By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
At the Kansas State University Salina Aerospace and Technology College Center, eight local business representatives and owners stood before three judges to vie for a $6,000 cash prize at the annual Charlie Walker Pitch Challenge.
Created three years ago by a conglomerate of Salina economic development organizations, the challenge aims to support new local commerce in town alongside honoring the well-known businessman Charlie Walker, who began multiple Salina businesses and the Rolling Hills Zoo.
The Salina Community Economic Development Organization, NetWork Kansas and the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce all help plan and produce the event through an organization named Startup Salina.
Todd Welsh, the owner of Salina Homes and the Charlie Walker Pitch master of ceremonies, once worked with Walker early in his career and, throughout the evening, shared stories of Walker and his business practices.
Before the businesses presented, Welsh showed an image of Walker in his office, wearing a large horseshoe ring.
"Charlie Walker, when he wore that horseshoe ring, meant business," Welsh said. "He had it on every day... That was a big signature piece he had."
Each business had about five minutes to present its area of trade, which this year ranged from lactation consulting to a line of sustainable cleaning products.
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The businesses included AOT Acquisition and Consulting, LLC, BeYOUtiful Creations by AS, Clubhouse Golf Salina, LLC, Heartland Lactation, LLC, Let it Sew, The Refillery, Unlimited Sips and Weaves-n-Such.
This year's judges included John Gunn, a Salina area entrepreneur and a founder of the event, Darren Gregg, president and CEO of Bennington State Bank and Megan Browne, support coordinator for JRI Hospitality.
"I would bet half of them over the three years are in business trying to make their business work," Gunn said. "You just never know what's going to take off."
After years of service on the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce board and the Salina Community Economic Development Organization, the Charlie Walker Pitch Challenge began as an idea from Gunn.
Gunn said he approached the Chamber and the Economic Development Organization with his idea, which then transformed into the modern-day Charlie Walker Pitch Challenge.
"This is not easy," said Salina Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Renee Duxler. "It takes a lot of guts to get in front of a group of complete strangers and share your dream and have to do it in less than five minutes."
Gunn, Gregg and Browne witnessed eight business owners and representatives pitch their ideas to the crowd and judges, but ultimately, The Refillery was the evening's winner.
The Refillery, owned and operated by Morgan Baughman, is a sustainability-focused business where she provides refills of cleaning supplies to customers to move away from single-use plastics.
Baughman said she worked hard leading up to the Charlie Walker Pitch Challenge, and her reward will help her continue The Refillery dream.
"You work your ass for this for a long time, and you start to wonder, 'Am I delusional, or do I have a good idea?'" Baughman said. "I haven't worked harder on anything else in my whole life except maybe being a mom."
Sustainability has always been a part of Baughman's life, which she said helped spark an early interest in moving away from single-use plastics and adopting eco-friendly practices.
"I have always had a curiosity about the natural way things are made," Baughman said. "I think it's a bigger purpose of enjoying and understanding why all of this works day in and day out. It's like a common curiosity that turned into a bigger thing and wanting to enjoy the things of the Earth."
To the judges, The Refillery best matched their grading rubric by covering essential topics in a pitch, such as units sold, price per unit, and total profitability outlook of the business.
After The Refillery won the $6,000 cash prize for first place, Heartland Lactation by Jacee Rietbrock won second place with $4,000.
AOT Acquisition and Consulting by Latoriea Edwards won the third place $3,000 prize, BeYOUtiful Creations by Adria Smith won a $2,000 fourth place prize and Unlimited Sips by Elizabeth Denholm won the $1,000 fifth-place prize.
Baughman said she intends to use the $6,000 cash prize to grow her business's online presence and appear in more local farm and art markets throughout the year.