[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Welcome to the Buzz, a podcast by Boone Electra Cooperative. The Buzz is a monthly message to our community celebrating what it means to be a member owner of your local electric cooperative, Boone Electric Cooperative, your co op, our community.
[00:00:26] Speaker C: Welcome back to the Buzz, Zach. I'm Zach Smith, communications specialist here at Boone Electric Cooperative. This month marks the return of one of the cooperative's newest and most popular events, Night at the Movies. Join Boone Electric cooperative on Thursday, April 24 for some family fun at Lakeside Ashland. It's a free member appreciation event where you can come chat with BEC employees and directors about the cooperative, our services and programs, ask questions, enjoy the bounce house, play the trivia game for some cool prizes and and of course enjoy some popcorn and soda on us while we play Monsters Inc. Members can register for the free event online at boonelectric Co Op. Look under the member benefits tab and member events to register. Joining us today is Lakeside Ashland's director of events, Megan Hodges. Megan, welcome to the show.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you for having me excited to be here.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: If there are people out there who haven't been to Lakeside Ashland yet, I'm sure if they live around here, they've at least seen it while they're driving down 63. How do you describe it to people when you're out in the community or organizing these events?
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's a great question, Zach. So Lakeside Ashland is an outdoor amphitheater and event venue space where people can come together and enjoy whatever they want to do outdoors. We absolutely. From 63 you can see our 70 foot wide LED video wall giant. It's huge. The sound is great. Nick Parks is the owner and mastermind behind Lakeside Ashland and he created this vision during COVID when people were kind of stuck in the house and he was like, I need something in the community where people can just enjoy being outside doing something like having the space. He envisioned this, this idea for a pop up amphitheater and he was like, well, I want like a modern approach to like the old school driving because everybody loves the old school. So he envisioned it and then he did that. He, that that's what he did. That's what he wanted to provide to his community was this place for people to gather, feel safe and feel excited for going back outdoors. So that's always my favorite to share because Covid was such a time when we needed things like that to happen and to see the vision come to fruition is something extraordinary that I just, I love being a part of. People can sit in the lawn, they can bring Their lawn chairs, their blankets. We've even seen hammock and air mattresses out there just so people can have that movie. Um, but then we do have some guests too that choose to sit in their cars. We have that radio station so you get that traditional drive in movie feel. But it's an opportunity for, for you to envision an outdoor event and, and for that event to come to become a reality. So Lakeside Ashland I think can be described as whatever you want it to be. It's an opportunity to get together, to gather people and to really just have a great time.
[00:03:21] Speaker C: What else do you guys have out there?
[00:03:23] Speaker A: So Lakeside is always growing and developing. We've got a 10 that we're working on and sometimes things just pop up. Our newest addition last year was the zipline and the beach sand volleyball court. So now we have sand volleyball out there. We've got a playground for the kids, we've got a zip line. It's a seated zipline ride that takes you all the way across the lake and back. And people really love that.
And we've always got new things that are coming. But as you mentioned our schedule, we try to show movies weekly. So Friday nights, some Saturday nights, that's our top movie night from April to we end our season in November. So we've got movies pretty much every weekend. And you can always see our upcoming events, whether they're community community movie nights or community events or concerts, anything like that by going to our
[email protected] we do a lot of corporate and private events, but some of those public events, we've had a food festival out there. We've had, you know, grand opening concerts, we've had music festivals, philanthropy events. Battle of the Bands was hosted by the Flourish initiative last October. We've had the first responder support group come in and they, they sponsored a free movie for first responders and their family. So there's a lot of different types. We can do graduation parties, we can do corporate events, we can do business meetings. We've, we've seen your group actually last year did Kahoot on the big screen. We had the National Corvette Caravan come out there and they did like a, at their annual meeting on their way to, I think it was Kentucky for the convention. But they went out there and they had a big dinner. They had catered in big daddies. We worked with them and they just, they set up a giant buffet and they had their annual meeting on our giant 70 foot wide LED video wall. So the opportunities are endless and we like to Say like if you dream it, we can do it. Or at least we'll give everything we've got to make it happen.
So it's. Yeah, the opportunities are endless.
It's really becoming more possibilities, I think.
[00:05:33] Speaker C: Well, you have a lot set up out there. I mean, you mentioned the new stuff, like the zipline. I didn't know about the volleyball court. That's awesome. There's a lot there, I guess, is what I'm trying to say.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: We used to call it a restaurant, but it's not really a restaurant. It is our concessions area. But it does have those indoor bathrooms, facilities as well. And then up top, we always refer to that as the VIP area.
Seats up to 150, I believe. But there's like lounge seating, patio seating. There's a private bar upstairs, so groups are welcome to come up there. And whether it's a sponsorship or even just a private event, we have a nice catering buffet line where, where they can set up catering of their choosing. But that's like a really nice viewing deck. We like to open it up occasionally, especially in the summer, because the view up there, you can kind of see the whole property and it's. It's beautiful and you can see the screen, you can hear the mov.
It's a unique place to just kind of relax and enjoy the outdoors.
[00:06:32] Speaker C: So yeah, we went up there to try and get some photos of the crowd and the screen and everything at the lake. And it's a really nice spot if anybody listening ever goes there. I highly recommend you at least go up to that viewing deck area at least once. Cause it's neat. Do you have anything new coming up this year that's new to the area or new to the venue?
[00:06:51] Speaker A: Yeah, we're working on a couple more community events. I'd be on the lookout for concerts, moving movies, were they've just released some of the newer movies. So Moana 2, Wicked, Mufasa, all those are coming out and we're prepared to show those this movie season.
[00:07:07] Speaker C: You all have a calendar on there of what's going to be playing. So people are looking for something to do on a weekend. There's always something going on, it seems like.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: Yes, always. Every weekend if we don't have. If we're not booked for an event, we're going to be having a movie. That's unless the rain cancels us. But on that point, make sure that you're following us on Facebook at Lakeside Ashland, because that's where we're going to post the most up to date. If a movie gets postponed because of weather, the ticket buyers who bought in advance are actually, they're going to be able to get emailed. But for anybody that was just looking for, hey, I'd like to go see a show tonight. Facebook's going to be the most up to date with. It's, it's postponed, it's on. It's, here's what's upcoming, here's where you can buy your tickets, things like that that link directly back to our website as well.
[00:07:55] Speaker C: Other things to remember, definitely if you're planning on sitting in that kind of lawn area, bring your own lawn chair. Or if you're up to the TAs, setting up a hammock or something. You said you guys have seen those before. And there were actually, I noticed a lot of people last year at this were watching from their car, probably using the radio frequency to listen to it like it was an old drive in.
[00:08:14] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And that's the thing that the sound is so good to where even if you don't log into the radio station, we have 400 and I want to say 430 parking spots. And from that back row you can still hear the screen. So it's like sound is not something you have to worry about. But we see people, the front two rows are typically where people stay in their car the most. And we see lots of pickup trucks sitting in the back. That typical drive in experience. But yes, in the lawn, bring your blankets, bring your, bring your lawn chairs, bring whatever you want to sit on to have the best experience there.
[00:08:50] Speaker C: So what kind of response have you seen from people who go there that have never been to that kind of a sort of drive in movie, outdoor entertainment atmosphere before?
[00:09:00] Speaker A: The biggest response is I had no idea this was here. I just saw that light up thing on how long has this been here? And we're actually on year. Let's see, we had soft openings in September of 22, so we've had three full seasons and then a little baby half season. But people are still surprised that, that we've. Well, how long has this been here? That's the biggest reaction that I get. But we consistently are seeing a positive experience like, wow, there's so much to do. We needed this. Why do, why do more people not know about this? Like, and that's the reaction that we want to have is because we're, we're trying to create a space where people can, can mingle and can just enjoy the outdoors. Definitely. My. I recommend everyone going out there because the reason I do it is to see the smiles on people's faces and, and seeing people come together and enjoy just being around others. That's, that's the memories that last a lifetime. And that's why Lakeside Ashland is there.
[00:09:59] Speaker C: For our first go around with something like this. We had a great turnout last year. It was 400 something. I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head when we played Moana and I didn't see a single person not smiling the entire time we were there. So if you're listening to this and you haven't been to a movie or another event there yet, you're missing out and you should definitely go. And if you're a Boone Electric Cooperative member, we hope you'll come join us again. Night at the movies. It's Thursday, April 24th. The gates open I believe at 4:30 and we're gonna start Monst Inc. Around 6. You do need to register so you can get your token for the popcorn and soda. But if you have any questions, please call us here at the Cooperative 573-449-4181 or you can visit us online to register. And that's boonelectric Co Op. Megan, thank you for being here.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: Thank you for having me. It's been awesome.
[00:10:43] Speaker C: We'll see you again here in a couple weeks. And thank you for joining us on the Buzz. Be sure to stop back in next month and until then, we'll see you somewhere down the line, hopefully at the movies.
[00:10:53] Speaker B: Thank you for tuning in to the Buzz, a podcast by Boone Electric Cooperative. To subscribe or for more information, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram X and LinkedIn. And of course you can always visit us 24
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