1234.

Get my shoes in.

Out the door.

Five.

I'm lost.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Feels great.

I'm gonna shine.

After I do what I'm gonna do.

I do it again.

Yeah.

Look at the sky with the beautiful color.

But never just for me.

You gotta share it with another.

I got to show, to give.

Let I want singing show.

Take a look and say a beautiful morning that turns into a beautiful evening.

And together make beautiful art.

And if you wanna see that, come along with me.

That's right.

Welcome to Experience Michiana.

We're so thankful that you're with us as we get out and explore the Michiana area.

Today we're going to find out about an event happening out in front of the Morris called prayer for peace.

And it's happening real soon here in downtown South Bend.

We're also going to look back at our trip to the Learning Center at the Pottawattamie Zoo.

But first up, the Acorn Theater is going to rock the stage, and we're going to find out about a unique concert that's coming real soon, as well as many others taking the stage at the Acorn.

Well, last time I was with my friend Ashley, we were together, but today we're on zoom.

I'm excited for this upcoming events that you have at the Acorn and this one is unique.

I grew up listening to records of Def Leppard, but this is a whole new gamut because this is all a woman band 100%.

Her Styria is actually billed as the only all woman Def Leppard tribute band.

The only one that's.

That's until I hear otherwise.

That's correct.

Until you and I start one.

Right.

That's right, that's right.

One of two.

But no.

They are a group of incredibly talented musicians playing the iconic hits of Def Leppard that you and I know, but with an awesome twist.

You know, it gives a fresh take on something that I think everybody feels nostalgic about and loves rocking out to.

It rocks just as hard, and I guarantee that it will be such a high energy way to ring in.

Actually, the 4th of July weekend.

Okay.

Yeah.

When is it happening?

They're going to be with us Friday, July 3rd.

And so that was just an incredible way.

What is more inherently iconically American than just rocking out on July 3rd and in this new, unique way?

You know, I guarantee it's nothing you've seen before, but also an experience that will harken back to some of those nostalgic memories you have to your favorite songs like Pour Some Sugar on Me?

Yes, successes.

Everybody is just like, can we karaoke this along with them?

Like a hundred?

I could definitely be singing from your seats.

I think that's encouraged.

Okay, let's talk about like, the classic rock n roll and why, you know, we continue to focus on that.

Obviously there's a huge audience for it, but we do what we want to bring them in because it really is kind of that soul to rock and roll 100%.

And what I would add is, you know, we have an eclectic mix of shows here at The Acorn, but especially these like rock tributes, even create an experience that you can't get anywhere else.

I mean, hey, some of these are bands you cannot see anymore traveling and touring in the same way as maybe in their heyday.

But be, you know, it creates just such a communal experience.

Everybody is singing along, everybody is having a fantastic time.

You know, it's unlike really any other live experience.

And it's so different than listening to those vinyls at home.

I mean, it's lightning in a bottle, having that exchange with that artist, but also with the room, it really feels like a party because everybody's singing along.

Everybody's so engaged and excited to be hearing their favorite songs performed live at a high, high level.

And now her stereo has never been to the Acorn before.

Correct?

That's right.

This is the first time we've had for stereo, so we are very excited.

It was a great get.

We're so thrilled they're coming.

They're actually bringing a signed guitar that they're going to give away at the show would be very cool okay.

How do I sign up for that?

Because that sounds pretty cool.

Details will be on site.

So that gives away will be happening for those who are here that night.

I love it, I love it.

Let's talk about the band itself.

Where are they from?

How long have they been around?

Totally.

So her stereo has been touring for actually quite a while.

They are based here in the Midwest.

They do a ton of like Chicago, Illinois dates, a lot of festivals and we are so excited to have them with us on July 3rd, which was a great date to get them for.

Absolutely.

So they play bigger rooms than us quite, quite a lot of the time.

So we're very excited that they'll be doing a more intimate show here at the Acorn, and it is going to be indoors.

Correct.

That's correct.

So in our theater space, which means people need to get tickets, right?

That's right.

Yeah.

So you can go to Acorn to get tickets, bring your friends.

Like I said, it's going to be a party.

And such a great way.

Especially a lot of folks will have family in town for 4th of July festivities and July.

It's just a great way to kick off the weekend.

You don't have to worry about entertaining folks.

You've got a ready made party that I promise I'll be talking about for years to come.

I love it how many people can fit in that venue?

Remind me 300.

So it is.

Gotta get those tickets right?

Exactly.

But it's only a 300% space, so it's really intimate, but it'll feel like a great party.

Okay, awesome.

Anything else you want to tell us about history?

I'm excited for this.

I mean, okay, I have to ask you about that because how many times do you have, like a woman tribute band coming?

Sure.

Right.

We're right.

I mean, it's really unique in particularly around bands that I think people think are more traditionally male.

You know, men don't have sort of a monopoly on rock and roll, right?

Which I think maybe people don't, don't always see the way that we're presenting.

So, you know, it's really exciting to be able to have just an all female, certainly women fronted bands like all of the musicians are female presenting.

And I think that's such a fun way to demonstrate that, you know, we can rock just as hard as as men and yeah, murder, depending on who you ask.

And, you know, it's so much fun to get to see femininity in that light.

I think I love it.

And I mean, for those of us who grew up playing the records, this is a great way to showcase it to our families, too.

This is family friendly, right?

Yeah.

It is.

I mean, it's that's family friendly as Def Leppard is.

Right?

So I think so.

You know, I think that they have all that music has always been listening to the records.

So a bit crafts and a little bit, you know, seeing what you can get away with like rock and roll always has been.

But no, this will be a fun show if you've got younger family members that love Def Leppard.

Of course they're welcome.

Yeah, we got to rock on.

That's right, that's right.

And now I know this isn't happening until July 3rd, but you guys have other stuff coming up even before that.

I know you have a busy summer for you.

We really do.

So we've got coming up this weekend.

Obviously, Flag Day is iconic here in Three Oaks.

We have the largest Flag Day parade in the world.

And and wear that with pride.

And so around Flag Day tonight Thursday June 11th, we've got the Jason Carter Band with Bobcat Opossum, its iconic bluegrass band with bobcat opossums.

Been here before in many iterations, and we're so thrilled to have them back.

And Jason Carter Band is excellent.

So it's that Americana bluegrass feel great lead into the weekend.

Friday, June 12th.

We've got Sidney Adams, who is an up and coming exactly a fresh voice in traditional country and bluegrass again, kind of that very Americana vibe.

Erin Conley is joining Sidney on that concert, which will be thrilling and has a wonderful local following as well.

And then Saturday night we've got a tribute act, fearless.

It's a tribute to Taylor Swift and that show of glass on her favorite date, the 13th perfect.

Is that line up exactly.

And so, you know, again, just such a fun atmosphere, a great way to see a live version of the stuff that you've only listened to, recorded, maybe, and be able to sing along and experienced live.

All right.

So some great stuff happening this weekend.

I know you guys have a bigger lineup coming or ahead for the summer too.

Where can people get more information for that and how they get their tickets?

Totally.

So everything can be found right on Acorn Live.

And you can sign up for our email list.

So we send out emails with announcements of all of these shows.

We have some exciting announcements.

We just announced Garrison Keillor and Jeff Tweedy and Soul Rebels and just some incredible acts.

We've got all kinds of community events coming up.

We have our Acorn Pride celebration events for in June.

We've also got our youth camp launching in July, singer songwriter competition in July.

There's just so much going on Acorn Live, and you sign up for our email list, and that's the best way to keep on top of everything going on.

I love, and this is why we love to share organizations like this around the community, because you guys have so much to offer, and especially for those folks who love music or maybe haven't been exposed to some things yet, this is the way to do it.

Come and sample it and fall in love with it 100%.

I have to share that one in every shows that we present is totally free to attend.

And so we actually have a series featuring local artists called Midwest Made that will be launching Sunday, July 5th and will be the next six Sundays.

That is an outdoor concert series featuring local that.

Exactly.

It's out on our plaza.

We'll bring the chairs you just bring yourself and that is totally free to attend.

Those are in the afternoons again.

Check that out at Acorn Live.

But those are fabulous shows.

We've got some great sponsors making that happen for us.

It's a really exciting piece.

But yeah, if you've never been to a live show, that's such a great opportunity.

And those shows are incredible.

The talent is next level.

It's really I love it.

You do a great job of facilitating all of the incredible talent that comes right here to Michiana.

So thank you for being a part of our community.

Ashley.

Oh our pleasure.

Thank you, thank you.

So while I'm here at the John Hunt Plaza, just in front of the Morris Performing Arts Center, and I'm here with Lynn Coleman, who is the co-founder of Let's Turn It Around.

I know that you found this with your wife.

So tell me a little bit about what let's turn it around is let's turn it around.

Is a movement, a concept that my wife and I created to encourage people to love each other.

Let's turn around.

Is the image of a broken heart.

That's backwards.

Yeah.

And the thought is, is that if you turn that image around, it forms a heart.

The heart is a symbol of love.

And when we begin to love one another as human beings.

Doesn't matter if you're black and white, Hispanic, Asian.

Doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, short or tall.

It doesn't matter your sexuality or your political status or your religious, you know.

But as human beings, when we begin to love one another as human beings, we fix a lot of problems that we have in our society.

We believe that we don't hurt those that we love.

Okay.

You try to figure out ways to help each other rather than hurt each other.

And so we created the image and the message behind it.

And the mission simply says that we want to create peace and love among all members of the human race.

So we started it as our way to encourage people to love each other.

It's not a program, it's more of a movement.

And so we try to find ways and opportunities to get out and about in the community to just to share that message.

And so because of that, about four years ago, five years ago now, when George Floyd was killed.

That sort of struck us in a way that, you know what?

We can't just sit back and not do anything.

Let's call the community together.

Let's stand together and have prayer so that people don't go out and try to hurt each other because of that instead.

Why don't they put their arms around each other and support each other?

And so that was the start of the community wide prayer for peace rally.

And that's what Experience Michiana is here about today, because on June 14th you're having that prayer for peace.

So first of all, tell me a little bit about that.

Like people watching, how can they come out or what's the details of that event.

Well, the it'll be held here at the John Hunt Plaza Sunday the 14th.

Any and everybody is invited to come.

We have invited several people representing different faith based organizations Baptist churches, Catholic churches, Jewish churches, Muslim churches to come and to join together and offer prayer together for the total community.

And the thought behind that is that we didn't want to just have one denomination and leave others out.

We want to try to get as many as we could to make people feel comfortable about being here.

And we've asked those representatives from the different denominations if they would make short comments and offer a prayer.

And so we'll have 7 or 8 different, you know, yeah, religious backgrounds here, and we'll have people just mingling around and saying hi to each other.

Hopefully we'll find people that don't know somebody else and walk up to them.

And hi, how are you?

And, you know, smile and you know, and just have a peaceful atmosphere that day that not only can they do it that day, but they can take it tomorrow, next week, next month and build on that.

I, I find myself that there's a lot of powerful influence to divide us, whether we want to admit it or not.

If people say, oh, that's a conspiracy or propaganda.

It's like there's a but there's a lot of systems in place to try and divide us.

And so and we all as humans find ourselves leaning into that from time to time.

And my go to is always love one another as I have loved you.

Oh, so I find myself.

Maybe I'm like, even as you mentioned, George Floyd, right?

Like there's a divisiveness about whether he was killed or whether he died from an overdose or.

And so there's all these things, and then I try and stop myself and go, okay, let's love one another.

Let's start with love.

If we can start with love, it is very, very difficult.

And so there's all these things that are there to try and divide us and bring us together.

But how do you really reach the people?

It's not to say that like everyone is is adverse from violence, but how do we actually reach the people that are committing the most violence?

Because most of the people that will show up here will never even think about being violent to other people.

So.

So what's the example you're trying to set to younger people that might be more inclined, or people that might be more inclined toward the violence, like, how do you reach them through this?

I think the word that you just use is key example.

And so we have to be an example to others to see.

They have to see you smiling at her for no reason at all.

Yeah.

Offering your hand to someone else, you know, being willing to support somebody and help somebody rather than hurt somebody.

And if all our society sees is people mad and irritated and hateful to, that's what they'll do.

But if they begin to see people being just as much joy in the.

Absolutely.

And I tell people all the time that we get what we give.

Yeah.

And so if you give a lot of hate.

Yeah.

Animosity, you know, negativity, that's probably what you're going to get back.

Yeah.

But if you begin to give respect and kindness, you know, and understanding ultimately love, you get that back.

And when I, when I use the word love, it doesn't mean that I'm in love with you.

Okay, I hope not.

But I do feel your love today.

So yeah, I'm in love with my wife.

It's a different kind of.

But I can love you as a human being, okay, I can.

Respect is about loving yourself.

Absolutely.

You know, I can respect you and care for you and be willing to to assist you and support you.

And, you know, and when we begin to do that, we fix a lot of problems that we face, even if we are from different, you know, backgrounds and cultures and stuff like that.

You know, all of us have that space in us that we can care and love for one another.

What time does the prayer for peace begin on Sunday?

It starts at 3:00.

Okay.

We'll be here obviously a little earlier than that, but the the event will start at 3:00.

We'll only be here for about an hour and ten, 15 minutes.

It won't last long.

But after that, you know, if people just want to hang around and chat, hopefully somebody will meet somebody that they never knew before and start a conversation and build a relationship and that kind of thing.

But we'll start at 3:00 here at the John Hunt Plaza.

We come here because this is center to our city right downtown, and people hopefully could feel comfortable coming here from any place else in the city and join us here.

And so we're looking forward to it.

We're excited about it.

And hopefully people will come.

And please let me share that this is not just for South Bend, okay?

The problems that we have are not just in South Bend.

We have violence and hatred and negativity all over the country.

Okay.

And so if people are in Mishawaka, if people are in Michigan City, people are in Elkhart, people in Niles, Michigan, you know, Plymouth.

Want to come out?

Please.

You're more than welcome.

Do your own.

Your example.

Yeah, yeah.

Seriously.

Do it.

Come here and then do it.

You're.

Absolutely.

You're more than welcome to join us.

Yeah.

And so we just want people to begin to love each other.

Support each other.

Stand with each other.

So let's turn it around.

Let's.

Let's make it happen.

As somebody who came here from another country, I didn't come here being like I'm a Democrat.

I'm a I didn't think of any of those things that wasn't in my brain.

And so I've made friends across all demographics because I didn't grow up being told that I needed to be divided.

Yeah.

And so what I've realized is, though, is that, like.

And I know I'm not oblivious to the problems of the world, but the reality is the majority of people don't have hate for other people.

But I think we're sitting at home or watching our TV and we're told this thing and then it becomes our thing.

But I think if we get out and meet people, regardless of their background, we realize that it's like it's just the divide is not there.

As strong as I think we're led to believe.

And that's not to say there aren't problems, right?

Like, we see things, but and we do have problems.

And I'll admit that they're not as big as.

I don't think so.

And we can overcome them.

I think we can overcome them, but we can't sitting at home.

That's right.

And if we allow the negativity to overtake us, that's what will happen.

Yeah.

Okay.

But there's a lot of room, a lot of room for us to help one another.

And that, you know, that leads us to where we're trying to get to.

And I can't love you into.

I love me first.

That's true.

Okay, that is true.

Some of that comes with maturity.

Absolutely.

It's not.

And when I begin to love me, love is so powerful, you can't hold on.

You got to share it.

And so we want to share the love.

Share love.

We'll share the love.

Okay.

All right.

Thanks a lot.

Hopefully you can join us Sunday.

And we look forward to it.

I have two little kids.

So when you said 3:00, I'm like, that's when naps finished.

So it's a possibility I could get here if you said between 12 and 3 I'm like, no, they're naps are our.

That's what we pray for peace in our house.

Okay, so I get it I get it.

We are indoors, but we're still at Potawatomi Zoo.

There's so much to explore here.

Things continue to grow, and I have my friend Josh with me showing us a little bit of the inside.

Now, I've watched this exhibit grow over the years, and one of the things that I especially love is that the animals can actually have access to the outdoor elements.

Yeah.

So this this is our learning center.

And this was built in the 70s.

So it was a little dating.

So all the animals were inside.

So there wasn't a lot of UV light and sun.

So with these monkeys it's really important for them to get that.

So one of the first things we wanted to do over the last couple of years was able to get this outdoor access.

So in the summertime they can go outside.

We remember we saw this law.

I think he was just out there.

He was oh no, we just missed it.

Yeah.

He just gives them an opportunity to get out in the sun.

The Golden Lions instance, we'll get that sun and they will just turn as golden as can be.

So it's really good for it to happen.

And they used to be in a different area.

They do.

So this this is one of my I always say everything's my favorite.

But this is one of my favorite blends because it is so ever changing.

I feel like anytime you come to the zoo, it's something different in the learning center.

We have marmosets here and Cameron's here and sloth there, and then the next time you come and maybe all switched around.

So we're always moving species around and checking.

And what goes into those kinds of decisions, is it based on, you know, the the population of the animal.

Yeah.

So we talk about Naseer zoos all the time that we're all these animals are part of birding programs.

So we may get a call that there's some rare monkey that's really needing some help.

We're supposed to be getting these tamarind and called pied tamarins.

They actually are kind of.

They have a naked head.

We haven't even got them yet.

It's like little old men.

Yeah, but there one of the most endangered species of tamarind.

So we're going to be getting those soon.

So we might then move the Marva sets in with the sock monkeys.

Okay, I didn't put the pie tamarind in here.

But that doesn't work, and they're not getting along.

We might put the pie with the sock monkey.

So we're always kind of experimenting in different species and talk to us about that from a veterinarian perspective, because a lot goes into then you guys are really hands on.

I know I'm watching someone actually in here right now.

She's one of our keepers.

They're taking care of him this morning.

But yeah, long goes into this because, you know, not every animal can just go together.

And we know certain species that can mix.

So we just through trial and error and through just talking to other zoos, that's great about the connection we have with other accredited zoos.

We know what species can be mixed with these Saki monkeys or which species can be with sloth.

So it's not like we're just doing it for the first time and just seeing if it works out.

We know that the banded mongoose, for instance, you can't put anything bandit, mongoose there.

Meat eaters.

They good to know they would be very aggressive.

Let's head over to this area because I mean this is kind of the creepy crawlers.

Like the cockroaches have always been a family favorite for us, right?

You either love this area.

Yeah, that's it in there.

He's pretty cool.

But yeah, this is you know, some people can't even come in here because this is where we have the reptiles and snacks, but the kids love it.

We always we've got the big red tail boa in here.

We've got lots of monitors.

Yeah.

It's just it's great because it does give you a different perspective and teaches kids that.

It's funny how I'll start with a kid and they won't even touch the snake, but then by the end of the time, they're already petting it and it just changes their whole perspective.

Oh my gosh.

All right, let's keep walking over here because there's even more you know a spotted turtle.

This is really you can find one of these in your backyard pond.

You can.

So we also take so these are actually confiscated the DNR, the Department of Natural Resources brought these to us because they couldn't they were someone was trying to keep them as pets.

And it's illegal to have them as a pet.

So no.

So it again, it gives us an opportunity to tell their story.

And this is a turtle that you could see in your backyard.

And so it's not everything's from like some crazy across the ocean.

Yeah.

We got stuff just right here in our back door.

And it's important for us to talk about those two.

All right.

Let's keep walking down here because I know there's even more.

There's one of the snake.

Is that a snake?

Yeah, that's a man.

Oh, I remember the big yellow boa that she used to have.

One of the keepers.

Okay, we have to watch this.

Look at that.

So frill dragons, they've been inspired by a lot of the dinosaur movies.

They have that kind of that frill around their head.

So that's like a Jurassic Park.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I was wondering what I think.

I'm like, no.

Now how does this go?

Like, how do you how do you feed them?

So we're watching this now.

But so the keeper spot tongs and he's just giving them you can see there's a little calcium.

There's a white powder on the those are mealworms okay.

So they're getting their vitamins to games are hungry.

Yeah I want to give a kudos to your staff.

Do you want to talk about them for a minute.

Because they're just phenomenal on how they care for the animals here.

Yeah, just the whole team just all around, even from guest experience to maintenance.

And I think about maintenance and how much they do in house for the animals.

But but yeah, our keepers, we have 17 zookeepers.

These areas are broke up.

So, you know, there may be one keeper that's just in charge of the reptiles, one that's just in charge of the monkeys, and they're kind of specialist within their area.

But they they are the eyes on the animals.

They're caring for them, giving enrichment, doing training.

They have an important role and it's how we're able to do what we do.

Now, I know I've been to the zoo sometimes before where we've helped to make enrichment items.

Are you guys going to be doing anything like that this year?

They're always with camps.

Come do that.

We have classes that you can sign up to make enrichment that will go give out to the animals.

There's just so cool.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

It is.

Now let's talk about the classes because they happen here at the Learning Center, don't they?

We do.

Yeah.

So we have a classroom here and we have one up in the red barn.

Like our camps will start down here.

We've got if you go online, you can see all of our different classes and camps that we have available.

So lots of education I think last year saw over 60,000 people between programs like chess.

It's been pretty amazing.

And I know you guys go out with animals too.

We do.

Yep.

That's a real special program.

That program that you can go out to nursing homes, schools.

It's all education based.

We don't we don't really go out for like, you know, to be at an attraction, but it's really getting an education based situation.

We'll go up there.

So what are the animals that are going to be traveling this year?

Oh gosh, we got sloths.

We got it to mandala.

We've got yeah, yeah.

We got a slot that goes out and Birds of Prey.

So we have a hawk and an owl.

Snakes and reptiles.

We have, we have quite a variety of little skunk, all kinds of stuff that goes out there.

And it's great to be able to talk about why those are important for our entire world, really, quite frankly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Maybe gives people just a different perspective.

But you can get up close and learn, let's say, about a skunk that you might be scared of.

We know you want to treat them, that they're not a pet, but you know they're not bad.

They actually eat insects.

They live in your backyard.

Yeah, they have an important role.

So it's just a different perspective for people.

Awesome, awesome.

All right.

Well, thank you for showing us a little bit around the Learning Center.

I always say like if you have a zoo pass, you can spend one day here just in the learning center.

The next day come back and do another section.

There's so much to see here.

So you can come and go and see.

It's great.

Yeah, awesome.

And we're officially open for business.

Open for business.

All right, all right.

We'll come on out.

We'll see you at Potawatomi Zoo.

Well, that's it for this week's Experience Michiana.

Thank you so much for being with us.

Remember, as you're out exploring the Michiana area.

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