Robin Leonard has been director of the Grant County Chamber of Commerce since Jan. 1.
“It’s been amazing. I love my job,” Leonard said.
Leonard previously worked under former Chamber director Marita for six years, an experience she said prepared her for the responsibilities of the position.
“She was a great mentor,” Leonard said. “She taught me so much and introduced me to so many different great people in this community.”
After six years of working alongside the Chamber, Leonard said she had already become familiar with the annual rhythm of responsibilities.
“It’s been a big job, and this job encompasses a lot,” she said. “I feel like I have a huge responsibility to Grant County, to tourism, and to our business owners.”
Leonard’s previous experience gave her an understanding of what needs to happen.
“Since I’ve been there six years, I’ve been through enough events and enough of, ‘Okay, well, in July, we start doing the beef donors,’ or, ‘In October,’ or, ‘In September, we start planning for our silent auction.’”
“You just get into the flow of things, and we kind of have a timeline that we follow,” Leonard said. “It may not necessarily be written down, but doing it for that long, we kind of know, ‘This is what we do when.’”
Leonard said, “I want to do the best I can for the county and for the business owners, to get people to come to Ulysses and see what we have. I want local people to know what we have available in town.”
“Just because you want something doesn’t mean you have to go to Liberal or Garden City,” she said. “If we can find it here, that’s what we want. We want people to shop local. We want them to stay local.”
Leonard also recognizes the attractions Ulysses offers visitors.
“With the High 5 Adventure Park and The Creek and Fired on Main and all the different things Main Artery has that are unique to this part of Kansas, I feel like we get a lot of people coming in to experience those things,” she said.
Still, Leonard hopes visitors will make a full day of exploring Ulysses.
“I want [visitors] to make a whole day of it,” she said. “I want them to go to the park, then go check out Main Artery, then enjoy a local restaurant. Just spend time here and see how great Grant County is.”
Part of Leonard’s role at the Chamber includes not only promoting local businesses and tourism, but also recognizing the people who make the community what it is.
“Our people really make it,” Leonard said. “I think we’re generally warm and open.”
“If I see you on the street, I’m going to smile and wave and come over and say hi. If I see somebody who looks a little lost, I might walk up and say, ‘Can I help you?’”
This welcoming spirit was something I experienced firsthand when coming to Ulysses for the first time. When interviewing for the newspaper position, I spoke with several people from the community over the phone, including Leonard, who encouraged me to visit her when I arrived.
“I’ve been able to go to different places in my life and interview for different jobs,” I told Leonard, “but I met maybe five people on the phone just while interviewing, and that’s never happened before.”
“When I looked on Google Earth, I was kind of scared,” I said. “But after arriving in Ulysses, what I had heard on the phone when I talked to people was affirmed in my experience here. So I can definitely say that’s true.”
Leonard said the community’s welcoming atmosphere is one of the things that distinguishes the community.
“We are willing to help, and we are just welcoming and friendly,” Leonard said. “I think that makes us stand out.”
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