Dreams can come true, at least in radioland. Our dearly beloved thought-and-heart leader, Pat Gerhard, artist, founder, owner, and chief table scrubber at Third Street Stuff & Coffee, joined us in the Lexington Community Radio studio—and stayed a whole hour!

We talked about art, people gathering, entrepreneurship, food, coffee—of course coffee—of the fair trade, organic, locally roasted type (hello, Lexington Coffee & Tea!) We considered the power of art-coffee-food-sugar-students-activists-businesspeople all benefiting from one magical and beautiful "installation." We learned a bit about making art with employees for wholesale, adapting when global markets force change, and setting standards for a place by what one likes oneself. We tried to pin down that slippery thing, "community," which Third Street Stuff & Coffee attracts and stokes. North Limestone and its liveliness got some praise. Is it any wonder the facebook "likes" approach 8,000?

We played some superb music on the themes of our show, thanks to Chris Michel's good research and curation. If you haven't been to Third Street Stuff & Coffee, or live far away, take a virtual Google Tour.

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Pat Gerhard, born in Pittsburgh, came as a junior to the University of Kentucky, studying art. Thank goodness she stayed! Now she hosts the community daily at Third Street Stuff & Coffee, named "The Best Coffee Shop in Kentucky" by Business Insider and TripAdvisor's FlipKey, and winner, numerous times, of ACE Magazine's "Best of Lex "competitions. Third Street Stuff launched in 1996 as a store selling art and gifts. The "& Coffee" came in September, 2004, in part because Pat wanted more people around. That worked out.

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