Features

Jerry Varner, of Washurn, said it was kind of a fluke how he and his wife, Angie, got into the group tour business. “I’d been a dairy farmer for 20 years when my mother-in-law, who guided group tours, scheduled me to go on a group motor coach bus tour to Colorado and Utah with a bunch of senior adults,” he said. “Turns out, I had so much fun that I thought Angie and I might be able to make a business out of it.”

Having a baby is a particularly stressful experience, especially if the circumstances surrounding the birth are not what the mother to be may have planned. Thankfully, there is always someone a phone call away to help in any situation.  Stacy Lake is a Barry County Emergency Services E9-1-1 dispatcher who celebrated her sixth work anniversary on July 10, 2023.

What’s it like to be in a community theatre troupe? Ask any one of Shell Knob in the Spotlight’s members, and they’ll tell you it’s a whirlwind of challenging fun.

With the help of family and friends, 70-plus-year-old Shell Knob resident Judy Reynolds is helping to preserve and promote general aviation.

David and Jessica Wheeler did not wait until after retirement to move to Shell Knob from the Wichita area. Instead, they packed up their belongings and children and moved to the lake community two years ago after a joking comment by David turned into a serious business opportunity for the couple.

A number of new businesses opened their doors in 2022, and others changed hands, some more than once.

The most exciting tourism news of 2022 was celebrated in September, when the KISS Rebreathers Dive Team was honored for making Roaring River Spring the deepest explored spring cave in the United States.