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Coolest Thing Made In Kansas - People’s Choice winner announced
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COURTESY PHOTO Pictured left to right are Cody Dillon, Alma Creamery, and Matt Cash, FORVIS.

WICHITA — After six weeks of competition, the Kansas Manufacturing Council (KMC) on Tuesday announced Alma Cheese Curds is the winner of the 2023 Coolest Thing Made In Kansas - People’s Choice.

“The KMC is excited to celebrate Alma Creamery’s cheese curds as the 2022 Coolest Thing Made in Kansas. Thank you to everyone who nominated and voted for their favorite Kansas-made products. It has been a fun competition,” said KMC Executive Director Brandie McPherson. “The manufacturing industry is an important part of the Kansas economy. The KMC launched the Coolest Thing competition as a way to promote the manufacturing industry and to raise awareness about the many cool products made in our state.” 

Presented by FORVIS, the competition kicked off in August with 58 products. The 16 products who received the most votes in the nominating round moved on to the bracket-style tournament to compete in head-to-head match-ups. The product with the most votes moved to the next round. The final round put the final four Kansas-made products up against one another. The final four were: Alma Cheese Curds - Alma Creamery, Alma; Cat 994 Large Wheel Loader Bucket - Caterpillar Works Tools, Inc., Wamego; Plainscraft Covered Wagons - Plainscraft, LLC, Topeka; Vinyl Albums - Acoustic Sounds, Salina.

Kansans cast more than 30,000 votes during the tournament and final round of voting.

Made in Alma at the Alma Creamery for more than 60 years, the milk used to make the curds comes from dairy farms in the Flint Hills.

The winner of the 2023 Coolest Thing Made in Kansas - People’s Choice was announced during the KMC’s Kansas Manufacturing Summit held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Wichita.

There are nearly 2,500 manufacturers in Kansas, employing 170,000 people with an average annual compensation of $79,722. Manufacturing produces more than $28 billion in output annually, 15% of the total output in the state. Manufacturing helps drive the state’s economy with more than $9.93 billion in annual manufactured good exports to markets such as Canada, Mexico, and Japan.