It might not be growing in population, but Humboldt, Kansas is one town that has defied the odds in other ways. Drive around town and there is a coffee shop, a frame shop, a working 19th century cabinet shop that makes high-end furniture, a shaved ice shop, a candy shop and four restaurants. As 2020 dawned, a family restaurant with a microbrewery and a new grocery store were in the offing, along with more building and construction, more businesses coming to town. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a force that’s been devastating to small businesses across the country. City offices and retail shops closed. Restaurants adapted to delivery and carryout orders. A cruise night – where town residents piled into cars and cruised streets – boosted morale. Yet the good times in Humboldt have seemingly continued to roll. In January, the community was named one of “52 Places” to visit in 2022 by travel desk of The New York Times, alongside such destinations as Monaco, Greenland, and Marrakesh, Morocco. Back in the summer of 2020, when The Journal first published this extensive profile of the community, the future wasn’t so clear because the pandemic was clouding the future for lots of small businesses everywhere.
Source: KLC Journal
