Longtime Radio Personality Marv Luten interviews guests, shares community updates, National and Local sports and more. The Marv in the Morning Podcast is a production of O’Quinn Media.
For guest or sponsorship opportunities, email tracy@oquinnmarketing.com or marvinthemorning53@gmail.com
— Automated Transcript —
**Marv in the Morning Podcast**
**Intro**
Welcome to the Marv in the Morning podcast. Now, here’s Marv.
And we welcome you to another episode of the Marv in the Morning podcast on the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast site. Brought to you by Three Brothers Meat Company at Lynn Creek, Bayles Construction, the Bank of Crocker, Paul’s Furniture, Shelter Insurance Agent Dave Hollard of Richland, St. Robert Auto Supply, Siegrist Toyota, the Pulaski County Health Center, STR Glass of St. Robert, the VFW Post 3168 of Leakey, and TK’s Pizza.
Well, we are now more than halfway through the seventh month of 2026. And as I’ve said many times, time is flying by so stop and smell the roses along the way. And that last statement is mostly directed at yours truly because as I’ve mentioned in previous podcasts, I’m the world’s worst at it. Farm work keeps me busier than I want to be and visits with friends seems to be escaping me as the weeks go by so fast.
**National News**
In some national news, we are apparently back in a conflict with Iran after a brief ceasefire and brief is the keyword here. The Iranians are blocking off and shooting at ships trying to leave the Strait of Hormuz. That’s triggered the US to get back after the attacks. Gas prices in our neck of the woods dropped down to about three and a quarter a gallon, some places even lower before they jumped right back up the day the US attacks started again, and that apparently is going to continue.
The flooding that took place in the small town of Lesterville in Southeast Missouri was a disaster last week. Around Lesterville is part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways that includes the Current River, Black River, the Huzza, Courtaway, and parts of the Jack’s Fork and other rivers in the area. It’s also where Johnson’s Shut-ins and Elephant Rock Parks are. As a child, one of the church camps I attended was near Elephant Rock near Arcadia, Missouri, a beautiful place with some real big rocks, hence the name. Tom Sauk Mountain, where there is a dam, and Johnson’s Shut-ins are all part of the area.
It all dumps into the St. Francis and Black River. During the latter part of May and June, when the rivers come up due to spring rains, the St. Francis River, because of all the rocks, turns into a whitewater paradise, where many canoe and kayak races take place. But it’s not for the novice. There are wicked rapids and it takes experienced nerves, helmets for the head, and life jackets for the body for anyone attempting to navigate this part of Missouri’s waterways.
Several years ago, spring rains helped cause the dam at Tom Sauk Mountain to break, and water from the dam came down, wiped out a campsite on the Black River and if my memory serves me, might have taken a life or two. In other words, when rains come in buckets, people in these counties along these rivers take notice, as we do if you live along the Gasconade, Big Piney, or Ruby Du. No one ever expected 12 inches of rain to fall in that short period of time in Lesterville, and if you saw any of the news clips, it turned rivers into lakes. And while there was one death without the rescue efforts of the Highway Patrol’s Water Division, the Conservation Department, and all the local first responders, this could have been a lot worse. A tip of the hat and a big thank you goes out to those rescue workers.
Mother Nature has taken a turn for the worse in recent years, and a lot, of course, are blaming global warming or the change in the atmosphere thanks to human involvement. Whatever your view is on this, doesn’t matter. What does matter are prayers for those who lost loved ones, and prayers of thanks for those who gave to help.
**Community Updates**
To end the podcast, we’re going into the meeting room of the City of St. Robert and catch up with the Honorable James Breckenridge, the Mayor of St. Robert, who has some great news for area residents, and not only those who live in St. Robert. There’s some recreational building soon to be taking place, an update on the road construction, and we learn more about things to come which can benefit anyone living in this part of the Missouri Ozarks, including some events in August and September.
The mayor of St. Robert joins us next. He is one of my favorite guests on the podcast. He’s full of knowledge and is doing a great job as far as I’m concerned at improving the city that borders Fort Leonard Wood. The Honorable Mayor of St. Robert, James Breckenridge, comes up next.
**TK’s Pizza Ad**
TK’s Pizza in St. Robert, home of the original hand-tossed king, has been throwing dough in Pulaski County for over 40 years. Although a lot has changed in that time, TK’s delicious hand-tossed pizza has not. Taste our iconic pizza, our delicious toasted subs, mouthwatering calzones, huge fresh salads, gooey cheese bread, and more. At the same little spot, we’ve been throwing dough for decades. 743 Missouri Avenue in St. Robert. Call 573-336-FAST or order online at 336fast.com. We’ll have it ready when you get here. Come on, taste the TK’s tradition.
**Bayles Construction Ad**
When you’ve been in business since 1939 and when you do the math that’s 85 years, you’re doing something right. Bayles Construction in Waynesville has been doing things right for a long time and that continues today. Bayles Construction has rapidly grown from being Pulaski and neighboring county’s top residential builder to one of Missouri’s largest commercial general contractors. Today, they specialize in construction of educational and healthcare facilities, but their excellence in building does not stop there, completing an extensive number of projects such as banking, retail, industrial, civil, multi-family, food service, hospitality, transportation and municipal projects. Their offices in Waynesville and Springfield, Missouri allows Bayles Construction to cover a large portion of Central and Southwest Missouri. Explore their website and see what Bayles can build for you.
**WIC Ad**
WIC is here to help your growing family thrive. WIC is a supplemental nutrition program providing healthy foods, free nutrition education, and community referrals. If you are pregnant or have a child under the age of five, you or your child may be eligible for WIC. With a card to use at the store and more fruit and vegetable dollars, it’s a great time to be on WIC. Call the Pulaski County Health Center at 573-774-3115 to learn more. That’s 573-774-3115. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
**City of St. Robert Updates**
**Marv:** Again on the podcast, a frequent visitor, probably one of my most frequent visitors is the Honorable Mayor of St. Robert, James Breckenridge. Mayor, thanks for coming in again.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Absolutely. I’ve been looking forward to this day.
**Marv:** Yeah, we enjoy uh these podcasts because you are so full of information. I don’t have to do a lot of talking. So uh let’s get after it. Recently, uh and we’re going to talk a lot about what’s going on here in St. Robert. Recently, City Council meeting and there’s some stuff coming up in the way of one of my favorite things, sports.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yes, we do. And so, thank you very much for having me again. And yes, we’ve concluded our City Council Board of Alderman meeting last night, and a very successful meeting. And we’re going to talk about that here in a second. But real quickly, I just want to just say that, you know, one of my things, one of my priorities that I had when I uh took office was recreational spaces for the residents of St. Robert, for families, kids, adults of all ages to be able to have places to go and do things. And so, uh we passed two resolutions last night on City Council and and if you don’t mind, I’m just going to jump right into them.
**Marv:** You have, you bet.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Okay, so the first resolution that we did was um authorizing the uh City Engineer to conduct preliminary research, uh site evaluation, and a feasibility study for the proposed municipal basketball courts project. So we have three projects in the world of basketball that we want to do in 2027. And this feasibility study is going to give us an idea of how much it’s going to cost so we can allocate that money in our budget for next year. And those basketball areas are going to be, it’s going to be a full-court basketball court, which is located behind Mary’s County Bank. Uh there is some property back there. We already have a city park back there. And we have enough space with a big, huge thanks to Mary’s County Bank because a lot of folks might not know, but they did donate a portion of the land that we have back there to us in order to help us be able to put a full-court uh basketball court um back there. And for our kids to go out and play.
And then additionally, we’re going to do two half-court basketball courts. Um and I hope I get this right. One in the Platner Subdivision and one in the Bosa Subdivision. There’s already city parks that we have there, and so we’re going to take a portion of the land there and then make it a half-court basketball court for our youth to to be able to do. And so that’s the goal for 2027. And so last night, the aldermen were able or approved us to be able to spend the uh money to and it’s going to cost about $42,000 for the feasibility study for us to be able to get it all laid out engineer, structurally wise, and and for us to figure out how much that’s going to cost. But we’re going to make that happen in 2027, and I have a great confidence in the aldermen. They’re very excited about doing this and building um recreational spaces for our residents. And so we look forward to getting that feasibility study back and and being able to move forward with putting that into the budget for next year for those basketball courts.
Now, the big news is our next resolution. And and so this and this was uh, you know, one of the things that, you know, as I spoke to many residents out in the community, they wanted something to do for families, for kids to do. And of course, so I just started asking around. And one of the things that people wanted, and of course it is the number one growing sport in America, believe it or not, with kids of all ages, uh pickleball courts.
**Marv:** Pickleball.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Pickleball. Yeah, have you ever played?
**Marv:** No.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Okay, so don’t don’t doubt it until you do because I’ll tell you a quick story. About three years ago, my wife invited me to go play pickleball. And of course, I chuckled at her, and I laughed at her, and I smiled at her, and I said, “Sweetheart, I’m not that old enough yet to go be playing. I’m not retired yet. I’m not ready to go play pickleball.” And she’s like, “No, it’s more than just what you think.” And I was like, “Okay, whatever.” And so I went and tried and and it is fun. It is a fun game to get into and and believe it or not, there are kids of all ages that play. And in some of our bigger cities, there are actually venues, um like there’s one in St. Charles called Chicken and Pickle where you can go and eat and have drinks and play pickleball and cornhole, and it’s a big family thing.
Well, we’re not going to be able to do that um because obviously the city doesn’t do businesses. But we are going to build a public recreational space for the city of St. Robert and for the residents of St. Robert. And we’re going to do that in between the skate park and the St. Robert Community Center. And so last night, um a big, huge thanks uh to our aldermen who have been working very diligently um to making sure that everything was, you know, all the I’s were dotted and all the T’s were crossed to make sure that we were going to build a first-class facility and and that and then of course our city staff making sure that we budgeted the money for it and allocated the money for it in last year’s budget and then of course in this year’s budget.
Now, the bad news is we did apply for a grant to help us offset some of the costs for for the pickleball court and and unfortunately we did not get that grant. And I was I was extremely disappointed. But, you know what, you just picked up, we dusted ourselves off and we came up with a new plan and we were able to uh scrape enough money together to be able to get this pickleball court done. It will be a professional four courts pickleball court as you can see on the design here. Uh there will be a complete fenced around. There’ll be lights for evening play. Uh there’ll be fences in between each court. There’ll be concrete pads that will get to each court. And the beauty behind it is we’re going to make this 100% ADA uh compliant. Uh so that way no matter what your situation is, if you’re in a wheelchair or or whatever, if you want to go out there and hit some balls with your family or friends, you’re going to be able to do that. And we’re going to make sure that we have enough parking, enough handicap accessible parking to make sure that this venue, this public space for the city of St. Robert is going to be um for all ages.
Now, I’ve already gotten some questions on social media about the cost. And and so the cost is is is pretty big. And and so I I want to let people know and and so that way, you know, people don’t freak out. But but the cost is going to be over $700,000 for this project. People are going to say, “What? $700,000 for a pickleball court?” Well, it’s more than just a pickleball court. First off, it’s four of them. And there were some additional costs with the retaining wall that we have to build to be able to fit the pickleball court into the space that it’s required.
**Marv:** Yeah, because that is in a valley and you’re going to have water runoff.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Absolutely. From the community center and then of course on the hill there where the uh, I guess it’s a radio tower, big giant radio tower, that all slopes down into that area. And if you go down there, you would see where the water drainage comes. So, the engineers initially did not have that retaining wall in. And then they eventually they came back and said, “In order to protect your investments because that’s what this is. This is an investment into our community that’s going to be here for 10 to 15 years that our community is going to be able to use.” He goes, “In order to protect your investment,” he goes, “I recommend we spend the extra money, get the retaining wall built, divert the water from the community center and from the hill, and build it right the first time. That way you’re not having to repair it a year or two later.”
**Marv:** Well, that makes more sense than anything else because you’re right. Uh with the water, you’re going to have runoffs and you’re going to have problems.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yes. And and and the whole goal of us and I say us, I’m talking about myself and the aldermen and the city staff and including our engineers because our engineers have have put in a lot of work uh to make sure that this got done or is going to get done correctly. And that was getting it done the right way the first time. Getting it professionally done, so that way we’re not having to constantly make repairs on it every two years. And so what I mean by that is there’s technology out there. Have you ever been to a tennis court and you go out there and the it’s cracked?
**Marv:** Sure.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yeah. So the technology that we’re going to use for this and I’m not an engineer and I’m not an expert on it. So I’m going to do my very best to explain it the way our engineers explained it, is that there is like tension rods, not not just a normal rebarb that you put in concrete. It’s actually tension rods of some sort that keep the pad um together. And it is one of those technologies that a lot of places out in around the United States use for their tennis courts, pickleball courts, basketball courts, because what it does is it prevents the cracking and the maintenance and the sealing that you’re going to have to do every two to three years where we’ve seen courts get refurbished and then a year or two later they’re already cracking and stuff like that. And so, we we decided um collectively as a group to spend the little bit of the extra money to do it right the first time to just to provide a a top-quality product for our residents. And I I tell you, our residents deserve this. They deserve this, they deserve the basketball courts. Our youth, our kids, our adults, jokingly, I got to tell you this quick joke. About a year ago when we first started this uh conversation about pickleball courts, my Public Works Director came in and told me one day, he’s like, “Uh, Mayor,” he goes, “uh, you’re not going to believe this funny story.” I was like, “What’s that, Steve?” He goes, “Uh, well, my in-laws came to visit me and came to stay with us for a couple of weeks.” And their first question, well, really their second question. Their first question was, how are you doing, etc. But their second question was like, “Hey, where are your all’s pickleball courts?”
Again, number one growing sport in America. And so we’re very excited as a city of St. Robert to bring this to to to the community. We hope to have a groundbreaking ceremony um here in the next couple of weeks, I’m hoping. Um as our engineers put out the bids for this amazing recreational space that we’re going to bring to St. Robert.
**Marv:** Well, that was going to be my next question. When is this going to be happening? But you just answered that. I was watching the uh NBA Finals and the New York Knicks, of course, won the NBA championship. So I was and I can’t remember whether it was Shaquille O’Neal or Charles Barkley uh doing a little synopsis saying, “New York is a basketball city.” He goes, “We don’t have the room in New York to put baseball fields, softball fields, football fields. We have the room to put basketball courts and that’s why New York is such a basketball crazy city because everybody plays because it doesn’t take a lot of room to put a half court or a full court basketball court up.” And that’s what you guys are doing here for our kids. Good job.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Absolutely. We’re super, super excited. And my promise to the community, by the end of 2027, we’ll have all those projects done, of course, with the help and support of our aldermen, because they’re the ones that are going to vote it through. Um but we’re going to be fiscally responsible to make sure that we get this done and give a place for our kids to hang out.
**Marv:** Let’s get an update on the uh construction work that’s going on here in St. Robert. Of course, there’s still construction going on on Missouri Avenue. How is that going?
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yeah, it’s going really well. So there were two so just to make sure everybody knows that this is a State of Missouri MoDOT contracted uh job. This is to make sure that all the sidewalks are ADA compliant. And so, um it it comes out of state dollars. It’s not coming out of St. Robert dollars. And so there were two different contracts. One for the sidewalks along uh Route 66, and then there was another contract for the sidewalks down Missouri Ave. Well, the Route 66 sidewalks are done, as everybody can see. They’re starting to look good. The grass is starting to come up a little bit in the spots that they had to dig up. Um feedback from the residents that I’m getting is that they they love it. They’re absolutely loving that they can literally walk almost the entire St. Robert area. And so we’re very excited about that.
And now the second contract, they are making their way down. They are all the way down on the right-hand side, southbound, to the gate. They’re already down all the way to the bottom, um digging up and putting in road uh sidewalks and getting all that stuff done. And and I would say probably after the Fourth of July weekend, they will probably start northbound on Missouri Ave from the uh gate of Fort Leonard Wood and work their way north back up to Missouri Avenue. So, that’s going very well. I think the residents and the businesses are are really enjoying it. One of the one of the great things I have to say about that contract that MoDOT got with this one is they’re very quick. And so the businesses have have uh complimented that even though there’s a closure for their area in one area, there’s another avenue for people to get to their business. But then that that entrance way is done in a day or so and it’s been very quick.
Uh the other good news that we have and and we’re going to start uh seeing some stuff going on here pretty soon is that MoDOT reached out to us yesterday, I believe or the day before, and they’re going to uh start re-uh re-asphalting Missouri Route 66. And so I believe, if I’m not mistaken, they’re going to start down by the Big O Tires, Eagle Stop area, and work their way uh towards the Neon Park and then, of course, continue on all the way down Highway Z. So, there we’re still working with MoDOT on that but that’ll be good news. As Route 66 could be a little bumpy of a ride on certain areas.
**Marv:** Yeah, and some of those old cars might not be able to take some of that. Uh Exit 159 on I-44, the construction work is coming along actually a lot faster than I thought it was going to.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yeah, so it’s still projected to be done fall of 2027. And I so I think that the the climbing lane and the extra work that they’re doing on the eastbound portion of 44, I think that’s the one that’s going to take a little bit longer to get it to exactly where they want. But as you know, they just recently opened up the exit um at 159 from the bank there, exiting down with a new I want to say I think it’s a quarter mile or a half a mile on-ramp to get on to 44. So, I haven’t driven it yet because I’ve been kind of busy in St. Robert, but I look forward to actually going out there and trying it today to see how great it is. And so, but positive remarks so far.
**Marv:** I may be right behind you because I want to try that because that was one of the most dangerous.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yes.
**Marv:** Entrances on I-44 throughout, throughout the state of Missouri.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** I I would you’re absolutely right. I would almost go in the United States because I’ve been a lot of places in the United States and been on a lot of freeways and there is no other dangerous place like that that I’ve ever seen. So, great hats off to MoDOT and the state of Missouri for identifying that and allocating funds to get that done for us.
**Marv:** Something is coming to St. Robert and this has to do with the Internet. In the state of Missouri, there are a lot of rural communities. My house is one, uh that you don’t get cell service, you don’t get any unless you have a bird bath on your house. You have something coming in here called Ozark Fiber.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yeah, so we’re super excited. We’ve been working on this uh probably about a year now. We’ve been working with them and it is fully developed now. And we’re very excited to to announce that uh Ozark Fiber, which is a Missouri-based company, which I’m a huge fan of, that they invested over $2 million in infrastructure into the city of St. Robert to bring fiber optic internet to the area. And this expansion of advanced fiber optic internet service continues across St. Robert as infrastructure work progresses through the community.
Residents will be noticed might notice some construction crews installing new fiber lines as they as they the providers work to expand access to reliable high-speed internet for homes and businesses in St. Robert. And so if if you ever out by the Taco Barrel area, there’s a big giant internet tower or cell phone tower. Right below that, there’s a little piece of property that Ozark Fiber put their hub at, which is centrally located for the city of St. Robert. And you say, “Well, why is that important?” Well, that is important because they’re going to be able to service all of St. Robert. They’re going to even probably go into Waynesville here pretty soon and hopefully Fort Leonard Wood too to be able to provide this service. Um but they they’ve they’ve done a lot of infrastructure work. And and when I say $2 million, it it’s true. And so one of the things that they did is the the president explained to me. He says, “As long as you have power to your house, you’re going to have internet, no matter what’s going on at our at our transfer station or our hub there.” And the reason why is because they installed two backup systems to make sure that they never go without power for their internet systems. One of them is a 72-hour battery backup that will immediately kick on if that facility, that building loses the normal city power.
After 72 hours or in between there, they also put a big huge Generac system in there to provide generator service. And so the president touted to me was, as long as you have power to your home, you will have internet service. It’s a great new again, I’m not vouching for this Ozark Fiber. I’m not saying everybody to go sign up with. What I’m saying is is we are excited that we are able to bring something new to the city of St. Robert. Again, one of my uh things that I wanted to do was to bring new infrastructure uh to the city of St. Robert and to bring uh fiber optic internet uh is a huge thing for us. And we’re super excited and we’re just um hope that the residents will take advantage or at least look into it to see if they if it it meets their options.
**Marv:** I drove by their parking lot the other day and I thought it was a the city’s parking lot.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yeah.
**Marv:** With a lot of the city trucks, but then I looked at the emblems on the side and I’m going, “Well, who was that?” Well, now I know it’s Ozark Fiber.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** It is Ozark Fiber. And again, $2 million investment into our area, which is uh and huge. And again, they’re a Missouri-based company, so that that’s what I love about it.
**Marv:** We’ll take a quick break and we’re going to come back with the Mayor of St. Robert and we’re going to talk about Route 66, a big event coming up there, and there’s a campout coming up at the community center. Don’t go away.
**Paul’s Furniture Ad**
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**VFW Post 3168 Ad**
Meet you at the V. Is a popular saying in our neck of the woods, and for a good reason. VFW Post 3168 at Exit 150 on I-44 is a popular place, especially on Friday and Saturday night because it’s Steak Night from 4 to 9. Where folks come from miles around to get some of the best steaks at a price that makes even the most thrifty smile. With several cuts of juicy steaks cooked the way you like, complimented by salad, baked potato, and a veggie. Their canteen is open Monday through Thursday from 3 to midnight and Friday from 3 to 1. And they open at noon on Saturday and Sundays. Their kitchen is open from 5 to 9 Mondays through Thursdays with daily specials. And did I mention Steak Nights Friday and Saturdays? And there’s karaoke Tuesdays through Saturdays from 8 to close. Plenty of TVs to catch up on all the big games and a huge meeting room for rent for your special occasions. Queen of Hearts runs every Tuesday, and check out their website for Bingo Nights. And every second Saturday of the month, from 12 noon to 3:00 PM, they host a Veteran Service Officer event. Leakey VFW Post 3168, Exit 150 on I-44. See why more people are heading to the V every day.
**Shelter Insurance Agent Dave Holla Ad**
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**City of St. Robert Updates**
**Marv:** We’re back with Mayor James Breckenridge of the City of St. Robert, who’s become one of my frequent guests here because there’s a lot of stuff going on here in St. Robert. I don’t know, we’ve had I know two groups of cars. Uh antique, classic cars that have come through. One was uh the I think called the Great American Race recently, another one there was they said up to about, I don’t know, 6,000 cars that came through here. And I’ll tell you what, I was I was in seventh heaven looking at I saw every type of muscle car I think they ever made, including, you know, the Avante. I think that was a Studebaker. If I’m not mistaken, but we’ve had two groups, we’ve got another one at least one more coming through. And if you ride along Route 66, which goes right through the middle of St. Robert and Waynesville and Buckhorn, uh out to Leakey and on to uh Lacou County, on any given day, you can see some classic vehicles.
So what’s coming up this is in August?
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yeah, so we are doing our Route 66 Centennial Americana Edition celebration. It is our Route 66 Neon Fest that’s going to be happening on August 1st at the St. Robert Community Center. Now, there’s a lot of people ask, “Well, why August 1st?” Well, there was a lot of dates that we have thrown around and, you know, Fourth of July was a date that came and that maybe we can do it then. But what we didn’t want to do is, number one, we didn’t want to compete with any other events. And so we didn’t want to do another one to to just add to it. So, the committee, because this is not me. This is the actually the Route 66 uh Centennial committee, picked August 1st, Saturday, August 1st as the date that we’re going to honor and celebrate Route 66 Centennial um celebration. The theme is honoring the past and driving into the future is what we’re going to do. And so this event is going to be start to be our annual tradition, um that we will do every year in St. Robert. We plan to have live entertainment, classic cars, motorcycle displays, children activities, military and veteran showcases, a backyard barbecue competition, military working dogs and trick demonstrations, planning on JROTC exhibition, axe throwing. We’re going to have our traditional beer garden, bounce houses for kids and a lot more. But here’s the most exciting thing about this day. Of all of those great things that are going to be happening from 4:00 to 9:00 PM on August 1st, is we are going to be doing a fireworks display in St. Robert. Now, I’m not going to say it’s the first time ever in St. Robert that we’ve done a fireworks display, because I haven’t been around that long. But most people I talk to say that they they’ve never seen one in St. Robert. And so we’re very proud that uh our our committee got it across the finish line, got all the necessary paperwork with the city, with the fire departments and everything else, and was able to contract out and get us a fireworks display. So, that is how we’re going to cap the night out with a fireworks display in St. Robert to celebrate and honor our Route 66 um celebration.
**Marv:** Do you have any car clubs coming in for this that you know of?
**Mayor Breckenridge:** There there is, and I can’t remember the name of the car club. And I know the committee’s been working it, and I’m not quite sure the name of it because things are pretty fluid as they’re still trying to finalize the plans. But that is the plan. And and I know that just because I’ve been a part of some of the emails. So, the the committee’s done a great job, and they’re all St. Robert citizens, volunteers that are doing this. And so, it’s going to be a great event. So please mark your calendars August 1st from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the St. Robert Community Center, the ball field. We’re going to have food trucks and vendors and it’ll just be for a great afternoon to come out and not only celebrate Route 66 Centennial, but also come out and hang out and have some fun.
**Marv:** Are you going to have enough room up there?
**Mayor Breckenridge:** We will. We we we are we’re going to be utilizing every space available up there, which even part of it will be at the Neon Park.
**Marv:** Also coming up at the community center in St. Robert is the uh St. Robert Campout.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yes, we’re actually doing this one in September. It is 19 and 20 September that’s happening, and it another great event that we’re bringing to the city of St. Robert for our residents and for the community is the Great St. Robert Campout. And so you’re saying, “Well, what is a Great St. Robert Campout?” Well, this is a family-friendly event that will offer a weekend of outdoor fun, including games, demonstrations, a Chuck Wagon dinner, campfire programs, and a pancake breakfast. Families can bring a tent. They can enjoy an overnight camping experience, or if they need a tent, we can provide one as well. The committee’s been able to work that. But this is designed to bring the community together, and it’s all about enjoying the outdoors. And so we will be setting up on our ball field into kind of like a Chuck Wagon style circular formation like they used to do back in the days. And we’re just going to make the ballpark a little campground and give a family event that hopefully families will take advantage of. And if they want a camping experience, but they don’t really want to go camping, they want to do a little camping in the city, it’ll be a great opportunity for them.
**Marv:** What about campfires? Are you going to allow them?
**Mayor Breckenridge:** We’re going to have fire pits. So there will be no burning of the field because we’ve done a lot of work to keep that field green and and pretty and pristine for our uh baseball players and our soccer players and all that other good stuff. So, we are working on getting fire pits. And so if part of this uh program is, of course, you know, seeking donations from sponsors and stuff like that. And so the goal is to have fire pits for each family that comes there. So they can roast marshmallows and, you know, tell stories by the campfire per se and stuff like that.
**Marv:** Is there any cost for this?
**Mayor Breckenridge:** I I do believe there is. And I I’m I’m drawing a blank if I can’t remember. I think it’s like Oh, here it is right here. $25 per tent site for a 20×20 site. And the this is a drug and alcohol-free event. There’ll be no pets allowed. And there are 50 tent sites available. And so no RVs or trailers, it’s completely tents. And but if you don’t have a tent, don’t worry about it. We can get you that. We’ll take care of it for you. And the $25 is going to basically be covering the food and the fun for the family up to six folks. So the outdoor games will start at 12:00 PM. Uh the Chuck Wagon dinner will begin at 5:00 PM on Saturday the 19th. The campfire program will begin at 7:00 PM on the 19th. And then the families will wake up to a great pancake breakfast at 7:30 AM on Sunday.
**Marv:** Okay, sign up for this. How can they sign up if they want to?
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yeah, absolutely. That’s a great including the event on the 1st of August, if you’re a vendor or food truck or or even for the Great St. Robert Campout. All of these events can contact the Parks and Recreation Department. And they will get you taken care of. They will put you in contact with whoever needs to be contacted or if you’ve got to pay for a spot. They will definitely be able to take your take your money from you for that. So the Parks and Recreation is the main point of contact. And just to throw a disclaimer out there, if you see anybody out there on social media soliciting for vendor spots, that is probably spam. Or no, it’s not probably. It is spam. It is. There is no one soliciting vendor spots except for our Parks and Recreation Department.
**Marv:** We are about out of time. Anything else you want to toss out here that I might not have, and I’m always asking, what have I missed?
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Yes, well as you said, there there is always so much going on. And I want to thank you for allowing me to come on because this is a great way for me to be able to come and inform the residents. We we have done a lot of work in in our transparency of communication in the city of St. Robert. And so our social media presence has really increased to get the word out on certain things, whether it’s a change in route on our waste collections during a holiday week or whatever the case may be. But also with our new website, with our new City app, and then, of course, um this is the second month. So before it used to be just a newsletter, and it was a newsletter of maybe three to four to five pages. But we we now have the St. Robert Community Chronicle. It is a it is a basically like a newsletter but it’s eight pages already. And it continues to grow every month um as we build it. But you can access this document on our website, on our City app, on our Facebook page. Click the link, it’ll take you right to the uh Adobe PDF file that’s on our webpage. And it has a lot of great information from our employee of the month to our business spotlight of the month, um talking about our city offices that are being that will be closed uh for the um holidays. It talks youth sports, right? We got a lot of youth sports coming up with fall soccer registration that’s going to be coming up. We got a free youth golf clinic that is scheduled for July and August. And we have our very own Command Sergeant Major retired, Tommy Holland Senior, who is a certified golf instructor. He’s going to be coming out and doing free golf clinic lessons for for our youth. And so there’s just so much in the Chronicle, the newsletter. Check it out. Check out our webpage. Check out our City app. Check out our Facebook. We are doing our best to get information out to the city to keep our residents informed. And of course, if there’s ever a question or or or a concern, you can always find me on social media. And I would just ask, reach out to me, let me be the one to tell you what’s going on because I would much rather it come from me than the rumor mill that we so-call social media.
**Marv:** Mayor James Breckenridge, thank you so much for your time.
**Mayor Breckenridge:** Absolutely. Thank you very much for having me.
**Marv:** We’ll be right back.
**NAPA Auto Parts Ad**
Your Napa Auto Parts store, St. Robert Auto Supply has everything you need for your vehicle and more when you need it. Napa brand oil and antifreeze, windshield wipers and vehicle accessories, plus tools and equipment for all of your projects. From car covers and flashlights to car wash, air fresheners, sunshades and glass and tire cleaner, you’ll find it all at your Napa Auto Parts store. St. Robert Auto Supply, just off Missouri Avenue. Stop by today and get the good stuff. Seven days a week.
**Bank of Crocker Ad**
Since 1911, the Bank of Crocker has served the greater Pulaski County area. This year marks their 115th year. How do you last that long? Well, by giving their customers cutting-edge banking services with a hometown flair. You can do your banking from anywhere in the world with their convenient online banking. At the big banks, you’re just another number. At the Bank of Crocker, they know your name, maybe some of your family, and might even know the name of the dog sitting next to you in the drive-in facility. It’s called the personal touch, which is why they’re celebrating their 115th year as your hometown bank. And there’s four locations for your convenience in Crocker, Richland, Waynesville, and St. Robert. The Bank of Crocker. Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender.
**Siegrist Toyota Ad**
Hold up, this is good. If you haven’t been to Siegrist Toyota of St. Robert, you’re missing out. This is the place where buying a Toyota actually feels good. Great selection, friendly faces, and zero, I said zero, awkward pressure. It’s why drivers keep voting us Pulaski County’s number one dealership four years in a row. So whether you’re ready to buy today or just ready to smile, come by Siegrist Toyota of St. Robert, doing it the right way, the Siegrist way for over 56 years. Come see what all the talk’s about. Siegrist Toyota of St. Robert, the fun starts here, next to Walmart and at siegristtoyota.net.
**Marv in the Morning Podcast**
In sporting news, brought to you by Three Brothers Meat Company at Lynn Creek. Well, the World Cup is coming to an end. By the time we drop this podcast, we will know who is in the finals and third-place games. The semis were played this past Tuesday and Wednesday with England, Argentina, France, and Spain. The Brits face Argentina, Spain takes on their neighbor France. Saturday the semifinal losers will play for third place at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. The finals are in New Jersey at MetLife Stadium with the two winners of the semifinals. That’s on Sunday.
The games at the USA venues, Mexico, and Canada are done, except for the final four. The businesses in the cities are probably hoping the fans of the World Cup teams, especially those who own restaurants, bars, hotels, and gift shops, stay around for a little while longer and take in some of the amenities this country has to offer. In the US, fans of the World Cup teams brought in dollars these American businesses probably never thought about seeing. Because of these foreign visitors, and unlike the craziness you hear about overseas with the overzealous fans, it went pretty cordial and relatively quiet during the World Cup in all the venues. Those here in the US are probably hoping FIFA brings the World Cup back to North America sometime very soon in the near future.
In less than a month, the high school athletes will start their fall practices. Football, fall baseball for some of the smaller schools, fall softball, girls golf and tennis, volleyball, cross country, and boys soccer, along with a few other sports will be taking place, including girls swimming and diving. The Waynesville Tigers will have yet another new football coach this year and will be in the South Central Ozarks Conference for the last year. The following season, the Tigers break away from the South Central and reform the Ozark Conference with some of their closest neighbors, Camdenton, Rolla, and Lebanon, along with Springfield Central and Parkview. These are the current six, but more could be added before the 27-28 campaign.
St. Louis Cardinals and Major League Baseball are done with the All-Star break. That took place last Tuesday. In our last episode, I did not get into other national league All-Stars for the Cardinals because the National League added Cardinal closer Riley O’Brien and designated hitter Ivan Herrera to the roster. They did this after I recorded my week’s podcast, which cutting the episode earlier in the week to give my producer time to get it in on the web, does not allow for some last-minute changes, so my apologies to the Redbird closer and DH, certainly deserving. Cardinals begin the second half of the season five games over 500 at 50 and 45, eight and a half games back of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, three and a half behind the second-place Chicago Cubs. A couple of weeks ago, when we dropped this podcast, St. Louis was in the top spot for a wild card bid, but some tough competition now has them looking up at several teams they need to leapfrog to get a wild card spot, but there’s still plenty of time in the season, and we’ll see what the Cardinals do by the end of the month. The trading deadline. Will they go after some help, or will they let this season as is and build on what they’ve accomplished in what was billed as a retooling or a rebuilding season? Cards open the second half of the season in Arizona tonight as we drop this podcast on Friday the 17th.
Kansas City, on the other hand, continues in last place with a long road ahead to make the playoff spot for the Royals. They’re 29 games under 500 with 38 wins and 59 losses, and 13 games behind the AL leading Chicago White Sox. Back with the wrap after this.
**Three Brothers Meat Company Ad**
Need to fill your freezer and save some serious money? Well, that’s a problem Three Brothers Meat Company is happy to fix. We’re talking whole beef bundles, quarter beef bundles, and the Mighty Freezer Buster, stacked with beef, chicken, and pork, so good, you might start inviting yourself to your own house for dinner. These bundles are perfect for grilling, family dinners, or just beating grocery store prices with much better quality food. Check them all out on our Facebook page. They’re pinned right there at the top of the page. Call 573-346-5233 or just swing by and see us. 2179 State Highway A in Montreal.
**STR Glass Ad**
In these days of texting and emails, words, phrases, and names are shortened to letters. It doesn’t change anything, it just makes things easier. That’s the case of STR Glass, a St. Robert establishment since the 60s. Still the same great service when it comes to auto glass, windows, shower doors, and anything to do with glass. And when it comes to fixing chips in your windshield to prevent cracking, there’s none better. They’re still in the same location on VFW Memorial Drive and still have the same phone number, 336-4122. They’ve just shortened their name from St. Robert Glass to STR Glass, but will never shorten their services to you, the customer.
**Outro**
Well, that will do it for this week’s episode, brought to you by Three Brothers Meat Company at Lynn Creek, Bayles Construction, the Bank of Crocker, Paul’s Furniture, Shelter Insurance Agent Dave Hollard of Richland, St. Robert Auto Supply, Siegrist Toyota, the Pulaski County Health Center, STR Glass of St. Robert, VFW Post 3168 of Leakey, and TK’s Pizza.
A thanks to those sponsors, my producer, Tracy, for putting this together, and thanks to you, my podcast faithful, for allowing me to come into your lives for a short period of time. If you’re enjoying the Marv in the Morning podcast, we invite you to leave a review on whatever app you’re listening on. We would also love for you to share the episode with family and friends on your social media accounts. Be sure to follow our podcasts on Facebook, on the Marv in the Morning podcast site, and you’re also invited to join us on Facebook, on the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast group. This podcast is a production of Old Quinn Media.
Join me next week when we hopefully jump into autumn for a big event coming to Waynesville. Until then, stay cool and have a great week. Later.