By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
“If life gives you lemons, then make lemonade. If life gives you coronavirus, then make hand cleanser.” Of those two statements, you may have heard the first, but you probably have not heard the second. But that is a way of describing the strategic change that has been made by an entrepreneurial company in rural Kansas, in response to the current coronavirus pandemic.
Hayes Kelman is the founder and CEO of this company which is now producing hand cleanser for free distribution to the public. The company is Boot Hill Distillery in Dodge City.
Hayes is a fifth-generation farmer in western Kansas. According to the distillery website, he “has always looked for … new uses for the grain he grows.” Hayes was seeking innovative alternative uses for his corn, other than cattle feeding or ethanol fuel. His solution might be considered coming full circle, given Dodge City’s history as a Wild West town with saloons dispensing whiskey. Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Hayes Kelman, Boot Hill Distillery”
