Nostalgia is hard to come by. Everything is highly computerized, most things are instantaneous and social gatherings for some are nose-in-a-cell-phone, communicating through an app with someone just feet away from you. For some of us, we miss the days where complaints of being bored were met with, “Read a book!” and the question, “Where are you?” wasn’t even a feasible question without cell phones tied to our person.

Cimarron is a historic town that sits on Highway 50 and the Santa Fe Trail, where you can still see the ruts of the wagons that used the trail — saving those early travelers miles and days of travel as opposed to the Mountain Route. While slowing down to the days of wagon travel isn’t the kind of nostalgia most of us are looking for, a home-town kid came back to help provide nostalgia and community in a more modern way.

Linger Gig Lab, Inc., is a nonprofit organization that hopes to build a pathway for the community to learn entrepreneurial skills — all at the local level.

“Linger really exists to answer the question, ‘How do we provide more in-real-life experiences to build community?’ Hence the name Linger. I want you to stay a while,” says Tony Coast, a high-energy Cimarron native who moved back after traveling the world for other “gigs.”

Nostalgia meets innovation

Staying a while isn’t difficult in the location of Linger Gig Lab — it was originally a dry goods store in 1910, then changed to a pharmacy and old-fashioned soda fountain in 1934. The store holds a lot of nostalgia for the area, for long-time Cimarron residents and even for Tony himself.

“My parents bought this place three weeks before I was born,” Tony says. “I grew up here. It’s kind of like if you grew up in a mechanic shop, you probably know how to change your oil. This is the oil for me.”

Through years of opportunities outside of Cimarron and after Tony had some of his own health scares, he decided it was time to put down roots and serve up Root Beers in the town that made him. Tony is quick-witted, friendly and loves helping others grow. The location of the old-fashioned soda fountain isn’t only serving ice cream and cherry limeades; it’s also building leaders and dreamers in the rural Kansas town.

“I always say rural people make and city people consume,” Tony says. “I’d rather kids know, ‘Hey, I can actually make a new robotic thing that’s going to fix that thing in my car, or I’m going to design an adaptive thing for my uncle.’”

High school students run the soda fountain in Linger Gig Lab. They develop recipes for new drinks based on what they like themselves, and they learn how to market, sell and adapt to customers’ feedback. The students in the program are called Youth Entrepreneurs — or as Tony calls them — YouEs. They’re paid opportunities that help students think outside of the box without the fear of failing.

“The big mantra is you can fail here,” Tony says. “We’re going to create experiences where there’s no one way to do it. It’s not really a school, but there’s a lot of growth that’s going to happen here.”

Meeting students where they are is a major component in their desire to learn. When a student is able to lean into the things they like or enjoy and use it as a way to grow, the learning comes easy.

“I have developed the Dr. Pepper Deluxe,” McKynlee Beery, a high school student in Cimarron who worked at the soda fountain, says. “It’s Dr. Pepper with vanilla and cream. I just really like Dr. Pepper.”

Because McKynlee liked a product and developed a rendition of her own to sell, she was able to reach the No. 2 selling drink and generated more than $600 in just four months.

Beyond developing a product she likes, the work environment allows her to grow her knowledge in running a business and learning communication skills.

“It’s kind of like learning how to own and run a business,” she says. “How to make your own products and make a profit from it. Since I am hoping to become a veterinarian technician, I feel like working here has helped with communication skills for my future career path.”

A delayed dopamine rush

Growing youth into leaders takes time and requires you to stay a while. With Linger Gig Lab’s structure, Tony’s relentless optimism and the community’s support, building isn’t only tactile, it’s essential.

“I think the kids in our YouE program need to realize there’s so many experiences that are going to take time instead of instant gratification,” Tony says. “The dopamine rush of building new ideas is much more delayed, but it’s fun. So we’re playing and we’re failing, and we continuously see how these students are doing.”

Tony wants to build people and places, especially in Kansas. His ambition is unmatched and his ideas are endless, which makes him a perfect person to bring things to life. He has plans of securing financial support to build out opportunities for local entrepreneurs to sell their products from launch bays in the store, a 3D printing and production capability, plus a shared kitchen so food makers can have a commercial kitchen to make and package their products to sell. One grant he’s secured that will significantly strengthen the next phase of the work at Linger Gig Lab is a $95,000 grant through Kansas Commerce’s Downtown Revive and Thrive program, which will build out Linger Launch Hall for launch bays, gallery systems, production support and community learning space. As for Tony, he’s planning on lingering.

“I’m trying to build that kind of lifelong mentorship,” he says. “I’m not going anywhere. I want anyone who has questions — whether it’s our YouEs in five years or any other entrepreneur — I want them to come to me and say, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’”

Linger Gig Lab is located at 101 S Main Street in Cimarron. Keep up to date on their projects at lingergiglab.org or follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lingergiglab.

Go ahead, stay a while. Tony and the YouEs will make a drink for you to enjoy on the red vinyl stools while locals enjoy each other’s company.

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