Living & Serving Hilton Head: A Local Leader’s Perspective with Cinda Seamon

This episode of Real Talk Hilton Head with David & Dale Cross features Cinda Seamon, a true community leader wearing two hats:

 * 🎭 Chairman of the Board at Mainstage Community Theater – shaping Hilton Head’s arts scene with powerful productions and opportunities for all ages.
 

*🚒 Community Risk Reduction Officer at Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue – leading programs that keep families safe, from car seat checks to fall prevention and fire safety education.

We dive into:

• The impact of community theater on kids, families, and adults
• How creativity builds confidence and connection
• Behind-the-scenes of casting, costumes, and rehearsals
• Partnering with nonprofits to give back through shows
• Fire safety tips that could save your home and family
• Common car seat mistakes (and how to fix them)
• Holiday hazards, fire escape plans, and life-saving lessons
• Cinda’s favorite Lowcountry restaurants, traditions, and lifestyle highlights

Whether you’re raising a family, enjoying retirement, or exploring Hilton Head for the first time, this episode is packed with inspiration, practical tips, and a deeper look into what makes this community so special.

👉 Subscribe for more stories about the people, places, and lifestyle of Coastal Carolina!

Chapters

• 1:00 Meet Cinda Seamon: Fire & Theater Leader
• 3:00 Moving to Hilton Head & Early Days
• 5:00 Mainstage Community Theater: Mission & Impact
• 8:00 Unlocking Creativity & Building Confidence
• 11:00 Auditions, Casting & The Power of the Arts
• 15:00 Behind the Scenes: Costumes, Sets & Rehearsals
• 20:00 Why People Join Theater: Passion vs. Stepping Stones
• 27:00 Hilton Head’s Arts Scene & Community Support
• 32:00 Volunteering & Ways to Get Involved
• 40:00 Fire & Rescue: Community Risk Reduction
• 44:00 Home Safety Lessons & Everyday Fire Risks
• 53:00 Car Seat Safety & Common Mistakes
• 58:00 Cooking Fires, Holiday Hazards & Safety Tips
• 1:05:00 Family Fire Escape Plans & Kids’ Safety Songs
• 1:09:00 Life in Hilton Head: Beyond Beaches & Golf
• 1:13:00 Favorite Restaurants, Traditions & Community Life
• 1:20:00 Firehouse Christmas Lights & Santa Mail Tradition
• 1:20:00 Closing Thoughts & How to Get Involved

Transcript

 elcome to Real Talk Hilton Head with David and Dale Cross, the real estate lifestyle podcast of Coastal Carolina. 0:07 Join us as we share stories from our community, insight into the local lifestyle, and the real scoop on real 0:13 estate. From market trends to home design, we dive deep into what it means to live and 0:18 thrive here. Discover the state of mind and philosophy of the Low Country that enriches life through personal growth, 0:25 health, and wellness, and human connection. Whether you're a local or thinking of becoming one, we're here to 0:31 guide you through the ins and outs of living this coastal escape. Tune in, relax, and enjoy the 0:37 conversation with Real Talk Hilton Head, the podcast of Coastal Carolina. This 0:44 episode is brought to you by the David Dale team powered by EXP Realy in Hilton 0:49 Head. Welcome to Real Talk Hilton Head, the real estate and lifestyle podcast of Coastal Carolina. And in today's 0:55 episode, it's all about the people who keep this community both safe and inspired. 1:01 Our guest today is someone who wears two very important hats here in the Low Country. She is the chairman of the 1:08 board at Mainstage Community Theater, where she helps shape Hilton Head's local art scene and and bringing 1:15 powerful professional quality productions to our coastal stage. Awesome. But that's not all she does. 1:21 She also serves as the community risk reduction officer with the Hilton Head Island Fire and Rescue where she leads 1:27 programs to help everyone from new moms installing car seats to seniors learning 1:32 how to prevent falls and house fires to live safer, healthier lives. In this episode, we talk about 1:39 creativity, leadership, and community safety, and what it means to serve in a 1:44 place you love through the arts and actions. So whether you're raising a family in Bluton or Hilton Head or 1:50 enjoying your best years on the Hilton Head Island, this conversation will give you tools, stories, and a perspective 1:56 and how to plug into the community and protect what matters. Let's get into it. Here's our 2:01 conversation with Cinda Seimon. Well, welcome to the show, Cinda. Thanks for having me. Oh, 2:07 it's our pleasure. We're Thank you so much for coming on. We're super excited to to chat to you. You 2:12 agree. So, not only about what you do, but about the amazing accomplishments. This lady has accomplished a lot on this 2:19 island in the time that you've been here. So, you definitely an amazing local. So, I'm glad that you were able 2:25 to come on. Thank you. Good. Why don't you go ahead and just um start telling us about yourself and how 2:31 you ended up here on Hilton Head? Well, I was a school teacher in Michigan and I taught music. Okay. 2:36 And at that time, that's when art and music were being cut to part-time. So, I said, "Well, let me come down here." Uh 2:41 my parents had a condo. Let's see what's happening. Got a job right away. Really? Got a job as 2:46 How old were you then? Were you 20s? Okay. Wow. Uh and I got a job offer in Bufort and I 2:53 said, "I don't know. That's kind of far. Let me see what else comes up." Worked for the Island Packet for a little while. Another teaching job came up. I 2:59 went ahead and took that. Okay. So, I started by teaching in Bufort for a little while. Then some other things transitioned and jobs changed and all of 3:06 that. So, um but yeah, it's been probably around 35 years I've been here. So that was in the mid 90sish then 3:13 somewhere around there. Yeah. So what was the island like back then? Small and really nice. Everyone knew 3:18 everyone. There were just a few places to go. Okay. You know, not many grocery stores, not many clubs or night life, but it was 3:25 great because we all knew each other. It was small. It was really nice. Was there a lot of young people then back then? So you had a good group. 3:30 My age. I It seemed like I felt like everyone was my age then. I just knew a lot of people. A lot of people that 3:35 worked at the Island Packet were young. So uh yeah, it was great. It was really fun. That's pretty wild actually. You know, 3:41 because I I often think now was So 278 wasn't there then, right? Yes, it was. Oh, was it? Okay. 3:46 Wasn't quite that. No, I meant like out to Bluff out Bluff. Okay. Okay. So, it went all the way out 3:52 to 170. Oh, that was there then. Okay. I thought Okay, good. So, so the other thing is what so arts and 3:59 and history uh I'm sorry, uh your history with the arts. So, have you been always music? Is that primarily? 4:04 I was always I was a music major. I did my undergraduate work, my graduate work in music, voice major, piano minor with 4:11 education as the focus. Okay. So that's why I was a school teacher and I taught music. So that really falls into the 4:16 arts, especially with musical theater, you know, very well tied in. So and you're very involved with the 4:21 theater here on the island, the main street theater. Mainage mainstage community theater. 4:27 I apologize. Yeah. And that's really what we're here to talk about. So why don't we dig in? What is it? How did you get involved? What do 4:34 you do there? you know, explain that to the folks out there. So, Mainstage Community Theater is true 4:39 community theater. You know, no one is paid. Okay. Uh the board is no one is paid on the board. We do have to pay our creative 4:45 team of course that direct and choreograph and do musical direction. But, uh someone had asked me year just 4:50 years ago if I wanted to be on the board. I was doing a lot of volunteer work. I always have done a lot of volunteer work. That comes from my 4:56 parents. They were, you know, junior league hospital boards. It's just a it's just in my DNA to do volunteer work. 5:03 I I love to know that I'm maybe making a difference for someone. I do Rape 5:08 Crisis. I do pockets full of sunshine. I do um Hilton Head Leadership. I do a lot of different things. So, 5:13 and that's why I say at the beginning of the show, you deeply woven into this. We're going to get to all that. We might 5:19 need multiple episodes. But anyway, so someone said and I thought about I said, "I'm doing a lot, 5:24 but let me think." And I thought and I thought, "Yeah, that would be really different and fun." researched main it was Main Street youth theater at the 5:30 time and I researched it and they had a good reputation and were doing some great things for kids and I thought yeah let me try this so I got on it was great 5:37 loved it Sherry Strinsky and her husband Gary were the chair she was the chairman and he was the right-hand man and they 5:44 so strong did a great job devoted everything to the theater and for some reason I ended up next in line you know 5:50 that vice chair spot and I thought eventually they'll leave but not for a while until they said we're leaving 5:56 we're retiring and and and there I was in the chairman. I said, "Oh, I'm so not ready for this." But I had strong board 6:02 members and I had people that had it was their passion and they were dedicated and I knew we'd be okay. 6:08 Oh. So, what exactly does the board do then? What is their role? Well, we do everything actually because we're a very hands-on working board. Um, 6:15 you know, we when we decide on it, we have to decide on the shows. We have to pick the directors. We have to pick the creative team. We make up the rules, so 6:22 to speak. you know, how what guidelines are we going to follow as far as um doing background checks on any adults 6:28 that are in shows and you know, for the safety and protection of the kids and making it a safe environment. What what 6:34 sort of culture do we want to create here? So, we decide that we have to obtain rights for shows. We have to 6:39 okay, what are we going to do for concessions? How much do we charge for tickets? All of those little things that you take for granted when you go to a 6:45 theater, we make the decisions about. If something's not working, then we have to look at it and go, why didn't that work? 6:51 If there's disciplinary problems in a show, ultimately we may have to make a decision regarding that. We decide who 6:57 gets scholarships. U we have to vote on, you know, when someone applies for a scholarship, things like that because we 7:02 don't ever want anyone to be turned away because of their talent. So we have a very generous scholarship fund that was 7:09 given to us and we make sure that kids are always able to be involved with us. So I don't we never want someone to say 7:15 I just can't afford the production fee, okay? Or anything like that. So, we really we recognize talent and we want to nurture 7:21 that. So, so yeah. Wow. Okay. So, first of all, sounds like a full-time job. Yeah. It's a full-time job. 7:30 That's why when anyone comes on our board, I say it's a working board and you have to take a job. Yeah. You know, whether you're going to run 7:35 the background checks or you're going to run the box office or you're going to be in charge of this, but find your niche and everybody's got to do work. You have 7:41 to do work. That's that's the bottom line. Okay. So I'm fascinated because you're talking to somebody who has no idea like 7:48 I I wasn't raised going to the theater. It was never really part of my life but I'm you wish you had 7:53 actually you know he has when we had spoken to you initially before the show I looked at him and I said I think you found your 7:59 calling because he's so animated and very no it's a good thing he's very 8:05 animated and he loves to act and especially be silly with us and I'm like 8:10 that's perfect for you. That's a great place to that's different at home versus in front of a room full of people, right? Who 8:16 paid to see it. And funny thing because just the opposite, someone who's very quiet at home may enter the stage and we see this 8:24 whole new person, right? Because I've had some kids where the mom has come to me and said, "Oh my gosh, you this is just so great. He's so quiet 8:30 at home." I thought, "You're kidding me. That's not the They're so great on stage and they're so 8:36 out there and animated and so fun." And so sometimes just the opposite is what we're looking for. 8:41 Just unlocks that. It does. It unlocks that creativity. You know, that's what the arts does for kids. Uh it it uh stimulates creativity 8:49 and builds it's team building. It's building confidence for sure. Yeah. When they get up on a stage and realize 8:55 what they're capable of. Yeah. It makes for a well-rounded kid is going to make for a well-rounded adult. 9:01 And that's what that the they should have now an appreciation for the arts and what goes into it. um you know, we 9:07 have so many great uh art um possibilities around here. So, they have 9:12 a greater appreciation of the arts and it really helps to make a well-rounded adult. Wow. Yeah. It's so funny because what I find 9:18 fascinating because I I do I I I just love uh studying uh human development and and what they're finding 9:26 at a quantum physics level, you know, that that um they say the imagination of a human 9:33 literally creates your life. It's sort of like where the screen of your life is 9:38 whatever starts on the inside. And I find I just think about arts and imagination. If you can unlock that 9:45 inside of because that's usually where the struggle is for a person like having a vision for the future and being able 9:51 to imagine something better or something different. And I I could do this, I could be this. 9:56 Yeah. Exactly. Or having to put on a character and say, "What would this character feel like?" Or how would they express that? Or what would they do? And 10:03 I think the more I look into it, the more I think, oh my gosh, like that's always the first thing that's cut and it's probably the most important thing 10:09 to unlock the human potential. Would you say that? Right. Oh, I think people just don't realize. And it it builds discipline and 10:16 lots of things you don't realize that go into when you're putting a show together, when you're working together to create a production with a bunch of 10:23 people you probably don't even know or maybe know. When we did High School Musical, we represented five different 10:28 high schools. We had kids from five different high schools. We don't take everyone. It's by audition and you really have to be the 10:34 best. So, you're going to meet super talented people from everywhere. We've had people come from Savannah and Bufort 10:41 and homeschool and high schools and middle schools and we do all ages depending on the show. So, it's really 10:46 an opportunity for kids to develop relationships with people they don't know and have to work with different 10:52 directors and different creative teams. So they're they're challenged to do problem solving, conflict resolution, 10:59 all kinds of things that you wouldn't put together with the arts necessarily. Yeah. So so that's okay because you know 11:05 I probably should have done a little more research. So the the main focus is then is is children and getting them 11:11 involved. Is that what you're Well, we are Yes. probably our one of our main focuses are youth. Okay. But we 11:18 are a true community theater where we we've had some adult shows like I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, Odd 11:25 Couple. We're doing Death Trap in the fall. Those are going to be more adults in those. And we did Jack and Hyde. We 11:30 didn't let anyone under 14 audition because the content was pretty heavy. Okay. But we did Shrek the musical. Come 11:37 on, sixy olds if you want. 81 year olds if you want, you know? So, uh, we it it 11:42 really just depends. But we started off as a youth focus. But this in Shrek, we actually had a mother, father, and 11:48 daughter in the show, which is so cool. I love that. It's a It provides a great dynamic and and adults are very good 11:55 mentors for the kids. Yeah, absolutely. So, it's um Yeah, we're it's true community theater. 12:01 Are you thinking about making a move to the Low Country? Whether you're searching for the perfect home or you're exploring vibrant 12:07 communities on the coast or dreaming of a new lifestyle, we're here to help. Contact the David Dale team today and 12:14 let's make your dream a reality. So, are these people are these like if 12:19 somebody's out there right now and say they watch this podcast or listen to this and they're like they hear some can 12:25 is do they have are they people who do it all the time or is not necessarily we had a lot of new talent in Shrek. Really? We have a lot 12:31 of returning people. But I was surprised. I thought, "Wow, there's a lot of people in Shrek I don't know." And the talent is just amazing. I'm 12:37 like, "Where did they come from? Where did that person come from?" It's it's really surprising and I we love that. We 12:42 love and because sometimes not every show is everyone's thing or oh gee I'm going to soccer camp I can't do the 12:48 summer show. So it's different reasons. It's not that they don't like us or want to be in the show but it just depends 12:53 what their schedule is if it's a show. Some people are like I got to be in Lion King Jr. That is my show. I'm going to 12:59 be I really want to be in it. Okay. So everyone's different and like I said we have all ages. We've had people in 13:04 their 80s. We've had six year olds. Oh my gosh. But you do have to bring your talent, I will say. 13:10 Okay. Yeah. So they they've likely done this before then or at some point in their life. Some people have a natural talent. We 13:16 had one guy that just started like like in Jackal and Heidi. We had a very small part and we thought, look at the 13:22 potential there. And sure enough, he got the lead in Shrek. He was Shrek. Wow. Yeah. So he just it was like it was all 13:28 inside him. Don't ask me where it been hiding, but he just was had a natural talent. So you can see it like you have 13:35 the that's one of the things we try to see do is see it. We try to see the potential in people if 13:40 maybe the audition didn't go that well but we know the potential's there. I mean you do have to be good when you bring it but 13:47 sometimes we know the nerves can get them or something and we we see I think 13:52 there's potential there. I think I see something. So we do try to look for that because we want to build our next 13:58 generation of actors too. Yeah. So sometimes we we'll we'll take a chance. We'll take a chance on someone. 14:04 Well, let's talk about that audition process. So, where would someone go to see the shows? Do you post anywhere? 14:10 We do. Our Facebook page and our website mainst mainstage communitytheater.org. 14:15 Okay. And just watch for the next it'll say here are the auditions. We're looking for ages such and such. You'll need to 14:21 sing 16 bars from the show. You'll need to read this. They they might even close attachments where things you can study 14:27 beforehand. Uh dance auditions will be that same night at 8 o'clock. Plan on staying. And then the choreography will 14:33 teach a little little routine just to see how people do to see if they've got some ability to learn a dance number. So 14:40 everyone is every show is different like I said, but we'll give as much information as we can. So people don't 14:45 walk in and go, "Okay, what am I supposed to do?" Okay. Yeah. They come in knowing what song they're going to sing. They know if 14:51 they're going to read. They know what parts are available. Wow. And that should help with the nerves 14:56 because they're already prepared. Mhm. So when they people come, how many people do you expect in audition? I know 15:03 it's probably shows specific. It's different. When we did Wizard of Oz, we had 51 people show up. 15:09 Is that a lot? Is that a lot? That was a lot because only about 30 walked away with parts. Okay. 15:15 Now, for Shrek, we had more like 35. Well, no, probably more than that. Closer over a little over 40. We took 15:22 about 32 for that show. Okay. It really depends on the show. So, we just can't take everyone, but Wizard of Oz was 15:29 pretty huge. We just had a lot of people because there was so many parts and but again, there there are parts that we 15:34 fill. It's not we don't just throw a bunch of people in, you know, we we know what we're looking for ahead of time. 15:40 Do they register ahead of time? Okay. They don't just show up. Okay. They can We've had walkups and there's 15:45 that I I just came and we're like, "Great, come on in." Okay. We want to see what you got. Come on in. But we like ahead of time because we get 15:51 all their information and we can put them in a lineup and they know what they're supposed to do. So, but sure, we've had some walk-ups. We're we're 15:57 happy to let anyone come in and audition. The experience of auditioning is really important in itself. 16:03 It's a great experience for a kid to go through. In what way? Elaborate on that. 16:08 Well, because it, you know, you have to go in and all of a sudden mom has to sit out here. You're going in by yourself. Yeah. 16:14 And to just and and to have that freedom to show what you have. You don't have to worry about parents watching you. We have a private little team. Very nice. 16:20 Our creative teams are always really nice and understanding with kids. You can start over. Don't be nervous. And it 16:26 just when that kid walks out and thinks, I just did that audition myself. That's got to be a great feeling. 16:33 Yeah, that confidence. One of those confidence builders. Yeah, that's pretty neat. I would love to see one of those actually. Are they 16:39 ever open to the public? No, never. Yeah, but I've gone in on a couple before and it is really great. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So you're not there 16:46 for us. So that that's the who's picking them. The creative team, that's our, you know, choreographer, our music director, our 16:52 stage manager, our director. Those are the people because they're the ones that can kind of and then they have a little pow-wow after and say, "Do we 16:58 picture these?" And a lot is based on chemistry or looks. When we did Sound of Music, you can't have Gretle, the little 17:04 one, you know, eight feet taller than the oldest kid. Sometimes it has to be a physical match. Does it go? Yeah. Um, 17:11 how does the how's the chemistry between the captain of Sound of Music and Maria? 17:18 You know, you have to see if things go together. So, sometimes someone's really good, but that it just doesn't work the 17:24 way we thought and we might not be able to use someone. So, a lot of times the people are good, it just the show 17:29 doesn't work. Yeah. It just depends a lot of times on that. Yeah. Wow. That's interesting. It is interesting. So, I was going to 17:35 ask you, so then once you have the auditions, how long is it until they know whether they have the part? 17:40 Within about two days. We don't make people wait. No, we pretty much know because what we typically do 17:46 is audition and the following Monday is the cast. They come for their first read through. Wow. 17:51 So, we do Yeah, there's just no point. We we we're going to know. Yeah, we there's just no point in What is their time? So, earlier you'd 17:57 mentioned So, are they actually paying to be a part of the production? Yes, they have a production fee, which 18:02 is pretty common. any dance show you're in and gymnastics show because we do have to try to defay some of the cost 18:08 for the production team. It's ours is very reasonable. It includes four comp tickets. Okay. It includes a t-shirt 18:15 and some costumeuming and we may provide some costumeuming for them. Okay. So really it it comes out about even or 18:22 they probably come out a little bit of a heads but it just helps us defay those costs because we do all the set and the costumes and all of that. We might ask 18:29 them buy a pair of black leotards or something very basic or do you have black pants or something like that. But 18:34 when we get, you know, Shrek had all the gingerbread man and the wolf and the Humpty Dumpty and all. 18:40 Yeah. There were a lot of uh little specialty costumes. So, you guys make all those on site? 18:47 We order Well, we order some. Then we have a really good costumeumer and she can, you know, she can get creative with 18:52 some basic pieces. Yeah. Amazon is good for a lot of a lot of things that match and go together. If we have, you know, 18:58 Twiddle de Twiddle dumb, we could easily put that together. We had the rats and the three blind mice and, you know, 19:05 matching costumes. So, that works. But she's good at altering and uh, you know, finding things on Amazon 19:11 or even Goodwill, that kind of thing. We'll go searching. So, it depends again on the show. And sometimes we won't pick 19:16 a show if the costumeuming is particularly difficult. Okay. It could get expensive. 19:23 Are you thinking of selling your home? With our exclusive Elevate package, we combine over 50 years of experience, 19:30 cuttingedge data analytics, our unique marketing strategies, and our extensive 19:35 network to help your home rise above the rest while maximizing your sales price and 19:41 minimizing the time on the market. So, contact the David Dale team today to 19:46 learn more. [Music] I I was going to ask you, too. So, so 19:51 going back to the their commitment. So, they got the financial commitment. What's their time commitment? That's what I was going to ask. 19:57 Six about six weeks. Six weeks. And within that six weeks, how often are they? Probably start with like a Monday 20:02 through Thursday. Okay. Kind of a 6 to 8, 5 to 8 kind of time frame. Now, if you're not in the first 20:07 scene, don't come. Okay. Okay. Or you're a lead, you're going to come more often. Okay. Or you're just in 20:13 the dance ensembles. Dance night is Wednesday, let's say. So, you're going to come on Wednesday at the beginning. 20:18 When we get into tech week, that two weeks before the show is going to be pretty heavy with everyone, but in the 20:24 beginning, you may not come every night. Okay. Just depends what role you have. And then it will gradually build up build up and then we'll start adding a 20:30 couple weekends and it gets intense right before we open. So, do you guys do a full run through right before it opens like rehearsal? 20:37 We do a dress rehearsal, which we call preview night, and that's our comp night. It's only parents, friends, and family. 20:42 Come and see. And honestly, it's as good as any show. They are so ready by then. Yeah. We don't even call it a dress 20:48 rehearsal, although it is. Yeah. It's a preview night and just the parents get to come and their friends. That's where their comp tickets come in 20:54 and it's great. And we don't let parents come to any rehearsals. No exceptions. Okay. Cuz I said when you come and that 21:00 curtain opens for the very first time, you won't even believe that you're what your kid is doing. You want your child. 21:06 You know, I said you've heard the singing in the shower and the practicing in front of the mirror in the bedroom. It's nothing when like when that curtain 21:12 opens and the parents are just amazed. And that's what we want. We want the the cast to own the show. Yeah. 21:17 Whether it's adults or kids, it's their show. Yeah. Nobody's going to tell them how to do anything except the director, the music 21:23 director, the choreographer. Yeah. So, it's really their show. And when they when that curtain opens on preview 21:29 night, it's amazing. That is. That's right. So, I'm trying to get because this is really fascinating to me. I got to admit. Yeah. I'm just 21:35 sort of like this is new to me. So, you're going to be auditioning for our next no. Not fascinating in that way. No. I got 21:42 real estate to do. Call me for real estate. Um, no, because so I'm trying to 21:48 get to the motivation. So, are are are are people doing this out of passion? Are they doing this as a stepping stone 21:53 into something they really want to do? Absolutely. Both. And we had, for example, Bryce Koffield directed Shrek. 22:00 Okay. He played Shrek with us. Okay. Years ago when we were Main Street, 22:05 so and now he's a successful director and does things in with theater in Jacksonville. Got it. Came for the show. 22:11 Um, some of our kids have gone on to do commercials for like Verizon or Walmart 22:18 from here in and they are building a career. Others love it and they go on and they're opening a 22:24 pizza store something completely different but they love it. Yeah. Uh, and you we've got some of our adults 22:31 too. They have full-time jobs but they love theater and they're talented. So we have we have a lot of adults and 22:37 they're working full-time jobs doing something completely different. It was never meant to be their career. They all just do it for the fun of it because 22:44 they love it. So yeah, you'll see both, but some are using it for a stepping stone. And I can't think of a better stepping stone. 22:49 Oh, absolutely. The experience alone is amazing. Um, so let's talk about show week. What 22:55 does that generally look like? How long do you run the show? Two weekends. Two weekends. Normally it's two weekends, like a 23:01 Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Okay. Okay. So, and that's really enough because I will tell you the cast is pretty exhausted. 23:07 Jacqueline Hyde took a lot out of everyone. It's a very it was a very powerful show. And one of the things we 23:13 do with each show is we um partner with a nonprofit. Okay. We we um partnered with NAMI 23:20 Okay. National Alliance for Mental Illness. Okay. Okay. Because suicide, depression, right? 23:26 U murder, you know, um addiction, all of those topics were addressed in 23:32 Jacqueline Hyde. And those are real life issues for people. Especially now, there's a lot of mental health issues. 23:37 Yeah. There's a lot of depression, uh, suicide, there's a lot of things. So, we partnered, they did a little video at 23:43 the beginning of the show. They had brochures to hand out to people. So, if they needed help and this, and then when 23:49 we did Shrek, of course, that was a whole different thing. That was about acceptance because remember all of the characters were like the land of the 23:55 misfit toys. Yes. you know, in living in the swamp and you know, no one liked them and you and they they found out 24:00 that they were special and the whole songs were, you know, um we're different. We're special because we're 24:06 different. Yeah. And we we partnered with the children's center. Oh, wow. So, you know, each what we try to do is 24:11 for each show is to uh you know, partner with a nonprofit that might go with the theme of the show. 24:16 I got it. That's awesome. That's outstanding. Your um theater, how many seats are in your theater? Well, we don't have a theater. That's 24:23 the thing. We don't have a home. Okay. We would love one, but we haven't found one. We do shows at Calgi Theater. We do 24:30 shows at Hilton Head High School and we do shows at Main Street Theater, which is owned by Hilton Head Prep. 24:35 Yeah. So, we kind of bounce around depending what the availability is. I wish we could I wish we had a theater. I wish we 24:42 could build one that we could always have because But we're a lot of us are kind of jumping around. Lean Ensemble 24:47 and some of the other ones. They We're kind of switching around because we don't have a place. So, we we go where 24:52 we can go. So, where do you guys uh practice then? Where do you We usually practice at the ballroom in 24:58 uh Bluffton, Hilton Head Ballroom. Okay. It's kind of a couple doors down from Olive Garden. We have a partnership with 25:04 them because some of us dance there, do ballroom dance on the side. And so, they're very nice about letting us use 25:10 that space. Okay. And we do rehears we'll start rehearsals there and then at some point we get into the theater. I was going to say we have 25:16 to have it so many weeks so we can build our set and do all of that. But we'll do our rehearsals at the ballroom usually. 25:22 for a few weeks. I didn't know you do at the Hilton Head High School. That's pretty cool. We do, but you got to have a big show. 25:28 We did Jack and Hide there. It's a big stage, so it takes big set, big backdrops. It you can do a big show. The 25:34 advantage of it is you can do a big show. You would never want to do a small show there. Okay. Like Calgia is perfect when we do I love 25:41 you, you're perfect, now change the odd couple. Uh some of the death trap will be a smaller show, smaller cast because 25:47 the resources aren't the same. So it works very well. We did always Paty Klein there. So it's a smaller venue and 25:53 it works really well. That's really cool. So how many shows are do you do a year? Three to four. Three to four a year. Okay. 25:59 We always do a junior show which is our 18 and under. Okay. You must be 18 or under to be in that 26:04 show. And there the young kids really own it because they don't sometimes you know when college they're up against college 26:11 kids auditioning that's a little tough. So this one they know no one's going to be over 18. Okay. So we have a little 26:17 younger and I'm telling you they are so good. You would. It's not a kitty show. It's nothing to think like, oh, a junior 26:22 show is a kitty show. Not at all. Lion King was amazing. That we did. Lion King Jr. was amazing. 26:28 I I love that there's such a great resource here on the island. Yeah. I mean, yeah. For because, you 26:34 know, people coming, they tend to think there's nothing here. I know. You know, and especially when it 26:40 comes to arts, you know, and if you're coming from the Northeast primarily, too, you know, that a lot of those 26:45 folks, you know, love the arts and love being involved. So it's good. Exactly. And you know they they're 26:50 they're thinking well I don't play golf. I don't play tennis. They'll go to the people think golf tennis restaurants. 26:56 And they don't realize we have a symphony orchestra. We have a coral society. We have live theater. 27:01 And people like that. People will call us over the summer and say we're coming down. What's the summer blockbuster? What's the show? Yeah. 27:06 But people do want that. They want other things to do. They want things to do at night and they want more than just golf 27:13 and tennis and restaurants or they want it all. They want that and they want the arts as well. She would love to go to 27:19 the theater tonight. What's What do we What's showing? Yeah. Well, which is interesting. So, in the summertime, is that generally your 27:25 biggest biggest tourists that are coming? 2026, we're probably going to do a big 27:30 show in March and the summer. It's just kind of working out that way. But typically, we called our summer 27:35 blockbuster our big show. We've done Sound of Music. We've done, you know, Foot Loose, The Wedding Singer. Oh, wow. Some more um big bigger names that 27:42 people know. Yeah, Foot Loose was a blast. We all want to do it again. Like who doesn't love footless? Like 27:48 that is the best and it just it was a great story line. It was fun and the dance it was dance heavy so it was really fun. High School 27:54 Musical again was a really fun one. Appeals to all ages. Yeah. You know and do you find a lot of local support? 28:01 Oh yeah. So the offseason and you generally what we do is we seek out sponsors. 28:06 Okay. Okay. And uh we've had really we've had some great you know Serge was our sponsor for Shrek. We've had different 28:13 we've had charter one realy be a title sponsor before. So we do look for sponsors because that's another way I 28:19 will tell you in nonprofit theater they call it nonprofit for reason lucky if 28:24 you can make it and break even those costs just ex you know exceed what you bring in ticket-wise. It's just hard. So 28:32 those sponsors are huge and yes we are getting great from the nonprofits that just partner with us. Yeah, but the the 28:38 um groups that give us financial support as well or advertise in our program that's another thing that's helpful to 28:44 us. So yeah no people people seem to love live theater. Yes. Oh absolutely. I mean I think 28:50 that's a primary question that we get when people are are coming here is like where can I go for the arts? 28:56 Well and think about I used to sing in the coral society. They do great concerts. Symphony Orchestra, they're 29:02 awesome. I mean, there are really good um there are really there's good arts here. They're they're thriving here and 29:09 they always need the support. So, uh it's how would somebody if they would they go to the website then 29:16 you What is the website? Our mainstage communitytheater.org and there is a thing that says donate. 29:22 Okay, that's great to support. So, if you're out there and you're passionate about the arts, please look up Mainstage. They're doing amazing 29:28 things here and and even if it's a small donation, anything counts. Yeah. Cuz I I you know what I love the 29:34 most? Just I you know Yeah. You may not break even, but I love that the passion is so real. I can feel it. It has to be 29:42 all of us. That's why we're board members because we don't get paid. We do because we love it and because we see the difference we can make in kids' 29:49 lives. Kids that just didn't fit in. So many parents have said, you know, they're not a sports person. They're not 29:54 the the nerd, the tech nerd. They're not they don't haven't found their spot and then they come to us and they found 29:59 their spot and they found their niche. Do you do summer camps or any We have a summer camp coming up. It's 30:05 called Around the World in 20 songs. We did um the Broadway Aerys tour last year and we I have a twoe camp. It's 30:12 called Around the World in 20 songs. When is that? That is July. I think it starts Monday actually. Okay. 30:17 It runs for two weeks and it's we have a great um person that we that came here. 30:23 I think at one point they were in LA for a while, but she does acting and writing and coaching and voice lessons and she's 30:30 fantastic. She's super creative. She did her camp last year. She works so well with kids. 30:35 And she's just got this whole thing mapped out. They do a a show actually at the end of two weeks for the parents. For the parents 30:41 and the show what they can do in two weeks and they're learning a little bit of everything, some costumeuming, some everything. And it's just it's amazing 30:47 what they can do in two weeks. I love this. I really do. Me, too. This is fascinating. So, um, I 30:54 did have a question for you. So, I know you've had a lot of experience with the kids and obviously with the theater. Is 30:59 there one thing that stands out, uh, one moment that has stood out to you that's kind of you're like changed you a little 31:06 bit or an important moment in the last couple years you could share? Yeah, you know, I don't think it's one. 31:12 I think it's every time I hear from a parent or I see something happen with a kid. When a parent says to me, "My kid's 31:18 having so much fun. He got invited to a birthday party." Oh, I thought really I mean that just hit me like because he 31:25 made a connection and all of a sudden he was part of a group and he felt wanted and he felt and it that changed his life 31:31 so that changed your life. Yeah. Um and I I hear things like that and I just and I hear that from time to 31:37 time and that's the kind of thing. So not not one defining moment but several defining moments I would say. 31:43 Yeah. Yes. Well you I to me it's obviously feeds your soul. Yes. because I can see that you're so 31:49 it's you're on fire like right now I'm like I feel it and it just feels good because 31:55 again are you going to audition for a show? We will keep on we'll see. So uh what do 32:01 you have coming up? Um that's yeah around the corner that we have a camp that starts on Monday and 32:06 then we'll do Death Trap at the end of October. Death Trap. That's a murder mystery. That'll be a smaller show, not 32:11 a musical, but it'll be really good. It'll be really good. Have you already casted for that? No, we'll do we'll do auditions probably 32:19 August, maybe. Oh, wow. So, it's that quick. Well, we'll get, you know, we want to do a couple months out, get every scripts 32:24 in people's hands, give them a little time to get adjusted, then start the rehearsals. That won't require as much as a musical. I mean, it could be 32:30 September when we But again, if we're starting the end of October, we definitely want by September probably want to have that cast. 32:36 Yeah. So, and that'll be adults probably. I'm not super familiar with the show, but it 32:41 should be good. How do you guys pick the shows? Like, how does that It's hard. It's really hard sometimes. It's better if a director comes to us 32:47 and says, "I want to do this show." I got you. Then we're like, "Okay, you want to do it because you know it. You're 32:52 comfortable with it. You've done it before probably." So, we've decided we're really going to lean towards the directors. But, we have to look at 32:58 things like, "How much does it cost?" When we did Greece, it was really expensive. It was the 40-year anniversary 33:04 and it cost $10,000 for the logo. Are you kidding me? That wasn't even the rights. 33:10 Think about that. That's a 40year-old movie and they're still getting I'm not kidding you. We killed that 33:15 show. It was so good. We really killed it. But um a lot of things is how much 33:20 because we looked at Sweeney Todd, Too Expensive. There's just thing some you can't get and we'll be like we want to 33:26 do Beauty and the Beast. Well, guess what? Nobody's doing it because they're not allowing it after December 2024 for 33:33 whatever reason. So, yeah, for or it'll be on national tour or things like that. So, but we look at it. What's the 33:38 casting look like? Do we think we can do it? What are the sets like? How difficult are they? What's costumeuming like? Yeah. How big of a cast? That's 33:45 another thing. We want a pretty decent sized cast. Yeah. For ticket sales and for the to allow 33:50 the talent to come on in. Yeah. So, it's it's much harder than you think. It's not like, "Oh, I love that show. Let's do it." 33:56 Yeah. It's so layered. Yeah. It really is. So, that's why we decided we're really going to go with the the 34:02 director's picks. If they come to us and say, "I've got four or five shows I'd like to do," then we may pick from that. Okay. You know, 34:08 so are all the directors local then? It depends. Bryce comes from Jacksonville. We had Travis Hornsby did 34:14 a hunchback, the Hunchback Forest, and he did comes from Florida. And then yes, 34:19 we've had a lot of local one of our board members, Josh Wall, direct shows. Melinda Bray, she does music and directs. Okay. We've got we've got some 34:26 of the local uh theater teachers that are able to direct for us or our board 34:31 members. So, we do have talent here to direct for sure. We try to spread it around a little bit because it's good for kids. this. If 34:37 kids come back for a show, it's nice if they have a different director to work with or a different creative team 34:43 because that teaches them, you know, every director is different. You're going to have to go with their rules with the way they do things. And that's 34:49 how you learn because if you are going to go into this business for real, you're going to be up against a lot of you're going to see a lot of different 34:55 directors and a lot of different creative teams. Yeah. And you're going to learn have to learn to adjust if there's conflict or because we do have, 35:02 you know, I mean, that's why they call it drama. That's right. 35:08 So, we have to talk teach kids. That's one of the things we hope we we've taught some life's lessons and some have been to let you go. 35:14 Yeah. And that's not easy. But you know what? You have to learn that you may have to learn a life lesson the hard way. We all have. Hopefully, 35:21 we'll stick with you and we've taught you something valuable. Yeah. But we really try to resolve the 35:26 conflict and make it work for everyone. And that's part of another life lesson that we can teach along the way. 35:32 That's so valuable. That's that's amazing. Yeah. Wow. So, um, with the with the Main Street. 35:39 Main stage. Sorry. You know, because it's on Main Street. That's why I apologize. I am so sorry. 35:46 You don't because we've only been mainstage for probably about three or four years now. We used to be Main Street. So, for a lot of people, that's 35:52 how they know. Did you used to have that theater? They know. No, we were in it. Uh, it was owned by 35:58 someone else and then Prep got it. We just again we rented but we were there all the time because we were sort of the 36:03 main renters but now some other theater companies have popped up and it you know and then 36:08 prep owning it of course they have their own productions they want to do so it just makes it a little bit busier over 36:14 there. Okay. So for people we have a lot of generous people that listen to us needs wise 36:19 obviously funds are very important. If someone wants to give their time can they volunteer time? Absolutely. I always need front of the 36:26 house. The front of the house is ushering concessions. You come in, you can eat and drink anything you want. You 36:32 can see the show for free. You can't beat it. And it's fun and it's easy and you know, or somebody might come to me 36:37 and say, "I do makeup or I do hair and I'd be willing to donate my time for that. Can I do it?" That's great. So that would be great. Especially when 36:43 we had Greece, the hairs were a little bit specific. Shrek, the makeup was through the roof. 36:48 Oh, I bet all that. So that was pretty crazy. But um and when we have characters like 36:54 that, you know, the cat faces and all that. So we could really use help. So, someone may have a talent that they can give us that way. Otherwise, they can 37:01 usher, do concessions, be a greeter at the door. Uh, sure, there's always something. If someone wants to help 37:07 backstage, if they've done a little backstage work before, they can do maybe they want to help the customer. Hey, I can sew. Yeah. 37:14 And they can help backstage during, you know, helping hanging up costumes, changing people. Oh, a zipper ripped. I 37:19 got that. I can iron this for you. I can wash this. So, lots of opportunities for volunteering. Yeah. for any age that you 37:26 know Asher put it over here. So, so all of our active adult 55 plus lifestyle folks 37:32 who get a hold of us because we do and you're always coming down and I know you just want to live that that beach bum 37:37 lifestyle but you always end up bored and you always end up looking for something more. This is a great 37:42 opportunity. I encourage you, you may have never thought about it, but reach out to Main Stage and get involved. They 37:47 need the help and it's a great way for you to just embed yourself into the Low Country Lifestyle in a deeper way than 37:53 you ever thought you could. So, make sure you do that. Awesome. I think Have you ever What about the Do 37:58 you go off island? No. Oh, no. Well, we we mean go Well, there's What do you mean for for like 38:03 There's a theater we could rent. Well, like, you know, like I was wondering if like Sun City ever, you know, cuz they have that beautiful 38:08 That one's I think that one wouldn't work for us. I'm not sure because No, 38:14 it's probably good, but it's out there a ways. Yeah, it is. It's hard for the kids, the school kids and stuff there. 38:19 It's a little bit out of the way. And I'm not sure on the availability of the cost of that, but I think if we stick to 38:24 kind of more like But if there was one in Bluffton that was closer that was an actual theater, you know, like Bluton 38:30 youth theaters out there, but I'm not sure about I'm just not sure. I haven't we haven't looked into that because we 38:36 haven't had to. But there might be a point where we're like we're running out of or somebody, you know, these things 38:41 are booked and we need this. So, but that's why we would love to have our own space. I hope you guys get 38:47 you got to be real careful when you buy real estate when you're a nonprofit. I think it's one of the things we have to be careful about. 38:53 Okay. But we because we were in a deal with the church uh in Bluffton to um Live Oak 38:59 to build a theater and we were going to go in on it. The deal papers were signed. Then Compassion Church came 39:05 along and they bought that land. They're the big church that does the Journey in Savannah. They're a really me 39:11 they're a mega church. I mean, I didn't know that. Very nice people. Okay. And they said once they build their church if we ever need 39:17 Where are they building it at? It's right between um Blleton Library and Bluffton Post Office. Oh yeah, I just saw it. It's huge. 39:23 We actually had designed right by Butler and College. We had actually designed a theater for there. Oh wow. That would have been a perfect 39:30 the starts of everything was in place. But then the elders were a little bit unsure and in comes Compassion Church 39:35 and they said we really aren't interested in building a theater. We want to build a church. But they were they're really nice and they said if you 39:42 guys want to do any shows here it's a little tough when you share with a church because you 39:47 don't know how people feel about that. Yeah. Um and it's a church. Yeah. If it was a theater and they used it as 39:53 a church that would be one thing but you know you want to give that theater feel have all the fly capabilities and all 39:58 the capabilities that a theater provides. When people walk into a theater they want a theater. Yeah they do. 40:04 You know. Wow. Do you have any more questions? No. No. I I I love it. And thank you. 40:09 You're just I love it. You just radiate the uh passion. It does. 40:15 Well, we're going to switch gears. Yeah. Because we sort of want to pivot. Yeah. We're going to switch. So, you your day 40:20 job is with with Hilton Head Fire and Rescue. Hilad Island Fire Rescue. 40:25 Yeah. So, let's talk a little bit about what you do with them. I am the community risk reduction and 40:31 outreach. Oh, the camera is a blurry. It is. Yeah. Kind of bad. Can you uh 40:37 It's like out of focus. It's the one on Cindy. 40:42 Did you go back? Reset it. Hold on a second. I took a drink while we were talking, 40:49 but that's okay. Oh, that's fine. This is a What What's great about a podcast is there's really like no rules, 40:55 you know? Like right now, I wanted to keep this technically 41:00 cut that out. So So just just popped, huh? How you feeling, guys? You need a 41:06 restaurant. Okay, great. How's that? That's better. No, you guys are so easy to talk to. Like, I feel like I know you. 41:12 Well, that's the point. And I'm cracking up about him. You better get your hat over there. 41:18 I'm going to push him. He's He should come and just do tech one time or help with the front. Get a fe because 41:23 when you're in there, you go, "Oh, this is the theater life. Do I want?" Yeah. You'll know. You'll walk in the door. 41:29 This is my theater and I've got real estate. I got to sell real estate. Well, you know, Daniel Court, who's 41:35 Charter One Realy, he's super busy. And Debbie Court, his wife, they're both board members and he 41:40 played Jackal. Oh, no way. That tore him right up. I'll tell you what, that is such a powerful 41:46 role. And it really gets into your into your soul. Wow. And he's amazing. 41:51 He did Froolo when we did Hunchback. He's done lead in the music, man. He's 41:57 really good. And they they love Debbie, too. She's a fine actress. Yeah. And I'm tell And they sell real estate. 42:03 They do show. Do they have children? They do. Liliana. She's a teenager. Teenager. And um she And but they've been doing 42:10 shows since they was little. They did May River The So yeah. So no, you can do it. You make 42:16 it work. All right. So we're going to jump back cut and back 42:22 to action. So Cinda, tell us a little bit about the Hilton Head Island Fire and Rescue. 42:28 Okay. What your role is there. So my job is it's the longest title in the fire 42:33 department. Okay. Community risk reduction and outreach program coordinator. Wow. You put all that on a business 42:39 card. Yeah. It barely fits. Doesn't fit on my shirt. It doesn't just my name. But what it really breaks down to is 42:45 community risk reduction. That's what we're trying to do is we're reducing the risk in the community. What are the risks in our community and how do we 42:51 reduce those? And then pro and then outreach is we have a a captain who does outreach and he reaches out to different 42:58 communities and groups and and finds out what their needs are. So they're very much overlapping but they are different 43:04 too. Yeah. So I do I support uh community risk reduction and outreach. So that's what I do. And that involves a lot of teaching. 43:12 So my teaching uh career is very helpful. Yes. Because I teach CPR. I write all the 43:17 lesson plans for the um preschools. that kind of thing we teach at the preschools. Maybe uh senior groups want 43:24 to talk to me. I might talk about preventing falls or I've been working with the Cypress lately working on their fire evacuation plan. What do you do 43:31 when there's a fire because we've got mobility issues. We've got all kinds of things going on that they they have concerns about their pets and then 43:38 getting out and what if I just had surgery and so we I've spent time with them all of their buildings going over 43:43 that. So, a lot of what I do is teaching and then we have someone who collects the data and really pays attention to 43:49 that and says, you know, we're having some microwave fires. We really should probably think about putting a plan together and then we'll work together to 43:55 put something together. We did have one of the retirement homes and a lady had started a fire a couple weeks in a row. 44:02 Oh, yeah. What was she doing? A sweet potato in her microwave. Oh, yeah. And just you know a lot of 44:09 times and it's so funny because we always think the obvious on that and maybe not. What if she hasn't been to the eye doctor in a while and she 44:15 couldn't see the numbers what if you know there are just different things that come into play. So you we go and talk I'll go and talk to people and say 44:21 tell me what happened tell me what's going on and we can maybe solve this problem and it was very fixible and she 44:26 was very sharp and she was you know just lovely to talk to and we got it all straightened out and and we made some 44:33 little reminders for the refrigerator and that kind of thing. So, um, we, you know, we just try to meet the needs that 44:38 are out there and solve the problem and get to the root of the problem. Yeah. One of the firefighters was telling me 44:43 they'd been going to falls at someone's house or wherever they lived and they said 44:48 finally said to him, "Why? What? Where are you falling?" Well, I'm picking up the mail and I lost my balance. 44:55 Problem solved. A little grabber. Yeah. Yeah. Now you don't bend over. Because they can't. Sometimes the blood pressure 45:00 fluctuates or they feel a little lightaded or dizzy. that we try to look at creative ways maybe we can solve the 45:06 problem or what's causing the problem. Okay. So now we don't have that anymore because he's got a little grab or something's on the ground. He's not as 45:12 prone to falling because he's not bending over so much. I didn't even realize that they did that that they they drilled down into the 45:18 analytics. We do. That's what we do. Yeah. Do all fire departments do that or is that I don't know. I only work for this 45:25 so I think so. Let's hope so. And I should I think community risk reduction is getting very widespread in 45:32 fire departments all over the place. So people there we are looking at that wait a second we keep responding let's why 45:38 are we responding and what's the real problem and sometimes there is no there is no digging deep it's just you know 45:43 people just don't think a lot of times they're not they're a little bit oblivious to it. If you haven't had a 45:48 problem you don't really think it will be yours. You know, if you haven't had a fire, you don't think you'll have one 45:53 till you have one or someone does and then you're like, "Oh, wow. What was that? They had too many extension cords. What happened?" 45:59 You know, and we do a lot of home visits when we install free smoke alarms in certain areas. And we can sometimes spot 46:06 things. We'll say, "Gee, you know, this isn't a safe situation here. You have a lot of stuff and all those stuff doesn't 46:12 cause a fire. It's fuel for fire." So, you know, maybe think about let's 46:17 let's trim things down. Let's clean it up. How can you organize a little bit better? Bad housekeeping is a is a 46:23 problem. Explain that a little bit to the just hoarding and keeping stuff on or 46:28 you know. Well, yeah. It and people will have like stacks of magazines in newspapers and I'm like, why are you saving this? Well, 46:36 I might need to look through them or and I just don't. So, I might say, okay, for me, I've done a lot of articles and 46:42 things in magazines. I take the cover of the magazine, rip out the article, and staple it together and get rid of the magazine. My pile goes from this to this 46:50 great west to start. Fantastic idea. Well, I just started to get 46:55 and and just things like that. And you know, how can we do I have paper towels situated too close to the stove? So when 47:01 I um when I cook, is that going to be an issue? Do not store Tupperware in the 47:06 microwave or the oven. How many times you going to preheat the oven and the and the Tupperware is in I mean, we 47:11 shouldn't ever use it for storage, but just realizing what is their situation? Why? tell me why you're saving this and 47:17 what can we do to make this a little bit more a little more safe and let's clean up this room and or let's talk about why 47:24 do you have a plant in front of the sliding glass door because if you have a fire you're not getting out out of it. So there's a lot of things that we see 47:30 when we go in that we can troubleshoot. We're in for one reason and now we've solved another problem. We sort of look 47:36 for hazards when we go in. Okay. What might be a dangerous situation? We did have one lady who had a she had just 47:43 had surgery and she was very very slow moving and she had a a space heater because it was kind of cold in a blanket 47:49 and we realized it there was an extension cord. Space heaters you never 47:54 ever ever use an extension cord. It plugs directly into the wall. So we went to get it to Oh, really? I didn't know 48:00 that. Oh yeah. Always plug it directly into the wall. Never. And always three keep it 3 ft from anything combustible cuz they can be 48:07 really dangerous. And we went to unplug it and do you know that it had melted together? The plugs had melted because it's pulling so much power. Is 48:13 that what it is? Oh my gosh. That's what it is. So you don't put the cord together because it's so powerful. Can't handle the load. And 48:19 oh my gosh number two. Wow. We discovered and thank goodness we 48:25 probably saved her life. It would just have been a matter of time. And especially because her mobility issues with the surgery. She was very 48:32 slow getting around and who knows I'm not sure what the recovery time is at but you know with surgery that can be anywhere from a week to you know six 48:39 months whatever you know so we try to look for hazards when we're around and talk to things talk to people about 48:45 being safe there's a lot of things we don't even think of the only time that I get and I don't even want to say it's 48:50 okay but people do use an extension cord at Christmas time on their Christmas trees but right turn it off when you go to bed 48:57 no more than three strands together there are some rules to follow that can help you stay safe. Gotcha. So, you know, 49:03 can you give us a couple of those rules? I know it's not Christmas, but people will see it a different time. Well, first of all, make sure all your 49:09 appliances are up to date. When you see frayed cords or uh wall sockets that are kind of cracked and 49:14 broken, something's going on. But really check your appliances. Make sure they're up to date. Don't use extension cords. Never. Just plug everything into the 49:21 wall. When you do buy, say, a space heater, look over the for the look for the tipover feature. Like when it tips 49:27 over, it'll automatically turn off. Got it. Look for some safety features. Make sure appliances have those UL um independent 49:33 laboratory uh testing. Yeah. That give you some level of standard at least that you know it's safe. Yeah. So, lots of 49:39 things clutter. Clear up the clutter in your house. If you smoke um or have a smoker in your house, you 49:45 really need to consider very good uh receptacles for putting out cigarettes. They should be smoking outside, but not 49:51 on wooden decks and throwing them out, things like that. You have a fireplace, make sure that's cleaned. How do you 49:56 load the wood? What do you use in there? If you use the shiny paper, it can explode. There's so many like everyday 50:03 things we don't even think about. Yeah. And we a lot of times we think, well, I'm gonna dry my hair and then you just 50:09 set the dryer down and you go because, you know, it's not on. Yeah. But I know someone who burned their whole house down because they left it 50:16 plugged in. The charge is still going through the dryer. Yeah. So, lots of things like that. We just 50:21 need to be There's so many everyday things. And the kids putting these cell phones under their pillows 50:27 at night. Well, it's it can't airate or anything and it's we're having fires 50:32 with those. Really? Wow. There was a kid I talked to. Did you hear that? That I was 50:38 saying. There was a kid I was over at his house and he had his like sitting on like a dish towel kind of wrapped up by the in 50:43 the kitchen and it started on fire. Well, luckily he used the dish towel to his advantage and he smothered it out 50:48 and he got it out because he knew the rule of fire. Smother it to put it out. Yeah, it was one of the ways and but 50:54 again there's and with these ion lithium batteries there's so many now new we 51:00 have so many devices in our house that use them they pack a lot of energy in a small space we really just got to be 51:06 cognizant overcharging your computer overcharging anything can start a fire I mean we could give you billions of lists 51:12 what we try to do is customize it to when we do a home visit what do we see that's obvious that we can talk to them 51:18 about and maybe get a make it a better situation a safer situation So, is there access to a list? Like, do 51:24 you guys provide any? We do. We have a home safety checklist. It's on the website, the town of Hilton Head Island website. Okay. 51:30 And uh it it it does go through attic, kitchen, you know, just some basic 51:37 things. And all of a sudden, you start thinking about more and we can come over and help you go through that list. You 51:42 can print it off and just do a little selfch check yourself. Um and see see how you're doing. Are you 51:48 cleaning those drier vents? Yes, that's mandatory now. exhaust fans in your No, she's talking about the vent from 51:54 the back of the dryer out. Yeah, that one too. There's two. Then you got the L and the um exhaust fans in 52:01 your bathroom. We've had quite a few exhaust vampires because they're not meant to be left on. 52:07 You know, you just use them temporarily and then you turn them off because all they're doing is really kind of, you know, sucking up dust. Don't they're 52:13 gonna start on fire. So, just a lot of things like that. We try to spot those when we go out. But all those things are 52:20 on the list. So you can you can print the list and Okay. Um so the home the sorry the home visits if 52:26 somebody wanted you to come in and help them how would they they would go to the town of Hilton Head website town of Hilton Head Island click 52:32 on public safety and you're going to find this whole fire rescue thing. Okay. And you'll see CPR classes and home 52:38 safety checklist and phone numbers to call and you know if you have questions. Is there any cost for that? 52:43 No. No. Okay. So that's all provided. All of our CPR classes are free. We do free um car seat installs. 52:49 That was going to be one of my other questions. So, cuz that's for the younger families, right? And we have um certified car seat 52:55 techs. I'm one of them. And we only let the certified car seat techs do the car seat checks. 53:00 We have appointments like every two week every other week or so. You can get an appointment, come in, we'll check it for 53:06 you or we'll install it for you, whatever we need to do. And there's no charge for that either. You can also go 53:12 to any fire station and have your blood pressure checked for free. Oh, really? Okay. And they have little cards they'll give 53:17 you so you can go around and get them done and do a snapshot because when your physician asks you to check your blood 53:22 pressure, they don't usually mean once. They mean sort of over a period of time so they can see what the trend is. 53:27 Right. So that allows you to go to any station with your little card and we'll fill out data and and then you can take it back 53:33 to your physician and say here's the last two weeks what's been happening. Yeah. What are some going back to the car 53:39 seats real quick? What are some of the most common errors you see or mistakes people? Nine out of 10 people install 53:44 them wrong. And just period. Well, really? Yes. It's It's amazing. That was 53:51 probably the hardest class I've ever taken. It was a five-day class. The first day was just seat belts 53:56 and so and we had to do five installs and three written tests. Oh, it's just really there's so much to it because 54:01 there's so much to consider. Okay. And um most people will think they 54:06 should use everything. Like they think I'll use the seat belt and the latch. You know, there are the little 54:14 the lower anchors or the latch. So, everyone thinks more is better. They've got every strap in the world every 54:19 weekend, but it's not it's not crash tested for that. So, it's not going to hold up if 54:24 anything would happen. It's only crash tested the way it's designed to be installed. That's why you 54:30 really need to read the owner's manual. I mean, we we don't so much anymore. Every once we might get a um a European 54:37 made one or something. We we might have to dig a little bit deeper, but um it's hard to read those and oh wait and you 54:44 know we know what we know to read the labels. We know the weight. The other thing is they might have one a kid in a 54:49 seat that's the wrong size or facing the wrong way. The state laws now uh they must be two. They must stay rearfacing 54:56 till they're two. Okay. So some might have them turned around too soon or they might be too big for the car seat. They've exceeded the 55:02 weight. Okay. Or they have too many things. Like I said, we always say more is not better in the case of a car seat. 55:07 Really? I didn't know that. Straps aren't tight enough or maybe the harness on the child is low 55:12 when in fact it should be up high. Some things. Yeah. And or the straps here are too low or too high. Got it. 55:19 So there's a lot of That's the thing about car seats. There's so much more involved, right, than you think. So 55:24 I'm so glad we're through that all because now I'm like, "Oh no, I probably did it wrong." Except now we have the the grandparents 55:30 coming by cuz they don't know how to install them. And why would they? Things have changed. You know, when I grew up, 55:36 you stood up in the backseat of the station, right? Yeah. It's true. Your mom, there's no 55:42 booster. Yeah. I mean, things have come so far and they just do so many crash 55:47 tests on car seats. They're so much safer now. Yeah. Um but there's a lot to them sometimes. So, it's it's not surprising people 55:54 wouldn't get it right. And and they and you can't reuse car seats, too, right? Because that's 55:59 you Well, when you say reuse, first of all, they have an expiration date. I didn't know that. Yeah, they do because the plastic breaks down, the 56:04 belts start to break down. If it's ever in a crash, no, you would never use it again. But sure, if you have a kid and 56:10 then they they're out of it and it's it still has three good years on it, you can give it to the next kid. So, if you 56:16 reuse that way, yes. But we we don't we wouldn't want anyone reselling them, especially because they could be expired 56:24 and we don't know the history. If someone buys it from a yard sale, well, what's the history? 56:29 Got it. Are the labels still good? Can we look at the labels to see if it's been recalled? Cuz that's the other thing we might want to look and see if there's 56:34 been a recall. That's true. Wow. There's so much to think about. I know it is. Wow. Because I know, right? 56:40 And we always have two techs doing one car seat because it's good to have that second set of eyes. You know, this is 56:46 these are kids. This is important stuff. It have a lot of people taking you up on helping. 56:53 That's good. That's great. Yeah. So, we want them to call and make appointments and and be safe and you because usually grandparents know when 56:59 they're when the grandkids are coming in the airport. Yes. So, you know, we you most people and if 57:04 you're having a baby, you have nine months. You better get ready. Like, I think I might have it tomorrow, 57:10 but you know, you have time to figure out which cars you're going to be using and the car seats you're going to be using and all that. So, 57:15 yeah, we really encourage people to let us know early and we'll give an appointment and we'll get it done for you. That's awesome. I didn't realize. What a 57:21 great resource it is. It's great. It really is. Do you know Scott Saxon? I do very well. And he's a car seat tech. 57:26 He's our neighbor. He's a car seat tech. So yeah, he lives right across the street from us. Yes. I've known him for years and I know 57:32 his wife also. They're great. Yeah, they are. They're awesome people. So I wanted to ask you going back to uh 57:39 more of the active adult seniors in our area. Um are cooking fires a big I know 57:44 you mentioned the sweet potato and the microwave, but what about cooking fires? Do Well, here's the thing. In a lot of 57:50 these um retirement homes, sometimes they're not really allowed to cook or they might just have a microwave. It 57:55 sort of depends what level of their independent or not. Um not as bad as you 58:00 would think. We actually have more probably with k like kids cooking and leaving stuff on the stove or just the 58:06 average person not, you know, walking away from the stove. It's kind of across the board. You know where I've done it before is um 58:13 cook the kettle. They'll put water on to boil and then I'll go and get caught and then I forget it's there and I'll come back 58:19 and the thing's just like, you know, and that's why I tell people, put a wooden spoon in your back pocket. 58:26 Okay. And then when you walk in the other room, you're doing something, you Why do I have Oh, oh yeah, I got some. That's a great idea. 58:31 Tip number three, 300. We're loaded with But you got to remind yourself because 58:37 it's so easy to get distracted. you go and you walk past the dryer and I got to grab that load of laundry and the phone rings and then you know next thing 58:43 you're doing 20 things and you forgot and that's where we get into trouble is the unattended cooking. Yeah, 58:48 probably the most fires we have are going to that was going to be my next question that is that that's pretty high up there. Unattended 58:54 cooking. Wow. Are there any other like unique safety concerns from the area from just living 59:00 on the island that's different than other places? I think it's it's pretty standard. I did talk to a fire chief from one of the 59:07 universities up north when I was at a conference and he said, "You know what?" He goes, he said, "You'll never believe 59:12 what the biggest cause of fire is in the dorms." And we said, "Oh, it's got to be, you know, the the hot plates." Nope. 59:19 Candles. Got to be candles. No. Got to be smoking. Smoking. We're doing everything. 59:26 We're saying everything. And you know what it was? What? Drying clothes in the microwave. 59:31 Oh. Oh, you're kidding me. I am not kidding. clothes in the microwave. I don't I didn't even think about that. 59:37 Well, I don't want to use the bulky dryer. I'm just going to throw them in the microwave. Never mind that metal zipper on the jeans. 59:43 That's going to cause an explosion probably. That is funny. No drying clothes in the 59:48 microwave. That's right. So, um but the other thing is candle fires. That's another one 59:54 we're going to we see more too around the holidays. Those just happen go up very quickly. And we talked to little 1:00:00 kids about that and they're good about telling their parents. We have a little saying for the kids. We'll say if your parents say, "Let's we're going to run 1:00:06 to the store. You've got candles. When you go out, blow out." And we teach the 1:00:11 rhymes to the kids. Same thing with when thunder roars, get indoors. We try to teach them. And kids are great about telling their parents things. Yes. 1:00:18 It's funny. They'll tell the fire people told us. Well, every time they come to the school, Shila always comes home and 1:00:24 tells us all kind of all enjoys. That's our best audience to deliver to to the 1:00:30 parents because they remember and they're they're proud to tell you something that they learned. So, we try to give little sayings, but uh candle 1:00:36 fires can really uh be bad. And you know, think about it. You have a a candle on a table like this and you have 1:00:43 a dog or cat with a tail. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. There you go. So, lots of things that can happen. And 1:00:49 again, cooking fires over the holidays. Yeah. Uh if you have improper uh lighting as far as your tree lights go, 1:00:56 you haven't checked them, they're cracked, frayed, cords, things like that. Oh yeah. Especially if you got live tree or any 1:01:01 replace your Christmas lights every so often. Well, you just need to check them when you take them out each year. How do they 1:01:06 look? Yeah. You know, you can kind of tell by looking, boy, these are this plastic's kind of wearing down on here. This doesn't 1:01:13 as cheap as the materials are these days. I think just keep an eye on them and check them every time you you know, it's 1:01:18 funny because when you put them away, they're one way. When you take them out, they're kind of another It's funny how that happens. I don't know how that is. 1:01:24 Well, one year they they work and you take them out. That drives me nuts cuz every year you're like, I got to go. I just bought 1:01:30 these last year. So, yeah, the big biggest thing is just check them every year and make sure you know broken bulbs, frayed cords, things 1:01:36 like that. That's the best way. Wow. So um the different communities here do each do each community handle um 1:01:46 like education of this differently or do communities actually teach their um 1:01:52 I cannot find the words right um well first of all all the communities are different all the neighborhoods are 1:01:58 different so that's what we that's what we try to dig into what's happening in this area that's not 1:02:04 happening in another or this is really uh partial to this neighborhood or this area and that's what we try to do. 1:02:10 Whenever we have a fire, we do something called after the fire. We go to that particular neighborhood. We hit about 25 1:02:17 uh homes around there and knock on doors and say, "Did you know your neighbor had a fire and here's what happened?" 1:02:22 And everyone, "Wow, really?" And yeah, it's a big deal. Or sometimes we'll call the POAS will help us. We'll call 1:02:28 everyone to the pool house and we'll have a big meeting. Hey, fire department will be here. They're going to talk about the fire on Saturday. And 1:02:33 then we talk to everybody and let them know how it happened and do you want us to check your batteries? Do you want us to check your alarms? Cuz we'll check 1:02:39 the date on their alarms for them. Okay. So, um we try to every neighborhood is different. You're right. Every 1:02:45 neighborhood is different. And so, we look at the area and see what's happening in a particular area and try 1:02:52 to address that problem. That's amazing. That's wonderful resource that we have. I'll tell you what, I know, right? I I'm 1:02:58 literally like, by the way, you're a wealth of just I I feel a little bit like overwhelmed like oh my gosh, like 1:03:04 there's so much to think about information. You got it all in there though. It just comes right out. 1:03:10 But there is a lot. And with So again, if it hasn't happened to you, you don't think about it. When I started my career 1:03:16 at Fire Rescue, I was 49. We started late and I didn't know anything about fire. I mean, 1:03:22 I knew about teaching. So that was half the battle. I could read my audiences and I learned a lot through teaching, but I didn't really 1:03:28 know anything about fire. Yeah. Boy, you sure learned quick. And there's so much to learn, but I learned it as I went. And now like with smoke alarms, 1:03:35 people can call me and I can really troubleshoot a lot of things over the phone on smoke alarms. I've had so many 1:03:40 instances of smoke alarms and I install smoke alarms, too. We we have a program called Fire in the Streets and we pick 1:03:46 different neighborhoods about four times a year and we put hangers on the door and say, "We'll see you Saturday. We're 1:03:51 going to do free smoke alarms." Okay? So, we're doing a whole bunch of education about smoke alarms and when to change them and why and all that. So, 1:03:57 I've learned over the 20 years of my career all of these things. So it didn't it didn't happen overnight. Yeah. 1:04:04 I had to learn it a little at a time and then when you go out and teach it that really should 1:04:09 that's where that's what it is the teaching and Yeah. So are is there are there also volunteer 1:04:14 opportunities within the fire department? No, there aren't. We are all career. Okay. But now we do a fire prevention pancake 1:04:21 breakfast every year that's free on Square Pope Road. Sure. I'll take volunteers all day long 1:04:26 to help with the pancake breakfast. That would be great. I have a lot of the town hall staff. Yeah. that helps and they may I'm going to bring my brother and my 1:04:32 daughter's going to help or my husband. I'm like great. So those kinds but otherwise no not in the not in 1:04:39 responding. Okay. You know that kind of thing. We're all careers. Yeah that that makes sense. So um if there's one thing that a family 1:04:46 can do to make themselves safer, what would that be? Practice your escape plan. 1:04:51 Okay. Practice. Okay. Because here's what most people die in a fire because they someone went back in. Now, if you talk 1:04:59 to everyone and say, "Let's practice our fire escape plan. Where are we gonna meet?" Got it. We talk to the little kids. Where's your 1:05:04 special meeting place? Is it because somebody's in the backyard and everybody's in the front and they're like, "Where's Bobby?" And then they go and then they go back 1:05:10 and look for him when he's out safe and then we do have a fatality. And I'm not saying this has happened. I'm just giving you an example of this 1:05:16 is what can happen. So, the biggest thing is practice your escape plan and have a smoke alarm or put find the sound 1:05:23 on your phone. Beep beep beep beep beep and say and go over the plan and say, "We're going to we're going to just pick a random time and see how we do." Do it 1:05:30 in the daytime and then try it at night. Got it. And make sure everybody knows where to go. The most important thing is for 1:05:36 people to get out. Yes. And everybody to look face to face and we see each other. Let the firefighters 1:05:42 know here we are. The whole family is out plus the dog. Yeah. because we'll get sometimes conflicting information as 1:05:48 callers are calling in about a neighbor's house. Yeah. You know, they think someone's still inside or there's a cat or a dog, you know, and and so 1:05:54 it's good if we have good information like the whole family is outside, they're by the tree in the front yard or they're at the mailbox. It's like great, 1:06:01 now we've got to figure out the fire, but at least we know everyone's safe. Wow. So, because our first priority obviously 1:06:06 is life safety. Yeah. So, uh yeah, I would say plan and practice a fire escape plan. Okay. I love that because when you guys 1:06:14 when the fireman had come to Shiloh school, he came home and he made us draw a map. 1:06:19 Yes. Of the fire map, the exit map. And we did that with and he was adamant. This 1:06:25 is what we're going to do. Yes. But see, that's so great. That's why I say kids bring home the messages 1:06:32 and that's and that's what we do. Where's the window? Where's your room? Let's go in your bedroom now. How would you get out? You know, go over all of 1:06:38 that kind of stuff with the kids. Yeah, it re it really matters because they will remember and maybe sometimes they 1:06:45 won't cuz there's been stories of kids that knew what to do and they didn't do it. They got scared. But the more you 1:06:50 practice it and do it, it will more like be muscle memory and there's a more likely chance that they will do the 1:06:57 right thing and they will know and they won't get scared and they'll just react because we've practiced it so many times 1:07:02 and it can be a fun thing to practice. How quick did you get out? How'd you do? You didn't stop for any toys, did you? 1:07:08 You didn't get that hamster, did you? will get the answer. You know, you let's go over the rules now. What comes and 1:07:14 goes, you know, forget about the computer, forget about this, you know, because we always tell, you know, kids. Um, I had met a songwriter in shipyard 1:07:21 and she we teamed up because I was a music major and we wrote a fire safety song. 1:07:27 Fire strikes, get out, stay out. It's on YouTube. We copyrighted it. Was recorded in Nashville. And we teach that every 1:07:32 year to the kids like usually during October, fire prevention month. And uh we one of the verses is don't stop for 1:07:39 favorite things, toys, or even pets. Cuz we say we'll get them out. And usually pets are going to be beating you out the door. They're going to be tearing out of 1:07:45 there. Yeah. So um so yeah, we we really talk to kids a lot about getting out in a fire. Okay. 1:07:51 And if parents can reinforce that at home or grandparents when you go visit your grandparents for the holidays. 1:07:57 Hey guys, here's what we're going to do if we have a fire. Yeah. Let's practice it. Let's let's let's 1:08:03 sometime today you're gonna hear this sound and we've got to go and meet by my mailbox because that's new to them. They 1:08:09 don't they're not gonna know other way. So, and talk to the parents. How you think about that? Like this is stuff 1:08:14 I got to admit. I I'm like, God, I don't even think about this stuff. See, because it hasn't happened to you. Well, it didn't happen to me either, but 1:08:19 I'm just saying it's we tend to just those kinds of things. Um if it hasn't happened to you, it's a little you just don't think of them. So, 1:08:26 but you know, when they go to the grandparents for the holidays and stuff, have the grandparents go over a fire escape plan with them. How will they get 1:08:32 out and and they chances are the the grandparents will go to get them, but they just need to be prepared and where 1:08:39 everyone's going to meet and you it's always just good and if it's part of their repertoire, so to speak, that they 1:08:45 just practice and you know, fire escape plans, great. It's just something they do. Yeah. Wow. Good stuff. Fabulous. Good 1:08:51 stuff. Only on real talk. Yes. This info. So, I want to switch gears though. Yeah. 1:08:56 So, I want Huh. Oh, okay. Cool. Yeah. Well, so I want to get to your life because the other part 1:09:03 of this podcast is about We love to share why we all love this place. So, I 1:09:09 want to do some rapid fire like what what is your favorite thing about Hilton 1:09:15 Head? What do you love about the area? Where do you love to go? Do you like to go to the beach? Your favorite park? you 1:09:21 know, tell us about your life here. Okay. So, uh, yeah, I'm not the beach person, right? Surprisingly. Well, 1:09:28 that's good to know. See, because you don't have to be because there's other I like it, okay, but it's just too hot. 1:09:33 I'll like it in the spring and the fall, but otherwise, oh, it's just too hot. So, you don't have to be a beach person, golf person, or tennis person at all. Of 1:09:39 course, you know, my sister's a tennis person. She loves it. And I heard like, you're fabulous, by the way. You're a really great player. Um, but you know 1:09:45 what I do? I ballroom dance. at um the ballroom I was telling you about in Bluffton had ballroom dance 1:09:51 studio and you should see all ages are out there. What a great way to exercise. 1:09:56 What a great leisurely thing. If you're not a gym person, that's your workout. Got it. Okay. There are gyms. There's lots of 1:10:02 gyms and workout places. There's Think of all the boating opportunities if you just like to go on a boat or go on a 1:10:07 dolphin cruise or something. But I since I do a lot of volunteer work, you know, I work all day. I I do ballroom dance at 1:10:13 night. I do live theater. if we have a show, I'm really tied up with that. I also do Rape Crisis. It's called Hopeful 1:10:19 Horizons. Okay. I've been doing that for about 35 years. So, um I do Pockets Full of Sunshine. They come out to the 1:10:24 ballroom and dance. Uh I do leadership Hilton Head. So, a lot of my stuff is volunteer work, but there's a lot to do 1:10:31 here. Sometimes people say, "Well, have you done this?" I go, "Well, I'm kind of busy. I don't do time." But I would I 1:10:36 really don't have a lot of time to go to the beach. it because it seems like every day there's opportunities and there's always some kind of activity or 1:10:43 festival or something that's going on. Everyone's are you going to the Wingfest this week? Are you going to 1:10:49 Yeah, I I there's no shortage of some sort of concert. Like last night we I was driving through and in the Hilton 1:10:55 Head Plantation there was this concert going on like oh you know it's and Shelter Cove has the summer jams and 1:11:00 town does the does all kinds of activities and like at the holidays they do the tree lighting and those are just 1:11:06 events that come up that if you just start looking at the if you look at culture HHI that that website they have 1:11:13 all sorts of activities that are going on that are going to appeal to anyone. So, don't worry if you don't do the 1:11:18 sports and if there's going to be some sort of festival or show or concert or activity that you can get involved in or 1:11:25 some kind of gym that you may like. Maybe you like a plan of fitness kind of thing. Maybe you like more of a boutique gym where you have a personal trainer. 1:11:31 Those are all things to do. They just happen to be maybe fitness related. They're a little bit more specific to 1:11:37 you. But there are so many things I when people say there's I don't I haven't heard anyone say there's nothing to do 1:11:43 here, but every once in a while someone does. I'm like you're not looking in the I'm sorry. You're just not looking. Not looking at all 1:11:49 because Yeah, because I do. And then too, I like to I love to bake. I love to read. So, I love if I have downtime. 1:11:55 Yeah. I like to just if I you know, if you have a nice place to live and you just want to be on your back porch or you 1:12:00 want to just spend time at home and do I do I like arts and crafts and things, I like to make stuff. I like to bake, like 1:12:06 to read. So, I do a lot of different things. I just don't have a lot of downtime as all. Yes. But, um I just I I think there's 1:12:13 you inspire me. I feel like I could do more. I was like, David, get on your game, buddy. You know, so 1:12:20 yeah, but no, there isn't a lot. And you and you find your niche, but you have to look and you have to know where to look. 1:12:25 That's why I'm saying Culture HHI. There's all sorts of the chamber. They're going to have things island events. Island events. That's 1:12:31 another great one that has been here since I've been here. You know, they were they're partnering with us. 1:12:36 Partner with us. So once a month they're coming on to Real Talk to talk about great because they have been here 1:12:41 forever. That was our voting back then. they didn't have really any publications. So that was our thing of what's happening. 1:12:47 And that again that's a perfect thing to pick up and say what is happening next week. And it's always different especially 1:12:53 around the holidays. There'll be different things like the fireworks or like the tree lighting at um Celebration Park and things like that. Those are 1:13:00 great activities. It's not just going the lighting. They have activities and vendors and food and all kinds of 1:13:05 things. Yeah. So people they they would just be surprised for a small town. And the nice thing is you aren't fighting 1:13:11 the kind of crowds like in a big city. That's true. It's all here. It's all easily accessible. 1:13:17 Yeah. Everything's very close. But I want to get back to you. Where do you Where's your favorite go-to for a restaurant? 1:13:23 Well, see, we do happy hour usually every Friday. And we do we run the gamut. Okay. We have Give me a few. 1:13:29 Okay. So, we like Old Oyster Factory. That's We do Doc Side. We do a lot of the Surge Group ones because we rotate. 1:13:35 We like Boat House. Um, we'll do, you know, Jeppe's Pizza. Yeah. Sometimes we just go super casual. Yeah. Flatbreads 1:13:43 is another good place we haven't been in a while. We were saying, "Oh, we really like that place." The South End, we have to steer clear in 1:13:48 the in the South. Yeah. But, um, Crazy Krab, they have a great bar menu, like a happy hour menu for 1:13:55 food and with discounts and things like that. So, there's just so many. It just depends what mood we're or we if we have 1:14:02 a lot of people, we might go to Top Dog because we can get a big table. Okay. So, sometimes it just I've never been to Top Dog, have we? 1:14:08 You know, at Shelter Cove, we haven't been there. Or sometimes they'll say, "Look, look at the great happy hour prices for 1:14:14 appetizers or something. We'll go there." Uh, Black Marlin, it's another place we go. So, it's hard to say 1:14:19 because they're all different. They're all depending on it's somebody's birthday or we've done smokehouse up on the little balcony thing. Um, I love 1:14:26 that. That's such a great spot. We go in a group of friends. Yeah, we have a group and whoever wants to go that day, go. 1:14:32 If you can go, great, just show up. If you can't, you can't. you know, if I'm in a show run, see you in two weeks. 1:14:39 See you. Otherwise, you But then I get a lot of those people to help volunteer. So, we see with a happy hour right at the theater. 1:14:44 Um, but so yeah, and we just have a little group Fridays. It's a great way to wind down and just go right from work. No, we never stay out late anymore 1:14:50 because that's how we have get appetizers and catch up and see how everybody's week was. And that's 1:14:56 something. So, we kind of just go all over because we want to support all the businesses on the island as well. Yeah. Just south end during the season, it's 1:15:03 off. But as soon as that season change, we're going to hit all of those and get down there and see what's happening that 1:15:08 we've been missing. You ever go to local legend yet? Yes, I did go there for the first time. 1:15:13 I love that. I love the concept. Well, it's Yeah, I was I was like, "Oh, and I like that's what I like. It's so interesting." I'm like, "Oh, this is 1:15:19 really different." It really is. And the food's good. I think their pizzas are really Yeah, I know. And it was It was really 1:15:25 interesting. Some are playing games over here. We got a singer over here. We got So, yeah. Something around every cool 1:15:30 hangout. Exactly. the kids. I love it cuz we take we had her birthday party there and we had just all of our friends but all the kids were there and it was 1:15:37 just so fun cuz the kids were hanging out. All of us were hanging to go together which made it kind of nice. So 1:15:43 yeah, it just depends like I said if we want something, hey, we're looking for something a little more quiet tonight. We just want to talk more. We want live 1:15:49 entertainment or we want, you know, we just switch all around to we go San Miguel. Sometimes we'll hit the shelter 1:15:54 Cove area for a couple weeks in. Yeah. Uh, and then some of them, you know, we used to go to um, Graas, 1:16:00 remember? Yeah, we like that one. Well, that's opening. That's changing now. Lucky Beach sold it and now it's uh 1:16:06 I forget the name. Um, oh, we just we just I had um Oh, I forget. But she's 1:16:12 got a cool little menu. We We were friends with the old owners. We went to Lucky Beach and we liked it. 1:16:17 We don't know what happened there, but you know, we and we'll try a lot of the new places like Local Legend. We have that open. Let's try it. You know, I 1:16:23 love because you didn't mention a single national chain. That's what I appreciate about the area because this is mostly just these local. 1:16:30 Yeah. And you don't need to. That's who you want to support. Amen. Local folks. So, if there just a couple more and then 1:16:37 we'll we'll let you go. So, is there a tradition here in the low low country that brings a smile to your face 1:16:45 or makes you happy? Some kind of tradition? 1:16:51 It's a bit of a tough one. Well, I will I just and it's hard to say because I've been with the fire department for 20 1:16:56 years and we have some great traditions. Okay. And I have to say station three Christmas lights. The Christmas lights. 1:17:01 You got to love it. Got to love it. And we do now a station lighting there and it's so fun. It is. And we have arts and crafts for the 1:17:08 kids. I was in charge of the ornaments last year and we did hot chocolate and Santa's there and we turn it on and 1:17:14 there's such a buildup. It's probably a two to three month decorating period. Wow. And now we have a admin day because 1:17:20 I work at admin. and I work at headquarters, okay? And we have an admin day during the during the workday and we have to go over. We don't have to, but 1:17:27 you know, like everyone's going over. We're going over and we're going to spend the afternoon. We're going to help. Different groups will come and 1:17:32 spend time and help. And I just think I love that. And Santa mail is my probably 1:17:38 favorite because I do Santa mail. You know, the kids can leave a letter to Santa in any mailbox at the fire station 1:17:44 and Santa writes them back. Writes. I did a nice wrote back. Yeah. That's a very busy time for 1:17:50 Wow. How many How many letters did you get? 225 we got last year. Wow. That's so good. 1:17:55 Respond to every single one of them. Every single one of them. Have you had any parents call you and 1:18:01 say what the response was when the child? I've never because they don't know who they don't really know who where it 1:18:07 comes from. I don't they just know. But it's so great when I'll drive by a station and I'll see some kids in front of the mailbox and they're putting a 1:18:14 letter in. And I thought I would give a million dollars to watch when they check that mail at home. 1:18:19 Yes, that's what I'm saying. I have it. It's all decorated. It's got 1:18:24 from the North Pole and I put little stamps on them so it's all You should You should include a ticket to the theater. 1:18:33 I know. Yeah. But no, those are and that's a lot of them for me are fire department traditions. We just really 1:18:40 uh it's just yeah the Santa mail is great to see what kids are asking for and some kids are so humble 1:18:46 and they ask for like two things and then one kid will have like eight pages. Yeah. Like did your 1:18:53 parents not see this go out and you just have the funny and every year it varies. It's really funny. You know when your 1:18:59 hamsters were a really big deal and then one mama put well yeah they were and then mom puts a note in there. We're not 1:19:05 getting a hamster. So I'm like, gee, we're all out of hamsters. The elves were out of hamsters, 1:19:10 but they just ran out. So it's just fun to that's just a really, I think, fun 1:19:16 way to connect with the kids to see what's happening in the community and and some stories are sad. You know, 1:19:22 they've had a tragedy in their life and they miss their mom or their dad or something. So it's a real look sometimes 1:19:28 into their life beyond what they're asking for for Christmas. And I like that. I just got to go ahead. 1:19:33 So Oh, sorry, interrupt. So, I was just going to let's let's elaborate for people that aren't familiar with the area on station three and why we all 1:19:40 that is a tradition of our families is the drive-thru station 3. Would you just share a little bit why it's so magical? 1:19:48 Well, it and it started we had started having all of the stations decorate and they were uh we were trying to I was 1:19:54 trying to connect some banks and different businesses with each one. Well, three kind of outdid everybody one 1:19:59 year and we said, "Oh, forget it. You can just do it every year." Just like you're too good. It's beautiful. You could drive through it. 1:20:05 We just Yeah. And we just kind of all started putting our efforts towards that. It was just the tour worked kind 1:20:10 of. But, you know, once three kind of upped their game, we were like, "Oh, yeah. That's it." And we also collect 1:20:16 for deep well, you know. So, we have and every single day I will go there during 1:20:21 the se after Thanksgiving and pick up and do you know my little truck will fill my little fire truck will fill up 1:20:27 with all kinds of It is so people are so generous. It's awesome. But anyway, it 1:20:32 just started to grow and grow and there were three guys that had retired that were initially responsible for really 1:20:38 doing with the cutout pieces and making little scenes and the ice skaters and the whole deal. And it just kept going 1:20:44 and we just they kept wanting to outdo themselves every year, which they did. Yeah. And they just came up with they'd be thinking, "Oh, you know, next year we've 1:20:50 got to do this. It's like anything you do. How can I make it better?" And it just and people started contributing and 1:20:56 we still, you know, you want to donate some lights, bring them. We'll take them. talking about getting your Christmas 1:21:01 lights out from last year. Do you have any idea the bins I say where do they store them? 1:21:06 We have a trailer. Okay. We had to get a we trailer all kinds of stuff. And then we had some wreaths, a 1:21:13 bunch of wreaths, tons of them. And I got a hold of the women's association, you know, a big group that does a lot of 1:21:19 great things. And a couple of the people volunteered to come and they just really poofed up those wreaths for it and, you know, fixed up the bows and really 1:21:25 freshened them up. And we've got wreaths all around. And it's just it's great. It's a great tradition and we have a 1:21:32 counter on it so we know that pe how many people go through and it's like you know 10,000 or more. 1:21:40 Yeah. It was it's really unbelievable how many and some people at First Presbyterian and their kids go there. 1:21:45 They'll say we have to go twice every day. We have to go twice. We have to go through it twice because you can drive around 1:21:50 and it's just so great to hear people and people always, you know, when are the lights going to be ready and they 1:21:55 want to know you'll go by and you'll see them decorating. We also have a a safety initiative there when as soon as you 1:22:01 drive in there's a big 8-ft wreath and that is keep the wreath green. Okay. Our goal is to keep it has all green 1:22:08 bulbs. Our goal is to keep the wreath green. Every time we have a preventable fire between Thanksgiving and New 1:22:14 Year's, a bulb turns red. Oh wow. And then we publish it on our website. You'll see the wreath and it'll 1:22:19 have a red bulb and it'll say fire at, you know, Otter Road or some tell you the street it was a candle fire. It was 1:22:26 a cooking fire, the preventable fires. You know, a lightning strike wouldn't count, but yeah. And then we give fire safety tips for 1:22:34 the holidays. So, our goal is to keep that wreath green. And I think last year we might have only had one red bulb. 1:22:41 We've kept it pretty low. It's been like three or four bulbs a year, but the goal is to have it through that period. No, 1:22:46 no preventable fires. Wow. So, that's a safety initiative and we keep it on the website so you can go and look at it and 1:22:52 see how this how is the wreath doing. Yeah. So, we've added a safety element to that as well. That's really cool. That's fun. Wow. 1:22:58 It's really fun. That's awesome. Well, this has been amazing. Well, I just want to say like I feel like if the world just had 10% more of 1:23:06 you, we'd have no problems. Like for real. Like you are an amazing person and 1:23:11 we just really appreciate you coming on and No. and and you've shared so much and I I I really feel like the audience 1:23:17 I this is one you got to probably listen to or watch two or three times cuz you're just a a wealth of information 1:23:22 and it's been so enjoyable having you. Good. Well, thanks. It was fun. Really fun. Yeah. We'll put information on how to so if 1:23:29 people um wanted to reach out they would they'll just put the website information at the end. We'll just put up a contact 1:23:35 card for you if that's okay. Especially on the theater side. Yeah. Yeah. I don't have a card for the theater. I only have a card for the fire 1:23:42 department. Well, I I'll we'll create one and we'll just put all your contact information if people or they can just call the box office 1:23:47 number. That was one of the three phones that were there. They're like, "Is the box office open?" I go, "It's on my dining room table. It is open." 1:23:55 So, um you could just put the main number or it's 689 main. Okay. And you can put that and then I can give 1:24:01 you my work number cuz they can call that also. Okay. I can give you one of my cards for work and so whatever you want to call. 1:24:07 No, that's okay. We'll get your information. We'll put it out there and and uh but we really appreciate you coming on the show. 1:24:12 Well, thanks for having me. Yeah, my pleasure. We'll talk to you soon. All right. Thanks. All right. 1:24:18 Don't forget to follow, like, share, and subscribe to Real Talk Hilton Head and leave us a review to help others 1:24:25 discover the Low Country lifestyle.