Monday Beers Ep.87; Callapalooza Recap

On this week’s episode of Monday Beers, the guys sit down and recap another incredible Callapalooza at RNT Calls. From the Callmaker Build-Off and calling contests to the vendors, collectors, live music, and unforgettable moments throughout the weekend, they break down everything that made this year’s event one to remember.

The conversation covers favorite moments from the show, behind-the-scenes stories, standout builds, and the people who helped make the event such a success. They also reflect on how far Callapalooza has come and what the future holds for one of the biggest celebrations of callmaking and waterfowl culture in the country.

Whether you attended the event or are hearing about it for the first time, this episode is a great look back at an amazing weekend filled with friends, duck calls, cold beers, and plenty of stories. Grab a cold one and join the conversation. 🍻🦆

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Sweet. What Chick-fil-A is. Chick-fil-A's chicken is better than cane's. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_05 0:08

I like cane sauce. Exactly. I don't know. Clay cane's flavor, I don't know. It's it's pretty good.

SPEAKER_04 0:13

I like it too personally. KFC.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

Being an interrogator. Turn that turn that one off.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

That's the one that's brutal, bro.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 0:31

A little mood lighting. Had to adjust my eyes, guys. Welcome back, everybody. Do you like Zaxby's? No. No, I have bad memories with Zaxby's. Tell us about it. That was the day I found out my liver was messed up. Oh yeah. Yeah, so like haven't you yet to eat Zaxby's? How was it? That's where we went boiling. That's where we went to go eat that morning before everybody went back to stuff. No, I fucking Yeah, but it was self-inflicting.

SPEAKER_05 1:02

It's not like it's like you ate something from there.

SPEAKER_04 1:04

No. I mean, I threw it all up, yeah. It wasn't a very pleasant experience. Yeah, but it wasn't because of Zachy's. But that was just I have a really bad memory from that day. So it's like I associate Zaxby's with that memory.

SPEAKER_05 1:19

I don't need it.

SPEAKER_04 1:19

It's like some people you just really But everybody's always like, man, Zach's so good. And I'm like, yeah, okay, sure. I don't care. I'm not gonna fucking do it. You like slims? I do like slims. Okay. It's not better than Canes. Said what I said. If you're from Fayetteville, if you go to school in Fayetteville, you know what I'm talking about. I mean, that's just everybody up there is like, you're either slims or canes up there. Me personally, canes slims isn't bad. Panda Express, everybody hates on it. I really like it too. They got chicken there, cunning the pile, chicken.

SPEAKER_05 1:51

See, I'm not very big a food connoisseur. I just I just eat. Hey, I know you don't have to. I mean, there's bad food.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

I know you don't have health on, but everything you do is like beating. Oh, sorry. There you go. Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 2:05

Sorry, I'm really twitching.

SPEAKER_05 2:08

Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Not very good.

SPEAKER_05 2:10

Well, let's uh we got a lot to talk about because we've had uh we've been gone for a couple weeks now because we've been so busy with Callpalooza and prep for that, and John's been in here working in the shop. And also, I think we just drank beer too. Yeah, yeah. Uh so let's uh think we're due for some beer, bro.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Oh yeah, no joke.

SPEAKER_05 2:30

Like I don't I didn't even really drink that much this weekend. Oh, because I was sweating so hard. I was like, I can't. I drank a lot of water this weekend. Like a lot. Yeah. Uh but hey, y'all, welcome back. Uh glad that we are back in here and glad that y'all are back tuning in. We got a we got a busy one today. Lots to talk about from uh closing out Colapalooza. So uh like like always, if you're new here, hit the like button, subscribe, uh follow us on Instagram, Bo Sprout. Always got you can listen free. Uh iTunes, Spotify completely free as well. Uh and then turn on those notification bells. That way it lets you know whenever we post these, because we post these every Sunday. So you can listen with us on Monday because we are those guys that drink beer on Monday, and we call ourselves Monday Beers. Not Monday Boo.

SPEAKER_04 3:48

Monday blues. Hey.

SPEAKER_05 3:51

Yeah, you could do the whole blues, like the extra blues.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

God.

SPEAKER_04 4:03

I'll take the big guy's sausage. I was like, fucking.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

I don't even know what that meant. I mean, I I mean, well, that even sounds worse. I guess what I'm saying is like, who are they talking to?

SPEAKER_04 4:14

It was just bad because me and John were standing together that whole time. And just like every time somebody walk up, they'd be like, I don't want any sausage. And we're like, okay, bet you don't. And then somebody walk walk up. I want an extra sausage. I want all the sausage. I was like, okay, pause. I mean, let's, you know, I mean, I'm a child. Let's let's let's get real, okay? Can't say shit like that around me. My head will go to the worksplace so fast.

SPEAKER_05 4:42

Well, that was also the tail end of the day of us being heat delusional and telling a few beers. Yeah. And it was hot Saturday.

SPEAKER_04 4:50

Yeah, it was it was. It got it, it was pretty it was pretty warm Friday. That little uh rain cooled it down, you know, a little bit. So, I mean, then it got hot again. Sorry, I felt like Trump sitting here speaking, you know.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

I like I thought you were doing jazz hands or something.

SPEAKER_05 5:09

Fuck it.

SPEAKER_03 5:10

Somebody else talked. No, you're doing good. No, I'm good. I'm good, I'm good.

SPEAKER_05 5:15

Let's back it up. We uh we cranked out the biggest callpalooza to date. We uh which we kind of we kind of were hoping it would be because of the amount of vendors that we had coming in and everything, but then the rain, there was a rain scare. We were really worried that people wouldn't show up. I just called that.

SPEAKER_00 5:33

Oh, go ahead. Well, not just that, but I'm just already blown away. Like, I mean, we opened up with sausage and then Colton says let's back it up. I mean, this has already started. I mean it's see, this is another reason why Jackson and I cannot be in the serving line together serving sausage because there's like people were just teeing it up for us, man. I mean, it was it was bad. It was there for the taking.

SPEAKER_04 6:03

I mean, of course we were nice and didn't pay it to their face. Well, we got ticked. I mean, we were like some kindergartens.

SPEAKER_05 6:09

It was kind of like the moment they were looking at you all like, why are they laughing? Yeah. Yeah. The whole time.

SPEAKER_03 6:15

Just keep walking. Just keep walking. Sorry. Take your sausage. Take your sausage and go.

SPEAKER_05 6:23

But we did, we did. We had uh we we had a big scare of rain and everything. We got a little bit worried about that. We were like, which we did have some rain Thursday night during uh VIP. That was the hardest rain that we had. It was like it rained itself out that night. Yeah, like we looked out the window and we were like, holy crap. A little over an inch, I think.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

No, no, no, no, no. I think it was like two or three inches. No, it was an inch and a half right at it.

SPEAKER_05 6:45

Really, but it I guess it came down so fast it had nowhere to go. It was just yeah, it was crazy.

SPEAKER_04 6:50

There was a lot of people here. I will say that. A lot of new vendors, a lot of same old vendors. Um I I I say old, you know what I mean. Same old vendors. Yeah, let me repause what I'm saying there. Yeah, there was there was a lot of how many how many vendors did we actually end up having?

SPEAKER_05 7:07

I think it was right above 70. I think so. It was like mid-70s.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

So last year we were right around 40. Yeah. So pretty good history. And I think all of our ticket sales for all the events were close to double. Yeah. So, like, you know, like crawfish we sold over around 200 and something. Um the pins and pinks were double, everything was, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:29

Yeah, no, there was a lot of like that overview drone shot. Well, actually, and I actually did it, I thought, so I flew it at one o'clock. And I was like, oh, this will be the best time of day. Well, apparently by three o'clock, Brandon Brandon was like, There's not another parking spot in Max over there. So I should have flew it at three because it was like that was the most packed it will happen.

SPEAKER_04 7:49

Wow, wow, wow. Which I guess that would have been right there at the tail end of the um cut don't cut cut dung. Oh my Jesus. Cut down. What did you do did you say test? Cut don't don't.

SPEAKER_03 8:02

Cut don post. I thought you said cut. Man.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Cut down the cut down con test. Do you need my headphones so you can hear yourself?

SPEAKER_03 8:12

It wouldn't help. Won't you just read the words on the phone?

SPEAKER_00 8:18

He don't want to listen to either one of them on his shoulder, so he ain't gonna listen to them headphones.

SPEAKER_04 8:23

I I'll just start off uh with uh a really well-known one that's definitely special to hear is the duck blind cook-off that we did. I think we had eight teams or something like that participate.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Eight teams. But that's that's standard, like that's not yeah, it doesn't grow back.

SPEAKER_04 8:41

Right, yeah, it stays at eighteen. But the cool thing about it was was uh two sponsors for the Colapalooza event uh were actually in the top two, and Team Drake won it, and uh Max Prairie Wings came in second. So that was cool. I thought I thought they were.

SPEAKER_05 9:00

It was actually uh it was an older team, right?

SPEAKER_04 9:02

Uh yes, they were uh older, um I'm not gonna say they were ladies, and uh I think one was maybe somewhere around Prairie County. She acted like she knew a lot of people from there, and the other one was like maybe from central Arkansas, possibly. I I don't know. I'd never seen either one of them before in my life.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

To me, that's one of them deals where um I mean that's something we need to talk about, but I think that's something that um could grow into its own event.

SPEAKER_05 9:25

Oh man, yeah, that's that's so cool. Yeah, even like a standalone thing.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Not not a couple not a collaplooza deal, like a match.

SPEAKER_04 9:32

Because there's always a bunch of people sitting underneath the porch watching that. Then and then especially when you have like Will Hafner out here teaching the uh cooking classes, cooking classes on wild game meat. Oh man, that's a bit of a big thing.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

Man, did y'all have to run the smash burgers? Like smash burger on the tortilla. Was that with the deer venison or whatever? Yeah, yeah, I did.

SPEAKER_05 9:53

Oh man. That was good. That was good.

SPEAKER_07 9:56

Is that kind of what I did that one night?

SPEAKER_04 9:58

I think so, yeah. Yeah, oh bad. Yeah, those things are good, man. I've been craving those for I tried to get Maddie, I was like, hey, let's do that for supper one night. She was like, no, why why why wouldn't we just buy hamburgers? We did it a couple months ago, and it was good. Yeah, so it's like fusion, you know, like uh Tex Mex, you know. I mean, let's let's let's fuse it up. Whatever. But uh uh let's talk about the uh oh go ahead. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_05 10:25

I don't know. You're just you're all ramping.

SPEAKER_04 10:28

I'm not trying to push this away first.

SPEAKER_05 10:29

You're good. Go ahead. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

Well, and then so Saturday, uh I'm not trying to skip days and stuff that's happened or anything, but like two big events was the calling contest that Rich and Tone puts on that we did out here, and that was uh the really good turnout. We had 18 people for the uh 48th annual Cash River Regional.

SPEAKER_05 10:53

Mm-hmm. And that qualifies them for the world duck.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

And that qualifies them for the world uh the world duck calling contest in November down here. Yeah. And uh anyways, uh I'll read the uh let's see. First was Jonah Carter, second, Seth Fields, third, Domingo Sanchez. So I mean, it was uh the one local kid won it, so that was pretty cool to see, you know, as far as for the uh City of Stuckart. And uh so 18 people, that's quite a bit. That that's that's a lot. I I don't think it was that many last year for the con which uh we did three contests.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Three last year still, you would think with three we would have more in that regional, so right, right.

SPEAKER_04 11:33

So and then the uh then the we held we also held the world two-man cutdown.

SPEAKER_05 11:38

And before you announced the winners, probably the coolest thing while I was over there filming and stuff is seeing because it was two-man. Yeah, and so and there were some people that overlapped, they were on two different teams, and it'd be like two prominent callers, like you know, a little bit older callers. But then there would be like a prominent caller with a young guy, and it was awesome to see that, like bringing that young guy up, like let's give him some stage time, work with him, and stuff like that. Yeah, you know. There was a lot of teams like that. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:07

Let me say actually, let me pause before I read that out because there was a lot of young people that made it farther in it than the more the older crowd. Like, let me put it this way the people that you would like put your money on in a Calcutta to win it, yeah, didn't make it past certain rounds, and I was like, you know, and I was helping running the bus at that time.

SPEAKER_05 12:29

And I think that's the beautiful thing about a two-man is that you have to realize there's two people blowing. Correct. You can't overlap, step on each other's toes. You start doing that.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

Because it's hard to judge what you're hearing. Exactly, exactly. Yeah. So with that being said, there was a lot of young people. There was some people that we've all seen from time to time, but uh second place was Forrest Carverhall, who is also the uh uh he blew he blew an RT Mondo the 40th uh anniversary. He actually won it a few years back. Yeah, same exact call. Him and Seth Rosal, I I think I'm saying his name correctly, Rousewell maybe, uh, they came in second. And first was Seth Rosal and our boy Tucker Sherrod. So big congrats. That's pretty awesome. Uh and it was cool. Hey, here's the Tucker, bro.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Remember when he called or texted him for that show that time talking about collecting, dude? He's eaten up with it. Everything he's eat up with everything Duck calls. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_05 13:28

And and honestly, it was perfect though, because you had a really strong caller with him. And then he was he's not a big cut-down guy, so he was very reserved. He doesn't make his own. You know, he it's just like whenever at the tail end of the other guy's hell call, as far as on a cut down style, he'd be he'd do a you know, just something throw it in there, and he was the only one that would throw in quacks that sounded like a J-frame. Like the way he blew his quacks, and I knew my actually my father was back there judging, and as soon as I heard that, I was like, Oh, I bet dad's gonna love that. Because nobody else was doing anything like that. So as soon as dad got out of there, I was like, Did you hear that? You know, that unique quack. He's like, Oh yeah, I think we picked them to win. He didn't know who it was.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

Yeah, oh yeah, that's so I don't know if I can say this. I don't see why I wouldn't be able to, because I wasn't there was like 40 other people in the bus or 30 something other people, but like that was one thing that was made clear this year as you in your routine, you had to at least quack one time. You should.

SPEAKER_05 14:30

Yeah, because I mean you're you gotta show everything you do on the call in your routine.

SPEAKER_04 14:35

I completely agree with it, and nobody nobody had an issue with it at all. But a lot of people were like, you know, I say a lot, and there was a couple, you know, in their routine they don't ever really quack.

SPEAKER_05 14:45

They build their routine off of not quacking.

SPEAKER_04 14:48

Correctly. Or correct. So I mean, I can't fucking call.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

We know the other thing, too, is you know, contest calling is kind of some interest is lost over the last few years. So seeing like some younger people in there is great. And also, um man, Jackson and William, we got some new guys that have really been doing that involved with the contest. So um, man, that's that's cool to see and and other people getting involved. I mean, not only is he a uh very talented sausage hauler, uh deliverer, he is or handler, I don't know how you say that, but uh he's also uh getting involved in the contest, so that's that's great to see.

SPEAKER_04 15:22

Yeah, I mean I like last year I got to run the light and I thought that was pretty cool, and then this year I got to Step up slightly, you know. And you know, I ran the light one day, but I I I or one day, one contest, and then Coach Durani, he ran the other one, and then after that I'd I'd I'll always pass out the prizes and stuff. So that was pretty cool because like you got the first chance to like see the true like happiness on the winners' faces being right there with it and stuff. So I really thought that was awesome.

SPEAKER_05 15:52

Tucker's so reserved.

SPEAKER_04 15:54

Oh yeah, like the kind of a show a lot though, I think, since we figured first.

SPEAKER_05 15:59

I can see I could see it in his eyes. Like he was like, oh, because like he had no belief that he could have a chance of winning because he's not a cut down guy.

SPEAKER_07 16:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:06

But he paired up with the right person, and then he was the you know, the the more the quiet caller. That and that's what worked out good. That's what the judges like. They could hear the difference and they could see him working together.

SPEAKER_04 16:17

Yeah, so it was cool. I uh I I remember Yeah. Yeah, I'm proud of I'm proud of the kid. I'm pr I'm really proud of the kid.

SPEAKER_03 16:26

I couldn't help but ask his dad. You about out of uh room on the shelf for all these trophies? He said, Yeah, we're gonna have to add on.

SPEAKER_05 16:37

Heck yeah. Yeah, and he and he's so he's so appreciative of everything too. Like he is the genuine, like that's what we need and moving up in this industry.

SPEAKER_04 16:47

Yeah, it it makes you be hopeful for this community in the future. Yeah, somebody like him, I'd say that.

SPEAKER_05 16:53

I mean, we got a lot of great people in this community. I'm not saying that we don't. I love watching Tucker do what he does. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:01

It was cool because he actually he uh he made it for uh th the through the first round in the Cash River. I don't I I don't remember if he made it to the third round in the Cash River. I think he just made it through the first round. But listen, there was some heavyweight competition for for that. I mean like real talk. I mean heavy con I mean Seth Fields. I mean, he's won worlds twice. I mean that's pretty heavy competition. I mean, to be honest. That and then uh John, I'm gonna let you take this one off. Um the um the team build-off for Colapalooza.

unknown 17:43

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Yeah, um, man, I mean, we that was really, I guess our first idea to for any event at Calapalooza the first year we had it was um and you know now it's a sad. We're we're on our seventh year, and I can't remember if we actually did a build-off the first year or if we just talked about it and it was the second year, because the first year it was our grand opening. I'm kind of thinking we didn't do it then, but um I think we did it our second year. Anyway, that's kind of been the biggest draw to me for Callapalooza, because it it it draws all the callmakers, and you know, you pair up four guys on a team and and we kind of switch it up every year. Sometimes we've done two-man teams and have multiple teams, but again this year, uh man, great, great class of guys. And what schools it showcases everybody's talents that they do at callmakers, it also showcases callmakers that the public doesn't really know. But then it also brings an awareness to what we do as a craft to people that just come through the shop and look in here and see, you know, duck calls being made by hand. So um it's it's a super cool event. Uh Ronnie Turner has pretty much taken it over after the first year and has run it and has done such a great job, and it's gotten to the point where I don't really have to even worry about anything around. Ronnie's got it pretty much well on the block.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

He run, you can see he's uh uh he's an old white guy running around all day with the gray beard or the white beard and just be like, hey man, what are you doing? He sure don't act old, Jackson. He sure don't act old. He definitely don't act you know what, and when I'm his age, I hope I don't either. So, yeah, so he if y'all seen him running around here, we've done a podcast with him previously, but it it was he he does a lot of things.

SPEAKER_05 19:26

Well, even in that podcast we did with him, you can tell how invested in it. He loves everybody.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Yeah, and so this year we you know, I guess the last couple years we've kind of switched it up, but the last two or three years, the whole Call of Palooza we try to revolve it around or feature, however you say it, one callmaker. Uh last year it was Pop Pickle, this year it was Butch Rich and Back, um, founder of Richontone just because it's our 50th year, uh 50th anniversary. And so the teams had to make a daisy cutter, had to make a um competition call, and that's two things that RT has kind of had a history of having over the 50 years, and also had to make a cutdown call.

SPEAKER_04 20:05

Yeah, so they had to make three different calls, correct?

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Three different calls. It wasn't as much decorative this year. There was a decorative side to it, but it was more about sound because we kind of think like RT is hangs her hat on sound, you know, more than anything. And so um that's how it how it was worked out, and then um it was fun because like oh Keith, y'all know Keith, he was Keith Tuchek. Yeah, he was uh Keith Tuchek, he was our first employee, he competed in it for the first time on a team. You know, I'm not really sure.

SPEAKER_04 20:40

I I didn't know if there was or not.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Yeah, I don't I don't know how Ronnie laid that out this year. Um but anyway, it was it was a cool event, man. All all the calls turned out great. It was it was it was a pretty tight tight deal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:55

Well, I I think uh Ivan has it was really cool. He's been coming around here since I've been helping with Calapalooosas, and he actually um his team won uh first place. And uh tell us a little bit about the uh the calavera uh aprons.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Yeah, so we um we were trying to think of something that would be cool to give the winners at Colapalooza to kind of separate winning it, not winning it, since you have like two teams. I mean, obviously there's gonna be a first and second place. Right. Um everybody's winners here. Yeah, that's right. And so uh it was during the masters we thought, man, if we could get like a really cool apron and do something that was special that you just couldn't buy, you know, and like kind of do like the masters, give them the apron uh for to the winning team. We thought that would be awesome. So um yeah, um man, they made us or he made us a awesome apron that's got a little bit of green on it, you know, kind of like the masters. It's also really close. I asked him if it would just would be like our PMS code. Green that R and T uses and their stuff, and uh it was really close and it's got a Call of Palooza logo. Callapalooza logo on it um as well. So uh it's kind of cool starting that tradition, and and you know, that'll just that'll be something cool that we can keep doing each year.

SPEAKER_04 22:16

I I thought a really cool thing about that was is uh that Ronnie got the man.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

I couldn't I could not not give Ronnie the first. I thought that was awesome. And so what we did when we ordered those um and actually I have to say I didn't think of that right off the bat. I ordered the four for the winning team, and then I thought, man, could I get one more? You know, and and uh he said, Would you like Ronnie's name on it? I said, Awesome. And so he sent it, and what was so funny is when I was showing Ronnie them, he was like, Man, all I got was this cheap duck haul the first year y'all did this. When I competed, he said, I need one of them aprons like that. And I said, Well, you know, if you work a little harder, maybe you'll get one. He had no idea I was gonna give him one. And I hope I I think he appreciated it.

SPEAKER_05 22:58

You know, although he was he was he was cheesing hard.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

So speaking of Ivan, can you talk about your one haul that you got?

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Oh, yeah, yeah. So um Ivan made me one of his grenade duck calls that is uh put your badass. Yeah, which is in shape of the Death Star and a grenade, so that's like double death. Yes, and then uh has put the little beam on it and everything. I mean, like super cool, surprised me with it for a gift. So um that was that was really awesome. He's a really talented craftsman, and um I like the creativity on that. It was a good thing. Oh, it was pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_04 23:33

I think Michael ended up getting that bluish one that he had, because I was uh talking to him in the back parking lot and I was like, hey man, do you still have that grenade? Because I was thinking about buying it just for myself, because I like to collect too much small amounts, and I was like, Do you still have that? And he was like, I think uh your stepdad got it. And I was like, cool. Works for me. I was like, sweet, kind of thing.

SPEAKER_05 23:56

What was the what was the deal about the final round that they could bring somebody in to tweak on their call or check out their call and happen?

SPEAKER_00 24:10

They were able to have because you know, competition calling, especially making calls for that, is like a a real small niche in the whole call making craft. So we Ronnie and I discussed went back and forth about that. It's like you know, some people are not gonna want to compete in this because they don't know anything about building a competition call. So if we brought in a um somebody that did to be like an advisor to them, maybe that would help. And so yeah, the um both both teams had an advisor.

SPEAKER_07 24:38

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Yeah, we had we had a little bit of a travesty there on the 1.0.

unknown 24:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:45

What does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 24:46

Well, one of the one of the guys, I mean yeah, it's just it's just competition. Nothing against any, I mean, yeah, I don't even mean to say that against it. It's just things happen sometimes. So one of the the uh guys that came in to advise the team was checking out the call, I guess blew it and everything, and then he went to clean it out. We went to clean it out, he dropped insert and broke it. Oh that team, that team had to make a whole nother insert like in just a few hours. So, you know, that's the real world.

SPEAKER_04 25:21

It happens, it happens. Oh, yeah. Okay, uh, yeah. All right, I remember hearing about this now. Yeah. Anyways, so something else about that, uh, the callmaker build-off. I didn't get to hear it, and I like completely forgot about it until I seen a message about it. So you ran the the uh Main Street call for it, and uh Jimbo ran the cut down. Is that is that? No, we both we both did the main street call. Okay, I was wondering because I thought I'd heard something about it happening, but I never seen the visitor.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

It was pretty funny because uh so we were gonna blow one of us was gonna run one team's cut um competition. Jim would, you know, both these comp it was just the competition calls. So um one of them was a little bit more difficult to run. And luckily Jim blew that one, and then I said, I don't need to trim the reed on this one, it's fine. Well, when I got out there, I trim the reed like an idiot. And so, dude, it was terrible. I mean, like, it wasn't the call, it was me. I was terrible. And like, I got for for about for about 30 seconds, no, it wasn't so much the practice, I just shouldn't have done that for the to that call. And so um it took me about 30 seconds to um not be a spoiled sport, like screw this, I'm out, whatever. Because I was like, I can't do it, I can't do it. And then like after 30 seconds, I was like, no, I can't do that to the team. So I um I pulled the readout a little bit and uh made it work and was able to run through a routine. It wasn't that great, but uh for a minute I got my feelings hurt because it's like man, I can't even blow, I can't even do nothing. You know, uh and that was like when I blew it in here, it's fine. It was just the same old thing. You know what? Sometimes you should just leave it alone. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:05

You always try to fuck with it.

SPEAKER_04 27:08

So uh there was the uh the Calapalooza Butch Rich and Back tribute uh that I think uh uh how many do you know how many callmakers entered that?

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Man, I don't. Last year it was Wayne Betts, and they've had it I don't know how many years now they've had it, but this is the second year we've hosted it here at RT.

SPEAKER_04 27:28

So is that for like the is that the callmakers association that does uh no, it's a different organization.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Um and they they used to be like at Delta, I think is where they would have this event. It was a couple guys that started it. They did it in at the world one year. But they'll take a callmaker and it's a tribute to it. And I honestly I don't know all the rules, but like, you know, there's an acrylic, a wood division, all these different divisions, and then there's like the overall champion, and the trophy is named after Butch, which is kind of cool. And then um this year they also they decided that they would do whatever callmaker we fe featured at Calapalooza, which makes sense. So that was a tribute to Butch. So uh Yeah, and I don't I'm not sure. I guess you got all the winners.

SPEAKER_04 28:14

Uh I I have first place. I I I didn't know anything else, and it ended up uh first place was uh Ronald Lowne. Uh I think his nickname that everybody knows him as is stunt, but I've never personally met him or anything like that. I don't I don't know who he is, couldn't pick him out of a crowd, but uh yeah, I think that's who I've heard from everybody. I think I seen a post on Facebook that he had wanted, but other than that, I I didn't read much into it or nothing. They were down um kind of more towards the um The end of the building. Yeah, the end of the building. Gotcha. And you know, I I just I'd walk by there and I I was high stepping the whole weekend. So I do have two things to say. One of them's heavy, one of them's a good thing. Which one do you all want first?

SPEAKER_03 29:01

Heavy, man.

SPEAKER_04 29:02

All right, heavy. Well, for everybody out there listening, it is June, which means it is mental a men's mental health awareness month. So if you're struggling out there, reach out to somebody. And uh, you know, don't matter who, just reach out to somebody. You're not alone. And then two, uh uh Cam Shelton was the acoustic act of the year at the Arkansas Country Music Awards. So great for Cam. Yeah, and he did a great job here at Call of Palooza. Yeah, he did, yes. He was here too at Colapalooza. We had Bree Ogden here as well, and then um Who? Yeah, Chris DeClark. And then uh Justin. What's Justin's last name? Kennedy. Kennedy, yeah. I love that dude. Oh, yeah, he's good. He's really good. Yeah, they're all good. They're all great. I just, you know, Justin man, I've got to know him a little bit just passing by the last few years. Just seeing each other. We always give each other nubs.

SPEAKER_05 29:56

Yeah, yeah. Like you can't be mad at him. He's like just a good dude. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Is that the guy that was wearing the the dicky suit? No. No. That was uh uh That was Christopher Clerk. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 30:07

Yeah, yeah. No, uh Justin, he's a he's a big old boy. You ain't gonna miss him with the same wearing a dick suit in the middle of the city.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Because he's been here every year since the start, I believe. Didn't he perform first year? Uh Justin Kennedy.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

No, he just started like he's probably been here three years. Three years, I think.

SPEAKER_04 30:26

Is he is he from Arkansas or Georgia? Georgia. Georgia. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

Georgia boy. Georgia. That was fun.

SPEAKER_05 30:35

I sat out there all Saturday night. Because finally, like, I got all the pictures and stuff like that. So I finally got to sit down and I was like, man, I enjoyed it sitting out there and listening to the band play.

SPEAKER_04 30:45

Yeah, I it was really cool because I got to it was a lot of fun because I got to see a lot of people that, you know, I'm good. I I became good friends with just from I didn't actually I I go out and hang out like I do every year out at their um home base where everybody stays. I did one time for like an hour max, and that was Saturday evening just because you didn't stay that long. No, maybe an hour max. Like maybe. I don't even know if it was that long, but I promised Ronnie, and I don't want to break a tradition that I've been coming out there every year, kind of thing. I went out there, hung out with him, and that that was a good time. Me and him just finally got to actually talk and kick back and relax. There was a dude out there playing the guitar, and so it was a good time. Yeah, you know, and he says he had uh he poured him a whiskey and he goes, You want one? I just looks at the bottle and hey, well, he kind of went like to he like pointed the bottle at me, want one? I was like, Yeah. Grabbed the bottle. Oh god. Gave it back to him. He was just like looking at me, and I was like, ah, fuck. That's almost like at Colton's wedding with his. Oh, yeah, when it's over Billy. He gave himself a shot, and I just like I thought it was a shot. It was to sip on it and a drink. Took it to the fucking bed. Man, don't don't come at me at a party with some fancy, fancy shit. I'm gonna get it bullied. Now, if you sit down and you're like, hey, this is this, this is that, I I I'm a whiskey customer as well. I love a good whiskey, so I will sit there and drink it. But I mean, if you like bring it to me and you're just like, here, take this, I'm gonna take it. You know what I mean? Take it and sip. Well, take it and hit it, hit it and quit it. You know what I mean? Ha! Nobody.

SPEAKER_05 32:44

All right, so I was thinking about this because I I have a I have a really good idea event for an event added on to what we do for Call of Blues or any other time uh that we got something going on at uh RT. Uh but like y'all have a lot of criteria. Like, how do you build that just off of history or like y'all just look at a lot of things? Like whenever you're talking about the build-off here, how you're judging their craftsmanship and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

We do we I mean, honestly, we base it kind of off the duck on the contest. And then and then hunting to combine the two, you know. So um, you know, we look obviously have to have to look at if we're judging on ath aesthetics, you know, and how you compare to having a tribute to a rich tone and stuff, you judge off that. But then the sound, but the sound we we kind of go with the contest and kind of hunt, you know, about it. Uh because still, I'm big on no matter how great a duck call looks, if it don't sound like a duck, I mean at the end of the day, you make a duck call to sound like a duck.

SPEAKER_05 33:49

Yeah, you know, walk talks, acts like a duck, it's probably a duck. Right. Yeah. We think we have a really good idea for another event. But we'll we'll let y'all in on it once we iron it out.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Is it is it cooler twerking? Because I saw that a couple years ago here.

SPEAKER_03 34:03

Nope. Even better. No, no, we're taking better.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

We're taking this serious, Joker. We're taking this serious. I'm pretty serious. I think we could get that one going pretty good. I mean, we got a Yeti as a sponsor and dude.

SPEAKER_04 34:15

I remember that. Yeah. Oh, whoa, hey. You know, no. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 34:28

I don't understand.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

I've been getting so much weight up. Me and Madden are sitting there talking.

SPEAKER_04 34:33

She was like, Well, you don't look like I'm not gonna say my weight, but she was like, you don't look like your weight.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

And I was like, I have titties.

SPEAKER_04 34:40

Yes, I just started.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

Jackson looked like he was in a wet t-shirt contest.

SPEAKER_04 34:49

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

You did. I mean I think we all did. Everybody did.

SPEAKER_04 34:53

That's why I made sure to wear an extra large so I didn't wear a large so I wasn't like, you know, imprinting and everybody looking at me and stuff, and I'd be you're like it that that'd be damn near close to indecent exposure. It's that thing. There's a lot of kids walking around. I mean, shit. Close to it like that one guy that was walking around. Oh man, I don't know that guy's name, but I'm just gonna call him Bush.

SPEAKER_05 35:15

We definitely we we definitely had a uh we had a character walking around.

SPEAKER_04 35:20

Yeah, I mean, there was a few characters walking around, but seemed like a pretty chill guy to me, huh? I never talked to him. Never talked to him. But uh, we also have some uh food trucks here, too. Other than uh other than the flying duck, which everybody's gonna love flying duck.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Yeah, hey, that's something else. Like, hey, if you're listening to this and you want to do something at Colapalooza and you have a food truck, man, apply next year because we would love to have some other food trucks.

SPEAKER_04 35:45

Yeah, we we ain't greedy. We want everybody to do it this isn't like and I and uh the one we had this year, don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

I mean, it was great, but it for when we have that massive amount of people here at the wait time is is a lot when we have one food truck. So having one or two or three or four definitely makes a difference. Yeah, yeah. We want people to have food. And they were from Portland, Arkansas, and I thought that I thought the food was great.

SPEAKER_04 36:09

Oh, it was really good. It was the it was at Dim Woods Boys from down there. They did the barbecue. And then there was also, sorry, Trey, there was also the coffee truck, the the traveling toms. Yeah. Or traveling toms. Yeah, I don't where are they from?

SPEAKER_05 36:25

Conway. Conway? Man. Oh, if you ever see their truck rolling around, well, they also did like energy drinks. Yeah, like they like refreshers. Did they do good, you think? Did they do a good truck? I think so. I mean I saw everybody walking around with their cups.

SPEAKER_04 36:39

I had it at least twice a day, I think. I mean, it was really good. It was they were. Yeah, I seen a bunch of people roll around with their cup. If I go to Conway, I'm stopping by if they actually have a brick and mortar store.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

But I always am proud of our food truck and think the food's good, but um, I couldn't help but not try the barbecue truck. So I had a smoked bologna sandwich one day and a pulled pork sandwich one day. And it was both good. I had the pulled pork.

SPEAKER_03 37:02

Everybody was saying their ribs were really good. Everyone I talked to talked about the ribs and the rib sandwich.

SPEAKER_04 37:07

Yeah, see, I didn't have enough time to sit down and eat ribs. I had enough time to sit down and eat ribs.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

I seen one of our good buddies, Dusty, go to town on a turkey leg, boy. Let me tell you gotta tell everybody that dude. Yeah, they had everything.

SPEAKER_04 37:24

Yeah, but so it was good to see uh a variety of uh food. Jesus Christ, what is wrong with me this evening? We don't have enough time.

SPEAKER_05 37:37

If you flip this page over, you're looking at the words you chose. I wasn't even looking at it.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

I'm looking right now, the only thing left I have to say is bullshit, fucking hell. Thomas is a bitch, and Trey. That's literally the only thing left on the fucking list.

SPEAKER_06 37:54

That's fucking it.

SPEAKER_04 37:55

I wrote all this before we came in here, guys, by the way. Like, and then I tried to draw uh something and it turned into really fucked up funny. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 38:04

Our boy BC came down. Yeah, BC. The only reason why that this registered is because I was getting to Sunday. We had a great day Sunday, I felt like.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

It was only half a day though, because as soon as I left here, well, that's kind of our that's kind of gotten to be like our little Calapalooza um post party for us.

SPEAKER_05 38:23

Is this not a welcoming card to just show up on Sunday? We just I showed up like a blister.

SPEAKER_00 38:29

Yeah, we ain't gonna get into that, but uh um no, I don't know. It's been fun like for the last I don't know how many years. We come on Sunday, pick up the tents, me, Rusty, and um we started doing it just Rusty and I and Jimmy Simpson would come, and then last few years Colton started coming in Jackson. And I don't know what it is about it, but like breaking them down and so we take our time, do whatever, but like you kind of start I won't say reflecting, but you just it's like, dude, we had a good event, you know, and putting that stuff up, and then afterwards, um we kind of looking at all the trash, you're like, damn, there's a lot of people here. But we sit and hang out and go to um have a couple beers at the bar, and or Jimmy Simpson one year he made us Bloody Mary's and did breakfast. And it's just it's a kind of fun little post reflection party, and then that that usually leads to some some kind of shenanigans that is that's enjoyable.

SPEAKER_04 39:26

It was it was uh I think everything about it was really good. And I'll say something else that I thought was extremely cool. There is a lot of local people here this year. Way more than there ever has been. More than there has.

SPEAKER_05 39:39

I think well it's such a big attractant. You know, and you we're we're we're talking about how how do we we grow it. You know, us that are here at RT, we're talking about how do we grow it and stuff, but I love it going out towards the highway because everybody that's driving by that doesn't know anything about it. They're like the local people, they literally like, oh, what's going on there? Let's stop in. You know, so I love it going all the way out there to the highway and stretching down the driveway and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 40:04

I did I did get me a call this weekend. It was the only call that I got this weekend, but I was like really stoked about it. It was a Brad Samples. And this past year I brewed You brewed? What'd you brew? Beer in your bathtub. I blew a I blew obviously RT, Tucker Sherade.

SPEAKER_07 40:23

Hey, cheese.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

You could not drink any more call fluids, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 40:28

Oh my god. This past fuck me. This past uh duck season. This past duck season, I blew uh RT calls, obviously, a Grant McDougall call and a GM call, I think is what what his uh name is. Uh sorry guys. Uh trying to reel it back in. Tucker Shroud Custom Call and then a Brad Samples. Just because those are the people that I've seen every year and stuff, and like Tucker started making his own. And this year hunting, while hunting with Tucker's Cole, I had multiple clients. The guy I got for my buddy Grant, uh, he got one, multiple clients got one from him. Like people are loving Tucker's Cole.

SPEAKER_05 41:17

Honestly, though, I love his parents too. His parents are amazing. I will sit and talk to them for I sat the whole competition, like two man cut down. I sat next to his dad. He's he's a great dude. Like a great dude. But uh I that was the only call I bought this weekend, was a call from Tucker's. Yeah, absolutely. Uh he he opened up his box and I was like, man, I was like, well, this one looks pretty. And I picked it up and uh tried it, and it it sounded really good. So I was like, yeah, I'll I'll buy it from you. Yeah, like you did good on that.

SPEAKER_04 41:45

See, the one I have at Grants, it's more of a cutdown style. So I didn't really hunt timber that much this year, so I will be honest, I didn't blow it just a ton. It was on my lanyard, but I didn't blow it a ton. And then Brad's and uh Tucker's were more J-frame, which I've kind of personally myself, and I'm sure I've I know I talked about it a lot this season, but I've kind of started veering more back towards a J-Frame style call just because I'm gonna go back to my roots because everybody's using a cut down now, no matter where you're at.

SPEAKER_05 42:21

You you tried that one that I purchased, it was something different. Yeah, I actually really liked it. It was really good. I really liked it. It was something different. It was a great call, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:30

What what kind of wood was that out of? Uh African blackwood. Blackwood, yeah. The one that I have it's hedge and blackwood, which is my favorite. Like TuCheck had made me a hedge and blackwood call. That's like my just like I don't know. I I think the color comparisons together are great, so that's my own personal opinion.

SPEAKER_05 42:49

So that's what I loved about this weekend too, is it it even though it got double the size, it was still the same vibe. Yeah, still the picnic, like we're all trading calls, that's what it's all it was still about that. You know, we had crafts vendors, we had different vendors, but they knew that they were there for uh a duck call makers.

SPEAKER_04 43:10

And that and that's another thing for everybody coming, it's not just duck calls. Yeah, we do have crafts. We're gonna be having it again next year.

SPEAKER_05 43:17

If you're a lady wanting to come check out something, you know, just you're not just looking at duck calls. There's some crafts here and stuff. You know, my wife, she did, she knocked it out of the parking.

SPEAKER_04 43:28

Somebody built a really good booth for her, too, I think.

SPEAKER_05 43:32

That thing was pretty sweet, man. I'm just I'm just a laborer. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:37

It was all her idea, but uh I think when I walked by there and saw her, didn't I said, you know, Colton loves you because he felt this. He's gotta love you.

SPEAKER_04 43:46

Yeah, had to love her to take her take take it down yesterday afternoon that heat. I dang me, him and Big P were taking it down, boy. It was hot. It was hot.

SPEAKER_05 43:56

It was one of those like you just walk outside and you're sweating it.

SPEAKER_04 43:58

Which I think yesterday. Got up to 95, but the real feel at some point was 103 here in Stuckart. Which thank God it wasn't like that this weekend. It felt like it was, but it wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 44:10

Friday and Saturday was as humid as hot as it's been all year, so I think that's what just caught everybody off the side. Yeah, they weren't used to it yet.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

Yesterday was fing hot.

SPEAKER_03 44:18

But summer is here. It's here. It's here.

SPEAKER_04 44:21

I mean, it's June.

SPEAKER_03 44:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:23

Like whether you like it or not, it's June. It's gonna be here until like October. May the June be with you. The June bug.

SPEAKER_00 44:30

I hope next year, if we had 70 vendors this year, I hope next year we have a hundred. I think we'll break a hundred. And I love that it's predominantly, like, I would say 98% waterfowl related. And we try to keep it that way, uh, just because uh you know that's what we're trying to support.

SPEAKER_05 44:49

We can safely say it's gonna be next year for 2027 is gonna be the weekend after Memorial Day weekend. So be we're looking at June uh third through the fifth. Correct. And uh we're gonna be, and since it's getting so big, we're we're gonna be you know getting get on our high horse.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

I would like to see us like start putting us um start getting vendors now. You know, start doing some stuff.

SPEAKER_05 45:18

And then there's already people that were messaging us during the event. They were like, everybody told me I needed to be there. I realize I need to be there now. Like because it is it's it's turning into something really special. Okay. Yeah. And it's you know, everybody's put in a lot of hard work for it.

SPEAKER_04 45:33

Some of the call smaller, smaller, you know, uh call people, callmakers. They've turned in some of them have turned into really big callmakers now.

SPEAKER_05 45:46

And I don't you don't want to say it's because of this event, but I think it's it's because of the maybe the uh community that has been built around this event.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

It doesn't hurt my feelings to say that. I mean, we we do a lot of things to promote the art of callmaking. I mean, through the whole year. So um whatever we can do is it's great to see that the guys that want to do what they're doing, that they're being able to do it. So do what you do, baby.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

What's the next event out here?

SPEAKER_05 46:17

Well, uh we got uh possibly a 50th anniversary.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

Yeah, we got all of our um call socials posted for every month on our Instagram. Um we are gonna have a 50th anniversary event. We might have more than one, but we're definitely gonna do something to honor our 50 years on Butch's um Butch's birthday or close to it, which would be July 11th. I think that's the closest to it. So we're gonna do something in um This is July. Also got the 25th anniversary of the Daisy Cutter this year. So I mean we got a lot of things we planned out.

SPEAKER_05 46:57

Splendid. And then of course Fall Fest is coming up. Yeah. Oh yeah. What what they're they do that in October. They've been talking about uh early early, early August. Early August. Yeah, that's what they did last year.

SPEAKER_04 47:14

No, last year it was in August. It was August.

SPEAKER_05 47:17

Early August, I think. Yeah. It was October.

SPEAKER_04 47:21

It used to be August, then they moved it to October or September, I thought.

SPEAKER_05 47:25

No.

SPEAKER_04 47:27

I'm not crazy, I swear. I don't know. I don't know. I think it didn't work. I worry about what we got going on here. No, it was in August, then they moved it to September.

SPEAKER_03 47:37

I don't think you know, fucking crazy. I think you are.

SPEAKER_04 47:40

Or I'll go outside and ask Brandon right now.

SPEAKER_05 47:45

It'd be a hop to it. We'll find out soon enough. We'll let everybody know. Yeah, we'll let y'all know. I'm right though. Well, let's uh thank y'all for listening in.

SPEAKER_02 47:55

Oh, yeah. Hey, we're all fine back.

SPEAKER_05 47:58

Anyone that came to Colapalooza that listens to us, thank y'all for coming. Yeah, that's it. It was a great weekend. We appreciate everybody that shows us. Yeah, no, it was it was amazing. We we may have been running around and you know, and taking care of things, but we actually thoroughly enjoyed everybody showing up because it means a lot to us. We put a lot of time and effort into that event. So thank y'all for coming.

SPEAKER_00 48:19

Well, that's our that's our biggest event besides duck season. And duck season's three months long.

SPEAKER_05 48:22

So yeah, but it but it just becomes like a common day during duck season. We know it's gonna be busy. Well, that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 48:30

You know, you see people in the middle of the summer or I guess start of summer.

SPEAKER_05 48:34

Yeah, well that it's har it's a hard time to attract. Yeah. You know, we can we can be honest about that. Like duck season is wintertime thing or from September to you know, January. And that's when people are really thinking about it. And so it's hard to attract. So it's a it's a great thing to see everybody show up in the dead heat of summer outside of their event.

SPEAKER_01 48:56

There's several people that I haven't seen since duck season. I mean, it's just yeah, it's nice.

SPEAKER_04 48:59

Yeah, even people from around here you don't see. I mean, it's yeah, I say around here, I mean surrounding areas, you don't see them because you only see them there in a certain time of year. But having an event like that's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 49:10

Yeah. Take it away, close out with a toast. I got you one. Here's the celebrating the art of call making.