Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
This transcript contains a series of promotional interviews conducted by Kelly McBride, public information officer for the city of Richmond, Kentucky, with Mayor Robert Blythe and several city commissioners. The discussions focus on the Millstone Festival, its positive aspects, and its impact on the community. No formal agenda, minutes, or public testimony were provided.
No decisions, votes, or formal outcomes occurred. The purpose was to promote the Millstone Festival and encourage attendance.
Kelly McBride here, public information officer for the city of Richmond, Kentucky, and I'm here with Mayor Robert Blythe, and we're talking about Millstone today. So, Mayor, what is your favorite part of Millstone? Well, reflecting first of all on the beginning of the Millstone Project, and then seeing how every year it gets bigger and bigger, and there are so many wonderful folks who are a part as vendors or who've come from out of town. And of course, I try to travel the entire row of vendors. And when you talk about my favorite part of the uh of the festival, it's just talking with people. Doing doing what I do every day in my job, and uh it's just wonderful and seeing people that I've not seen perhaps in a long time. Absolutely. Who've come from other places and they they're so excited? Yes, it's it's fun, it's a it's a true community event, and we all get to visit with one another. Yes. So have there been any um pleasant surprises for you about the millstone over the years? Pleasant surprises. Actually, no, but there are some things that stand out, for example. One, the um the car show and what it means to so many folks, and there are those who have come to me over the past two or three years and said, Mayor, we like that so much. Why don't we have another festival that's just the car show and food trucks? Wow. And maybe some light, I thought, wow, but but what this indicates is that the many, the many wonderful things that Richmond enjoys don't all come out of City Hall, they come from the citizens. That's the wonderful surprise that I've enjoyed over the past few years. The citizens themselves come up with wonderful ideas, and we try, if we feel that they're wonderful also, we try to implement those. Fantastic. Well, we encourage everybody to come down and join the fun at Millstone Festival. Kelly McBride here on Millstone TV with Commissioner Jim Newby here at City Hall, and we are talking about all things Millstone Festival. How are you doing today, Jim? I'm doing fine. How are you this uh wet morning? Doing great, doing great. Hopefully we can see the weather will pass before tomorrow. Yes, it'll be great. So what are some of the favorite aspects of Millstone that you that you love? Well, I think it's it's a showcase of Richmond and what we have. And um I think that's the introduction to people when they come and see what we offer, the little things that personal people have they could bring and show off. Right. And also I think one of the things that I I love about it is um you know it's seeing people you haven't seen for a long time because a lot of people come out for this and I I'm from here. Right. I'm I'm an alumni of Kit Carson Elementary, yeah. Clark Moores Middle School and Matt Central High School. And you see people you haven't seen, you know, in 20 or 30 years sometimes, and it's just a good community unity thing for everybody to come together and showcase what we've got. Absolutely. I think that's a lot of um of our favorite things, uh, aspects about Millstone. So I know that um uh communities have annual festivals, and so what are some of maybe the impacts that you've seen on the city of Richmond by our wonderful Millstone Festival? Well I know we got a lot of stuff around like the London has a chicken festival. I think um Irvin has I'm a Sutton Festival, and then uh what was it uh Lee County, Bayleville has the the uh what was it, the uh I don't know they got a festival too, I can't remember. But anyway, um it like I say it it showcases us and uh gives gives people an introduction to what's what's here and what's available in Richmond and around the surrounding areas, you know, Whitehall, stuff like that, Windsor. So what would you say to somebody who's never been here and they need to come join us? Oh, I'd say come. You get a lot of good food, good, nice, wholesome country, old-fashioned sitting not quite like Maybury, but we still have that kind of feel a little bit. Good. I'm glad. I'm glad that we have a hometown small town feel here in Richmond.