Whew! Glad to be back home in the mitten, but let me tell you, what an amazing week at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland! The city truly did rock!

The final day on the convention (Thursday) was go, go, go for me. It began early with work on radio row - interviews, my show, updating the website - and ended late at the final after party of the week. In between that, I ran into my neighbor who was also working there this week, I got tickets to actually have a seat inside the arena as Donald Trump gave his acceptance speech, and then saw the final concert of the week featuring Michigan's own Kid Rock. I've got to tell you, I treated this as a once-in-a-lifetime experience and made the most of every minute I had down there.

You can check out my photos from the final day below, but first some thanks are needed:

  • To my sponsors at Flagpoles Etc in Holly, thanks! Without them, me going to this event would have been more difficult. If you need a new flag (American, military, sports and more), a flagpole, light for your flag, Brian and his staff are the ones to see! You can get to their website by clicking the ads on the top and side of this page.
  • To the GOP Convention staff who had worked tirelessly over the past 18 months to make sure things went off without a hitch, thanks! I'm not sure how other conventions have gone in the past, but from my contact with my Director of Regional Media, to them finding some space for me to do my show from every day (even though we hadn't paid for a spot), to getting the "Q" ready in a record amount of time, they were great!
  • To the law enforcement from around the country who came to Cleveland to make sure this event was safe, thanks! Stats pegged the number of law enforcement around 5,000 and I saw officers from as far away as California. For the bad rap that the police sometimes get, they were amazing this week. Even more amazing, was mostly everyone (excluding some protestors who took things a little too far and were busted) was thankful to have them there, and let them know it. It's got to be tough to be a police officer nowadays, but these men and women from around the country were at their best this week!
  • To the City of Cleveland, thanks! An event of this magnitude and historical significance is no easy task to pull off, but the city did their best to make it work for everyone - the visitors, the journalists, the law enforcement, their own residents and businesses. Everything just worked seamlessly and from what I heard about some of the other convention sites, downtown Cleveland with their setup was one of the best!
  • To my AirBnB host Joanna, to the Uber drivers tasked with making sure everyone got where they needed to go, to the guests I had on my show, to my brother for getting us into some of the best events, to my colleagues on radio row, to Andrea, Carl and Dan at work, to my other co-workers who pickedd up my other responsibilities while I was gone, etc. The list could go on for days!

Make sure to tune into Conversations with Jason Cooper on Monday at 11 a.m. for a full recap and check out my other posts from Cleveland throughout this site. Now some sleep!

 

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