Greg Harwood and his grandson KC, nine-year old son of Skylar and Brandy Harwood, Aurora, were the highlight of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce installation banquet held Thursday, January 27, 2022 at El Mexicano in Salina.
The two shared original cowboy poems and stories for the audience and KC even surprised listeners with some auctioneering of his own! Greg said the family began their interest in the genre when son Skylar was in middle school and won a poetry contest, somehow connected to Mrs. Kirkwood, and was invited to perform in Kanab with Baxter Black. Skylar kept going from there and Greg shared his passion, which has now been passed on down to KC.
“I enjoy the poetry,” said Greg. “The rhyme, the meter of the story. People enjoy the funny, but cowboy poetry can be about anything related to the cowboy lifestyle, horses, dogs, cows. There are some that make you cry, and some that are just a good story, and a lot that just make you laugh.”
He said the writing of KC’s poetry is currently a team effort with his dad, and the family has traveled to Durango, Heber City, and several other places and they’ve met a lot of really nice people though this hobby. Skylar has even published a CD of his work.
In addition to poetry, Greg has also written several books, the first “Some Stuff I’ve Learnt and Other Stuff” which was published and is available on Amazon Kindle, as well as two children’s books, “Be Polite” and “Friends” all of which are in school libraries and the Salina Public Library.
Professionally Greg has been in law enforcement for over 32 years, 11 of which were as Salina City’s Police Chief and the past 8 as the School Resource Office at the local schools.
“This is the best job I’ve ever had,” he said of his time working at the schools. “I like it. It’s fun and I hope I can be a good example and a good resource for our students.”
For the business portion of the meeting, Chamber members welcomed Ross McClintock and Brandy Marsh to their board. Brandy, representing Salina Zion’s Bank, has been in the banking industry for over twenty years. She began her banking career with Wells Fargo as a teller and advanced to lead teller before moving to operations and then becoming a personal banker. In 2015 she made the move to Zions Bank as the assistant manager and became the manager in 2019. She grew up in Salina and is now raising her family in Redmond. She is married to Justin Marsh, and they have three beautiful children: Brickstin, Braige, and Jara. In her free time, she loves to be in the mountains hunting and riding horses with friends and family.
Ross McClintock lives in Cedar Hills but spends a great of time in Salina as he works for the city marketing the Industrial Park. He is a land specialist with over 30 years’ experience in real estate entitlement, valuation and development. He has worked in commercial real estate since 1995 and has been involved in multiple significant transactions throughout the region. He and his wife Kay have been married for forty-eight years and has five children and fifteen grandchildren.
Carol Lowman currently serves as President, a job she’s rocked for the past seven years, with Randy Bumgartner as Vice President and Sherri Sampson as secretary, a job she’s also rocked for over twenty years. Other board members include Kirk and LaRea Rasmussen, Kathy Maxwell and Jed Maxwell, Pat Robins,
The Chamber is currently working on establishing a Main Street Revitalization Committee to work under the umbrella of the Chamber and exploring the option of hosting site visits when organizations express interest in the Industrial Park.
The first event of the year hosted by the Chamber will be their annual Easter Egg Hunt, scheduled for Saturday, April 16 at the Salina City Park, and they’ll be heavily involved in Salina City’s Eyes to the Sky Balloon Festival. The Independence Day Street Dance is a fundraiser for the Chamber and plans are underway to host the second annual Cardboard Boat Regatta as part of Redmond’s Pioneer Day activities. A fall festival/Coal Days will likely not happen this year and a Santa event may or may not happen- depending on other activities in the area.
