Celebration ruled the day at Fanestil Meats’ new facility in the 4700 block of US Highway 50 on Friday.
The capstone was a ribbon-cutting event to mark the end of construction for a brand-new 40,000-square-foot processing facility, which essentially finishes the long-sought move for the business out of the Cottonwood River floodplain with its original space on Kansas Highway 99 just south of Emporia. Whenever there was moderate or major flooding along the Cottonwood, Fanestil would have to close until the waters subsided — which sometimes could take several days. US Senator Jerry Moran says the new processing plant is the reward for a lot of hard work by a lot of people.
Fanestil owners Dan and Jan Smoots worked for years to move out of the floodplain, starting with a FEMA grant and culminating with support from the Small Business Administration, local lenders, Emporia city and Lyon County governments.
There was celebration in another way Friday. Smoots announced a new scholarship program paying for 50 percent of schooling for children and grandchildren of Fanestil employees if they attend Flint Hills Technical College. Smoots also announced a $2 million estate gift to the college. President Caron Daugherty:
It’s the largest single gift in college history.
The processing facility joins the Fresh Local Market, administrative offices and cold storage facility.
This has been a big year for Fanestil. Besides the new processing plant, Smoots and his wife, Jan, were named the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Persons of the Year for Kansas. Fanestil was also among the businesses involved in the Coolest Thing Made in Kansas contest for its Party Time Ham.
