Some might think Salina already sports an enviable highlight reel for a town of 45,000-plus.

But there’s a bigger show ahead.

What’s celebrated now:

• Commercial flights depart daily from Salina Regional Airport to three major Middle American hubs.
• The two-mile runway is adjacent to a huge complex where more frozen pizzas are produced in one spot than anywhere in the world.
• While electric pilot-less air taxis are tested nearby to someday ease the traffic glut of big-city freeways, a new sustainable and perennial food — Kernza — is being perfected at The Land Institute just east of town.

Over the past 10 years, some 725 new jobs have been collected after an estimated additional $758 million investment in the community.

Add to that a huge bite out of the housing shortage over the past few years, healthcare and daycare improvements. Salina also boasts entertainment additions, both completed, Downtown Redevelopment, and solidly in the works, River Restoration.

The list could go on and on in Kansas’ seventh largest city — Kubota, Beck’s Hybrid Seed Company, Geoprobe, Amazon, Skywest and more.

This year, however, none of those coveted firms were able to snare feature billing at Salina Economic Development Organization’s 10th annual meeting.

And there are no hard feelings.

Star of the show at Salina Country Club was Joshua Wexler, CEO of Pure Imagination Studios. Plans from the Highland Park, IL native (north of Chicago) may benefit all of the above with a $41 million “studio of the future” under construction at Kansas State University Salina Aerospace and Technology Campus — aka K-State Salina.

It will be outfitted with advanced spatial computing that utilizes three dimensional modeling of objects allows humans to walk and mingle among them. Pure Imagination is designed to modernize all sorts of activity, including research and development and advanced training in many arenas, including entertainment.

The business has been billed to produce more than 100 jobs paying average wages from $60 to $75 an hour, and attract hordes of ambitious students tantalized by scores of possibilities.

“Be what’s next” is Wexler’s recruitment tagline.

In the process, 64-year-old space-age cartoon character George Jetson, might finally fade to a relic, at least in these parts.

Some MIT-like virtual reality is set to unfold a cornucopia of possibilities on the Kansas prairie later this year.

Gustaf Applequist wasn’t at the EDO annual meeting, but the CEO and founder of FILI Creative in Salina, is pleased with the development.

A Saline County native, Applequist’s three-pronged business also centers around spinning tales. FILI tells and films original stories, makes videos for organizations and hosts a podcast, “Ask a Kansan.”

He’s acquainted with Wexler.

“I’m excited just to hear about a creative industry coming to Salina,” he said. “There is a limit to the value our local economy puts on creatives. This means that we’re going to have someone creating a product here that they’re going to be selling around the world that’s creative at its core.”

Sporting a calm and friendly demeanor, the casually-dressed Wexler wowed his audience last Thursday. He provided daunting visions of how ultra hi-tech systems can change the world through the melding of “proprietary technology with groundbreaking storytelling,”  according to online promotions.

It’s bent on enhancing learning, training and helping humans quickly adapt to vast advances in technology.

Those are a lot of fancy words, but “at the heart of all this is still storytelling,” he stressed.

The process that will benefit so many, will “build a pipeline of workforce-ready graduates” at K-State Salina, Wexler said.

It could enrich many levels of the north-central Kansas economy that basks in agriculture, aviation, military training and all sorts of manufacturing.

No need to fret. There’s plenty from between the ears of the entertainment mogul and producer — dubbed Chief Executive of Fun — to distribute around the globe. Maybe further.

The state is populated with loads of eager youngsters looking to seal invigorating and prosperous futures, Wexler said, without having to venture far from home.

“The kids we met here are phenomenal,” he said.

That’s high praise for the 54-year-old producer and writer known for such projects as the Mortal Kombat video game series, Marvel Super Heroes 4D theme park attraction, and “Piece by Piece,” an animated biographical documentary about Pharrell Williams.

“It’s very exciting,” said Renee Duxler, president and CEO of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce. She started as economic and workforce development director almost six years ago now, the week after Schwan’s and Great Plains/Kubota announced their major expansions.

“I’ve gotten to be a part of everything since then. So much was built on top of those expansion efforts — as well as the downtown development,” she said. “(Pure Imagination) really is the compounded efforts of over a decade of work to elevate Salina. Leadership has all been rowing in the same direction. But it doesn’t end here; all of this continues to set up us for more opportunities.”

Pure Imagination Studios is relocating its Pure Imagination Labs division to Salina from Los Angeles. The mission is to mimic or even improve on Walt Disney-type work, and expand its scope.

Pure Imagination Studios will continue to be based in LA, the CEO said.

Wexler dazzled local entrepreneurs, visionaries and wannabes in the country club ballroom.

“Joshua brings the action piece to what people say we need in our community,” said Amanda Jarvis, chief of staff at Build A Pro Foundation of Salina, a nonprofit specializing in helping employers create registered apprenticeship programs, including information technology (IT) fields.

“He’s bringing a training strategy for his own employees that overlaps with apprenticeships, making workforce upscaling easier with his virtual training arm,” Jarvis said. “Having that caliber of a company here in town helps us retain talent locally. We’re excited to have him come to the community. It’s going to be a great addition.”

Wexler outlined a Spielberg-esque view of the future, soon to be born as the first tenant of the Kansas Artificial Intelligence, Research & Entertainment Studio (K-AIRES).

What that venture could mean for Salina, Saline County and beyond, brought giddiness to some in the audience of 80.

Possibilities of what Wexler described as both possible and probable, sounded endless; from learning, training, research and development for everything from aerospace to zoology, an unending list of occupations.

“It will be a complete reinvention of everything,” Wexler said.

Major growth is expected at the west-Salina campus.

“The K-AIRES partnership with Pure Imagination Labs is an incredible opportunity for K-State Salina. This joint partnership allows us to build degree programs in new areas not currently offered anywhere in the state. We anticipate this will double enrollment on campus,” wrote Alysia Starkey, PhD, CEO and Dean of K-State Salina.

If that comes to fruition, the campus will swell from 741 students to nearly 1,500. This year’s enrollment was a 14 percent increase from last year, according to online figures.

There is more good news.

“The addition of Pure Imagination also expands the capabilities of the state of Kansas by bringing a subset of enabling technologies not currently present here to enhance services in aerospace, manufacturing, agriculture, and many other industries,” Starkey wrote.

Pieter Miller heard the pitch many months ago, but the EDO gathering renewed excitement for the Salina Airport Authority’s executive director.

“My head went to using virtual reality for airfield training, whether it be wildlife mitigation, inspections up and down the runway, and airfield driver’s training,” he said. “You would virtually practice snow removal in the middle of the summer without having to wait for it to snow. It’s real-world training before you’re actually out in the real world.”

An admitted virtual reality fan, Miller will definitely incorporate futuristic functions in his training curriculum.

Hearing Wexler liken the experience to a “virtual Disney ride,” Miller said there was energy at the annual meeting.

“There’s a reason (Pure Imagination Studios) picked Kansas. The workforce, the enthusiasm, and the opportunity are here,” he said. “We’re simple folks. We like shiny things. In Hollywood, everything’s already shiny.”

A lot is happening, Miller said, from a busy air service and aircraft maintenance to massive expansion.

“Momentum builds momentum. We’re hitting on all cylinders,” he said. “It’s crazy, hard to keep up.”

For the city that has been on the cusp of crossing the population line to metropolitan status for a couple of generations, there is talk about benefits to Salina and Salinans.

“These are not only jobs, but high-wage jobs,” said Duxler of the Chamber. Average wages will be $75,000 a year, said Mitch Robinson, EDO executive director.

Applequist has kept an eye on the salaries being offered by Pure Imagination on online job sites and found them to be more than competitive, $100,000-plus.”

“I don’t know how hiring has gone for Josh and his team. I imagine it would be difficult as a lot of the roles are specific and technical, and we don’t have all of the needed skill sets locally,” Applequist said. “That means he’s going to bring people in, which will benefit Salina.”

These are fun times, Robinson said.

“It’s not everyday a company moves from LA to anywhere in Kansas,” he said.

There was an initial hint of skepticism at the the EDO when the process began, he said, until Starkey intervened.

“She really led the effort and we got involved,” Robinson said. “It was a team effort.”

The amazing virtual technology, great salaries, and benefits coming from every direction, proved more than intriguing.

“We were talking about the out-migration of our kids and college graduates going to Denver, Kansas City, Dallas or Omaha. This is one of those opportunities that’ll bring people here from out of state,” he said. “It’s going to be hands-on education, the restructuring of how people are going to learn in the future. It’s new, cutting-edge, an advancement of technology and an immersive world. It can do so many things. It isn’t just movies.”

Among Wexler’s reasons for choosing Salina was lower costs of operations and living expenses, Robinson said.

“He’s a midwestern guy. The cost of everything in California is skyrocketing. There are lots of issues there and they’re seeing lots of industries leaving the state,” he said. “Cheaper is part of it, and what’s wrong with that?”

Higher wages in this lower cost environment, “will still be an advancement,” he said. “There are a lot of pluses.”

For the city, county and state, and residents, there are many advantages, Robinson said, and with the studio being on the K-State campus, there will be no tax abatements to lament.

“Employees will generate sales tax revenue which will spread the burden over the county. That’s a positive,” he said. “This will bring in more people buying houses, making an investment in the community.”

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Photo by Tim Unruh: Amanda Jarvis, chief of staff at Build A Pro Foundation of Salina, right, discusses possibilities Thursday with Joshua Wexler, CEO of Pure Imagination Studios, during the Salina Community Economic Development Organization’s 10th anniversary celebration and annual meeting at Salina Country Club.