stowe 4th of July Parade!

Transcript

0:00

This episode of the Octagon is sponsored in part by archery close. Hey, this is Chris and Taste from Archery Clothes, your go-to boutique. For men's and women's fashion, we carry a curated selection of clothing, footwear, and gifts from unique and emerging brands. We're proud to sponsor the Octagon and even prouder to be local business owners here in Stowe. We love how the Octagon captures the history and characters of this incredible town. After coming off the slopes or the trails, stop by archery close. Located at 1650 Mountain Road in Stowe. Open seven days a week, or always open online@archeryclose.com. Welcome listeners to the Octagon Podcast, where we explore the people, places, and stories that make Stove Vermont so legendary. This is your co-host, Mike Carey, joined by my other cohost Ted Thorndyke. Today we're gonna do a season one finale wrap up. It's been a great year of 30 plus episodes. so we wanted to wrap things up, tell you what's coming for the rest of the summer and what to look forward to in season two. Yeah. Thanks Mike. It's, it has indeed been a wild ride. I think just starting this podcast in October, just an idea that we've had for a long time and it's been really cool and rewarding for me just to see how much the community has enjoyed it. That really is, the marker of, just something that's worthwhile. A lot of feedback. I was actually at Cafe on Moscow today. Talking to some happy listeners and the owners there, they hadn't listened yet, so left a stack of stickers there. just always spreading the word, building listeners and just trying to, and build community, which I feel like we've done. Yeah, no, for sure. I've bumped into people that. I somewhat know. And they see me and they're like, Hey, how do I know you? And then, I'm like, oh, is it from tennis Mountain biking? Oh, I do the Octagon podcast. oh, That's right. Oh, you're Mike, right? And I'm go, yeah. And then they go into how, they just listen to one of the episodes and it's really pretty cool. I think it's very cool. And, just the fact that we've worked hard to put out some meaningful and. Diverse content, our goal, especially going into season two is to create some content, something for everybody. Yeah. we obviously did a lot of skiing. We do live in a ski town, but, that certainly is one of our goals. You do love the ski ones though, especially during ski season. Should I give a teaser for a season two guest? Yeah, go for it. There's been rumblings of Mike Hayes, m Hayes, if anyone follows him on social media. Some, spectacular coverage. So I've been in negotiations with Mike, a little season two teaser to keep everybody excited on these hot summer days. Yeah, exactly. How is your summer going so far, Mike? Summer's been good. I think the last few weeks to month has been, the weather's kind of turned a little drier I think. I know early on it's pretty wet. Yeah. but yeah, lots of tennis, mountain biking. Done some long hikes. Yeah. Which has been good. And actually, headed down to the vineyard. Oh, week. Very cool. Nice family trip. Yep. Some family. Yep. Kids are going, gets a little ocean time. Yeah. Yeah. Good to have a little ocean time, Yeah. I got Cape Cod first week of August. Yeah. The annual family trip, yeah. So same, you've been doing gravel rides. Yep. Did one this morning just in the hollow. A lot of gravel rides, some hikes, as I mentioned in our parade. That'll halbrook. Sunrise mission from my girlfriend's birthday. Yeah, that was big. Yeah, it was cool. lot of tennis. Few good matches with you. Yeah. Got a little tennis lined up tonight. Even Padel, I've gotten some padel in too. How many times? three or four. Oh, wow. Yeah. Actually playing tonight. Come on. Yeah. Sneaking it in. We actually bought Pade rackets. Whoa. Yeah. I want to get out there. Yeah. Get you out there. Yeah. No, but Summer's been good. And what, yeah, we got Jazz Fest coming up. That's right. Yeah. Weekend. Next weekend. Yep. that's a good shout out. Yeah, no, shout out. George Petit. Done an amazing job for that. I'm trying to think what else is coming up the rest of the summer to look forward to. Yeah. Some good concerts up north. Spruce up at Spruce. Yep. Absolute. The wallflowers. Wallflowers. Yeah. Classic. Yeah, classic. So yeah, no, good shout out to Jazz Festival with, past Octagon guest George Petit. So what Mike and I thought would be good ideas to do a recap of just all the episodes we did, fun little stories, tidbits, just to take the listeners down memory lane for what's been a really fun and adventurous season one. First episode was Neil Van Dyke. It was Neil Van Dyke. And take me back to that day. What, what did something cool about? episode one, we really didn't know what we were doing. Yeah, that's true. Were, just threw ourselves into this, right? Yep. so I think what was really interesting with Neil was, one of the stories that I remember was the Grim Reaper. You remember that story? I, he doesn't tell that story often. If you asked me That was what I was gonna say. Yeah. The grim reaper. The grim. He saw the grim Reaper. Yeah. What was that like a 50 foot, 50 foot fall foot. Fall on the notch. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. No, it is cool to, to take a step back to. To episode one. Yeah. We were just totally new at it. No idea what we were doing. Winging it. Yeah, totally winging it. We feel like we fine tune it a little bit. So yeah. Then we like, all right, let's go with this. We went with Mishy lame. Mishy Lame. Yep. I've known Mishy for a long time. just through skiing and being in the community. I think for me it was really cool to learn. A little more in detail about her pursuit of a million vertical feet. Yeah. On skis, hiking, biking, and just, yeah, her taking us through just some of the hard days. how she finds a way to keep going, resilience and just what that whole mission meant to her. Yeah. And in inspired me to maybe push a little harder in some of my life pursuits. A hundred percent, and I see her out there. Yeah. A lot. Yeah. And there's days I'm not motivated to do it. and we've talked about this, you get out there skinning most mornings, there's days you just don't look at it. You're like, it's cold. Yep. It's gonna be icy or whatever. But that mission to get you out there and stay in the outdoors and I think she says you always feel better after you go. A hundred percent. Yeah. A hundred percent. that was a good one. Next up we had Simba. Simba Happy from top-notch. that was a great episode. Yeah, that was a great episode. Yeah. what did you enjoy the most from that? I just think the story, right? That's, to me, it's the journey. How does a kid from Zimbabwe end up in Stow Vermont? I think for me it was just that whole journey and. As you look at your life, these interesting little connections that you make or decisions that you make where it takes you. Yep. And it's now led him just over Mahan. He loves it here. He is a part of the community. Yep. He's taken up skiing and all these other activities. I bet he never could have imagined that when you picture your life back in Zimbabwe. So that, that to me was the big takeaway. Yeah. Yeah. No, that was great. It was. It was just cool to see, I think all the people that helped him along the way in Zimbabwe. Yeah. He talked about a local tennis academy. I believe he had a scholarship there. Yep. just, yeah. It gives you some faith in humanity and also his time in sto being a person of color mentioning just how comfortable he feels here. Yeah.'cause that might not be like that for everybody. and what the community's meant him and kept him here. And, yeah. That was great. Good one. Okay. Rick. Sokolov, Rick Sokolov, my doppelganger. Really? Yeah. whenever I mountain bike people like, oh, Rick. Hey Rick. Okay. And they, I get that a lot. And he gets that too from me. I don't remember that being, yeah. No, he's my doppelganger. Yeah. I would say for that it was, as the title mentions, just that old school mountain bike history. Cutting trail, cutting trails. It just takes you to a different place. Yeah. That was really cool. Yeah. I still mountain bike a lot on a regular mountain bike. Let's make that clear. But don't they make e mountain bikes? They do make e mountain bikes, but I'm what was not ready for that? What was in the garage though? I thought it looked like I sat two. Those are E-bikes. I saw two of them, so Yeah, but they're not mountain bikes. Okay. Those are gravel touring bikes. You don't mountain bike anymore? I don't. and you can make fun of me for that. I was gonna, I should probably make fun of you for that.'cause that could be coming up for season two. Yep. I had some crash. Would you ever try it again? I'd say maybe. Have you ever done Florence at Katy Hill? Oh yeah. Yeah. Back when I was mountain biking. it's buff, it's smooth. Totally. No part of it is probably a little bit of a mental block. Yeah. I've just pushed it away. Yeah. for the listeners out there, had a couple crashes. Very bad. Concussion. I. But many years ago. Yeah. I've certainly healed up from it. And, were you pushing it too hard or just, or was it just a I wasn't that good at mountain biking. Oh, balance. Balance. It was on Swen house and there was just, a little part where there's, that's a tougher one. There were two trees. It was narrow and I got wobbly in the front. Fork folded. Yeah. Yeah, tumbled over, hit my head on a rock and that was that. But we'll see. Stay tuned. All right, Ted Thorndyke, return to mountain biking. We're gonna get you on a mountain bike and an e-bike. That's my goal. And going to the Jazz Festival and going to the Jazz Fest. Three walking in parades. Jesus. But, yeah, Rick, that was, yeah, that was just old school, mountain biking, old school that different time, different bikes, different trails. Everything was Swen house or Swen house. it's kinda like a new frontier. Yeah. I love those stories, but Yeah, you had to be definitely more hardcore to mountain bike. Absolutely. Now, like I said, it's buff gonna Katy Hill, you can take a beginner in there. Pretty much. Yeah. There was no Adams camp there. No. none of that stuff. Yeah. Early days. Early days. Old school. Yeah. No, that was cool that Jed and Carl Lipsky were up next. That was cool. Tandem Duo. That was our first tandem interview. That was our firsthand in interview at the Octagon podcast. Yeah. And we both know Jed and Carl from around town very well, and hockey and lots of things. I think for me, I know Jed. Does lots of things. Sportsmen, polo player. But I think we really focused on logging Totally. and the plight of the logger.'cause I think that has a lot of ramifications for places like Vermont and how the environment works with logging and the business and all of that. So that was an, that was just an interesting take on. That view for me. Yeah. Almost similar to Rick's episode. it took me back to another time, just how logging started. Yeah. And the practice of it, deep in the woods and the mountains, but then bringing it to current day and the issues. Yeah. That they were facing to run an, a logging operation. Yeah. The overhead, all that stuff. and it was cool to see that Carl is carrying that branch and branching out even a little bit too. Yeah. Tweaking the business model a little bit. So yeah, having both of them on who are both very good friends of both of ours was be good to get Jed back on. You just take a pulse of the State House.'cause I know that's gone through some changes here this year has, it has lots of education stuff and other things. All right. Next up was Dr. Rick Barnett psychedelic therapy. Pioneer. what? What was that like? Oh, boy. for me, psychedelic mushrooms, I think I told the story in that episode. So that always comes front and center. I think just he's at the forefront, Of this new science behind using things like, psychedelics. To, Improve, or in therapy. Yep. So just a whole new world for me. Yep. something I don't know anything about. And just to learn a little bit about that, was super interesting. Yeah. I think for me, I've spent many years working in the mental health field, so I think it was cool just to see you get that exposure. Yeah. that was super cool and, Yeah, and I think your story, that, that was actually probably the highlight for me. Yeah, that was right. If you haven't listened to that episode, you can tune to that episode and get the story out of that. Good story from Mike. Then, next up was number seven. One of our favorites, Brian Lindner, STO historian ski patrol, lived in the Base lodge, the Den Lodge, Mansfield Base Lodge in the den. I, I, with that one, I don't even know where to start. I think, obviously have loved every guest, all the stories, but that, that was special. Yeah, that was a special episode. he's passionate about STO history. He's very competent and, I enjoyed every piece of that, And, aside from the skiing, I thought it was just really cool his fascination with finding plane crashes. Oh, That's right. That was like a cool little offshoot and how much he loves doing it for the families. Yeah. Closure, all that stuff. we could definitely get him back on. Yeah. Oh yeah. And do some other takes. Resident historian. Resident historian. He did get injured this year. I heard about that. yeah, but he's gonna be, he's gonna be back. Of course. He'll what I heard. Course he'll. he's not going anywhere. Yeah. Any listeners out there if you have not listened to? Number seven. Brian Linner, if you wanna get pumped up for ski season. Really cool sto history. It's a good one. Alright. Rusty Dewe. The lagger. The lagger. What a great guy. I I really enjoyed, again, a similar story to almost like Simba. Yeah. Where his connections unbelievable. Got him. Yep. Through life and a career to make a career out of the lager. Yeah. Making fun of sort of the local Vermonter and putting a whole vaudeville act together. Yep. with that, and I think the thing I remember the most from the episode though, is you were talking about what it's like in Stowe and the changes that STO has gone through, and he brought up a great point. when he came to Stowe, and this is, I don't remember now, the eighties. Yeah, the eighties. Yeah. The eighties sounds right. It's just like a family movement to ow today, his family came here from, I think Philadelphia. Everybody came here at some point. Yeah. And, he wouldn't want his family to be treated any different. So that was just a really good point, right? Everyone's come here, so everyone likes to get grumpy about all the changes and all that. But yeah, I think too, just a good lesson in being an entrepreneur. Yeah. He has this one man operation, self-made man, and that he really just trusted things he enjoyed and, he'd get these jobs. He was, we're just working at a property and Yeah. And kept an open mind and, he met that person that, gave him that big break. Yeah. That, although I did see he started a podcast. You told me that I have not seen. Yeah, I, I haven't seen, I don't know if it's published yet, but I saw he started one, so we're gonna have to Little competition for the octagon. Did we inspire him? Potentially. Okay. Maybe we're one of the connections that's leading him to this business. To greatness. To greatness. All right. Mule Anto, stow Government Planning Commission, stows Future. Yeah, I think that was a very relevant guest and topic for just what's going on around Stowe. the topic of development, affordable housing, conserved land is a major. Hot button issue. So to have somebody front and center, very educated on the topic and the approach. I know I learned a ton. Yeah. Just, and I think I also learned a ton about how much she does and all these volunteers do for the town. Yeah. that's what I took away, is we all have grand ideas, for all kinds of things. A gondola through the middle of town, more bike lanes, but you need people to take these initiatives on. And the more, the more people get involved, the better. Yeah. No, that was great. Okay. We hit number 10 with Noah Dines set the world record. Yeah. And that was right after he set the world record. But he was still within the year. Yeah. Still within the, that was in three and a half million vertical feet. Yeah. And the record was 2.5. Yeah. blew it. Blew it out of the water. He shattered it. What? yeah. What was that like? For you. I see Noah out there and I follow him, yeah. On Instagram, so I'd followed his story. So I knew a lot of that, the perseverance that it took from him and. For him. I, it's like, what's next? Yeah. He did that and I think I, I got that sense from him. He was doing it to see what it felt like just to do it. Yeah. No other reason. Yeah. What does it feel like to do that every day, and that's your mission? Yeah. he'd be good to get back on and see how, next year what, how he navigates. I, he's West Ski season out west. He's out west right now, biking, maybe May going to Mount Hood, but yeah, that's Strava. The Strava report. The Strava, yeah. He's making his way across there. But, yeah, I've known Noah for a while. I see him skinning all the time. And, I think my takeaway is I was thinking, we'll get him in the studio. he'll break down his venture, and I'm still just as perplexed. and impressed about what he accomplished, There's no way around three and a half million. No. You're climbing it or you're not. And he's, I think you see him out there little wild, Yeah. flies up, flies down. But behind the scenes, super smart guy. Yeah. Creative, just, I was really impressed. dynamic guy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Then number 11, we had Brian back on. Yeah. Brian Linner. We couldn't keep him away. That was all about OW trails. My favorite was Whirl Away. Where Whirl Away got its name. Yeah. That was from in, old Racehorse that was popular in that day. Yep. It's a perfect name for that trail. It really is. Whirl away. Yeah. You go down that and it's a circus. Yep. There's rocks, there's twist turns, there's people, there's. Hidden at little nooks and crannies. Yep. Yeah, no, that was cool to get a little more granular about these trails that, we've skied hundreds of times Yeah. To see, God, what was that one story wasn't Star initially called National. it was something along those lines and they had named it. For a ski race, I believe. Yeah. It was the international maybe. Yes. Yes. The international. Yes, the international. And then they renamed it. Yes. I thought that, I don't know. There's just nothing about that. That, alright. And Jan Reynolds. Wow. What an adventurer that woman is. That was unbelievable. Fascinating. Fascinating. I didn't know a lot of those stories, I'm gonna guess what you're gonna say for your favorite store. So I'm just gonna say it. The hot air balloon. the hot air balloon crashing into Mount Everest and the fact that Jan blew it off as no big deal. It caught on fire. She's on Mount Everest and we're like, tell us more. And she just says, oh, it was no big deal. We were fine. Just figured it out. Yeah. Emergency management. Yeah, that was a wild story, but for me, it was how she brought it all together, the. Intersection of how all these different components came together. So it was exploring more than just camping in the woods. Yep. It was really getting out there and exploring far away places. The gear to allow you to go do this. Yep. And the media, things like outside magazine and, those types of journals publishing these stories, that whole intersection coming together. with her and her teammates, that she would do this with, that was unbelievable to me. A pioneer,'cause without work that she did, like you talked about the media, the equipment, I. Who knows how that would've developed or not developed. Yeah.'cause of that we take it for granted. Yes. That we have all this unbelievable gear and we get to read about what it's like to navigate Mount Everest and, yep. Yeah. Yeah. And when she wasn't doing that, I didn't know she was on the US Biathlon team, so it's okay, I'm gonna take a break from climbing Everest and just do this, just Olympic biathlete situation. So yeah. Um, I found that, yeah. Amazing. Pretty cool. Majestic Mount Mansfield embodies the spirit of Stowe heritage. And we're proud to present the Octagon Podcast, a true reflection of our amazing community. Stowe Living is honored to sponsor this podcast. We're helping you live your best life daily with stunning furniture, unique design, kitchenwares, thoughtful gifts sourced from around the world. Thank you Stowe for your continued support of Stowe Living and the Octagon Podcast. When it comes to luxury real estate in Stowe Trust, Meg Kaufman of Land Vests, Christie's International Real Estate. Meg Kaufman knows the market inside and out. She's been a part of the Stowe community for over 20 years. Whether you're buying or selling, Meg Kaufman offers a concierge level of service. Taylor, just for you. Backed by the power of land vests and Christie's International. She brings proven success and local insight to every transaction, luxury real estate, local expertise. Meg Kaufman and Land Vests are the team you want on your side. All right. Andre Blaze the Andre the Snow Report. Snow Report. Godfather at Stowe. yeah. The routine. Yep. Yep. I think we were both blown away by the routine. The detail. Detail. We read the snow report and we just think Yep. Ah, they woke up. Automated thing. Automated thing. Nope. They're getting there early. They're checking. The, the snow stakes, I'd say meticulous. Talking to the groomers, doing the weather. Yep. They do a lot. An obsession. An obsession and, an obsession. I wanna go do it with him this winter. Maybe we can convince season Yeah. Andre to do a live We'll tag along. Yeah. Tag along session. Yeah, no, he was great. Great to just see his passion and, for the mountain and how much they care about giving accurate information. Yeah. JP Peak. We're not so sure about that. Anyways, that was an aside. But, really cool love, love their dedication. And one of the controversial topics of the year was his JP accurately reporting snowfall and still don't know. So we will revisit that in season two. But, that was great. Great guy. Funny, great energy. Yeah. Jeff Clark Edelweiss, he was great. Yeah. Multifaceted. Yeah. Yeah. Both from the ski perspective and the business perspective. Kind of the business case study on how to take totally a decent business And make it a thriving business. Yeah. I think that was my takeaway and probably one of our first real business focused. Yeah. Yes. Which people enjoyed. got a lot of good feedback, especially business-minded folks. Yeah. here in STO and, yeah, just a friendly, intelligent, hardworking guy. Passionate about STO and yeah. Really just revitalized this kind of institution in sto. Yeah. you drive by it. Yep. Always full bustling. Always full bustling. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Really grown that. Alright, next was Cap Chenoweth Stough Derby. This is Stow Derby Special. there's another controversy from season one. Okay. Did Mike beat Ted at the S Stow Derby? So let's dive into this Ted, beat Mike, on the first leg of the two leg event, the skating, the skate, by how much? I don't remember. Let's say five to 10 minutes, I think it was. Then the second event of the sport was the classic. Okay. And who won that? I think you barely, not by 10 minutes, I don't think. Oh, no. Crushed you. You were flying. I crushed you. I was impressed. I was impressed. So when you looked at the overall time, which is what gets posted, we can go look at the website here. I guess we, we did enter the Derby Meister, right? Yeah. That's what got posted was the combined time. And I did beat you. Yeah, no, that was, I know you treat the classic as a, you treat it as a tour, not a race. A second class citizen. You a second class citizen. That's where I shined. No, you were flying, man. I was, Super impressed that I bullied you into doing it. So good on you. I was psyched. and man, you were flying. I was back there with Andrew Rush, but I was like, ah, I'm just, I'm gonna chill. So that, the first event, good on you. The skate when the Dartmouth ski teams up there doing their little practicing Yep. And the other ski teams are up there. I knew I was in a, I was in over my head for the skate. There's been rumblings about getting together a heavy metal. group to do the derby. Yeah. And Dustin Martin, one of our guests, he did a on alpine skis on Alpine ski. you're gonna, you're gonna do it? I'm doing it, yeah. I'm not signing up for that. Yeah. No. Are you gonna do the Derby meister? I may have a annual college friend weekend that weekend and force all of them to do the derby, which they don't cross country ski. So if that's the case, I'll be supporting. My team to get them to the finish line. Yeah. So TBD, but that was a great episode. Good. Have cap on there telling us. Cool. It's the Derby history and I think it, it helped get the word out a little bit. we're really hoping to revive it. Did the derby. So I think those early stories of Cap doing the derby and crossing wooden planks across rivers, pre-rec path. He had wax in his pocket, he's wearing jeans, fell off the planks in the river just. Yeah. And he talks about it. It was, when was Derby Day? You did the derby. Totally. Everyone did the derby. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. It was just trying to bring that back. Yeah. More people need to sign up for the Derby next year. Yep. So season two, we'll be honing on the Derby again. Next one. Matt Testa and the Art of Back Country Ski Filming. This was a surprise one for me when you brought Matt as a potential guest. Yeah. I didn't really know what we would talk about. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, all right, you love skiing. You're really good at skiing. Where else do we go? I didn't know where else to go. Yeah. And then we got him on and it was really cool to hear, first of all, to see his Gaia map. Yep. Yeah. Which he wouldn't really share with us. I tried to take a picture of it, but he was the detailing it. Yeah. And the lines he checks out and how he approaches filming, getting the right shot, doing it in the morning for better light. Yep. All of that really spectacular footage. And I think he's an example of just that next generation in STO that are really. Make this town what it is. it's not always just the people that have been here for 50 years. Yeah. And Matt is relatively recent to Stowe and, passionate about the mountain, passionate about the town, and just seeing how everybody is making it work. He's able to get up there, 150 days a year. Yeah. Creates his life to some in Maine. And, yeah, just love, love the passion, and, Yeah, follow him on Instagram if you're not Matt Testa. Great stuff. alright. Hockey theme. This was our first hockey guest. Mike was priestly. Yeah, it was the Hy Cup. Hy Cup. Weekend Special Cup. Special. That special. Special. I know you played in honor of your In honor of my dad. Dad, yep. What'd you think of this episode? So I've known Mike for many years playing hockey. Mike, great guy. Good hockey player. Um, excuse me. played a lot of golf with him too. great athlete. I knew very little about his writing. Yeah. And I was just blown away by just his writing skills, how well he speaks. just bringing out that I. That meditative side of Mike and just what it's like writing? Yeah. So after the episode, okay. my wife is in a book club And they chose his book as I lie. So I agreed to read the book. It's the first book I've read in, in entirety in a long time. Yeah. don't usually have time for reading, but that I took it on and it was a great book. I highly recommend as I lie. Okay. set in Vermont. Yep. they find it dead body in the river. a dysfunctional family getting together. Really great story. Great read. Yeah, so we did the book club and Mike came and spoke about it. We were able to ask him questions and really cool. Understand his perspective on it. It was really cool. Maybe I'll grab that book on the way out. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, we've got it for you. And signed. Signed by Mike. Signed by Mike. Yeah, that was, Mike was great. I learned just a lot about him and writing in general. So that was, That was great. Next up after that, Dustin Martin. Yeah, Dustin Martin. That was a great episode. Another surprise for me when you brought, I don't know, Dustin, I didn't know him from before. ski racing extraordinaire. Yep. But the whole. Tracking Whitetailed deer. Yeah. you love that. I love that. Yeah.'cause I'm not a hunter. Yeah. And I listen to him talk about What it takes to track deer. Yeah. Pick out your spots. Get in tune with Oh, they're betting down. That means, yeah. that means this is, that means this. Or how fresh the track is. How fresh the, that's an hour of that. Yeah. No, that was amazing to me. It's an art. Yeah. It's an art. Yeah. No, for me, I've known Dustin and his family, my entire life. So I had some good knowledge on, his ski racing and hunting and, I think my takeaway was just how much he values conservation Yeah. Respects to animals. he does it ethically. A lot of people think of deer hunting. Oh. It's just people drinking beer on the side of the road. Yeah. Road hunting and, Not the case. Not the case for Dustin. This was sport nature. All of it combined. The passion is yeah, that was great. Was bleeding through, so that was great. That was good. Next up, the scribe, Kim Brown. Legend. Stow Legend. Most people know Kim Brown that ski on this mountain. Wood skiing at Stowe is special. It's one of the things that makes Stowe a great ski mountain. Absolutely, yes. And hearing the stories. Behind them cutting some of these trails. Like angel food and having it all to themselves. Could you imagine that your own private powder stash in the woods, spec that would be special, baby special. Very special. Yeah, that was really cool. And probably my favorite story is baby land. And it was called Babyland because they all had the babies in the backpacks. Yeah. Trimming trails. Yeah. and what you just said too, the angel food, talking about having it to themselves and I think he mentioned it to one patroller and that was it. That was the end of it. that was great. All right. Probably, or maybe I should say arguably, one of the biggest stories during season one in the Stoke community was Buster Brown, the 24 day adventure. Yeah. Grip the community this winter, gripped grip, the community, the lost beagle. Was he alive? Where was he? What could he possibly be doing for all that time? For me bringing in Chris, so the episode had a remote viewer that was helping. Matt Naren. Try and locate the dog. Yep. And hearing from Chris how it's a science to her and the drawings that she brought, showcasing what she was seeing. And especially that last drawing Yeah. That showed, I think you validated there. Ski trails, Ginsburg property, a wall color of the house, certain things and the driveway. it was almost like a cul-de-sac. Yeah. And. Yeah, whether you believe or not, of course in remote viewing, of course everybody can have their own thoughts. But to see the detail and yeah, how the science behind it was really cool. Yeah. And then to have Buster here in the studio, in the background jingling around in the studio. Yeah, that was really cool. And I think my two takeaways, it was, having a dog myself and. Growing up with dogs my life, just to see the dedication that Matt and Aaron had for their dog. Yeah. Matt's out there cooking bacon in the middle of the night. just how much they put into it, how much they cared about their dog, and how much the community cared, yeah, it was pretty amazing. Yeah. a testament to Stowe. All right. Mike Leach history of ski racing at Stowe. Yeah, this was super cool. we really honed in on specifically the racing history and I think for me, probably the coolest part was, just talking about racing on the toll road among so many different races we had were the first I. high school races in Vermont were held on that trail and just how integral that was for the growth of the sport. Getting kids on skis. Getting kids racing. Yeah. That was just something I didn't know until we talked to Mike. Yeah. Yeah. And some of the early days of skiing on nose dive. Yeah. Careening down seven turns. Yep. On old skis, world Cup races too. Yeah. Some on CBS sports. yeah, Mike, he's a wealth of knowledge. If you've seen him around town, definitely hit him up for some skit racing history. So next up was Christina Von Trap Frame, trap Family Lodge. what an iconic special place. I went to the concert there last week. Nice. The Sunday night, VSO. It's just amazing. Unbelievable to sit out on that picnic Yeah. And listen to music. what do you bring up there? what's in your. Old picnic box. Yeah. You know what, we weren't, we usually would do a little bit bigger spread this time. We took a leftover approach to the picnic. Cheese bread was the end of July, fourth week. Oh yeah. We were kinda worn out. had some leftovers. yep. But, yeah, I don't even have a ton to say about that. it, so much of traps for me is just. Caught up in just my head and emotion. It's just special. Yeah. I just feel good when I'm there. And Nordic skiing. Yeah. The birth of, ah, it's just birth of Nordic skiing and the cabin. Yeah. Yep. When you get there, it's a great place. And Christina's journey I. From living out west, coming back to STO Australia. Australia, yep. Getting back involved with the end. Yeah. It's really cool to, to see how it's, how they've developed it too. Thoughtfully. Yeah. They have the brewery now, biking, brewery, biking, it's put in pickleball too, which Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. Depends on your stance on that. Yeah. But, yeah, family lodge. Yeah. That was great. All right. Joanna Graves. just talk about a community staple. Yeah. That woman. Yeah. I think she's done so much for youth athletics. She was athletic director and obviously starting ride. Yeah. and what was really evident to me is she didn't start that just to make some money. She just loves to do fitness, love, see people work out, get healthy, like that's her love. Yeah. See people transform. Yeah. That was, that's her love. That's what came through in that episode for sure. Sure. Did. Next up Tom Rogers, sto, land Trust Executive Director and wildlife biologist. lots of great stories, but the best story was spraying. Yeah, spraying himself with the bear spray, which has, I forget the metric of hotness. Like a traditional jalapeno pepper is 50. It was, and this has a million. Yeah. Something like that. That was, and spraying that in his face. that was definitely a top story. And yeah, just learning more about. Stow Land Trust and my takeaway with Tom was lot goes into conserving a property. Yeah. It's not just, okay, we find this land, someone wants to do it. there's a lot of work. You have to be thoughtful, legal ramifications and, yeah, really just made me respect even more of the work and Lucky and Stow to have so many properties, so many preserved. Yep. That's great. Thank you. Stole Land Trust. Yeah. Great to have Tom on there. All right. Charlotte Brynn. open water swimmer, the stories, the English channel. doing that multiple times to finally achieve that was real eyeopener for me. She overcame a lot to make that happen. Overcame a lot. Yeah. Yeah. For me it was just the little tidbits of the stories of, in the Hudson there's couches flying by. Yeah. Shark bite, shark bites, Catalina Island, and just swimming through it. Yep. And, perseverance. Perseverance is just dedication and cold. Cold water. Cold dealing with cold. And she's even said she's not a cold water Yeah. Person. She had to teach her body Yep. to do that. Yep. Yep. That was great. Okay. Next up was Teagan Reeves. Teagan Reeves. local meteorologist went to school with my daughter. I love this one. Me too. I loved me hearing about. Just her journey to become a TV meteorologist as well as what it's like to be a 20 absolutely young, 20 something person in Stowe. Yeah. And we'll be exploring more of that in season two. Yeah. And yeah, definitely in season two, that was an eyeopener for us to bring in the youth perspective, and places she goes and, line dancing and to her lower bar is more mature, people talking about work and not as fun as a birds or an Alfie. So I thought that was really cool. No, that was great. Brian Huber, orthopedic surgeon. What has that guy not done? it, after that interview, I had him questioning my life. Yeah. Amazing guy. Yeah. Amazing guy. Just to even get to the point where he's in sto, the, The medical journey, the navy career, snowboard team. All of those different aspects and dealing with leukemia. Yep. Overcoming Leukemia. Yeah. I know a little story that caught me was, he mentions he had just been diagnosed, he was going down to Boston for treatment and just that moment where he is with his son in the Stowe High School parking lot. And, it was, he's usually I drop my son off and he would just run off into school. And his son took that moment to say, you got this dad. And, just seeing Brian, get emotional talking about that. And, that was special. That was special. Okay. All right. We did a shout out to the Jazz Fest. Yeah. George Petit. George Petit. So I think just come to the Jazz fest next weekend next and see the vision that George has created. Yep. Storied musical career. But just go to the Jazz Fest next weekend. Yeah. And that will, and you'll see it. You'll see it. All right. Last episode was Greg Goodson. Oh yeah. As an animal lover. That was, That was super cool. when I think of Greg and the stories he told, oh, it's gotta be just thousands of pets that, that he's taken care of. and it's obvious in talking to him, he's passionate about, about animals and, he has that compassion to, he's on emergency calls and Yeah. at all times. I think I know what your favorite story was. just to me, his license plate. Yeah. Quills. Yeah. That says it all. And the final piece that was really cool, was it a Jaguar. That he took care of. a leopard might have been leopard. Yeah, definitely an exotic cat. That was super cool. All right. Wow. That was a great run through. That took me, that was an amazing season one that took me down memory lane. Good stuff. Let's talk a little bit about what's coming next. Yeah. What's coming next for season two, Mike? What listeners have look forward to After this episode, we're introducing a concept called Octagon Labs. Okay. Where we've got some community members who have expressed interest In starting podcasts themselves. Yep. In the Stow community, we're gonna partner with them and bring some of those episodes to our listeners. Yep. So Octagon Labs, think of it as a podcast incubator. Yeah. And absolutely. And in addition to that, the, there will be a theme, there will be a theme and a topic of something that our listeners can take with them. Yeah. it'll be a topic, something they can learn more about, implement into their lives if they feel Yeah. To help them. so we'll be having, Some of those in season two different topics. Yep. I'm hoping to get a friend of mine on who trains triathletes. Yeah. So he can do, peak Performance Nutrition Lab, just as an example. So yeah. we're super psyched about that. Yeah. Format. Yep. So teaser of the two episodes for GON Labs. Do we tell people? Yeah, tell'em. All right. Episode one of Octagon Labs. Mindfulness led by one of our guests. Yep. And one of her, friends. And episode two is Trivia Buzz for an all you trivia fans out there. I didn't know I was such a trivia fan. Yeah, you're new to trivia too. Yeah. And and I loved it. So yeah, it'll really scramble the brain up in a good way. Ways, yeah. Think it'll be fun for people. So yeah, just things that, that people can take away. And so we'll be sprinkling some of those in season two. And of course, we'll. Keep launching our traditional format of interviews, but, just stay tuned. Yeah. Act to gun labs. Yeah. It's a really cool act to Gun Labs concept. we're excited about. So I think that's a wrap on That is a wrap. Season one. We'll see everybody kicking things back off in the fall for season two. Yeah. And in September we'll be kicking off season two. Yeah. And I know, I'm excited. Yeah, for sure. Got some new ideas. And again, we're gonna try to bring some of these newer people. Yep. To Stone, not just the OGs. We're gonna mix it up a little bit. We're gonna mix it up a little bit more. We'll mix it up a little bit. All right, everybody, enjoy the rest of your summer. alright listeners, thanks for listening to our season one recap. Coming up next is some bonus footage from the Octagon Podcast. Mike and I, at last week's July 4th parade did a live recording. We interviewed folks in the lineup, live footage through Main Street. Which I must say was a chaos, wild scene, chaos, a scene chaos. So yeah. Sights and sounds of the July 4th parade. Yep. Tune in. It's, it's some great content. Super fun. Exciting. Mike didn't raw footage here. Mike got hit with a fortune cookie at one point. But, yeah. Tune in. It's, it's rapid fire questions with our guests. Yep. Rapid fire questions. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. So tune in. Alright. All right. Here we are. Pre parade. Don't say anything stupid. pre-PA Parade. We got Buster Brown. Let's see. Buster Grand Marshall. Buster, are you excited for the parade? Aaron was Buster in the Moscow parade? I understand. Mosco. How'd he do? The theme was Buster Brown for president, which no orange. Just brown first animal ever to be the Grand Marsh Marshall of the parade. All right, That's number one in the lineup. Here's Ashley Getty, who organized all this. What has the process been like organizing this parade? I've gotten it down to a science. So it's pretty easy nowadays, right? Yeah. This is one of the biggest we've had though. Almost 40 entries. Amazing. we appreciate all the work you did. Very organized. Thank you. Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam in the house. Happy fourth. Happy fourth to you. Who's your favorite founding father? I think Thomas Jefferson. Okay. Thomas Jefferson. Alright. Nice. Why reasons. And a couple that, not so positive, but yeah, I'm a Tommy fan. Alright, awesome. hot dog or hamburger on your 4th of July? Barbecue. It doesn't matter as long as it's, vegetarian based. Okay. Oh, okay. All right. all right. 10 years, no beef, chicken, or pork. Okay. Good for you. Look at the man. The man is ripped. I don't know about that. Have fun. We got Miss Vermont here. Hi, miss Vermont. How are you? Welcome to Stowe. Thank you. It's such a beautiful day for this. Yeah. Where are you from? I'm from Addison. Addison? Yes. And then there's Emma, miss Vermont's teen over here. Oh, okay. Okay. S six. All right. So yeah. Cool. The Octagon podcast. Yep. We run a podcast here in Stowe. Hi, that's so cool. I'm Emma. It's nice to meet you. Where are you? Where are you from? South Arlington. Nice. welcome to Stow. Thank you. Sticker Butternut Mountain Farm. Yep. Butternut gold. I'm noticing a dog theme. A lot of dog, actually. Yeah. What's what? You're right. What do you make of that? Oh, they got two. They got two cars worth of butternut gold. Gold. Mike. I think what that means is you're getting a dog after this. We're not getting a dog. Lisa's allergic. what else do we got going here? we got the bed over here. Yep, we got the bed. That's a Green Mountain Inn. Green Mountain Inn. Carl Lipsky is driving the truck. Past guest on the Octagon. His wife. Emily Lipsky works at the Green Mountain Inn. It takes care of all the guests coming into town. What else do we got? We got some more theme here. we got the STO Bear Project St. Stove Bear Project. Don't know what that is. I'm intrigued. Dunno what that is. Should we find out? Yeah, let's go. Say hi to the Stoke Bear project. We're making our way over. We got the STO Youth hockey float. Yep. John Flint Looks good driving it. Hi Molly. We're the Octagon Podcast here in Stowe. Hi, nice to meet you. Tell us about the Bear Project. Absolutely. So we are a Castow community based advocacy group, and we're focusing on really bringing attention to the bears in our community. To help support the Bears, to make our community more bear wise. Yep. and really, we have a. Also a youth group that's also advocating. Oh, awesome. So what we really wanna do is just improve their life in the community. Help protect them. Get'em out of our trashes. Yep. And get'em back in the wild. Create awareness. Exactly. Awesome. There's a lot of things that we can be doing. We can do better. To coexist. To coexist. Let's say bears are everywhere now. Yep. We wanna help the community do that. Absolutely. Awesome. We don't wanna have it put on anybody. We wanna be there and facilitate and make it easy. That's great for our community to do that. thanks for sharing that. Yeah, thanks. Keep up the good work. Thank you. All right. Hi, stow. Youth hockey. Youth hockey float here. Looks like some happy hockey players over here. John Flint, pyramid Stoneworks is driving the float. Yep. John Flint. Let's go take a quick hi to Johnny. Let's go to Johnny. Johnny. Boy. All Johnny. Johnny on. You're on air. Who's your favorite founding father? George Washington. All right. Hot dogs or hamburgers? Hamburgers. Smash Burger or Big Juicy Burger? Big Juicy Burger. Yeah. Cheese. Cheese, lettuce, tomato. Yes. I can confirm. John can eat. John can eat. Oh, double. Big juicy burger. Maybe John. I've had his steak tips or I've had his bar, his barbecue's. Unbelievable. John's also driving the Pyramid Stoneworks truck. Yeah. If for any fine stonework that you need in. Ow. John Flynn at Pyramid Stoneworks is your man. All right. We got Kate Carpenter. Still living here. Still living with the cow. Okay. favorite founding Father George Washington. Hot dog or Hamburger Smash Burger. Okay. Was That's what we thought. That flies. I love the Smashburger. Yeah, you knew it. I, oh yeah. We've had a lot of Juicy Burger, but not a lot of smash burgers. Oh, we got Ryan Percy Sighting Ryan, get over here. yeah. Hey, great to see you. How you doing, buddy? Yeah, you Are you driving a float? I'm driving Keith Float. Oh, nice. Alright. hot dog or hamburger on your 4th of July celebration, hamburgers. that makes sense actually. Yeah. Good to see Ryan. Ryan too. Okay. Wow. All right. Got the ride. Float here. Who is your favorite founding father? Oh, George. Okay. George Washington. George Washington. A lot of George Washington's today. All right. We got the ride crew here. Oh, Pete Grapes. Oh, wait, who? Pat Keke. Favorite founding father? And then we see sushi. Yoshi Sushi. We can say a quick hello. Hi, sushi. Yoshi. You guys giving out sushi? No. Fortune cookies, candy? Sushi enough? Okay. Favorite founding father? Thomas Jefferson? Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan. Okay. Pete taking outside the box. That's solid. Solid hot dog or hamburger? Hot dog. Hotdog. With what on it? Hamburger. Hamburger. Oh. Change your mind. Change your mind. Hot dog plain or lots of stuff works. Anything new at sushi Yoshi That, that you wanna spread the word on? We're from the Octagon Podcast. So anything you wanna share about any new dishes or events? We're doing some live music first and third Thursdays of the month, to come check out, but consistency is key. Same menu. Still doing the same thing, 1130 to 10, six days a week. Awesome. Very cool. Su shoshi. Thank you. How would you describe the energy thus far here? I think people just the parade lineup, the weather's unbelievable weather, so I, that makes people happy. If it was super hot and humid, I think it'd be grumpy thinking, very little humidity. On our left we have Stow Communications, Haitians, which, getting high speed internet in this town can be a challenge. no small feat. Larger town in Vermont. no small feat. I just recently switched the, so communication's been a great decision for me. Really fast. Dude, we gotta go by these guys. Oh, we gotta go by the snails here. They're rocking. They're rock. The snails are rocking here. Let's go right up. All right. All right. We got Chris Jolly here. Favorite founding father. Oh man. George Washington Party. Let's go. Yeah, let's party bing. There you go. Woo. Let's go. Passing the swimming hole right now. Yeah. This is a nice pace actually. Yeah, no, it's good. I feel like we can keep this pace going too much faster. I'd be getting tired. So I did do a poll of all the local hockey players. I asked them what their favorite hockey team was and they said the Bruins. They said the Bruins. Yep. Yep. I heard a lot of Tampa bays too. Would you say the town is buzzing right now on this? we're gonna, I think we're gonna turn this corner and it's gonna be chaos. Yeah. I don't know if anything will compare to the PON Ski though. those crowds were, that was epic. that was, world Cup crowds. That was, I think, you know what, with this weather and could be all time, I think it's gonna be cranking, especially when we get towards town. Do you think it'll probably be the biggest and best parade in the. History of the town. I would imagine the bicentennial in 1976 was probably crazy'cause I was 10. Yep. And I remember the bicentennial where I grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts. Yep. And it was huge. Yep. Yep. So maybe next year, 250 years, Yeah. That could be a big, could be a banger big year for it. Could be a banger. have we got Stow Police doing a great job here? Yep. Yep. Stow pd. Shout out to Stow PD Let's go ask him his favorite founding father. I'd like to know. Okay. Going up to Stoke PD here. One question for you. Hello, sir. Favorite founding Father George Washington. Yeah, Yeah. Lot of Georges today. That's an easy one, right? We've just entered the mountain road. Yep. And we've got a whole big crowd here. The, where do you think these people are from? New York, Boston, Montreal. Montreal. Yeah. That's my guess. Hey guys. Octagon podcast. Yep. Check it out. Yeah. Where you guys from? New York City. Alright. Must be a little bit cooler here in Stover Vermont than you've been dealing with. Alright. Who's your favorite founding father? George Washington. George, there's a lot of Georges today. That's been the common answer, right? Who is your favorite founding father? Alexander Hamilton. Ooh, that's a good one. we even had Alexander yet. That's the first, it's a first question for you. Hot dogs or hamburgers? Both. Both. Usually you have to choose, but we're gonna accept both today on July 4th Octagon podcast. Happy fourth. Yeah. Happy fourth. Local podcast. Octagon Podcast. Yeah. One for each of You want a sticker? There you go. Yeah. One quick question. Favorite founding father? Oh, God. Oh, I don't know. That's a tough one. I know what you should say with that shirt on. Tom Brady, obviously. Tom Brady, for sure. Tom Brady. We'll go. Tom Brady, are you throwing sushi? we're getting our steps in today, Mike. Yeah, this is cool. It's not that busy right here. Oh, main, I think. I think it's gonna start cranking, right? Main Street will be packed. Main Street will be packed. got some people at Katy Hill Lodge here. Yep. Did you hit up Katy Hill this morning? I did. I rode Katy Hill this morning. Hey guys, octagon Podcast here in Stowe. You just have to answer one question. Hot dogs or hamburgers. Ooh, I'm a hamburgers person. Smash Burger or Big Juice Smash Burgers? Burger. Smash Burger. All right. I'd have to go with Smash Burger too. All right. All Smash Burgers. Thank you. Cruising by the bench. And what's your order at the bench, Mike? God the bench has so many good things. I know. I usually don't get a burger there. Yep, I hear that.'cause I feel like they have so many other good things. Chicken Caesar wrap is good. Poutine is phenomenal. Kale salad is even good. Yep. But what did I have the other day there? I got the steak, the New York strip. Okay. I had the Meatloaf You ever go here? Field Guide. Field Guide? No. They do some concerts here in the, I did go here for the STO Derby. Yeah, the STO Derby event. Yep, for sure. But they had, G Love Play there again. Couple times. It's a big name every year. Okay. Passing the Stow Cinema Threeplex. Stow Hardware. How often do you get to Stow Hardware? Are you a regular? I feel like there's regulars and I'm a random. Yeah, I'm not a regular. Yeah. with my house, I just do what needs to be done. I'm not like a huge project guy. Yeah. I'm not like a DIY spend my whole weekend doing it. Do you just go right in or do you ask for help? Never ask for help. Oh, I ask for help, but they can usually tell that I need help. I always ask for help. Oh, we gotta get it to Bart. Bart. Bart. New house. Favorite founding father. You're on air. Oh, sweet. Favorite founding father. Probably Benjamin Franklin. I think he was. That was me. he was, keep me out of this. All right. Hot yoga sto. they're doing yoga on the side right now. Getting ready. How do you pronounce this store? Melo. Moja is what I say, but I don't know if that's right. Hey guys. Octagon podcast. Some stickers just have to answer one question out, give it a listen. Who's your favorite founding father? My father. Your father? Wow. That's a good one. I like that. I'm with you. That would be me. All right, who's your favorite founding father? George Washington. Okay, you Georges? Today? I would've to say Benjamin Franklin'cause I'd love, frankly, it was me. Octagon Podcast here in Stowe. Thank you. That's a cool shirt. As Pro Shop. You a fisherman? I am a fisherman. Fishing this year, Ben. Not too bad. I think I've caught a fish every time except for twice. So here in Vermont from Massachusetts. Oh, so you're ocean fishing? No, like little ponds. Yeah. Pond fishing. bass fishing. Nice. So how's your summer going so far? Summer's been great. a lot of tennis on the docket. Yeah. Yeah. Of, we've had a few good matches, a few good matches. a lot of gravel biking. Yeah. And some good hikes. I actually, for my girlfriend's birthday, we did Halbrook Sunrise, Halbrook mission. And I've also done a couple hikes. Take the gondola down. I know that's a Mike Carey Classic. Yeah. That's a favorite of mine. Hazelton up Or you just take the road, don't you? I just took the road up. I had my dog, so it was just easier. Yeah. Oh, we have a biker. Yeah. That's, oh, you know who that is? Yeah. He lives right by me from Quebec, Matthew Marshan. Oh, he's a big biker. Yeah. You know him? I've just heard his name. Yeah. Local biking legend, Strava. Yeah, I know. We gotta get you back on Mike. back on Strava. Yeah, we talked about that. Who is your favorite hockey player? Professional. Is NoQ number 86, the New Jersey Devils. He's pretty good. Charlie. Charlie, your dad made you say that? Me, Charlie, like the boy, Boston Bruins. Who here likes the Bruins? Me? Yep. Yep. Bruins are the favorite. Told you Mike. Yeah. you would think the Bruins, is that your favorite team? Yeah, I'm in Boston. good. Straight up from down the line. Yeah, we'll see what they do next year. Oh, Bruins. Oh yeah. Hardcore. But are you Red Sox? I don't really follow baseball or basketball, sadly. I know football, Patriots, but it's reluctant. Just a really just Bruins. I'm a hockey guy, I just love the sport. Yeah. Bit of a nerd. Bit of a fantasy hockey. Yeah. Study the analytics. we have a break in the crowd here. I know. We're so down. why do you think that is, Mike? I think now we're taking that left turn. Yeah. Towards Mountain Road, towards Glory One might say, you know what this reminds me of what that, what is that? I just had a flashback too. I did the Boston Marathon. Oh yeah. I see that 16, 17 years ago. How many times did once I did Boston Once. One and done. Yeah. And I did Main once, but Yep. You come down. I don't know if you've ever been or I have not. Okay, so you basically, you turn right on Harford Street. Okay. And then you turn left on Boyleston and is it pretty cool? And when you turn left on Boyleston Electric,'cause you've got about a half a mile to go. Yep. And you know you've done it at that point. Yeah. And the crowd is 10 deep and they are just going crazy. That's gotta be a cool feeling. So that's what this reminds me of. All right. Stand up for democracy, Alan Kovac. Who is your favorite founding father? And I know you've definitely got a favorite founding father. My favorite Ben Franklin. That was mine too. Yep. he invented a lot too. He's Oh, invented a lot. Smart, smart guy. Alright. To DaVinci, but not quite. All right. Great. All the founding fathers. Yeah. All right. Stand up for democracy. There you go. Stand up for democracy. Okay, so we're coming up on the Ow, village Inn. I remember it passed Octagon Gas that Dustin Martin was talking about grants. Yeah. Have you been to grants? Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. What's the, I hear nothing about good things. Solid. Yeah. Solid. Great. I've never been, they redid the inside. Yeah. So it's really nice inside. You can sit outside on the patio. You're right by the patio. right by the water. beautiful spot. Yeah. Yeah. Nice spot. I'll have to put it on my list. Yeah. Great menu. great bartenders. Okay. Jonathan, I believe. Jonathan. Yep. Yep. Local legend. I wonder how much of this candy is making its way into, I see a lot of candy all over the ground. it looks like they have, a biker behind them on cleanup duty. Got it. Do you find the kids love stickers? Any sticker? I think so. I think parents like stickers too. Yep. Can we just dump a bunch off here? Stickers for you. Octagon Podcast. Give it a listen. Candy Central right here. Yeah, sure is. Oh, he is got the fishing net. There. In there. There. There will be some kids. Very jacked up on sugar after this, Mike. How about the new Simon Pierce building? Beautiful over here. Yeah. Beautiful. ridiculous, right? Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. Overlooking the river. All right. We're coming up at the end of the bridge on the maple Fields. Yeah. We're gonna turn left. You gonna stop in for a coffee, Mike? At Maple Fields? I'm not. Where do you, you go to Maple. Where do you get your coffee home? Do you ever go out? You know what, I'll, I will go to some of the establishments for espresso in the afternoon, such as, Woodland. Okay. the Roastery. I've never been to the Roastery. I hear it's amazing. Excellent. Yep. Excellent. Yep. Yep. Those are probably my two. I'm a Maple Fields guy. Really? Just, you're probably not surprised. Just, you, what do you get a large coffee? Yeah. Cream and sugar or black. Or if it's afternoon, I'll do a half and half'cause I don't want too much caffeine. Half. Yeah. Yeah. Sugar and cream or black. Just milk. No sugar in it. Yeah. I'm black. See, I'd drink coffee. Black. A espresso. Yeah. I feel like that's always a specific type of person that almost likes to brag about it being black. it is. Does that make sense? when you like, go to someone's house, I drink and then I drink coffee. Black. No. When someone comes to my house and they're staying over and they wake up like, oh, you don't have cream? I'm like, no. Drink it black. Yeah. Yeah. Not even milk though. Don't you have milk in the fridge? we don't drink milk, oatmeal. Milk, oat milk. It's not a staple in our fridge. Okay. Not a staple. Okay. See, I eat oatmeal. Yes. So I like having that. a lot of people don't like oat milk in their oatmeal, in their coffee. Yeah, that's true. You know that. I feel like that's a real preference. It's 2%. It's, it does seem like a little bit of a flex to be like, I drink my coffee black. it's annoying when you go to a coffee shop and the person in front of you orders a Yeah. Triple latte. This, that very in depth once two pumps of syrup and I'm like, I just want espresso. Yeah. And you're waiting 10 minutes. Yep. Yep. And usually the barista gives me a little wink, yeah, dude, you get it. At least that's what I think, in my own mind that it's like the proper order. No, whatever. Whatever you think is reality. All right. We're making the turn here. Going by Maple Field. what do you see in a mix of stow locals? I think a mix. New York. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Boston. It's a nice mix. Yeah, it's a nice mix. Yeah. A little bit of everything here. Yeah, a little bit of everything. Everybody seems to be having fun though. Yeah. Seems to be a good No, totally. This is a good guy to ask. Hot dogs or hamburgers. Oh, you got one hot dogs all the way up with stuff on them, or just kind of simple ketchup, mustard, relish. All the way he's doing. He's doing barbecue. He's doing barbecue on the fourth. that's why he's the right guy to ask. Rich Hobbs, former owner of the Sunset Grill. Hey, WCAX. Yeah. All right. Octagon Podcast over Vermont here. Oh, are you actively recording right now? Right now. Actively recording. Who am I talking to? Claire Jones of WCAX. Claire Jones from WAX. Yeah. I have one question for you. Sure. Who is your favorite founding father? Oh, that is a great question. I dunno if I have one. Alright. I just appreciate the work they put in to make this country. Yeah. Found it. And then we can all be here today on this Be beautiful day. All right. Claire Jones. WCAX Recording. What do we got here? We've got their, first Lieutenant Ryan Casey. Yeah. Yeah. not sure. Wanna go figure out what that is? Yeah. Yeah. Give him some stickers. Octagon podcast. Got some stickers. Oh. Would you mind telling us the story behind the t-shirts? Is that You can, you'll speak. Hang on, Ryan Casey. His mother lives in town. Okay. And, he was lieutenant in the Marines. Okay. he's in heaven now. Okay. And alright. Good way to remember him. Yeah. So every year the whole family converges on sto about 50 or 60 of us and Awesome. we do the run. Love it. And the back of the t-shirt. Son, brother. Awesome. Awesome. And this is all his family. All I love it. All nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, everybody. Thank you for sharing that. You're awesome. Good to see you celebrating Ryan Casey. Good stuff. Yeah, of course. Alright. it looks like we're gonna get attacked here by kids'cause they got the candy. passing salt and grove. Are you a yogi? I actually love yoga. Yeah. I haven't been doing it as much the last few years, but I need to get back into it. Oh yeah, absolutely. Oh yeah. Mike, how many people do you think are on Main Street right now? It's absolutely Aly buzzing. A absolutely buzzing 5,000. You think that many, I'm trying to, I'm trying to build it up, could be trying to build it up. Red Sox fan here. Check it out. Who's your favorite Red Sox player of all time? David Ortiz. Ortiz. Good call. Good call. Oh, there's another Red Sox fan right here. All right. He doesn't want the sticker. I just got whacked fortune cookies. I just got whacked. My fortune cookies. Mike just got it with, for cookies. He's gonna have to file a workers' comp claim with the octagon. What are we want media. LLCI Alright. Passing TD Bank here. An impressive crowd. It is, and it's caving in on this candy truck in front us. Would you say you've always been a big parade goer here in STO over the years? I enjoy the parade. Yep. Yep. it's short, it's, the right amount of time. Yep. I can usually bike here. Yep. which is helpful. that's a big help. Yeah. That's a big help. What about you? Not really, to be honest. You, it's something I, you're not a proud guy, so this is good. This is getting me outta my comfort zone. This is really getting you outta your comfort zone. it's been good time. It's been fun. Favorite creamy flavor? maple. Maple. The half mac. Alright. Favorite creamy flavor stick. Maple, of course. Obviously maple, obviously. Okay. We haven't got much diversity in the creamy flavors. A lot of Maple Creamies. I think we got the announcers here and here we're with their microphones. We have the podcast di it dives into the, and the stories that make. So podcast and Spotify, the Octagon podcast. We got archery close in the house and following them you have su. Hey, Brian Monet, local surgeon Mike, this is borderline chaos. It's fun. We have a hardo sighting off on the left. Oh, nice. yep. That's what all that chaos was all about. Oh, got Missy and Igor over there. Passing Starbucks here. Starbucks. You ever go to Starbucks? I've not been yet. Yeah, I've not been yet. It's really nice inside. Yeah, that's what I hear What about butler's? You ever go to Butler's for breakfast? I went there two weekends ago. I got the eggs benedict and it was spectacular. Yeah, I bet you go, are you not a big go out to breakfast guy? I'm not a big go out to breakfast guy. Hey guys. You guys want sticker not edible. don't eat it. Don't eat the sticker. Not edible. Are you a cork guy? Do you ever go to Cork, Mike? You know what, it's actually, it's never, it's, I never think of it, but yeah, it's awesome. It's kind tucked in the corner, bud. Yeah. Great food, good wine, great vibe. Yep.