Building Business w/ the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
The Building Business podcast provides compelling stories of the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce's journey, its steadfast commitment to the local community, and its forward-thinking approach to addressing the needs of businesses in an ever-changing landscape. It stands as an invitation to listeners to become part of a movement that values growth, connection, and the collective progress of the Mount Pleasant, South Carolina community.
Be prepared to be inspired, informed, and motivated, as we provide a rich tapestry of stories that celebrate the dynamic interplay of business and personal growth right here, in our own backyard.
Building Business w/ the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
Allison Hunt: Navigating History and Community at the Heart of Mount Pleasant
Join us for an insightful conversation with Allison Hunt, the Executive Director of Patriot's Point Development Authority, as she takes us through the illustrious history of the USS Yorktown and USS Laffey. These iconic World War II museum ships, stationed in Mount Pleasant, offer more than just a glimpse into the past. Discover how the Patriot's Point Development Authority is preserving history while contributing to the community through innovative partnerships and memorable events. Hunt shares her personal connections to this historical site, including experiences like a Boy Scout overnight and an emotional visit to the Vietnam exhibit.
The USS Yorktown is not only steeped in history but also serves as a vibrant community hub. From surviving the wrath of Hurricane Hugo to serving as a picturesque venue for various events, the ship's journey is as dynamic as it is storied. Explore the array of tours guided by veterans, offering authentic insights into naval history, and find out how lease revenues are channeled into maintaining these historic landmarks. With breathtaking views, the USS Yorktown is a must-visit destination, enhanced by a newly updated website designed to tailor visitor itineraries.
We also explore the exciting developments at Patriot's Point, such as the upcoming membership program and the transformation of the area into a major East Coast destination through the Patriot's Annex. In a heartfelt tribute to veterans, we'll hear stories from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society Museum and the impactful collaboration with the Ralph Johnson VA for PTSD treatment. This episode underscores the commitment to honoring veterans and preserving history while engaging future generations with powerful narratives and immersive experiences.
Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
Studio Sponsor: Charleston Radio Group
Production Sponsor: rūmbo advertising
Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC President
Michael Cochran | Co-host | Foundation Chair
Mike Compton | Co-host | Marketing Chair
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Director
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | Social ABCs
Jennifer Maxwell | Co-host | Immediate Past President
Darius Kelly | Creative Director | DK Design
Welcome to the Building Business Podcast powered by the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce. Special thanks to the Charleston Radio Group for sponsoring the show. My name is Mike Compton, I'm currently your Chamber Marketing Chair and co-owner of Roomba Advertising goroombacom, and we have a special episode today. But first I want to introduce my co-host, rebecca Imholz. Say hey, rebecca.
Speaker 2:Hi Mike, hi everybody. So excited to be here. I'm glad that you allowed me to co-host with you today, mike oh my gosh Stop it, I'm not the it's been a while.
Speaker 1:I'm the podcast Nazi over here at the Chamber. Apparently You're welcome anytime, rebecca. Thank you. Thank you very much Every other week.
Speaker 2:No, and I know to get here sometimes because, I'm the director of the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce for five years.
Speaker 1:No, it hasn't been five years, has it? It has been five years.
Speaker 2:yes, so love it, love it, love it. So excited that we now have a building, an office space, a home, where we can host events and the Chamber's growing and thriving and building business podcasts is part of that as we grow and thrive, heck, yes, so thank you, of course, of course.
Speaker 1:Who do we have here today? Rebecca? Somebody really cool.
Speaker 2:I am so excited to have her with us. Today. We have Allison Hunt. She is the Executive Director of Patriot's Point Development Authority. A lot of you will know her more as the USS Yorktown because that is where she is located and we're going to talk about that really cool relationship today between the Patriots Point Development Authority, the Yorktown, the Congressional Medal of Honor Museum that's now on the Yorktown. So, anyway, I'm so excited to have you today, allison, welcome.
Speaker 3:Thank you, rebecca. Thank you, mike, it's great to be here. Welcome, thank you, rebecca. Thank you, mike, it's great to be here and, yes, I am literally on the ship. My office is literally on the. Uss Short Town, as are most of our. The vast majority of our offices are there, tucked away in all sorts of areas throughout the ship. Oh my gosh, it's too cool.
Speaker 1:Like, okay, explain for the listeners who don't know where we are right now, right, cool, like, okay, explain. For the listeners who don't know where we are right now right, we're in mount pleasant, right. And when we enter mount pleasant from the bridge, we see to the right, coming from charleston, this giant warship, right that's, and I remember when I saw for the first time.
Speaker 1:Like what the f am I doing right, like what is going on? Why is that there? It's really cool, you know. But oh my gosh, I and I just I'm so enthralled by that whole business line, like you're.
Speaker 3:It's a museum now and it's it, it is, it's um that that's uh, I can talk about it for ages and it is. It is really interesting. So so the the giant, giant warship that you see as you cross the bridge is the USS Yorktown and it is an aircraft carrier, it's a National Historic Landmark and it's from World War II. And if you go a little further or you come from the other direction, you'll be able to spot the USS Laffey and that is a destroyer, also World War II era and then served beyond that time. Both of them then did actually.
Speaker 3:But Patriot's Point is our organization, we're the development authority, so we are home to those two museum ships. Plus we have the Vietnam experience, which is a Brownwater Navy encampment. It's a recreation of that. It's the only thing really like it in the US. But we also have the 467 acres land side that are attached to the ships. So that is part we're all part of the state of South Carolina. We're a state agency, the Development Authority is a state agency, and so part of our responsibility is managing all of that property at Patriot's Point and all of those folks out there are our tenants. So we are partners with the Fort Sumter and Spirit Line Cruises and College of Charleston, their baseball, softball and tennis facilities and the Battery. Oh wow Boy, they're just having a great season. It's so fun having them there. Patriot's Point Links, charleston Harbor Resort and Marina, and I think I'm covering everybody.
Speaker 3:And then our newest partner is Patriot Sanic. So that is the last phase of the development of that property and the reason that the legislature gave that property to the authority to manage was so that could create lease revenue to help maintain and maintenance and upkeep on those two ships. So it's an elegant solution to a very complicated problem. Our two ladies just celebrated 80th birthdays, so they right right. So there is like all 80 year olds, there's maintenance and upkeep.
Speaker 2:Yes and before you turn 80, there's a lot of maintenance and upkeep as well. That is true um, I had no idea, honestly, allison, that that was all part of patriots point development authority oh, thankfully I'm not the only one who had no idea.
Speaker 1:I have no idea.
Speaker 3:I think a lot of people don't know and and it's uh. So there's a, there are a lot of facets to to Patriot's Point, but the one, of course, that everyone hopefully knows about is the museum, is the Naval and Maritime Museum. So, uh, so that's the ships and the Vietnam experience. We also have the Cold War sub-memorial that's on the property right outside of the Battery area.
Speaker 2:So my family has gone through the Vietnam.
Speaker 3:Memorial experience.
Speaker 2:My dad has since passed away, but he served in Vietnam.
Speaker 3:He flew, oh goodness.
Speaker 2:And so I was able to take him there years ago when we first moved to the area and then I think I shared with you, my husband was a chaperone for a Boy Scout troop on the USS Yorktown and spent the night.
Speaker 3:And that's still available.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about the overnight excursion.
Speaker 3:We've got Operation Overnight. So we have our Operation Overnight program. Has been around for, I think at this point, 40 years. It's so funny how many people that I meet and talk to, especially in Mount Pleasant but really throughout the state, who said yeah, I spent a night on the ship when I came with my.
Speaker 3:Boy Scout troop or my school group or my JROTC group. So we still have it and it is available. You can check out the Patriots Point website to get more information, but we've got berthing for actually 600 open. There were a lot more than that, because there were 3,300 sailors on the ship, although they hot bunked this is a term that I didn't really know. What do you mean? Some people would sleep in that bunk during the day and some people would sleep in that same bunk during the night. We don't do that anymore. Hot bunking Hot bunking.
Speaker 2:I'm going to write that one down.
Speaker 3:Any of you sailors out there can correct me if I'm right. You know I could have some of our volunteers and veterans could be pulling my leg on that one but it makes sense to me. It makes sense to me.
Speaker 2:My nephew's in the Navy. I'm going to say are you hot bunking with anybody?
Speaker 3:Jake, I wonder if we still do that Make a note on that one I would love to know if that is still a thing.
Speaker 1:Allison, how long have you been working there for?
Speaker 3:I have been at Patriot's Point, for it'll be eight years in November, but I have been in this role for a year and a half.
Speaker 1:Okay, eight years. So what was that job that you had?
Speaker 3:So before this I came from the Yorktown Foundation, which Before this I came from the Yorktown Foundation, which is the designated support arm of the museum. So the Yorktown Foundation now the executive director is Megan Silsby. She's terrific, and that organization just partners very closely with Patriots Point. You know the office is on board, they're part of all of the meetings. Because we are a state agency, we don't fundraise, but it's an important part of what we do because so much of what our budget has to go toward is the ships, you know keeping that up. And then, of course, we welcome 300,000 visitors a year. So yes, we are open.
Speaker 2:362 days of the year we are open 362 days of the year.
Speaker 3:We have a staff of 115 people.
Speaker 3:We have 170 volunteers, so we have a lot of people at Patriot's Point and we love it. It's great and that's our mission is that we want to educate the public about service and patriotism and military history, and so we've got a lot of programs, a lot of things that we do, and we look to the foundation to do a lot of our programs and exhibits, upgrading existing exhibits and new exhibits. So I've been doing that before this. It was a very natural. I was part of the leadership team and so it was a very natural progression to to move into the executive director role.
Speaker 1:How are you liking it? It's great. It's a year and a half.
Speaker 3:It really kind of has flown by. You know there's there's never a dull moment and uh you're the boss, like, of all of that.
Speaker 1:Like you know, when you say it that way, um, I, I, all of that.
Speaker 3:You know, when you say it that way, I have a board, there is a Patriots Point Development Authority board, and so that is a politically appointed board and we've got a great board and made up of people throughout the state because we are a state agency and we do represent and serve the entire state represent and serve the entire state. But I may come in with an idea of what I'm going to get done in that day, and rarely does that actually happen. I have a board, too.
Speaker 1:We have one employee that we're looking for right now, not hundreds and hundreds of employees.
Speaker 3:Right, it's a big job.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But really, really such a fun place to work and you know it's just so meaningful.
Speaker 3:It's very mission-driven work and you know, if you ever, it's easy to kind of get caught up in all the meetings and all of the planning and all of the things you do to, you know, to keep moving things forward. And I find that if I ever just, you know, get kind of bogged down in all of the administrative piece, I can just go out and walk on the hangar bay and I see all of the guests who are having a great time and they're oh my gosh, look at the plane.
Speaker 3:The kids are pointing, we've got 28 historic aircraft and then we have one of the most beautiful views of anywhere I've ever been anywhere. I won't even just limit it to this area.
Speaker 1:You've lived in a lot of places too. I have, and I've seen a lot of places and I've seen a lot of museum ships. Whoa, whoa, whoa. How many museum ships are there?
Speaker 3:So you know, I don't know, I meant to look that up before I came, let's. Google it. Historic Naval Ships Association. We just had a conference in San Diego, on the Midway, which is in San Diego and it's in a Navy town. It's a pretty great organization they've got there. But there are aircraft carrier museums, which they are in the US. There are five of us, oh my gosh, there's a ton of them.
Speaker 3:But as far as battleships, there's a battleship in North Carolina, there's Alabama. There are other of us oh my gosh, there's a ton of them. But as far as battleships, there's a battleship in North Carolina, there's the Alabama. There are other destroyers. There are a wide variety of different kinds of ships.
Speaker 1:But nothing like the Yorktown.
Speaker 3:There are five aircraft carriers. Oh okay, I don't see that. But yes, nothing like the Yorktown and they're kind of all over the country.
Speaker 1:Are they? Where's the nearest one?
Speaker 3:So the closest one probably would be the Intrepid in New York and we've got the Lexington in Corpus Christi and the Midway is in San Diego and the Hornet is in Alameda, California, right outside of Oakland.
Speaker 1:Here's a battleship in North Carolina.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's beautiful, that's. They've done a great job on that ship.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right Wow.
Speaker 2:So what's the history of the USS Yorktown? Thank you.
Speaker 3:Well, there's the military history which, when you have my curator on, she will be glad to give you the full rundown of that.
Speaker 1:There's somebody for that.
Speaker 3:And then the history at Patriot's Point. It was an engaged group of citizens in the 70s put together an effort to bring the Yorktown to Patriot's Point and that's when the legislature created the development authority to manage the ship. So she arrived in. I believe it's 1975. I should have that down, but I think that's it. But I do hear from people pretty regularly about how they remember when the ship was brought into town.
Speaker 2:That must have been something.
Speaker 3:Apparently it was amazing. The photographs are incredible. You see everybody out on their boats. I mean bringing an aircraft carrier. It's 888 feet long. To little Charleston, to bringing it into Mount Pleasant, into the harbor, and then positioning it so she sits in 28 feet of pluff mud. So she had to get in there somehow. So that must have been really interesting to see.
Speaker 1:I didn't realize that yeah. That's one of my questions is how in there is she?
Speaker 3:She's in there.
Speaker 2:A storm comes by we're not having to worry too much.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, I should say I should. Probably there's a caveat there. It's she moved a little during Hugo.
Speaker 2:Hugo, okay.
Speaker 3:And then in December, when we had some those very unusual high tides December 17th, we had been doing the state has been doing remediation on the ship and so we had taken some fluids off, we were a little light and she shifted during those tides. So that's the first time since Hugo, and it's you know, you'd never know but we were able to kind of spot it with just some changes in the you know how one part of the ship attaches to another.
Speaker 3:So there are expansion joints on a ship just like there are on a bridge, and you could see that those had shifted a little bit.
Speaker 1:So I'm sure, just even the minors.
Speaker 3:Right, right. I mean they're made to move. You know, they're made to flex.
Speaker 1:Shift would kind of offset everything right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, to move.
Speaker 1:You know they're made to flex shift would kind of offset everything, right? Yeah, so it's, it's interesting. So you were right about 1975, 75, okay, good good work there. Good work there, you get the job okay, great enjoyed it, thank you um, rebecca, did you have anything else you want to talk about?
Speaker 2:Well, let's talk about you mentioned. The views are just incredible on the ship. I don't know if people realize that they can rent the space for special events.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Thank you for bringing that up. We have the ship is such an interesting place to host an event and so we do somewhere, kind of depending on the year, around 200, 250 events a year and we have parts of the ship. There are several different places on the ship that you can rent. The flight deck is an option. The hangar bay, hangar bay three it's a large space. We can accommodate very large groups. The Fantel, where we just recently were for the Mount Pleasant Chamber event, is incredible.
Speaker 1:What was that?
Speaker 3:event the Fantel.
Speaker 2:The Know your Lawmaker event, the Know your Lawmaker, that's right.
Speaker 1:What month is that usually in that's.
Speaker 2:August.
Speaker 1:It's usually in August, isn't?
Speaker 2:it. Yes so look for it.
Speaker 3:We hope to have it again on the Yorktown. That is the plan, definitely Even when it is miserably hot in August, which I guess it does do that here.
Speaker 2:The fantail is always beautiful because we're right on the harbor, you get the breeze it's always beautiful.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, it's a great place to have an event. It's a great place to hold a conference, to do corporate leadership events, we do weddings, we do all kinds of things there. So you, if you check out our website, there's a lot more information there.
Speaker 2:But we, we are year-round ready to go so one of the areas that the chamber is working on is working with our veteran-owned businesses. Oh great, so we have some planned events as well on the yorktown oh good wonderful engaging speakers, and you know what better place to have an event than New Yorktown. Perfect, and an area that's air-conditioned and has heat.
Speaker 3:That was what somebody asked me, that's right.
Speaker 2:Yes, we'll be in a room. You're in the harbor room.
Speaker 3:We're in the harbor room, yes, yes.
Speaker 2:So we're very grateful for that.
Speaker 3:Yes, conditioned space is at a high premium Is the harbor room.
Speaker 2:A yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 3:It's a decent size and we can get 60 in there, and one of the things that we are offering Because we it's an important part of our mission to serve our community and especially serve our veteran community. We are offering that room for me as meeting space for free during business hours To veterans groups that would like to hold their meetings there.
Speaker 3:That's a great opportunity To get on the ship and see the ship and have your meeting in a special place and then get to enjoy the ship. So I keep mentioning the website, but we've just done. Featurespointorg. And there you go. We've just done.
Speaker 2:We've got a brand new website and it's expanded and lots and lots of great information on there. It's very good. I like the fact that on the website you have plan your stay so that if you have two hours in your stay here in the area or you have all day or overnight, as we mentioned, that you have suggestions of what to do while you're on the Yorktown or in that area.
Speaker 3:It is. Yes, rebecca, there's a lot to do and the ship is. We have tons of tour areas open. You can spend a whole day easily on the Yorktown and the Laffey is amazing. Really an interesting history there and such an interesting ship. And then we have Vietnam experience. So it really is. You can come and you can spend an hour and sort of pinpoint what you want to see or, if you have the time, you can see lots and lots of different things. So we did try and offer that to our guests to try and pull out the things they want to do. We also have tours. We have a captain's tour that's during the day. We partner with Bulldog Tours on that. They do such an amazing job. Actually, their tour guides are all veterans and our veteran volunteers are a couple that are not, but the majority of them also volunteers at Patriot's Point and are veterans. So you get a really customized tour there and that's a really great way to get a lot of information in sort of a short time. We also have ghost tours Ghost tours.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about that After hours. We also have ghost tours. Let's talk about that After hours.
Speaker 3:Boy. That's another Bulldog Tours partnership and you can get more information about that either on our website or on the Bulldog Tours website. But they're an absolutely terrific partner. But the ghost tours are amazing and you know they're very respectful and you know we want to tell the story of you know the interesting happenings on the ship and be respectful to those who served and those whose lives were lost.
Speaker 1:I should look this up. How long did the ship serve?
Speaker 3:The ship served 1944, it came out to 1943. It was built and then it was decommissioned in 72. Two or three I think it wasn't that long that it was that it was going to ask what's the length? Length of a warship so this is this is my area is more patriots point and and and less sort of the the.
Speaker 3:The history of right, no, I got you, I'm sorry, yeah, yeah, you know there were these, I can tell you the world war ii um the, the aircraft, the, the ships that were built, uh, during world war ii. They're built very quickly, um, because they, you know, especially after Pearl Harbor, they really, you know, were getting them out there and they were built to last for 30 years. So I can tell you the Yorktown was built in 13 months, which is really unimaginable right now, and Eleanor Roosevelt did the Crescendo. So that's pretty fun.
Speaker 2:Because my nephew's still waiting to get on his ship, so he's in Seattle waiting he'll go to San Diego what's your nephew's name?
Speaker 1:his name is Jake thank you for your service, jake thank you for everyone who has served my niece Isabel.
Speaker 2:Shout out to Izzy, she's in the military we appreciate their service and I really appreciate the fact that you now offer a membership. Let's talk about that, because that's really cool.
Speaker 3:It is. We are very excited. This has been something we have wanted to do for many, many years, and it's a big undertaking. Why is that?
Speaker 2:Because I would just think you just pay your money and.
Speaker 3:You would I know better. I direct the chamber.
Speaker 3:I should know better than that, but that's what I would think Right, right, there's a lot that has to go into place because you have to be able to incentivize it. You want to make it have a value, and then you have to provide extra programming and all sorts of special incentives to have members come on board. And then part of that we're doing it with the Yorktown Foundation and part of that is a corporate sponsorship program and just a really full-fledged membership program for lots of different levels. There's a number of different levels available for membership. They will be rolling that out on Veterans Day. So, depending on when this airs, it may be soon to release or just after, but that will start then and then that will continue to grow. So we're really looking forward to maximizing that program. We get visitors from all over the world and we do a visitor survey quarterly. So College of Charleston does that for us.
Speaker 3:So that we track our visitorship and I believe the last one the percentage of our visitors that are from outside of our area is 92%.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 3:So I will tell you that Patriot's Point in the Yorktown is the best-kept secret in Mount Pleasant. Really, and what I hear, and you guys probably know this you come to the Yorktown when you have family in town and it rains at the beach. You come to the Yorktown when you have family in town and it rains at the beach. So I see everybody laughing and smiling and you know that's a lot of how people think of it. But it's so much bigger than that and it has so much more to offer. You see something new every time you come. You can see a different area every time you come.
Speaker 3:We're always building out new exhibits. You come, you can see a different area every time you come. We're always building out new exhibits and you can see, like, spend more time on the Laffey or spend more time in the Vietnam experience. You can come out for programming. We think the membership program is really going to help people connect in that way where it's something that you can go to. You know you can bring your kids on a summer day and spend some time there. So we're really hoping that we'll see more locals come out. But that's not unusual. We hear that from all of our sister ships that it is. You know, it's typically people that are traveling and they build it into their plans.
Speaker 3:And we get a lot of folks from Myrtle Beach that will come up for the day. So it's we get a lot of international visitors. It's really interesting. There are times of the year where you will, and I don't know why I'm sure somebody smarter than me could give me the reason for this but you'll hear a lot of German. There'll be a lot of German people on board for a while, and so it must have something to do with holidays or vacations or something. So we get a lot of international visitors Awesome. But I think the local folks would just need to really roll it more into their schedules.
Speaker 2:Well, I think, having the because you can be an individual member.
Speaker 3:Right, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And so I think being because I'm a member of the aquarium.
Speaker 3:Right, right the family membership.
Speaker 2:So now I can be a member of the USS Yorktown. You sure can, and I now have grandchildren, so I can bring my grandchildren because they're under six.
Speaker 3:That's exactly right and they can check that out.
Speaker 2:So I think when you are, when you join something, then you're more apt, as a local, to go and be part of those events, and July 4th, for example, that's a major it's a major event Talk about it.
Speaker 3:So we've shifted in the past. It was an interesting year, it was a transitional year for us. So we've for many, many years we've had the 4th of July blast a huge event and we've had landside and ship events. So we've had landside, had vans and food trucks and all of these different things also on the ship. So this year was the shift. Patriot's Annex is moving into beginning construction on the Landside part. So Patriot's Annex is the area where our visitor parking lot is and the area right adjacent to us that is going to be being developed by Bennett Hospitality is doing that. Everybody knows Mike Bennett, bennett Hospitality and the Bennett Hotel and all of his great properties in town.
Speaker 3:We have a great partnership with him and he will be building three hotels and restaurants and retail and it will be building three hotels and restaurant and restaurants and retail and it will be a destination, a East Coast destination. We are so excited about this happening, not only because that lease revenue will help us with with maintaining the ships, but because it's gonna bring so many people to our area and to our ship to visit the ship and he does such a first-rate job with everything he does. The plans are incredible for what he's going to do and we think it's going to be a great spot for locals. It's going to be a place where you can park and you can come and you can shop and you can eat and you can visit the ship.
Speaker 2:She said park first.
Speaker 1:Well, that first Park once.
Speaker 3:Park once, and then you can do all these things Go see a battery game, go watch a tennis match, go to Charleston Harbor and have a drink at the Tiki Bar, get on the water taxi if you want to go across the harbor. So it's just a one-stop destination on that side of town and it is built to be that.
Speaker 1:It was designed to be that. Is this the plot of land next to the Serendipity Labs? Is it the Bank of America building so?
Speaker 3:it's. Once you come in to that, that is the Ferry War Ferry and that is not part of Patriot's Point, even though it's right there, the Patriot's Point property when you see the ball fields like the rec center and all of that that's part of our property, and then really pretty close to where the old entrance to our museum is, where that gatehouse is. It's that and then back from there.
Speaker 1:So the golf course and all of that, all of the golf course, all of the golf course. You're speaking my language. Now Are they going to redo the golf course?
Speaker 3:There are plans. That's Mike's story to tell, but there are very. He is a man who makes no small plans, so there are definitely plans to do some very exciting things with. Patriot's Point Links. I think that's going to be great. The other thing that's very cool, that is part of these plans, is you guys probably know there's a path that goes from Waterfront Park. You can walk down from Waterfront Park and walk in front of Ferry Wharf and right along the harbor. It's gorgeous.
Speaker 3:It's an absolutely beautiful path and that will connect into a Patriots Point property and continue all the way to the ship. And so I mean we're envisioning, you know, people walking, people on bikes, you know, really adding this next level of amenities for the town of Mount Pleasant. We see this as a huge benefit and bonus to our neighbors. I live in Mount Pleasant. I'm really excited about it. Anytime you can walk around.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's great. I use that little path Park and then walk. Yeah, park Park and then walk. My husband's a big cyclist, so that's another way for them to go and stay off the main roads, which I would prefer.
Speaker 3:That's right. And then you get there and there's so much to do and there's so many choices and really even right now there's plenty of choices.
Speaker 1:But once this goes online. What's the?
Speaker 3:timeline. Well, the construction should probably start. We've handed it over.
Speaker 1:I mean, the exchange has happened. That's the hardest part, I bet. Yeah well, it took many years in the making.
Speaker 3:That took quite a while to kind of work through all of that but it's done and now Patriot Sandex is up and running and starting their construction. They're in the process with the town of Mount Pleasant right now kind of the final phases for the infrastructure. They've gotten final approval, I believe, for the design review, the plan on their seafair hotel. That's a boutique hotel that will be right.
Speaker 3:That's close to the water. It's pretty much right there where our guardhouse is kind of a boutique hotel. That will be right. That's close to the water, it's right, pretty much right there where our guardhouse is kind of a little down from that and so it'd be right on the water. It'll be beautiful, and then right next to that is going to be restaurant and retail and that'll kind of roll into that. So I would estimate, you know, certainly by spring there should be groundbreaking and rolling, you know, with all of that.
Speaker 2:And then just the building and the process.
Speaker 3:And once it starts it's on. It's a 15-year build-out.
Speaker 2:Holy smokes a 15-year build-out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a big investment.
Speaker 3:They are making a big investment.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm not going anywhere. So I mean, I'm fine with that, You'll be here.
Speaker 3:It'll be great.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about the Medal of Honor Museum.
Speaker 3:Okay, that's great, so I was there for that.
Speaker 2:Wonderful, I was there for the demolition ceremony and then I was there when it was open and that's just an amazing place.
Speaker 1:Did you get to have a sledgehammer?
Speaker 3:I don't know why. I don't know why either, Rebecca, it was fun. I got to take a whack. It was pretty fun. So, yes, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society has a museum on board. It's been there since the 90s and they got a grant. They got a donor, gave funding to do upgrades on that museum and that was the Medal of Honor Center for Leadership gave the grant to the society. Sorry, there are a lot of names here. I've been told to not use acronyms, so I'm trying to say all the names you do, you don't be told anything.
Speaker 3:I got a note about that and I get it. There are a lot of them out there. So they did a complete reimagining of the Medal of Honor Museum and it is so moving, it is so powerful. It's part of it. It's with the price of admission to the museum. That's included and it's open when we're open and it's just it just tells the story of the Medal of Honor in a really really moving way and about you know, the men, who who received the medal and who served and the history of the medal and just the stories behind that.
Speaker 3:Really, the recipients are really special people. We're very fortunate to have so many of them connected with the museum and we get to see a lot of the recipients. They come for a lot of events. They feel very close to the Yorktown and very connected with it. So it's one of the things I say that's great about Patriots Point is you just never know when you're there who you're gonna see or who you're gonna meet. You know you can meet a Medal of Honor excuse me, a Medal of Honor recipient. You can meet veterans of, you know, vietnam veterans.
Speaker 2:We are.
Speaker 3:We really have a lot of Vietnam veterans that are really connected with our Vietnam experience. Especially, we partner with the Ralph Johnson VA on PTSD treatment in our facility, One of the goals.
Speaker 1:In your facility.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the Vietnam experience. So one of the goals when that was created in 2015 by my predecessor, mac Burdett, who's a dear friend Everybody knows Mac and that was really his vision and he really wanted to recreate the feel of being, you know, in that space and in that experience. And what all of the Vietnam veterans say is it's the helicopters. You heard the helicopters all the time and so we have that sound in there. So you know. And then there's, you know, there's some very realistic certainly, the different encampments and the Vietnam village. All of that feels very real. And then we've got some of the historic aircraft the Huey helicopter, which is such a huge part of Vietnam.
Speaker 3:So that connection is really, really powerful so you can meet those people that served and their families, especially Vietnam Veterans Day. We always do their families, especially Vietnam Veterans Day. We always do some special things on Vietnam Veterans Day and have a ceremony and it's just really special. It's really meaningful work and really it's an honor and a privilege to get to be there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it sounds like you like it.
Speaker 3:I do very much. It sounds like you're having a good time with it.
Speaker 1:I can only imagine the stories you've heard.
Speaker 3:It is amazing and you just feel. You know, you feel so honored when people are willing to share these really powerful stories that you know you can be talking to someone about an experience they had 50 years ago and it's still so real for them. It is my father had experiences as well.
Speaker 2:And to the day he died he slept with the nightlight in his room.
Speaker 3:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:Because he had someone from the enemy come into his room. Oh my goodness, and so for them. It's as if it were yesterday.
Speaker 3:It is and when they get.
Speaker 2:and it's great that he shared because a lot of people he didn't share a lot, but some of that he would share, but some of it they don't talk about.
Speaker 3:But when they get around other people who have had that same experience. I think that's really a safe place.
Speaker 2:Because they know someone else understands like you understand this Right.
Speaker 3:And it's just. I mean, you just feel so honored and privileged to get to carry those experiences and hear those stories and just you know, it just makes you want to take everything up so many levels so that you're really serving all of those people who served the larger calls.
Speaker 1:So inspiring it is.
Speaker 3:It really is inspiring and I think it filters through our entire staff. We have a really special team at Patriot's Point. We've got a great staff and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that people are so drawn to the mission and it's interesting. I don't have a real strong military background. My father served at Landside during Korea, but he ran Rec Center on a base and his stories are about ping pong tournaments.
Speaker 1:I don't even have that much.
Speaker 3:So there's not that connection there. I don't have a naval history connection, but there's something about the power of the ships and the power of being around those who served on those ships and their families and the veterans that come on. It really brings you in and it connects you. You and you want to be part of it and it's we really I see that with our team that it is. You're doing something really special. It's very mission driven.
Speaker 1:It's not an easy mission either. Especially and then I'm just kind of coming up with this right now in my head is you're doing the hard work by preserving history, and I feel like preserving history gets denied a lot and it's hard to do. Meaning, uh, attention spans are short. Nobody even remembers what yesterday brought us.
Speaker 3:We are you know what I mean like we tend to forget things as a society well, and especially now, it you know, I can't remember the statistics, but they but they're really amazing. During World War II, 45% of Americans had somebody in their direct family that was engaged in the military and that dropped with every conflict after that, and now it's down to a tiny percentage, tiny percentage.
Speaker 3:So what we are challenged with is that we need to tell the story, to people who have no connection you know no fourth that didn't necessarily grow up in you know a house where your grandfather served your father served or your mother, you know I mean there's less and less of that, but that doesn't lessen the need for the mission to tell that story.
Speaker 1:The mission's still there.
Speaker 3:It's very much still there. So we have to be very open-minded about how we engage people and how we bring people in and how we tell the story. And so sometimes there's a little bit of a challenge between, you know, the purists that you know want to keep everything exactly as it was and all of that, and then you know, and also maybe trying to tell a story a little differently, where you can engage people who maybe would be a little harder to engage. So one of the great things that we have, and probably all of us have now, is we have four generations in the workplace. This has never happened before.
Speaker 3:And how exciting is that? You know, you've just got you run from the boomer generation to Gen Z and I think Gen Alpha is that the next one.
Speaker 2:That's the next one. They're coming right up We'll have five pretty soon.
Speaker 3:So I mean, when has that ever happened? And so it's. I think that's really exciting and I love that part of this job. I love because it's, I think, the you know there's that age old sort of conflict right between the older generation, the younger you know the whippersnappers and all of that. So it's. But I think every generation brings this really interesting perspective and this really interesting viewpoint. I am fortunate to have two Gen Z kids, so I don't speak fluent Gen Z but I'm hanging on, so I'm trying to slay here and there. Oh, boy.
Speaker 2:I have Gen Z-ers too. They clearly tell me if I'm killing the vibe or if I'm with it. That's exactly right, you're with it.
Speaker 3:Rebecca.
Speaker 1:You're with it, okay.
Speaker 3:But I love their perspective. That's exactly right, you're with them, okay, but I love their perspective. You know, I think they've had such a different set of experiences than the boomers have, and even the boomer generation is so different from the early ones to the last generation of the boomers. So you've got all these different perspectives and all these different voices and I believe that leads to the best results, these different voices, and I believe that leads to the you know, the best results. So I, I, I love um working, having a lot of people working together. I think that's really valuable and I think all the voices are really valuable.
Speaker 1:So that's how you survive, right.
Speaker 3:It really is. You can't resist. You can't be resistant, especially if it's just based on you know the okay boomer or you know these kids today or whatever I mean you, you can't be dismissive at any level. So, um, but I, that's one of the things about the workplace that I, I just find really interesting and engaging.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean you know, you just listen to everybody and and and you have to, you know, not dismiss something because it doesn't make sense to you, because I do. I mean, some things don't make sense to me. I'm the age that I am, but I'm open, you know. I'm open to learning, I'm open to hearing, and it's good because I do get lots of notes.
Speaker 1:You give lots of notes right, Not as many as.
Speaker 2:I get.
Speaker 1:Oh, you get lots of notes. She said you get lots of notes.
Speaker 2:All right, good thinking.
Speaker 3:How about that? That's a good one, so lots of feedback, lots of input, but that's part of I'm open door.
Speaker 1:That's called good leadership. That's all that is. I think it's important.
Speaker 3:I think there's a real value to that. And it just keeps things really interesting and it's like gee. You know, I never thought about it that way.
Speaker 2:Well, technology keeps things interesting too.
Speaker 1:Talk about the technology. What do we do?
Speaker 3:Okay, see, listen to me resist after I talk about not resisting.
Speaker 2:But I've seen it on the Yorktown. I've seen some really cool displays that are very interactive and are using technology.
Speaker 3:We are doing it and and we will do more of that are using technology. We are doing it and we will do more of that. And you know we will never lose sight of. You know what we are and who we are and the power of the ship and that you know we want that to, so much of that to remain the same, and it does. You can tell, you feel it when you're on there. We're actually in the middle of a museum master plan. It's a major initiative for Patriot's Point and we are looking at everything about how the museum functions. So, from how you move through the spaces, how you move through the tour routes, what our signage looks like, what our branding looks like, what sort of opportunities do we have to tell new and different stories? What opportunities do we have to challenge our and different stories? What opportunities do we have to challenge our guests?
Speaker 3:with some stories that may make you a little bit uncomfortable. You know it's and that's how you know museums have to sort of. That's what we do as museums. So we're taking a deep dive on the museum master plan and that's part of our conversation and it's interesting internally we're having that conversation. So you know, we've we've internally, we have people who really would love to preserve everything exactly like it is, and then we have, you know, other other people that are really interested in technology and AI and you know all the opportunities with that. So, finding that balance, um, we great contractor that we're working with I'll give them a little shout-out DDMG2, doing a great job.
Speaker 1:What do they?
Speaker 3:do they do museum master plans, exhibit design Very cool, and that's what they do, that's got to be cool.
Speaker 3:It's so cool, it's so much fun. And so one of the things that we're working on right now a sidebar to the museum master plan is we're doing a new exhibit on the Laffey and that is going to be the timeline of the Laffey and an exhibit on the Battle of Okinawa. So that was when Laffey was attacked by 22 Kamikaze aircraft and survived just barely. So it has the nickname the ship that would not die. So her story is amazing and that is amazing. And so we're doing an exhibit and we're really looking at bringing in a lot of technology, a lot of really forward thinking, innovative techniques to tell that story, because we want to.
Speaker 3:It's the first thing that we're doing with the Museum Master Plan, so we really want to showcase what we can do. But you will move in that space and then you'll leave that space and you'll be on the Laffey exactly like it looked at that time, and you'll be able to go to the spots where the actual bombs or the aircraft hit. The Laffey it's not a big ship, I mean it's pretty remarkable. It's got a remarkable story and they've got a great association. So we've got the sailors who served on. These ships are connected with us. So we have the Laffey Association.
Speaker 3:We have the stories there and now it's second generation, third generation. We still have some folks who served on the Laffey and then this week in fact today the Yorktown Association is in town for their reunion, so they're on board and that's who, like they, are really fun to talk to. They always have a lot of stories and they'll get after me a little bit like you need to paint this, and this didn't look like it did when I was here and I was like yeah, there were 3,300 of y'all.
Speaker 3:We don't have quite that many, but it's so exciting to have them on board and they come every year and they have a reunion and they do a meet and greet when they're on board. So you know, if you just follow the website you can see the things that are upcoming.
Speaker 2:So some of this is open to the public.
Speaker 3:It's all open. The meet and greet is open to the public. It's really cool.
Speaker 3:We may miss this one because it's Saturday, but this year we have 46 sailors who served on the Laffey and they are partnering with the Bennington, the USS Bennington, a sister ship that is no longer here, which is the case for a lot of these ships. There are a lot of ships, associations, that don't have ships anymore, so a lot of them will come to the Yorktown or to the Laffey because it's a destroyer. Destroyer vets, you know, come to the destroyer and so they do a meet and greet and they have a poster and it's got information about their association and then they've got big Sharpies and the public comes down the line, just like you're at, you know, a signing event for a sports team or something so much fun, and they sign, sign and there's a picture of them. Uh, at the time that they served and they had a little sign that says what they did when they were on the ship and they love talking about it and we love hearing about it.
Speaker 2:So it's it's really, it's really special so are you seeing the younger generation getting engaged too? I really am I really elementary, really am Elementary.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we, you know you, it's, the ship is irresistible. I mean, you know you, you walk up the pier and it's it never gets old. You know, when you come up, you come up the pier and you see the ship in front of you. And we, you know, we call it the all factor because you see it every day.
Speaker 1:That's what you're doing, though. You're doing this every day too.
Speaker 3:People stop in their tracks, they look and then they, you know, can they take a picture? Everybody takes a picture and it just blows you away the scale of it. And then you get on board and you know we've got some stairs, but we're mostly ladders. We're ladders and hatches and knee knockers and all the things that you have on a ship. And so you're on a ship and then you've got the aircraft and they're right there on the hangar bay, because that's where you did the work on. The aircraft would be the hangar bay, and then they had giant aircraft elevators that took them up to the fight deck. So that's what an aircraft carrier did. So you see those aircraft right up close. I mean, it's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1:Didn't you say your office is out of there?
Speaker 3:My office is on the ship I am. Mine has been altered. It's I don't. Most everybody has a hatch, but I do have a porthole in my office, A window, and it does open. So I had the porthole open today. It was very nice. The breeze from the harbor coming in, oh, amazing. But we're all tucked in in old office spaces.
Speaker 1:My point though, is you get to have that experience you just described every day?
Speaker 3:Every day, every day you walk up to this giant ship. I smell like ship. Is that from the hot bunking? Yeah, hot bunking, here we go. So you know, the ship has diesel fuel, and all the different, all the different things and you can smell it, I mean. I don't y'all.
Speaker 2:I don't smell it anymore, Um but,
Speaker 3:it has a very it has a very distinctive smell. And when the, when the sailors the former say any former sailor, even somebody that's on an aircraft carrier now still has, I guess, a similar smell, but immediately they'll stop at the entrance. They'll be like, oh, it smells like ship. It's like, yes, it smells like home. It does, and they love it. So it's funny, All of us that work on the ship I, they'll, our families will be like you smell like the ship. So, yeah, it's, it is, I love it. I mean, I, I don't even smell it anymore. I know we really could. Yeah, when we were first talking with with Doug Mund, who's DDMG2, and he was talking about you know all the different experiences, the, the sensory experiences that museums want to do, and he's used to working in brick-and-mortar museums. We're such an outlier that our largest artifact is the ship that we all work on and visit. So he's like you can pipe in smells and everybody's like you don't need to pipe in smells. We're good on that, we've got it, we're legit.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. What about Mount Pleasant? We're good on that, we've got it. That's amazing. What about mount pleasant? What is it that bump that you love so much? And business here, and then preserving the history and all this that's um mount.
Speaker 3:pleasant is we were talking a little bit in the green room before this. So I I I moved to my family. We moved here in 2013, um uh, so we've been here a little while, but before that my family I grew up with, but my parents had a house on Isle of Palms back in the 70s, so we've spent a lot of time down here, and we were down here during the summer and spent a lot of time down here, and so I remember Mount Pleasant from back in the late 70s and how different it was then and just the changes that have happened, but it still somehow managed to retain that feel. So it's got this really cool combination of a small town, you know, in a small kind of fishing village.
Speaker 3:We definitely see elements of that all over, but then it's really sophisticated, right, you can get a really nice cocktail at a lot of different restaurants.
Speaker 2:I'm speaking my language Right.
Speaker 3:And you can get, you know, a beautiful meal at so many places. There's great shopping. You know there's a lot of different things to do. So if you're somebody that you know that loves the outdoors, obviously right, we all talk about that. But if you're not necessarily bent that way, there's still plenty to do here and plenty of different things to do. So I love that about it. I also love the mix of people because it's you know, you've got people who have been here forever.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And it's always so much fun to hear the vinyas? Yeah, the vinyas to hear those old stories about Richards and all the you know.
Speaker 2:What are you talking about, Richards?
Speaker 3:I've been to Richards. Oh okay, Me too.
Speaker 1:Oh, dear I'm more interested now, although I'm too interested now.
Speaker 3:So you know those old school kind of places that you know that everybody remembers the story when this was here and this was there. And that's always fun. Everything's a landmark too it is, and that used to be the outer edge of town. I can remember thinking you know that going to Sne Snee Farm was I might as well just go ahead and drive to Myrtle Beach.
Speaker 3:I'm almost there, I mean remember it felt, it felt way out there. And I remember when, when Parkway Dunes, all of that was built out that way, it just was like, oh my goodness, that's so far away.
Speaker 1:So that's where I'm at. Planner's Point it was built in 2003.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was. I mean, it was way, way out. So I love the old timers and the people, the families and the people that have been here forever and that's always really fun to you know to hear those stories and their love for Mount Pleasant.
Speaker 3:But I think all of the people that have gravitated here, that are pulled here because of everything this area has to offer. I don't know, I know I'm on a chamber show but I don't need to pitch it because everybody knows it is a great place to live and work. And it is weird. The secret is the cat is well out of the bag on that and that's okay. So I like all those new people that have come in from all the different places that they've come in. I think they bring some really interesting perspectives and some interesting viewpoints. I've got just a lovely friend from Connecticut who's you know, just she's and they are converts so they love it here in a way that you know.
Speaker 1:I also have some Connecticut friends that love it here.
Speaker 3:In like this next level way, so that snow must be awful.
Speaker 1:It is. I'm a Detroiter myself. Is that right? It must be awful.
Speaker 3:Because sometimes I fuss a little about the heat and everybody will just shake their head and you don't even want to know.
Speaker 2:Scrape the windshields. You know what Exactly?
Speaker 3:In your driveway and slipping and it dark at 3 30, so that's, that's uh what I love it here too allison I mean rebecca.
Speaker 1:You obviously do. You're the executive director of the chamber for crying out loud. What is it that you like about mount pleasant rebecca? It's my home how long have you been?
Speaker 2:here. I've been here 28 years.
Speaker 3:Dang, that is home.
Speaker 2:And so I feel almost like a native, because two of my three sons were born here and I grew up in a military family. My dad was career Air Force, so I went to multiple, multiple schools before I graduated from high school and really when we came here I planted my feet in the sand Because we thought maybe a five-year we might be here for my husband's career and I went I don't want to move.
Speaker 3:This is it.
Speaker 2:This is it for me, and my sons have remained friends with their classmates from kindergarten. Oh, that's so nice, all the way up and so they have friends from all over because they all live in different parts of the country now and from college they met people from different places, but then they have their friends here and they grew up in a place that was really an amazing place to grow up Mount Pleasant and I think they truly understood how fortunate they were to grow up here when they left.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure they got it when they were growing up, no one likes their hometown Once they left. They're like oh yeah, I had it really good. I said, yes, you did.
Speaker 3:That's okay, at least they figured it out. They did figure it out.
Speaker 2:I guess maybe all three of them at one point at a contest. They wore flip-flops to school every day of the year. They didn't care if it was a weird like in the 20s, that day they wore flip-flops.
Speaker 3:It's a thing. It's a thing. Shorts and flip-flops.
Speaker 1:I'm not ready for that. My kid's not wearing flip-flops to school.
Speaker 2:You have boys, just you wait. You say that, mike, but you never know my boys are nine right now.
Speaker 1:I'm not ready for 10.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's nice. What a nice age yeah, we're having.
Speaker 1:That's really, that's really a real sweet spot there? Yeah, it really is. Um, is there anything else that you want to like lay out there?
Speaker 3:um, yeah, I will. Um, just we, we were talking about the website and I just want to, I want to and I haven't done I haven't done a good job talking about the history um and, but there are people on our team that can tell you incredible stories of the history of. Yorktown, but you don't need to wait to hear from them because you can go to our website. Thank you, and we have a section called Artifacts and Archives.
Speaker 3:There it is Artifacts and Archives and so yeah, you're pulling it up right there. So we tell the story on here. We have collections, we have our collections has just hit 36,000 items in our collection.
Speaker 2:Are you serious? It's an amazing collection.
Speaker 3:So we have stories at sea and that tells some stories, some of the different stories of some of the different sailors on the Yorktown and on the Laffey and of the flight groups and all sorts of different stories on there, and then that includes information and photos of artifacts from our collection. There are full collections online. You can spend it's so much fun, you know have a glass of wine and pull it up and read through these stories and it is a visit to the museum.
Speaker 3:So we are at things that you can't see on the museum, because we can only display so many of these artifacts, because they have to be kept in conditioned space and we have a limited amount of that, so a lot of it isn't on display and it's just a chance to really walk through the museum. Our collections and curatorial affairs team does an incredible job with digitizing all of these collections.
Speaker 3:It's a big job, but it's a priority for us, and this gives us the opportunity to connect with people all over the world, and so I just would like you know definitely check that out.
Speaker 1:Check out the Dwight Long photography. Oh my gosh, I had no idea I'm making noises over here because I'm looking at these photos. It's new.
Speaker 3:This has been live, maybe less than two months.
Speaker 1:Get off.
Speaker 3:Really and the story. We are so proud of this and I cannot say enough about the great job.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's an emotion.
Speaker 3:Oh, I haven't even seen this latest batch. So that's yeah. So it just and it's not reams and reams of information. It's very digestible that you know. You can read through a lot of them, you know, in a sitting, but we're really proud of it, clearly.
Speaker 1:You've got so much content.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's so much content. My little marketing brain goes crazy when.
Speaker 1:I'm looking at all this stuff, but this is the chamber and I mentioned.
Speaker 3:Operation Overnight, so just check that out on our website. That's so cool. I have slept on this ship one time. Can adults go? Well, they come as chaperones. We are actually doing a real deep dive on our Operation Overnight program right now because you know, everything continues to change and so we want to offer more opportunities. We have family nights that we do now. We've talked to some of our sister ships, and they do some different kind of Like family reunions Like you bring your family, yeah, and you spend the night on the ship.
Speaker 3:and we have this Live Like a Sailor program that we do. But we really want to expand that and do more. So I think you know, keep your eyes open in the upcoming months for new opportunities, but certainly if you've got a school group, a church group, you know a group of people that I think 10 is our minimum number.
Speaker 3:And yeah so you know it's and you can't beat it. It is so much fun, it's so interesting. The birthing areas are air conditioned, heated and air conditioned. There are showers, it's all of those things. Those comforts of home are there. But you do sleep in a bunk and you do have that experience. But it's very cool because you're on the ship after hours and it's so interesting after hours, especially if there's not an event that night. There, you know it's quiet and you have it to yourself and it's just. It's so interesting after hours, especially if there's not an event that night. You know it's quiet and you have it to yourself and it's just really, really. It's a one-of-a-kind experience and people never forget it.
Speaker 2:My husband never forgot it.
Speaker 3:Right, they don't. It is amazing.
Speaker 1:I've got to do it. I'm going to sign the case. You've got to do it.
Speaker 3:You've got to get a little group together and come do it because it's really fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, maybe a birthday.
Speaker 2:That's what I was thinking Did.
Speaker 1:I just read your mind just now Rebecca Birthday.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what I was thinking A great birthday. We celebrated my son's 13th birthday on the ship.
Speaker 1:How old is he?
Speaker 3:now he is 21. All right, so we celebrated that on the ship and it was great, and we had a group of his friends and boys and girls. So we have boys birthing and girls birthing, so it's uh yeah, the girls get to sleep in the officer's area.
Speaker 1:So oh, nice highly recommend all right we'll invite the nieces too yes, there you go.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, definitely definitely look into it I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1:This has been such a great conversation, alice, and I don't know what else to ring out of you right now.
Speaker 2:I learned so much and I thought I knew a lot, but I really did not. So thank you so much for taking your time to be with us today.
Speaker 3:Thank you all for having me. It's such a pleasure to be here. It's fun to share information about Patriot's Point and about the Yorktown and the Laffey and the Vietnam experience and all that we have going on. So I just say, please come visit how do you manage the day for crying out? Loud. They're busy, but fortunately I've got a lot of energy and I have grown children, so I have time and this is a great place for me to be spending my time.
Speaker 1:You're doing the right thing. Thank you very much. Yeah, that's amazing Good work. Thank you, Rebecca. Do you want to sign us off or?
Speaker 2:um well, thank you for being here, allison.
Speaker 1:Thank you, yeah charleston radio group.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much um for um for them, because we would not have this podcast without their partnership. Charleston radio group thanks, brian yeah, thanks, brian. So much as always engineer and thank you, Mike, and your marketing team.
Speaker 1:Oh sure.
Speaker 2:Really, we have a two-person staff with the Mount Pleasant Chamber and everyone else is a volunteer folks like Mike. We couldn't do it without you.
Speaker 3:So thank you so much. We couldn't do it without you either, allison. I just have to say hats off to the Mount Pleasant Chamber. You guys do an amazing job. We've had a great opportunity to partner with you all on a number of things. We'll continue to do that, but I'm always amazed at the work you all are doing with a small crew. But it is a passionate and invested volunteer team and so we love partnering with you guys.
Speaker 1:Thank, you so much. I was a little non-paid there okay.
Speaker 3:I did not pay her for that that was free of charge.
Speaker 1:Thanks, allison, thanks y'all. All right, mount Pleasant, we'll see you next time.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
