February 17, 2023, 02:47 PM
ZSMICHAELDwarf Goats: One Man’s Idea for Saving a Town in Rural America
Recall these roadside attractions before the interstate was built? When route 66 was in operation? This is an entertaining idea which I feel has limited success.
The former mayor of Wilson, Kan., believes he can lure travelers off Interstate 70 to see a collection of frolicking goats; he is butting heads with skeptics
WILSON, Kan.—Like many visionaries, David Criswell can’t say exactly how he dreamed up his big idea.
Yet after chewing it over, Mr. Criswell, the former mayor of Wilson, became convinced he could milk a roadside attraction starring Nigerian dwarf goats clambering up and down a cluster of grain silos.
“I’m going to bring people to town with these goats,” Mr. Criswell said.
He anticipates herds of travelers pulling off Interstate 70 to visit his towering dwarf-goat playground. “Visually entertaining,” Mr. Criswell said, and a boost for local business. He envisions visitors buying souvenirs, meals and gas.
Mr. Criswell, 60 years old, plans to call the tourist spot “Mountains on the Prairie.” At one point, he thought maybe “Pettigoat Junction,” a pun on the title of the 1960s TV sitcom, “Petticoat Junction.”
He paid all of a $1 for more than a dozen 40-foot-high cement silos abandoned by former owners. He has since rounded up 12 Nigerian dwarf goats—two billy goats, Reo and Little Guy, and seven nanny goats, Winnie, Mononoke, Cookie Monster, Sanjo, Grace, Lily and Matilda, plus three kids. He picked the breed for its compact size, around 24 inches tall, even temperament and relatively easy husbandry.
David Criswell feeding his goats.
Mr. Criswell hasn’t yet built stairs for the goats to climb. He is still butting heads with arms-crossed skeptics.
“We want people to come to town,” said David Sells, a retired 70-year-old veterinarian who serves on the Wilson Tourism Hub. “I just don’t feel that goats on Main Street is the way to do it.”
The Wilson city council on four occasions has rejected Mr. Criswell’s request to keep more than two goats within city limits. Some residents worry about goat smell: The silos aren’t far from the town’s only hotel, gas station and grocery store. Others have called the idea divisive and weird.
Susan Curtiss, who runs Simple Haven, a local bed-and-breakfast, supports the goat project. Niki Mikulecky, one of the owners of Wilson’s gas station and convenience store, Stop 2 Shop, isn’t a fan. Mayor Mike Peschka considers the matter closed.
“I’m really done talking about goats,” Mr. Peschka said.
Wilson, population 800 or so, was founded in the 1870s by Czech homesteaders and is still promoted as the “Czech Capital of Kansas.” The town boasts of what it says is the world’s largest hand-painted Czech egg, a 20-foot-tall fiberglass behemoth. Visitors often stop by to take photos beside the giant egg, and the town hosts an annual Czech festival.
The Stop 2 Shop gas station in Wilson, Kan.
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The Wilson, Kan., city hall alongside abandoned storefronts.
Wilson was once a bustling hub with four beer joints, two grocery stores and a bowling alley. Local businesses served various work crews in the 1950s and 1960s, including those building I-70, damming nearby Wilson Lake and constructing a Cold War-era missile-silo complex a couple of miles away.
“That whole side of the street used to be full of businesses,” said Jerry Florian, the 73-year-old owner of Grandma’s Soda Shop, gesturing across Wilson’s main drag. “There’s nothing over there now.”
Mr. Florian is head of the chamber of commerce, which has shrunk to five members. The opera house, which had hosted movies and polka parties, burned down in 2009.
The school district, facing financial difficulties and low student enrollment, is moving middle- and high-school classes out of town. Mr. Florian’s son Brian Florian, 37, worries that is going to scare off young families. The city should be willing to at least give Mr. Criswell’s idea a chance, he said.
“If it doesn’t work out, you can always take a step back and try something different,” he said on a recent afternoon at the soda shop. His brother Greg Florian served coffee and a cinnamon roll to a lone patron. Grandma’s also offers kolaches, a Czech pastry, in keeping with the local theme.
Brian Florian is teaching Mr. Criswell how to weld the metal stairs and platforms for the goats. Video cameras will live-stream the animals’ comings and goings to the far reaches of the internet, Mr. Criswell said.
David Criswell keeps a herd of Nigerian dwarf goats at the Hoch family farm south of Wilson city limits in Kansas, Saturday, February 11, 2023.
He plans to sell T-shirts and hats, and maybe such goat-milk products as soap and cheese. The big moneymaker will be charging people to post messages on giant displays atop the silos, he said. A child could log onto the website and see a Happy Birthday! message from Grandpa and Grandma.
One-of-a-kind attractions are a competitive business in Kansas. The nearby missile silo was decommissioned and converted to a private campground. There is a 24-by-32-foot reproduction of Van Gogh’s “Three Sunflowers in a Vase” in Goodland, Kan., the “North Pole” in WaKeeney, Kan., known as the “Christmas City of the High Plains,” and “Truckhenge” in Topeka, Kan.
Mr. Criswell held up a T-shirt showing Reo the billy goat to illustrate his proprietary advantage. “Why did I pick them?” he said of the Nigerian dwarf goats. “Nowhere else will have that.”
He was born when his family lived in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Canoga Park in Los Angeles, but Mr. Criswell’s mother was a native of Wilson. Mr. Criswell has lived in Wilson since 2003 with his wife and four children.
As an adult, he tried beekeeping but switched to buying local honey by the barrel to package and sell to stores in Manhattan, Kan., and beyond. During the early 2000s, Mr. Criswell built affordable straw-bale housing in Wilson for seniors, he said.
On a recent afternoon, two of his goats ran to greet him. He doled out alfalfa, hay and pellets. The goats jumped on their hind legs and touched heads in playful head butts.
“Isn’t that cool? To see them up on silos doing antics like that,” he said.
those building I-70, damming nearby Wilson Lake and constructing a Cold War-era missile-silo complex a couple of miles away.
“That whole side of the street used to be full of businesses,” said Jerry Florian, the 73-year-old owner of Grandma’s Soda Shop, gesturing across Wilson’s main drag. “There’s nothing over there now.”
Mr. Florian is head of the chamber of commerce, which has shrunk to five members. The opera house, which had hosted movies and polka parties, burned down in 2009.
The school district, facing financial difficulties and low student enrollment, is moving middle- and high-school classes out of town. Mr. Florian’s son Brian Florian, 37, worries that is going to scare off young families. The city should be willing to at least give Mr. Criswell’s idea a chance, he said.
“If it doesn’t work out, you can always take a step back and try something different,” he said on a recent afternoon at the soda shop. His brother Greg Florian served coffee and a cinnamon roll to a lone patron. Grandma’s also offers kolaches, a Czech pastry, in keeping with the local theme.
Brian Florian is teaching Mr. Criswell how to weld the metal stairs and platforms for the goats. Video cameras will live-stream the animals’ comings and goings to the far reaches of the internet, Mr. Criswell said.
David Criswell keeps a herd of Nigerian dwarf goats at the Hoch family farm south of Wilson city limits in Kansas, Saturday, February 11, 2023.
He plans to sell T-shirts and hats, and maybe such goat-milk products as soap and cheese. The big moneymaker will be charging people to post messages on giant displays atop the silos, he said. A child could log onto the website and see a Happy Birthday! message from Grandpa and Grandma.
One-of-a-kind attractions are a competitive business in Kansas. The nearby missile silo was decommissioned and converted to a private campground. There is a 24-by-32-foot reproduction of Van Gogh’s “Three Sunflowers in a Vase” in Goodland, Kan., the “North Pole” in WaKeeney, Kan., known as the “Christmas City of the High Plains,” and “Truckhenge” in Topeka, Kan.
Mr. Criswell held up a T-shirt showing Reo the billy goat to illustrate his proprietary advantage. “Why did I pick them?” he said of the Nigerian dwarf goats. “Nowhere else will have that.”
He was born when his family lived in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Canoga Park in Los Angeles, but Mr. Criswell’s mother was a native of Wilson. Mr. Criswell has lived in Wilson since 2003 with his wife and four children.
As an adult, he tried beekeeping but switched to buying local honey by the barrel to package and sell to stores in Manhattan, Kan., and beyond. During the early 2000s, Mr. Criswell built affordable straw-bale housing in Wilson for seniors, he said.
On a recent afternoon, two of his goats ran to greet him. He doled out alfalfa, hay and pellets. The goats jumped on their hind legs and touched heads in playful head butts.
“Isn’t that cool? To see them up on silos doing antics like that,” he said.
LINK:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/f...8?mod=hp_featst_pos5