It is a hot day here at the ironworks in Mishawaka.

Of course, pretty soon we'll be looking at this being an ice rink back here.

But for now, the only, water is for me right now.

I'm here with Phil Blasko, who's the park superintendent of the Mishawaka Parks Department.

Phil, this is like, even as you just look down here.

I mean, I come here quite a bit to the market that's on with my wife and child.

But seeing it down here has changed so much in the last few years.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, I mean, the development that we've had down here has been tremendous, it all spirit from the, the parks and the city development of the plaza and the beer garden.

And so we designed this road here, Ironworks Avenue, to be our event road, to be able to host the market and all of our different events and programs and concerts that we have down here.

And so, it's really nice to see the big plan, the big, the vision all come together this year to see the vision come together.

And being able to use this space and have so many people coming down to enjoy it, like yourself.

Yeah.

Well, now we love it.

And we love the Riverwalk.

And just around here in general, it's just when I think about Mishawaka, even when I first moved to this area like ten years ago.

And we do live in Mishawaka, technically in the county, but it's, you know, there was just really not there.

There's not a lot of reason to I mean, downtown was nice, but there was not a lot of reasons to be around here.

Yeah, yeah.

And it's just it's just changed a lot, but for the better.

And I know there's a lot of events coming up as well over the summer and into the fall.

So you've got concert series and everything going on.

Tell me a little bit about those.

Yeah.

So, throughout the entire summer we have Monday nights are the Battelle Bandshell.

Wednesday nights are here at the ball band bier garten, and then Thursday nights are at Central Park.

But then every other Friday, we brought back the free concert at the Everhart Golf Course.

And so that's been a huge hit.

Yeah, we do some, renovations at the patio back there, and so we'll have a few hundred people that will come and enjoy that space as well.

And so we, we we do that all summer.

But we do have a really cool event coming up this Friday night.

It is called Taylorville.

And so it's a Taylor Swift cover band that's down here in the plaza.

It's from 7:00 till 10:00, $10 a ticket.

But the idea of that is, you know, we try our best to engage with all the different audiences.

And one of the audiences that we struggle to reach is the teenage audience.

And so we hope.

Yeah, we hope that this will be that that event.

And we have a ton of teens coming down here having a blast and be able to enjoy the space just like everyone else does.

I'm getting to the point where the sweat's going into my eyes and I can't even look at you anymore.

It's so hot out here right now, and I know that the temperatures coming up are going to get into the 70s, which I'm very excited about, but I'm sure it won't last forever.

But yeah, at this point, I don't even think you should show me on camera.

I'm starting to sweat so much.

So Taylorville, what what what the Taylor Swift tour should be like.

Taylor.

Like, what's the opposite to Swift of what have do.

I know, like two Taylor Swift songs, but I know that my daughters absolutely love it.

Yeah.

So I know their friends are coming.

And so it's really cool to see, like the teenagers specifically the girls getting so excited to come down to the Plaza to be able to use the space, and enjoy it now.

It is absolutely wonderful.

There's so much happening, as you mentioned.

I mentioned I like coming, we like coming sometimes on the weekend to, to the market that's here.

And so tell me a little bit about that and why people would come to that.

Yeah.

So, every Sunday, from 10:00 till 2:00, we have the Mishawaka market that happens here on Ironworks Avenue.

We have over 70 vendors that are here every single Sunday.

So they fill the plaza and they have the entire, road here.

There will be arts and crafts.

There'll be produce.

We have food trucks.

Sun King is in the beer garden.

And so it is really, become such a, a well attended of.

Yeah.

Program and event.

There were almost outgrowing our, our space.

So we're trying to figure out what do you do next buy Granger.

Yeah.

No.

Just kidding.

We only you only can fit so many people on the road.

And so we're like, well, that was shut down the parking lot next to it.

Like what?

We're.

Where do we go from here?

Because so many people want to be a part of it, and it's such a huge hit.

And so we're very proud of it.

But, you know, if you, if you haven't been out 10 to 2 every Sunday.

Yeah.

No, it's really cool because I know when you first started all this and you were trying to build things up there was, you know, the first summers and stuff, it was it was kind of hard to get people to attend things right.

And and it's really starting to find its momentum now.

Yeah.

Specifically the, the market, it's starting in the back parking lot of Central Park.

We had like 15, 20 vendors and we were like, man, we are doing something.

Yeah.

And, you know, and it was like, well, can we can we expand, can we grow?

And it's one of those things you got to kind of throw it out the wall and see what sticks.

Yeah.

And it takes years and years.

Just paying attention to detail, making sure that you're doing the right thing in our staff has worked really hard to make it into what it is.

Yeah, not just the market, but all of our events and our programs, our youth sports, our, our staff is tremendous.

And we have a lot of new, ideas that are coming out every single year.

Yeah.

And trying to make sure that we, you know, engage with our entire community.

Is there a place where because obviously there is a lot going on, we're talking about a lot of things, but do you post everything on your Facebook page or online?

Is there an events calendar for Mishawaka or.

Yeah, so we have an events calendar on the city website.

We have a brand new website there.

And then we also try to update our Facebook page every single day on what's coming up.

Right now, if you go on there, you'll see the Taylorville flooded on there and, slide the hill, which is going to happen next week.

Oh yeah, because slide the hill.

I was there last year with my daughter, actually, who was like one at the time.

And your family was there too.

So that's coming up already.

I did I slide down the hill, though, I don't think I did because I had my daughter.

Yeah, but she's ready now.

She's like 2 and 2 months.

She's able to go.

So this year hopefully we can go out and I can actually slide down the hill.

So tell me a little bit about Slide the Hill or.

Yeah.

So yeah, it's next weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

We have different sessions that you can sign up for the two hour sessions, we have a max amount of people that can come for those sessions just to make sure the traffic flow is.

No, the lines aren't too long.

But I tell you what, like if you want to feel like a little kid again, you want to go to Slide the Hill.

I do it every single year.

You know, I have the same joy that I had four years ago.

Every single year.

You know, when you're going down a slip and slide as an adult, it is just as fun as as a kid.

Hey, you know, for people that do believe in the Bible, doesn't it say, like, if you want to get to heaven, you got to be more childlike or something with that kind of producer.

Yeah.

He.

Yeah, you can tell me that.

There's something like that.

I know I'm not a biblical scholar, but I think it's, you know, even having my own daughter, I know what you feel like.

I mean, I know your kids are getting it.

You know, you've got a teenage daughter now, which is crazy.

But, you know, I think children are a reminder to us as to how we're supposed to live.

Not we're not supposed to tell them how we live.

Yeah, we kind of suck.

I mean, we're a mess.

Like, we we try and act like we're adults and we have it all made out, but kids have it made like they're curious.

They want to have fun.

I think we need to be more childlike.

Oh, absolutely.

And for for me, I I'm a big kid at heart.

I love to have fun, just like the next person loves to have fun.

And I think that that goes a long way as our community comes together for these events.

Being able to see parents enjoying the space alongside their kids, like Slide the Hill, for example, you know, you hear the parents yelling and screaming and having a blast going on that hill with their kid, and they're making that memory.

And I think that also reminds us all like, hey, we were all kids once and like being all responsible and being an adult.

It's kind of overrated sometimes.

It's so overrated.

Be a kid.

Yeah.

Don't worry about what the next person is thinking.

Have fun.

Dance like no one's watching.

Slide like no one's watching.

That's right.

And, you know, talk about the kids and the parents having fun together.

You're going to see a lot of moms screaming at this fake Taylor Swift.

You I mean, that's the fake Taylor Swift.

But anyway, I think the moms are just going to be as excited as the as the daughters will be.

Yeah.

And that's what like we don't really know what to expect with with the event.

You know we we expect a large crowd.

We don't even know if she sounds like Taylor Swift.

No.

Oh no she does okay.

She's one of the best ones that are around that's traveling across the country.

Oh, no.

Selling out theaters all over the place.

And I think it's going to be, one of those things where the moms and the kids or dads or whoever, you know, the Swifties out there will have a blast.

We're going to have been making stations.

We're going to be throwing out, free glo items, and we'll have selfie stations.

And so, you know, we're really trying our best, and I want this event to make sure everyone that comes has a great experience.

But also when they leave, you know, they leave smiling and say, hey, man, I want to do that again.

Yeah.

So, we're hoping to make this an annual thing.

Well, I'm about to have heatstroke.

And so I appreciate you being out here.

Maybe I should have had used on this side.

So you being about three feet taller.

I'll give you a little.

What do give me some shade here.

But I'm dying, so I want people to check it out.

Mishawaka is awesome.

This area, the Iron Works Plaza, is just phenomenal.

I love what it is.

It's a great, kind of, representation of what the city is and the feeling down here.

So it's cool, man.

So I'm going to go get it on shorts.

Now I'm wearing pants.

I need to go.

I'm going to get out of here.

I'm babbling.

You're sweating way too much.

Sweating way too much.