Discover Janesville: Four Seasons of Gardens, Trails, Adventures, and Events

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Hello everyone, this is Howard Fox and welcome back for another episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series Podcast. Today's episode was facilitated by Travel Wisconsin, who, along with Destination Madison, hosted the 2026 Outdoor Writers Association of America's annual conference. During today's episode, we hope to share with you why Wisconsin and communities like Jamesville are the perfect destination for family vacations, couples getaways, outdoor adventures, meetings, conferences, conventions, and I will add great food. Caitlin Tranlow is our guest today. Katie is the Director of Digital Strategy and Public Relations for the Janesville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. She and her team promote the Janesville area to active family adventures in northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, eastern Iowa, and southern Minnesota. Katie, it's so great to see you again. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Hi, Howard. I'm great. I'm so happy to be here. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

I am doing good. I I've had a cup of coffee. I sat outside, took a wonderful shot of the hummingbird at the feeder, and my neighbor has a feeder. And I'm sitting outside and I have my coffee and I just like listening for the birds. And we like you guys, we are maybe not as extensive as in Wisconsin, but we're on the southern flyway when the as the birds begin migrating down south for the winter. I keep having to remember remember it's going to be winter soon. I mean, we we just got below 90 degrees here in uh in here in Boulder City and the Las Vegas Valley. So I was very happy. But just sitting outside, relaxing, had a cup of coffee, listening for the birds. Life is good. Life is good. How about you?

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Yeah, I started my morning very similarly. I was today's a little overcast and was a little rainy this morning. So I sat out on my front porch with the windows open and my coffee, and same thing. Our temperatures might be a little different. It's really starting to feel like fall in Wisconsin now. So I think we were sitting at like I think today is gonna be like 70-ish degrees.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

So oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 2:27

Yeah, really my favorite time of year, favorite season in Wisconsin, if at the pig one.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

I I think I would agree with you. I love the the fall season, the changing of the colors, it's starting to cool down. What I don't like is usually in the fall I get a really bad cold because one day or in the morning it's it's cool, you know, like sitting out and on the porch. I would love to be doing that, by the way. And that's why I need to uh bring more of the outdoors in the outdoor adventure series. So just saying. But just being able to do that in the springtime when when back in the Midwest, when the Cardinals would begin chirping in their songs, you knew spring was coming. So those two bookends of the year are like my absolute favorite is the end of the starting of the the fall season and starting of the spring. So makes me long back for the for the Midwest. So thanks for that memory. So you and I were at the conference a couple weeks ago in Madison, which I had a fantastic time. How how was your experience there?

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Oh, I had an incredible time. It was my very first time attending OWAA and have it so close to home in Madison was incredible. So yeah, I got to hop in my car and just drive the 40 minutes. And it was great to see so many people fall in love with Madison and with our state, especially with the pre-tours and the post-tours of the conference. But uh yeah, I I did the speed networking and had like just such a great time talking with writers and photographers from all over the podcasters, yes, and podcasters. Yes, we got to meet in person before this, which was incredible. That was amazing. So, yeah, just like so many great creators in in that organization. And it was just awesome to put like a say to some of the names that you had been seeing.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

So yeah, good. Well, I'm really glad that you had a great time and it was a positive experience for you. And I have to say one thing being 40 minutes away from a venue that and just go back home and sleep in your own bed is actually pretty sweet. Hotels, one hotel after another can get very old. As a former road warrior myself, I do have to I have to admit something. In in the spirit of full disclosure, I spent, well, I grew up in the Midwest in the Detroit suburbs, and I'll always be a Detroit fan. So it's against the law to root for any other sports team other than a Detroit team because it's it's stamped on the back of our birth certificates. But I lived in Chicago the the next half of my life at the time. And I had been up to Milwaukee, I'd been to Madison a couple times. I'll admit I never knew there were lakes around Madison, but that's a whole other story. I think I just went there to eat and drink, and that was it. As I was going north, it never dawned on me. I never knew I was passing Janesville.

SPEAKER_03 5:32

Yeah, yeah. And that's like one of the things I love most about our city too, is just our like our location. It's incredible. Like, like we talked about Madison from Milwaukee, we're about like an hour 15. And from like to downtown Chicago, I think it's about two hours. So yeah, it's I think, yeah, it's an incredible location. And but I think we pat we're more like a mid-sized city too for Wisconsin. We have about 67-ish, thousand res residents. So I love like the uh like kind of small town-ish feel, but like we have so many amenities too, but then we're also so close to these major cities, which I love.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Very nice. Now, again, in in the spirit of full disclosure, I don't know the answer to this. I I have taken the train up to Milwaukee and but I don't know, can I get to Janesville by train or do I have to drive if I was to go from Chicago?

SPEAKER_03 6:34

Yeah, that's a great question. I not by train, however, we are the home of the Van Galder bus line. So we do have a bus that goes directly from I believe it there's a downtown stop that will come directly to Janesville and and in Madison too. So there's also an O'Hare stop, so I per I love that as well. But yeah, so mainly bus or driving.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Okay. Would it be closer for you to then to get to O'Hare Airport or to Milwaukee's? Well, you have Madison's airport.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

Yeah. Yep. Madison's is definitely closest. And their airport is so nice.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

It was a very nice. I like small airports. When I grew up, not grew up, when I first moved to Chicago, Midway Airport is the one I would fly into and out of a lot to go back to Detroit, and it was small at the time, but then it just got, I mean, it's it's probably the same size I would imagine as say the Madison Airport. But when you go to those big airports like O'Hare or Milwaukee and Mitchell Airport or Las Vegas is just, I get my 10,000 steps in in Las Vegas whenever I go there. So let's talk about Janesville now. Well, first, before we do that, your role as a director of digital strategy and public relations. Tell us a little bit about what that role entails. I mean, let's go a little deeper. I think the the the the uh the role itself is is kind of self-explanatory, but what does it mean for you and uh being a part of this destination convention visitor of your room?

SPEAKER_03 8:12

Yeah. So our office is um small but mighty. We have six full-time staff members and one part-time. So yeah, you mentioned earlier, I'm the director, director of digital strategy and public relations. And so that means I'm kind of like I have a count, a marketing counterpart. So my role handles everything communications-wise. So I manage all of our social media accounts, I create our digital newsletters, I write blogs, I do media releases and pitches to writers and and local media and things. Let's see, what else? I also handle like our content creator and influencer program business. And yeah. Yeah, so a lot of stuff like that. A lot of stuff digitally online.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

All right. So if I wanted to do more podcasting with you, you're my go-to.

SPEAKER_03 9:06

You'd be my Yeah, we actually we have my our executive director does a weekly like podcast video. And we have a really great, like, yeah, where she talks about like all the events coming up in Janesville and the surrounding area for that week. And we have a really great local partner called Drywater Productions who helps us with those. And they they travel to different spots around the city and the area and and talk about things coming up.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

That is absolutely fantastic. I can't tell you how many destinations and and chambers of commerce, and I because I work with chambers of commerce as well, that they they rely solely on the written media, and I get that. But being able to go around town, talk about the events that are coming up and getting that produced and out there, that is absolutely wonderful because I wish more destinations, more chambers would do just that because it exponentially grows your reach.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

Yeah, and we use them, we post them on our YouTube channel and on our social media too. So yeah, it's really great.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Okay. Now, are you just curious, professional curiosity? Are you also posting the audios out onto the podcast platforms?

SPEAKER_03 10:24

No, that's a great point. We are not.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

You should.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

Howard, we might need to talk more about this. That's a great point. I guess we've never we've never explored something like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's talk business later. Let's learn more about okay. So I'm curious then, with Janesville, you've got the the CVB, small but mighty. What are the types of events that you're looking to do to attract as a convention and visitors bureau? Because you don't often see that connection. So what what what what is it like here in in for you in Janesville trying to attract and bring people in for that convention experience as well?

SPEAKER_03 11:09

Yeah. So this this podcast interview is actually perfect timing because uh this weekend we're actually celebrating the one-year anniversary of our Woodman Sports and Convention Center opening last September. So it's been one full year, and that's been a huge development for our for our visitors' bureau. So we work really closely with the team at the Woodman Center, which I'll just say really quickly is I can't quite remember the full square footage, but it's kind of like a three-part space where it has a I know the convention center space is about 26,000 square feet. And then it has a full-time ice hockey rink that can fit fit 1,500 people, and then a multi-use arena or like a multi-use arena, per multi-purpose space that can be a hockey rink, convention space. Okay, of course. So to answer your question, the addition of this facility has really kind of broadened the events that we're looking to attract. So it's opened the door to a lot of sporting events.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 12:16

We're actually attracting a lot of martial arts events, which is very cool.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

Boxing, like MMA, wrestling, some really cool sports like that that we were able to host before. Lots of hockey, some soccer, basketball, pickleball is a huge.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Hopefully, Janesville has a has a great population of orthopedic surgeons because the pickleball is is is rampant up. You gotta have those orthopedic surgeons as well.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

So yes, we've got the Woodman Center, like that's covering like indoor pickleball, like especially over the winter. But we've got some pretty incredible outdoor courts too in Side Park, which I think is where that photo might be from.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Okay. I'll I'll put a I'll go back into Canva where I got the photo from and I'll I'll have that in the show notes for this episode.

SPEAKER_03 13:15

Yeah, I was so intrigued to know. Uh, but yeah, so a lot of a lot of sporting meetings and conventions is are the events for looking.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

So just curious, then with the sporting events, are you are these being pulled in from like junior college and collegiate or like high school? A lot of these high schools have their tournaments and they're they need a place to come into, have a place to stay, and and then you go, they spend all weekend doing these events. Is that where the is that the type of sporting events or are they just are are they outside of the education part of the world?

SPEAKER_03 13:54

I would say it's a good mix of both. We are attracting a good amount of youth sports, so like high school and under, I would say. There was like a big we had a big dance competition, gymnastics, cheerleading. So some really cool like events like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

And it's also the home to the Woodman Center is also the home to the our Janesville Jets hockey team, which I believe is a tier two, like junior league team. So it's all like high school age and like college-ish age players that come from all over the country to play here in Janesville and to eventually like move on to excellent rational hockey or college hockey too. So yeah, yeah. And we have local colleges play there. Yeah, I could go on and on.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Okay. So as visitors are coming into the southern Wisconsin area into Janesville, even like my fellow peers from the OWAA can't work writers, but they write about hunting, fishing, biking, stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, et cetera, et cetera. As visitors are coming into Janesville and they're not necessarily going to those facilities to do the events that you just described, what else are they going to experience when they come to visit Janesville?

SPEAKER_03 15:18

Yeah, that's a great question. And like where to begin. I would say our one of my favorite outdoor attractions in Janesville is our Rotary Botanical Gardens. It's a 20-acre public botanic garden in town. And it actually started out as like it was pretty much like a dirt patch, and then someone like built this beautiful garden that's been around for years. So that's a pretty incredible place for like native plants, bird watching, photography, things like that. I also would be remiss to not mention our just our trail system in general. We have more than 30 miles of trails in James. And the major majority of them are paved, which is really, really cool. So it's great for walking, biking, rollerblading, and yeah, and that kind of interconnects with the Ice Age Trail, which you might remember from the outdoor trail.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

I was gonna ask, so that means you're most likely you're on part of the Ice Age Trail.

SPEAKER_03 16:26

Yeah. So we're actually the southernmost point of the Ice Age Trail, and we have the most miles within city limits. So it's a really great spot for people to come and knock out a big portion of the trail of this thousand mile trail.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Okay.

unknown 16:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Now when I was at the conference, I did my pre-tour. I went bike riding. I went because I want I had never been on an e-bike before, and I I I would I would like to get on a bike again here in in Nevada. Now that it the weather's cooling down, it's good time. But the but the Ice Age Trail, that was one of my other god, if I could have just spent an extra day, I would have gone on the uh the Ice Age Trail excursion. Now, were you a part of one of the pre or post tours?

SPEAKER_03 17:15

Yes, we offered a pre-tour.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Okay. And what was your pre-tour?

SPEAKER_03 17:20

Oh my gosh, it was great. The Ice Age Trail was part of it. We did actually bike a section of the trails, which was really cool. And we also did a hike on it. We have a really popular Ice Age Trail segment called the Devil Staircase, which sounds very foreboding and intense. But it's it's super, it's it's great. It's I think it's less than a mile, the segment is, but it's it's gorgeous. It follows like these, I think it's limestone walls. So it's like just it follows these really cool geological features that were caused by like the last glacier that's like you've got the river on one side and these limestone walls on the other, and it's just a really cool trail. So we did that as well. Okay. But yeah, we went out on Lake Koshkenong on a sunset boat tour. Lots of oh, I heard about that.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

I heard about that one.

SPEAKER_03 18:17

Yeah, it was very cool.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

I will go back to my peers, or maybe you already have I'm because I imagine there was there was a photographer and somebody doing drones on my tour, but I imagine if you had a photographer at that event, I'd love to put like their photos up on our show notes. Maybe just get a sample of those. That'd be kind of cool.

unknown 18:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

I'll figure that out with you.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Okay, excellent. And so, really, you have there's a lot of these attractions to come into Janesville. Are you attracting, we talked about it earlier, where they're coming from, northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota. First off, uh the the waterways that the behind my my picture here body of water, it's the river. And so I assume there's like canoeing, kayaking, fishing on the on these rivers as well.

SPEAKER_03 19:13

Yeah. So we also partner with a couple nearby communities, Edgerton and Milton, and the I gu I should say the broader Edgerton area, which includes some smaller communities. But yeah, our area is has a handful of both. And we've got the Rock River, like you said, behind you. We've got the Yahara River, which is really great for kayaking. And we've got some smaller lakes in like the Milton area called Clear Lake and Stores Lake. Those are also really popular for kayaking and fishing, very, very much fishing. And then we've also got the it's called Lake Kashkinong, and it's actually one of the biggest lakes in Wisconsin. It's 10,000 acres. It's huge. It's huge, but very shallow. I think it maxes out, I think at like 13 to 15 to 20 feet or something. I'm not quite sure off the top of my head, but very large shallow lake. So that's really popular for boating, fishing, yeah, some kayaking. And we're on the southern half of that, so that filters into the Rock River.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

So gotcha, gotcha. And I would imagine that Janesville is a is a most definitely a four-season destination then.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

Absolutely. Yeah. We are we have some really great birding in the spring. Fall is like our pumpkin patches and apple orchards. Winter, we have some really great cross-country skiing. We're a fairly flat community. So the cross-country skiing is great, snow showing, and we have some snowmobile trails in the county too.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Oh, very nice, very nice. I I'm like literally, as I'm listening to you, kicking myself in the butt because I could have taken a bus ride or driven for a long weekend up to visit you guys. And it's like seeing, and I by the way, I'm always looking for my next place to live. So you and as I was I'm listening to you, as I'm reviewing the website in preparation for today's episode. I'm thinking, this is yeah, I could see myself here. I love that. Yeah. Speaking of website, I would love if you could take us on a little tour of the website just to share some of those highlights if you're open to doing that.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

All right. So now this is in the spirit of make I rebooted my computer, so hopefully technology is gonna work. Okay, looks like it's gonna do it. Okay. So now, Katie, we should be seeing your website.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

All right, so take us on a little tour.

SPEAKER_03 21:47

Yeah, so oh gosh, I have to say, like that for the photos that are kind of filtering through, that last one that just changed was our farmers market.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Um I love farmers markets, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

I know we were talking about the day encounter. One earlier, and I just have to plug Jane's Hills because it's incredible. It is, it usually has like it's every week on Saturdays, May through October, that the outdoor one is. It continues on in the winter as well.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

But oh nice.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

75 to like 80 vendors every single week. And I think what's really unique about ours, which I love to talk about, is that it spans both sides of the Rock River. So it's this huge area, like right in the heart of our downtown called the Town Square. And there's music and all these vendors, and there's usually some kind of activity every single week. But another thing I love about it is that it's dog friendly. So it's really, really popular for people to bring their families and pets to. And yeah, it's incredible. And it's also producer only. So everything that is sold there is baked, created, grown by these people.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

So I love that. And when I was I woke up early Saturday morning to go to the farmer's market around the uh Capitol Square in Madison. It's like, oh, it's so good to be at a farmer's, a real good farmers market again. It and I love like you just shared, it's all homegrown stuff, home produced.

SPEAKER_03 23:22

Yeah, exactly where it's coming from. The honey's local, it the the cheese is local, the produce is local, the art's local. It's very cool.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Very nice, very nice. Okay. So we're we're I did notice as I was starting to scroll down. You do have a visitor's guide.

SPEAKER_03 23:41

We do, yeah. So yeah, and and like you see there, you can uh download a ver a digital copy on our website, or you can request a printed guide be sent to you right on the home page there. But yeah, if you want to open it up, you're more than welcome to. Kind of how we do our guides is it's actually an evergreen guide. So we uh print them as we run out, which I think is very like environmentally friendly. So we're not like if we have extras, we're not we use up everything we print basically.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Oh no, I I totally get it. There we go. Yeah, so it's like 30 some pages. I was on it the other day. That's why I started here at page 36. So let me just go all you've got your hands, got great photos, destination activities, beer, yes. And I like the fact you've got some QR codes there. Good.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

Yeah, yeah. That beer photo, I think, is for our our flannel. Is that oh, maybe not. I thought it was her flannel fest. That's for a local restaurant and bar that's in they have incredible food.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Okay. Well, let's we'll go up, but I'm sure more of the uh the events are gonna be coming up. Downtown Janesville. There's the advertisers, the botanic gardens. I would be hanging out here, by the way, just taking photos.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Yeah, that's and speaking of like being a four-season destination, Rotary Gardens has one of the biggest holiday light shows in the state as well. It's a walkthrough show in the in the 20 acres of the gardens, but they string, they've already started stringing lights, by the way, in August. They string more than two million lights for this light show.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

It's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Very nice. Now, one thing I'm I'm starting to notice is like the the map. You've got it's great that you have this map here. I don't think I've ever seen a map like this on one of the digital guides before because it's like it'd be nice to know as you're see as you're uh considering coming to the destination. Here's the cross streets, and here's some major pieces of restaurants, and there's your grid. I like that. And then you've got the hotels, heads and beds, and cash register say in here. Okay. Very good. Got art. Now you've got murals. That's cool. It wasn't until I was a part of the OWAA and I was starting to work with a lot of destinations that I realized how important the murals are. I mean, it's just a great in and of themselves, it's a great way to attract folks to come and visit for a whole weekend and or a day, you know, spend some money, see the murals, stay if you'd like.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

Yeah, we have a whole, I'll show this that to you later, but we have a whole public art trail um map and guide. But yeah, I think we just passed over 30 murals in downtown alone, and that's not mentioning like the sculptures and and historical markers and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Would that be like on a tour?

SPEAKER_03 26:46

Oh, yeah, I can so it's actually if you head to the far right under about, okay. And then there's resources.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Resources. I can follow directions.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

And then we have a whole tab for visitors.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

And then I it's pretty I'm trying to remember if it's under guides or maps. Let's try maps first. I do want to show you both sections, but yeah, we have a public art category. So it would be that middle one, the public art trail. Yeah, so this one blades. This one doesn't have all of our newest ones quite yet. I actually had to start doing inserts because uh we get new girls every year through our art infusion festival, which actually just happened. Um, this is a start to some of them. You can see our giant cow, Bessie, out on Milton Avenue. Okay, she's awesome. Yeah, we have um a lot of great sculptures and statues, the historical markers, and of course.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

Very nice, very nice. So, where are what are some other highlights you would like to share while we're here?

SPEAKER_03 28:01

Yeah, I mean we talking about the outdoors, I did want to show we have yes, under things to do and recreation, they're largely lists, but there's a lot of information in them. So I really just wanted to show those different categories between like biking, birding, golf courses, and things like that. So kind of gives you a good idea of where things are located. And then you can click on each individual one below to cut, yeah, to kind of like learn more about each.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

So that's nice. I like the way I like that you're integrating the maps into the into your your your your page, the digital onset.

SPEAKER_03 28:39

Yeah, it helps with the planning, I think, just so you can see what's close to what and oh here's double staircase.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Can't go leave without seeing. Oh, look at yeah, okay, that's uh wow.

SPEAKER_03 28:52

Yeah, those are the stairs leading up to the hike. Okay, and I I really love going there this time of year with the fall color.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Yeah, to imagine.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

But yeah, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Very good, very good. And you've got the biking. Now, where's with on the pre-tour? Was it an e-bike or just a regular bike?

SPEAKER_03 29:11

We just did a regular bike.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

I got spoiled by doing the e-bike, by the way. As I'm getting a little older and I need a little, I spend too much time sitting at a desk doing my coaching or my podcasting. Again, I'm trying to get the outdoor and the outdoor adventure series. So but the e-bike I thought was fun. Life hiking, that's good. Okay, very nice.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

Yeah, very cool.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

All right. And so we all have to have informational again the things to do, recreation, got biking, birding, golfing, of course, parks and trails. I imagine there's a disc golf, a couple disc golf courses around. That is that I never knew was a thing until I started to do the podcast. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

I think that's under additional recreation. But yeah, we've got a great disc golf course in Riverside Park. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

It's very there's your I can. Oh, we got food here. Look at that. Typhous.

SPEAKER_03 30:08

Um speaking of, I gotta show you the under food and drink.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 30:13

We have the top one. We have an entire, like uniquely local one where it lists all of the locally owned restaurants in town.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

So nice.

SPEAKER_03 30:24

Yeah, I really, really love that. And then we have the same thing for shopping too. So you can find shops and boutiques.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Okay. Now, which one of these little dots are is your favorite here while we're here? Oh, that's don't want to burn any bridges, but just say it.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

Oh, I have so many favorites, but I I would have to shout out it's called Genesa Wine Bar.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 30:47

Um right downtown and along the river. And it's even got one of our art infusion murals on the side of the building. Yeah, it's like a wine bar, and they do brick oven pizzas and these great cocktails and desserts. And they have a stunning outdoor patio that looks overlooks like the Rock River, and there are string lights up, and they do live music in the summer, and it's just a magical place. But very nice. I yeah, we have we have a new Indian restaurant called Swad that I really love.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Now I do notice there's a there's a uh a highlight that's always near and dear to my my heart. I love well, farmers markets, but uh, I love coffee. So you got some coffee shops, all right?

SPEAKER_03 31:38

You and me both, yes. We have some really great coffee shops, and I have to mention some great coffee vendors at the farmers market. Really great.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Okay, see, I didn't see any when I was in Madison. So yeah, another reason for me to come back. All right, absolutely, yes.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

We have so many, so many popular ones. Uh for for like freaking warner ones. I definitely have to shout out Mocha Moment. That one is it's amazing. I'm wondering, yeah, wondering if we have any photos in their listing, but yeah, they are they're like right smack dab in the middle of Janesville, but it's like kind of tucked back off this like major road. And it feels like you're in this cabin in the middle of nowhere. They've got this like I love going in the fall and winter because they have the their fireplace is always on, their coffee is amazing. I think they like roast and grind their own beans.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

Coffee beans.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

You're you're speaking now, you're really speaking my language. I roast my own coffee, and it's just like I I I I'm very picky about certain things that that I consume. Coffee's one of those, and I like good, nice, fresh roasted coffee.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

Yes, and they make all their bakery items like from scratch in this like tiny, like I mean, I think you can see it in that photo. It's in this like tiny little kitchen, and they and they make it all um, yeah. A very they have a year-round, I think it's year-round, maple latte that is a campus.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

It's good to be young. You can consume those things. Me can't cannot watch that sugar as I get older, but very good. Well, definitely some great itineraries, including some good food, good things to do around attractions, art, history, museums, tours. I love it. So this is very good. So thank you so much for taking us on this little tour. And we're gonna provide this is why we love to do the uh the video of this episode. It'll be up on not only on our show notes, but on our YouTube channel as well. Just curious, before we head back for just you and I chatting, where would I find the recordings that your executive would be producing?

SPEAKER_03 33:54

So those are right in the center. They're called Out and About, I think that. Hmm. Or maybe it's not. If you want to scroll down to the bottom.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

And uh yeah, we do have an, I believe, have them embedded somewhere in our website. But yeah, YouTube is probably quickest if you want to.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Okay, so we're gonna provide all the backlinks in our show notes to these. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

And I also will point out too, under the Avow, okay. I guess you can kind of see it on that homepage too, but we have a blog as well where there's a lot of great written content too, like fall color. Yeah, you can French thoughts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

So I like that stuff too. And see, let's do the five five places to experience fall colors in Janesville. All right. Look at that. Oi, Rock River Heritage County Park.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

That's our newest county park.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

I love it.

unknown 35:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

It looks like there's some good accessibility aspects to the to the park itself.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

Absolutely. Yeah, this one's Palmer Park specifically, and it's the home of Camden Playground, which was actually when it was first built, like I think like 30 years ago, it was like one of the first and largest accessible playgrounds in the world. So it really like kind of like wrote the book for a lot of playgrounds that came after. But the playground itself is wheelchair accessible. There's a wheelchair accessible merry-go-round and swings, which is really fun.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

Okay. Very nice. Yeah. Got a question. Is there rock climbing in your area?

SPEAKER_03 35:43

That's a good question. I personally have not heard or seen of anyone rock climbing.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Yeah. I remember when I was when I first moved to Chicago, a friend of mine, he and I drove up, I'm pretty sure was into Wisconsin, and there was some rock climbing. And the only reason I'm asking this wonderful picture, but I'm seeing the rock face here. It's like there's like these little climbing paths, literally up the sides of the hill. Maybe there's another area in Wisconsin that I know it was a couple hour drive, but that's very cute.

SPEAKER_03 36:19

Yeah. I know, like, yeah, yeah, there are definitely other spots in Wisconsin for rock climbing for sure.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

So all right, excellent. Well, let's go back. Just you and I. Thank you for taking us on this tour. I'm gonna stop sharing. We are back. And so I am curious. It since you have how long have you been in your role? Just curious, curious.

SPEAKER_03 36:39

Yeah, I just celebrated four years.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Four years. What's been your what I would call your aha moment? Like, wow, I get to do this.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

Oh my gosh. I I would say that managing like our social media channels, I kind of get like instant feedback from people who are like who have visited Janesville for the first time or are planning to visit Janesville for the first time because of a post of ours that they've seen. So I think that like the aha moments for me are like when I like post a video on TikTok of a local restaurant or a locally owned shop, and people are like like tagging other people and like we need to go here, we need to check it out. Like, this is so cool. I had no idea this existed. Those are like my very frequent aha moments. Like the work that we're doing has like actual impact, and like we're helping create memories for people who come to our area and and hopefully like future plans to come back too.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

So I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 37:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

And what would you want to leave in terms of an insight? Could be a favorite book, a quote, or a reason like here's why you need to consider Janesville.

SPEAKER_03 38:01

Oh, that's a good question. I would say, like I think our community just has so much to offer. And I kind of going back to like the social media side of things, I like I love people's surprise and like when visiting Janesville for the first time. Cause I think like the best way to describe Janesville is like unexpected. Like as a midside city in Wisconsin, our outdoor recreation and all of our parks and trail system is just it's incredible. So yeah, I would say yeah, just like planning a weekend to come and explore everything that the community has to offer. It's very it's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

So it seems to me that Jane's uh Janesville is very much a a long is a kind of like a long weekend destination. So if you're within that geographic area where you're attracting from, it's definitely a perfect getaway, and especially because you are an all-season destination. Like I can I kind of kick myself in the butt because it's I needed to get out of my house.

SPEAKER_03 39:12

We'll have to plan another trip for you to come see. Oh but yeah, I mean, like through my job and like doing the content creator and influencer program, like trying to plan a two-day itinerary is hard. Like, there's so much I want to cram in, even in this podcast interview. I still feel like I've so much that I want to like share and talk about, but there's just not enough time in the day.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

That just means we have to do more.

SPEAKER_03 39:38

So I'm creative.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

I love it. I love it. Just as a reminder for our guests to this episode, where are the best places to learn about Janesville?

SPEAKER_03 39:50

Oh, I would say our social media channels, we are on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Our website is obviously another great resource that we went through. And then our office is also open. We're located right downtown, so super easy to find and then get to exploring afterwards. But we love when people stop in, call, email us. We have a contact link on our website too, if anyone has any questions.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

Excellent, excellent. Katie, thank you so much for joining us today on the outdoor adventure series. And it's a pleasure to see you in uh in Madison and have a conversation, chat. And sounds like you had a great pre-tour. And I I know I'm sure our members enjoyed it. And uh, we'll figure out a way to get some photos for uh not only for our banners, but our show notes, and then see if I can get some photos from them and we'll include those in our show notes. But again, thank you for your time and helping to support our conference and again helping to support this podcast by being our guest.

SPEAKER_03 40:58

Oh my gosh. I'm so happy to join you, and it was so great, so great chatting with you.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

All right. Listen, stay in the line. We're gonna do a quick close and you and I can have a final chat. Okay. Sounds great. All right, folks. We have just been chatting with Katie Tranell. She is the PR expert, director of digital strategy public relations for the Janesville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. They were actively involved in the OWAA's recent annual conference in Madison as we kick off our 100th anniversary. They hosted a pre-tour for us. And then really just having their presence really made this a very special event. And I'm very grateful to have been working with Destination Madison and Travel Wisconsin to get you know guests like Katie and representing this wonderful destination of Janesville, Wisconsin here on the Outdoor Adventure Series podcast. I tell you, every episode that I have recorded with a Wisconsin destination is kind of making me add to my list of next places to live because I could see doing it. I think about winter, but I think I could live, I could definitely live in Janesville. They've got some great outdoor activities, some great history and culture, great food. And actually, as Katie was sharing, some great coffee, which and farmer's market, which is definitely one of my top two things that I look for when it comes to making a new location my destination. Now, listen, we are going to provide all the backlinks that Katie shared and the website, the social sites up on our show notes. And we will definitely uh have this episode up very pretty quickly. So hopefully you'll start making your planning for visiting Janesville either this fall or coming into the winter and holiday season. And again, we'd like to thank Travel Wisconsin and Destination Madison for helping to facilitate these interviews. As for us, you can find this episode on our website, outdooradventureseries.com. We're also on Facebook and LinkedIn on our Outdoor Adventure Series pages. The video of this episode will be up on our YouTube channel, Outdoor Adventure Series. And of course, if you're commuting from Iowa, Minnesota, Chicago, and you're in the car making the drive, this couple hour drive, just listen to this episode wherever you get your podcast from. We are everywhere. Okay, folks, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, go out there, have a fantastic day. And we look forward to having you join us on a future episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series podcast. Take care now.