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Lighting is the subtle shift. That spark of brilliance. The element that transforms a space from ordinary to extraordinary.
The Reveal is where lighting professionals, residential experts, and designers come together to explore the art and business of outdoor design. From the intricacies of running a design company to the transformative power of lighting itself, this channel gives you the insight, inspiration, and tools to bring every project to life.
Andy Schwindler (00:11):
Welcome back, Michelle and Andy, Sandy Beach Lighting and Design. Back to you for another episode of The Reveal. How you been?
Michelle Schwindler (00:18):
Man, it feels good to be back in the studio. We have been out installing all of these holiday visions and these designs the last couple of weeks, and it's been real.
Andy Schwindler (00:31):
It all happened so fast right in the moment. It's a little overwhelming because we have these tight deadlines, but we have these great projects and nerves get a little the best of you. I think we want to do a really good job, so it's nice to have them done again, to be back in the studio talking about it. But it's been a journey and I'm looking forward to kind of breaking down some of that today and talking about it.
Michelle Schwindler (00:55):
Yeah, there's a lot of elements that go into pulling off these projects that people don't think about and why would you? It's our job to make this just look and feel easy, but everything from the execution, from how do we get our designs to last through the season, right? Rain, sleet, snow, whatever comes our way, how do we make sure that there's enough power to be able to handle the appropriate kind of power to handle what it is that we've prescribed for that area? Just so many different things from working with the different vendors that we have for the different products that we've selected, all the way to crazy holiday shipping deadlines, and then the weather, which typically for the install season isn't really that big of an issue for us. We always kind of brag here in Indiana that it doesn't really start to get nasty until after Christmas. So our install season, I mean, there's been years where I've been out in shorts and a tank top almost doing installs over at Fair Oaks, but not this year. This year has been a little different.
Andy Schwindler (02:01):
It has been. And so what I'm hearing you say is that we had some adversity this year. Some of it had to do with weather, some it had to do with obviously scope and scale of power execution, but really a lot of the things that we deal with are public facing too. So working in the midst of crowds and other fun things. So a lot of things that we just recently have overcome and it's good to be back into the studio.
Michelle Schwindler (02:30):
Yeah, absolutely. The last conversation we had was with Jacqueline McCloskey over at Fair Oaks Farms. We adore her. We love her. I mean, she is just so sharp. We notice it. And if you've been to Fair Oaks, let me tell you, if you've noticed the attention to detail that they have there on the farm, it feels like there's someone there paying extra close attention and that person is Jacqueline. She's all over the place. So it was a pleasure to talk to her.
Andy Schwindler (02:57):
It was fun to sit down in her environment to talk about what they're creating there. It's fun to be just a small piece of that. We've made it a tradition to be a part of the Fair Oaks Christmas changes every year, so it keeps us creatively sharp, but she's really fun to work with. She's got a great vision and those are the kind of people I think we're attracted to, right? People that have a great vision and need great people to help execute it
Michelle Schwindler (03:20):
Well, and I think that one of the cool things about Jacqueline, and this is one of the things that makes us align with her, is that she takes the time to go travel. She goes to the displays in Chicago, she's checked out the displays in larger cities, and so she's seeing how larger cities are just doing big things and doing it right, and she's taking these concepts and bringing it back to her little farm in Rensselaer, and she's allowing us to do it. It's so exciting and so fun. So that's why I love working with her.
Andy Schwindler (03:53):
Yeah, she is just a great representation of a great Indiana farm and what it could be just from the educational side, but the hospitality side, that's a hospitality farm and she's doing it at the highest level. It's fun to see.
Michelle Schwindler (04:09):
And so I want to talk a little bit about how it is that we were introduced to Jacqueline and how we came about working with Fair Oaks Farms, and I think that when we had first created Sandy Beach Lighting, we talked about getting into the holiday business because we live in Indiana and Indiana in the wintertime, no one really wants to think about outdoor lighting and their outdoor projects, although they should. And so a holiday allows us to not only keep our guys busy all year long, but it also allows us to keep ourselves creative and to continue to work with the kind of clients that we want to work with. And so I think that speaks to the kind of projects that we do take on as a lighting company, and that does tend to be the larger commercial scale, even larger estate style residential holiday projects, again, just keeps us working with the kind of customers that we work with on a long-term basis.
Andy Schwindler (05:10):
It puts us in a position we can only help so many people per year.
(05:14):
So it allows us to not only be creative, but allows us to help our clients have great lighting design in addition to what they may have on the landscape side as well. It keeps it all cohesive and in place. But talking about Jacqueline and working with Fair Oaks, fair Oaks has been part of our family's traditions anyway. We were already supporting Fair Oaks. We loved the concept. The farm-to-fork restaurant was something that we've always liked, but their first Forest of Lights, we actually attended. We saw the concept and we saw that it had a lot of potential. Ultimately, we set our sights on getting that potential contract for their Christmas lights, and we talked about how do we get in front of the people that we need to get in front of to be able to do this. So long story short, we have Michelle and I have this uncanny way of finding a way to put ourselves in the room with the people that we want to work with.
(06:13):
And I dunno if you remember, but it was Valentine's Day and I had purchased a farm to table specialty dinner for bourbon and wine pairing. You and I went to it, dressed up, right, went on a dinner date at the Fair Oaks, got a room at the hotel, but we knew that Jacqueline was going to be there. We knew we'd have the opportunity to not only introduce ourselves, but tell her how much we care about her farm and how we want to be a part of making it better, and if she has any interest in enhancing what she's already doing. How many times have we said that?
Michelle Schwindler (06:47):
You see a theme here? Yeah?
Andy Schwindler (06:48):
There's a theme there, and she took her card and we didn't hear anything right away, but as she's looking to plan and really start to pull this thing off, she realizes that there's a missing ingredient. She reached out to us, we had the opportunity to work with the lighting company that they had in-house and ultimately start to create a tradition behind the John Deere tractors and the forest of lights. So that's kind of how that came about. Is that how you recall it?
Michelle Schwindler (07:17):
Yeah, absolutely. And we talked about our business and how we were going to structure our business, the kind of clients we want to work with, the kind of projects that we want to take on. You told me, let's be clear. There are a lot of different kind of holiday installation companies out there, and there are companies that will install clients' holiday lights. There are companies that will install 200 to 500, I don't know how they do it, houses per year of just holiday lighting. And we kind of made the decision again that we were just going to do larger scale and fewer of. So that was our model. And when you told me that, I immediately set my sights on a few different accounts, and Fair Oaks was one of those. Again, they've just been a part, like you said, of our traditions for so long.
(08:03):
They're definitely making the attempt. They want to bring people in for the holidays and we want to do work where a lot of people are going to see it. So going back to that decision that we made and that strategy that we came up with, we do that actually a lot and we sit around as a team and we talk about, okay, what's the next project? What's the next relationship that we really want to build and ignite? And then we kind of start to work our way backwards, and it's all about getting ourselves in the room because it's not about anything fake or anything. We already know that we're aligned. They just haven't met us yet. So it's really about getting ourselves in the room so that we can begin to be a resource for that connection. And then it just all flourishes organically from there because it's meant to be we're not sitting here trying to dream up relationships that aren't aligned. So the fact that we were so aligned, it happened so naturally.
Andy Schwindler (09:04):
No, I agree. And do you think it's because we see lighting the same way that lighting is a way to market in a creative way that not only brings happiness and joy, but creates the attention, the right kind of attention that these companies are looking for?
Michelle Schwindler (09:21):
Yeah, absolutely. And it's also really important that they go about it. I don't want to say the right way because there's so many ways to go about it, but if you're going to do it, go all in. These people are willing to go all in. They're willing to invest in quality and they understand the value, and I think that that's where the magic and the alignment really, really, really happens.
Andy Schwindler (09:48):
And the quality talk about that. I think that means something different to everybody. Quality means it's going to last, but quality could be how it's represented in the space, both from a color palette to a temperature to brightness. You agree with all those things?
Michelle Schwindler (10:04):
Well, yeah, because we want to work with the kind of clients that understand that there's a lot more thought process that goes into selecting the kind of products we're going to use and the way we're going to use it and the way we're going to install it than just running to the local department store and then picking up some string lights. Our clients understand so so much more than that, and they allow us to seek out the best product to represent them so that, like you said, color temperatures are aligned, scale is aligned, longevity is aligned. It all matters
Andy Schwindler (10:37):
Because if you do this right, it ends up in all the marketing material and that marketing material can not only live on that year, but years and years and years. That being said, talk to me a little bit about your favorite parts of Fair Oaks.
Michelle Schwindler (10:49):
First of all, ever since the first year we started working with Fair Oaks, I mean, we move in end of October and we pretty much have full reign of the place. Typically our teams stay overnight there and we just go to work. We work simultaneously with her team, with the electricians that she's brought on board, any other lighting companies, and we feel like we're a part of the Fair Oaks Farm family. Honestly, I feel like that's my place. I love that place, so that's a great feeling for me. One of my favorite things, although it's one of the most difficult things, I really love the tractors. I really love what we've been able to do there. The first year we took on the tractors and we said we were looking online for inspiration for some inspo, just trying to get some good ideas flowing as we do.
(11:42):
We just couldn't find anything beyond people just kind of wrapping the tractors and mini lights and just kind of nonchalantly with no intent going about it. And so we really set out and painstakingly came up with a way to decorate these things that really honors their size, and it's one of the most difficult things we do all year. It always takes longer than we expected. Always takes more product than expected and usually is the best feeling walking away from though when you walk away and you're done with those things and you look at the scale and you look like every single perspective is perfect.
Andy Schwindler (12:23):
And the tires are perfect and the color palette is perfect, the scale is perfect, and you're almost immersed in it. It's one of my favorites too. I won't steal that as my favorite, but it is one of 'em. You've got a long history of lighting trackers way before Fair Oaks. Tell me a little bit about, well tell everybody about the first tractor and just where your passion for not only the farm, but Christmas on the farm.
Michelle Schwindler (12:51):
Well, I mean, I'm a farm girl. I'm a farmer's daughter. My dad, Jim, he's a retired farmer now, but he was a pig farmer, corn, soybeans, you name it. I had horses. I had all kinds of just random farm animals. And if anyone else that's grown up on a farm like me knows that you get bored out there, you don't really have the neighborhood kids to play with, didn't have video games back then. Even if we did, I'm not sure my mom would've been down with that. But one of the things we did in the wintertime is we would park one of my dad's old, not John Deere, it was Case, Case tractors. He had the red tractors. That's right.
(13:31):
We would park one of his big tractors not far from the house, whatever the extension cord could reach, and my mom and I would climb all over that thing and we would just decorate it, many lights, whatever we had, and we just thought that was the neatest thing. I've even got some photographs of that. But yeah, I've decorated a tractor before I even knew that I was going to do it for a living. I love that. And you know how many times I'm out there decorating these tractors and I'm thinking to myself, who would've thought seriously? I never would've pictured this, pictured this for myself.
Andy Schwindler (14:03):
Been training for this your whole life, baby. I love that story.
Michelle Schwindler (14:08):
So yes, I was born to do this.
Andy Schwindler (14:11):
Yeah, thanks for sharing that.
(14:12):
I think my favorite thing is the igloo experience. She just curated just some of the most fabulous little scenes. Each one of the loos is just its own little space connected to the restaurant. They're heated, they're decorated to the Tilt. We've had plenty of dinners and lunches in the loos. You get to see kind of our Blue Creek bed and some of our lit meadow grasses and some of our branch-wrapped trees back there. It's just such an immersive space, and if you haven't experienced it, that's probably one of my all time favorite things to do, especially there at the Fair Oaks. I think how it all comes together is really the magic. We've got the tractors, we've got the igloo experience. I think this year they've even got a pop-up bar that is incredible. I'm looking forward to spending some time with you there this season.
Michelle Schwindler (15:09):
Such a great little setup. They've got the lit tractors right there. They've got the bonfires where you can roast your marshmallows. The kids can run around, enjoy the lit tractors, you can get all of your photo ops in, and then you've got the Miracle Bar that's right there. I mean, genius. So good.
Andy Schwindler (15:26):
Talk to me a little bit about the photo ops. You said that, and it just dawned on me, honestly, there's a million different photo ops and it's not just one space, it's all the spaces. And I can almost remember us sitting in that space and that feeling, I can't even take all this in. I can't take it all in at once. It's just so good.
Michelle Schwindler (15:48):
That's one thing I like about Jacqueline too, is that that's kind of her mindset and that is ours too. Every space that we create should be an absolute Instagramable photo op for the kids, for that Christmas card, for the engagement, whatever it is. These are once in a lifetime magical opportunities where you have the chance to look around you and be like, is this actually happening? Is this actually happening? Because, and another thing that I like about some of the things that we did on the farm, even with the tractors, I mean everything is just so, would you call it ultra realistic? I mean, nothing is really, I wouldn't say cartoony, but it is taking nature and it is exaggerating nature in a way with our lit meadow grass over the Blue River bed back by the igloos. I mean, that's taking a scene out of nature, and it is just times 1000. Where you're in that moment and you're looking around and you're thinking to yourself, wow, I am in this space in this moment. And you just have to take that picture.
Andy Schwindler (16:58):
Timeless.
Michelle Schwindler (16:59):
Yes.
Andy Schwindler (17:00):
Emotional, elegant, all the things. Well, I'm glad that we got a chance to reflect on our time at Fair Oaks, but I'm really looking forward to hearing from Jacqueline. So without further ado, let's cut to our interview with Jacqueline McCloskey at Fair Oaks.
Michelle Schwindler (17:17):
All right, Andy and Michelle, we're here at Fair Oaks Farms. We are talking to Jacqueline McCloskey and she is Director of Business Development here at Fair Oaks Farms.
Jacqueline McCloskey (17:26):
Yes, it's so great to be here. Thank you for having me on today.
Michelle Schwindler (17:29):
Thanks for having us here and talking about being here. We've been here doing your holiday lights for about a week now.
Jacqueline McCloskey (17:36):
And many years before that. It's been a lot of fun. Definitely changed it up a little bit this year, but we're excited for everyone to come and see all of the beautiful work you guys have done.
Michelle Schwindler (17:45):
Thank you. Well, so yeah, let's talk about that a little bit. I know that in the years past, we've always done the forest of lights and we're doing something a little different this year. I'm so excited. Do you want to talk about that?
Jacqueline McCloskey (17:55):
Yeah, we've just evolved a little bit. We've really taken the highlights of the forest of lights, all the things like the tractors that everyone always loves and pulled everything up towards our main campus. We it a little bit more accessible for people to be able to get to instead of having to walk all the way out in a really cold forest. Now, it's really all up on our campus. We've got a really cool pub experience this year as well that's decorated as if Christmas just threw up in a building and I love it. And then all of our bonfires and things like that. So we've got a lot of really cool stuff going on here at the farm for our holiday season.
Andy Schwindler (18:31):
Yay. I love that we brought the campus to life, the fact that as soon as you pull on, you feel the Christmas.
Jacqueline McCloskey (18:37):
Yeah.
Andy Schwindler (18:38):
Surrounded by the farmhouse, the igloos, the creek around back, and then the staple, the John Deere tractors. I'm really happy that it's on Front Street. I think it's going to catch on. I think it's going to be a big deal.
Jacqueline McCloskey (18:48):
I do too. I really like bringing it all up and as the years go on, continuing to expand out, but I think in years past we were missing that real excitement once you pulled in and having this density of activity in one area. And now that we have all of that, I cannot wait to see where this goes in the next few years as we continue to just expand and expand.
Andy Schwindler (19:09):
And the tractors this year are anchoring kind of the lead up to your pop-up bar. I want to hear more about the pop-up bar. I got a chance to see it today, and it is. It's so good.
Jacqueline McCloskey (19:19):
Yeah, it really is so exceptional. So we worked with a company called Miracle who do a lot of pop-up bars all over the Midwest. Miracle is just, they have the best recipes for all of these fun drinks. They have awesome mugs. I mean, you're drinking out of dinosaurs and unicorns and mice and all of these different fun mugs that you get to drink out of. It's really just all about super celebrating Christmas. We've always had a little bit more of an artistic edge to our light shows in the past, which I've absolutely loved, but it's also just a great feeling to just be so Christmas forward and so excited about the holiday season and just have red and green everywhere.
Andy Schwindler (20:00):
I love that. And I think what I've liked about our relationship is the understanding that this is an experience. We're not just putting lights up to fancy the place up. We want people to come and we want them to feel different things. We want them to have those Instagrammable moments where they can have these shared moments forever, not just in that moment with the John Deere tractor, but at Fair Oaks Farm. And I think that's the vision that I really like, and I think that we share that with you, and I think that that's part of why we talk about it, because I think more people need to understand just how important it is to create the experience, not just through lights, but through bringing all these different collaborators together.
Jacqueline McCloskey (20:43):
For sure. I also just love that we do this in of the smallest counties in Indiana. The local people get to come to something like this and have this incredible holiday celebration that is really something you typically only see in cities. So that's really fun to be able to provide. And then on the opposite side of that, all of our fun visitors from the cities get to come and see how we celebrate in the country.
Andy Schwindler (21:08):
It's quintessential Indiana, right? I love it.
Jacqueline McCloskey (21:10):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Andy Schwindler (21:11):
Yay. And then quintessential farm tractors, right? The John Deere tractors. I'm so glad you bring us back for those every single year.
Jacqueline McCloskey (21:19):
Oh yeah. No, we're never going to stop doing that. That will be, yeah. You heard that your business for life at this point, you guys have perfected it.
Michelle Schwindler (21:25):
I think that was such a brilliant scene you created back there though, with the Miracle Bar and then the tractors to see, and then the bonfires right there where everyone can hang. It's just such a neat little space experience, like what Andy was saying. It's all about just having a fun country night.
Jacqueline McCloskey (21:40):
Yeah. Yeah. I love that.
Andy Schwindler (21:41):
What are some of the other things they can do here that night? I know we've got the Farmhouse restaurant, Michelle and I love that place. You've overhauled the menu. Tell us a little bit about that and just the other things they can do while they're here experiencing the lights.
Jacqueline McCloskey (21:53):
Yeah, for sure. So like you said, farmhouse restaurant. We've got an exceptional winter menu, like our chicken pot pie is just the perfect thing on a cold winter night. But on top of that, we who you guys know very well, we use Blake Tuy to decorate our farmhouse restaurant this year. He owns his own design kind of barn in Kansas City. It's called The Fabulous Fern. And he came out, flew out here just to decorate the farmhouse restaurant, and all I told him was, we have this massive dining room with incredibly tall ceilings. And I told him, I just want it to feel like a Hogwarts Christmas in my restaurant. That was all the direction I gave him. And you go down there today and see it, and it is just so freaking beautiful.
Andy Schwindler (22:41):
It's magical.
Jacqueline McCloskey (22:41):
It's perfect. I'm so proud of him. And I grew up together in the same town, and I've known each other since we were four years old. He was the first friend I ever made when I moved here, when I was a kid. So to be able to see where he's gone and the past 20 years, 25 years, it has been really, really cool.
Andy Schwindler (22:59):
Yay. Everybody definitely needs to come see it for themselves.
Jacqueline McCloskey (23:02):
And then we also have the igloos out back, which are so cool. Full farmhouse restaurant menu, full bar menu, everything. It's just a reservation fee that you can make online. And I just think it's really special. I was my mom and I decorate them together every year. And really what I should say is that my mom decorates them and I just work for her the whole time. She's the creative in our family, not me, but just to know that the owner of the company, she puts all of her time in and she wants to create this beautiful special environment for people to be able to enjoy the holiday season. I think it's something everyone should know.
Andy Schwindler (23:38):
In each one of them is a different scene. So they're all different. They're perfectly curated and the backdrop, we've got lights got the waterfall, we've got the little creek backdrop. It's a magical scene like no other place. I can't wait to see the Instagram feed people taking pictures and all that fun stuff. That good?
Jacqueline McCloskey (23:57):
Yes, very much looking forward to all the photos and definitely a few of the proposals that are coming up this year.
Michelle Schwindler (24:03):
I definitely anticipate some proposals in that meadow grass area with the blossoms, so beautiful.
Jacqueline McCloskey (24:09):
And then they can just come back the next year and get married there. You just get married where you propose to someone. That's pretty cool.
Michelle Schwindler (24:15):
And speaking of too, one of the reasons why I love this place, you can literally celebrate all the things here. I mean, you've got the farmhouse restaurant, you've got the hotel here. You can even bring your kids back when you start to have a family. So it really is that just magical from start to finish place.
Jacqueline McCloskey (24:32):
It really is an honor at the end of the day to be a part of so many people's family traditions, whether it's coming here every year for birthdays or it's a mom and daughter weekend that they come and spend with us in the winter for Princess Weekend or it's Christmas dinner where you get your whole family together. Just being a part of people's traditions is what makes hospitality so fun. To see families grow and to see them want to come and be with you and your people during that time. It's really beautiful.
Michelle Schwindler (25:03):
Well, and I can speak to that. We have the privilege of being able to work here, but we spend our special occasions here. We come for your Easter brunch. We bring our little girl for the Princess event. What else do we do here?
Andy Schwindler (25:15):
I mean, we do the Princess thing, which is one of our favorites. You and I have done the Valentine's bourbon and wine pairing, which is always fun. So we're always looking to see what little just micro parties that you're throwing here
Michelle Schwindler (25:30):
Because it's top notch. So you guys are doing a good job.
Jacqueline McCloskey (25:33):
It really is just fun to do things like that and challenge yourself in new ways. I mean, the Forest of Lights, the first time that we did that, which Andy was there for, I think started planning it in September and we opened in late November. It was absolutely crazy what we decided to do.
Andy Schwindler (25:50):
I still wonder how we pull off some of the things we do and the period of time we decide to do the things.
Jacqueline McCloskey (25:55):
I think just out of necessity, that's the only way that it happens. I mean, you and I both work well in chaos. We can find our way through it, but I am very glad that we've become more of planners.
Andy Schwindler (26:07):
That's right. We've started talking again in February and planning it out. That reminds me, you told me a little bit about this Christmas. You're introducing maybe a new Christmas character or a friend to the farm.
Jacqueline McCloskey (26:21):
So we just have too many creative, incredible people on this campus. So our director of museums started talking about wanting to do a new Santa event. We've always loved our Santa that we've brought here in the past and always had a great Santa event. One of the main things that matters to us is about having those moments with Santa. We all know what it's like when kids meet the Easter Bunny or Santa or any character that they love. They immediately have a meltdown. So sometimes you need to give them a prolonged amount of time with Santa or a character for them to really warm up to that character and then get to have the experience. So we've always challenged ourselves not to be a 10 minute stop with Santa. It's about a Santa experience at least an hour long and with smaller groups of people.
(27:11):
So to kind of keep evolving through this and really play on who we are, we've come up with Farmer Kringle, who is Santa's brother who had to become a dairy farmer out of necessity because Santa has such a big milk addiction. Let's go. So Santa's brother is here at Fair Oaks Farms. He is dairy Farmer Kringle, and you actually get on one of our buses, it's completely decked out with Christmas lights and everything, and you go out to the dairy at night and Farmer Kringle tells you the stories of the dairy farm out there at night. Then you go and you have milk and cookies with him at the top of our robotic dairy and get to look down at all the calm cows hanging out.
Michelle Schwindler (27:53):
So fun.
Jacqueline McCloskey (27:54):
And then he tells you a Christmas story. And yeah, it's just a really fun, simple event. But really far forward. We just took our own take on Santa this year.
Andy Schwindler (28:05):
Well, I love it because it again goes back to the idea where you're curating experiences, you're making experiences out of nothing. It's just really fun to watch and especially to be a part of.
Jacqueline McCloskey (28:15):
Yeah, it's a lot of fun to do. I mean, just to surprise people is I think one of the best parts about hospitality. To get to see them light up at something new that you've brought to their lives is really exceptional.
Andy Schwindler (28:27):
And I'd like to see Farmer Kringle kind of make his way through Indiana. Right?
Jacqueline McCloskey (28:31):
Yeah, I'd love that.
Andy Schwindler (28:32):
That could be the state representative.
Jacqueline McCloskey (28:33):
Yeah, I like this. That could be Indiana Santa.
Michelle Schwindler (28:36):
So I've always sensed this love of Christmas from you. I mean, is Christmas kind of an extra special holiday? Where'd that come from? What's the passion here?
Jacqueline McCloskey (28:46):
Yeah, I mean, I come from a decently big family, so the holidays are always so special to us to be together. My parents were pretty smart when we were younger, I'll be honest with you there. They always made a bigger deal out of Thanksgiving. So as much as I love Christmas, the start of the holiday season to me as Thanksgiving, and so they've made us promise when we were children that when we got married one day, we would never give up Thanksgiving and that the other families can have Christmas, but we have to have Thanksgiving. And so we just have so many traditions that we do around Thanksgiving and really that builds up into Christmas. And so it's what gets me so excited about it. It's decorating the Christmas tree with your family the day after Thanksgiving and just spending that time together. So it's really just always been special to us, but more so than anything, I'd say the reason I love Christmas so much and doing everything we do here, it's about the other people. It's about watching these families come to Fair Oaks Farms and spend time here and just be so excited about Christmas.
Andy Schwindler (29:52):
They're so excited.
Jacqueline McCloskey (29:53):
They're so excited. Every time someone walks into the restaurant, they whip out their phone and taking ice photos.
Andy Schwindler (29:58):
They've got ice cream cones. They're excited, they're happy. It's so cool. This is basically Indiana Disneyland.
Jacqueline McCloskey (30:04):
Yeah. Yeah. It's basically Dairyland.
Andy Schwindler (30:06):
Yeah, the Dairyland. I love it.
Michelle Schwindler (30:08):
You're the Director of Business Development here, but I see you all over the place. You're doing just about everything. What's your history here with Fair Oaks Farms and how'd you get started here?
Jacqueline McCloskey (30:17):
They recruited me at nine years old, and by they, I mean my mom and dad. So my parents are the founders of Fair Oaks Farms, as well as the owners today to watch this place from when it was a cornfield without an exit turning into hotels and restaurants and gas stations. And...
Andy Schwindler (30:34):
Is it its own town now, like Fair Oaks town?
Jacqueline McCloskey (30:37):
Well, actually, a lot of people don't know that Fair Oaks Farms is named after the town.
Andy Schwindler (30:42):
Okay, got it.
Jacqueline McCloskey (30:42):
So there is a town called Fair Oaks.
Andy Schwindler (30:44):
Okay, I'm just catching up.
Jacqueline McCloskey (30:45):
No, it's okay. I think the population is like a hundred people, so it's very, very, very small. But yeah, we named it after the town itself. But yeah, I've spent my whole life here. My second job was being a cleaning lady the summer I was 10 years old. I look back and I think I realize that my parents were just using this as a babysitting service, which is great. Every business owner gets to do what they want with their business. I've just always loved Fair Oaks. It's really about the people that we employ here. They're just mostly local people and exceptional. They are very proud to work here and to show off their community and to have something like this in such a small town I think is really special.
Andy Schwindler (31:29):
I mean, from the BP to the Cal, everybody's really happy to be here.
Jacqueline McCloskey (31:33):
Yeah, don't get me wrong. I love all of our businesses, but I have never met better gas station at attendants than the ones at our gas station.
Andy Schwindler (31:41):
They're so good.
Jacqueline McCloskey (31:42):
They are very happy employees. They are so happy. I mean, I don't know any other gas station that...
Andy Schwindler (31:47):
They have a lot of jobs. They have to get you the ice cream cone.
Jacqueline McCloskey (31:49):
Oh yeah.
Andy Schwindler (31:49):
They've got to get you your gas.
Jacqueline McCloskey (31:50):
They prep all those sandwiches, all the things. I mean, they do a lot of stuff. And I've said this a few times. I think the only other gas station that has a loyalty following to it is Buc-ee's.
Andy Schwindler (32:01):
Might be Buc-ee's. Yeah.
Jacqueline McCloskey (32:01):
Yeah. And somehow this tiny little gas station in Northwest Indiana has a true loyalty to it, which I think is so cool and it's such a great way to introduce people to who we are. They stop on I-65. We've got to be one of the easiest gas station stops in this area, and then they just start to see a bunch of cheese over there and ice cream and milk, and they start to ask questions about who we are. So it's a great way to introduce ourselves to a bunch of people. To answer your question, Michelle, as a family member, the ownership family, I do a lot of things. I am currently also the general manager of the restaurant, which is just such a fun job. I've learned so much. Being the gm, it's a very complex job and I'm very glad that I'll be finding someone else very soon to run a restaurant. But I've had such a blast doing it. I take on a lot of the special projects like our holiday seasons and different things like that to make sure that we're always evolving as Fair Oaks.
Andy Schwindler (33:05):
And I've seen you, you've done every single job here from the ground up. And I think that that's why the people here respect what Fair Oaks is trying to do. They see the people doing the things, and it matters for a reason because we want people to come here and really have that experience and know that when they come here, it's always going to be a certain way. It's going to be special.
Michelle Schwindler (33:29):
And I can see just watching you work here, your whole heart is in it. And honestly, a hundred percent, I can tell you that's why this place is so special. Thank you. Because you make it so special and your family does, and we just appreciate you bringing us in.
Jacqueline McCloskey (33:42):
Finding the right partners is so important in business. We all know that. And having you guys as partners throughout the years has really just taken a weight off of my shoulders of wondering if you guys are going to come in on time and do the job right? Or are you going to come back and make sure everything gets cleaned up the right way? Or talk to me when there's an issue or deliver on the specs that we've talked about. And it so quickly was clear to me, you guys just have the integrity that I look for in partners, that we can build that trust together and continue to build a relationship further on. So I'm really grateful. I've worked with people unfortunately in the past that it didn't work out with, and you just have to go your separate ways. But you guys are definitely people that I know I can rely on.
Andy Schwindler (34:32):
Yay. That's who we want to be. And you touched on something that's really important to us is trust. At the end of the day, you know what to expect from us. We kind of know the standard that you hold, and we want to hold that true to our performance as well. So it's a mutual thing. The trust is so strong here, and I think that's why we love Fair Oaks and assuming that's why you love Sandy Beach.
Michelle Schwindler (34:54):
Yeah, it sure is. Yeah. So I would definitely say whether or not you've been to Fair Oaks before or if this is your first time, this is definitely the year to try it out because you've had some amazing things going on and I hope they're going to bring me and Julia back here.
Andy Schwindler (35:08):
Absolutely. We'll be back.
Michelle Schwindler (35:10):
Absolutely. Princess Weekend is not too far away.
(35:12):
Do I get to be the princess this time?
Jacqueline McCloskey (35:14):
You sure can dress up. Yeah.
Andy Schwindler (35:17):
Well, we want to thank Jacqueline for joining us today on the Reveal. It's just been such a pleasure talking to her about Fair Oaks, fair Oaks Farm, the lighting that we do here, but really just the overall experiences that you can expect at Fair Oaks throughout the holidays and every other season. So again, thank you. This has been the reveal.
Michelle Schwindler (35:37):
That was so fun. She is such a good guest and she's just been so fun to work for.
Andy Schwindler (35:42):
She's like pro status.
Michelle Schwindler (35:43):
Yeah.
Andy Schwindler (35:43):
Honestly, that was about as good as an interview as I could have imagined. So what are your thoughts now?
Michelle Schwindler (35:50):
They have so much going on there at the farm, honestly, everywhere between, not just our lights, but the Miracle Bar that they were talking about, the bonfires. They have the farm experiences during the day, which we just have so much fun with the hotel. They have one of the best hotel kids pools I've been to here locally. So
Andy Schwindler (36:12):
The chicken pot pie's back.
Michelle Schwindler (36:14):
That chicken pot pie!
Andy Schwindler (36:15):
I think every time I go there, I gain a few pounds going to the farmhouse restaurant. The chicken pot pie was so good this time around. They added a couple things back, the bacon sampler and some of those things. I'm thinking about the farmhouse.
Michelle Schwindler (36:28):
And Andy goes for the food and he loves it.
Andy Schwindler (36:30):
It is just so...
Michelle Schwindler (36:32):
No, it is wonderful.
Andy Schwindler (36:33):
It's just so good.
Michelle Schwindler (36:35):
Honestly. Huge, huge, huge thanks to Jacqueline and her team. I know I hit on this a little bit, but just the trust that she had in us. It was year one, remember that we approached her. That means that we were year one, but she saw something in us and I think that she saw that we were just the kind of people that we were going to see it through with her, that we were aligned. And she felt that too. But the fact that she brought us in so early in the game means so much. And honestly, I've been able to work with more confidence in meeting the Chick-fil-A's and the Purdues and the Culver's and just the other commercial accounts that I've been able to kind of build rapport with. It all starts with the fact that we have that relationship with Fair Oaks Farms. So she really did help me build my holiday business quite a bit by bringing us on.
Andy Schwindler (37:32):
Yeah, you said it right. She trusted us. She trusted us to do the hard things and to come back and continue to see them through. So meeting and exceeding expectations I think has been our superpower, and we appreciate her trusting us to do that.
Michelle Schwindler (37:48):
And we talk with Jacqueline a lot about this, and this is just the way holiday works sometimes, especially when you're talking about out of the box designs like we do have at Fair Oaks, it's not your typical roof flying or just decorating a tree. So we have these visions and we can do as much calculating back in the office as we can, but when it comes time to installing and we've put our design out there in nature and we take a step back and we think to ourselves, man, we just really need a little more, or we just really needs that. Jacqueline knows that we don't walk away, we're just going to do it. Maybe that adds to our stress a little bit, but I think that that perfectionism that we have literally keeps us awake at night.
Andy Schwindler (38:35):
The photos live forever.
Michelle Schwindler (38:37):
But that's why people want to work with us, and that's the message we're trying to get across. We really do care that much, and it might be so geeky and so nerdy that we care about holiday lights as much as we do, but we do because it means a lot to these businesses. So
Andy Schwindler (38:53):
I couldn't agree more, and I love that about us. I love that the destination is part of it, but we actually enjoy the journey too, because what good is a great project if it's not everything you'd hope it to be. We like to see that through. That's the fun part about it.
Michelle Schwindler (39:11):
Yeah, there's a sense when working at Fair Oaks or really any other large project the entire time, when you are constantly thinking about the deadline, thinking about the end project, and is the vision going to be what I wanted it to be? Is it going to have the impact that we wanted it to have? And there's just this constant, I call it this body buzz, right? You're just constantly out there just on it. And then when you've just done that last thing and you're walking away and you can finally call it done, that's the moment. That's what I love about the pH oaks project, because that does it for me.
Andy Schwindler (39:49):
You and me both.
Michelle Schwindler (39:50):
Yeah. Good stuff.
Andy Schwindler (39:51):
Well, I'd like to thank Michelle and Jacqueline for joining us on the Reveal today. It's been such a pleasure sharing our story about this. If you'd like to catch more, subscribe and comment down below if you'd like to hear us talk about anything else. Again, this has been, Andy, Michelle, in The Reveal.