Hanford Insider: The magic of Winter Wonderland and it's financial impact on the community.

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On this week's episode of the Hanford Insider, we'll have a preview of the 2024 Hanford Winter Wonderland with Brad Albert, rob will have an update on the busy community calendar and I'll be back later with your sports report.

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This is the Hanford Insider the podcast where we dive into what makes our community tick, from local stories and hidden gems to conversations with people shaping our neighborhoods.

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We're here to celebrate, explore and connect.

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Whether you're new to Hanford or a longtime local, this is your source for everything happening in our town, from events and news to unique conversations with people who make Hanford what it is.

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Thanks for tuning in and let's jump right into this week's community news.

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The Hanford City Council met last Tuesday to discuss several items, including a reporting plan for Measure H funds, as they begin to be collected on April 1st and start receiving them by July.

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Applications for the Oversight Committee will be accepted in January.

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The 100th anniversary of the Hanford Civic Auditorium.

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Dedication will be held in 2025.

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A committee will be formed to plan the big party.

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The general business portion of the meeting included a new application process for closing off streets for such things as 5k runs, street fairs, car shows, block parties, etc.

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The new form should clarify the requirements more clearly for those interested.

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The next Han Stanford City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, december 3rd.

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Newly elected council members Kimber Reagan and Nancy Howes will be sworn in after the results of the November election are officially certified.

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This is scheduled to take place on Thursday, december 5th, at a special meeting.

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Kings County Child Support Services is holding their annual Slipper Sock Drive for the senior citizens of Kings County.

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Any slipper sock that has a skid-proof bottom and is one size all can be donated through December 10th.

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There are several drop-off locations in town, including one of the great supporters of the Hanford Insider Cornerstone Cafe in the Fast Plaza.

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Gold Standard Mortgage is sponsoring a Santa for Seniors, for local nursing homes and retirement communities in our area.

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Donations can be dropped off at 115 West 7th Street.

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The Hanford Fire Department is having a toy drive at Fire Station no 1 on Grangeville Boulevard.

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The toy giveaway will be held December 21st at the Longfield Center.

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The City of Hanford has put out a call for local artists to participate in the new Downtown Mural Program and help create spaces that inspire, engage and unite our community.

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For more information, visit the City of Hanford website at hanfordcity.

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The Church of the Savior Soup Kitchen will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but the Salvation Army would appreciate your help serving our community.

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Call 582-4434 to sign up for a shift.

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Closed on Thanksgiving Day, but the Salvation Army would appreciate your help serving our community.

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Call 582-4434 to sign up for a shift.

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Here's some things coming up on our community calendar.

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Hanford Winter Wonderland is now open.

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Tickets to skate and visit the Santa experience are now on sale at hanfordwinterwonderlandcom.

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The annual Hanford Christmas Parade will be held this Friday, november 29th, at 6 pm in downtown Hanford.

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Mayor Travis Payton will be the emcee at the reviewing stand across from Superior Dairy.

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The Hanford Fox Theater has announced their holiday lineup of shows.

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They'll be showing Home Alone on Saturday, november 30th, it's a Wonderful Life on December 1st, a Winter Garden on December 5th and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on December 7th.

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Check foxhamfordcom fora full listing of events.

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At this historic venue, the Kings players will be holding auditions for their upcoming comedy set to run in March of 2025, for A Ghost of a Chance.

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This is directed by Deborah Garsky.

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Auditions will be held on December 2nd and 3rd at 6 30 pm at the Temple Theater located at 514 Visalia Street in Hanford.

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For more information, go to kingsplayersorg.

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The Hanford Branch Library is holding their 15th annual Winter Open House on Wednesday, december 4th from 4 to 6 pm.

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15th annual Winter Open House on Wednesday, december 4th from 4 to 6 pm.

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There'll be raffles and a visit from Santa.

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Main Street Hanford is holding the annual Wine and Chocolate Tasting event on Friday, december 6th in the evening in downtown Hanford.

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We'll have Michelle Brown on the show next week to give us a preview.

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I'll be down there with my Brass Caroling group walking around serenading people as they walk around downtown.

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Be sure to say hi if you see us.

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The Hanford Breakfast Lions Club is presenting Breakfast with Santa at the Hanford Civic Auditorium on Saturday, december 7th, from 7 30 am to 11 30 am.

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Kings County's Asian Experiences at the Carnegie Museum of Kings County is open each Friday, saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 pm.

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Part 2 showcases local Asian communities in the years following World War II.

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Specific displays focus on the histories, cultures and traditions of the Japanese, chinese, filipino and Hmong in the area.

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The museum is presenting an Asian Martial Arts Day on Saturday, december 7, from 10 am to 5 pm.

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There'll be demonstrations in kendo, tai chi, kung fu, karate, eskima, akiro and jiu-jitsu.

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For tickets and more information, visit carnegiemuseumofkingscountyorg.

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The downtown Hanford Run Run Rudolph two-mile run walk benefiting the Hanford Police Activities League will be held on Sunday, december 15th.

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Also on December 15th, the King's Symphony Orchestra will be presenting their annual Christmas concert at the Fox Theater, beginning at 4 pm.

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This year, the choirs from the local high schools will be joining in this festive event.

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If you have an event coming up and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together.

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Send your information to hanfordinsider at gmailcom.

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Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events.

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Well, we are so excited for the 2024 edition of the Hanford Winter Wonderland.

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We're here at the Hanford Civic Auditorium Park with the beautiful new ice rink and Director of Parks and Community Services, brad Albert, and Hanford City Manager, mario Cifuentes.

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Welcome to the show.

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Well, thanks, Rob.

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It seems like it was a short time ago, a year ago, when we were sitting in the same place, and here we are.

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Yeah, it's crazy to believe how this has all come together again.

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This is the fourth year of the Hanford Winter Wonderland and Brad is gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule and preparation.

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So you had your tree lighting on Saturday night your grand opening and we're looking forward to a great season of ice skating.

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Can you tell us a little bit about this year's attractions?

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Absolutely, rob.

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You know the tree lighting was wonderful.

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It's a brand new tree and we kind of showed that off on Saturday and, you know, kind of really truly kicks off the holiday season.

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For us, this year is a bit different than the previous three.

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We now own this ice rink wherein years past we've rented.

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So first time setting up this brand new rink we're very happy.

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We feel like it's an investment into the future for this event and for downtown Hanford.

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We will be open to the public until January 12th, so we go for eight weeks pretty straight through Holidays.

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The only time we close if it's raining really, really heavily.

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But many of our food vendors are back.

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We have our games and we have a really new attraction that we're really excited about.

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Yeah, we're going to get into some of that.

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Let's get into the Santa's Village all the little tough sheds over there.

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What's going to be over there?

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So over at Santa's Village we have eight everyday vendors we call, so.

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They're here every day during operating hours of the skate rink, which are basically from 4 pm to 10 pm on Monday through Friday and noon to 10 pm on Saturday Sunday.

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We have a variety of some really great local food drink vendors, a variety of foods.

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We've got Thai food, we've got Mexican food, we've got pizza, we have lots of sweets, churros, cotton, candy, kettle, corn.

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So a little bit something, whether it's a meal or a snack.

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I think we have something for everyone.

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And on the Bastille patio it's called the North Pole Lounge and I understand you've had some groups already sign up to have their parties here.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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We're so fortunate to have this space that's a great area, right on the Bastille, very close to the ice rink.

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Fire pits, heaters when it gets a little cool out, kind of a cool place, kind of a casual.

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But this is available for private parties, rentals, business parties or just a family party and I know we're going to mention the website several times, but can you tell us a bit about how people would get in contact with you if they were interested in renting the North Pole Lounge for maybe a family party or a company party?

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Absolutely so.

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For us, everything starts with our website HanfordWinterWonderlandcom.

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Virtually everything that we do here in the park is in that website.

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We've worked really hard to make it as complete as we can.

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Shortly we will have a live feed from on top of the Civic so people could actually go to the website and watch people skating that's pretty cool and next to the North Pole Lounge you have your carnival returns, all the games and prizes.

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Yeah, C&T Concessions.

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They've been with us for the past three years and one of the things I'm really excited, you know, today when I got here, they've really changed out a lot of their prizes in the holiday theme now.

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So we have Santas and candy canes and elves and things like that, and candy canes and elves and things like that.

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So it really ties in to the theme of Winter Wonderland, which was really, you know, about families and the holidays.

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And now the Santa experience.

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I know you cannot wait to tell us about this.

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Absolutely so.

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We are building the Santa experience.

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So the best way I can kind of articulate this is you enter into the magic elevator that transports you kind of interactively to the North Pole, where you land on the front door of Santa's workshop.

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You ring the doorbell, the door opens, and none other than Santa himself, and the cool thing is Santa will know the names of the folks walking in the door and, if they've been good boys or girls, what they may want for Christmas.

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So instantaneously you know the magic of Santa, that connection that knows.

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So it's really.

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For me it's about family sharing those memories.

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We've tried to make it and decorate it very traditional, very classic.

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He'll have milk and cookies, of course, next to him on his big green chair, and so it will be just something, I think, that the parents and their children can share together.

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That's going to be amazing.

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We've seen some of the teaser videos on social media and boy is it going to be something special for the families who come and attend.

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You know the Civic Auditorium Park is a very special place and we're going to talk about the 100th anniversary of the Civic Auditorium in just a minute.

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But before we get there, let's talk a little bit about actual nuts and bolts.

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About the ice rink.

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I know you said the city purchased the ice rink and that enables you to invest more in the project and just really provide a great experience.

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But how do you put this all together?

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I mean, you've got a team that puts it together.

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They've been working for weeks.

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How does all that work?

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Yeah, great question.

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This event could probably be a full-time, 12 months a year.

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That's, you know, between you know soliciting sponsorships, marketing, the operational, the logistics that it takes and, as you mentioned, we've been planning a long time.

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The logistics that it takes, and, as you mentioned, we've been planning a long time.

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We've already received a few curve balls, but we kind of learned to roll with it a little bit.

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So this year the ice rink is actually the same exact size 60 by 100.

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We have a little bit of space constraints with trees and light poles, so we kept it the same.

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We did reduce the time of the sessions down just a little bit, which enables us to get an extra session per weekday and two extra sessions during the weekends.

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Last year we actually sold out 34% of the time and had 110,000 visits.

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You know, had 110,000 visits.

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So I think really for me we went from a local event to a regional destination and in my mind, in marketing, now that you know you throw the net much farther out.

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Where our primary is Kings and Tulare County.

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But folks from Fresno and Kern a lot of folks came in on the train from Fresno so that gives us a great opportunity to welcome our city manager, mario Cifuentes, to the program.

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And, mario, can you tell us a little bit about the financial impacts of Hanford Winter Wonderland on the community?

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For us this started out as an idea and a vision that Brad Albert had about bringing a marquee event to downtown Hanford.

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Quite frankly, the initial catalyst for it was not an economic venture, but one to take advantage of the unique location the civic park and historic buildings and bring a sense of Americana to downtown Hanford.

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But after that first year Brad was able to recognize somewhat of a profit.

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In government it's not normal for us to make a profit.

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So then the goal became how do we leverage the revenue generating ability of this project to have a greater economic impact in our downtown?

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That's what ultimately led to council approval for us to purchase the ice rink.

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Over the 10-year lifespan of a rink we can put money aside to replace it, but then it also provides us more revenue.

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We have plans and we have submitted twice grant applications to make some significant improvements to the park.

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Council has authorized submittal of those grants, which would create a promenade through Civic Park.

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We have a desire to upgrade the lighting and we believe that all of those can be funded through the revenue that we're able to generate from an event that isn't just there for revenue generation but it brings a tremendous amount of visitors from the Valley to downtown Hanford.

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Last season we saw over 107,000 visitors to the event over the run of Winter Wonderland and we hear about it all over.

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I was at a conference in Burbank, california, and we were talking and outside one of the breakout sessions one of the city managers from a Southern California city said Hanford, you guys have that winter wonderland, don't you?

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And so it's become something I mean to the point where when you watch the news you see other communities are bringing them in to do.

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No one can recreate the atmosphere or the environment that we're able to recreate because of the location in our civic park.

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So how are the visitors tracked then?

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So we're contracted with a company called Placer AI.

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The original reason that we chose to utilize that service was the city's economic development efforts, the mayor and the vice mayor and some of our senior staff.

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We're members of the International Council of Shopping Centers.

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We attend their annual conference, but we also there's regional conferences that we attend.

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Some of the regional conferences.

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We have better opportunities to meet with developers that have an awareness of what we have going on in Hanford.

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And when we go there we have a list of certain retail and restaurants that we would like to draw.

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But what we started hearing the first time we went, we didn't have this tool and we heard you know.

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We were able to say hey, you know, this community really wants that.

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Okay, well, you know, when we're taking a bird's eye view of, let's say, the Costco shopping center, they would say we don't see any rooftops around there and that's problematic for us.

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And similarly, on the Southwest part of town we were looking, particularly because we have the vacancy there at 12th and 198.

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And we recognize the amount of traffic that goes through there.

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But we had no way of quantifying what we knew was the case for us.

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So fast forward, we have a regional conference in San Diego.

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The annual conference is coming up in Las Vegas and we had a list that had been provided to us by our retail strategies, which is the firm that we use for retail outreach, and they were able to provide us with some of that data.

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But we thought to ourselves it would be so much more helpful if we had access to that same vendor and there was nothing against that.

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So we were able to, for a relatively small amount of money about $20,000, get access to this database and then we could started looking into it and recognize that our Walmart, in terms of total traffic, was number seventh in the state, that our Black Bear Diner was one of the most highest performing black bears in the state and that resonates If we're trying to get, for instance, golden Corral.

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Folks have talked about that I think you recently have seen in the paper where the one opened in Fresno to just lines and lines and obviously that's something with our beloved Sizzler closing.

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That would be a great alternative for us.

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But being able to tell them we know people will go or show them hard data, track, cell phone data for those that have their location can be tracked.

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And so we did that from the retail side and then we started to realize that at the same time that Place 3 AI realized that you could use it for community events.

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We now can tell how many folks are going to the Thursday Night Marketplace, where they come from, where they go to do they shop before or after these events, and those help us, as we want to add further economic development in the downtown, and so that's why that data is very, very important for us, not just on the retail side but in terms of marketing.

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How do we do targeted marketing?

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When we look at these heat maps and we show a good number of visitors are coming from Fresno, we know that that's because of the great partnership that Brad's put together with Amtrak and folks will come down and we see a lot of travel from Visalia over here, but not so much to the east of Visalia.

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So we recognize there's a market there that folks can just drive down 198 and come there, so we can do some targeted marketing there.

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This year Brian Johnson and Brad, I know, are working on some small TV spots.

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Much like we found success in our sales tax measure, being able to target audience, we're now going to be able to transition that, utilizing this heat mapping to winter wonderland and hopefully this next year, to start broadening our outreach for social media, that sort of thing, and how we can reach those markets for our messaging that we haven't been able to reach previously.

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Let's get back to Brad.

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You have a staff that is working.

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You said it could be a full-time staff year round, but you have a very hardworking staff for your seasonal staff.

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Can you maybe introduce us to some of the people who will see at the rink and the people that are behind the scenes making it happen?

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Yeah, as you mentioned, this is really a team effort.

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We have two ice rink managers, nikki Tovar and Maya Gomez.

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One of the two will always be on duty during operational hours.

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We've got about 35 part-time staff.

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Some of those staff are dedicated to maintenance of the ice, operating the Zamboni.

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We actually have staff at the park 24 hours a day and that serves as sharpening skates, but they're also security on the site and that's something we did last year and it's worked out really, really well.

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The other part of our operations staff are cashiers the folks that actually distribute the ice skates.

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We just purchased 450 pairs of new lace-up hockey skates, so I've been told they're a little more comfortable than maybe than what we've had here.

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So you know, between the cleaning and keeping restrooms in order and keeping the lights and all of the logistics, it really takes a little army to do that and everyone who's working.

00:21:55.442 --> 00:21:57.968
You'll see them in the red winter wonderland.

00:21:57.968 --> 00:22:02.468
If you ever have any questions, I'm happy to answer anything you might have.

00:22:03.692 --> 00:22:11.101
And so another event you're having on Christmas Eve, and I hear someone special is going to be making appearance at the Hanford Civic Auditorium.

00:22:12.105 --> 00:22:13.309
Yeah, we're really excited.

00:22:13.309 --> 00:22:14.634
We want to start a new tradition.

00:22:14.634 --> 00:22:25.979
So at Christmas Eve at 5 and 7 pm Santa will read the Night Before Christmas and we invite the entire community to come out.

00:22:25.979 --> 00:22:29.526
Free event milk and cookies for everybody.

00:22:29.526 --> 00:22:40.980
The children can sit around Santa while he reads the story and we're looking to have a choir sing some Christmas carols again in the historic Civic Auditorium.

00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:54.690
So we just want to see a lot of families come out and just enjoy the holidays early enough to get the kids back home, because Santa won't come with them awake.

00:22:54.690 --> 00:22:56.501
So we're real excited about that.

00:22:57.694 --> 00:23:00.664
And there's one other attraction we totally did, totally slipped my mind.

00:23:00.664 --> 00:23:04.605
Freddie the fire truck's going to be taking people around to look at Christmas lights.

00:23:04.605 --> 00:23:06.280
Tell us a little bit about that.

00:23:07.394 --> 00:23:10.201
Yeah, that that has exploded.

00:23:10.201 --> 00:23:30.103
We're sold out for that and so we have a vintage old fire engine and Albert, our driver, who's been with us for many years, takes folks out around Hanford to look at the really cool light displays that you get the really cool light displays that the community puts out.

00:23:30.103 --> 00:23:46.573
So it's very diverse, very eclectic, but you're in an open air fire truck in the winter, bundled up, and it just, you know, I think it speaks Hanford, it speaks just community.

00:23:46.573 --> 00:23:51.217
And where else do you get an opportunity to?

00:23:51.237 --> 00:23:51.958
do something like that.

00:23:51.958 --> 00:23:53.682
So I know you'll be open during the parade.

00:23:53.682 --> 00:23:56.688
You'll be open during the wine and chocolate event.

00:23:56.688 --> 00:24:08.895
You have extended weekend sessions, especially when school gets out, and this rink.

00:24:08.895 --> 00:24:13.108
Some people may think that the city spends a lot of money on this event and it's probably not making much money, but that's a different story, isn't it?

00:24:14.356 --> 00:24:24.685
It is Due to last year's success and our net revenue that enabled us to purchase and that's an investment into the future.

00:24:24.685 --> 00:24:32.474
Happy to say that, as of today, it's all paid for future.

00:24:32.474 --> 00:24:33.557
Happy to say that, as of today, it's all paid for.

00:24:33.557 --> 00:24:35.423
So future years our expenses get cut in half because we don't have to rent.

00:24:35.423 --> 00:24:37.549
One of the ongoing costs will be the chiller rental.

00:24:37.549 --> 00:24:41.401
That's one thing that keeps the ice rink frozen.

00:24:41.401 --> 00:24:42.943
That is an expense.

00:24:42.943 --> 00:24:51.627
But we bought skates, skate racks, the light towers, you see new sound equipment, all the dasher boards and that.

00:24:51.627 --> 00:25:02.971
So with our sponsorships, with our ticket sales, with our vendor revenue splits, the business model really is kind of multiple revenue streams.

00:25:02.971 --> 00:25:07.906
Our biggest expenses, of course, are staffing utilities a little bit.

00:25:07.906 --> 00:25:18.247
It takes some electricity to keep the chiller unit going, but we believe it's a good business model, Very unlike, I think, typical city-operated.

00:25:18.247 --> 00:25:26.148
I've always looked at this kind of as a mini-business with the need to recover 100% of expenses.

00:25:26.148 --> 00:25:30.627
So it's a surplus, not a deficit, to the city budget.

00:25:31.671 --> 00:25:34.233
For sure, and Mario had mentioned that.

00:25:34.233 --> 00:25:41.924
It allows you to make investments in the park in general, because there's infrastructure things that need to get taken care of as well.

00:25:41.924 --> 00:25:56.891
Yeah, infrastructure.

00:25:56.911 --> 00:25:59.134
Example all our vendors have to bring their own generators because we're afraid to blow a circuit.

00:25:59.134 --> 00:26:03.183
So you know, we re-sodded the Irwin side last year with some of our net revenue.

00:26:03.183 --> 00:26:08.484
We'd love to hardscape, where we basically kill our grass, where we freeze it.

00:26:08.484 --> 00:26:13.776
It actually freezes probably three or four feet and we have to replace that sod.

00:26:13.776 --> 00:26:21.576
So, yeah, we would like to see that net revenue reinvested into the park and that just gives us a way to do it.

00:26:21.576 --> 00:26:24.963
That again separate from the general fund.

00:26:24.963 --> 00:26:27.195
So it's a great model.

00:26:27.195 --> 00:26:30.905
It's a nonprofit business model of reinvestment.

00:26:30.905 --> 00:26:32.509
So we're real happy about that.

00:26:32.871 --> 00:26:35.214
Well, this is definitely the heart of downtown Hanford.

00:26:35.214 --> 00:26:42.085
We heard the exciting news about the sale of the courthouse to an investor who's going to spend $10 million to remodel that.

00:26:42.085 --> 00:26:44.317
Hopefully, we'll have some good news on the Bastille.

00:26:44.317 --> 00:26:56.826
And over the last year or so, the city has put a lot of work into the Hanford Civic Auditorium, because 2025 is the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the Hanford Civic Auditorium.

00:26:56.826 --> 00:27:03.864
That building has been used for so many concerts, events, weddings, dances throughout the years.

00:27:03.864 --> 00:27:09.603
I know on my history page a lot of people just share some really important memories about the event.

00:27:09.603 --> 00:27:16.895
There's a committee being formed to have a big celebration and you don't have too many details, but what kind of things are you thinking about for the celebration?

00:27:17.837 --> 00:27:18.638
Great question.

00:27:18.638 --> 00:27:28.972
Just last Tuesday council directed staff to move forward with the preliminary planning of the Civic Centennial 100th birthday.

00:27:28.972 --> 00:27:37.659
So we'll be forming a planning committee made up of city staff and vested community organizations and individual.

00:27:37.659 --> 00:27:40.578
We invite anybody who would like to participate.

00:27:40.578 --> 00:27:43.328
As you said, not a lot of details.

00:27:43.328 --> 00:27:52.912
I've reached out to the Masons who actually placed the Cornerstone time capsule to see if could we unearth it from old newspaper articles.

00:27:52.912 --> 00:27:55.093
We actually have the content of that capsule From old newspaper articles.

00:27:55.093 --> 00:27:59.056
We actually have the content of that capsule and would we want to replace it for the next 100 years?

00:27:59.635 --> 00:28:02.137
We're looking at, you know, just a lot of different things.

00:28:02.137 --> 00:28:05.140
We're looking May, june as a date.

00:28:05.140 --> 00:28:14.007
The building is very heavily used, both for organizations, individuals, parties, so our dates are limited.

00:28:14.007 --> 00:28:19.554
It's already booked out, so we have three or four dates later in May and in early June.

00:28:19.554 --> 00:28:21.057
That are possibilities.

00:28:21.057 --> 00:28:33.213
So our goal now is to meet with the committee, kind of put the big rocks together and go return to council with the plan and upon their approval we'll move forward.

00:28:33.213 --> 00:28:40.253
And it seems like a long time from now, but it's really not because we've got to do the building justice.

00:28:41.115 --> 00:28:42.700
Definitely, definitely.

00:28:42.700 --> 00:28:49.190
Well, you know, let's wrap things up it's been a great time, as usual, with you, brad, and you have so much to share with the community.

00:28:49.190 --> 00:28:58.723
Thank you for everything that your department does for improving the quality of life in Hanford, be it parks or events or activities for the kids at Longfield Center.

00:28:58.723 --> 00:29:00.430
There's definitely a lot on your plate.

00:29:00.430 --> 00:29:07.104
Let's finish up with maybe just listing the hours that the rink is open and how long we can do this.

00:29:08.190 --> 00:29:17.824
Okay, so Winter Wonderland runs from last Saturday, the 23rd, all the way to January 12th.

00:29:17.824 --> 00:29:19.365
A little bit different hours.

00:29:19.365 --> 00:29:22.435
School got pushed back on their break and things like that.

00:29:22.435 --> 00:29:37.924
Typically it is 4 pm to 10 pm, monday through Friday, with the weekends being noon to 10 pm, and again online on our website you can look at all the different times.

00:29:37.924 --> 00:29:46.111
You can pick your day, pick your time for that day, you reserve your spot and that will be available for you at that time.

00:29:46.111 --> 00:29:55.660
Last year we actually sold out 34% of the time and people would travel and not get to come on, and we don't like that.

00:29:55.660 --> 00:29:58.211
So even our complimentary tickets.

00:29:58.211 --> 00:30:05.003
Now you need to go online and book your time and slot to assure that we have space for you.

00:30:05.931 --> 00:30:12.718
I know your family is going to have a great time at the Hanford Winter Wonderland and Santa Experience through January 12th.

00:30:12.718 --> 00:30:13.601
Thanks again, Brad.

00:30:13.601 --> 00:30:15.807
Through January 12th.

00:30:15.827 --> 00:30:16.490
Thanks again, Brad.

00:30:16.490 --> 00:30:21.521
And now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley.

00:30:27.010 --> 00:30:38.392
Football continues to see seasons come to a close, and a congratulations to Hanford United for taking down Goshen 36-24 and winning the Sequoia League Football Senior Division Championship.

00:30:38.392 --> 00:30:49.502
On to high school sports, where soccer got its season started last week with a crosstown showdown, as the Hanford High girls took down Hanford West in a non-conference match, 7-0.

00:30:49.502 --> 00:30:56.363
On the boys' soccer side, it was only Sierra Pacific in action, as they fell to Strathmore 1-0.

00:30:56.363 --> 00:31:10.935
Things got started in the gym too, as Hanford West Wrestling competed in the Farmersville Invitational and, thanks to quite a few outstanding individual finishes, the Huskies were able to come away with an impressive fourth-place overall finish.

00:31:10.935 --> 00:31:13.522
A great weekend for the Huskies on the mat.

00:31:14.411 --> 00:31:22.883
On the hardwood, however, the Hanford West boys basketball team suffered a defeat in their season opener, falling to Tulare Western 70-46.

00:31:22.883 --> 00:31:31.160
The Sierra Pacific boys basketball team couldn't come away with a win on the hardwood either, falling to Clovis High 91-63.

00:31:31.160 --> 00:31:44.721
Colin Dodd had a solid game for the Golden Bears, filling up the stat sheet with 18 points, four rebounds, two blocks, an assist and a steal, while Nevin Pitkin pitched in with 12 points, four assists and three rebounds.

00:31:44.721 --> 00:31:59.623
The Sierra Pacific girls were also in action, taking on some Clovis schools, as they fell to powerhouse Clovis West 97-36 on Thursday, before bouncing back with a 70-60 victory over Clovis North on Friday.

00:32:00.450 --> 00:32:11.334
And there will be lots of girls basketball action all over town this week, as the Turkey Legs Showdown takes place all afternoon on Monday and Tuesday and finishes with a full day of games on Wednesday.

00:32:11.334 --> 00:32:19.055
Games will take place at all three Hanford schools and will feature both JV and varsity teams from all over the Central Valley.

00:32:19.055 --> 00:32:26.922
And get ready, because after Thanksgiving things start to ramp up again and we'd like to cover as many local sports as possible.

00:32:26.922 --> 00:32:33.143
So if you have a score report or a story idea, make sure to email hanfordinsider at gmailcom.

00:32:33.143 --> 00:32:37.760
I'm Eric Bentley and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

00:32:41.750 --> 00:32:43.454
That's all the time we have for this week's show.

00:32:43.454 --> 00:32:50.803
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00:32:50.803 --> 00:32:57.644
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00:32:57.644 --> 00:33:02.020
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00:33:02.020 --> 00:33:10.353
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00:33:10.353 --> 00:33:15.983
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00:33:15.983 --> 00:33:20.674
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00:33:20.674 --> 00:33:25.613
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00:33:25.613 --> 00:33:28.922
Thanks for listening and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Hanford Insider: The magic of Winter Wonderland and it's financial impact on the community.

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