Buddy Buck Show

Buddy Buck (00:02)
All right, buddy Buck here. Welcome to another episode of Community Connect. Reel conversations with reel people from Duvall Washington. So today I want to give a little shout out. This show is brought to you by Pickle Time today, locally owned by Carol. Absolutely love Pickle Time. One of my go-to spots, specifically the Hickory BBQ Burger. It is fantastic. Get the crispy fries and if you're feeling frisky, get a chocolate shake. So there we go. Well, hey, thanks for joining us today, Emily and April.

So go ahead and just introduce yourselves really quick. Like, you know, who are you and how long have you lived in Duvall?

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (00:37)
Hey, I'm Emily and I've lived in Duvall since 21, but I got married here back in 2012 because my brother-in-law lives here too.

Buddy Buck (00:46)
Awesome.

Very cool, very cool. April?

April Luebbert (00:50)
Yeah, my name is April Lubert. I've lived here in the Valley probably for almost a decade now. I started out in Carnation, came to the big city of Duvall, ⁓ and ended up working at the Duvall Tavern. Kind of during COVID times, I became a bartender and I got really ingrained in the community there and really learned to love this town more than I have ever loved any other place I've lived.

Buddy Buck (01:15)
That's cool. Well, funny you mentioned that because that's where we met at the Duvall Tavern. So ⁓ that's very cool. That's very cool. Yep, exactly. Yep. So Emily, ⁓ no wait, what was I going to do? yeah. Here we go. So here, quick question right off the top. Okay. Whoever wants to go first, actually, you know what? I'm going to pick on you, April. You're going to go first. So what is your favorite smell?

April Luebbert (01:18)
That is true. I remember the day. I very much remember the day I met Buddy Buck.

Ha ha ha!

Okay.

⁓ I would say jasmine. I have a jasmine plant outside my door and I just love the smell. It reminds me of living in Puerto Rico and the night blooming jasmine plants there.

Buddy Buck (01:55)
Awesome. Well, so you already answered my second question, which was, ⁓ there a core memory or what's the tie-in to Jasmine? So Puerto Rico. So tell me just a little bit more about Puerto Rico.

April Luebbert (02:06)
was 11 and 12 I lived there. My dad was doing construction after Hurricane George so I got to live there as a kid and I lived in El Yunque National Forest and had a lot of really cool experiences there.

Buddy Buck (02:18)
That's awesome. Okay, Emily, you had a couple seconds to figure this out. What's your favorite smell?

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (02:23)
was going to say lavender, but I'm not sure I would have a core memory to associate with it.

Buddy Buck (02:29)
Okay, you just like the smell of lavender.

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (02:31)
I like the smell of lavender. I'm trying to grow lavender fields to replace the blackberries. But that's all I got.

Buddy Buck (02:37)
That's cool. I like it. I like

it. So, you know, I told you before we started, there's no wrong answers, right? So it was funny. We just, I just did an interview with Violet Bryant, who's on the girls flag football team for Cedarcrest and her favorite smell was cleaning products. there you go. You know, you just, you just never know. And there's a core memory there too. So, all right. So who are you representing today? I know you're with a nonprofit. So just tell us just really quickly a little bit about that and then we'll take a deeper dive in a little.

April Luebbert (02:57)
Yeah! Yeah!

Buddy Buck (03:07)
couple minutes.

April Luebbert (03:08)
Well we're with Snoqualmie Foothills Community Collaborative, also called SFCC because it's a mouthful, and we are a collaborative that is trying to get an aquatics and community center here in Duvall that's inclusive and a community space.

Buddy Buck (03:24)
Cool. Get the swimming on, right Emily? Say it again.

April Luebbert (03:27)
The people, I like to say.

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (03:27)
That's right. It all started

with the pool.

April Luebbert (03:30)
The pool people, as I like to say. Yeah.

Buddy Buck (03:32)
Pool people, yes, I love the pool

people. I'm definitely a pool person myself. So growing up, had, we were fortunate to have a pool and you know, it's kind of the spot in the summer, you know what I mean? So I'm definitely a big fan. I'm pro pool. Okay, cool. So you both live in Duvall now, right? So April, we'll start with you again. What is your favorite day in Duvall? So, you know, I'm a real estate agent, like in my career, and I'm always like, you know, telling people how amazing Duvall is because when we moved here, I was like, whoa.

April Luebbert (03:37)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Buddy Buck (04:01)
Where are we? What is this place? I knew nothing about it. And I just totally like you, April, just fell in love. Like instantly, my wife and I just totally fell head over heels for this town and just its community and the framework of just who these people are that are neighbors, right? It's so awesome. And I've never lived anywhere like Duvall. So what is your favorite day in Duvall look like, April?

April Luebbert (04:17)
Right.

⁓ Well, it's changed over time. So my favorite day in Duvall used to be Saturday nights at the Tavern, know ⁓ going to karaoke and bonding with people there and going to different events like ⁓ Bingo night at ⁓ you know, the Twin Dragon But now it looks a little more daytime for me. So I enjoy the coffee shop vibe So during the week when the coffee shops are open and going to the different stores and meeting everybody and having these very meaningful connections

in this small town, it's very easy to have those connections and have those meetings.

Buddy Buck (05:00)
Yeah, totally. Well, I know at the coffee shop, mean, perfect segway is I just ran into you last week at the coffee shop when I was meeting with Councilwoman Perry. So that was just totally random and organic, like you're talking about. Yeah. Emily, how about you? What's your favorite day in Duvall or what are some things you love to do around here?

April Luebbert (05:09)
Yes.

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (05:19)
So like April, I love a good evening at the Tavern or the Grange. ⁓ My mornings, you may often find me at the Rustic Cabin. And I think probably the favorite is going to go to the Farm, Forest, and Fish Festival, which I probably got the sequence wrong on. But ⁓ my son and I learned wildcrafting there.

And so now I'm really excited to trim my own trees and vines to make ⁓ wild crafted baskets with.

April Luebbert (05:55)
That's amazing.

Buddy Buck (05:55)
it's awesome.

Yeah it's totally cool. I do know the event you're talking about so even if you mixed it up a little bit I still got it. So yeah I know exactly what you're talking about. So if you were giving ⁓ advice to someone, April we'll start with you, if you're giving advice to someone that maybe they just moved into town or they've been here you know a couple of months even, what are some things you're like hey you definitely need to know this or here's some little tips or tricks to know about living in Duvall.

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (06:02)
awesome. ⁓

April Luebbert (06:22)
Oh, let me think about that for a minute. I would say, number one, don't listen to the haters. It's gonna be okay. The flooding is doable. Don't worry about it. you know,

Stay local is really my biggest piece of advice to ingrain yourself in the community. Go to CC's in the summer and get some ice cream or even get a boba in the winter or something in their coffee. Try out the different stores, talk to the owners. They're very accessible here in town, which is really great. ⁓ And we have great restaurants. So I think just exploring those. And ⁓ like we said, going to the coffee shops, people I think are more open

here to talking and creating friendships and bonds than they are in Seattle. We don't have as much of that Seattle freeze. And a lot of us are open to newcomers. And I think that's really important and accepting the growth within reason of the town in our area.

Buddy Buck (07:29)
Yeah, no, that's great. Thanks for sharing that. Emily, how about you?

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (07:33)
There are so many get-togethers and festivals in this town. It's absolutely incredible and tons of opportunities to volunteer and I have found that this is the place where you get to know everybody in the town is through the festivals and the volunteering and just taking part in everything that the town has to offer.

Buddy Buck (07:54)
Yeah, for sure. There's the festivals for me is a big one. You know, it's like March of the Vegetables and all this, you know, like three and a half years ago when I first started to do ValtiV I was like, oh my God, like people don't even have a clue how weird, wild and wacky and amazing this town is, man. Like I got to start, you know, showing people like you will never believe this unless you see it for yourself. And so then it's like.

April Luebbert (08:17)
Right, it's definitely unique.

Buddy Buck (08:19)
Yeah, it's definitely unique, right? And then it's like, they're like, I want to do that or whatever. It's like you can just really truly just like let your hair down. I mean, you know, whatever. But you can just be yourself here like in Duvall, right? Like whoever you are, like come on in and it's going to be awesome. So let's take let's talk a little bit more about SFCC and just tell us a little bit about like kind of again who you are and like what's the mission. Just kind of right off the top. Just so people have a really firm understanding of like what

April Luebbert (08:29)
Ha ha ha ha ha!

Buddy Buck (08:49)
What direction y'all are heading in?

April Luebbert (08:51)
Do you want me to take this or do you want to go?

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (08:52)
Wait,

why don't you get started and I'll film in.

April Luebbert (08:56)
Okay, sounds good. Yeah, so we're a non-profit, a 501c3 non-profit, and our mission is to ⁓ establish an aquatics and recreation facility in Duvall that is accessible to all. That's very inclusive space. ⁓ We are still currently looking for land and getting things together, but we have a really solid footing and a lot of really ⁓ important players that are collaborating with us in order to get this done.

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (09:23)
That's right. ⁓ We are working on bringing

as a third place to our community, which is inclusive and equitable and a place where everybody of all ages and abilities feels like they belong. so primarily, as we mentioned before, this started with the pool. We've also noted that there is a need for year round indoor recreation of, you know, different types of sports, as well as just a community area for people to come together and spend

time together and feel that sense of belonging.

Buddy Buck (10:03)
Yeah, very cool. So a quick follow up on that. like, where do you envision? I know, I think you might still be looking for like the actual location and like a little bit early on in that process, like who can come? Is it anybody in the Valley? Is it going to be just Duvall specific? Like who, when you're talking about being inclusive to which cities or which areas are you talking about?

April Luebbert (10:23)
Well, mainly we mean the lower Snoqualmie Valley. So there's the upper Snoqualmie Valley, which is kind of confusing because north-south, know, but since we're lower from the Snoqualmie Falls, that's why we're considered lower Snoqualmie Valley. And ⁓ so it's pretty much Duvall, Carnation, a little towards Monroe, ⁓ Eastern Woodinville, like Woodinville-Duvall Road, and Redmond Ridge area. So that kind of whole area. But I think Emily has a better idea of like the population sizes and the details on that.

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (10:52)
Yeah, so with Duvall we're coming up on about nearly 10,000. Carnation is 2,500. And then unincorporated King County is about 10,000 to 15,000. But then when you include the surrounding region within a 20 to 30 minute drive, we're talking a reach of 70,000 regionally. So that's our aim for coverage.

Buddy Buck (11:20)
That's awesome. No, very cool. And I know one of the things that you're looking for currently is, well, there's a couple of things, a couple asks, if you will, volunteers. So Emily, you mentioned volunteers just a second ago, and I know y'all are looking for volunteers. So what type of volunteers, know, if people are watching this at home or on their phones or whatever they're doing, what type of volunteers, like what type of people are you looking for to raise their hand and say, hey, this sounds cool. I want to be a part of this with y'all.

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (11:47)
We are equity first, so we would really love to get people who represent.

a diversity of different parts of our community involved in this to make sure that everybody has a voice in the design and what's important to the space and to make sure that everybody feels like they belong. So we're talking, we would love to have volunteers from our Snoqualmie tribal community, volunteers from different ethnicities and religions. Anybody who

feels that they can bring that voice into the room would be amazing.

April Luebbert (12:31)
And for my end, yeah, yeah, for my end, definitely agree with everything she's saying. And I also, so I do mainly like the marketing, community outreach. I would love to find a few like interns that are younger because I know that I'm not the youngest person anymore and not as hip with TikTok and YouTube shorts and everything. I would love to utilize the skills and energy of a younger person, maybe someone in college, ⁓ high school,

Buddy Buck (12:32)
April, do you want to follow up? Yeah.

April Luebbert (13:01)
that would like to bring their ideas to the table. That would be really helpful in getting our word out and reaching the different communities. So ⁓ the younger community, we definitely wanna reach the disabled community. We have a lot of people in that space. And like Emily said, of all ethnicities and everything. So ⁓ if you think that you have a certain skill that would help us, mean, we're so many committees, but that's just from my perspective.

Buddy Buck (13:29)
Yeah, for sure. But I think it's such a good point. You're talking about TikTok and some of these platforms that maybe sometimes just get missed because, you know, they're not on a radar. You know, I'm Gen X. I'll just say I'm 50. Everybody that watches Duvall TV knows I'm 50. And so let's let's go. ⁓ You know, so it's just like, how do we continue? Because, you know, we want to get access to, you know, show what we're doing to everybody. Right. And like at least give everyone a chance to play in our sandbox, so to speak.

April Luebbert (13:37)
Yeah. Right.

I'm 50, I like to kick and stretch.

Buddy Buck (13:57)
So I think TikTok is a specific one for that youth movement. social media people out there, you want to like try to, you know, get your name out there. Look, there, this is an awesome opportunity for you to partner with the SFCC. Get some reps in, right? Get some reps in. They're going to help cross promote you and your brand as you're building out your agency or whatever your goals are for social media too. So definitely give with April on that. So next thing. go ahead, Emily. Yeah.

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (14:23)
A more skills that we're looking

for, People who have experience in grant writing, relationships, particularly with different parts of the government, or people who are good at building relationships. And then we are also still looking for land. So if anybody knows the ins and outs of finding land, securing land, particularly if it's donated land, even better.

Buddy Buck (14:50)
Cool. So yeah, so in a perfect world with the land, let's just take, you know, 20 seconds on this. What is it? If you could just be like, boom, here you go, Emily. What are you looking for? Like when you say land, like how, what size ⁓ obviously donated, I'm guessing would be like, woo, that'd be awesome. So just tell us a little bit about what that looks like.

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (15:10)
donated would definitely be awesome. I'd love it to be at least.

five acres so that we have a little bit of space to establish some recreation and community spaces for everyone. ⁓ Ideally, centrally located to Duvall and Carnation ⁓ with easy access to folks on the other side of the valley, the west side of the valley. And it should be something that is easily accessed by our main roads like 203 Big Rock, that type of things that we don't have people traffic going through the neighborhoods. So those are kind of the big things

I'm looking for. We are also sustainably minded so I recognize that anywhere you throw a rock you're going to land in a wetland or an environmentally sensitive area so obviously we're mindful of that and we are thinking about designs that are ⁓ sustainable and mindful of our environment.

April Luebbert (15:55)
you

Buddy Buck (16:04)
Very cool. April, I do want to mention one thing about your social, because you're doing the socials and the marketing. I got to say, how long have you been at this now, like the SFCC?

April Luebbert (16:11)
I am.

Well, we officially became a nonprofit, I believe the last week in December, and I started the social media sometime in December as well.

Buddy Buck (16:26)
Yeah, I got to you're doing a heck of a job. Like seriously, really good job getting out there. I've already seen it in my algorithm multiple times and it looks really sharp. So I just want to say great job on that. And I know it's early and you're getting better and all those things are going to keep ramping up. So I just want to say it's a great start to your social media campaign for sure. Love that. Okay, cool. So let's do this. Where can they follow? like

April Luebbert (16:45)
appreciate that.

Buddy Buck (16:53)
I know volunteers is a thing and I also know donations, right? What if somebody just wants to donate funds? Like where can they go either follow you, donate, sign up to volunteer? Where are we pushing people right now?

April Luebbert (17:04)
Yeah, that's a great question. actually what I have right now until we have our full like best website built, we do have a link tree. I don't know if people can scan it from here, but I do have it on my mug on the other side. We have a link tree that will take you to our Stripe donation link ⁓ and also just how to contact us and our different social media pages. We are on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, ⁓ a little bit of TikTok and a little bit of YouTube.

Buddy Buck (17:33)
go a little bit of everything. So I know on Instagram it's at SnoqualmieFootHills. if you want to follow on Instagram, we'll be doing a collab tag with them on some of these shorts at SnoqualmieFootHills. So go ahead and follow them on Instagram as well. So all right, you ready for the hot seat, Emily? You ready to put a bow on this thing? Okay, cool. This is gonna be fun. It's gonna be great. Okay, cool. So I'm gonna start with Emily and then April you're gonna answer too. So I'm gonna

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (17:52)
Sure, I'm a little nervous, but let's do it.

April Luebbert (17:54)
I'm so excited.

Buddy Buck (18:03)
We're gonna do an either or, okay? So no wrong answers, either or, and then we'll go Emily first and April, and I'm gonna rattle through like six of these, and then we'll go ahead and put a bow on it. All right, so drum roll please.

April Luebbert (18:07)
Okay.

Okay

I'm to do this.

Buddy Buck (18:19)
⁓ Seahawks or Seahawks?

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (18:22)
Definitely the Ospreys.

Buddy Buck (18:25)
Seahawks baby! Let's go, April! Let's go! And what happened last night, April?

April Luebbert (18:27)
We hope!

⁓ we won! Duh!

Buddy Buck (18:34)
Super Bowl, Super Bowl 60. That's right. Let's go Seahawks. Let's get it. Oh, there is the LX. Yep. Got the swag. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. That was freaking awesome. Coffee or beer? Emily, go.

April Luebbert (18:35)
Super Bowl.

Yeah! Represent!

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (18:42)
Yeah.

coffee.

April Luebbert (18:53)
Coffee for sure.

Buddy Buck (18:55)
Okay, sunrise or sunset.

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (18:59)
Probably more frequency with sunset, but I love a good sunrise.

April Luebbert (19:05)
sunset because let's be realistic I'm not up for sunrises all the time

Buddy Buck (19:09)
Fair, fair. All right, Emily,

tacos or pizza?

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (19:14)
Tacos. Ammonos was a...

April Luebbert (19:18)
Yep, definitely tacos.

Buddy Buck (19:21)
Tacos, okay, mountains or the river?

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (19:24)
my gosh, both?

Buddy Buck (19:26)
Both, great. She just hacked the system. River, okay. All right.

April Luebbert (19:29)
River, I gotta go river. I love water, hence

the whole pool thing.

Buddy Buck (19:34)
Yeah,

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (19:34)
Yeah.

Buddy Buck (19:34)
Emily, texting or phone calls?

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (19:38)
In person. Old school.

Buddy Buck (19:40)
Ooh, curve ball.

April Luebbert (19:41)
⁓

Buddy Buck (19:43)
Old school.

April Luebbert (19:44)
⁓ Well, I'm a millennial, so I'll go with texting.

Buddy Buck (19:49)
Okay,

perfect. And last one, dogs or cats?

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (19:52)
Cats, for sure.

April Luebbert (19:55)
Dog girl over here. Definitely dog girl. Love both, but I love my doggie.

Buddy Buck (20:00)
Love both. Awesome. Well, cool. Well, thanks so much for coming on to Community Connect. I appreciate you both hopping on, and thanks for the time.

Emily Mae Turner Hamilton (20:08)
Thank you, buddy.

April Luebbert (20:08)
Thank you, buddy. Appreciate it.

Buddy Buck (20:10)
Yeah, cool.

So if you want to be on the next episode of Community Connect, drop the comment. Let's see. just set that up. So if you want to be on the next episode of Community Connect, drop the comment CC down in the comments below and we'll get you scheduled for a future episode. So thanks again. SFCC go follow them at SnoqualmieFoothills on Instagram and all the other platforms as well. So with that Buddy Buck signing out. Peace and sing. ⁓

April Luebbert (20:39)
Nice!

Buddy Buck (20:40)
So.