Rural Grocery Spotlight: Lane Co. Community Grocery (Dighton, KS)

Lane Co. Community Grocery in Dighton, Kansas (pop. 733) recently celebrated their grand opening after a fire destroyed the community's only grocery store in 2024. Check out the images below taken by one of our team members who was able to attend the grand opening and read an excerpt from a longer article about this story of perseverance which was published by Pat Melgares from K-State News and Communications Services.

Image Gallery from Grand Opening

Excerpt From Article:

"When a suspicious fire destroyed her hometown's only grocery store in January 2024, Marjory James felt a loss of independence.

Like other residents of her rural west Kansas town, James — who turns 99 years old on July 7 — faced a harsh reality: Travel 23 miles one-way from Dighton to the grocery store in Scott City, or get by with less-healthy and less-available items from the local variety store or gas station.

'Going to other places to shop means travel, or family having to help me, and not something that is easy for anyone,' said James, who until recently still did her own shopping, cooking and meal planning.

'For sure, traveling to a nearby town was not something I could do by myself anymore. Being able to go just a few blocks to get what I needed is so good. The weather doesn't allow travel elsewhere. Just getting to the local store when we have snow or ice can be tough.'

Through a gargantuan effort by the community, Dighton [opened] an 8,000-square foot grocery store on June 27, spurred by the Lane County Community Foundation and with assistance from the Kansas Healthy Food Initiative and Kansas State University's Rural Grocery Initiative."