Area youth shine at entrepreneur fair
By Mary Holle

A Hays High School senior again captured the first place prize of $1,000 at the second annual Rawlins County HTC Youth Entrepreneur Fair last Friday at the Rawlins County High School gym in Atwood..

Casey Jacobs won with an already established business called Jacobs Hunting Service.

Miranda Simminger of Ludell captured second place and took home $750. This was Miranda's second year for coming up with a business that would allow her to come home and work and live. She has been raising butcher rabbits and shipping them to a California market after processing them in McPherson. She has been selling about 15 a month and her goal is to raise that to 50.

Third place winner of $500 was Bret Mangan of Tribune. His business of Party-blance is in the process of restoring used ambulances into tail-gating vehicles. He hopes to have his first vehicle done and on exhibit at the October 10 Ogallala Commons fall conference to be held in Atwood.

Organizer Wendy Fields said there was only seven points difference in first and fourth place out of a possible 300 points.

"I think the fair was very successful, generating more community interest and attention from other communities," she said. "Out-of-town visitors were very impressed with the quality of all the booths and the entrepreneurial ideas generated at the fair."

Guest speaker for the event was Remelle Farrar of Canadian, Texas. Farrar, the town's economic development director, spoke about coming home to live and work.

She gave four examples of successful entrepreneurs who returned to rural America and made positive changes and contributions in their communities. The four had been discouraged by parents, teachers and counselors, she said.

One began a brokerage firm and is the largest employer in Canadian. This person was repeatedly told that he had to go to Chicago and would never make the business work in a small town, she said. Another owns and operates a successful car restoration business/service station. The economic development director in Tribune also was discouraged from returning to a rural community and has made very positive changes in her community Farrar said.

The fourth example Farrar gave was a determined young man who didn't want to leave the family dairy farm and created a niche business by bringing back milk deliveries in glass bottles. He named his business the Happy Cow Dairy. That move made his dream of staying on the dairy a reality, she said. These students ranged from A+, high achievers to the C and D students who had dreams of owning their own businesses, and that anyone could do what they set their mind to do, she concluded.

Winners of the second annual Rawlins County HomeTown Competitiveness Youth Entrepreneur Fair
From left, Bret Mangan of Tribune, third; Miranda Simminger of Ludell, second; and Casey Jacobs of Hays, first.