EGW March 28 AND 29, 2020
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One bottle at a time Distillery switches production to help combat COVID-19 By Adam Blake
adam@emporia.com
Under construction and renovation since 2018 at 502 S. Commercial St., the Trolley House Distillery is looking to make an impact on the Emporia community before its first drinks are ever poured. While planning to deal primarily in locally-distilled moonshine, vodka and, in the future, bourbon, ownership has found a new alcohol-based juncture to keep busy in the meantime: manufacturing hand sanitizer to help combat the spread of COVID-19. “J. Rieger & Co. [Whiskey Distillery] up in Kansas City kind of started the mass production of hand sanitizer and (has) been a great model to follow for a lot of the smaller distilleries, and now they’re putting out about 5,000 gallons per week,” Trolley House Distillery Owner Josh Williams said. “It’s been crazy to see. So last week the federal government began talking about contribute. Some of the licensing temporarily releasing some of their times went from 80 days to just a restrictions and licensing to kind of few hours. ease back and allow more people to “For our own purposes, none
ADAM BLAKE/GAZETTE
The Trolley House Distillery — located at 502 S. Commercial St. — is making hand sanitizer to help the community fight Covid-19.
of this would have gotten whole thing around in a week like off the ground without KC we did. Then, of course, I want to thank my parents, Crist with Rex and Debbie Air Conditioning “You have to be able to give Williams. Dad was Specialback to the community and the architect of this whole project ists here help out, especially during and Mom figured in town. out how to pay for Wi t h o u t times like this.” all of it.” his help — Williams said JOSH WILLIAMS the donation of Trolley House Owner there was actualhis free-time and ly a bit more of a without him selllearning curve in ing us some of the supplies we needed at cost — we making the sanitizer than he expectwouldn’t have been able to turn this ed. Now, after settling on a recipe,
creating labels for the product and beginning the distribution process, he hopes to expand the operation even further. “It was a bit different than we expected at the beginning, but it definitely helped that the World Health Organization released a basic formula to be able to follow,” Williams said. “Granted, as soon as they released that formula, all those supplies and ingredients were bought out almost immediately. Right now, we’re having to find alPlease see Bottle, Page 9
DIGITAL GOING VIRTUAL THURSDAYS EDITORIAL
Emporia Public Schools prepares students, parents for online learning
By Chris Walker walker@gazette.com
These are crazy times. What else can be said about the coronavirus and the impact it is making on our community and the world? With all the technological marvels of today, no one would have guessed that something like this would be able to halt so much of our lives in what seems like an instant. Locally, the impact has been dramatic and, unfortunately, it will have lasting Walker implications for quite some time. For our business community, we hope everyone will rally to support local businesses in any way they can: purchase a gift certificate, order takeout, shop websites; anything that will help these small businesses keep their doors open Please see Walker, Page 9
By Ryann Brooks
brooks@emporia.com
Virtual learning for students in Emporia Public Schools starts next week, a move district administrators, teachers and staff have been preparing for since Gov. Laura Kelly announced the closure of all Kansas school buildings on March 17. Beginning Monday, pre-K stu-
dents will begin working on takehome packets from their teachers, while students in grades K12 will transition into virtual meeting spaces, such as Google Classroom and Hangouts, and Zoom. All K12 students were provided with Chromebooks to take home to help them through the process. “What parents can expect starting Monday is that their child will be participating in some virtual meetings,” Judy Stanley, associate executive director of teaching and learning for USD 253, said. “We are trying to make sure that parents know how they can have access to get into those virtual meetings.” Please see Online, Page 9
EMPORIA GAZETTE
Emporia Middle School Principal Steven Bazan talks with parents during an online conference Thursday evening.
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Making adjustments, making it work.
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