Festival of Nations: A Cultural Tapestry in St. Louis

Arnold00:00:00

When people from different cultures gather to share music, food, art and traditions, we get to know each other on a deeper and more personal level. We create a spirit of unity where every culture is seen as unique and special and no culture is truly foreign. We're going to talk about that.The Festival of Nations on St. Louis and Tune. Welcome to St. Louis in Tune.Thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Lanks. And Mark, the Festival of nations is coming up.

Mark00:00:46

I know it. One of my favorite events of the year actually in Tower Grove park, across.

Arnold00:00:53

Very close to where we are actually broadcasting.

Mark00:00:55

And we're in the International Institute facilities is where we broadcast from.

Arnold00:00:59

We are. And the International Institute is the sponsor for the Festival of Nations, which is.

Mark00:01:04

Do you know how many years it's been going.

Arnold00:01:06

I was just thinking the same thing. We're on the same wavelength.

Mark00:01:08

Wow, that's dangerous.

Arnold00:01:10

That's very dangerous. Folks, we're glad that you've joined us today and we want you to be on the same wavelength we are.We want to thank our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, for their support of the show. You can listen to previous shows@stlintune.com where you can follow us and leave a review.Our thought to ponder today is the bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions.

Mark00:01:38

Amen.

Arnold00:01:39

Guess who said that?

Mark00:01:40

Oh, I'm just gonna take a stab at it. Abraham Lincoln.

Arnold00:01:44

Very close.

Mark00:01:45

Yeah. Was it a president?

Arnold00:01:47

It was a president. Okay, I'll give you. Should I give you a hint?

Mark00:01:51

Maybe? Yeah. My kids can recite every president.

Arnold00:01:54

Cherry tree.

Mark00:01:56

Oh. Washington, D.C. washington, D.C. washington said that.

Arnold00:01:58

George Washington said, the bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions.

Mark00:02:08

Wow. He knew way back then.

Arnold00:02:09

He knew way back then he was in tune with it. Just like you are, folks, as you're listening to St. Louis in tune.And our guest, Terry Bates, director of marketing and communications at the International Institute of St. Louis, is in tune with us too. Terry, welcome.

Terry00:02:23

Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Arnold00:02:25

And you are going to talk to us about the Festival of Nations today. How many years has it been going on?

Terry00:02:31

So we at the International Institute that we have been here since 1919, and in 1920 there was a Festival that we eventually took over in 1932. So the festival of nations as we as it exists has been around since 1932.

Arnold00:02:45

Wow, I had no idea. 68/26 Is 94 years.

Terry00:02:51

It's been Tower Grove park since 2020. It exists exactly as it currently is, except for maybe a little smaller since 1920.

Arnold00:02:58

Okay, now bigger.

Terry00:02:59

Now smaller than it smaller when it started.

Arnold00:03:01

Many people in St. Louis are familiar with the Festival of Nations, but there may be some newcomers, there may be some people who are listening internationally here because we do have international listeners on St. Louis. And tune, by the way, on the podcast page, explain the Festival of Nations how long and it's going to be, folks, August 29th and 30th.

Terry00:03:20

Yeah, absolutely. To put us succinctly, what is. It's a celebration of the work that we do.And by that I mean it's a celebration of the cultures that call St. Louis home. We like to showcase to the world what can happen when you are a welcoming culture.And so when you come to the Festival nations, you can see over 90 upwards of 100 different cultures that are being showcased through over 200 different vendors, both food and retail, and over 30 performance performances, 30 performance groups, I should say, over two days.Not counting the VIP party that we do have on Thursday for those that want to help support what we do and keep it free by spending a little extra to come to that Thursday party. And the VIP oasis throughout the course of the weekend.

Arnold00:03:57

They got. They've got a VIP oasis.

Mark00:04:01

Now you're talking.

Arnold00:04:02

A VIP oasis.

Mark00:04:03

Yeah.

Arnold00:04:03

So Mark and I have been there several times and there's this massive stream of people in the middle of Tower Grove park on the street and it's just lined with, like you said, retail. And retail is kind of separated from the food section. Correct.

Terry00:04:19

There's a retail section and then the food section. But they are pretty close together. So, you know, you don't have to walk too far to get both experiences. No.

Arnold00:04:26

And there's like what, two stages? There's a main stage and a second stage.

Terry00:04:29

Yeah, there's two stages.There's what we have over the course of the last 20 years called the dance stage, but now it's actually the Whitaker stage because it's one of our sponsors. And that is where we have the cultural experiences and it's in the center and there's different kind of cultural dances and things like that.And then there's the main stage where we've got some really well known acts that are both cultural and have a St. Louis tie in the main stage area, which was closer towards the other side of the park.

Arnold00:04:53

Yeah. So there are a Saturday main stage, a Saturday Whitaker stage and a Sunday main stage and Whitaker stage.And I'm looking at the lowdown group here that's appearing. It's just unbelievable the number of people that are going on. And these are going to occur every hour and a half, it seems.

Mark00:05:12

Yeah, that was my. I was going to ask that. Does it go all day? I mean, it's like. I know we're on the same page here.

Arnold00:05:18

I don't know what you're doing. It starts at, let's see here, prior to 10am and goes through. The last one is on at 6pm that's fantastic.

Mark00:05:28

So whenever you come, if you can't get there right away and stay long, you're going to come and there'll be a performance. I love the performances on stage that we saw last time we were there. Yeah.

Arnold00:05:38

So should this be like a. Bring your lawn chair or bring a blanket or what kind of thing should this be?Because there's going to be, gosh, a couple hundred thousand people there.

Terry00:05:47

Yeah, I think last year we had over 110,000 people. This year is going to be the biggest we've ever had. So we do have more vendors than we've ever had. So we're expecting to see maybe more people.And I've been going to this for 20 years myself before I came to work at the Institute.And what we've always done is we get a group of friends, we bring lawn chairs, we bring maybe a blanket and we kind of send people out to go get food and bring it back, do it all day.There's so much different food to see and some different things to buy and it's having a little home base, bringing some friends, getting some lawn chairs, hanging out for a while, kind of bouncing between going shopping and going and seeing the performances. Like you said, it's all day, so there's lots to do. And yeah, I don't, don't just go for a half an hour. Make sure you got some time set.

Arnold00:06:25

Now, when you're talking about retail, what kind of things should people expect to see? Retail wise, I'm looking at some of this, obviously the food we know there's food from.I'm looking at the Afro Grill, I'm looking at Arch Smokes, I'm looking at the heavenly Caribbean food. What other kinds of retail kinds of things would someone expect to see there?

Terry00:06:46

One thing I've always done is Considering that this is right before we get to fall, it's a really good time to maybe think about doing some early Christmas shopping, since you're going to see over 100 different cultural booths that. That you can purchase items. And that's not an exact number, but I'm guessing it's over 100 so far.We're still kind of working out the final numbers, but there's anything from sculptures to jewelry to just basically anything you can think of that. That might exhibit one of the cultures that call St. Louis home.And regarding food, I have friends that basically won't get an empanada, except for one place that is. That sells empanadas there. I always look for the Bulgaria tent for. I'm sorry, the hungry tent for this. For Kavarma.It's this rice and sausage stew that I can really only see there. You know, don't be afraid to try new things. Basically, look around and see what looks good. Order a few different things, share it with people.Make your own little buffet back in your area. Oh, yeah, that's kind of what we do.

Mark00:07:36

Come with an appetite.

Terry00:07:37

Oh, 100%.

Mark00:07:38

Yeah. Don't eat for a couple days. Arnold, come. That's a great idea, though, to have a little buffet.

Terry00:07:46

Yeah.

Mark00:07:46

Everybody go get something, come on back, and we're gonna set it. I like that idea.

Arnold00:07:49

Yeah. It's a great way to really try new food, too, rather than go to a restaurant. Cause a lot of these vendors are restaurant people, aren't they?

Terry00:07:56

Yeah. And most of them all do have a St. Louis tie. A lot of this stuff is stuff that you can find in St. Louis or St. Louis region. But, yeah, that's.A lot of them are restaurant owners. A lot of them are caterers.So a lot of this isn't just them coming here to make money, but it's kind of showing St. Louis that they exist and that they're part of our community now.

Arnold00:08:13

I note. Good mark.

Mark00:08:14

I was gonna say, it's right in the middle of Targrove, isn't it? That's how I recommend pretty much.

Arnold00:08:18

Yeah.

Mark00:08:18

Right in the. Just the heart of Targrove Park. So there's lots of parking on the streets around. I don't think we ever had a problem parking. I know we had to walk.

Arnold00:08:27

We got there early.

Mark00:08:28

Yeah, we had to walk a little bit.

Terry00:08:29

But yeah, parking is one of those things. Controversially, it is paid. But we do that for a couple of reasons. One, we have to keep this free.It being a cultural festival, we think it would be kind of tone deaf. If we're like, hey, come experience our culture, that'll be $10.But we do things like pay parking, which we provide security for and make sure that it's easier to get some parking. But for that it does cost in the area. We do rent out the whole park. So parking is easy, but there is usually a bit of a cost to it.Unless you kind of go in the outside area, which there is usually plenty of parking there as well. But yeah, parking is usually pretty easy. And we do our best to make sure that it's a comfortable experience for everybody, but also a free one.

Arnold00:09:05

I also noticed that the retail and the vendors, everything in the festival is cashless. So you must do what?

Terry00:09:15

Yeah, so honestly bring a card. And there's a lot of reasons for that. We get a lot of questions about it, but it really comes down to safety. Want.There's so many, there's hundreds of different vendors out there and thousands, hundreds of thousands of people. And so that could make a lot of different little pools of cash that if we're not careful to mitigate, could be a problem.So we do make it cashless festival. But another reason for that too is that we do take 15% does go to help run the festival.And to digress a little bit, I think some people have come to me and they think that we make a ton of money off this. But the reality is it's not really a fundraiser, it's really a, an extension of our mission.Our only goal economically is to not lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if we can help it. And to do that, we take 15%, we charge for parking, we have VAP.And so all of that stuff helps us spend, helps us to mitigate the million dollar cost or multi million dollar cost it takes to run the festival.

Arnold00:10:05

I think people really need to understand that it is not a moneymaker, it's a, hey, look, we're breaking even here. We're just trying to, we're putting this on for the community.It's something that is beneficial to the community and we want to make sure that we don't lose our shirts on the deal. Also credit or debit cards and mobile payments only.So kind of plan ahead if you've got cash app or Zillow or I don't know what the vendors are going to be having or what's the other one?

Mark00:10:30

Venmo. I know Venmo. Is venmo a bunch.

Arnold00:10:33

PayPal, PayPal, all that stuff, all those kinds of things. I don't really want to say this Very loudly. But if the weather.

Mark00:10:41

Why are you talking about that?

Arnold00:10:43

I'm just.

Mark00:10:43

You bring this up.

Arnold00:10:44

I'm letting people know in case they see and they get up in the morning, they go, oh my gosh, look what the forecast. What's going to happen, Terry Thing to.

Terry00:10:53

Note is that we already spent the money on it. If the weather's bad. So we still need to make that back. We hope people come. It's rain or shine. No matter what's happening out there, we'll be there.Last year it was 72 degrees, which, you know, as the head of marketing, I wanted to be like, look how many people I brought here. I did my job well, maybe that 72 degrees might have helped a little bit.

Mark00:11:11

I'm underpaid. Yeah.

Arnold00:11:14

So there's people that always like to bring their animals, like their dogs and stuff. But what are the thoughts on bringing my dog or my pet 100% just.

Terry00:11:22

With a leash because it is still park rules. We're renting the park, but the rules of the park still apply, which is it's got to be in a leash.But that's one of my favorite parts about going, is getting to pet everybody's dogs. As long as they're behaved and you got a leash, it's great.

Arnold00:11:34

The behaving part is the key part.

Terry00:11:36

I can say the same about my friends though too.

Mark00:11:39

They should be.

Arnold00:11:40

Are they leash? I want to give a website. Fest f e s t-of nations.com festofnations.com youm can get a whole ton of information there about attending.There's a map on there. There's the sponsors and the partners. Let's talk about the sponsors and the partners.How does one become a sponsor or a partner and are these people that sponsor and partner with the institute throughout the year?

Terry00:12:06

Yeah, absolutely. And there's a few different ways we have sponsors. These are the people that you're gonna see, like the Whitaker Foundation.They've got names that are plastered places and things so that we can say thank you to spons. And then there's also what we call exhibitors.And these are other kind of small partner organizations, other non profits that provide services in the area and they will have small little booths.There's the big sponsors and then there's the exhibitors that are there, part of the community of nonprofits that kind of help support what we do to be one. Of course we do. This isn't just what we do.We of course support immigrants and refugees throughout the course of the year at the International Institute. And so, in support of that work, a lot of these sponsors help us with that mission throughout the course of the year.

Arnold00:12:45

Yeah. Give us a little bit more on that, especially for those people who may not know, even in St. Louis.I'm just amazed at how many people, when they come in for guests here and we record here in the studio, they're like, I never knew this place existed. Or they do. And it's like, are you serious? Where have you been?

Terry00:13:01

Yeah. We started in 1919. I believe that we were initially started by suffragettes in the area.And we have had many different missions throughout the course of the last hundred years, from helping Polish refugees in World War II to the shepherd needs a genocide in the 90s, and the Bosnian population that we've supported here.And basically, it all comes down to a belief that we as a community are stronger when we are welcoming, when we provide a place of safety and opportunity for other cultures that can come in and make St. Louis their home and add their culture to our culture. When you think about St. Louis cuisine, you talk about pizza, you talk about St. Paul sandwiches, you talk about things from all over the world.That's because for as long as St. Louis has been here, we have been multicultural, and our mission is to support that in any way we can.

Arnold00:13:43

And people don't realize that St. Louis has the largest Bosnian population outside of Bosnia.

Mark00:13:50

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. If you didn't see the soccer game, which was great to see, it was amazing.

Arnold00:13:59

The group come out, right?

Mark00:14:00

It was. They did, yep. And I think they picked St. Louis because we have a large Bosnian population population here.

Arnold00:14:06

Yeah.

Mark00:14:06

Which is wonderful. I think it's just wonderful.

Arnold00:14:10

You guys are looking for additional volunteers too, right?

Terry00:14:12

Yep, absolutely. You can go to Festivations.com and click the volunteer tab, and you can see all the different jobs that are still open right now.But it takes a village. We have hundreds of volunteers every year, hundreds of staff members, hundreds of partners. So takes a lot of people to keep it running.

Arnold00:14:28

There are things like a setup team. I'm reading right now from that. Backstage assistance on the dance stage, the parking team, photo activations.There's backstage assistance on the main stage. There's information tables, lots of things here.And like you said, it does take a large group of people to pull off something like this to the extent that it is. It's just not something that the Institute has. Oh, you're all going to work here for volunteer.There's way more things going on logistically to make sure that it goes off smoothly.

Terry00:15:02

Oh, absolutely. I'm the head of marketing and communications, but I'll be. I'll catch myself taking out garbage and moving ice or whatever I've got to do.Again, there's so many different things that we have to do that it's difficult to walk in there and say that you're just going to do one thing.

Arnold00:15:15

And like any other large festival, there's plenty of facilities. I'll leave it right there.There's plenty of facilities and there are nice clean facilities and they're hand washing stations, etc like that for even wheelchair access facilities. So just really well planned out.

Mark00:15:33

It's such a wonderful time. We've gone, we've had our booth there, given away prizes. But it's, it's.I don't know, it's hard for me to even explain the vibe that I get when I walk down that, the main road there with everything that's going on, the different food. It's. I do feel like I'm traveling around the world just by walking down the street there. Yeah, it's crazy. It's really something.If you've never been to this, take some time and just go and enjoy it. Yeah, it's really. What else are you going to do? Cut the grass, Weed eater. Yeah, get the weed eater out.Go to the Festival of Nations, for crying out loud.

Arnold00:16:12

That's right.

Mark00:16:12

It's a lot of fun. It is, yeah. And we're built, Our nation's built on immigrants.

Arnold00:16:17

That's correct.

Mark00:16:17

And this kind of reminds me of who we are as a people.

Arnold00:16:22

Absolutely.

Mark00:16:22

Yeah.

Arnold00:16:23

This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langson of St. Louis. In tune, we're talking to Terry Bates. He's director of marketing and communications at the International Institute of St. Louis.And we're talking about the Fest of Nations and mark. The Festival of Nations.It's festofnations.com when you were talking about the vibe that's there and you're walking down where there's the food maybe on both sides of that main street. It reminds me of what it would be like in the 1904 World's Fair going down the pike.

Mark00:16:50

Oh, good point. Yeah, good analogy there.

Arnold00:16:52

Because there's retail, there's different nations. You got all this food. I imagine that's the closest it could come to my imagination about something like that. Experiencing that.

Mark00:17:03

Yeah. And each one of these booths, these people are dressed in their nation's clothing and they're cooking their food like that. It's just, it's.It's really quite a cultural shock. I would say. And it's just a way, a great way to celebrate the world. And we could use some world celebration right now. I think we could.

Arnold00:17:22

This is August 29th and 30th. What time, Terry, does this start and what time does it stop?

Terry00:17:28

You know, we have people there as early as seven in the morning actually selling and people walking around, people getting their shop on a little bit before all the craziness happens. So you can get there as early as seven. I think officially it actually starts at eight. And that's when all of the vendors are officially open.And then it ends, I believe, at six o' clock on both days. I believe. Okay, you might have that. I don't have my notes with me, but I think that's what it ends.

Arnold00:17:51

Now. I want to read about parking, that there is some in park parking available. It's $20 a day and it's paid on entry, so carpooling is encouraged.You would enter off of Magnolia. There is some limited free disabled parking available in the park. You can do rideshare. You can take some public transport.Transit and bike parking is also available near the Magnolia entrance and that's provided by Trail Net. So they've partnered with a lot of people.Now I was looking for the map here and I didn't see the map, but the map lays out where individual groups are. And so if I, man, I wanted to get some of that. Columbia, South America, not Columbia, Missouri. Food. I want to get some food from Columbia.It's located in this spot. Is that going to be that detail like that?

Terry00:18:37

Yes, it will. And we are creating that. The. As you can probably imagine, that's a bit of an undertaking.We kind of don't have that filled out until a little bit closer because talking about 200 vendors, everybody has an interest in being in certain places. And so making sure everybody's happy is a bit of a chore. So we are moving things around up until the last minute a little bit.But we will have maps available both on the website and their physical maps, as well as large maps printed out so people can go to the information booths and see where things are. So we do try to provide as many opportunities for people to not get lost as possible.

Arnold00:19:10

Now maybe there's somebody from like Iceland that says, man, I didn't know anything about this. And how do I get involved with this next year?

Terry00:19:18

Absolutely. You come to Festivations.com you can go to info there and send us a direct email. You can send an email to International Institute.You can reach out to us directly at the International Institute from our website, both through email or call.We're constantly having conversations with partners and volunteers and people who want to get involved, not in just the festival, but with the International Institute as an organization.

Arnold00:19:39

Because what other kinds of things does the Institute do? Are you helping people with English? Are you helping people with jobs? Are you helping people transition with housing and things like that?

Terry00:19:48

Yeah, we've been here for 100 years, and what that looks like changes. It changes quite a bit. Quite a bit depending on our government, changes on our community and what the needs are.We have a food bank right now, which is one of the biggest food banks in the area. And a lot of that is because of the need of other populations and the communities that we support.In last or earlier this year, a lot of refugees had lost their SNAP benefits. And so we came together with our partners and created that food bank. And that's how a lot of our programming works and what we do to support.We do have classes. We have relocation initiatives.We have the Moves to SDL program, which works with immigrants who are already here, but they moved to St. Louis to help support our community. So there are tons of different programs that are all listed on our website.

Arnold00:20:28

And the Institute is located where we're over.

Terry00:20:31

We're in Arsenal, right here where you guys are.

Arnold00:20:33

3401 Arsenal Street?

Terry00:20:35

Yeah, I wasn't looking at my card, so thanks for saving it.

Arnold00:20:37

I'm Pretty sure it's 3401 Arsenal. It's the old St. Elizabeth's Girls Catholic School and the. What I would call the what, the nunnery behind it.

Mark00:20:49

And it's a big place.

Arnold00:20:50

It is a huge place. It's the entire block, almost.

Mark00:20:52

Yeah, it's a big place, but really.

Arnold00:20:54

Close to Tar Grove park and a great place to. You could actually walk from Tower Grove park over here, kind of check out the institute looking, get your bearings, go back, get some more baklava.Or if that's your love, baklava, I do, too.

Mark00:21:08

Terry, where was the festival before it was in Tower Grove Park? Yeah.

Terry00:21:13

Top ahead. I am not sure. It's been a few different places.

Mark00:21:15

Okay. I believe kind of moved it around.

Terry00:21:17

It did. It's always been in St. Louis, of course, but parks and what they've looked like have changed over the course of the last.

Mark00:21:22

Okay.

Arnold00:21:23

All right, so do a, like a 30 to 90 second I'll. I'm giving you some lead time to think about this.Do a 30 to 90 second encouragement commercial that you want people to Come to the Festival of Nations. And while you're still. You probably got it already, you know, mapped out in his head. But I want to remind you folks, the website is comm.Located in Tower Grove park in St. Louis. Over well over 100 food and drink vendors and retail vendors. You can park for $20. Most of the people park on the street. They ride their bike.They park way away and walk. Great things to do. The pictures are unbelievable. There's two stages. There's a dance stage, There's a music stage stage. I'm giving Terry some lead.

Mark00:22:07

Are you going to dance Arnold on.

Arnold00:22:09

One of those stages while I whistle Dixie?

Mark00:22:13

I guess that's, you know, very multicultural.

Arnold00:22:18

If you're from the south, it's probably very cultural.

Mark00:22:20

Okay, sorry, Ask.

Arnold00:22:24

Okay.

Terry00:22:26

I'm the marketing guy, so I got lots of little pitches, but I think what I want to do is just be honest and talk about what happened last year. Last year, when I came on board, I was told we weren't going to have the Festival of Nations.And the community just came forward and showed us how important it was and said, if you do anything at the Institute this year, you need to have this. Especially right now.We need to show the world how important it is to be welcoming and what can happen as a community, as a culture, when you have so many different kinds of people, so many different cultures calling it home. And so we came together and our partners came through, our community came through, and we made it work.And in a lot of ways, it was the most successful we've ever had. So as tumultuous as things can be when it comes to the conversation of immigration, this is really.The community showed us how important it was, and it was a fantastic celebration. And so that's what I want everybody to do, is come out and celebrate what it means to be welcoming.And all of these hundreds of different cultures that call St. Louis home. Do that with food, do that with purchasing things.Do that by having a good time and listening to the performers or watching the performers celebrate the park and what the park is and how the park has changed. It's this wonderful marriage of St. Louis, what it means to be St. Louis, and what it means to be multicultural in one place.

Arnold00:23:34

That is excellent because the community really needs things like this, and I think they count on things periodically. It's not like everybody's getting together to go to a ball game or this is something that has hundreds of thousands of people. It's a great draw.It's a great time for families and friends to sit together, experiment with some new kinds of food. Food and things like that.And what it does is it really shows how we can all get together in a variety of cultures and that really makes us who we are.

Mark00:24:01

And they got over 100,000 people last year.

Terry00:24:04

About 110. Yeah.

Mark00:24:06

And they weren't going to do it, but they just. I'm glad you all decided to go forward with it. I think it's really important.

Arnold00:24:14

And the park has been under renovation, as Terry said. Now it's complete, it's done. So there's no construction going on.Glad that it's an event that continues to really magnify how our community continues to grow and be strengthened by the people who come here.

Mark00:24:32

And it's fun. It really is a lot of fun. I've always had a great time when I've gone to the Festival of Nations. So I encourage you to go. That's my endorsement.

Arnold00:24:42

There you go.

Mark00:24:43

In August, the end of August.

Arnold00:24:45

Terry, thanks for coming in. We appreciate it.

Terry00:24:47

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Arnold00:24:48

So we're going to take a brief break. We'll be right back. This is Arnold Strick with mark Langston of St. Louis and Tune. Don't go away.As strange as it may sound, at Better Rate Mortgage, we love talking to people about mortgages. Everyone in St. Louis promises a better mortgage rate. But what you really need to turn that perfect house into your dream home is a better mortgage.At Better Rate Mortgage, we open the door to so much more. So where are you in the home buying process? Researching, maybe wondering how much you can afford? House hunting?Get a pre approval from Better Rate Mortgage Ready to buy. Our team is ready to make your mortgage process fast and easy.Whether you're purchasing your first home or taking cash out to make your dream home even dreamier, our door is open. Come on in and get started. Today we'll show you how.Call Sean directly at 314-375-3293 or online@betterratemortgage.com Remember, at Better Rate Mortgage, a better rate is just the beginning. Betterratemortgage.com and mls.id 2401335 this is Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in tune on behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation.In 1857, the Dred Scott decision was a major legal event and catalyst that contributed to the Civil War. The decision declared that Dred Scott could not be free because he was not a citizen.The 14th Amendment, also called the Dred Scott Amendment, granted citizenship to all born or naturalized. Here in our country and was intended to overturn the US Supreme Court decision on July 9, 1868.The Dred Scott Heritage foundation is requesting a commemorative stamp to be issued from the US Postal Service to recognize and remember the heritage of this amendment by issuing a stamp with the likeness of the man, Dred Scott. But we need your support and the support of thousands of people who would like to see this happen.To achieve this goal, we ask you to download, sign and share the one page petition with others. To find the petition, please go to dredscottlives.org and click on the Dred Scott petition drive on the right side of the page.On behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage foundation, this has been Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in tune. Welcome back to St. Louis in Tune. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston.Mark, I think the Festival of Nations is probably, gosh, I hate to use the word iconic, but for lack of better words, it is just this jewel Jill's good in the St. Louis area that really brings people together and is a fun time. And I can't think of really anything else. I'm not diminishing the festival, other festivals that go on, but it is intensely large and in charge.

Mark00:27:37

Yeah, it really is. And a couple of years ago, even one of these concert promoters even put on a big, huge concert the same weekend.And I know they were concerned that nobody's going to come to the Festival of Nations because of the big concert that. And they did it a couple of years on the same weekend. But I'll tell you what, Festival of Nations didn't miss a beat.

Arnold00:28:00

Nope.

Mark00:28:01

And the crowds were just as big as they'd always been. It's such an important part of our community if you've never gone really. There's police. I know they, they rent a lot of police officers to be there.Not just. And I don't want to suggest. Sometimes it almost sounds like, oh my gosh, they're not taking cash.And I don't want to suggest that it's a rough neighborhood or anything.

Arnold00:28:23

No, it's not.

Mark00:28:24

It's not at all. It's just they want to make sure nothing happens early. Yeah, exactly. Good way to put it. And we, you and I have had a great time there. Oh, I know.Every time we've gone.

Arnold00:28:34

Yeah.

Mark00:28:34

I think your wife Amy even rode her bike there once.

Arnold00:28:36

Yep.

Mark00:28:37

Her electric bike.

Arnold00:28:38

Yep.

Mark00:28:41

I want one of those.

Arnold00:28:42

What's on the, what's on the grill over there, Mark?

Mark00:28:45

Oh, it's, let's see whether we got a couple interesting days. National Couples Day. So if you're a couple, it's your day. One of your favorites. Bad Poetry Day. Oh, I could. Should be bad dad joke Day.Because that's how you are. What? National Fajita Day. You like fajita?

Arnold00:29:04

I like fajitas.

Mark00:29:05

Are you National Ice Cream Pie Day? I don't know if I've ever really had an ice cream pie.

Arnold00:29:10

Maybe Ice cream and pie.

Mark00:29:12

Do you know? Yeah, that's good.

Arnold00:29:13

It's like an ice cream cake.

Mark00:29:15

Never Give Up Day.

Arnold00:29:17

That's every day.

Mark00:29:18

Yes. Good for you. Let's see a couple more here. National Breast Cancer Research Day. Which is good. Let's hope they don't ever cut research.Cut too much research. And this one. National Mail Order Catalog Day. When was the last time you had a catalog? A mail order catalog.

Arnold00:29:36

I remember those. What was it? I remember my parents used to get those.

Mark00:29:40

Montgomery Ward.

Arnold00:29:41

Yeah. Sears had their big catalog and. But there was one always ended up in the bathroom.

Mark00:29:51

Needed reading material. There's. I don't want to say anything more about it.

Arnold00:29:54

Brook Stone has some Stone.

Mark00:29:56

That's a good one.

Arnold00:29:57

But there was one. It's just. Man, my. My mind is buffering. I don't say I know the laser track, but it's buffering.

Mark00:30:03

That'll come to you now. Do you ever get. Do you get mail order catalogs anymore?

Arnold00:30:07

No, I don't think there's. That's what. Keeping the Postal Service in business. It was junk mail.

Mark00:30:13

I found it fun to take a. I like the newspaper. That's how old I am. I like to hold it in my hand. It's the same with a catalog. I enjoy going on ebay and those kind of places. Amazon and looking at.And it's fun and it's. Wow. It's instantaneous and you can see a lot of stuff. But it is fun to pull out a catalog and take a look at it.

Arnold00:30:37

And those things cost a lot of money now. Especially how they're printed.

Mark00:30:40

Oh yeah. And then send them especially their color,.

Arnold00:30:43

What kind of paper they're put on catalogs or for plants and things like that. I know some of those are. I'm sure there's probably catalogs for everything. L.L. Bean has stuff like that. Lands End. They'll have catalogs.

Mark00:30:55

Yeah.

Arnold00:30:55

You can go online. But like you said, the. The paper.

Mark00:30:57

Yeah, it's good. I like to hold it in my hand, turn the page. Especially when I'm hanging out in the bathroom. I bought many things hanging out in the Bathroom. Okay.

Arnold00:31:10

Okay.

Mark00:31:10

All right, that's about now you know.

Arnold00:31:12

All the texting lingo, the abbreviation. Some of them I've have to look up lol. Yeah, laugh out loud. Some of them have to look BTW, by the way.

Mark00:31:21

Oh, okay.

Arnold00:31:22

But here's the 70 year old texting code.

Mark00:31:25

Okay.

Arnold00:31:25

ATD at the doctors. BFF, best friend fell.

Mark00:31:32

Fell. Not forever.

Arnold00:31:33

Yeah. And BTW, it's not by the way, it's bring the wheelchair and Byote. Bring your own teeth.

Mark00:31:42

I like that.

Arnold00:31:43

Okay, let's see. Ggp, bl, Gotta go. Pacemaker battery low. Let's see here. Oh, lmdo laughing my dentures out.

Mark00:32:01

That's pretty funny.

Arnold00:32:02

Let's see here. Omsg.

Mark00:32:05

Oh, what was that again?

Arnold00:32:07

Omsg.

Mark00:32:08

Okay.

Arnold00:32:09

Oh my. Sorry. Gas. That's just a few not gassy from the older generation. Kind of keep them going and keeping them current with texting.

Mark00:32:24

Okay. Yeah, yeah, it's hard. It's something you got to learn.

Arnold00:32:27

And I went to Walmart the other day and I was there for five minutes and when I came out there was this policeman writing a parking ticket for being in a handicap spot. So I went to him and said, hey, come on, how about giving me a break? He ignored me and continued writing the ticket.So I called him pencil necked cop. He glared at me and started writing another ticket for worn tires.So I then asked him if his psychiatric psychiatrist makes him lie face down on the couch because he's so ugly. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket.This went on until he had placed five tickets on the windshield. The more I insulted him, the more tickets he wrote. I didn't care. My car was parked around the corner.

Mark00:33:19

That's terrible.

Arnold00:33:22

When my son graduated from high school, he had to give a speech. He began by reading from his prepared text and he said this I want to thank.I want to talk about my mother and the wonderful influence she has had on my life. He told the audience, she's a shining example of parenthood, more than words could ever do justice.At this point he seemed to struggle for words and after a pause he looked up with a sly grin and said, sorry, but it's really hard to read my mother's handwriting.Then there's I want to live in a pharmaceutical ad where people wave to each other over picket fences, catch fish by sparkling lakes, ride bicycles along sun dappled streets and giggle through a long list of possible side effects. And we all know Yogi Berra, St. Louis guy. St. Louis guy. Group on the hill, Joe Garagiola. And was a.Maybe a catcher, but people would say he was a decent catcher for the New York Yankees and won a lot of World Series. But some interviewer asked him to explain jazz. Oh, okay. We know there's a lot of yogi isms. When there's a fork in the road, take it.Yeah, that was one of his. Yogi. So he explained jazz in this way. He said, I can't, but I will. 90% Of all jazz is half improvisation.The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, it's right. If you play the right part, it might be right.If you play it wrong enough, but if you play it too right, it's wrong. And the interviewer said, I don't understand. And yogi said, anyone who understands jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated.That's what's so simple about it.

Mark00:35:19

Take a bop. That's good stuff. I actually followed you on that.

Arnold00:35:26

Some jazz people said, he's exactly right.

Mark00:35:28

Yeah, that's right. They did.

Arnold00:35:32

And ladies out there, this is just some advice from someone who said, the only man worth chasing is the ice cream man.

Mark00:35:41

I'm there. I'm with you. Let's go.

Arnold00:35:46

Then there's. We ought to do a show.

Mark00:35:47

Softy. Mr. Soft.

Arnold00:35:48

Mr. Soft. Yeah.

Mark00:35:49

Remember Mr. Softy.

Arnold00:35:50

Oh, yeah. And I remember dip cones at DQ. Oh, man.

Mark00:35:54

Now you're talking. We also went seal test ice cream. And Peevely, they would deliver the. And we. This is the worst.And we would go up to the delivery guys because they didn't have refrigerated trucks. Then they had ice. And so the guys, they'd take their ice pick and they'd pick off a piece of ice and give it to you. Give it to the kid. Yeah, they.Sometimes they'd have a paper towel they'd rather. Here you go, kid. And we'd go out and just start chomping on that piece of ice.

Arnold00:36:20

That's like eating icicles in the wintertime. You grab one and you.

Mark00:36:23

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Arnold00:36:24

Can't do that anymore. We used to get this. I'll tell you how. And you will probably remember this.When I was a young child, we used to get our milk in a glass bottle delivered on the front porch. And it's amazing. We've gone to. Then it went to, Gosh, the wax containers. Then it goes to the plastic and now it's back to glass again.Because obviously the wax and the plastic aren't good for us.

Mark00:36:47

No.

Arnold00:36:48

So I want to do a show sometime on signs. But there's these two signs right next to each other. The one on the left, folks, says, you matter. And the one on the right says, don't give up.But hopefully you read it just like that. You don't read it. You don't matter. Give up.

Mark00:37:10

That's so Matt. Yai Yai. Oh, my goodness.

Arnold00:37:14

On day one of my high school history class, our teacher got up and said this. And Mark, you remember may remember this topic. You're 16 years old.200 Years ago, people your age were married, planted crops, had children and built a cabin. By winter you can do your homework. The bar set for you historically is embarrassingly low. You are not dealing with regional famine or plague.You do not have to save your family from marauders or go into battle to destroy your enemies. You have to sit down and learn from someone who cares about you in a safe, air conditioned room. You have no excuses.

Mark00:37:48

No excuses at all.

Arnold00:37:51

Here's another one. And this is a serious one. Seriously.

Mark00:37:54

Okay.

Arnold00:37:55

All right. Calling rape non consensual non consensual sex is like calling robbery non consensual shopping.

Mark00:38:04

Wow. That's okay. Yep.

Arnold00:38:08

And serious. There's like influencers out there now. Everybody.

Mark00:38:12

That's what you are. I thought, oh, gosh, influencer.

Arnold00:38:15

We didn't have influencers growing up. We just had uncles who gave bad advice for free.

Mark00:38:20

Where did they.

Arnold00:38:24

And we used to play dodgeball. We called it bombardment. Yes, the rubber ball. You throw it at the people.

Mark00:38:31

Hit them in the head.

Arnold00:38:32

Hit them in the head. You always aim for the head or the feet. The ankle. So you knocked the head first? Yeah. There's different rules.And I loved it when there was only one person. There's like 50 on the other side of balls at you. Anyway, so they banned dodgeball or bombard because it was too aggressive.But surviving a heavy red rubber ball to the face at Mach 3 is exactly what built the backbone of this country.

Mark00:39:00

When you put it that way. That explains a lot.

Arnold00:39:05

When anteaters eat fire ants, is it like eating hot Cheetos to them?

Mark00:39:11

Good question. Something to ponder on.

Arnold00:39:14

Yeah. The inventor of the heat index died recently. No, he was 88, but felt like he was 107.

Mark00:39:22

Thank you very much. Okay. I feel that way today, but I'm not 88.

Arnold00:39:31

Oh, let's see here. Here's.

Mark00:39:32

You've got more oh, I've got a.

Arnold00:39:34

Ton of these things. I could go on for a couple hours.

Mark00:39:36

Oh, no, we don't have that much time.

Arnold00:39:38

Now, Mark, you'll appreciate this one. Can it still be an emotional support animal if the animal doesn't want to protect participate? I'm just asking for my cat.

Mark00:39:50

Yeah, we could talk about cats. Cats and dogs. I'm telling you. What?

Arnold00:39:56

Oh, yeah, yeah. The old geezer went to the doctor and the doctor says, you're really doing great, aren't you? And the guy says, just doing what you said, Doctor.Get a hot mama and be cheerful. He says, I didn't say that. I said, you've got a heart murmur. Be careful. And do you do this, Mark?Do you, when you shop online or you see a product that you like, put it in the cart?

Mark00:40:25

I do. I do, I do, I do.

Arnold00:40:27

My save for later cart on Amazon is up to $1.5 million.

Mark00:40:31

Oh, my God. I can't believe that Holy spirit smokes.

Arnold00:40:38

There's a strange new trend at the office now, folks. And maybe you know this, maybe you do this. People are putting names on food in the company fridge. Today I had a tuna sandwich named Linda.

Mark00:40:50

Get that horse out of. Oh, that reminds me of it.

Arnold00:40:53

And at this point in history, it is healthier to eat biscuits and gravy than lettuce. What a time to be alive.

Mark00:40:59

I like that. Wow. I want to tell you about my brush with greatness before we go.

Arnold00:41:07

Okay. All right, I will end with this one. I came across a quote that said you can seem like a millionaire to one person and a homeless person to the next.The ants think you are a giant and the trees don't even notice you. You think you have a boring life, but the next person might be striving for your lifestyle comparison is the thief of joy.So stay kind and keep loving life. Life is all just a big game of perspective.

Mark00:41:34

Take a bow to. Take a bow. You should. That's good. They can see you there. I had a. A brush. A brush with greatness over the weekend.

Arnold00:41:44

You did?

Mark00:41:44

Yeah. Oh, I saw that on John Mulaney.

Arnold00:41:47

Yeah.

Mark00:41:48

Do you guys know who John Mulaney is?

Arnold00:41:49

I had to look him up. I didn't know that.

Mark00:41:51

Yeah, he was a writer for Saturday Night Live.

Arnold00:41:54

Yes, he was. I looked him up.

Mark00:41:55

Yeah.

Arnold00:41:55

And you met him down at the lake, right?

Mark00:41:57

Yeah, we were at the lake at the Hy Vee, eating sushi. And Maria, my wife, is amazing how she knows every. Everybody that's like a star.And she sees this guy walking across the parking lot and goes, mark, that's John Mulaney. And he was performing at a sold out show at the Ozark Amphitheater in. Not Eldon. Yeah, down there at the lake.

Arnold00:42:24

One of those places.

Mark00:42:25

Yeah. And. And so I said, really? And I turned her. She took a picture of him, turned around, and I said, we're gonna have to go see him.He went over, he walked into the Target, which is next door to it. And so I said, come on, let's go. Let's go over and see if we can stock him. So we went over to stock him and.And by the time we got over, we finished our food, and by the time we got over there, it had been a little while. There he was in the. He was checking out in the first lane, and he has his little entourage of people that are standing over here off to the side.And I go in and I go, oh, my gosh, that's John Mulaney. And those people start. They got a little irritated, annoyed. What's this guy going to do? And I said, maria, come on, let's go say hi to him.And she's like, no, I don't want to do that. She got very shy, which I've never seen her shy. And she started going down some aisle, and I went, no, you come here right now.So these people are really worried about me now.And he got done, he got finished, and he was walking out, and I actually had to grab Maria by the hand, and I brought her over, and I said, john Mulaney, we're a big fan, and we are a big fan. He has a skit that you should look up about a horse in a hospital. I'm sorry, I don't have it queued up right now.

Arnold00:43:43

Does he do the skit himself?

Mark00:43:44

He does the skit and it's all about politics. And there's a horse in the hospital. It's just not right. It's not how it should be.But there's a horse in the hospital, and anyway, you should really take a minute to do it.

Arnold00:43:59

Okay?

Mark00:43:59

And so I said, we're really big fans. I told his handlers, we're really big fans. And I said, can I get a picture of my wife with you? And he said, no. I said, what? And he said, I want to.I'll do the selfie of all three of us.

Arnold00:44:13

There you go.

Mark00:44:14

So he grabbed my camera and he took a selfie of it all, and we put it on one of the Lake of the Ozark sites. I have Never. There was over 1,600 likes.

Arnold00:44:25

You're an influencer, Mark.

Mark00:44:26

Yeah, that's. That was my brush with greatness over the weekend with John Mulaney.

Arnold00:44:31

And you were probably the only one that identified him and asked him.

Mark00:44:35

Yeah, I think he probably made. I don't know if he appreciated that or not.

Arnold00:44:38

Not. But he was generous with his time. He was related to that. A lot of people who are famous, they're like, no, get away from me. Surrounded by people.Or there's people who are very generous and say, yeah, I'll sign an autograph,.

Mark00:44:50

Or, I know you're. What you do. I know I. And I've run into the people like that. I'm sorry, I'm not going.And I want to get your picture, but, yeah, or just say hello or hi. Love what you do. I've run into a couple of artists that are like, no time like that. I can tell you.The group Alabama, they would stay and sign autographs till the last person.

Arnold00:45:11

That's great.

Mark00:45:12

They would sit there for hours after their concert and just some ball.

Arnold00:45:15

Stan Musial used to do that.

Mark00:45:16

Yeah. So anyway, to John Mulaney, if you ever don't know who he is, look him up. He's quite an accomplished guy. He really is. Done a lot of stuff.

Arnold00:45:25

Did you go to the show, Mark?

Mark00:45:26

No, I wanted to go to the show. And one of the comments was that he mentioned that he was taking selfies at Hy Vee, which. Yes, I wish I had gone. That's hilarious.Yeah, that's my brush with creation.

Arnold00:45:39

That's cool.

Mark00:45:39

I don't know if anybody cares about.

Arnold00:45:41

It, but you're an influencer, Mark.

Mark00:45:42

There you go. I know. Not as much as you, but I'm working on it.

Arnold00:45:46

This. This show is an influencer. How about that one?

Mark00:45:48

All right.

Arnold00:45:49

And, folks, we want you to be influenced. So you can check out some earlier shows@stlntune.com where you can follow us and leave a review. That's all for this hour.Thanks to Bob Berthasel for our theme music, our sponsor, Better Eat Mortgage, our guest, Terry Bates, and co host, Mark Langston. And we thank you for being a part of our community of curious minds. St. Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network.Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy, and let your light shine. For St. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.