What's Happening White Settlement
Get the inside scoop on all the things happening in and around the City of White Settlement, Texas.
What's Happening White Settlement
City Stories and Suplexes
It's a hometown podcast kickoff with Mayor Faron Young, a ringside look at Trinity Championship Wrestling, and spooky reads plus the Storybook Pumpkin Contest from our library team. We share why showing up—at parks, events, and the library—turns services into community.
• new fiscal year highlights and city priorities
• why TML conferences matter for practical learning
• leadership as visibility and listening across ages
• Central Park memories and the value of green space
• disc golf growth at Saddle Hills and park use
• live events that unite families and neighbors
• inside TCW: logistics, cancellations, and commitment
• community-first wrestling and affordable entertainment
• wrestlers’ brotherhood, setup to teardown
• Mount Rushmore of wrestling favorites
• inviting non-fans to try live wrestling
• spooky book picks for all ages
• Storybook Pumpkin Contest rules, dates, and prizes
• October calendar: National Night Out, White Cane Walk, Haunted Trails, Back the Boo
Find more event details at wstx.us
You're listening to What's Happening White Settlement, the place to be for the inside scoop on everything happening in and around the city. We'll showcase our services, talk about events, highlight the work we're doing, and share your story. Grab a seat because the show starts now.
Aaron Hall:Well, what's happening, White Settlement? Welcome to the podcast. My name is Aaron Hall. I'm gonna be your host here. I've spent the last nine years in the communications department for the city. And if you've been around for a while, you might know me from what I did for the decade before that. I spent 10 years as the managing editor of the Grizzly Detail newspaper. That was a local paper similar to the Bomber News. We covered the city and brewer bears and all that sort of stuff. So chances are, if you're around here and have been around here, you and I have ran into each other at some event or someplace somehow. There's a chance you'd know me better by the name of AC instead of Aaron. That's what I wrote under with the Grizzly, and you'll hear on this show, that's what a lot of people around here still call me. I am a brewer graduate, Brewer High School, class of 1999. Yeah, I'm getting old. I know, I know. But I love this city, I love this area. Grew up here, my family is still here. I feel very privileged to have served this community for almost 20 years now with information and writing about events and photos and just all of that good stuff. And it is very cool to add podcasting to that with the launch of this show. There are a lot of great things happening in this city. There's a lot of interesting things happening in this city and in our surrounding areas. And I'm super excited to talk about all that. So excited, in fact, that I am going to stop this intro and we're going to move right into our first segment because I have a very special guest for this first segment that I think you'll enjoy hearing from. So without further ado, help me welcome in Mayor Farron Young. I am very excited and just want to say welcome to Mayor Farron Young for joining me here and just say thank you so much for sitting down for the podcast, sir.
Mayor Faron Young:Well, thank you for having me.
Aaron Hall:Uh I'm very excited because the first guest, you know, you got to start with with the the man, with the mayor. And so I'm really happy that we were able to work this out and get you in here. Well, I really appreciate everything you do. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This comes out October 3rd. So we're we're starting, we're just a few days into our new fiscal year for the city. So the first thing I wanted to just get your thoughts on the new year, where we're headed, anything that maybe you're excited about, looking forward to the next 12 months.
Mayor Faron Young:Yeah. Well, we got a lot of things coming up. We're gonna have the white cane walk in October, October 18th. Looking forward to that. Of course, you know, we got the holiday season coming up. There'll be a lot of special events. We got TML we're gonna go to in October. So we got a lot of things coming up.
Aaron Hall:Yeah. I'm glad you brought up TML because that's not something that gets talked about externally a lot, but it's important internally. Do you have anything you could share? Because you've been to several of them now, just kind of what that event is and and what goes on there and what you get out of it as a mayor and an elected official here for the city.
Mayor Faron Young:Yeah, most of the elected officials they go there and they and they learn from other cities things that they've done that they've had success. There's roundtables, there's a lot of vendors there. You know, you can look around and see what kind of equipment that you can buy for the city, and you can bring those ideals back to the to the t the teams here, public works and parks department, and you know, street people. So there's a lot of neat stuff there to look at as well.
Aaron Hall:And I found like one of the most beneficial things I found with when I've gone to conferences, you know, government communicators conferences. I didn't realize how important it was and how helpful it was to be able to sit across from somebody that understands exactly what I do and has faced a lot of the same issues, the same, you know, challenges, and get a different perspective on it. That's super helpful.
Mayor Faron Young:Oh, absolutely, because you know, they got a different perspective. Their experiences can some sometimes direct you in a way that you can figure out a way to handle certain situations. Right. Because they've been through it or they're going through it. And collaboration's always a great thing, you know. So I really look forward to those conferences.
Aaron Hall:Yeah, same. I don't know if the residents always know how collaborative government can be sometimes that we make these connections and and sometimes even what I would call friendships with people in similar positions in other cities.
Mayor Faron Young:Yes.
Aaron Hall:And having that ability, because you know, I have people that I can reach out to in some of these surrounding regions and cities when we're having a big communications thing going on that they can give you like some tools and some advice and some guidance and and you get a chance to do the same with them. I really love that.
Mayor Faron Young:Oh, absolutely. You know, the first one I went to was right after I was first elected, and you know, there's a learning process in this, and some of those people you can talk to without having any judgment.
Aaron Hall:Yeah.
Mayor Faron Young:You know, so like they they know you're trying to learn and they're willing to teach or or give their advice, and it's very helpful to new council people. It's extremely uh beneficial.
Aaron Hall:Yeah, yeah, I agree. Speaking of when you were new and starting off, I want to talk about what I call, I don't know if this is the right term, but to me I call it almost like your style of being a mayor because you're very involved in the community. There's things that I didn't know you knew were happening, and then you're there to support it and to be a part of it.
Mayor Faron Young:Well, uh, you know, I made the commitment to be here for the citizens and and uh to be out front. Yeah. So to be visible and uh to support what I can. It's important to me. And uh, you know, because I grew up here in this city, I love the city, I love the people in this city, and I want to do my very best to give what I got. Yeah.
Aaron Hall:I just I I think that it's so important, and it's something that I just really admire about you is for every you know, proclamation you read and and photo that you take in this official capacity, let's say at like a council meeting, sometimes people don't see like you and I like I I have this memory, it's one of my favorites. There was a it might have just been open gym, and there were some we were over there, it happened to be over there, and and we kind of stuck our heads in. And you end up in a conversation with these kids about Pokemon cards, and I and I because they pulled them out. I don't know if you remember this, but they had them all in their pockets and they're showing you, and and I just loved that because it just showed there's so many layers to what a mayor has to do.
Mayor Faron Young:Oh, yeah, there's so many people you you want to touch, you want you want to listen to, you want to know what they're thinking, how they feel. Yeah. And it it it doesn't matter what age they are, they all got things going on in their life, and to be able to just take a moment and and share anything you can with them is is beneficial.
Aaron Hall:For sure. Yeah. Probably most people when they run for elected office, they think about council meetings and stuff like that. Uh and I it's just it's interesting how enveloping the position of mayor is, and it goes so far beyond just the quote unquote official duty.
Mayor Faron Young:Well, I I got into this because I wanted to help. Yeah. You know, and I volunteered with the with the Sisters on Patrol for seven years before I stuck my head in in the ring of being the mayor, but I also sat on the crime board for about seven years as well. So I had some insight about what things were were like. I'd I'd been watching Mayor White and Amber Munoz and some of the other council members for a long time. And and I decided, yeah, somebody said you should run for mayor, and I was like, I I'd been thinking about it, but you know, sometimes you just have to hear it from somebody else. Yeah. And uh so I stuck my uh hat in a ring and here we are. Here we are. It's been it's been a heck of a ride so far. It's been good. Yes, sir. I've really, really enjoyed it.
Aaron Hall:I have a a new thing that I that I want to do, and it's felt to me really that you were a perfect person to start this this little it's like a segment within a segment for me. And and I I'm calling it in my head at least favorite places. And you've been around White Settlement forever. And I really wanted to ask you about somewhere that stands out to you as like one of your favorite places around here. And and it's uh it's wide open. I don't know if that means your favorite place to grab a burger or if it means you know somewhere that has some significance to you. But I don't know if you have somewhere that you could pinpoint that you would, you know, be able to say this is this spot here is one of my favorite places.
Mayor Faron Young:I believe Central Park is probably my most favorite place because you know, growing up as a kid, life focused around that those ball fields and that pond, you know, and I lived just a couple of blocks away. And they, you know, it was just something that I gravitated to. I met a lot of good people in that park. It's still a beautiful park. It is, yeah. And so it's one of our our city's best resources, I believe.
Aaron Hall:And you you did a lot of coaching, little league, softball, stuff like that as well, right? I did. Yeah, so you you spent a lot of time up there, I would imagine, through all that. Uh spent some time in that park. Yes, sir. It's funny because you don't always think about how your lives crisscross around here. But I would imagine that there was a day that you were coaching a game out there that that I was crawling through the little sewer pipes while my brother was playing as well. Because me and my cousins, that was I think we spent half our childhood crawling under is that little George Street or whatever that little bridge is as it comes in. Yes. We were probably absolutely not supposed to be down there. But if you're listening, kids, don't do as I did, but that isn't as I did, you know.
Mayor Faron Young:We were always down there when the when it rained. Of course, now you can't be in these creeks when it rains because it's so the water's so swift and it's uh totally different than it was when we were kids. Absolutely. That's cool though. So you do not want to be down in those creeks when we're having the rain. Don't do it.
Aaron Hall:Absolutely. It seems like Veterans Park gets a lot of focus and attention, and rightfully so. It's a great space and it's used by so many different organizations. But I'm drawn to Central Park as well because I think a lot of us played little league there, and you know, you spend so much time there as you grow up, it just kind of sticks with you.
Mayor Faron Young:Yes, well, you know, it was like I said, it was back when I was a kid, it was the only park we had. So, like you said, Veterans Parks gets a lot of uh accolades, and you're right, it is a beautiful park, but it's not the park that I grew up in. There you go. And it's just a different perspective, you know, uh how how you grow up when you grow up. I'm sure there's kids growing up now that that love Veterans Park. Yeah, yeah.
Aaron Hall:My nephews, their favorite park is the Saddle Hills Disc golf park. Yeah. Because we, you know, spent so many so much time out there, you know, playing disc golf that that that's the park for them that they kind of remember most.
Mayor Faron Young:You know, it's a beautiful park. It is. If you get a chance to walk it, it's really a beautiful park. Yeah. And there's a lot of people that utilize that disc golf park.
Aaron Hall:Yeah, you if you don't play disc golf, sometimes you don't realize how busy that place is. Yes, absolutely. And it is it's really when they have their league nights or when they run a lot of tournaments get run out there now, more this year than I've seen in maybe ever. Right. And and I love it. As a disc golf player, it's great to see. If you're not into that sport, you don't realize kind of the gym that we have here in our park system. It's really one of the the most desired disc golf courses in the area.
Mayor Faron Young:That's what that's my understanding. I don't play disc golf myself, but uh I do see people utilizing that park a lot. And here in Watson, we got a lot of great parks, and most people come from the outside our city to enjoy our parks.
Aaron Hall:Yeah, we're blessed with parkland. I spent it feels like I've spent the whole last like nine months of my life working on the the pros plan, the parks and recreation open space master plan for for all of you out there listening. So I'm like, I I'm I've got all of the park stats kind of sunk into my head, and we are really we have like a wealth of parkland here for given our like comparatively to our size, it's really incredible that we've been able to do so much with parks and hold on to so much green space here.
Mayor Faron Young:Right. I believe I've heard in passing that we probably have more parks in our city than than most cities in in the county. And if you're you're out on a beautiful spring morning or fall even fall evening, those parks are full. Yeah. They really are. You know, with the way things are today, most kids are in with the video games, but they still utilize our parks. Yes, sir. Yeah, so it's it's good to see. I agree. Yeah. We're glad we can provide that here in White Settlement.
Aaron Hall:Before I let you go, I had a a fun question. I wanted to ask you about a live event that you've seen. It could be a concert, a play, so you know, anything like that. Is there something you have that has just stuck with you through your life and and stands to this day as like a favorite live event that you've seen?
Mayor Faron Young:Well, I've always enjoyed ball games. But far as the events here in the city, the recent wrestling events has been a lot of fun. I agree. You know, and and to see the kids and and even the adults out there yelling for their favorite wrestler, the bad guys, the good guys. Yeah, they're having so much fun at that event. Yeah. And of recently, that's been my favorite takeaway. Awesome. Now, and I'm not gonna discount that haunted trails last year was very impressive to me. I had a really good time, and I'm really looking forward to the next one coming up here in October.
Aaron Hall:Absolutely. Same here. Well, I just want to take a second here and and again say thank you for sitting down. It's a new communications tool for us here, this podcast, and so it's really special to me to get to kick it off with you, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Faron Young:Well, uh thank you. I I appreciate you letting me get to have the opportunity, you know, and Aaron, uh, appreciate everything you do here for the city. A lot of people, you know, they they know who you are, but you're always back and very back of everything, taking photos and stuff like that. Thank you for documenting all the uh events here at the city. You've you've done an awesome job. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. You've been a valuable help to the mayor.
Aaron Hall:I appreciate that. It's been a lot of fun. Like I said earlier, it's been a good ride, and I'm excited that it's still going.
Mayor Faron Young:We got more to do. Yes, sir. We're not done yet.
Aaron Hall:Alrighty. Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. If you follow the city's social media, you've probably seen some of our posts lately about a new wrestling company that has been holding events here at our rec center called Trinity Championship Wrestling. As a lifelong wrestling fan myself, it's been a lot of fun to get to be a part of those events and meet the people involved. And it's also just so exciting to have something new and interesting happening here in the city, an event that you don't really see happen in white settlement very often, stuff like this. So I thought it would be fun to sit down with John Gilbert, the owner of Trinity Championship Wrestling, and get some insight into who he is, who this company is, and some of their philosophies on bringing wrestling to a smaller community like ours. I spoke with John before their event here at the Rec Center last month. I hope you enjoy. And and thank you for being here. We have John Gilbert, who's the owner of Trinity Championship Wrestling. So, first I just want to say thanks for agreeing to be on here, John.
John Gilbert:Hey, thank you for having me.
Aaron Hall:We're super excited, as you know, because we've been talking about it a lot, to have some live local, independent Texas wrestling going on around here. And so, first of all, I just want to talk about uh your yours is a new company. Uh you have a few events under your belt now. How's that been going? What have your early experiences been like? Just all of that.
John Gilbert:Uh so really like everything's been going great. My my biggest like uh compliment would be the backing of white settlements, the city in general. Like you can't really go anywhere in Texas or I'm from Kentucky, anywhere in Kentucky and get the support from the city like what you do here. So I feel like right now, like we're in a good spot with the backing of the city and how good the shows are and just the whole community coming out. We couldn't ask for a better crowd. So last show was really good. We're hoping for an even better one going forward.
Aaron Hall:Awesome, awesome. So have there been any like I know you've you've been wrestling and correct me if I've got this wrong, uh, since 2020, right? Yes, yes. And and so you've been around a lot of promotions and all of that. Is there anything, any challenges so far that have maybe like surprised you or that you were you've kind of had to deal with that you weren't expecting?
John Gilbert:Um I I feel like the biggest biggest challenge is always cancellations across everything. It's just like your normal job. If you're a supervisor or you have people working under you, when somebody calls out, it puts you in a bind. And that's that's like the number one right now. It's just everybody canceling. Well, not everybody, but you get a few guys that are important canceling, and then you're scrambling two days before to find a ring.
Aaron Hall:Yeah. You know, so yeah, the the things that people don't normally think about.
John Gilbert:Yeah, you show up to a show and you're like, oh, there's a wrestling ring, curtains, and it's like, yeah, but you don't understand that me and my wife drove four hours last night to pick up a ring and drop the trailer off at midnight to go home and sleep and wake up and attend the fit uh the kids' fish today, you know. So there's a lot that goes into it. And some of it, some of it in the moment, that car ride to Athens last night, it wasn't the best car ride. Sure. But you know, after that, we we made it, we made it through.
Aaron Hall:There you go. There you go. See, and that's a good uh for a wrestling fan like me, that's a good I just assume there's you know, oh, there's the wrestling.
John Gilbert:Yeah, you just assume, hey, there's a wrestling ring. They have a wrestling ring. You know that that's not the case in 95% of the companies.
Aaron Hall:You mentioned being at Kidfish, and one thing I'm I'm gonna just immediately make you uncomfortable is I really wanted to thank you for the way that y'all have been involved with the community. I mean, this is a new partnership for the city, you know, what a a few months, really, as the time we're recording this, two or three months.
John Gilbert:Yeah, three months.
Aaron Hall:And and it's just already seeing the way that y'all are willing to go out, go above and beyond. And it's funny because we've before we started recording, you're already talking about like you're not doing this to post on social media, you're not doing this stuff to just get a bunch of credit, and then I'm gonna turn around and give you a bunch of credit just because it means a lot. I I've lived here my whole life, my family's here, and I'm at all these events. Uh, you know, that's my life. And and so seeing how y'all have just embraced the community, again, not trying to make you uncomfortable or anything.
John Gilbert:Hey, I'm I'm gonna do one more for you. I'm I'm gonna get a little bit personal if that's right. Sure, let's do it. So I grew up, my father passed away when I was 15 months old. So I grew up without a father. Okay. And there was this company in Kentucky called the World Wrestling Alliance. They ran shows in their backyard every Saturday. Wow. Free of charge. So if you look at like the statistics, the statistics of a kid growing up without a father that ends up in jail is higher than a kid that that has a father and grows up. So that was like my my thing that I looked forward to every weekend. And unlike Texas, Kentucky requires you to have a license to wrestle. Nobody there had one.
Aaron Hall:Right, right.
John Gilbert:So for two years, there was no wrestling because they had to go appeal before the state, apply for a license, all that. So in that time, like there was nothing for for the kids. And then when they when they were able to run shows again, the city really didn't back them.
Aaron Hall:Right.
John Gilbert:You know, so then the city that had something for the kids every Saturday had nothing. They demolished our bowling alley, closed our movie theater, so there was nothing. But that's sort of like the same way here. Like there's some things for the city for the kids, but then it it don't like some of the kids are left out. Some kids don't like fishing. That's cool. Some kids don't like swimming, that's cool. But some kids like pro wrestling.
Aaron Hall:Oh yeah.
John Gilbert:You know, so if you can bring in, if you can bring in the community like that, it's a it's bigger than like pro wrestling too. Like pro wrestling and fishing have nothing that goes together. But hey, there might be somebody out there that don't have anything to do on a Saturday night. It's like, oh, there's a wrestling show down the road.
Aaron Hall:Right.
John Gilbert:So once you get that partnership, like you're gonna you're gonna keep on to it, especially if it's a good one.
Aaron Hall:Oh yeah.
John Gilbert:You know, and like I feel like we have a really great partnership with the city, you know, so why why not show up and help out?
Aaron Hall:Absolutely. Well, it's it's uh it's noticed and appreciated for sure. I want to talk about guys that wrestle because i this is a part-time thing for most of these guys. It's a tough life. I mean, it's it's it's not always the greatest pay, it's not always the easy on your body. I and I know you know you've wrestled in multiple states, like you do a lot of traveling. Why do the guys do it? Like, and just in your opinion, as somebody who does it as well, and now somebody who's running a company and bringing these guys in, you know, where does that love come from?
John Gilbert:So I would say it's it's the same as like you love a football team or a basketball team, or you love going and playing golf, or you love meeting up with your friends and playing basketball or video games. It's you have that like sort of addiction to it. You get that adrenaline rush, you know, and some people are just theatrical and they love like performing, you know, because wrestling wrestling is a theatrical performance. Oh yeah. You know, right now I'm talking to you, I'm a really calm guy, but tonight I'm not. I'm gonna go out there and hoot and holler and wrestle a 63-year-old man, you know. So it's like after that, like you you don't you you don't ever get that quote unquote high unless you're out there, you know. It's completely different. So I feel like a lot of people just uh in a wrestling term chase that high. Right, you know, and like they they've gotta keep doing it, and they fall in love with it, and sometimes it means more to them than their family. Right. So then they they travel a bunch and then they go from there.
Aaron Hall:So one thing that was really cool as we've got to know some of your roster uh of of stars and and wrestlers is they really you like you said, you mentioned the the 63-year-old Hoss Holding, you know, who is one of my favorite stories in wrestling. Because I mean, he's by a lot of considerations, he's not a veteran necessarily, because he started what 58?
John Gilbert:Yeah, he just started recently.
Aaron Hall:We I think we started around the same time, which is just insane to me and so cool. And then you have you know the young guys that are cutting their teeth and and getting into it. But what was so cool is just how together they all are, and and it was really neat to see how they are helping each other, talking. I mean, you know, who sets up these wrestling rings we're talking about? It's the wrestlers, yeah, uh, by and large, who were over there sweating it out. And if you've never seen a wrestling ring constructed, I mean, that's a lot of steel, that's a lot of plywood and big planks, and that's heavy. That's hard work before they go out there later that night and do more hard work, you know. And it's really cool to see that commitment that they have.
John Gilbert:Yeah, so so to like give you guys a little input about like a little insight. Uh, my call time where I require all my wrestlers to be there is 2 p.m.
Aaron Hall:Wow.
John Gilbert:The show don't start till seven. Yeah. So that's five hours that they have to be at the building, setting up the ring, setting up the entranceway, setting up chairs. So it it takes a lot of like personal commitment to to do it. So, you know, there's a lot of like time commitment too. Like you have to sacrifice time with your family to to do the shows, you know. So that's like one of the unsung things. As we were talking about before, you you're a wrestling fan, you show up, you're like, oh, the wrestling set up. You never think, oh, how'd that get there?
Aaron Hall:Yeah, who did that?
John Gilbert:You know, or then if you do, you're like, oh, they have they there's probably people that do that, and the people are the guys that's in there performing. Yeah, exactly. You know, so they have a long night, and then after you guys leave and you're probably at home changing clothes, we're still here tearing down the ring, putting it on the trailer, and driving away.
Aaron Hall:Yep, there you go. Yeah, a lot more goes into it than people realize, which is true of most things, but but wrestling's a very unique pursuit in in the way that it works. And I'm I'm really fascinated by it, and it's really cool to get some of your insight.
John Gilbert:It's it's like a big brotherhood. Yeah. You know, it's like you're you're family, but you're not blood. There you go. You know, a little insight about Haas. So I was in the TV show Young Rock. Really? I was in the last episode of the second to last scene of the entire show. You just see my backside walk in front of the camera. But when I was leaving, that was the first time that the next weekend I was driving down to Texas, I can't remember the city, to wrestle Haas for the first time ever. Okay. And this was back 20 2021, maybe it was during COVID because I remember you had to still wear a mask. So I remember Haas called me and he was like, Hey, you know, I'm Haas. I just wanted to get to know you. And I was like, Okay, cool, you know, whatever. And then he was like, Can I pray for you? Wow, okay. And I was like, Yeah, sure. And he was like, Well, I do that before I wrestle anybody, you know, and I was like, All right. And so ever since then, like me and Haas have had this sort of friendship where when I moved down here to Texas to be with my wife, Haas was the first one I messaged, was like, Hey man, can you help me find a job? Like he's in Castorville, but he's uh he does like environmental science stuff, like super, super high up in this company. So I was like, Can you help me find a job? And he was like, Yeah, and he vouched for me through his own job, not knowing what kind of worker I was. Wow, right, you know, so it's like there's a lot of there's a lot of good guys in wrestling that would do anything for for one of their quote unquote brothers, yeah, you know, and like you can't like the bond in wrestling is so good that it shows into the show. Like I wrest I wrestle Hoss tonight, but me and Hoss are really good friends, you know. So it's like, but we also have this three, four year rivalry that we need to put to to rest. There you go, you know, so it's just cool like taking a step back and like looking at it from a fan's point of view, like hey, this has been building for four years, and the the people of White Settlement probably don't know it, but it's still like something me and Hoss knows like we've beat each other up, you know, hit each other with cowbells and all kinds of stuff, you know, and like tonight's the the end of it, right?
Aaron Hall:Which is awesome.
John Gilbert:So it's all like pretty cool watching it all come together. There you go. With somebody that I consider one of my best friends, yeah.
Aaron Hall:Yeah, who you get to beat up now, you know.
John Gilbert:So hopefully put them in a retirement home afterwards. But you know, but we love you. We love you all.
Aaron Hall:Okay, so the next thing I got for you, John. I need your before I can let you go, is I need your top four, your Mount Rushmore. All-time wrestlers. I know I'm putting you on the spot, but we didn't talk about this beforehand.
John Gilbert:So that's that's really weird. So, like, my four is not like their traditional four. Okay, I would put Shawn Michaels up there just because in the 90s his attitude was horrible, but his dangly earrings, his his gear coming out to the ring, that's what like made me a fan of his. Uh Big Boss Man.
Aaron Hall:Oh, yeah.
John Gilbert:I personally know his daughter, Lacey. I'm thinking about bringing her in for a show one time. That I think that would be pretty cool.
Aaron Hall:Yeah, that would be cool.
John Gilbert:Yoko Zuna.
Aaron Hall:Okay. Big man.
John Gilbert:I love Yoko. He uh I try to simulate a lot of Yoko stuff, and then my fourth would always be hard, but I'd have to put Stone Cold up there. Okay, yeah, you know, because Stone Cold is the most relatable wrestler. Like who don't go to work and want to give their boss a stunner.
Aaron Hall:Well, my boss listens to this podcast.
John Gilbert:So you're not gonna answer that.
Aaron Hall:Yeah, I'll stay out of this one.
John Gilbert:Yeah, you know you would not give your boss a stunner.
Aaron Hall:Absolutely. I'll give him a handshake and we might go out to dinner, you know, take him, take them to lunch, you know. So for someone who's not into professional wrestling, what would you say to them to encourage them to come out to one of the upcoming Trinity Championship wrestling events? Um, how would you encourage them? What would you say uh just as an invite to come out?
John Gilbert:Um, I would just say it's i if you like if you like um if you like movies, if you like a an action-packed movie, it's about the same as a wrestling show. You have drama, you have storylines, and you have action. You know, and so you know, realistically, like wrestling's not for everybody. So I wish there was something that I could tell everybody and they'd be like, ooh, I'm gonna come to that.
Aaron Hall:Right.
John Gilbert:You know, but so unless like you have like a friend that comes out and says, Hey, you w you want to go check out this wrestling show tonight, you know, then you might get 'em. But just try it out. You know, you won't know if you truly like it unless you unless you go watch it.
Aaron Hall:Yeah.
John Gilbert:You know, so No, that's good.
Aaron Hall:And and it's like to me, it's one of those things like I'm not into soccer.
John Gilbert:Yeah.
Aaron Hall:I don't want to watch soccer on TV. I don't have a favorite soccer team. The few times I've seen live soccer, it's really fun. Yeah. And in person, like you can follow it, you you see how hard these guys are working, and and wrestling, even though I am a fan of it on television, to me, it translates so well live. I mean, it's so much fun. And and we saw that, you know, in in y'all's debut event here. It's just, and you've got people who are old and young and all everything in between, and it's just they're having fun and they're dancing with Hawks and they're doing the the alligator chomp and you know, all that stuff, and they're they hating they're hating Cam Putter, and you know, it's it's beautiful.
John Gilbert:Yep. You know, and hey, we have some pretty cheap tickets. You know, W comes to town and their their cheapest tickets are triple R's. Oh, yeah. If not more than lately.
Aaron Hall:I've looked at prices lately, and it's you're you're breaking the bank a little bit to go to those shows. Yeah. Versus 12 bucks, let's come out to the rec center and have a great time and see something.
John Gilbert:Well, you're gonna get that one-on-one connection. Yeah, you know, you're gonna have that interaction. If you stand up and you start screaming at Cam Putter, he's gonna say something back to you. Compared to WWE, you stand up, you scream at him, they're not gonna acknowledge you.
Aaron Hall:Right. You know, so so speaking of live wrestling, you will be back, Trinity Championship Wrestling on October 11th at the Rec Center. The event is called Aftershock.
John Gilbert:You know, so that's gonna be that's gonna be a really action packed card. Awesome, you know, and I'm excited, I'm excited to come back for light settlement and hopefully pack out the rec center. There you go. That'd be pretty cool.
Aaron Hall:So you heard it there first, and we again we just wanna thank you for everything you're doing in our community. Thank you for taking the time. Uh I know this is a busy day for you, so thanks for sitting down to record for the podcast. And uh just thanks for being here.
John Gilbert:Absolutely. Thank you all.
Aaron Hall:We have made it to the month of October, which means it is officially spooky season. I thought it would be a great idea to sit down with someone from the Weiss Settlement Public Library to talk about some spooky books, as well as one of the really great events they do each year, the Storybook Pumpkin Contest. I sat down with Kat from the library, who's gonna tell us all about it. We are here with Kat from the library. So, first thing, Kat, thank you so much for agreeing to join us here on the podcast.
Kat:Oh, yeah, I was happy to join you guys.
Aaron Hall:You are gonna give us some spooky book recommendations, and I'm really excited about this because I love scary books, and so I'm just gonna put it over to you and and say, uh, what do you what do you have for us?
Kat:Alright, so I had about three that I decided to bring in today. The first one is The Invisible Man by HG Wells. It's about a mad scientist who turns himself invisible and terrorizes the village that he hides out in because he can't turn himself back. That one's kind of a classic I think everyone is at least a little bit familiar with, but it's my personal favorite old horror story, and I feel like it doesn't really get as much attention now.
Aaron Hall:Yeah, you're right. Some of those classics are kind of being a little forgotten about on some of them, so that's that's a good one. I love that.
Kat:And my second one is Anya's Ghost by Vera Brasgull. It's a young adult graphic novel about a really lonely girl who befriends a ghost she finds in a well that slowly takes over her life. I really like how she writes young people and Anya's struggle making friends, but I also really love the art, it's really beautiful.
Aaron Hall:That's awesome. Y'all have quite a big audience for graphic novels over there, right?
Kat:Oh, definitely. And I think that's actually one of the things that's probably checked out the most, especially with younger readers. I really like them myself.
Aaron Hall:Yeah, I I think it's cool. Like some people when they think about the library, they still have such a classic picture in their head of what it is that goes on over there. If you haven't been in one in a long time, especially ours, there's a lot of cool stuff, like like you're saying, like graphic novels and comics and even audiobooks and stuff that people can enjoy. I really love that.
Kat:Oh, for sure. I think that's one of my favorite things too.
Aaron Hall:And then you've got one more book, right?
Kat:Yeah, my last one is The Ghost Who is Afraid of Everything by Nadia Ahmed. It's a really sweet little picture book about a ghost who works through his fears to enjoy Halloween with his family. I the art is super cute, and I really love how she writes working through your fears in a really realistic way that I think is really nice for kids.
Aaron Hall:That's nice. That's the best title ever, too. What was it again?
Kat:The Ghost Who is Afraid of Everything.
Aaron Hall:Yeah, I love it. That's awesome. So one of the things that makes the library so much fun is that depending on the season, there's always a lot of different events and things that y'all do over there. And one of the staples of the month of October is the storybook pumpkin contest. Am I calling it the right thing? Storybook Halloween pumpkin contest.
Kat:Yep. This year it's our 12th annual storybook pumpkin contest, and it's sponsored by the Friends of the Library running from October 14th to the 30th.
Aaron Hall:Can you tell us just a little bit about what this is and and how it works and how people can get involved with it?
Kat:Yeah, sure thing. It's all ages can participate by decorating a pumpkin like their favorite character from books, movies, television. Starting October 14th, and while supplies last, kids under 18 can pick up a free pumpkin from the library to use. But adults must provide their own pumpkin. Entries must be decorated, not carved. We use paint, paper, glue, pipe cleaners, fabric, or other craft items. You can get really creative with it. Entries can be returned to the library anytime after 4 October 14th for display. All entries must be turned into the library though by Tuesday, October 28th at 6 p.m. Okay. The winner will be announced though at the Spectacular Story Time on Thursday, October 30th at 4 30 p.m., the day right before Halloween. And there will be a grand prize and a runner-up in each age group, as well as a Mayor's Choice Award. The Spectacular Story Time is an all-ages event that includes stories and activities for the whole family, and you can definitely wear a costume there. And then after the event ends, you take your pumpkin home with you to enjoy on Halloween.
Aaron Hall:That's awesome. And and the thing that's super unique about this too, and I think sometimes people misunderstand, is it's not a pumpkin carving event. It's more like I don't know if you would call it a pumpkin decorating contest, but yeah, I would definitely say it's more of like a pumpkin decorating contest.
Kat:But it's one of my my personal favorite events we have at the library. It's so cute seeing all the pumpkins that come in. People get some really cool stuff put out there.
Aaron Hall:Yeah, it's really impressive how how much you can do. Like to me, when I first heard about this when I first started working here, I had this thought of like it sounded restrictive. If I'm like, oh, you're not carving. But then you see how creative and how amazing some of these creations are. It's such a really cool thing. And even if you're not gonna get involved, it's worth going over to the library to check these out as they start getting displayed throughout the month. It's really fun.
Kat:Oh, yeah, definitely. I think even if you aren't participating, one of the most fun parts is just to like look around like closer to the day and see all the pumpkins that have been submitted. It's like one of my favorite parts.
Aaron Hall:That's awesome. So, Kat, thank you so much for being here, and we appreciate you sharing your book recommendations and the information about story book pumpkin contest, and just appreciate you uh sharing those with us, and we hope to have you on here again sometime.
Kat:Yeah, thank you. It was really nice being on here, and sharing stuff is one of my favorite things too, do there you go.
Aaron Hall:All right, awesome. As we close things out for our very first episode, I want to say thanks to all of the guests and, of course, all of you out there who were listening. I hope you enjoyed the show and that you'll stick around, but we're gonna continue to grow, and I believe this will get better and better. Before I say goodbye, I want to remind you of some of the events coming up this month. National Night Out is happening Tuesday, October 7th at Veterans Park from 6 to 8 p.m. You can come meet your public safety teams, organizations from around the area. It's just a great time to hang with the community and have some fun. On October 18th, we're holding the second annual White Cane Walk. This is a chance to bring awareness to the challenges that visually impaired members of our community have in their everyday lives as they try to get around. This is an important cause to our mayor, and I hope you'll come join us for this one. It's really special time. Then we have haunted trails. Hold on, let me do that again. I've got a button for this. Then we have Haunted. There you go. Haunted Trails. This is at Central Park on October 25th from 5 to 9 p.m. There will be a trunk retreat. You can walk around the haunted trail. We're gonna set up a whole day of the dead section. Food trucks, games, activities. It's gonna be a big deal. Last year was our first time doing it. It was a lot of fun. There was a huge turnout. Oh, and and yours truly will be handling the DJ booth this time around. First time ever behind the booth. So if you like the tunes, be sure to swing by and say hello. And finally, you have back the boo on October 29th from 6 to 8 p.m. The police department puts on this Halloween event, and it's a great chance to have some more Halloween fun in a safe and controlled environment. You can find more information about all of these events and more by visiting the city's website. You're gonna find that at wstx.us. And that is what's happening, White Settlement. Thank you for tuning in, and I'll talk to you again next month. Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and may not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the City of White Settlement.
