Recent News

United Way and Schmidt Foundation announce grant program for Child Care Initiatives

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

The United Way of Reno County, Hutchinson Community Foundation, Greater Hutch and the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce are pleased to announce a $50,000 grant from the Schmidt Foundation, for the purpose of addressing childcare system improvements across Reno County. The $50,000 gift from the Schmidt Foundation to the United Way of Reno County will be leveraged with $40,000 in additional funding from Hutchinson Community Foundation’s donor advised funds, $10,000 from the Davis Foundation, and an economic development grant from Greater Hutch and the Hutch Chamber. The purpose of the funding will be to address several key childcare priorities that hav...

Pizza Ranch Receives Small Business Award

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Dick and Dianne Kovarna opened Pizza Ranch in March 2013. Dick grew up in northwest Iowa where the first Pizza Ranch was built and went there growing up every Sunday with his family after church. After moving to Hutchinson, Dick and Diane would drive by the old Red Lobster location that sat empty for five years where Dick would express his interest of wanting to open their own Pizza Ranch. They finally started the building process in 2012 and opened in March 2013, where they still hold the record for opening day sales for the franchise. While many will say it’...

Toy Depot Receives Small Business Award

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

After collecting Lionel Trains and other vintage toys for 60+ years, Mark Buckley finally fulfilled his dream of owning a vintage toy store and opened The Toy Depot on September 2, 2011. Recently the Toy Depot was presented an award by the Wichita State University, Kansas Small Business Development Center, as its Outstanding Existing Small Business. Not only is the Toy Depot one of 14 vintage toy stores in the world, it is the only vintage toy store south and west of Chicago and the only store in a town under 3,000,000. At the Toy Depot they sell a variet...

Hutch Putt Receives Small Business Award

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

After the fire at Ad Astra at 106 N Main, Cliff and Vicki Shank began researching what they might do with the long, skinny lot that remained. Cliff loves golf and thought it would be fun to have a miniature golf course in town, as there hadn’t been one for many years. After determining the lot size would not be large enough, they sold the property and bought the lot at their current location off of Lorraine. While they had hoped to be operational by March or April of 2017, they ran into construction delays and were finally able t...

BOLD 3PL to Purchase Former Target Building for Additional Warehouse Space

Tuesday, October 05, 2021

BOLD 3PL, a third-party logistics and distribution company headquartered in Hutchinson, announced today that it has purchased the former Target building, located at 1529 E. 17th Avenue, for additional warehousing space. Since 2012, BOLD has continued to grow in size and in the last five years has expended into five warehouses. With the purchase of the former Target building, BOLD now has over 500,000 square feet of warehouse space, managing 15,000 skids of product for customers all over the world. The business started in 2013 after L’Oréal purchased Hutchinson-based Peel’s Salon Services and moved operations from its former Hutchinson Distribution Cente...

BowerComm Receives Small Business Award

Tuesday, October 05, 2021

BowerComm started in 2010 when Lori returned to Kansas after seven years working in Chicago ad agencies. It started as a freelance marketing communications business, where she had long-term contracts with two Chicago agencies to work with several of their clients. The following year, BowerComm began a new partnership with Hutchinson Community Foundation. In the beginning, BowerComm worked with a designer and other freelance partners. In her first five years, her work gradually shifted to about half local clients and half Chicago-related clients. In 2016, Lori hired her first part-time contract employee, Bailey Stiggins. She needed help managing the work, especiall...

Amelia's Receives Small Business Award

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

After graduating from Kansas State University in 1995 with a degree in graphic design and illustration, she began working as the head graphic artists for Fox 6 in Topeka. Once her son was born, she decided to stay home and began doing freelance graphics, as well as designing her own jewelry, which she then started selling through home parties and art fairs. Six years later she opened her own store, Amelia BEADelia’s on South Main Street in the Antique District where she sold her custom-made jewelry. Now in business for 22 years, she recently expanded her store and moved t...

Sandhills Brewing Receives Small Business Award

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Good morning! Today I am honored to present the July Small Business Award to Sandhills Brewing. Pippin and his identical twin Jonathan developed a love for brewing and began by making beer in their basements, kitchens, and garages where they fell in love with the blend between chemistry and spontaneity. Brewing beer allowed them to be as simple or complex as they liked. After moving back to Hutchinson in 2013, Pippin began exploring the idea of opening his own business, and on April 28, 2018 Sandhills Brewing officially opened its doors. From the beginning, this business was designed to be an exploratio...

Collins Bus and PrairieStar's new mobile medical clinic will help deliver care to rural communities

Friday, June 18, 2021

A new “mobile medical clinic,” parked Wednesday on the east side of the building, is something its developer, Collins Bus Corporation of South Hutchinson, anticipates becoming a new product line at the local manufacturing plant. PrairieStar took delivery in April of the prototype the two businesses collaborated to create but sent it off for a custom-printed vehicle wrap before its unveiling, and it just returned. The specially-equipped small RV was one of three the South Hutchinson-based small school bus maker now delivered to health care providers. The others went to the Johnson County Health Department and Guilford County, North Carolina. With the need fo...

Express Employment Professionals Receives Small Business Award

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

In 2016 when Levi Julian was still with Subway, he placed an order from the franchisee home office and included in the packaging materials was a Fortune 200 magazine. He looked through to see what franchises were ranking high and when he saw Express Employment listed, he immediately liked the concept and felt it was the type of business that would offer a “hand up” in the community. After doing his research and completing all the initial steps, he began looking for office space and after walking up and down Main Street he found the perfect space in January 2017. ...

Skaets Steak Shop Receives Small Business Award

Thursday, June 03, 2021

Skaets Steak Shop has been in business for 71 years as a small neighborhood family style restaurant now serving the 6th generation of customers. It was built in 1949 by Norman Deshene with the idea to be the first fast food restaurant in Hutchinson. After closing for a short time in 1974, Donna Bartholomew re-opened the business and in 1996 Karen LeShure purchase the land and building. Donna and Karen have been running the business together ever since. Many items on the 1950’s menu still exists today, which includes proprietary homemade garlic and blue cheese dressing, daily fresh cut French fries...

Holly's Sweet Treats Receives Small Business Award

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Congratulations to Holly Thomas with Holly’s Sweet Treats for receiving the April Small Business Award! In 2010, Holly’s cousin was getting married in Beloit, Kansas, and she offered to make a cake as a gift, which turned out to be literally a cake wreck. However, two weeks later, one of her cousin’s best friends reached out telling her she loved the cake and asked her to make her wedding cake. Holly quickly began to practice, recreating her parents’ wedding cake for their 40th-anniversary celebration, and began baking mostly for friends and family. Through the years Holly has learned her craft throug...

Ward Davis Builders Receives Small Business Award

Thursday, March 18, 2021

After Ward graduated with a degree in construction management from Kansas State University, he worked six years as an estimator and project manager for the highway division of a Wichita company. When he and his wife Erica decided to start their family, they moved to Hutchinson, and he began Ward Davis Builders. He started with single-person projects and focused mostly on residential construction and remodeling work. After about five or six years, Ward began adding commercial projects and then moved into the industrial sector. Most of their work is done on a site, so their expansion has been in th...

Hutchinson Among other Kansas Communities Recognized as Top Performing Micropolitan Areas

Thursday, March 11, 2021

Site Selection Magazine recently released its 2020 Governor’s Cup rankings, where Kansas ranked 10th in the nation in economic development projects per capita in 2020. Kansas had the most dramatic jump in economic development success of any state in the country in 2020, according to the Site Selection Magazine. As part of this ranking, Hutchinson, along with four other Kansas communities, were recognized as one of the top 100 performing “micropolitan” areas in the United States. “While we know that existing businesses drive the local economy, we also know it takes a diversified approach to be successful” said Debra Teufel, President an...

Farm Bureau Financial Services - Mary Winter Agency Receives Small Business Award

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Mary Winters had been an Office Manager for five Farm Bureau Agents for several years when she was approached about becoming an Agent in the South Hutchinson Office. In 2004, she began her career as an Agent, and with a lot of hard work, dedication, discipline, and long hours, she soon realized she had been preparing for this role for many years. During her first year, she was awarded Rookie of the Year and Super All American. Since then, she has grown her book of business, achieving All American for 14 years, Super All American twice, six consecutive years a...

Nelson Heating & Air Conditioning Receives Small Business Award

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Rex and Marlene Nelson know the Heating and Air Conditioning business very well, having worked in Hutchinson since 1971. Marlene's parents opened Warrington Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning in the late 1950's and Rex joined the business as an employee in 1971. In the late 1970's, Rex and Marlene Nelson purchased the business from Marlene's parents and changed the name to Nelson Heating and Air Conditioning. Nelson Heating and Air Conditioning serves both commercial and residential clients, offering repair, installation, duct work, and Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) services. In addition, Nelson also provides 24-hour service, seven days a week. Whil...