HOT PURSUIT

Brad Kubat has spread his high octane from the airwaves to being in person at the Home & Recreation Show that wrapped up Sunday at the Four Seasons Centre in Owatonna.

As host of “High Octane” Saturday afternoons on KOWZ Radio, the popular radio personality came up with another brilliant idea at this year’s show. Kubat pitched a dunking tank for DJs, law enforcement/first responders and family throughout the three-day show. Guests got the opportunity to dunk someone while donating money to Community Pathways of Steele County.

As you may recall, Kubat had his long, shaggy hair of two years cut off to donate for children suffering from hair loss due to cancer at last year’s show. Other people also came forward to have their hair chopped off for the same cause.

Kubat credits his wife, Holly, and daughter, Grace, for helping him come up with the dunking idea for this year. “We sat down one night when I told them that everyone was relying on me to come up with a theme for the home show,” Kubat said, adding they immediately suggested a dunk tank.

He then reached out to Dom Korbel at Community Pathways to get them on board. “Dom is just outstanding. He is perfect for that job,” said Kubat. “They do so many good things for the community.”

Not afraid of attention and showing off, Kubat was the first one to get dunked in the tank. Others who joined in at different times throughout the weekend were Korbel, Sheriff Lon Thiele, area firefighters, corrections officers and daycare providers. They all took 15-minute shifts with making the big splash.

This wasn’t Kubat’s first time in a dunk tank. He had done it previously for Crazy Days in Owatonna several years ago. But the prior experience didn’t save him from suffering a little physical pain.

“My thighs were just burning,” he said. “The struggle is real.”

But, in the end, Kubat knew it was well worth it. Dunking raised about $700 cash and 100 pounds of food for Community Pathways.

KOWZ began the show 22 years ago with just 18 vendors. “There were so few vendors at the time that they were spaced out to make it look like a bigger show,” Kubat recalled. 

This year’s show, which featured 175 vendors in 225 booths, attracted a record crowd of about 6,500 people. The weather conditions turned out to be ideal for an inside show.

“A blind pig finds an acorn once in a while,” Kubat said.

Kubat chuckled regarding the greatest complaint they received about this year’s show. “We were told we were a little loud. As DJs we are used to being right on top of the microphone (next to their mouths),” he said, adding with the sound system at the Four Seasons is a bit more sensitive, and they could be 6-8 inches away from it and still be heard.

“People always refer to it as the gateway to spring,” Kubat said. “We always know spring is coming when the Home & Rec Show is here.”

Asked what he is going in hot pursuit of at next year’s show, Kubat laughed and said, “I don’t know, maybe midget mud wrestling. We’ll figure something out.”