By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Todd and Amanda VanSkike are living the American dream as local business owners. The couple purchased Golden Belt Bicycle on Main Street in Great Bend in April 2018. Fixing and selling bicycles may have been more Todd's speed, but Amanda is now living out her dream after the couple recently purchased Forest Avenue Antiques in downtown Great Bend.
"It has been a dream, oddly, of mine for 20 years or so," she said. "My sister and I, we always dreamed about having an antique store. When this became available, I jumped on it."
As the name suggests, the store specializes in antiques from vendors who collect goods from real estate sales, garage sales, and by other means. But there's more inside 2025 Forest Ave.
"We have some Kansas-made items in terms of cheeses and sausage and stuff, but most of this is truly antique stuff," Amanda said. "There are some replicas and some things that are vintage looking, but most of it is 100 percent antiques."
Todd grew up in Great Bend and met Amanda when she moved to town in high school. She spent several years umpiring baseball at all levels with her dad, Eric Dowson, who is now a sixth-grade teacher at Park Elementary School.
"(Baseball) was actually what he did most of the time," said Amanda. "He tried to get me into softball but I just love the game of baseball."
With those umpiring days behind her, Amanda can spend more time with her family, including, Gavin, 15, and Gentry, 12. She's also ready to tackle a second business.
"I definitely feel like (Todd has) ahold of his thing," she said. "It's not stressful by any means, it's just busy. This is a good time for me. I feel like he's settled so now it's a good time for something new."