WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Kansas Manufacturing Council (KMC) announced the winner of the 2022 Coolest Thing Made in Kansas – People’s Choice during their Kansas Manufacturing Summit on Thursday, Oct. 13.
After six weeks of competition, the Terramac Crawler, built by Ernest-Spencer, won the choice of the people.
“The KMC is excited to celebrate the Terramac Crawler 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.”
The competition kicked off back in August with 60 products. According to KMC, the top nominated 16 products 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,” KMC said. “More than 25,000 votes were cast during the first two rounds of the competition.”
The final four products included:
- Terramac Crawler, Ernest-Spencer
- Peanut M&Ms, Mars Wrigley
- Rocking Chairs, Schaffer Furniture
- Zero-turn Lawn Mowers, The Grasshopper Company
During the final round, KMC says Kansans cast over 11,000 votes. It was the most competitive final four KMC has seen in the history of the competition.
“Our team at Ernest-Spencer is excited to be part of the Coolest Thing Made In Kansas and honored to be this year’s People’s Choice winner. The other nominated Kansas-made products are amazing and the competition was fierce,” said the company’s President and CEO Neal Spencer. “The competition not only gave us an opportunity to share our customer’s product with Kansans across the state but also allowed us to meet many other manufacturers and learn about their products.”
According to KMC, “There are more than 2,500 manufacturers in Kansas, employing 157,000 people with an average annual compensation of $74,541. Manufacturing produces more than $27 billion in output annually, 15.55% of the total output in the state. Manufacturing helps drive the state’s economy with more than $8.26 billion in annual manufactured good exports to markets such as Canada, Mexico, Japan, United Kingdom, and Germany.”
Last year’s winner was the Hometown Pie Company in New Strawn, Kan.
