The 2024 Jewell Corn Show parade grand marshalls are Jason and Billi Loomis Arasmith. This will not be their first Corn Show Parade. This photo shows them together in the 1992 Corn Show Parade as the Football Homecoming king and queen. They are riding in a 1979 MG Midget owned by Sally Engel and driven by Mark Engel.
The Jewell Chamber of Commerce named Jason and Billi Arasmith as the 2024 Corn Show Parade Grand Marshalls. They are the owners and managers of Jewell Implement and active in their community, church and family. As grand marshalls, they will lead the Corn Show Parade at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12
They have been "from Jewell" their entire lives. Jason's parents are Roy and Amy Wilson Arasmith and Billi's are Bill and Becky Oplinger Loomis, all Jewell residents. They are about as "home grown" as a couple can be.
Jason and Billi graduated from Jewell High School with the Class of 1993. In fact, they have already made a Corn Show Parade appearance together, as they were the Fall Homecoming King and Queen in October of 1992. That was before they headed to Fort Hays State University for degrees in business management. They earned those degrees in May of 1997 shortly after their March 22, 1997, marriage.
According to Billi, living in Jewell was always the plan. Jewell was and is "Home." So, after college, there was no question "if" they were coming back to Jewell, they were. Actually, they began managing Jewell Implement in 1997 during their last semester at college. That semester was spent traveling back and forth from Hays to Jewell to work with Jewell Implement.
They truly are a "home grown" couple in more ways than one. Not only do they and their parents presently live in Jewell but their two sons and daughters-in-law, Jarret and Brit Widrig Arasmith, and Grant and Jess Meier Arasmith, have chosen to stay and make the Jewell community their home. Jarret and Grant are both part of Jewell Implement.
They are also "home grown" because their ancestry goes back to be beginnings of Jewell County. Multiple branches of their family trees arrived in Jewell County in the 1870s. Those hardy settlers founded communities and established farms where there had been only empty prairie. Long-time Jewell County names like Wilson, Byers, Buffington, Applebee, Nees, Loomis, Ryan, Mullen, Fields, Knowlton, Wolfe, Wildman and Davis abound in their ancestry.
Jason and Billi have deep community roots but they don't just live in the past. They believe in the future. Jewell Implement's recent expansion, two large new buildings prove it. As Jason said, "It just needed to be done. We have a good group of guys and that warranted the expense."
Jewell Implement itself is also "home grown." The block west of the square has long been home to implement dealers and blacksmiths. An early list of businesses, 1876 to 1878, cites D. H. Bloom, blacksmith, "west side of the square."
From 1900 to 1929, E. L. Gray Implement was doing business where Jewell Implement now stands. Then, beginning in 1934, it was Heinen Implement on the "west side of the square." Jewell Implement replaced Heinen Implement, at the same location, in February of 1970. If you take a look at the "west side of the square" (and across the highway!), you can see the history that has been unfolding.
Congratulations and Good Fortune in the future to our 2024 Corn Show Grand Marshalls, Jason and Billi Loomis Arasmith.
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