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Author: Pat Melgares

Todd and Jackie Sump, Sump Restoration

Posted on by Pat Melgares
Jackie and Todd Sump, Sump Restoration
Jackie and Todd Sump, Sump Restoration

Let’s go to a Camaro-only national car show in Orlando, Florida.

It’s time for the awards. And the winner of the best paint job award is…..a 1967 Camaro that was beautifully restored by a craftsman halfway across the continent in rural Kansas.

Todd and Jackie Sump are the owners of Sump Restoration which did the paint work that earned this award. The business is based at their home near Randolph. Todd grew up on a nearby farm. He met and married Jackie, who is from Marysville.

“I always worked on cars,” Todd Sump said. He built his own go-cart at age 10. At 11, he helped his dad work on a 1952 Chevy truck.

“Dad always had a shop and I learned a lot from him,” he said.

In the summer of his senior year, Sump worked on his cousin’s 1965 Chevelle (when was the last time you saw one of those?) and found he enjoyed the work. He worked for body shops before joining a construction company.

In 1994, the couple moved to a farmhouse near Randolph. After buying the place, they wanted to convert an existing implement shed into a shop. They had to do the work themselves.

“It was long summer days, but with some help from friends we got it done,” Jackie Sump said. They have since expanded the building. Continue reading “Todd and Jackie Sump, Sump Restoration” →

Mike Smith, Ag 1 Source

Posted on by Pat Melgares
Mike Smith, Ag 1 Source
Mike Smith, Ag 1 Source

A businessman in Oregon is considering a new job. He is connected to this potential position by a recruiter based halfway across the continent. That recruiter is the founder of an executive placement company that serves clients across the nation… from rural Kansas.

Mike Smith is the founder and chairman of Ag 1 Source, a national agricultural recruiting company. Smith grew up on a farm near Long Island, Kansas. He commuted to Norton High School because of its outstanding agricultural education and FFA program. He says his ag teacher and FFA advisor, Bob Broeckelman, had a lifelong impact on him.

Smith went to Kansas State University where he met his wife and returned to the farm, but this was during the farm crisis of the 1980s. He took an opportunity to work for Collingwood Grain in southwest Kansas.

“It was a great decision,” Smith said. He enjoyed agribusiness and rose through the ranks of the company.

Continue reading “Mike Smith, Ag 1 Source” →

Gary Moss, water conservation

Posted on by Pat Melgares
Gary Moss and his wife, Teri
Gary Moss and his wife, Teri

National Public Radio is broadcasting a news report about a new water conservation effort, but not from Washington DC or southern California. Part of it came from the cab of a combine in Kansas.

They were reporting on an innovative water conservation initiative being led by northwest Kansas farmers.

Gary Moss is a fourth-generation farmer near Hoxie in Sheridan County, and a member of the advisory board for this water conservation project. Moss produces irrigated corn, soybeans and wheat and has a cow-calf herd.

Through the years, Moss has seen the significance of the Ogallala Aquifer, the huge underground water reservoir that underlies the western High Plains. He’s also seen groundwater levels fall.

In 1972, the State of Kansas created a state-level position of Chief Engineer and provided for groundwater management districts across the state. Over the decades, groundwater districts in some regions were seeing depletion of underground water.

Moss and other producers saw a need to get together in their part of northwest Kansas. “In 2008, we started holding meetings because the groundwater table was dropping pretty significantly,” he said. The group worked on ways to use water more efficiently, such as re-nozzling sprinklers.

Continue reading “Gary Moss, water conservation” →

Kansas Community Empowerment

Posted on by Pat Melgares
Logo, Kansas Community Empowerment
Logo, Kansas Community Empowerment

“Empowerment: The degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority.”

That textbook description of empowerment helps explain why a long-standing community development program in Kansas has used that term to rebrand itself.  

Jaime Menon and Jan Steen are co-coordinators of the newly named Kansas Community Empowerment program, which is being rebranded from the Kansas PRIDE program that it had been known for decades. The Kansas PRIDE program began in 1970 as a partnership with K-State Research and Extension, the Kansas Department of Economic Development, and state business leaders.

Menon and Steen also are K-State Research and Extension state specialists in community vitality. KDED has become the Kansas Department of Commerce. The Kansas Masons joined as a partner in 2016. Business leaders continue to be involved through the non-profit organization, Kansas PRIDE Inc., which raises funds for grants and awards. Continue reading “Kansas Community Empowerment” →

Hoffman Grist Mill

Posted on by Pat Melgares
Small red barn, Hoffman Grist Mill
Hoffman Grist Mill

“Flour power!”

In this case, I’m talking about the flour made from wheat. Today we’ll learn about a Kansas grist mill that is producing flour and benefitting the local economy.

Last week we learned about the Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad, which runs excursion trains from Abilene to Enterprise, the location of the Hoffman Grist Mill. The mill is managed by Debbie and Terry Thompson. Thanks to railroad volunteer and retired K-State department head Steve Smethers for today’s story.

In the 1860s, a miller named Christian Hoffman migrated from Sweden to Kansas. He saw a place along the Smoky Hill River where he could build a dam for a turbine that would power a grinding stone to grind wheat into flour. The Hoffman Grist Mill began operation in 1869.

The mill initially produced about 60 barrels of flour a day. It became the focal point of the area, spawning a small community of settlers, many of whom worked for Hoffman’s mill.

“The optimism and spirit of those settlers gave birth to the name of the village,” Smethers said. “In honor of Mr. Hoffman’s indefatigable spirit and the enterprising people who settled in the area, the community was named Enterprise.”

Continue reading “Hoffman Grist Mill” →

Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad

Posted on by Pat Melgares
Black steam engine, Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad
Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad

How big is your museum? Today let’s visit a museum that is five miles long and 100 feet wide.

What in the world is that kind of museum? The answer is, it’s like a moving museum – a historic excursion train operating on railroad track in rural Kansas.

Ross Boelling is president and general manager of this remarkable train known as the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad. Thanks to railroad volunteer and retired K-State department head Steve Smethers for the following information.

The Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad operates on railroad track that had once belonged to the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad, which began service in 1886. The Rock Island operated successfully for many years. It was the lifeline of a burgeoning regional agribusiness industry, but after nearly a century, the company was in financial trouble.

The Rock Island took bankruptcy in 1980 and the MKT took title. In 1988, the Union Pacific acquired the lines, but company executives decided not to use the portion through Abilene.

Two local men decided to try to save the Rock Island legacy in Dickinson County. Joe Minnick and the late Fred Schmidt approached the Union Pacific and proposed to acquire the Rock Island rail between Abilene and Woodbine, Kansas.

Continue reading “Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad” →

From Tampa, Kansas to Tampa Bay, Florida

Posted on by Pat Melgares

From Tampa, Kansas to Tampa Bay, Florida. That’s quite a journey and quite a contrast.

Welcoming reception in Tampa Bay, Florida
Welcoming reception in Tampa Bay, Florida

Today, in the conclusion of our series about Tampa, we’ll learn about the remarkable connection that was made between these two communities – one small and rural, the other large and urban.

During the last two weeks, we’ve learned about Dave Mueller, a Marion County farmer who has purchased and renovated several buildings in Tampa, Kansas. He shared the story of this amazing urban-rural connection.

This all began with the creative staff at the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Tampa Bay, Florida, which is located on the west coast of the state along the Gulf of Mexico.

The Tampa Bay tourism staff was just wrapping up a conference in Orlando, a couple of hours away. As many of us do these days, they asked their phones how long it would take to drive home to Tampa. When the answer came back, “23 hours,” they were amazed.

Was something wrong with their GPS? No, the phone had correctly calculated the drive time from their location to Tampa…Kansas.

Continue reading “From Tampa, Kansas to Tampa Bay, Florida” →

Dave Mueller, Tampa

Posted on by Pat Melgares
Photo, head and shoulders, Dave Mueller
Dave Mueller

It’s the same old story: Small town population is aging, the average age is creeping upward, and young people are moving out.

It’s a story heard all over Kansas – except where it is not.

Today, in the second of our series about Tampa, Kansas, we’ll learn about this remarkable community that is seeing an influx of young couples and youth.

Last week, we met Dave Mueller, a Marion County farmer who purchased and renovated several buildings in Tampa. Those buildings now house the Santa Fe Trail Café, the Tampa Trail Stop grocery store, a hair salon, community room and fitness center.

Mueller’s cousin is Gary Fike, director of K-State Research and Extension’s office in Riley County. Fike said Mueller revitalized Tampa by working with others to create the grocery store, café, and more.

All the while, Mueller has seen Tampa’s demographics change. “Over the past 10 years, we have had a lot of young families in their 20s and 30s move in here,” he said. “Our average age has dropped dramatically.”

Continue reading “Dave Mueller, Tampa” →

Dave Mueller, Tampa Trail Stop

Posted on by Pat Melgares
Steel highway sign, Tampa, Kansas, ox pulling covered wagon
Highway Sign outside Tampa, Kansas

“Success builds success.”

“One thing leads to another.”

Those observations describe the positive momentum that is happening in a rural community in central Kansas.

Dave Mueller has played a leading role in the resurgence of the town of Tampa in Marion County. Mueller grew up on a farm near Tampa. After attending K-State, he worked for a national feed company before coming back to join his father on the farm. Mueller raises crops and runs a cow-calf operation on the family farm today.

Tampa is a historic community. It was a frequent stop for wagon trains traveling along the Santa Fe Trail. Over time, it experienced the typical struggles of smaller rural Kansas communities, such as declining population and outmigration. By the late 2000s, most of the businesses in downtown Tampa had closed.

“My aunt and uncle, Butch and Phyllis, had operated Butch’s Café (in Tampa) since 1980,” Mueller said. By 2009, Butch had passed and Phyllis was wanting to retire. “I bought the building so that the café could continue to operate.”

Next door to the café was an abandoned building. Mueller approached that building’s owner about purchasing it, but the owner was unwilling to sell. One day while Mueller’s crew was replacing the roof on the café building, the roof on the abandoned building next door collapsed. Continue reading “Dave Mueller, Tampa Trail Stop” →

Tami Howland, dala horses

Posted on by Pat Melgares
Red painted dala horse in front of Welcome to Olsburg sign
Olsburg dala horse

The horses are out! They’re all over town!

But these horses aren’t running away; they are standing strong for their community.

These are dala horses, the beautifully decorated horse-shaped figures that are a symbol of Sweden. Today we will visit a rural Kansas community that is using dala horses to beautify the town and engage its people.

Tami Howland is president of Olsburg’s Kansas PRIDE program, now known as Kansas Community Empowerment. Howland also works at Union State Bank in Olsburg.

The town was founded in 1880 by an immigrant Swede named Ole Thrulson. Originally named Olesburgh, the name was later shortened to Olsburg. One Swedish tradition is the display of dala horses: wooden carvings of horses that are painted and displayed outside homes and businesses.

PRIDE members wanted to enhance the community. In 2021, they received an anonymous donor’s gift to be used for beautification.

Using the Swedish theme, PRIDE members decided to launch a public art project consisting of large dala horses to be decorated by local businesses and organizations. The project received a matching grant from the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, which is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. PRIDE members contacted a Nebraska company that produced fiberglass dala horses 3 1/2 feet tall.

Continue reading “Tami Howland, dala horses” →