HUTCHINSON — They are using hotel rooms, buying products and filling up the state fair campground.

The four-year turnaround is underway at the CHS Refinery in McPherson and the city of Hutchinson is benefiting. The turnaround is a complete retrofitting and maintenance project that brings hundreds of workers to the area. Some local retailers are seeing an increase in business with the project.

“We are working to get guys clothing and boots,” William Long of Long’s said. “It has been a nice boost to the economy.”

He says the increase in business caught them by surprise.

“I wish we had known about it earlier, we would have been ready,” Long added.

The turnaround is also bringing a lot of business to the Kansas State Fair RV Park. Non-fair events Manager Nathan McClanahan says they have just 60 full-service RV sites left out of 211. With the Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale approaching, it will make for a very busy time. McClanahan says they will use the overflow camping on the grounds.

“We’re going to get creative, but we’ll make it work,” McClanahan said.

A one-month stay at the RV park is $510.

At Giant Laundry, 5th and Adams, piles of clothing are filling up the area as workers try to keep up with the extra business. They report doing as much as 500 pounds of laundry in a single day. Hutchinson City Manager John Deardoff says it will be a month or two before the city knows the amount of extra revenue being generated, but says you can see the increase in activity around the area. Hotels, restaurants and other businesses are all benefiting from the large increase in workers at the refinery.