I came across something remarkable on Facebook last year. It was a photo of a wild palomino horse rearing up in an iconic pose of unbridled freedom — a stunning photograph and it really touched my heart.
So I sent a “friend request” to the woman who posted the photograph to begin a conversation about the horse and the story
behind it. The reply I received was from Linda Hanick, a former Great Harvest bakery owner. I was thrilled and honored to connect with another member of the extended Great Harvest family.
I’ve always believed (and observed) that Great Harvest attracts individuals who are passionate about life, adventurous and community-spirited. Linda and her husband Vic, former owners of the Prairie Village, Kan. bakery, are proof of this in spades.
Their Great Harvest bakery ownership story started in 1981 when Vic (a civil engineer) and Linda (an English teacher) established the first Great Harvest bakery outside of the northwest.
Linda said that when they decided to open their own business, they determined it would be something they believed in, were passionate about and offered an inherently high-quality product.
"Great Harvest was the right decision," according to Linda. They operated their bakery from 1981 to 2002 when their daughter Blake graduated from college, and Linda and Vic relocated to Estes Park, Colo.
Today, the same passion they brought to Great Harvest is being channeled into wild horse advocacy. This is where the amazing picture of the palomino (I would learn is named Cloud) comes in. The Hanicks are active participants and advocates of the Cloud Foundation an organization devoted to educating the public and lobbying elected officials for the protection of wild horses.
I, too, am now a member along with several friends in Dillon, 
Mont. Like the Hanicks I was moved by Ginger Kathrens’ documentary they recommended “Cloud: Wild Stallions of the Rockies” shown on the PBS series Nature.
This month Linda and Vic camped where Kathrens’ crew filmed the wild horses in Montana’s Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. It is the first protected wild horse range established after 1971.
Linda said camping on the Pryor Mountains was a wonderful, peaceful experience where they could see the Beartooth Mountains, the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming, the Big Horn Canyon and the lights of Billings, Mont. at night.
The Hanicks are like so many Great Harvest owners past and present whose lives are full, interesting and meaningful. I am honored to have Linda as a friend who describes the people she has met through the Cloud Foundation as being like her Great Harvest friends, “real people with a good sense of what's good and right in the world.”
Do you have a story to share about your neighborhood Great Harvest bakery or bakery owner?
