Darryl Brewer has run D&L Fencing in his home of Marion, Kansas since 2000. Community is everything to him, and he’s seen the economic windfall that Marion—and his business—have benefited from since Ørsted’s arrival.

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My wife and I began dating back in high school. She’s from Marion, and I’m from Peabody, 15 miles south. I moved to Marion in 1981, we got married, and here we are all these years later. Marion is our home. It’s a family-based community.

Being available to family is so important. I used to haul logs in a semi-trailer truck 200 miles up and back every day, and I felt I was missing so much of our children’s lives. So, in 2000, I got down out of my semi and started my own business, D&L Fencing. My wife asked me from the start, “You think you can make a living at this?” To this day, every time I win us a new contract, I go to her and say, “Yeah, I think we can make a living at this.”

Our business provides for our family, but we also play an important part in the community. We employ people from Marion, and everything we buy for our business and for our personal use comes from other local community businesses.

And more than that, we’re always ready to lend a hand to others who need our help. I’ll get a call from a rancher who needs help hauling livestock home. Or someone from downtown needs us to transport a gazebo from one spot to another. Whatever is needed, we’re always ready to help each other out here.

Ørsted came to Marion in 2021 for the Sunflower Wind project. Right away, we saw the kind of financial benefits they brought to the community. They donated to the school district, and helped our fire department upgrade its equipment.

And my fencing business took off because we were able to do a lot of fencing work for them. Ørsted has been a great partner, easy to work with. And their employees, the ones who are out there building and working on the turbines, they’re part of our community now. Sometimes they’ve even stayed on my property! Most importantly, I’ve seen how businesses throughout town have been doing better since Ørsted began installing wind turbines.

To anyone who might be wondering about whether wind farms are good for the community, I’d say that our decision to invite Ørsted to Marion has been a good one for everyone here. I’d gladly welcome them to build more turbines here any day of the week.