 Hello and welcome to Love Where You Live, a production of the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce. I'm Betsy Alice and I am the host of the show and the executive director of the chamber. This morning we are welcoming Chuck Miesfeldt from Miesfeldt's Meat Market and a whole lot more. Chuck is also the driving force behind Lakeshore Weekend which is coming right up at the end of July, last weekend in July. So we're happy to have Chuck on the show today to talk a little bit about Miesfeldt and about Lakeshore Weekend. Great to be here. Thank you. Before we get into the weekend, I understand that Miesfeldt is celebrating 75 years in business. We started in 1941 and we just had our 75th anniversary. So we had quite a celebration with a nice meat sale and a lot of people came out and celebrated with us. Congratulations on that 75th. Thank you. Let's talk a little bit about the history because I'm curious and I'm sure our viewers are. How it started and how it grew? My grandfather started in 1941. He worked for Oscar Meyer for a couple of years and then he moved to Sheboygan and said, why work for someone else? I might as well start my own business. So then my father got involved with it and he worked it for about 20 years when my grandpa retired My father passed away early in life in 1991. I was 32 years old and so I was third generation. So I took it over and then we decided to go bigger because our business was doing good. So we built our facility that we're in now 16 years ago. So we went from 1700 square feet to 28,000. So we really took off a lot of responsibility for a 32 year old. Yeah, it was a little scary, but I had a good friend that was also in business that helped me and thank God for him. Still there? Still working with you? Yeah, he's still there. Still comes in a couple of times a week and we still hang out. And you were sharing with me a little bit before the show. How many employees you have? Yeah, we have about 38 employees now. And a lot of longevity. Yeah, we had one guy, Ken Zastrow, just retired two years ago and he was with us 57 years. Oh my gosh, that is unbelievable. He actually started when I was born. So a lot of people, my manager's been there 32 years, sausage maker 30 years. So we've got some great people. And it seems that every year you come out with some new varieties. Got to keep plugging away all the time. So our R&D department does a good job. What's your latest? We always try to work on different brats. Horseradish cheddar, chipolte cheddar is our two newest ones. Sounds delicious. We just came out with a cheddar cheese ring bologna. I think product development is one of the most fun parts of being an entrepreneur. It's fun to do it but it's hard to keep the weight off. Yeah, you look great. So Lake Shore weekend, just to move to that subject now. What an amazing event that is. I think when I first moved to this area I was completely astounded by how large this event was, how many people it attracts, and all of the excitement that is on the river and the lakefront in downtown Cheboygan when it happens. Yeah, it's a great place to have it. Cheboygan's been the river for the lakefront down by South Pier has been great. All the vendors down there have been supportive. And we've got a lot of people that come down and love that area. The Blue Harbor is booked up almost a year in advance for people that are coming back to come to the Lake Shore weekend. So we're very lucky that way. We started in Qantas Park. Our first year, this is our eighth year. And actually the first year we did it, to get it going, it took a little while and we were like, oh boy, we don't know if this is going to work because it wasn't real good to start. But we sure built it up after a couple of years. So it's working good. Yeah, I'd say one of the highlights, the Dragon Boat races and those kinds of things are really, they just add so much color and excitement. Yeah, it's something different. Yeah, it's great. This year it's the last weekend in July on South Pier. And you know, there's a lot of talk about the lineup this year and the kind of music you're going to be having. Can you tell us a little about the groups that we can expect to see there this year? Yeah, our music venue this year is awesome. We have Friday night, we start out with Eldarados, which is a local band. And they play 70s, 80s, all the hits. So that draws a big crowd of the elderly. I should say that, that's me. The 50, 60 year olds. The baby boomers. Yeah, right. And then after that, we have Bacchus Lotus, which is another local band and we're lucky to get the originals, they all come from wherever they are. So that's always a big draw. Saturday night we have the Bruce City horns from out of Milwaukee and they're cold sweat and the Bruce City horns and they're also a big draw. They have horns and they play a lot of Chicago and stuff like that. So that's big. And then this year we have Sun Blind Lion on Sunday and we have the original Sun Blind Lion, they're flying a guy in from California and that's a popular band in this area. They have four albums, Keith Obler and his gang there and that's going to be a big draw for us. Huge. Wow, that sounds... We're lucky to get them. Definitely sounds like it'll draw me. Yeah, it's going to be fun. Gee, I happen to be a baby boomer. But it sounds to me though you have a good variety as well. Yeah, we do. And then there's bands in between our house and Igma that play all different kinds of things. The big ones. Excellent. And then what about the little kids? The kids actually, our kids' tent is our biggest tent and there's about 35 games in there, all different kinds. Lori Steiner heads that up and she just does an unbelievable job. She makes all the games and plans them all and that's very well run. It takes a lot of people to work that tent. We have four hour shifts and it takes about 35, 40 people per shift. So we're looking for 550 volunteers. And where are you now? I think we're right around 470, so we're getting there. So we could use some more. So you heard that, if you have an interest in volunteering for like a week. And it's fun. It's fun. You get a t-shirt, you get a sandwich and a drink and you get to help kids so it's a fun event. And it's probably done in shifts. Right, it's all shifts. So it's not overwhelming. No, right, right, right. Well, that's great. What a nice opportunity. I was amazed to hear how many volunteers. Yeah, it takes a lot. And, you know, we start 10 months ago to start planning this already. So it takes a lot of work. We've got a board of directors and a group of people of about a dozen. And they just, they work very, very hard. I mean, it's, we've got some really good people that put a lot of time and effort into this. Yeah, that's great. That's really good for the community. Tell us about how you got involved initially. What drew you to this? It's kind of weird, not weird, but it's kind of coincidental that Don Sweeten approached me, Don and Donna. And their, his brother died in a motorcycle accident. And I graduated with him. And he was a younger fellow at the time. And they found out that he used to go down to Children's Hospital and read to the kids, which no one really knew that he'd do it on his own like three days a week, you know. And then at that same time when they approached me, my nephew had been diagnosed with leukemia. So he was involved at Children's Hospital and going down there. And my wife would stay down there with him. And so the combination of the two just made sense to me to jump on board and be the main sponsor. So that's how it got started. And I just remember they were saying, you know, we want to do something for the kids and for Children's Hospital. So we started with a brat fry at our store. And that was on a Saturday. And I think we raised like 1500 bucks in four or five hours, which was good. But they came up to me and said, well, we're thinking of something a little different. Well, then this thing started and the tents came. And, you know, I had no idea that they were going this big, but it turned out really good. You know, we've really grown. And so do you have a lot of support too from Children's Hospital? We do. We have a lot of support from them. The doctors, Heidi Schott is the representative who helps us out with bringing families in and things like that. And we also have a lot of support from local businesses. We have some businesses that are really stepped up and donated and want to be involved. And, you know, the thing with this event is it's an adult event, but it's a children's event too. It's geared for children. It's not, you know, we'll never want to turn it into anything other than having the kids, you know, be the ones that are having the funds. So we try to keep it low key. We don't want any rowdy bands, no metal bands or anything. We try to keep it family orientated. And we've been able to do that for eight years, which is amazing with the amount of people we get. So how many people come? Oh, we think we run close to 10,000 through in two and a half days. Very nice. So it starts on Friday afternoon? Yep, Friday at five o'clock and ends Sunday at five. Okay. And that's not including the Dragon Ball. When we have Dragon Ball races on Sunday, the whole riverfront is just lined up. Yeah, so you haven't even counted those. No, and that's thousands of people. You have to use a drone camera. Yeah, we do that. Do you? Oh, wonderful. There's a website too, you know, where people can go to see the exact schedule. And that is called... Lakeshoreweekendsheboygan.com. You can also sign up if you want to volunteer there. Oh, awesome. And are there pictures from the past events? Yeah, it goes through our whole event. It starts Friday night, we have an awesome fireworks show. I mean, a really big fireworks show. This year is going to be bigger than ever. So we're looking forward to that to start it off. And we're also having a ski show on Saturday, which is something brand new. From one to three, we're going to have professional water skiers in the river. Wow, with jumps and things like that, formations? Yep. Wow, that is exciting. So we're excited. So that's the new part of this year. Yep. Wow, that's great. So how do people go about signing up for the Dragon Ball races? Dragon Ball races, they can contact Donna Sweeten or on the website again. Okay. You have to have 21 people because there's 18 paddlers. There's a sternsman, a flag catcher and a drummer. So we have a lot of companies. Right now we're at 16 teams, I think, which is awesome. That's only $400. Again, all that goes to Children's Hospital. And it's a good company building event because you sit next to someone, maybe you don't like so much at work, but your common goal is to roll that boat and beat the person next to you. So it's a lot of fun. But there is some competition because... Oh, absolutely. It's really grown because now all these companies and teams, they have shirts made up. Ours is Roll, Roll, Roll, You're Brought. Oh, that's great. And then they bring tents down and they bring beverages and they make a real party out of it. And it's fun. It's a lot of fun. And what's the deadline for signing up a team? It'll be closed, I think, right around the 18th of July yet. We probably can get somebody in yet. You've got to be able to make t-shirts in time to go to the event. So you want to make sure you get that. Good competition going on there. Wow, that's great. That sounds like a lot of fun. It is fun. I haven't done that yet. Oh, it's fun. You've got to... We need a chamber team. There you go. Hey, there you go. I'll have to check that out. We did start our new wellness program, so I could be part of it. I like that. So the recent housing developments slated for South Pier may have an impact on where you can hold it. Maybe you even need to be somewhere bigger as things get bigger and better every single year. Yeah, that's... What do you see there? Well, you know, there again, we have such a good board of directors involved in our core that we started looking in that already for next year. I think this is going to happen on there, which is great. Don't get me wrong. Development is great. We're looking a little bit south of that area. There's some land there. I believe Blue Harbor owns, and we've been in contact with them, and we're trying to work with their corporate, seeing if we could rent it or use their land if they donated it to us. And that's actually a bigger section for us. Okay. More parking, and it would work out great for us. So that's what we're hoping for. Very nice. Because we're kind of limited where we can go, being that big, and we'd like to have somewhere worth water for the Dragon Boats, so... Yeah. I mean, 10,000 people is a lot of people. Yeah, it is. At least they're going through hours at a time, so you have a little bit of a flow all weekend. Another thing I just want to mention is... Absolutely. We did another different thing this year. Our kids' tent on Saturday normally opens at 11, and we're doing a... From 9 to 11, we're opening it up for all handicap kids. So anybody that has a wheelchair accessible or handicap children that don't want to fight the crowds in there can come from 9 to 11 and play the games. So this is on Saturday. This is Saturday. 9 in the morning till 11. Yeah. Okay. Wow, that's wonderful. Yeah, it is. I mean, and all the games will be handicap accessible at that time, so... Boy, that's a newsworthy kind of thing. Yeah, it is. I like that. It is. It's great. It wins a prize, so... Yeah. You know, I know a lot of people who have used children's hospitals. Oh, that's the amazing thing. If you talk to someone and you think about it, if your family hasn't been touched with it, you must know someone that does. Yeah. Because anybody that has anything serious with a child goes down there. Right. And then they're just... They're wonderful down there. And they go there multiple times sometimes. They do. And it's a hardship on the family. We had a family last year that... And we bring in families to speak, which is really important because that tells what we really do. And that tells our goal. I mean, we're not there to throw a party. We're there to raise money for children. And we had one family last year that talked. They had three children. And three of them were in children's hospital. Wow. It was just amazing. And then we had someone in the crowd that touched them so much, they came up to the stage and wrote a check for $5,000 right on the spot. Oh, I love that. So that's the kind of stuff that really makes it all worth it. Well, now that we're talking about money, what have you raised over time? Right now, we're at $788,500. Wow. In seven years. And this year, we're calling it our million-dollar year. Okay. We really want to hit a million dollars. We're going to have to really work hard at it, but we hope to hit a million dollars. And so how can we help as your viewing audience here? Well, you can help by coming down and supporting us that way. Because you got to remember everything that is done down there, it all goes to children's hospital. So if you come down and eat, it all goes to children's hospital. Bring your kids down and play games. If there's any corporate sponsors out there, we'd love to talk to you and get you involved. And then can people donate as individuals? Yes, anybody can donate. We have it on the website that you can donate or you can get ahold of me or Donna. And yeah, we'd love to take a check from anybody. That's wonderful. I'd love to hear that. Well, congratulations to you for being the leader of this and for putting the kind of time and resources into it that you do. And I'm sure that there are several of your employees who are involved in this. And like you say, we have such a great board of directors and group that works with us who just put endless hours in. It's really nice. Wow. And so you're board of directors just for this event. Right. Okay. Excellent. That's a good way to do it. And again, I just want to reiterate a couple of the details for our viewers. It starts at five o'clock on Friday. July 29th, yeah. And runs through five o'clock on Sunday. Correct. When does it close in the evening? 11 o'clock. Okay. And again, we have a really great silent auction that's there. That's going to be neat. Oh. Tons of things. I mean, we've got some sports memorabilia that's unbelievable. Muhammad Ali signed boxing glove. Just all kinds of really cool stuff. Wow. And we have a director there, Susie, that does a great job there also. Jerry Kramer's going to be there from the Green Bay Packers. Very nice. From one to three on Saturday. That's kind of a plus. Okay. And when is the silent auction? The silent auction goes the whole time. Okay. So the winners are announced that evening on Friday or Sunday. At the end of four o'clock on Sunday. Yep. Okay. All right. And a Green Bay Packer from one to three on Saturday. Yep. Jerry Kramer's coming in. Jerry Kramer. What other highlights that people... Well, we have bungee jumping for the kids. We have walk on water balls. It's like a big hamster ball that you go in and the kids can run on water. That's always a lot of fun. So we have a lot of good games going on for them. And like I say, I think it's 50 cents to play a game. Wow. And you guarantee the prize. So it's very children friendly. And all the prizes are donated too? No, those we have to buy. Oh, okay. But we do have a lot of things that are donated along the way. Oh, yeah. So we have a lot of companies that will bring the chairs in and the tents and things like that. So we're very lucky that way. Well, congratulations. I'm sure you're going to hit that million dollar mark. I hope so. You'll probably exceed it from what I know of the past. That would be great. And I appreciate you coming here to tell us about it today. Thank you. And please, you know, go to the website. It's... Lakeshoreweekendcheboygan.com. Thank you. And check it out. Sign up as a volunteer. Be sure to bring your family and have a lot of fun on that weekend, the last weekend in July. Right. Thanks, Chuck. Yeah, thank you. Appreciate you being here. You bet. Thank you. Welcome back. Our next segment, we are featuring one of the winners of our Chamber of Champions Gala Services Business of the Year Award for 2016. I welcome today Dr. Andrea Igowski, pediatric dentist and co-owner of the very successful Just Kids Dental Practice. Thank you. Welcome back. Our next segment, we are featuring one of the winners of the very successful Just Kids Dental Practice. Welcome, Dr. Andrea, and congratulations on Just Kids Dental being the winner. And also, all of the progress that you've made with your business over the course of time. It's a huge honor to get this award, by the way. I think the service businesses in the Chamber number about 400 out of our 970. Wow. Yeah. Nice honor for you and for your entire company. Thank you. Thank you for joining us today. I'd like to start just so the audience gets to know you a little better, if you can personally tell us. You know, how you chose dentistry, maybe? Sure. And where you came from and how you made it to Mantua Artisheboygan. You weren't in Mantua at all. You were in Sheboygan. Nope. In Green Bay a little bit, I understand. So, yeah, if you can just let us know a little bit about you. All right. Well, thank you very much for having me. I grew up in Green Bay. And I'm the youngest of four kids. And my older sister is also a pediatric dentist and my partner in the practice. So she chose dentistry first with a little bit of nudging, trying to get me to choose that route as well in hopes that we could practice together. I went to the University of Minnesota for my undergrad degree, my Bachelor of Science, and then to Marquette University for dental school. So it's a four-year program where you get your degree in Doctorate of Dental Surgery. And from there, chose pediatrics to specialize in. And went to the Children's Hospital of Denver, Colorado for two years for the additional training in pediatrics. And at that point, my sister was already practicing here in Sheboygan. And I came back here in 2010 and joined Just Kids Dental and work alongside my big sister. Wow. That says a lot for your relationship. It does. Sisters working together. I'm trying to picture myself now working with my sisters. Not sure that would work, but... We have two older brothers, and we both said that we probably couldn't work with them. But we can work together. That's great. And lucky for us. Yes. Lucky for us. So, Just Kids Dental has obviously become a very successful pediatric dentistry provider. How did it happen? How did it come to fruition? You said, now, her sister is Jamie Markey, Dr. Jamie Markey. How did the two of you form Just Kids Dental or it was already existing under her name? How did that work? Sure. She moved to Sheboygan in 2000 after finishing her pediatric residency. And the reason she moved to Sheboygan is that her husband was a general dentist here, Dr. Matt Bistan, at Fighter Taboris in Bistan. So he was already established here, so she kind of came along for the ride. And she originally commuted to West Bend for two years and worked with a pediatric dentist that was her mentor throughout dental school and commuted there for two years. And I think the commute got to be a little bit of a hassle. And also, she realized that the need in Sheboygan County was very high. There was no other pediatric dentist in Sheboygan or any surrounding county. So she was convinced with a little bit of prodding from, I think, the other general dentist in the community that the need was great. So she chose to open up her own practice. In 2002, Just Kids Dental was created. At that point, I had just gotten accepted to dental school. So I think in the back of her mind, she was hoping that I would also choose pediatrics and then join her in the future. So 2002. You didn't do that from the beginning. I did not. I originally thought I wanted to go to med school. I took the MCATs and planned on med school. And then on one of my spring breaks, I came home and worked with her for a week and kind of job shadowed and realized I could actually see myself doing it. I knew I wanted to work in pediatrics of some kind. So once I realized I could actually do the dentistry part of it, then I went into dental school with pediatrics as my ultimate goal. Very nice. So it wasn't all her influence. Some of it came internally from what you love to do. Absolutely. Yeah, that's great. That's great. Tell us a bit more about Jamie. You couldn't be here today, but let's hear her story a little bit. Sure. She has a very similar story in terms of training. We are seven years apart in age, so she got to kind of do everything first. And she went to undergrad at Marquette and did the dental scholar program. She knew she wanted to go into dentistry from the start. So the dental scholar program is a three-year undergrad bachelor degree. You basically get to fast-forward that fourth year and go straight into dental school. So she did dental school at Marquette as well, same four years. And then her story was a little different. She didn't know she wanted to go into pediatrics, and some of the faculty said, I think you'd be really good at it and kind of pushed her. So she did get accepted to the pediatric residency, and she trained in Denver, Colorado as well. So we were 10 years apart in training, and we went to the same program. And the total number of years? 10? Did I hear 10? It's 10 years, yes. Wow, that's a significant investment. Yes, it is. Wow, good for you. Thanks. So I kind of went to your website, and I saw some testimonials. And it's just amazing to me that parents and kids are talking about how exciting it is to go to the dentist. Because I remember when I was little, it was not exciting. In fact, I think I kind of dreaded it. Yes. I told you the story earlier that I asked for no-nota-king because I was afraid it would cost more. But I went to, when you had your ribbon-cutting, it was about four years ago now. And I was almost excited, giddy, to be there. You know, they have the little, I call them lounges that the kids lie on. They have the miniature toilet in the bathroom. They have the big school bus in the front. What's it like? What does a child go through when they come to your practice? Gone are the days of scary dentistry, at least I hope, for kids. The environment that we've created is meant to be very child-friendly, welcoming, and very easy for them to be comfortable coming to the dentist. When they walk in, they immediately get greeted by name from our friendly staff. And in the waiting area, there's a school bus, movie theater, iPad stations, and a coloring station. So the kids have fun stuff to do right away while they're waiting. And then in the treatment areas, where they have their check-ups, we have bright colors, hand-painted murals from a local artist, and there's also a walking piano on the floor and a basketball court. A walking piano? Yes. So the same piano from the movie Big was created for us by the same designer. And so it's in the middle of the floor, and the kids run up and down it and play music. It lights up. Oh, that's fabulous. Has our logo. Yeah. That's fabulous. I'm going to have to come in again. I can see. Yeah. Could you do my check-up? I get that question a lot. I'm sure you do. I get that question a lot. I'm sure you do. So since you moved to Sheboygan County, what have been the most significant things you love to do here? The biggest thing about Sheboygan that I love is the lake, obviously. I think most people would agree. When we found out we were moving to Sheboygan, my husband and I both said it was a dream of ours to live on or near the lake. I just think the sound, the view, every day it's different. It's breathtaking. The sports on the water from fishing and stand-up paddle board. We love to do that kind of stuff. Nice. Food, the food in Sheboygan is fantastic. I think for how small of a city we are, there's no place better. I'm Italian. He's Japanese. So we both love cultural food, and I think we have amazing choices here. And then I would say the culture for kids is huge. I obviously being a pediatric specialist, I have a special place in my heart for children, but I have two kids of my own. They're five and three, and there's so much to do. Every single day we do something different. Bookworm Gardens, above and beyond Children's Museum, the Art Center, the Levitt Amp Theater. There's just so much culture that I think makes Sheboygan such a special place. It is a special place. Yeah, thanks for the children view, because from our pediatric dentist, that's a great way to look at it. Yeah. So, you know, I have my own stories about dentists. We have a pediatric dentistry practice in town. How do we get in touch with you if we have children and we'd like to go to your dentist? Sure. A couple ways to find us. We have a website, www.justkidsdentalwiforwisconsin.com. We have a Facebook page, Just Kids Dental. Those are probably our biggest ways to find us socially. And you'll see us out in the community a lot. I think we try to attend most fundraisers and festivals and volunteer and just show our faces, so it's pretty easy to see one of us or meet us. Yes, you're on a lot of boards. I know that. Well, congratulations again, and thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you.