Vickie Ference, 23, Builds 2 Ord Businesses and Opens Pork Storefront

1 articles · Updated · Rural Radio Network · Oct 19

Ord entrepreneur Vickie Ference, 23, now runs two local businesses — Vickie’s ExtraORDinary Pork and event-decor company Grateful Adventures — after returning home from college.
Her pork business began during her freshman year at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, when she worked with her father to raise pigs and later expanded from whole and half hogs into individual cuts and bundles.
May 29 marked another step: Ference opened a storefront in Ord on her 23rd birthday, while also continuing Grateful Adventures after inheriting demand from brides tied to a downtown decor business.
Two older downtown buildings — built in 1911 and 1932 — show her broader investment in Ord, despite added upkeep costs, as she argues rural communities should actively invite young people back.

Sources

What hidden challenges lie behind a young entrepreneur's risky decision to revive a declining small-town main street with a pork business?

How did a 23-year-old college student finance the purchase of two historic downtown buildings to build an agricultural empire?

Can one 23-year-old's bold return to rural Nebraska crack the code on reversing the devastating small-town youth brain drain?

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