I got a great tour of Cowley County, KS (Winfield and Ark City) this week. This is a county that has had a strong industrial base but has had to rebound from losses of over 2,000 jobs with plant closings of Crayola, a refinery and a packing plant. However, I was impressed with how this rural county has picked itself up and increased their economic development efforts in a countywide effort.
A local company, Gott, developed a thriving business in plastic products which they sold to Rubbermaid. Rubbermaid still produces products like coolers, trash cans, etc. in Winfield, with a workforce of over 750 employees. Other companies, Winfield Consumer Products, K Square and Galaxy Tool, are also producing plastic goods. They’ve have sprung up from ex-Gott employees, hiring another 400 people.
Clusters like this one in the plastics industry can be the springboard for increased economic activity in many towns. If you haven’t done a survey of potential clusters in your region, you should do so.
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Some may feel squeamish about eating it, but rabbit has a fan base that grows as cooks discover how easy they are to raise — and how good the meat tastes.
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