Ep.232 Heads In Beds (Pam King-Tourism Manager for City of Dripping Springs)

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Where'll you be going?

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Texas. Damn, son, where'd you find this? Go on, make it happen. And now here's Steve and Michelle.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Welcome to Malet and Michelle. I'm Michelle and this is Steve. And you know, 20 years ago, if you told someone you were spending the weekend in Drip, they'd ask why. But today, can I get an Airbnb? And we went from a dry county to drinking, dancing, and destination weddings.

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Yeah. There were used to be the first light you hit was Ranch Road 12 and and 290, way back 15, 20 years ago. Now there's like 47 lights between Austin and here. It's a destination for sure.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

And it's coming. I actually wanted to say drinking, dancing, and Dairy Queen, but now it's uh come to dripping, get drunk, and get married. Well, no, you used to say uh come to dripping, get drunk, get married, then get divorced.

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Divorce capital. Well, the tourism manager for the destination dripping springs, Pam King, is gonna be in here in a minute to join us. But first, we gotta thank these wonderful sponsors that we could not do the show without.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Deep Eddie vodka.

SPEAKER_05 1:11

We are looking forward to what comes next for Deep Eddy vodka, but for now you still have time to stop by for some RR and a tasty vodka. They got some cool stuff happening, I think. We have to stay tuned on what they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

I like to go when I go out of town, I always um, or even out of state, I always like I spy deep eddy vodka behind the bar, and I will always try to order it. So it's yummy. Yeah, it's very yummy. South starving.

SPEAKER_05 1:36

That's probably the only alcohol I've had in 20 years.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

And ever.

SPEAKER_05 1:41

Well, not ever, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

I uh there was 20 years past 20, that's ever.

SPEAKER_05 1:45

Yeah, it's it's a long time.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

And there was the you had the little sip of the espresso.

SPEAKER_05 1:49

Espresso. It was it was yummy, but uh, if I'd had more than that, you you would have had to drive me home.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

You're like a 12-year-old girl on Boone Farm.

SPEAKER_05 1:58

I've had that before, too.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Oh, sorry, South Star Bank.

SPEAKER_05 2:03

We're doing something here, Michelle. There's something going on.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

South Star Bank.

SPEAKER_05 2:07

South Star Bank. Better loans and better people. Stop by and see the great folks at South Star Bank today. 16 locations to serve you.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Hey Steve, I had a really good idea. Why don't you give me your username and password right now? And we can show people how it worked. Oh, I thought that it would be really cool to do that.

unknown 2:23

No, no.

SPEAKER_05 2:24

There's only $8 in there anyway. So take it and run, Michelle. Take it and run.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Black slate construction and roofing.

SPEAKER_05 2:31

So normally I would have this thing to say about them, but I just want to give them a testimonial. They did a roof at one of our listings yesterday, and they dropped the materials off on Friday. Their crew showed up yesterday on Monday, and by four o'clock in the afternoon, they had a brand new roof, and every bit of refuse from the yard was cleaned up. That place was spotless. You never could tell, and they got a brand new, beautiful roof.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

It was amazing. So I went over there. I went to go get a key, and I stood in the street, and there was like, I don't know, a bajillion cars, and there's like 12 people up on the roof, all walking around. And I was like, uh, I'm kind of worried about because I had to go to the house and they're throwing stuff off the roof and everything. And then somebody up there was like, stopped it, let me go over there, do my thing, and then I'm kind of sitting under the. They just sat there, they waited for me. I even took a video for you, and when they said, We're all done, roads or the yards clean, I was like, that was quick. They were still doing their thing.

SPEAKER_05 3:33

They were sending us and the client uh updates via text and email about how the job was going with pictures and everything. I was really good. I I was very impressed. Those guys, Black Slate Construction and Black Slate Roofing, they do a great job.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Kudos to Hunter and his team.

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Yes, yes.

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And Malik integrity team. Speaking of a great team.

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Yeah, yes, we're old-fashioned. We still believe that being professional and doing a great job is better than looking fancy on Instagram or spending all day in pre personal photo shoots. Call us today. And we're gonna start something new. We have a listing of the day.

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Our featured listing of the week. It's our 830.

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Featured listing of the week.

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I wrote it down and it's 831 Polo Club.

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Which is in the back of Polo Club. It's a beautiful house. If you haven't seen it, go look at it online. This is probably the nicest home we've ever listed. It's a Kirby Walls custom home. And the the number one thing everybody says is dream home. This is where I want to live. I'd never leave. It's really, really pretty place.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

It's beautiful, beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 4:38

Go look it up online or watch this on YouTube and you'll be able to see it.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 4:42

Well, our guest today, I'm very excited. I've known Pam for a while here. She's uh Pam King is the tourism manager for Destination Dripping Springs. Pam is at the center of promoting everything from our wineries, breweries, and wedding venues to local festivals, public art projects, and the unique hill country charm that draws visitors from around the world. Wow. Wow. Wow, that was a long saying that's pretty good. She's helping, she's helping shape how people experience and remember dripping springs. Welcome to the show, Pam. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. It's great to have you here. So we uh were looking at your bio, and you came from Milwaukee. I did. Born and raised in Milwaukee. That's uh quite a waste to Dripping Springs, Texas.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

It is. Actually, we lived in Grafton, Wisconsin, which is a suburb 20 minutes north of Milwaukee for about 30 years. Um but I did grow up in Milwaukee. Um my children came here, my son and daughter-in-law came here. They moved to Austin about nine years ago, they moved to Dripping Springs five years ago. And when my husband and I started talking about what our next chapters of our lives would look like, it was going to be where our kids were. So people say, Well, why here? And basically it's because they're here. If they were in Alaska, we would be in Alaska.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Um, we have three grandkids with another one on the way, and our life is all about them. Um, fortunately, I found this amazing opportunity that sort of goes along with what my life was like before. Um, but dripping springs is a great place to be, a lot like the community we came from, so that makes it a lot more fun and a lot easier to deal with. Yeah. Well, the only thing go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

I was gonna say the the only thing that I know about Milwaukee is through my show uh Laverne and Shirley back in the day, Shimizual Shimajel, right? And um, you know, I know that there were things that were prominently featured there, the Milwaukee City Hall, uh Leon's Frozen Custard, the Milwaukee um river walk there. How how much of a change was it from you to go from Wisconsin with these beautiful seasons to one season here in Austin, the heat and everything else? You're not you're not shoveling snow anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

So at least you I I would say that I do miss the change of season. I liked it. Um I didn't hate winter. I don't love it, but I didn't hate it. Um I think the the most unique thing for me here is I meet people who've lived here their whole life and all they do is complain about how hot it is. And they've always lived here. So it's just interesting that that's the topic of conversation. No, no, no, no, not really. It's it's really the weather. It's hot and it is hot. Yeah. Um, but my husband and I and our kids really like to be outside. And so um it's amazing to us that we are outside when no one else is. Yeah. Um, and that we did come from a place that was much colder. Um, but that's probably the only big thing that I miss the most is really the change of season. And I really love to garden and I haven't figured out how to do that here. So that's that's um that's lots of water.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

I I'm growing lots of peppers. Peppers are the key. So I'm growing peppers or jalapenos, shoshitos, bell peppers. And because I I think there is a way. There's a way to do it.

SPEAKER_05 7:57

You just want flowers.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Oh, the flowers. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:01

Yeah. Flowers are tough. Yeah. So you said uh the your previous experience. Did you do something like this in in a previous life? I did. I did.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

So um for 25 years, I worked for a chamber of commerce in a community about the size and with kind of the growth spurt that um Dripping Springs has. So I was the exec executive director, which is the president role here, but it was the executive director there for 14 years, um, but worked for the chamber for 10 before that. Um, and my job was Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Promotion, they were combined. So um it it was the right fit for me. It was a perfect opportunity to do something I knew. When we first talked about coming here, um, I thought I'll do a job that's online. I'll I'll dress up from the waist up and I'll wear my pajamas and I'll just do an online customer service job. And that'll, you know, I I'll do that. And then we started to talk about, but the kids can't be the only thing we know here. And um this was an opportunity of something I already knew how to do. I retired saying I'll never do anything like this again, and then a month and a half later started doing a job pretty much like I had done before, which is awesome. Um, it's really been a great transition for me. Uh, I think the learning curve maybe is a little less for me than someone else who might have come into the role. Yeah. So that's a good thing for all, I think.

SPEAKER_05 9:25

How long have you actually been in dripping?

SPEAKER_02 9:27

We've l we will live here three years in September. And my start date for the for uh destination dripping springs was November 6th of 2023. Okay. But I came knowing I had the job.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

That's right around the time when the allergies start to hit. Yep. You know, when you're about two to three years in, all of a sudden you're like, oh, I didn't know I was allergic to cedar.

SPEAKER_05 9:48

Allergic to everything.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Everything for sure.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Yes, I never took allergy medicine before I came here. Oh, it's a it's a stable. It's a thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

It's like Flintstone vitamins. You definitely pop them. So you um you work with your kids, or I think it's your son, right, on his ranch. And work would be a very generous term for me. Um so you're I thought it was really funny when I read on your bio, it said you don't like animals, but you help the kids feed the longhorns, the goats, the pigs, the chickens, the zebra, which I'm fascinated with, and the puppies. Yes. What is that about?

SPEAKER_02 10:24

What exactly are you doing? Well, I consider myself the docent. That's what I call myself. I don't touch animals, I don't like animals, I never have. That's so funny. Um it's like Steve, my No, I love animals.

SPEAKER_05 10:36

I just don't want to own them.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

I'm our our son and daughter-in-law um decided to purchase this ranch, and um my son raises well, they raised longhorns uh as a business. That's part of his business, but not his main job. Um, and so as the ranch grew and he decided it was like Noah's Ark, okay, so now I'm gonna get two pigs, and now I'm gonna get two goats, and now I'm gonna get two zebras, and I'm gonna get two donkeys. And all these animals kept coming. And my grandkids love them. My daughter-in-law, my son, they all like my husband loves animals, our daughter loves animals. I do not. And so, like, they'll say, Grammy, Grammy, come and feed the cows, and I'll be like, I'm holding the bucket and I hand them the feed. I don't, I have, I don't think I've touched two animals there.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Did you have animals growing up?

SPEAKER_02 11:27

No, no, my we are very, very urban. So this whole this whole ranch concept is is very strange for us. Um, my dad was afraid of dogs, so I think that made me not like animals. Um, nothing's ever happened to me that would make me not like animals. I just don't. My daughter had a pony while she was growing up. I would go to the ranch with her, the farm with her. I would hold the horse. I'm I would brush it. That's it. I wouldn't lift a hoof, I wouldn't, and I would clean up, but I wouldn't like I'm I'm just I wouldn't feed it.

SPEAKER_05 11:59

I'm knowing your limitations is a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Completely. And I'm and I'm happy with that. I I will tell you this. We took the we took some cows and goats to our granddaughter's kindergarten class last year at the end of the school year. I when I say we, I didn't do anything. I brought my mother. Yeah, I didn't do anything. But they were there, and I was holding the leash of a goat, and the goat kind of slipped out. I grabbed the goat because I knew that it was the right thing to do, but I was traumatized. It was more than I could ever. And my daughter was like, Mom, you grabbed a goat. I'm like, it will never happen again.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

You go grab a goat.

SPEAKER_05 12:36

I just was worried about the kids. Yeah, this is like for the average person, like holding a tarantula or petting an anaconda.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Steve has, well, now he has one, but Steve has pet chickens. Okay, so we have chickens, but chickens aren't like the cuddle. Like I I sit with my dogs at night and they're like all in my face and they're not my legs and they're everywhere. So that's how you like animals. You get something with a beak that'll peck at you. No, no.

SPEAKER_05 13:02

I I yeah, I just like watch. They're just fun to watch. It is Yeah, it's fun.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

I I love going out there. It's fun to see them. Um, several cows have been born on the property. That's really exciting to be a part of. It's it's it's really fun to observe. I'm just not an active participant. We had a dog for a very short time. My children, my husband wanted a dog. Um did it go live at the fire station after work? It actually, it actually lived with a cow a clown. Um that's even a better story. Yes. So, but there was a the kids were home for two weeks for vacation. Then it was time for them to go back to school. My husband goes back to work, and I was like, okay, I guess you have to put it on my lap now. And I truly was like this. And then it didn't thrive, and they were all gone. So I had to save the dog, literally, fed it dog baby food with a spoon for and you gave it to a clown, Pam. Well, yes, we did. Um, we were a soccer family. It's a very happy dog. We were we were a soccer family, we were a forage family, and we were going places all the time, and other people were watching the dog, and we finally agreed that it was time to let Dusty have a better life. And our friend had a was a clown who had a dog, and that dog died, and he was looking for the same kind of dog. And so Dusty traveled with the clown. It was the perfect ending to the story. Traveling with the clown. We got Christmas cards from him for a couple years. It was awesome.

SPEAKER_05 14:27

My face hurts because we're like laughing and just I think our listeners did not expect this conversation to go in that direction.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

It's so out of it's just Dusty the clown dog. There's a lot there.

SPEAKER_05 14:40

Well, let's talk about we got a lot to talk about, the tourism manager for the city of Dripping Springs. Are you actually a city employee then? I am. Okay. I am, yes. And tell us about the uh the tourism manager position. What what what's your actual role there?

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Um well, uh just a little background. So in Dripping Springs, there was a tourism committee of the chamber that then broke off into its own entity called Destination Dripping Springs. And as that transitioned and um my predecessor, Pam Owens, who I think did a phenomenal job, moved into retirement. There was discussion, and that's be this is way before my time that the city should absorb it and bring it back or bring it into the city to keep it um to sustain it. And so um primarily my role is to help guide what kinds of initiatives, what kinds of advertising, what kind of promotional things we will do to help keep destination keep dripping springs on the map and um make it a realistic and uh vibrant place for people to want to come and visit. And at the end of the day, you know, the words heads and beds, I heard you talking about hot tax. Um I'm not even gonna go to how where that went on your last conversation. Um but I don't even remember. It was with um Susan and Eustacio and how that got converted into some other translations. But um my primary job is to determine how how we can promote and get people to stay overnight in dripping springs. Um it's not hard to do that, truly. I mean, I think that um the wedding industry is is very successful here. And I think if you spoke to our hotels, they would tell you that weekends are very, very they're booked most of the time. Um, I think COVID has trained changed a lot of things and um the weekday business traveler has changed, and so it's those weekdays that are the struggle for overnight stays in our hotels. I think that's true across the country. More people are doing work remotely, less people are doing business travel the way they used to. Um I think our proximity to Austin makes us a really great location. Our proximity and location within the Hill Country makes us a perfect place to stay and play around us. And so that's one of the things that we're working on trying to help promote. We are a wonderful, beautiful place to visit. We're not a week of things to do.

SPEAKER_05 17:04

No, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

And that's not a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with that. But our role then is to say while you're here, Pertinellas State Park is over here, Fredericksburg is really still a day trip, um, Wimberley is a perfect place to go. You can even do San Antonio and come back here and stay. Um we're really and we're 30 minutes from downtown Austin. We're 35 minutes from the airport. So we've done some new advertising to help people understand how close we are to Austin and how close we are to other places so that they can wrap a vacation into more days that don't just include dripping spreads.

SPEAKER_05 17:38

What does that advertising look like?

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Uh we work with a company um called AJR Media Marketing, which is a large tourism marketing firm across the state and actually across the region. Um so we're in a lot of the Texas highways, Texas travel. Um when I first started, I sat down with my boss, who's Lisa Sullivan, and said, So where do we market? What states do we do? You know, in Wisconsin, you do Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Texas. And I said, so like nothing else. She goes, Have you looked on the map? Like Texas. Yeah. A little bit Oklahoma, you know, but Texas. So um that's most of our focus. Um, we've we've spent some more dollars in Austin proper than have been done spent before. We've done some things with their um tourism office, and we put an ad in their guide to say we're this close. So if you're coming to Austin, this is really a great place to be proximity-wise. So it looks kind of like that, if that makes sense. A lot of social media that's become a new sort of, you know, it's the most reasonable way to advertise. It's it's the fastest return on investment kind of advertising. So with AJR, we have a strategy that's kind of across. Uh, we do print, we do social media, we do web, we do multiple ways to advertise and get the word out about us.

SPEAKER_05 18:53

So this is a line item on the city budget for tourism.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

It tourism is a department. Okay. So I have a budget, and advertising is a line item on my budget.

SPEAKER_05 19:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

That is hot funds. Hot funds, okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

So coming not not originally being from Texas, there's a lot of um things that we do a lot differently from the rest of the country. And road trips, you mentioned road trips here, they're just really kind of a way of life for Texans and how we vacation. So, how did you learn what necessarily makes Texas different, not being from Texas?

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Well, so my kids have been here for nine years. Um, we have come at least six times a year in the first four years they lived here. Once our grandkids were born, our seven-year-old, we made a commitment that we would see her once a month, every month. Fortunately, my daughter-in-law, my daughter-in-law's parents also live in Wisconsin, so we did that. So we were here probably ten times a year before we moved. So we did a lot to learn about the state just for ourselves and saw things and went and did things. My husband and I um every Friday try to do a day trip to see new things so that we know how what what what I'm talking about, what we're promoting, and so we learn more about. So we go to San Antonio, we go to Marble Falls, we go to um Wimberley, we go, so we try to do different places to learn more. Um I think a traveler is a traveler. I think the key thing for us to know when they come in or when they reach out to us is what is it they want to see or how long are they here for. So when they say they're passing through, going from here to Fredericksburg and they have an hour, then that's a whole different way of travel or of visiting. When they say they're staying in the Airbnb down the street and they're here for three days and they're here for a wedding, then do you like to hike? Are you interested in breweries and wineries and distilleries? Um I think um knowing our location, and we're very different from everywhere else.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Well, that's that's kind of was my point. I have to kind of go back to what you just said, a traveler is a traveler. I I feel personally growing up in Texas that we are a lot different in the sense that um you can't just go, you know, in one day you're going through three states. You in in one day, you're not even out of the state of Texas. And so uh the way I grew up, we're gonna talk about this in the monologue. The way I grew up was, you know, we had picnics at rest stops, and and we're like, okay, the whole destination aspect of it was okay, getting from point A to B, but we're still in Texas. Um drip the city of Dripping Springs does have a lot of um different designations that Steve and I were kind of running through. And we know that we're the wedding capital of Texas, we're the brew city, the birds.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

I didn't know the brew city. We're a brew city, but we're a brew city. So the the State Brewers Um Association created a new designation. Okay. Um and we decided it was appropriate for us to apply for and and be a part of that. So we're not the, we're a A okay A only the wedding capital of Texas.

SPEAKER_05 22:03

The wedding we are a And that's a trademark is the wedding capital.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 22:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

So uh when you're when you're talking about tourism and when you're focusing on, I guess, the demographic that you're looking at, are you looking at just the general traveler, or are you also looking at in your marketing as the Texas traveler?

SPEAKER_02 22:22

I would say both. I don't I know that's not a great answer. I would say a little of both. I think that um what I've what I've come to learn over a lot of years is that international travelers have a whole different way of researching what they're gonna look for. So they come in with a lot more knowledge about what they want to see and where it is and how to find it. Um local regional travelers from Texas say, oh, we've always heard about Hamilton Pool. What does that look like? How can we find that? Most times people come into our office knowing one or two things they want to see, and then what other things can they do to round out their trip? Um, there are people who come for a wedding and say, What's there to do here? Um and certainly there's challenges if they're older and are not hikers and can't, you know, can't do that kind of thing, that's one kind of traveler. If they've got small children, um sadly we've kind of lost to some of those really great dreamland and Paloma and some places that I would say, you know, you want to take them to these places. So we have to be a little more creative in our thoughts about how we what we promote and and what it looks like. I don't think I'm really answering your question, but I think um we just have some uh the good news is we work really hard to have good knowledge about our community and then about our neighbors. So when they talk about we wanna we want to float down a river, well that's not happening here. You can you can go to um you can go to Hamilton Pool and if you have a reservation. If you have a reservation and we'll actually make the reservation for them. When they're in our office, if they walk in, I'll say, you may there may be an opening this afternoon, let me look, and we'll actually make a reservation for them. Um but you know, you can go to Rimers Ranch Park, it's beautiful. You can go out onto um the water there, they have sandbars, but you're not gonna float down the river there. So you're gonna go to Wimberley or you're gonna go to Pertonella State Park. So we we work really hard to have knowledge of of of our surroundings as well. Because we, you know, and then we'll say there's a loop, and then you're gonna end up back here for dinner. So we try really hard to do that.

SPEAKER_05 24:31

Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Um or you're gonna start with a meal here and then you're gonna work your way around.

SPEAKER_05 24:35

So a couple of these other ones uh we have a brew city, bird city, music-friendly city, film-friendly city, and dark sky, which we knew about. But the bird city, music-friendly city, and film-friendly city, are those initiatives that you came up with?

SPEAKER_02 24:49

I did not. The bird-friendly that's uh the Audubon Society across, I think, the world. Um that was here before I came. I would guess that it's been here 10 to 15 years. That was you never knew that. Yeah, that was not um and I Jana Kranz, who is our community and program community programs specialist in the city, and I'm sorry, I'm probably not saying her title right. She really manages, maintains, and upkeeps that. Um, that's a pretty rigorous um annual or biannual checkup and some key factors that have to continue in your city to keep you maintained the status of a bird city. Um the dark sky, you know, the the kind of our claim to fame on that is we're the first one in the state of Texas. And we're the sixth one in the coun in the world. So those are big deals when you think about that. And I think the the the challenge with that is we're this great dark sky, and that's really, really cool. But my husband and I have lived here almost three years, and it's dark and it's a little scary. And and helping people understand why we respect our dark sky designation and how important that is, and yet help people understand who are new, moving here, that don't drive out real late at night because it's pretty dark. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:04

Um, you know what though? Uh I live basically downtown dripping springs. I can walk out at four o'clock in the morning and look up in the sky on a clear morning and see stars.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 26:15

You go in into Austin at four o'clock in the morning, you see nothing. I don't care how clear it is, you might see the moon, and that's about it.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

You see Steve out in his underwear looking at the stars at their PGs. Yeah. When you're PGs, what are some hidden gems that even us locals we don't know about that we should go explore?

SPEAKER_02 26:31

Well, if you haven't been to the um olive oil company, I would say do that. Um I think that's um a really great, unique thing. And when you talk about places you go and bring things and take, you know, look for deep atti vodka. Um, I look for all of the olive oil in any city I go to. And whenever I go home or travel, that's probably the one thing that I take with me because it's so unique to our area. Um, that's one for sure. You know, certainly Hamilton Pool is one of those things. Selfishly, I'm going to tell you, our stars are the thing that you need to be looking at. Our um public art project, our stars and dripping springs have become, in my opinion, one of those things that really is a bright, shining beacon for us and something that people come to look at. Um if you live, you know, uh downtown, you see people every day stopping and taking pictures. Um we've created a tour of them. We've kind of got like a star search. Or a little treasure hunt. Yeah. So um trying to get people to go to them. You know, by the end of this year, we'll have 25 of them in our community. So I think that's a a really nice uh I don't think it's gonna bring people here to stay overnight, but it once they're here, it's certainly gonna be a great thing for them to do.

SPEAKER_05 27:40

It's a fun way to spend an afternoon when it's not 95 degrees, you know, going around and snapping some pictures in front of these beautiful stars.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

And we uh we had an Austin Healy club that was here about a month ago that that did it was a regional state convention. They brought together several 60 or 70 cars, and they created a search and they drove to the different stars. So that that's that's what we're trying to do with an initiative like that. Other hidden gems, I think you guys know them more than I would ever know. We certainly have more breweries than you would ever anticipate, more wineries than you can uh shake a stick at, and the more you know about them, the more you know how unique they are. And so it's I'm not a drinker, but I I love to go to all of them because their their character is just so much fun to see. Um I think our distilleries are are are great. Uh sadly, Deep Eddie's going, but I think what they're moving towards is gonna be a great thing. And I think good loving vodka coming in there is gonna be a unique, different way to look at the space, but also gonna be a tourist destination. Um so I I I think I think the people are really probably the best hidden gem we have. Um moving from the Midwest, we were Midwestern values and you know, they're not friendlier anywhere in than the Midwest. That's what people say. So we were a little nervous about that. And then you came to Texas. And then, well, and then we came to Dripping Springs. I'm not sure it's Texas everywhere because I haven't been to enough places, but um day three, my we went to join the Y, and this burly, cool, probably the star of the football team, comes walking up in the parking lot, and I'm I'm looking and I'm thinking, oh boy, you know, he comes up, he says, Hello, ma'am, let me hold the door for you. And that wasn't a one-off. That's all the time. So I think that's one of our greatest isn't hidden gems. I think the service in places, people are working really hard, they care about people. Um people, they're nice and they're genuinely nice.

SPEAKER_05 29:36

When I first moved here, uh and we lived on the back back roads out uh a little closer towards Wimberly, and everybody you passed gave you at least a one-finger wave, and most of them gave you the four, you know, your hands on the wheel, raise the four fingers. I missed that because n people aren't doing it as much. Maybe you should do a campaign to get people waving on a backbench.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

I still do it when I'm when I'm passing.

SPEAKER_05 29:59

I still do it, but it's not reciprocated most of the time. But uh, Pam, the uh wanted to ask you about um so this this job that you have to bring people here. Obviously, Fredericksburg, Wimberley, uh Marble Falls, they all want the same thing. So do you sort of collaborate with them to bring people to the area, or do is there a little bit of competition like, well, you know, if they go stay at Marble Falls, we miss out. How's that work?

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Well, I think um some of the advantage we have, or truly advantage we have, is um we have three really good hotels that are different, well, four actually, um, that are different uh levels. So we have what would someone assume is uh more affordable, and then we have more high-end, and that's good. So we have options, even when you have a wedding, there are people who can afford to stay at Camp Lucy, which is an amazing experience. And then there are others who come and say, you know, that's a little pricey. So we have 300 Airbnbs, and we have Sleep In, which is more affordable, and Holiday Inn, which is more affordable. So you have a lot of flexibility there, and that's an advantage. And Johnson City only has one hotel. So people, a lot of people are staying here. Fredericksburg, I think they're moving towards being much more of a high-end um overnight stay location, which is amazing and fantastic. But I think that that general, I don't I don't want to say the average traveler, but the person who wants to be more have a more affordable experience has a lot more opportunity here. Um, in terms of collaborating, we're a part of the Hill Country Trail Alliance. So um the state has dis divided tra is divided into different trail regions. Okay. We are the Hill Country Trail region, so we meet um quarterly and we do some cooperative advertising as a unit. Um, so there's ad ads that have all of our logos in them. Um I would like to do some more collaborating and and work harder on doing a little better at advertising, promoting together. It it's a hard thing. You know, it's sort of like you'd like to work with other realtors, but you would you? Yeah, you know, and I don't mean that negatively. No, I know. So, you know, uh collaboration is much easier and much more effective than competition. So the ways that we can figure out, you know, we have a hotel, you do not, you have a river, you do not. So how can we, you know, stay like you know, we're working towards the stay here and play around us kind of mentality, and I think that will serve us well. And I think if we can try to get more of our neighbors to say, play here and stay there, we'll all win. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Well, you mentioned something a little bit earlier. Um, I'm gonna kind of deep dive into it, the um hot tax and um encouraging outside promoters to whole host events here. Like, you know, we have um our founders' day, which is huge for the city, for all of the businesses here, the songwriters festival. There's a couple of other things that we have going on. We used to have the great pumpkin patch thing that they had, which was kind of a little uh disaster. But is the city or through the tourism, are you encouraging these outside um uh events to come in with either hot tax rebates or something that's questioning it? You know, like Steve used to run the run by the creek, and you know, it's a lot of money to put these events on, and now we do have the infrastructure to support that. So how are we encouraging these outside people to come in?

SPEAKER_02 33:33

Well, I think um uh it's a double-edged sword. I think, yes, would we like to have more events here? Yes, we would. I think hot tax, bottom line, you have to put heads in beds. And so a run, a four-day running series would put heads in beds. A single-day run might bring a couple people to stay in a hotel every night, but isn't going to bring enough, really, to warrant hot tax.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

So is there a is there a uh I never thought about that. That makes sense to me. A requirement, but a criteria. Yeah, criteria. I did.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

So um ironically, you know, Texas calls it the Texas two-step um for hot funds. All hot tax um has to the bottom line is heads and beds. So that's the number one criteria.

SPEAKER_05 34:24

Hot taxes, hotel occupancy tax. I know some of our listeners may have taxed. It's a hotel tax.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

But I'm sorry to interrupt you, but the other clarification is um hotel occupancy tax is paid by the person who stays in the hotel. Yes. It's a pass-through. So just like the other taxes I pay when I reserve a hotel room, there's a percentage, up to seven, I believe, in the state of Texas, that goes pass through to the municipality. So um it's not it's not sales tax, it's not our residents don't pay anything to it, it is paid by our visitors. So um there's not as much flexibility when using it, and yet there is different kind of flexibility than anything collected by the city or state other ways. So that the marketing is a key piece of it, right? Because we want to draw people here to stay and we want to do things to help them stay. Events like Founders Day, which I think is a phenomenal event. Um, we have some online abilities to do research to understand how many people are staying here and where they're coming from. Those statistics show us that 90% of people who come to Founders Day are from Austin or from Dripping Springs and 20 miles around us, and another seven or eight percent are from Austin, 30 miles to 60 miles. And so that tells us that really there aren't overnight stays that are happening with Founders Day. We think it's a great event. We certainly you know the city has put a hot a lot of effort and resources into Founders Day, but it's not really a hot fund warranted expense.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Aaron Powell Do you think that when you say the um the three to four-day event, do you th I guess the argument could be that you have stretched the criteria so far out, but we don't have the infrastructure in order to promote something like that.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Yeah, but there are things So if if you look at the rodeo, for example, that could be something that might make sense uh when you look at the number of days that goes on, the number of people who come. But to be honest, when we look at our statistics at this point, it's it it's not generating overnight stays. The people who are staying are the rodeo people. And even with founders, the people who are staying overnight are the vendors, which is a great thing.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Those are all perfect, amazing things. It goes, it it still goes to your heads and beds. So it doesn't matter who's staying in the bed as long as the bed is being stayed in.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Um for the rodeo, a lot of them are staying on ranch park property in their um trailers. Um for Founders Day, that huge machine of the rides, all of those people are heads, but their beds are in campers at you know, it's it's a it's a very um slippery slope. Uh I think that a couple of our challenges as a community, we don't have a conference center. We have Ranch Park, which is a really nice facility for ranch farm things. It's not a conference center. You would never have real estate agents there for a three-day day event. If we could figure out a way to create that kind of an event space, then we would be able to sell dripping springs as a place to do events and to do things like that. So we have infrastructure to do what we do really well. But when we grow that and look at what are things we could do more, we really need, you know, I know water's an issue. If we had a water park, we would kill it here. We're a great destination. It would. And but if you can afford to build a water park, you can afford to pay to have the water in your water park. You know, so it is it is that. But those are the kind if we had a golf course, if we had, you know, those are destination drivers that put heads in beds. So the two-step is they have to be heads in beds. But then there are nine criteria that have at least one of those other things in the nine criteria have to be met.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

Is the nine criteria was that um is that a dripping springs criteria or is that a state? Okay. So go ahead and read them.

SPEAKER_02 38:43

So the nine criteria um include things like a convention or visitor center. So expenses for my office qualify. If we had a convention center, that would qualify. Convention registration. So I go to a conference, the $2,000 is covered. Um, advertising the city, that's what we do with the most of my budget is that. Um, promoting the arts. We're working on ways, the stars is one of those things. We try we're trying to work with the Dripping Springs Art Leagues on some new things. Um, certainly Songwriters Festival is a part of that kind of a concept. Um historical restoration and preservation. So the Poundhouse has been a recipient of hot funds. Um the the caveat there is it has to be a restoration. It can't be brand new windows.

SPEAKER_05 39:33

Right.

SPEAKER_02 39:34

It has to be to restore or put it back to where it was.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Oh, like the um Masonic Lodge, right?

SPEAKER_05 39:41

Was that actually wouldn't be qualified because those were new windows. Okay, right. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

So it's it's it's complicated. And they have to meet we just clarify, they have to meet one of these criteria, not all of these criteria.

SPEAKER_02 39:54

They have to do the heads and beds and at least one of these others. Um sporting events is a big deal. Sporting tourism across the country is a big deal. Like the baseball? The baseball. Again, are are we do we have what we need in in hotel rooms? Do we have enough fields to have a to host a tournament of any size? I'm not sure we do. Um, if we did, if there was someone who came in with an initiative and said, we want to build a whole new like let's pretend it's Dreamland. Yeah. And they want to put 20 fields out there, that would be amazing. And that would be something that hot tax could be utilized for. I can't promise, but that would fit that criteria because it would bring all those other things.

SPEAKER_05 40:33

Right now, uh the my the short-term rentals that we own, I would weddings is obviously number one by far. But the number two thing is people that are that are here for recently I've had baseball tournaments. Somebody came here for a uh to uh she said for a riding event, might have been the rodeo. Um but then after that it drop it drops off pretty pretty quick. So I agree with you on this the sporting events thing, though. That that seems to be a pretty major draw.

SPEAKER_02 41:03

It's a big business, but it's uh it's again, it's a lot of infrastructure from either the municipality or a private investor, and someone has to come in and want to have it happen. And then you have to have enough hotels. If you're going to have tournaments, you need to have a lot more beds than eight, or a lot more rooms than eighty in a hotel.

SPEAKER_03 41:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:21

Um so there's that. Um and then um enhancing sports facilities, uh, tourism transportation systems. So let's say we were big enough to have a trolley system, something like that would qualify. And then signage. And we've all been hearing lately about wayfinding signage and and what that would, I think it would do a a whole lot for us and the importance of that. But that is something that would qualify.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

How how do they how does someone go about um where do they go? Do they go to the city council? Do they go to the tourism? Do they get it started? Where's where's point A? Where do they get started? So those two two parts of it.

SPEAKER_02 41:58

If it's a municipal-driven project, wayfinding signage, the stars, some other things, those would go through the budgeting process and approval from city council just directly. Um uh the poundhouse or the rodeo or the vintage market, which they um even the roller derby, I think they've applied. So there is grant, there the city administers hot fund grants annually. So people would apply for the grant. I think the applications are due around April. And then um there's a committee of people. I'm not on that committee, but there are city officials. Um I think two or three commissioners and um Michelle, uh city administrator. I'm not sure who choose.

SPEAKER_05 42:39

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: So what what events are happening now or have been happening that fulfill these, you know, heads and beds in one of these. What what we talked about it might be the rodeo, it's probably not Founders Day.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

It's you know, what what events are and the reason I like your question because the outside of city-sponsored events, because it sounds like a lot of them are city. So the city, it seems like to me, just on the outside, is getting the benefit of their own hot tax.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

And so outside of the But the hot tax isn't used for Founders' Day at all. It is not used at all for Christmas on Mercer. It is very minimally the only way hot tax is used is when I put ads in statewide publications for our Western Wonderland, for our Founders' Day, for our songwriters festival. So my advertising dollars are targeted for those events.

SPEAKER_05 43:31

And so those events meet the criteria. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

Yes. Because they're arts, because they're community, um, like songwriters is arts. Um Western Wonderland certainly is uh we we've tried to create a hometown holidays feel, so we've tried to package it into more than just a skating rink. Sure. Um so those kinds of events make sense. But the only hot funds that are used for that is really in the advertising line. Songwriters Festival somewhat Um could be financed through hot funds, but honestly, I fundraise. I raised $75,000 for sponsorship? Yes, which is painful and getting harder, to be very honest with you. So people want more stages. Yeah. People want more stages. Each stage is about a $15,000 investment for us for sound and some stage, some chairs, all those things. So and we pay our musicians. So and they want more musicians. Well, all of that costs more. So those aren't really, while there is some city hot fund budgeted for it, the majority of it is fundraised.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

So the question, what was the question you asked? I'm sorry. Who who is benefiting so well?

SPEAKER_05 44:42

She answered it.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

I mean the vintage markets, I think I'm saying them, I think I'm naming it right.

SPEAKER_05 44:47

The thing that's at Christmas at uh the ranch park?

SPEAKER_02 44:50

I think they have two of them, but they're at Ranch Park. Um statistics have shown that they get hot tags. They have gotten small, I would say five, six thousand dollars. But it's really all of it has to be used for advertising. And so they've shown that they've put ads out there, they've gotten return on the investment. Same with the roller derby, which who would have thought? But a lot of the mostly locals don't do that.

SPEAKER_05 45:11

Um When you had Winter Wonderland out there, one of our good friends came out twice with her granddaughters to go to go uh skating there. So I know that brings people and they're from Round Rock. Right. So they came out here just for that. Um when you started the job, were there any trends that you started to identify that surprised you? Was there anything you saw that you said, gosh, I never expected that? Maybe with your expertise it wouldn't have.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

Well, like I would say like the social media, I could see like, you know, everything is Instagrammable right now.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

I don't I I would say I don't that's not new from what I I certainly tripled in time. You know, I mean in the three years I've been here, um how you do it, how you get the word out, that has changed dramatically, but I wouldn't say that's a new trend. That's just progress.

SPEAKER_04 46:05

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 46:05

Um I think um using influencers is a new newer trend that was not that has been evolving over the last five years, I would say more. Um and how to use them appropriately, what's the best way to get the word out? We we get emails daily from influencers. Yeah. We're what's the pitch? I travel all over the country and I have 30,000 followers. And if you pay me $7,000, I'll so I you know we're in the wrong business. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:39

And you know, social media prostitute right there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

And we're we're not big enough for that. Um we have yeah, we're not big enough for that. Um we do have some we use, we give songwriter VIP passes and things like that for influencers, and we give away some tickets and things like that. We don't have a lot to give. Plus, we are a city, and so we don't we have to think about, you know, how are we spending our dollars legitimately?

SPEAKER_05 47:04

I actually think if I asked you the question, but I'm gonna answer it for you. I think the trend is people online now know when they're being scammed by because that's a scam. Like you pay me, I will say nice things about you. People can see through that right now. I think it's people are tending to more towards the just it's you know, somebody taking a picture of themselves with the stars with their grandkids or whatever. It's that kind of stuff that I think attracts people.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

I was telling you about that and how uh these this whole social media influencer circle in Austin, they've kind of been exposed. And there's one person with that was within that circle is now exposing everybody. And and if you pay attention, all these other social media is basic or influencers are saying, Oh, that's great. Oh, it's wonderful. They're commenting on each other.

SPEAKER_02 47:54

Well, yeah, it's it's a pyramid, right? Um I think fortunately, we have a new tourism um marketing coordinator, Reagan Van Coutren, who has been with us a little over two months, and she age has nothing to do with anything, but she is younger and more aware and more interested in trends and has done been doing some work and understanding what's the best way to reach people. And so, as you're talking about that genuine promotion, she's doing small business promotions on social media. So she's going in and she's filming in businesses and she's having the owners talk. And she's not interviewing them, they're not seeing their face, but in the background, you're seeing people shopping or you're seeing them in Mazama at the coffee shop, and then Lori's talking about what it what it's like. I like that. And she's going to breweries and wineries and distilleries and trying to get more genuine, realistic views of what it's what you're visiting when you're here. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_05 48:45

Yeah. So from that was actually one of my questions. How do local businesses participate in shaping tourism strategies? Yeah, that's a great thing. You know, we're small business owners here. How can we help promote the tourism strategy? Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Or go in and get help from the tourism. Oh, yeah, both. Both ways. Well, a couple ways, really. Um we do a weekend roundup every Thursday. It goes out onto our social media. And it what's exciting to me is that our businesses are starting to reach out to us and say, how do we get on there? Why aren't we featured? If you look on our website, that events tab, and you go to the full calendar, any events that you've posted on the calendar make it into our weekend roundup.

SPEAKER_05 49:26

So I uh me as a business owner, I have a couple of short-term rentals.

SPEAKER_02 49:32

Oh, you short-term rentals, that's a different one. I'll show you that one. This, though, is if you've got events going on this weekend, you're gonna be in our roundup and you're gonna appear on our social media feed. And so you the onus on you is to put your events on our camera.

SPEAKER_05 49:45

So you actually create your own event.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

Yep. Then for you as a short-term rental, go all up, hire back again up to the top. If you go over to eat shop stay, you and I will coordinate and you go to lodging and you you would talk with me and send me information and we would be. We did that? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 50:02

Let's see if we're on there.

SPEAKER_02 50:04

Go to re go to resorts and retreats, right?

SPEAKER_05 50:06

Well, no, we're uh vacation rentals.

SPEAKER_03 50:09

Uh look at that. We're right there on your first page.

SPEAKER_05 50:13

Look at you. Look how that works. So go up a little bit because there's the Holly House and there's the Murray House.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

There's the Murray House. Yep. Look at that. Those are our two. So the ways we could help more might be for you to create video or you to ask us to come out and create video and feature that on our local, you know, in our small business. Um a lot of our Airbnbs and lodging um don't necessarily want to walk through, right? Um but we're certainly happy to do that.

SPEAKER_01 50:39

Um but and it goes right to the link. That's right. Right.

SPEAKER_02 50:43

That's great. So the more you do, the more we do for you, right? Help us help you. I can't. So when a business calls and says I'm not on your weekend roundup, the answer is if you're on our calendar, you'll be there. We cannot, in good conscience, go out and start looking cherry-picking, because if we do and we miss you, then that's a whole nother thing. So it's really easy for us to say, if you're on our calendar, we'll promote the heck out of it. It's just like we'll do whatever we can. The chamber does the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

We do, we used to be the sole ones that put it on, Mallet Integrity team of uh Shred Day. Once a year we did Shred Day, and now um the organization. Yeah, one the organization that we're part of, Dripping Springs Elite Real Estate, we've kind of gifted it to them. So we all help, and once a year we do it, we put it on the chamber.

SPEAKER_02 51:30

So we it's it's it's the same. And and I think, you know, are we your marketing arm? No. Is the chamber your marketing arm? No. But we do have some really great vehicles for you to help promote yourself on our site. Um, and we're happy to help you do that. We also make sure that we try to tell our businesses, tag us on your social media posts so that we can help share things.

SPEAKER_05 51:53

What's the Instagram for? Is it destination dripping springs or an Instagram?

SPEAKER_02 51:56

But we also, so we have we have a songwriter's Instagram and Facebook, we have a destination dripping springs, Facebook, and Instagram, and we have a wedding capital Facebook and Instagram. So some things cross all platforms, some things are platform specific, but we have lots of opportunity. But again, I I also tell businesses send me an email and tell me you posted something because algorithms don't always show me everything. Sure. So the best way for me to know you've done something is for you to send me an email and then we can jump on it. But again, we can't go. Reagan spends a whole lot of time online doing a whole lot of work, but she can't spend all day looking for what you're posting. Yeah. But if you share, if you show her or tag us, we're we're gonna share it as much as we can.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

We've talked we've talked a lot about the accolades of what dripping springs and the surrounding areas have to offer. And I'm sure you also hear some of the complaints of like what people are saying, what we are lacking. And so if you had this kind of magic bullet or or or a budget to where it would allow, um what would you what are you hearing from the people that they're wanting? More ch I think more children. I think so.

SPEAKER_02 53:05

I think that's true. I think um probably one of the most unique things I I experienced when I first came, and I I think some of it is a uh product of COVID, but also the uniqueness of this area, having so many playlands at breweries, wineries, and distilleries. That's a double-edged sword for me personally. I think it's really so awesome and so great, and yet it's a little conflicting for me. Yes. Um we've we have felt the same, kind of the same way. You sometimes you just want to go with your kiddos. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I think we have great parks. I think if we could have more um coverings at our parks, that would be helpful. I think we have a nice pool. If we could have a better pool with a water slide and some features, that would be a great addition. Again, if we had a water park, that would be a dream. You know, even a miniature golf course would be another thing. Um, if I had all the money in the world, and this is selfishly me coming from a place that was very similar to this, and I completely understand people who don't like it. I think that some of those big box stores are going to make a big difference for us. Oh, I agree. From we've said that a tourism stand. When we have people come and stay in your place and then say I was at an event in Austin and there isn't a grocery store open, I can't buy anything. I didn't bring a swimsuit, I can't get one.

SPEAKER_01 54:22

I forgot my underwear. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 54:23

I mean, I uh when I when we talk about being a a a destination for conventions and conferences, even small ones, if I can't go, if I'm the organizer, if I can't go and run to a store and buy markers and a whiteboard easily. Right. If I can't, and and H E B is great and they're an amazing community partner, but it's not enough. And if I can't buy flip-flops because I don't have them, I might be able to get them at Walgreens, but really? Is that my you know green's? I'm not saying, yeah, I mean, they're options, but if if I could make if I could make some enhancements that I think that would really change things for us, it would be some more big box. And I know that's not the favorite answer. I think Target's gonna change. You know what?

SPEAKER_05 55:05

People have all complained about every big big box that has come here and has been so good for the community. They complained when Home Depot came, they complained when HEB came. You know, it's been so good for the community.

SPEAKER_01 55:16

Well, that money's going to stay here. We've talked about that where we're not driving down to Brody or or you know further down. It's gonna be a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 55:24

And the impact for the library is gonna be amazing with that target. That's gonna be phenomenal. They don't have a whole lot of options for funding, and that's one of them that's gonna be for them. Yeah. They get a part of that sales tax. So that will be huge for them. So that's a great give back. But I and I think they are in general good community partners. Sure. So knowing that coming in.

SPEAKER_05 55:43

Except they tore down all the damn trees.

SPEAKER_02 55:45

They did. Um, they did and unfortunately. I think I think the other thing I would do is I would try and and I'm we're working on this, I would try and help people understand the difference between city, ETJ, and county. Sure. And what things can or cannot do. And the understanding of whose fault, it's no one's fault, but whose control, it has nothing to do with the city. And more times than not, that's the biggest misconception people have is who's in charge and why why did the city let this happen? When I first started, I said to my boss, why and why is it when I'm in meetings, it feels like people are saying the city as a swear word. We need to change that. We need to have people understand the city, the people at our city, our city employees are hardworking people who really care about this community. And, you know, sometimes your hands are tied. Texas state laws are very interesting. Um this ETJ situation is very complicated.

SPEAKER_03 56:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:42

Um, Steve, the do you know the answer to this, or maybe you know the answer to this? She said that Target, Target is going to get a portion of that sales tax. How is that if they're not the library? I mean, sorry, not Target. Target from sorry, the library is going to get a portion of target sales.

SPEAKER_05 57:00

Did the city designate a portion of the sales tax?

SPEAKER_01 57:03

Because it's in the ETJ. Target is.

SPEAKER_02 57:06

No, it's not in the ETJ or the city. That's the that's the complication of Target, is that they got very smart and found a property that is in neither. It's in the county. But the county, some of county sales tax, goes to the library.

SPEAKER_05 57:20

Oh, there you go. Oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 57:22

I didn't know that either. So because I've heard at least that's what you were what I understand.

SPEAKER_05 57:25

Yeah, I think you're right on that now that you've mentioned it. I think that's exactly the same.

SPEAKER_02 57:28

But that's so there's some really unique pockets. Um, Nectarine. That is not in the city, that is not in the ETJ, that is in the county. It doesn't really make sense, right? Because it's in front of the elementary school. I didn't know that was possible.

SPEAKER_05 57:42

If you look, if you look at this the city map and the ETJ map, it is just a like.

SPEAKER_02 57:47

And then there's those little funky pockets like the Nectarine Plaza and the Target Plaza. Yeah. Either someone got lucky or smart or well, that was with Hank, so that was smart.

SPEAKER_05 57:57

Didn't know, right? I mean, it is what it is. That's exactly he was a smart. He's a very smart man. But so, Pam, uh going forward, I you know you probably do this job for at least another five or ten years. Okay. Well, so if you thought about the metrics for deciding if your term here has been a success, what does that look like? Say in 2030, you know, you're thinking you're going to retire from this and you want to say it was a success, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_02 58:26

I don't think I'll make it till 2013.

SPEAKER_05 58:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 58:28

Well, I'm a lot older than I think.

SPEAKER_05 58:31

2027, 2023.

SPEAKER_01 58:33

What are your grandchildren going to be excited about when they're adults?

SPEAKER_05 58:38

What things are coming that we can look forward to?

SPEAKER_02 58:40

Well, I I have to say, I think um the stars and having that whole project come together, your support of that.

SPEAKER_04 58:47

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 58:48

Um, all of that I feel like was a big, a big needle mover for us. And I think it it was something that was impactful, that happened rather quickly in the scheme of city life. Yeah. And I think um it will last for a long time. And we'll be able to grow if that's what they want. I think that's one thing. I think another piece of it, again, for me is if people can understand and decide um and respect and appreciate what being a tourist destination is. If we want visitors, there are some things we have to do. We have to do some more infrastructure. We have to textile. Right. We have to improve some of our cityscapes. We have to do some things that make us not the place you drive through, the, but the place as you're driving through, you go, boy, that's a cute little place. I want to pull in there, I want to see. We have to think, we have to think legitimately how we can do that. What could we do at the triangle, for example? Yes. What could we do? Um two nine, I mean, 290 is not pretty. It's not ever going to be pretty. But what are wayfinding signage? What are some things that we can do that would change that? And I think if I can help make some of that happen, that would be huge for me and for our community. Um, I think if we can just keep this machine was not broken before I came. And there's nothing I I mean, I think that you know, this city has done some amazing things and and continues on a path of really greatness. I think.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:12

Um Pam Pam left a very great, a wonderful legacy. Yeah, Pam Muggers. She did a great job with the her and um Sherry Parks. Sherry Parks was the design.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

She actually got the designate the wedding capital designation started with Sherry Parks. So I think those kinds of um visions were really great in creating a path for us. I think, you know, weddings are changing, so we we always have to understand what that's going to look like for us in the long term. Any business that comes in and says they want to be a wedding venue now, I really would stop and think really hard about that. Are do we have enough?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:48

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:49

Maybe we do.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:50

Do you are are the people that come for weddings, are they spending a d and you may not know, are they spending more when they're here than somebody that just comes like for a baseball tournament?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:00

Yes, they are. Um also I think i if I could make a big change, it would be to help our businesses understand they need to be open when people are here. Trevor Burrus, Jr. That's big.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:09

We have complained about that time and time again. Because if you think about your argument of a sporting event versus a wedding, if you're not in the wedding, you have a whole afternoon, morning and afternoon, or you're trying to figure out something to do. So you're not sitting there watching TV. You're at a sporting event, you're there at the event, but that is such a great point. We talk over and over again.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:33

And and if you're coming for a wedding, oftentimes as the destination, you're coming a day early and you're probably staying at least one or two days later. It's cheaper to travel out on a Monday or Tuesday than it is on a Sunday. So, Mondays, if we could fix that, if we could help people understand, be open on Mondays and maybe not open on Tuesdays, that would be really impactful for us, especially in downtown. Don't uh and open at 10 and stay open until seven or eight. Don't close at five. As a resident, I can't shop downtown because I work till five. There are some stores and they're great businesses, but if we could help them understand how to flex their time a little bit to be here when we want to do that.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:14

I'll tell you what, there's some places that close on Sunday in the downtown area, and they should go park themselves out there one day on a Sunday and see how many people drive up and go, oh, damn, they're closed. Agreed. Like in some cases, it's dozens and dozens in one day.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:29

I completely agree. We we, as I said, my my kids moved here five years ago. Our granddaughter, when she was born, she's seven. We came here one Saturday afternoon to see dripping springs. My kids said, Oh, it's so cute. We're gonna go, we're gonna walk downtown. Mercer Street's cute, we're gonna eat at Homespun.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:47

We it everything closed at three. We didn't know that, but everything was closed at three. So we got about a minute and a half of shop time, and then we wait eight. And again, I understand it's hard to run businesses, I understand all of that, but think about flexing it a little bit so that your your marketing isn't what's gonna do it. It's your hours. Sure. You know, being open when people want you is really, really important. Yeah, agreed.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:09

Well, I have my final question, and I want to know when people leave dripping springs, when they've come here to just visit, what do you hope they say to each other or about us on their drive home?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:22

Two things. People were so nice. It was such an easy place, and we need to go back. There's more to see.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:28

Oh, yeah. I like the people were so nice. Um I think that is as uh places become tourist destinations, people there can get a little bit jaded. Well, you know, you're not local, you'll be gone tomorrow. And I think it's really important for all of us to realize when people have chosen to come visit us, we need to welcome them and be very nice to them and polite and wave to them on the back row.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:54

Well, and when they walk in and they say, Where's your restroom? You need to say it's back there. Yeah and thank you for coming. Yeah. And instead of if they've got to buy something. I don't want to be open because they touch my stuff. You want to be open and you want them to touch your stuff and you want to encourage them. And I I would say majority of our businesses do that and are great at it. I would say they all have to be. And I don't think I don't think there's anyone consistent. I think it's that mentality of what does customer service look like? And how do we do that consistently all day, every day, whether the owner is there or the 18-year-old. It's a mindset. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:29

Yeah. It's a mindset. And it has to be drilled into people that those people have chosen. It's like when somebody comes, chooses to visit you in your home. You're not gonna be rude to them. Be nice to them, be polite, offer them a drink, let them use the bathroom.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:40

Well, and it's not just a slogan, destination dripping springs. We live here, we work here, we play here, but we want others to enjoy it as well. And and my father and grandparents always taught me you leave the place better than you found it. And uh we are so glad that you are part of our community and you've decided to kind of invest your time in your retirement when you should be, I don't know, wrestling goats or something.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:05

Yeah, no, yeah. I I'm I'm excited that you're captaining this uh tourism manager. And I, you know, you've got great ideas, you really understand what the town needs. I think you're the right person for the right for the job at the right time, and we're glad that you're there.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:22

We're having fun. That's the key. If you don't like what you're doing, you're not, it's the wrong thing.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:26

There you go. That's why we enjoy doing this.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:28

That's what I say to myself every morning when I get up.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:30

I had a very good friend who always said, if you don't like what you're doing, if if you don't like what you're doing, if you like what you're doing, you haven't worked a day in your life.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:37

That is exactly true. So well, thanks for joining us, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:40

Thank you so much.

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This show is brought to you in part by the Mallet Integrity Team, serving Dripping Springs, Austin, and the surrounding areas of Central Texas since 2004. When you need the best real estate advice and service, give them a call at 512-829-2062. Or email them at malletintegrity team.com. And now here's Steve and Michelle.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:44

And we're back. Boy, that was really fun. Pam King, boy, she is just a wealth of information.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:50

She really was. She took the hard questions, which I really liked.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:53

She did, yeah, and didn't hesitate or stumble or anything. She's she knows what she's doing. I think we're very lucky to have her in this town running tourism.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:02

Yeah, and I didn't even say or give her crap for not being a Texan and running a Texan tourism. But I mean I did bring it.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:09

She kind of glossed over the what was it? Shimizel.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:12

Shimajel. What was the name of the Laverne is?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:14

Laverne is Shirley, yeah. I remember that show, but I'm not sure I ever watched it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:17

You didn't you did you you don't remember Pepsi and Milk?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:21

I do not remember Pepsi and Milk.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:23

So Laverne used to drink Pepsi with milk in it. It's highly unrecommed.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:28

I yeah, you don't have to tell me that twice.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:31

Yeah, it's uh yeah. It's a weird thing.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:34

I'm sure that that's not what it was. It was probably coffee or something.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:38

Well, yeah, yeah. So um I because we came off the tourism and I kind of touched base on a little bit, I wanted to talk about what it was like vacationing in the 80s and the good old days. In the 80s and the 90s in Texas.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:54

And I know you didn't we're not old or anything.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:56

Where were you in the eighties?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:57

You uh uh South Florida in the early 80s and Southern California in the 90s.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:05

Okay, well, so my obviously my childhood was a little bit different than yours. I didn't I didn't grow up in Spain and made me world traveler. Shame on you. So if you were a Texan, given the geographic uh vastness of Texas, it was very rare that you got on a plane to go anywhere. Number one, I was also poor, so you didn't go on a you didn't get on a plane.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:28

That's that's a thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:29

But uh so I thought I would break it down kind of by regions of where where the attractions were that we would go see. So if we went to Houston, we would go to Astro World, which was amazing back in the day, and you'd ride the Texas Cyclone. Have you ever heard of the Texas Cyclone?

SPEAKER_05 1:09:44

Is that uh Astro World as the baseball team? Is it Astro World? It was an amusement park. I don't I've never heard of that. What? A S T R O World? Astro World. I've never heard of that.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:59

I better be recording so I can use this at your funeral one day. Yes, Astro World.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:03

And okay, you obviously I would have thought you'd have gone to the it wasn't the NASA there. Space Center's there.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:08

Yeah, you would do that too. But no, Astro World was where you would go. And like when I would go to church.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:14

What was it named after Michelle?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:15

I don't know. Maybe the Astros were named after Astro World.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:18

Was it the dog on the Jetsons?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:22

Okay, so for those of you most people know what Astro World was. Okay, I'm gonna pull it. Okay, Mallet, I swear.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:30

Okay, go ahead. You just threw me.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:32

Okay, so Texas Cyclone, I think it was like the largest uh roller coaster maybe in the world, but it was a wooden roller coaster and it would jar your kidneys out of you. So I mean, just constantly. But uh, it was a lot of fun. So that was one of the things like I would go with church youth groups or I don't even think I ever went with my family because that my mom didn't like that stuff. But so Astor World. San Antonio. Obviously, what would you think you'd go see in San Antonio in the 80s or 90s?

SPEAKER_05 1:11:00

Staples Marguerite's and piss in the No, not Margaret, yeah, not Margaritas and Pisces.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:04

You're I'm a kid.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:05

The Alamo.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:06

Okay, the Alamo Sea World also kind of came in the late 80s, 90s, Fiesta Texas also, and then you had the river walk. In Dallas.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:14

Litterbond?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:15

No, that's not San Antonio. I'm sorry. Dallas, Six Flags, or the state fair.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:20

Never been there.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:21

You've never been to Six Flags.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:24

Never been to Fort Worth either. I know. I didn't grow up here where we were doing all this.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:29

You live here now. You've lived here almost 20 years.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:31

Am I gonna drive up to Dallas to go?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:33

Yes, go to Fort Worth. That's amazing. Okay, South Padre Island, which that's kind of the area that I grew up in. New Bromfels, that was Schlitterbahn.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:41

Schlitterbahn was in New Bromfels. I've been there a few times with the kids.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:46

Of some of the amusement parks that I've talked about. Um, they feed the park from the river.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:53

So therefore, they'll just leave it up to your imagination. Um, Garner State Park. I'm going there this weekend, Concan, the Frio River. I'm gonna be floating down the Frio this weekend. It's beautiful over there. Um, so San Marcos, what would be Aquarina Springs? Yes, the swimming pig, which isn't around anymore.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:12

I almost did a triathlon there, and I guess they couldn't get a permit for it. I was looking forward to swimming in that water. It's supposed to still be crystal clear.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:19

Yeah, it is. It is, and there's no pigs in the water anymore. Then of course we had the outlet malls in San Marcus and the Wonder Cave and Adventure Park. I don't know if that's still there anymore, but I remember taking the kids there. Um, you've been to this place, Big Bend National Park.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:33

I love Big Bend.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:34

Um, but knowing when my father would take us to Big Bend, we always had to stop at Judge Roy Bean's visitor center. I've told you about that. Did you know that his saloon, the Jersey Lily Saloon, also doubled as his courtroom, which was kind of Judge Roy Bean? Yeah, you could have a beer or a whiskey and get sentenced to, I don't know, hanging or something. Um, but yeah, it was the law west of the Pecos.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:59

Um and also Didn't they make a movie about him, Judge Roy Bean?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:02

I'm sure my father made me watch something like that. And my dad's favorite book and movie or series was Lonesome Dove.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:09

I was gonna say Lonesome Dove. I think there was a lot of young men that thought that was one of the best books ever written.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:15

Have you ever been to the McDonald's observatory?

SPEAKER_05 1:13:17

No. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:19

I think I've told you this story before, but there we were at McDonald's observatory, and my mom looked over and I'm like three or something, two or three, and I'm holding on to the rail and I'm like swinging out. My mom grabbed me. Oh, geez. Um, Paladura State Park. I love Paladura Canyons. I do too.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:35

I've been there many times.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:36

My most favorite thing is to go watch the musical Texas. It's so beautiful. I think we're gonna go in the fall. We're gonna take my my girlfriend's.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:42

You don't want to go in the summer. It's hard.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:44

No, it is very hot, but Fort Davis. And then I kind of touched on it a little bit with Pam, but when we would at one point we were living in Corpus and I would go um visit my grandmother in the valley, and she lived in Harlingen, but sometimes it was just too hard. Sometimes we just wanted to see her for a day. So we would stop halfway, like maybe Kingsville or something, and um either eat at Kings Inn or eat at the rest stop. We would take a little Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:11

It was it all I know, they've done away with all the little picnic areas for the most part. Yeah, we would sit there at the rest stop. We'd spend a couple hours away. They still have rest stops, but they don't have the picnic areas like they used to.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:21

Like, well, maybe because people were doing sketchy stuff on the street.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:25

Well, that's true. Yeah. But we do have I've traveled, I've driven all across the country, and Texas has the best rest stops.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:31

They really do. I mean, you know, like Bucky's before Bucky's bathrooms, you were forced to stop at rest stops.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:39

Trevor Burrus, Jr. And I don't think I've ever been in one in Texas that was, you know, uh uh Texas Department, what is it, the the roads, the DPS or highway or whatever that managed that that was not real nice. They're all real nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:52

Well you obviously haven't been down to some of the rest stops that I was in the past. I guess not.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:56

I guess not. I know in California, before I left California, many, many moons ago, their rest stops were going downhill fast, and a lot of them got closed down. I think they were just like becoming homeless camps.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:07

I bet. That's yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:09

Yeah, yeah. Well, speaking of Big Ben, which is the national park, is one of my favorite places in Texas. I've been there quite a few times and uh always looking forward to go back. Um that's a national park. We also have Big Bend State Park, but the the uh Texas Parks and Wildlife just announced they recently bought 54,000 acres called the Silver Lake, and it's gonna be called the Silver Lake State Park. It's uh it's a big ranch out an hour and a half west of San Antonio, out towards Rock Springs and Uvaldi.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:44

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:45

Yeah, it's in uh Kinney and Edwards counties. What's it called?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:49

Silver Silver Lake State Park.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:52

Silver Lake State Park. They have a 30-acre spring-fed lake there, beautiful lake. Um, so they just recently acquired that. There you go, there's Texas Parks and Wildlife website. Um it's uh Big Bend is the biggest, Big Bend State Park is the biggest park in Texas at 300,000 acres, uh, which is much smaller than the national park. The national park's 800,000 acres. That's a giant, giant park. And this one's going to be 54,000, which is not a small place. I mean, Big Ben State Park is there's a lot of nothing out there. This is gonna be pretty close to San Antonio. Uh the Texas Parks and Wildlife has plans to develop the park in phases, so they're probably gonna they're gonna open up uh bits of it at a time, but it's supposed to be gorgeous. There's huge canyons, there's creeks, there's that that uh lake, there's other uh uh there's you know marshy areas, there's grasslands, um steep canyons. So it's gonna be and it'll only be a couple like two hours from here. You'll be able to go to this beautiful park w west of San Antonio.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:05

Okay, I'm trying to I'm trying to look like Okay, there's Uvaldi. So you go down Highway 90.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:13

South of Rock Springs.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:14

Oh, it's pretty out there.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:16

I mean that's real hill country. So I but I did a little bit of research. That's gonna be a really cool thing. But uh, you know, Big Ben State Park is 800,000 acres. Um I didn't write it down. I think it's Denali is 13 million acres. I wish I'd have written that written that down.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:37

What do you want me to look up?

SPEAKER_05 1:17:38

Uh the largest state park or largest national parks.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:42

Like this country has um Northeast Green, no, Greenland, oh the in in Texas, in the U.S. In the U.S.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:52

In the U.S. Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska is 13.2 million acres. I think Denali is that then Denali was second at 8 million. So that's 10 times larger than Big Bend. If you've ever been down to Big Bend National Park, you drive through the entrance and then you drive like five or no 25 miles before you gates of the Arctic, Denali 6 million, uh California. They're all Alaska. Yeah, they're all Alaska.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:21

Because nobody lives in Alaska.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:22

Death Valley 3.4. Uh but I mean, you know, we think Big Bend is just this giant place, but compared to some of these other stu uh national parks, it's it's really not. Yellowstone is 2.2 million.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:36

Do you know who they bought um the Silver Lake from?

SPEAKER_05 1:18:40

It was actually owned by a group that was that had bought it to preserve it. I don't remember the name of it. So it's already been preserved as uh the Moody Foundation.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:51

The Moody Foundation.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:52

Yeah. Oh so there was a there's a trust set up, it looks like so. 88% of the property, they gifted 88% of the property in Texas Parks and Wildlife purchased the remaining acreage for $11.85 million dollars. So I you know what? I mean, we need more state parks. We're actually, in terms of public land, parkland in in per state, we're the 35th state in terms of a house. You would think we would have yeah, you but we're not. I mean, we're we're near the bottom in terms of how much public land we have. So actually, Texas has quite a ways to go to catch up on some of this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:28

Well, we got a lot of we've got a lot of spots. Maybe we could take um all of Austin.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:33

Yeah, get a national park. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:36

A national park.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:37

Well, there's already camping there, so as much as you want. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:40

You wouldn't you wouldn't have to you wouldn't have to stray really hard. So are you guys gonna um you do you have passes, national park passes?

SPEAKER_05 1:19:49

I have uh I have the silver pass, which is your old? Yeah, you can get when you turn 60, I think it is, you can get a silver pass, which gives you free entry to any national park and some state parks uh forever. Really? Until the day I die. Yeah. It's like 120 bucks. When we went to the Grand Canyon, I drove up to the I drove up there to the little gate and I flashed it. There's four of us in the car. I flashed the little thing. He said, Go on through. He's like, I'm special. VIP. Yeah. When you to that is probably the biggest perk about turning turning 60 years old for me was getting my silver pass where I could go into when we went into Big Ben, just flashed them the little card and they were like, off you go. Thanks. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:34

I went to Ross the other day. It was a Tuesday, and I was like, ooh, senior day. 55. It was like senior day. I got my 10% after already my. Oh, okay. We we should start running through all the senior discounts.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:49

Oh, yeah. I could do a story for that. There's some benefits to getting old.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:53

Speaking of senior discounts, no, not really. Um, San Antonio Spurs are in the world. Yeah, made it to the playoffs.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:59

I have not cared about the Spurs for 10 years, and now all of a sudden I'm like, yeah, look at them. Go Spurs.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:05

I'm pretty well, you know, I saw a story that basically said San Antonio is a suburb of Austin. It's and that's why Austinites, we we take the Spurs as kind of our home team. Yeah, absolutely. And they're going up against the Knicks. Um, I started looking at tickets just for the heck of it. You're not gonna believe, Steve, what these tickets are going for. Insanity. So in San Antonio, the nosebleed seats, like the cheapest of the cheapest seats, a thousand dollars in San Antonio. Get out of here. In New York City, so this is like the Knicks versus okay, the Knicks versus the Spurs. In New York City, the nosebleed seats are going upwards of four thousand dollars. Okay. Now you have the mid-level, right? The lower, the lower level. In San Antonio, they're going for about between two and thirty, five hundred dollars. In New York City, they're going for ten between ten thousand and forty-two thousand dollars. Is this per game? Yes, per game. But wait, it gets better. Courtside in San Antonio, you can get a ticket for twenty-five to fifty thousand dollars. Okay, that's in San Antonio. If you want to see them in Madison Square Garden, upwards of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:25

Give me a break. Is there anything that imp $250,000? What you can do with that to sit to help other people. Instead, you're gonna sit there for an hour and a half and watch a basketball game?

SPEAKER_01 1:22:36

Well, you know, I mean, there's there could be upwards of six games, right? So the first game um It could be seven games. Uh six games.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:44

Seven. It's best of seven. Could go to seven. Well, I would you gotta win four.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:48

I don't look, I'm a football person. Okay, is it like the sports?

SPEAKER_05 1:22:51

I'm pretty sure it's best of seven. So whoever wins four first is a few.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:55

Okay, the way I read it on the googly dot over here, it said game one is June 3rd in San Antonio, then game two, June 5th in San Antonio. June 8th, New York City, June 10th, New York City. If it goes to game five, this is what it said, because maybe it's different in the finals, right? In game five, on the 13th, it'll be back in San Antonio. And God forbid, if it goes to game six, it'll be in New York City on the 16th. Now, look, the Spurs, you've got to play around on like what are the odds? A lot of people are saying the Spurs are gonna win, right? That's what that's what they're saying.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:29

I think they're favored by quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:31

They're favored. The Knicks has um six championships under their belt, and the Spurs have five. I remember when the 1999 um championship happened. We were living here in Austin, and they when they won, we had to go to like a Walgreens or CVS and get these special free tickets, and we went to the Alamo Dome and watched the trophy and everything else. That was back in the good old days, the Tim Duncan, David Robinson. I used to wait on David Robinson when I lived in San Antonio.

SPEAKER_05 1:24:00

Those who nicest guys were such great role models.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:02

There's also uh and all of that was done under Coach Pop, which I hated Coach Pop, but whatever. But all of those 99, 03, 05, 07, 14, all under Coach Pop. Um but a really sweet story in regards to Coach Pop and Tim Duncan. I don't know if you know this or not, but um he had uh a stroke. And apparently Popovich did. Yes. I did not know. And apparently Tim Duncan is so his mentorship and everything that that Coach Pop has shown him, he's working out with him every day to help rehabilitate him. And it just goes to show you kind of the camaraderie that they had back back in those days. But they're talking about the Spurs and why what is different this year about the Spurs than any other year and also any other league right now in the NBA. And one player stands out, and he's also predicted to win MVP, is and you said his last name, but I just said Wembene.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:00

Wembenyama.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:01

Wembenyama, yeah. And they said that he has his own cheer station, and he really cultivated that cheer sec station, cheer section. He cultivated it all in his own. He based it off of a European football club, I think it was a soccer club. And they they never stand, they never sit, they all they stand, they sing, they play drums. That's cool. And it just had brought has brought so much excitement.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:34

That sounds like hell. Well, but I mean it brings a whole bunch of energy to the game. You know, he's the he is the Wemby Wembinama, he is the face of the NBA right now. You know, you've had uh Bird, you've had Jordan, um, you know, Tim Duncan, you've had David Robinson. David Robinson, all these players that be you know, uh who is the guy from Dallas?

SPEAKER_01 1:25:56

Um the Mavericks? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:58

Um Dirk Dirk Novitsky. You know, they they were like the face of the NBA. Wembenyama is the current face of the NBA.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:05

Well, yeah, he's a nice guy because like you look at you look at the like the LeBron players of the world, they just look like thugs and they're just not, they're just narcissistic buttholes.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:14

Yeah, and you know what? The other thing, he's young, so he's still you can just tell he enjoys the competition, the game, which isn't it's refreshing to see. It's like at certain level, guys like uh LeBron James, it's just a business for them, and they're just out there just to get court time so that they can get more sponsorships and get free. Yeah, it's just it's nice to see real basketball being played by people that enjoy playing basketball. Well, that's what I think the Spurs have going for them.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:40

I think it was Wimby, I think that's who it was, but it was really sweet, and they showed a picture of him when he was younger with a Spurs jersey on. Oh, that's and I he's only 22 years old. I think it was Duncan's jersey, if I if I am remembering the story correctly.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:53

But you know, he's uh it's gonna be fun to watch. I think that they're the Spurs are favored, but I don't think they're favored so much that it's not gonna there's gonna be some good basketball being played.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:03

Can I ask you, do you know who the coach is of the Spurs now?

SPEAKER_05 1:27:06

I don't, you know that's I saw him on I watched the git part of the game seven uh with the Thunder that they want that the Spurs. I remember Larry Brown.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:14

Do you remember Larry?

SPEAKER_05 1:27:15

Okay, so Spurs I don't know who the the new uh Mitch Johnson was. Uh yeah, named the 19th head coach uh from Greg Popovich. But anyway. Well, uh I came across a story a couple days ago, and uh uh Wembanyama would not fit in one of these. Uh I it's a story about capsule hotels, which I don't know if they're a thing of the future or they're doomed to fail here in the United States. A company out of Japan called First Cabin International opened uh their first American uh chain par uh branch in uh Hawaii in Waikiki. It's the first U.S. location, it's 103 pods. On the 14th floor of an office building in downtown Waikiki. Yeah. So uh wait a minute.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:08

I could be down for this if we could have one in the office and I could just have a lot of things. Sometimes I just need a little nap.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:13

I don't know where Michelle is.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:14

I just need a little, just a little nap.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:15

So these things are you're actually looking at those are the first class ones. The first class ones will sleep two people. The regular ones, so you get these pods, the rates start at $60 a night, which is the average price for a uh Honolulu hotel is $280 per night.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:33

Where do you go to the bathroom? It's like a shared bathroom?

SPEAKER_05 1:28:36

That's communal bathroom, communal showers.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:38

Like is it men and women or there's a men's wing and a women's wing.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:42

I can do that. The the the standard pods, it's one person and they're four feet by seven, they're 27 square feet, four feet tall. You can't stand up in them. The first class ones you can stand up in. The first class ones will they're seven feet tall, two people can stay in it. Those are forty-seven square feet. The studio that we're in right now is about a hundred square feet. This tiny little room.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:08

Where do you put your um so it says it's between fifty and a hundred eighty dollars? Where do you put your suitcases?

SPEAKER_05 1:29:13

The the first class, you can actually, there's room for your suitcases on the floor. And the first class, you actually get a real door. These are curtains. In the pods, they're curtains. And then there are places like little storage areas for your for your uh your suitcases.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:30

Now look, if you guys were going someplace really cool camping or something, I could see you guys.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:34

I I actually would would probably do this. I'd sleep in this rather a tent. Well, that's the thing. I can sleep in a tent. There's some downside to this though. So say you're in there, there's 103 pods. You're in there with, you know, in in a woman's wing, and there's so you and Todd, if you did the single ones, you and Todd would stay separate. You could do a first class and you could both stay up. Okay. But there's whatever, 20 other pods. Some people come in at three o'clock in the morning, some people come in at 11.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:02

So it's I've got a noise machine I travel with.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:04

I'm not sure they'd allow you. You can't you can't bring food and drink in.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:07

No, it's like a little baby monitor noise machine.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:10

And I don't know if they would allow it or not. They there are people there on site, I guess, monitoring things.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:16

What if you snore?

SPEAKER_05 1:30:17

How what if I'm trying to know you I they give you earplugs, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:20

What if someone's a farter, a farter and a snorer, and my noise machine is going to finding all the upside for the pods, are we?

SPEAKER_05 1:30:30

But I, you know, I mean, if I wanted to go to Waikiki on a budget, if the uh uh Waikiki hotel is 300 bucks a night, I could stay in Waikiki for 10 days.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:41

They have a TV in there too, though. They do.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:43

All the root all the rooms have TVs. You can't stand up in them, but they have a TV.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:47

Well, I mean, you're gonna be at the that is actually you know, I when you first told me about the pods, because Todd told me about staying in one in, I think it was whatever Asian hooker uh um airport for for a long layover. But now that I'm looking at them, I could I could do this.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:07

Do you know it's not you're it's not like a normal hotel room where you're gonna go and hang out and watch TV. This is just basically to put your stuff down, take a shower, go to the bathroom, sleep for a while, and go out and do some fun stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:19

Well, look, there's your suitcase. They have a little area for your suitcase.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:21

Yeah. Um I'm I'm kind of with you. I think if I was gonna do it, I would go the first class route, which I think is uh what did they say?

SPEAKER_01 1:31:30

It said $150.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:32

Yeah, $150 on average for that. But you know, I mean, if you think about it this way, like have you stayed in any of those real small hotel rooms recently? Like the real small ones.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:43

Um in Europe, all of them are smaller.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:46

We stay we stayed in one in Glasgow that you basically once we brought our suitcases in, there was no no more floor room. That was it. There was a bed, there was a bathroom, there was a sink. That was it. And so this is not much smaller than that, and it's way cheaper.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:01

I can't remember where Todd and I just came back from a couple of months ago, and our hotel was really, really small. I can't remember what was. Um but I could I could do this, especially if you're just there, you're sightseeing, and you're just going there to go night. But you know what? Here's it here's the thing. Can you imagine? Like, what if you're traveling with your kids, right? What if you and your wife get the bougie hotel room and you stick your kids in the pot.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:30

Stick them in the pot. Just lock them in the pot. I'm not sure that's a good idea. Depends on how good your kids are. But uh this and the story I read, they summed it up. They uh that they interviewed some people, and one person describes it as a college dorm meets airline cabin and that they loved it and would stay again. Another guest who was a little older said, this is for the birds, the young birds.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:53

Well, yeah, because you got to climb over your bed and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:56

Like if you're if you're in the high one, you gotta climb a little ladder to get into it. If you're in the low one, you basically crawl into it from the floor. I mean, you know, there's it, I think it fits a niche. There's a there's a little lounge. Um, the lounge for the one in Waikiki looks out over the beach in Waikiki.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:14

Yeah, you could use all the amenities. If you're let's say you're spending 50 bucks a night, but yet you could use all of the resort amenities.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:22

It's not a resort. That's the one thing. It's not a resort. This is just you get the lounge room, they have a communal uh refrigerator there, there's some little meeting rooms, uh-huh. But it looks out over the water. I guarantee you you're not getting a view of the Waikiki beach for 300 bucks a night. You might find a hotel in Waikiki for 300 bucks, but you're not looking out on the beach.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:41

Well, I always said that if I was going to be homeless, that Waikiki is where I'm going to be homeless because that yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:48

Yeah, I I like Waikiki.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:50

But anyway, I you know what's why do you like Kiki?

SPEAKER_05 1:33:53

Why I yeah, I like Elaikiki, Waikiki. But uh, you know, I think these may start popping up in other places, you know, and uh if they pop up in Austin, I don't know how long it'll take before they turn into a homeless camp.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:05

But right now, if they pop up in Austin, it would be cool to go visit one.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:09

Well, I wouldn't I wouldn't mind checking it out before it gets too run down. But yeah, it's kind of cool. I and I, you know, I think a lot of people are gonna go, no, I couldn't stay in a pod. But just like you, they're gonna look at them and go, I think I could do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:22

Even a plus if you can uh you can dump your kids off and you can skip.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:26

Yeah, until you until you rent one right next to the farter that snores, and then it's all downhill.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:31

The farting snorer, yeah. Yes, bliss.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:34

Well, this was fun. I really enjoyed getting to know to uh know Pam King and uh go Spurs.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:40

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