Hide The Debit Card And Pass The Milkshake

The smell of barbecue, a half-finished milkshake, and a crowd of familiar faces, that’s how we kick things off at Mayfest 2026. We’re recording on location in Rector and letting the event guide the conversation, from what makes festivals worth leaving the house for to the one thing we’d actually spend our money on when every booth is tempting. If you love small town festivals, local food trucks, and community events that feel personal, you’ll feel right at home with us here. 

We also bring on Jacob Gibson, a seventh grader repping 4-H, to explain what 4-H really does: fundraising, building the club, traveling, and getting into activities and competitions. He also talks band life and playing saxophone, which turns into a bigger conversation about how youth programs, school activities, and local support give kids a place to grow confidence and skills in public. 

Then we take a hard turn into pure nostalgia and real-life humor: fidget spinners, yo-yos that “sleep,” forgotten gadgets, and the parenting moves nobody admits out loud. We even debate controllers, PS5 rechargeable convenience versus Xbox battery life, and why both can drive you crazy depending on your habits. If you’ve ever wondered what a town is like when it “does it big,” Joey’s take on community pride ties it all together. 

Subscribe to Almost Brothers Podcast, share this with a friend who loves hometown events, and leave a review. What’s the one thing you always buy at a festival?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Are you sure? Why don't you look at me with concern?

SPEAKER_02 0:49

I have lots of concerns about you.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

I mean that's true, but I mean that that concern looked different than your normal concern look.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Legitimate concern.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up, everybody? Welcome back to a brand new episode of the Almost Brothers Podcast. On today's episode, as always, we got Richie Rich. How's it going? How are you doing, Rich?

SPEAKER_02 1:23

I am fantastic, man. Are you though? I'm getting there.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yeah. Zeke, how are you doing? Good. Yeah? Yeah. Oh, Ty Tai's not here yet, but he'll be here later on. But we got us three, and we are at Mayfest 2026. Let's go. That's right. I don't know about you, but this food is a little too close to me right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Dude, I smell barbecue. I smell all kinds of stuff. It's it's I've I'm told Jennifer I'm gonna have to have her hold my debit card.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yeah, that's yeah, that's exactly right. It is not good to be this close to some good food. And Zeke, where did your milkshake go? My goodness.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

My stomach. He drank that so fast the drizzle didn't even mix in. You ain't lying.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Didn't even touch the rest of the stuff. That, yep, that's that seems about right.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

This sun heat is hitting me. I just had to down it.

Food Smells And Festival Favorites

SPEAKER_01 2:11

The sun heat. The sun heat as opposed to the other heat. The sun heat. Yep, yep. So uh I just want to ask y'all, what is your favorite things about this type of stuff? What is some of your do you like the crabs? Do you like the food? What you the environment, the music? What do you like about stuff like this?

SPEAKER_02 2:27

I like that towns do stuff like this. Yeah. Like it's so important to bring people together in this kind of event. I mean, you've got churches and businesses and just I mean, people everywhere, and it's it's it's just really cool. And you only get this in small town areas usually.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

So it's really cool to be a part of. So I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Yeah. Yeah. I the environment for me is what really gets me. I just like the people and being out and and seeing stuff. Because you you usually come across a booth that is like really cool, something you don't see very often. Right, right. You know, so that's that's pretty cool to be able to see stuff like that. Zeke, what's your favorite thing about something like this?

SPEAKER_03 3:04

Seeing people I know.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Yeah, there you go. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

I didn't bring my wallet, sadly.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

No, that ain't sadly. That's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

He's smarter than me. Yeah, that's a good guy.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

He left that at home. Don't even well, I say sadly. He's gonna ask me, so I'm gonna have to give it to him.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

He'll have money one way or the other.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yep, yep. So if you had money and you could only spend money on one thing at something like this, uh uh, what would it be?

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Oh, food. That's there's that's I kinda I kinda had that.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

I kind of knew that.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Dude, I am such a food truck guy. I love food trucks. There's just so much variety, so many different kinds, and nine times out of ten, it's fire.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

I mean, it's just have you ever been to like a food truck like park where there's like a bunch of them and they have seating and all that?

SPEAKER_02 3:50

I have not. Yeah, that's pretty that's pretty crazy to we were supposed to go to one in El Paso when we were down there and we didn't have time, so.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Food truck. Okay, I dig it. Zeke, spend money on one thing at one at something like this. What would you spend the money on?

SPEAKER_03 4:02

I don't really know. I probably like He's looking around. I don't really I don't really know.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:11

Because like I don't really spend money at the look around at cool things.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Yeah. Mine would probably be some kind of craft or something.

SPEAKER_03 4:20

Yeah, you some crafty fellow.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Yeah, something that someone made that I don't see all the time. Yeah. Or if they don't if there was like a video game booth, that's where I would be at, you know, but you usually don't get a lot of those. No, it's kind of tough for an outdoor. Yeah, maybe like a retro, like some retro games or something. That'd be pretty cool. I'd stop by there and spend way too much money.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

We should have set up a booth for that. I can.

What We Would Spend Money On

4-H Explained By A Seventh Grader

SPEAKER_01 4:42

I've got I've got plenty. I've got plenty. We need to do that next time. Yeah, so we've we've got a couple guests that are gonna come on uh and and just talk a little bit. Turn it on. Yeah, you turn the mic on. There we go, there we go. So what's up, man? So say your name. Jacob Gibson. What's up, man? How you doing? You got the whole thing. So you're so I I guess you're part of the 4H here at Rector. Nice, so what really? We got the vice pres. Okay, so what so give us an explanation of what is 4-H?

SPEAKER_04 5:10

Uh so we're just like so we're sometimes we're uh doing fundraisers to make our uh thing our club bigger and stuff. Yeah. And uh we have oramas and stuff like that. Yeah. And like BB guns and stuff like that. Cool. And we're just doing that.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

So what does a 4-H do?

SPEAKER_04 5:31

Thank you. We save up money and travel. Like last uh like so you do like competitions and stuff?

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Yeah, like livestock and that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 5:44

The singing really yeah, I'm playing uh saxophone for it.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Oh sweet, dude. You play in the band here at the guys, that's awesome. We should have had you, we should have had you play that here.

SPEAKER_04 5:54

On May 1st.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Sweet. That's cool, man. I so I was I was a band geek. I was in band. I was I'm right there with you. You still a geek. I play yeah, that's true. I played um I played trumpet for a while, and then I switched to drums. So I played percussion. I was on the drum line there for a while.

SPEAKER_04 6:10

I've been playing for a year. I got um first division on my um my solo.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:17

And got all perfect score, got uh like a little sponsor at the school about it.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

That is so awesome.

SPEAKER_04 6:25

And we just had yesterday or two days ago, last at 6 p.m. at the Knowles social. Yeah, had uh a party for band members, and uh I got rookie of the year.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Awesome. That is awesome, dude.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

What grade are you in?

SPEAKER_04 6:39

Uh seventh grade.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

Seventh grade. So you got a long way to go, man. You're gonna just get better and better.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Yeah, man. Because does that go all the way through high school? 4 H goes through. Okay, cool. Man, learning something new today. That's what I'm talking about. And y'all got a booth, right? Y'all got a booth, so we're gonna have to go down and check it out.

SPEAKER_04 6:54

Yeah. We sell um we show like hairbands. Yeah. Sell pens.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

I like hairbands. I knew I knew you were gonna say that. Hairband, like 80s hairband. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 7:08

And uh, we like sell soap. Yeah. And these are all homemade. Yeah. We sell like parsons and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Oh, that's cool. So, what is your favorite thing about something like Mayfest? What's your favorite thing about this event?

SPEAKER_04 7:21

The fidgets. They're too expensive.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

I would say is that still a thing? Oh, absolutely. Wow. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Y'all need to focus on it.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

I didn't have enough money for my controller holder.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

So there's a booth of those?

SPEAKER_04 7:33

Yeah, it's uh on the other.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Oh, that's gonna be a problem for me. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:37

It's$15 for a controller holder.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

So do you like the uh do you like the what are the new things? The um what are they called? Oh, sissy. What Zeke, what are they called? The little things that you dumplings. Yeah, like the dumplings and stuff like that. Oh, yeah. Do you like those things?

SPEAKER_04 7:50

I I I don't know what I didn't really, I don't really know a lot about it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Yeah. Yeah, I know Sissy's really big into those little dumplings and squishies and all that. Heck yeah, man. Well, dude, it's been an honor having you on, man. Been super cool. Yeah, and and hope everything keeps going well. Hope band keeps going well, and 4H is awesome. And and uh we'll come down there and check out y'all's booth for sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Okay, Jacob Gibson in the Hizzy.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

In the house. You want to jump on? Look, start doing scare.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Come on.

Fidgets And Kid Trends We Remember

SPEAKER_01 8:18

He's a no. Did you ever get into one in the the fidgets? No, I I focused like a normal person. That's messed up. And he's muted. Zeke, I know you got into them.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

Got into what?

SPEAKER_01 8:33

The fidget, like the fidget spinners.

SPEAKER_03 8:35

Oh yeah, back in like 2018 or something when I have like I'd have like six fidget spinners on one finger, just spinning all of them and everything.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

He would be running around his room trying to do tricks with the fidget spinner.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Oh my lord. I can see Zeke doing it.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Oh my gosh, I got so sick of it.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

That's another thing he's got in common with Tristan.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yes, I'm telling you. He's like, Dad, check out this new trick I learned. I'm like, hey, leave me alone and go away.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Tristan went through a very brief yo-yo phase.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Oh, I liked yo-yos, okay. He got into juggling. Really? Yeah. He just full-on wants to be a clown.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

He just expresses shit. That's his goal in life.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

So I I had a big yo-yo phase for sure, especially the ones that sleep. So you go. I'm sorry. Let me explain it to you. I don't know what it is. So the ones you go down and it stays down and just spins. Yeah. And you can make it come back. So you do tricks with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

You're not just wasting anybody that you're not a geek.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

You're not helping. I'm not helping myself, am I? I remember at Malden when that one dude, I think his name was like Ned or something. Yeah. And he did Flanders. And he would be like yo-yoing and everything. And it's like a whole like it's it's just like we get the whole school together, and he just like does a bunch of tricks and everything and sells yo-yos. Okay. I remember I'd used to buy those every year.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

He had a little little side gig going on. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

So you're you're like, We got a train coming. There's a train. Rolling around the band.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Who is that?

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Johnny Cash.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

That's who I thought it was, Johnny Cash, okay.

SPEAKER_04 10:13

I used I used to I used to I used I used to play with uh fidget spinners when I was little.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Yeah, did you do tricks and stuff with them?

SPEAKER_04 10:25

Uh no, I just like mess with them. I used to have a DS, but I was I was so young. I it was only I was only like seven.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Back in the day. Yeah.

Yo-Yos, Broken Toys, And Parent Tricks

SPEAKER_04 10:36

I would uh play all the time and then I was uh I was like, I wonder where my my DS went.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:45

And I was like, oh, my I was wondering, I was telling my mom, I think I left my DS at that house a long time ago, and my mom's like, you broke it. I didn't I I just forgot about it.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

You blacked out the breaking it, like, oh man. Yeah. See, I got into all those. I yeah, I was I've never forgetful then. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Did you ever accidentally did you ever accidentally break one of your kids' toys that got on your nerves?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Oh, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Like, yeah, or or they the batteries ran dead, aka I took the batteries out. Yeah. I've I've I've d I mean, no, that's never happened before, ever.

PS5 Vs Xbox Controller Batteries

SPEAKER_03 11:27

I'm glad I got a PS5 now so I can like just control my controllers.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yeah, yeah, and not have to get batteries for it.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

Yeah, I hate okay, it's the longest train in the world.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

It really is.

SPEAKER_03 11:38

Okay, so though the one thing uh and probably the only thing I hate about Xbox controllers is the batteries in the back.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Yeah, yeah, I'm not a big fan of that. I I'm not, but I am. You don't have to remember to plug it in.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

You could just So PS5 just charges?

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah, yeah, you just plug it, you know, and it plugs right into it.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

I would never remember to do that. I'd be just constantly plug- you could plug it in while playing.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

That's what I do.

Joey On Community And Doing It Big

SPEAKER_01 12:04

That's what I love. So we're we're gonna we're gonna get Joey on here for a minute and just kind of talk to you about this event.

unknown 12:10

I don't know anything about it.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Oh, you come on on, get that microphone. Let's let's go. I'm working just like you. That's right. So you were here setting up. What time did you get here to start setting up?

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Uh eight.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Man, that's what okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Yeah, I'm I don't usually get up to about nine. Yeah. It was early from eight.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

And how many, how many bands do we have coming through?

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Uh Emma Langley is gonna be here at noon.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

And then at one, uh the I'm not sure it's a it's a gospel, it's a young gospel group that's coming in.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

I haven't seen them, so I can't tell you much about them. Oh, that's awesome, man.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

So, what is your favorite thing about something like an event like this that goes on? What's your favorite thing about it? Community. Yeah, see, that's what we were kind of talking about. Yeah, just people coming together.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

I've noticed that, and we're we're looking at moving here. We're not we don't live here right now. We live in Kenneth, and we're looking at moving here, so this is a great opportunity to kind of meet people and make sure that's where we want to be.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

You know, right out of high school, my oldest daughter just she just had to move to Paraguay, you know. Yeah. And and and so she was talking to some friends, it was like right Halloween, and we always had a big Honda house here. And and so she was trying to get her friends to Paraguay to come here to to Honda House, and she's they'd say, Well, we're not going to Rector for a Honda House, you know. And she said, Let me tell you something about Rectors. They may be small, that when they do things, they do it big.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Yeah, yep. Oh yeah. Because so last year was our first year at um at the Labor Day picnic. Yeah. You know, so so we'd heard about it like I'm you know, you come through and you see the signs and you hear about it. And but I that was the first first year we got to actually experience it because uh when we first got here, we were right after Labor Day, is when we got here. So just seeing that and just like, man, people get into it, everybody gets out, everybody because it could be very easily, everybody sets up and nobody comes. Right. You know, and it's just kind of all right, well, but everybody being there is like really cool to see everybody come out and support.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

You know, I'm not sure how many volunteers I have, but you know, everything there is volunteer. Labor Day.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Yeah, yeah, I know we ran our booth, you know, at the church, we ran our our food booth, and man, just seeing people come in and they took shifts, and it was it was really cool to see.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Yeah, you know, uh one memorial day uh at the at the ceremony at the uh the cemetery. Yeah. Uh one of the guys from uh ASU was was here. Uh not ASU, but KIT was here. And uh he said, This sure is a big cemetery for such a small town. I said, Why do you think it's so small?

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Yeah, but it's a beautiful cemetery.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

You know, we're proud of that.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Oh yeah, absolutely, yes, sir. Man, well it's it's awesome to to have got to meet you and get connected with you. And I know you do a lot of the sound and the the I know lights, you deal with a lot of the light stuff around, you know, and the museum. And I still haven't got to go check it. Even it I haven't got to check out yet.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

You gotta do that.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah, I want to do that in like the library. I'm a big library guy, so I I haven't got to check that out yet.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

We got an awesome library, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Yeah, so it's really it's really cool to see and be around. Yeah, you go. Yeah, man. Yeah, see y'all. Yes, sir. You take it easy.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

I saw Coach Stux.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Oh, Coach, uh oh, we'll have to get Coach Stux on and see see what he thinks about the upcoming year.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Coach Stux.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Yep, yep, yep. Well, what else y'all got? You got anything else on your heart? We're gonna do a few episodes here.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

So I was trying to get Amy Mills to jump on here, but she's skirt.

Shout Outs And Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Yeah, we'll start lining up some people and have some more guests on, and and man, we'll be rocking and rolling. So shout out to 4H. Yes. Yeah, man. All right, well, thank y'all for listening. We'll see you next episode.