By FINN HARTNETT

Staff writer

Sarah Yutzy of Yoder is the first-ever administrator for Marion Merchants Association.

The part-time position, filled last month, is paid with proceeds from the city’s transient guest tax, a tax on lodging paid by visitors renting rooms for fewer than 28 days.

Tammy Ensey of Merchants Association said Yutzy’s salary would be $18 an hour, and she would work roughly eight hours a week.

After graduating Tabor College in May, 2023, Yutzy worked at Hesston College for a year as part of its social media team.

A basketball player at Tabor, she traveled to southeast Asia this summer as part of a trip with Youth With A Mission, an interdenominational Christian organization.

“We were over there for about a month and played different universities and colleges and a couple of pro teams, too,” Yutzy said. “It was super fun.”

After the trip, she returned to Kansas, where she was informed about the administrator position by one of her former Tabor professors.

“I attend the Marion Merchants meetings, so I take notes for those and I distribute those after meetings,” she said. “If businesses can’t attend or they’re not there, then they get those notes.”

Increasing the number of tourists in Marion is the name of the game for Marion Merchants, an informal volunteer group.

Yutzy will help coordinate and promote events such as the fifth annual Holly Jolly Christmas Nov. 30.

Yutzy still lives in her hometown of Yoder, a town of 44 an hour’s drive from Marion. She makes the commute to attend meetings but otherwise works from home.

Four years at Tabor gave Yutzy experience with the Marion economy.

“You get familiar with some of the businesses and different things throughout town,” she said. “And now, as I’m going to meetings, I’m getting more familiar with merchants and the people who own businesses.”

Yutzy was complimentary of the people of Marion and is excited to become more familiar with the community.

“The people that I’ve gotten to meet are super friendly,” she said. “It’s just a small -town community, which I’m used to, because that’s what I grew up with.”