Preserving A Main Line Treasure With The Willows Park Preserve

We sat down with Will Nord, Executive Director of the Willows Park Preserve, who is the 501c3 established in 2019 to restore and operate the Willows Mansion, a historic and beautiful former home that sits atop a hill overlooking the Willows Park in Villanova.

The space has been reimagined to operate not only as a private event center for weddings and corporate retreats to help fund its mission, but most importantly a space for free, public gathering that runs community programming and educational events.

Visit https://willowsparkpreserve.org/ to learn more.

What is SHOEMAKER LAB?

The official podcast of Shoemaker Films. Every week we share content related to digital marketing, video production, and brand building; and frequently meet with local creatives, entrepreneurs, and business owners for in-depth conversations. Get to know local heavy hitters and influencers in the Greater Philadelphia region while picking up some tactical advice and tips on starting and running a business, being productive, creating content, and everything in between.

Dane Shoemaker: 00:03

Hi. This is Dane Shoemaker with the Shoemaker Lab. This is the Shoemaker Films podcast, where we get to know local businesses, local nonprofits, cool places in the Greater Philadelphia area. And I'm with Will Nord, executive director of the Willows Park Reserve. How are you doing today?

Will Nord: 00:21

I'm good. I'm good.

Dane Shoemaker: 00:22

Good. Good. Thanks for, thanks for agreeing to do this. So the Willows has been really a mainstay of, you know, this this area, right, mainline for a long time. I have a couple stories I wanted to share.

Dane Shoemaker: 00:37

Just, you know, my wife and I, we used to live in South Philly for a long time when we first she's from Broomall area, so we were destined to come out to this area, for a long time. But, you know, when we first moved out here, there was a moment where we were kinda walking around the willows, and we had our, you know, 3 month old baby walking around in a stroller, and it was like, we just couldn't believe that we were living in such a beautiful place. Right? Yeah. Fast forward a year later, this is around 2020 20 yeah, 2020.

Dane Shoemaker: 01:07

During the pandemic, we spent a lot of time outdoors. And so, you know, we're a stone's throw away from here, right around the corner, but, you know, a lot of videography that that we do came from spending a lot of time out here. So flying the drone around, you know, spending time outdoors with the kids, you know, catch capturing all that stuff on film. So, the willows, the park, and then I was kind of obsessed with this mansion for a long time too. I'm a I like history and was always kind of curious about this.

Dane Shoemaker: 01:35

So one of the first, you know, early videos that that we did was was for you guys a couple years ago. So, you know, really appreciate. I feel like we're coming full circle here a little bit. So Yeah. Kind of interested today, you know, for for anyone that that's might be watching this or listening to this that doesn't really know, you know, much about this place, I hope we can kinda deep you know, dive into it a little bit today, learn about the the preserve and Yeah.

Dane Shoemaker: 02:00

You know, and what you guys are doing here.

Will Nord: 02:02

So No. Absolutely. Always excited to tell our story. Yeah. We are as you know, we're a young nonprofit.

Will Nord: 02:09

So the more we can get the word out about who we are and what our goals are, the better. You're right. This place is beautiful. I actually was fortunate to grow up in this area. And so as a kid, I would come here sledding on the hills back back there.

Will Nord: 02:24

Yeah. Going fishing in the pond, and now I get to work here, which is really, really cool for me. So this is kind of personal and professional what I'm doing day to day. Mhmm. And, yeah, it is like you said, it's a beautiful place.

Will Nord: 02:37

A lot of people come visit the park. A lot of people aren't really sure what this mansion is all about. So, again, we love we love to tell our story as much as as much as possible. I guess I can start with a little bit of the history of the mansion and then kinda get into,

Dane Shoemaker: 02:55

Yeah. Yeah. Tell tell us about the the history. That sounds great.

Will Nord: 02:58

So I'm a history geek too. Fell in love with history at Ratner High School, studied history, in in college. So I have a deep appreciation for, kind of all the stories that came through this this this pretty awesome building, home. So it was built in 1910. John Sennett purchased the 47 and a half acres that this house sits on.

Will Nord: 03:24

He purchased the property and had the house built for his wife as a wedding gift.

Dane Shoemaker: 03:28

Okay.

Will Nord: 03:29

So John Sennett and his family, owned, Moore and Sennett Whiskey Distilling, which was one of the largest whiskey distilling companies in the country in the early 1900. In addition to the Senate, actually, 3 other families lived here, from really 1910 to about 1970. Fast forward to 1973, and Radnor Township purchases the property.

Dane Shoemaker: 03:51

Okay. Yeah. And the building itself.

Will Nord: 03:53

And the building itself. Yeah. So, you know, the kind of the history of the property and the mansion, starts with 4 different families, and then moves into the township owning and operating and maintaining the the park and the mansion, for decades. And then there's so there's a whole another layer of memories that come with, you know, a township having, you know, a park for their community.

Dane Shoemaker: 04:18

Sure. Yeah. So 1973, Ratter Township purchased it. What was it then, you know, from 1973 on?

Will Nord: 04:27

Yeah. So it was it was interesting. So, a little while back, I got to read some of the board of commissioner meeting minutes, from Radnor Township back in, like, 1970 3, 74, 75. And, it was fascinating reading, those minutes about this park. So, when they originally purchased this park, there was a, you know, pretty big article in the mainline times.

Will Nord: 04:48

You know, they the goal of purchasing this was to preserve some open space. But besides that and making it a public park, I don't think, initially they really knew what to do, especially with with the mansion. And so I I forget exactly what year it was. I think it was a few years after they purchased this, 75, 76. They they had some requests to host some weddings here.

Will Nord: 05:12

And again, those minutes minutes were kinda funny because they they talked about it at commissioner meetings and saying, you know, we had a we had a wedding at the Willow's mansion and it was a success. Another couple has asked us, should we do it? And they're discussing these in the in these commissioner, meeting minutes, which seems so trivial now compared

Dane Shoemaker: 05:31

to some

Will Nord: 05:31

of the discussions that they're having. So essentially, they they they saw that they could they could use this for weddings. I believe Radnor School District used it a a a good deal for for meetings and other school functions. Okay. But eventually through the eighties nineties, Radnor Township was hosting 70, 80 plus weddings a year here in the mansion.

Dane Shoemaker: 05:53

Is that right? Wow.

Will Nord: 05:54

Yeah. Fast forward to 2013 in Radnor Township made the decision to close the mansion. The park stayed open, but they closed the mansion. And from my understanding, it was really for financial reasons. They didn't want to financially maintain this this big home.

Will Nord: 06:14

With all the weddings they're running every year, the place was getting beat up. Yeah. And they weren't putting necessarily putting the money they needed to back in to, maintain the the the mansion. So they made the decision in 2013 to close the Willow's mansion, lock the doors. Again, like I said, the park stayed open, but the mansion was closed.

Will Nord: 06:36

For for, I think, a a a few years there, the township was taking some proposals on and trying to figure out what to do with this this awesome space. Yeah. Nothing really excited, I guess, the township or came to fruition. And so at the top of the their list was to the idea to tear it down. You know, the park would stay the park and, you know, the mansion would no longer be in the park.

Will Nord: 07:02

So, that's really why our nonprofit profit, formed. Some community members were really passionate about keeping, saving the Willow's mansion. So they came together, incorporated a 501c3 in 2017.

Dane Shoemaker: 07:19

Okay.

Will Nord: 07:20

And then in 2019, our nonprofit signed a 25 year lease with Radnor Township to restore, operate, maintain this Willow's mansion for the community to use.

Dane Shoemaker: 07:33

That's that's amazing. Yeah. So that was in what? In 2019, you said?

Will Nord: 07:37

Summer the summer of 2019, and then as as we all know, about 6 months later, we're in a in a pandemic. Yeah. Great time to start any kind of business. Right?

Dane Shoemaker: 07:47

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Like, let alone, like, an event space and a public gathering space. Right?

Dane Shoemaker: 07:52

So Yeah. So what was that like? I mean, so when did you come on board as executive director, and then what were some of the early challenges? I'm sure there were a few.

Will Nord: 08:03

Yeah. Well, I think all of us are pretty familiar with what that that year Yeah. Plus was like. Schools, businesses, you know, for profits, non not for profits. We all we all did our best to survive.

Will Nord: 08:17

Yeah. You know? So I I came on my first official day. It was December 1, 2020.

Dane Shoemaker: 08:22

Okay. I was

Will Nord: 08:22

the executive director. So again, right in it right in the thick of it. And so the early day challenges you know, pandemic or not pandemic, our early challenges was just spreading awareness that we were a nonprofit and that we were here at the Willow's mansion trying to restore it and open it up for all of us to use. We you know, it was, you know, closed, at that time for for 7 7 plus years. Right.

Will Nord: 08:51

And so I always say it kind of fell out of the minds of everybody that knows about this park. Right. Not to mention people that don't even know about this park. Right? So we had this, you know, uphill challenge to really start spreading the word about our goals and our mission during a pandemic, kinda starting from scratch.

Will Nord: 09:15

So that was our first big hurdle. Yeah. And it continues to be a big priority of ours, to get the word about word out about us Yeah. Yeah. And that that we're here.

Dane Shoemaker: 09:27

What were those early days like? I guess before you came on board, I mean, did the the board members, you know, unlock the doors and come in? And, I mean, was it just kinda dusty? Was it, like, in disrepair? What was the

Will Nord: 09:39

Yeah. So the the the founding members, original board members, they did a tremendous amount of work. I mean, just just actually incorporating a nonprofit. I I wasn't there.

Dane Shoemaker: 09:50

So Right.

Will Nord: 09:50

Just that work alone and and working with the township on the lease Okay. To say, hey. We will take this over. You know, we're responsible for the mansion. We're responsible for raising the money.

Will Nord: 10:03

But so that alone was just I can't imagine the the amount of work and time that was put in there. The the physical building itself, yeah, a lot of them did come in and did a lot of cleanups around the outside, but also in the inside. Remarkably, the the mansion is in, was in with solid shape. You know, they they they built these big old homes well back in the early 1900. Right.

Will Nord: 10:30

Right. But, you know, that also being said, there, you know, it just being closed, you know, a lot of deferred maintenance, you know, thinking about the the guts of the building, the systems downstairs in the basement, you know, the boilers, the the air conditioning units, the electric, the plumbing. We still continue to spend a lot of time making sure that they're they're running properly.

Dane Shoemaker: 10:50

Yeah. Right. Okay. Yeah. So the 501c3 is set up.

Dane Shoemaker: 10:55

You're brought on board. What is, I mean, what is the mission of Willows Park Reserve? Like, what are your core tenants, I guess?

Will Nord: 11:00

Yeah. So so I mentioned it, you know, a minute ago, like, the the essence of what we're doing is to restore, operate, and maintain the Willow's mansion for community use. Okay. So, you know, part of our communication and an important part of that is, we're not just restoring a beautiful old mansion on the main line and gonna walk away. Right?

Will Nord: 11:27

So there's some sometimes, you know, we think about it in 2 parts, There is the physical restoration improvement of this building. So it's safe. It's up to code. It's presentable. People wanna hang out in here.

Will Nord: 11:40

Right. It doesn't fall apart, you know, over the years, but we're doing that. So you and I in the the greater community can use this space. So interest interestingly, when Radnor Township was was operating this building, you know, for years, it was a private event space. So unless you came to a wedding, or a meeting, you didn't really come into the mansion.

Will Nord: 12:09

You could come to the park. Again, the park's public, dawn to dusk. So we're what our nonprofit is trying to do is we're trying to flip that. So if there's Okay. Not anything going on right now, the doors are open.

Will Nord: 12:20

And you can actually come in here, with a cup of coffee and a book and sit on the couch, you know, for the for the morning.

Dane Shoemaker: 12:27

Is that right?

Will Nord: 12:28

Yeah. So you can come up on the terrace right out here. We have a bunch of seating right here and tables and seats, and you can come up and and and bring your lunch and and have lunch up here. So that again is part of that awareness that it's taking some time because for years years, decades, right, you couldn't really I I think people felt like this this mansion wasn't approachable. So we get a lot of, like, peering in the windows.

Will Nord: 12:52

Hey. Can we come in here? And so we're trying to change that narrative. And it's working slowly, but it it takes time.

Dane Shoemaker: 12:59

Yeah. I mean, it is a big, beautiful, almost imposing mansion up on a hill. Like, it's kinda like, you know, you have to drive up to to get here. I can see how that that might feel that way, but it it's so once you're in here, it just feels so welcoming and and you know?

Will Nord: 13:16

Yeah. That's that's that's the hope. And and and there's there's things that we're doing now, and there's things that we know we can do to improve that awareness that, you know, making sure that this mansion is more approachable, some signage, down at the bottom of the mansion driveway, some kiosks. And that's also why, as soon as we could, as soon as I got here back in, you know, 2021, we started running programs and events. Right?

Will Nord: 13:45

Not only is that part of our mission. Right? We want this to be used by the community. It's a great way to tell our story when we can have people up here for a program or event.

Dane Shoemaker: 13:55

Right. Right. So what are some of the examples of programs, and events that you've had in the past and anything

Will Nord: 14:03

coming up you wanna talk about? Yeah. Absolutely. So, you know, back in, in I I I started late 2020. So really in 2021, we did a handful of events online by zoom, like we were so so used to some historical programs.

Will Nord: 14:21

Just talking about, you know, the history of the mansion, the history of, great estates on the main line. So we kinda started with that, and then we went into starting, hosting some concerts in the courtyard out here in front of the fountain wall. That was, I guess, a friendly program for people that were still kind of we're still in COVID or just getting out of COVID and people, you know, wanting to be outside, but not sitting right next to each other. So Yeah. Having music concerts in the courtyard, was a was a big hit.

Will Nord: 14:54

We continue to have, you know, music concerts, inside and outside. Some other programs that we've been running is, you know, partnering with other organizations, Penn State Master Gardeners. We have, have had a handful of master gardening programs.

Dane Shoemaker: 15:09

Okay.

Will Nord: 15:10

Have had, the Wayne Senior Center in here has used the the facility, the home, a a a good deal. They come in and have some yoga programs Yeah. Some lunches, some of their music concerts on their, on their own as well. Yeah. We try to offer a variety of programs and events for, all ages and and and the whole community.

Dane Shoemaker: 15:34

Yeah. So you have, I think, wellness wellness in the willows coming up.

Will Nord: 15:38

We do, actually, this this weekend, this Saturday in

Dane Shoemaker: 15:40

a few weeks. Be last weekend when this comes out, but that's yeah. Wanted to share a little bit about that.

Will Nord: 15:44

Yeah. So this is the 3rd year we're hosting Wellness at the Willows. It's a free community event for all ages and abilities. It started with a few friends of the the Willows Park Reserve coming to me and suggesting we have a wellness day. So I asked for their help and we kicked it off a few years ago and it was a great success.

Will Nord: 16:05

So this year, what what wellness at the willows entails this year, we have 16:30 minute health and wellness classes and presentations on a variety of topics from yoga and Pilates to stress management and nutrition. And then we in addition to the classes, we also have 22 health and wellness tables. Various vendors, local businesses, Radnor Penn Medicine will be here. Okay. And they're they're giving out free health and wellness information and resources.

Dane Shoemaker: 16:41

Okay.

Will Nord: 16:42

So it's a fun day. It's a fun family day. There, those classes, are are for for kids as well. So we actually, this year, we're we're adding a couple kids' craft tables for them to engage in as well. So, and and we are gonna have an obstacle agility course out there for people to have fun with as well.

Dane Shoemaker: 17:02

That sounds fun. Yeah. Yeah. I know you've done there's there's, like, fishing classes too here. You had someone operating

Will Nord: 17:08

We've done fishing clinics. We haven't done that in a little while, but we we hosted about 3 different fishing, clinics.

Dane Shoemaker: 17:15

I mean, it's a big spot here for fishing. I I

Will Nord: 17:18

It is.

Dane Shoemaker: 17:18

See people here. Yeah.

Will Nord: 17:19

So It is. The the, the the Darby Creek was just, stocked with some trout last weekend. They were over here restocking it yesterday.

Dane Shoemaker: 17:27

Oh, that is stocked upon?

Will Nord: 17:29

The pond is not.

Dane Shoemaker: 17:30

Oh, okay.

Will Nord: 17:30

Darby Creek, there's a stream that runs right next to the pond.

Dane Shoemaker: 17:33

Oh, that's right.

Will Nord: 17:34

Okay. The creek actually doesn't feed the pond. The pond, feeds the creek. Okay. Interestingly enough, back in the early 1900, that pond as we see it now was 3 little ponds.

Will Nord: 17:47

And the original homeowner dug it out to make one larger pond. But there's fishing for kids allowed in that pond and and and, of course, the stream too. Okay. Yeah. So, you know, in addition to Wellness at the Willow's coming up this weekend, next week on, May 2nd, we actually have Radnor Middle School.

Will Nord: 18:07

Their string ensemble, 7th and 8th grade string ensemble and jazz band is gonna play in the courtyard, which

Dane Shoemaker: 18:13

which Yeah.

Will Nord: 18:13

Which is awesome. May 19th, we are, partnering with Episcopal Shipley and Radnor High School jazz bands.

Dane Shoemaker: 18:20

Right.

Will Nord: 18:21

So we're gonna have them out for a Sunday afternoon. All three schools are gonna play. So, yeah, we love partnering with with schools in the area, different organizations, get them out so they can use use the space. Yeah.

Dane Shoemaker: 18:34

Cool. What about businesses? I mean, are there are there corporate events, or do you have companies coming in here ever to rent the space? What is that?

Will Nord: 18:43

We'd like more to come.

Dane Shoemaker: 18:44

Okay. Alright.

Will Nord: 18:45

We have. You know, we're we're connected with the Wayne Business Association and Mainland Chamber of Commerce. The Wayne Business Association, we're gonna have one of their monthly meetings here in August. We did have one of their monthly meetings. I think it was, like, 2 years ago.

Will Nord: 19:00

We've had Radnor School District principals use the space for, a summer meeting. We've had Haverford School District principals a couple years ago use the space for their summer meetings, preparing for the school year. We've had IKEA come, and they've brought in their their leadership team for, actually like a 2 and a half day retreat, which is great, and they're coming back again this fall. We would love the opportunity to host more businesses and corporations, here on-site for, you know, half day meeting, full day meeting, you know, a couple days. We, you know, we don't have any rooms to stay over.

Will Nord: 19:37

Yeah. But there's a there's enough hotels or, you know, if if everyone's local, they can, you know, go home for the day and come back the next day. So there there is an opportunity for us to expand on.

Dane Shoemaker: 19:47

Yeah. I think a great there's plenty of space and a great, you know, great opportunity for off-site retreats and things like that. So

Will Nord: 19:54

Absolutely. Yeah.

Dane Shoemaker: 19:55

Yeah. Now you we talked about the wedding portion of things, you know, back in the, you know, seventies, eighties, nineties. Yeah. That's coming back pretty heavily too. Right?

Dane Shoemaker: 20:05

I mean, how many?

Will Nord: 20:06

Yeah. Absolutely. So the the weddings are really important to, our sustainability as a young nonprofit. So we partnered with Peachtree Catering, a few years ago. Okay.

Will Nord: 20:18

They're a great caterer. They're actually Radnor based. They have a few few different venues, in in in the area. So our our partnership with Petrie has been great so far. Per our lease with Radnor Township, we are only allowed to host 25, major private events.

Will Nord: 20:38

So that essentially means, any Per year.

Dane Shoemaker: 20:40

Right?

Will Nord: 20:41

Per year. Sorry. Yeah. So that basically means any private event that is between 75 a 150 people.

Dane Shoemaker: 20:48

Okay.

Will Nord: 20:48

So there there are some numbers attached to that. Yeah. We're we're fortunate last year. 2023, Peachtree hosted 25 major private events for the first time in our our young history.

Dane Shoemaker: 21:00

That's

Will Nord: 21:00

right. 2024, this this calendar year is booked out with 25. And then That's

Dane Shoemaker: 21:04

right. Yeah.

Will Nord: 21:05

Looking forward to the year 2025, I believe, Peachtree has already booked, I think, around 10, of those of those weddings. Most of them are weddings, some bar mitzvahs, some bat mitzvahs, are included in there as well. But that's a big part of what we what we do is having having those weddings.

Dane Shoemaker: 21:24

Yeah. Well, it generates funds and things.

Will Nord: 21:26

Yeah. It generates. Yeah. The biggest revenue generator. And there's you know, it's it's we want a really healthy balance because we don't necessarily wanna be just known as a wedding venue.

Dane Shoemaker: 21:36

Right.

Will Nord: 21:38

For a couple reasons. One is, I think a lot of us saw, the toll so many weddings took on this building, the physical building. When you have that many big big events, big weddings, right, it it beats the place up a little bit

Dane Shoemaker: 21:53

Sure.

Will Nord: 21:53

Or a lot. So we wanna keep that in mind. We don't wanna go back to the days of having 50, 60, 70, 80 weddings, big events here all the time. The other thought there too is as most of us know, when you have a a big wedding on a, say, on a Friday or Saturday, it It takes up a lot of time and space. Sure.

Will Nord: 22:13

And I I think a bigger, a larger interest of of of our mission of our nonprofit is, again, to have this open for the community to use. Whether it's just, you know, casual, have lunch on the terrace or read a book in here or having, you know, the availability to have meetings, for schools or different organizations and or running our own programs and things like that. So the more big weddings we have, the less we can do of those. Right.

Dane Shoemaker: 22:40

Right. Let's I like that balance, you know, but and prioritizing community use and things like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Dane Shoemaker: 22:49

I know there's a it's an arboretum. Correct? You recognize as an arboretum?

Will Nord: 22:55

Technically, a level 1 arboretum.

Dane Shoemaker: 22:57

Okay.

Will Nord: 22:57

So Bartlett tree experts came in, I'd say, before I was here. So I'd say 4 years ago, maybe maybe a little bit more and came in and identified a number of of of the different species of trees that are here throughout the park. They labeled the trees. There's a catalog on our on our website as well. So that is something we have we have done.

Will Nord: 23:20

We give arboretum tours. Yeah. A couple of our board members are pretty versed in in the different, tree these different species of trees.

Dane Shoemaker: 23:30

Got it.

Will Nord: 23:30

Yeah. So they they they do a good, a really good walk through the park. Yeah.

Dane Shoemaker: 23:36

Yeah. Nice. Yeah. And then just back to the mansion. I mean, I know you guys have done a lot of work on the mansion itself.

Dane Shoemaker: 23:42

You talked a little bit about the systems. Any major projects that you wanna highlight or anything coming up that

Will Nord: 23:48

Yeah. So so the biggest project that we've done to date was right before I got here. So, I guess, in in the summer of 2020 the end of summer 2020, early fall, we completed the roof project. Okay. You know, regardless of the size of the of of the house, when you're doing a a restoration, right, you wanna start with the the roof usually, right, to seal it.

Will Nord: 24:11

So that was a huge project, the biggest project to date. Some other projects that we've done is we've done some restoration to the terrace out here. Still need some work done, to the existing terrace, but we did some work there a few years ago. We've done exterior painting. We've done ex exterior painting.

Will Nord: 24:31

The fountain wall was stored a couple years ago, which like I said, that's where we have a lot of our concerts, music concerts, a lot of wedding ceremonies are held in front of that wall.

Dane Shoemaker: 24:40

Okay.

Will Nord: 24:41

The ongoing maintenance of all the systems that we talked about, that might never end. Sure. We we've we've installed a sprinkler system in here, a couple bathrooms, one being ADA accessible. We had to do that to get our certificate of occupancy so we could use the indoor space. Then most recently, we added another, half bath here on the first floor, that just got completed a couple weeks ago, actually.

Will Nord: 25:11

And then, our next big project coming up, is the kitchen.

Dane Shoemaker: 25:17

Oh, wow.

Will Nord: 25:17

Okay. So we're we've been hoping to start that now for for months. Yeah. But just, you know, things happen, and we're hopeful to start that, sometime this summer, restore our kitchen. So it's a fully up to code, fully functional kitchen that our caters can use and and other groups that come in here can

Dane Shoemaker: 25:37

use. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. And heard there's a Speakeasy maybe downstairs?

Dane Shoemaker: 25:43

Is that

Will Nord: 25:44

Yeah. We we we all call it a Speakeasy.

Dane Shoemaker: 25:46

Yeah.

Will Nord: 25:47

I I think technically it was right after prohibition.

Dane Shoemaker: 25:50

Okay.

Will Nord: 25:50

So it was installed by the Newman family who they were the third family that lived here

Dane Shoemaker: 25:55

Okay.

Will Nord: 25:56

At the Willow's mansion. They actually only lived here for 2 years, but in 1934 they lived here from 1934 to 1936. But in our understanding is they put, a bar in the basement and, installed it in 1934. So the bar is still down there. It's still a really cool looking bar.

Will Nord: 26:16

The room is a little, in better days. Seen better days. Yeah. That's a good way to put it. So, somewhere along the line that that, you know, we would love to, restore that bar in that room down there so we can have some fun fun events there.

Will Nord: 26:32

Sure.

Dane Shoemaker: 26:33

Yeah. So what else can can people expect from the Willows? The the mansion, the park, like, anything else that you wanna share?

Will Nord: 26:39

Well, I you know, every everyone that I I meet personally, you know, I I tell them to help us spread the word. Right? Tell their neighbors, tell their friends, tell their family to come for a visit, to check out our website. And we have a programs and event link on our website that, you know, we're constantly posting week to week, month to month, new, fun and exciting meaningful programs for people to, come join us.

Dane Shoemaker: 27:06

Yeah.

Will Nord: 27:06

And it's so because that's a you know, not only can they have fun with some of these programs, but it's a great way to get to know us. You know, we have a monthly newsletter that we also, share with the community that gives updates on the restoration and improvement projects and then also what else is going on here for the community.

Dane Shoemaker: 27:22

Yeah. That sounds great. Yeah. Alright. The Willows Park Preserve.

Dane Shoemaker: 27:26

So come on out. Check it out. Come to an event. Come check out the website. Sign up for the newsletter.

Will Nord: 27:32

Absolutely.

Dane Shoemaker: 27:32

You can be be you can become a friend of the Willows, right, as well?

Will Nord: 27:36

Absolutely. There's a there's there's a lot of ways to get involved here.

Dane Shoemaker: 27:39

Sponsorship levels, stuff like that. Yeah.

Will Nord: 27:41

So Absolutely. Yep.

Dane Shoemaker: 27:42

Cool. Alright.

Will Nord: 27:43

Thank you.

Dane Shoemaker: 27:43

Love the support.

Will Nord: 27:44

Love the support.

Dane Shoemaker: 27:45

Yeah. Absolutely. Well, thanks for coming on here. Appreciate it.

Will Nord: 27:49

Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you.

Dane Shoemaker: 27:53

Thanks for listening today. Is an original production by Shoemaker Films LLC. If you enjoyed today's content, please consider subscribing on YouTube, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your content. Follow us on Instagram at shoemaker.films. And if you're a business that's either interested in our video production services or would like to be a guest on the show, get in touch by using the contact form on our website, shoemakerfilms.com.