Following A Vision: Vince Frye
Photos by: John Burns
A Kansas City native and star athlete in football, basketball and track, Vince Frye did not have Topeka, Kansas, on his radar of places he would choose to build a career. However, fate sometimes deals us the best hand.
After graduating from The University of Kansas with a journalism degree, Vince went to work at the television station that is now KSNT as an advertising account executive.
“As with most careers in broadcasting, I expected to be in Topeka for a year or two and then jump to a bigger market,” Vince said. “Obviously, that isn’t the way things turned out.”
It wasn’t because he wasn’t offered any positions in those bigger markets; it was because he found connections to people and opportunities in Topeka that made him want to stay. It started out by being asked to join a softball team. The athlete in him could not say no. There he met several other young men in the community from all different professions and his networking circle began to grow.
Vince accepted a job at WIBW-TV in 1973, where he worked as the general sales manager for the next 24 years. After Stauffer Communications sold the station in 1997, Vince decided it was time for him to make some changes as well.
His wife, Dana Rulon Frye, a KU fine arts graduate, had started FryeAllen Advertising in 1989 along with partner Michael Allen, and Vince joined the business as a partner. Having been a sales manager at WIBW for such a long time, all that networking paid off as new clients starting come through the doors to add to an already successful business.
With the help of Jeff Carson, they started a new company—FryeAllen Films, and then FryeAllen Digital with the animation skills of partner Greg Ready. Those digital services set the FryeAllen agency apart from other advertising agencies in Topeka. The company steadily grew over the next several years, and Vince once again put those networking skills to work, serving on the Downtown Topeka, Inc. (DTI) board and volunteering for several organizations.
After Michael Allen retired in 2005, and then Dana Frye’s decision to retire in 2012, they made the difficult decision to close the doors of Frye/Allen. But once again, fate stepped in with a new beginning for Vince.
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
DTI just happened to be looking for a new president and CEO.
“I always dreamed of being an executive director of some organization that was driving change in the community,” Vince said. “Opportunity came knocking, and I was fortunate to be selected.”
Vince had already been heavily involved in the visioning process in 2008, so once again he put his networking skills to work bringing investors together to revitalize downtown Topeka.
“The timing was great,” Vince said. “Many of the large companies in Topeka understood the importance of a vibrant down town for keeping and attracting the next generation of businesses and employees.”
Vince helped facilitate the donation of millions of dollars needed to make that vision come to life. But more than that, he helped create numerous reasons for people to go downtown, building confidence that downtown was an investment worth making. Some of the most notable are the pocket parks, statues, fountains, the Evergy Plaza and events such as Tap That Topeka, Touch a Truck, Bridge to Bridge Run, and of course, the many free concerts.
“A downtown represents a community’s pride and prosperity,” Vince said. “I take personal pride in proving the naysayers wrong who claimed that no one would ever go downtown.
But the most satisfaction Vince gets is from watching how much people enjoy what downtown now has to offer.
“It is so fun to see people gather downtown,” Vince said. “There is nothing quite like seeing thousands of people filling Kansas Avenue, listening to music and enjoying a variety of food provided by the many new restaurants. This is what a downtown should be, and now we have it.”
FOCUS ON THE FUTURE
In 2018, Vince led DTI into a merger with GO Topeka, Visit Topeka and the Chamber of Commerce to form the Greater Topeka Partnership (GTP). He served as president of DTI and senior vice president of the GTP until his retirement in December 2020.
“GTP promotes that you can come to Topeka, get involved and make a difference,” Vince said. “I am a good example of that. I chose to get involved and it has been more rewarding than I could have imagined.”
Looking back at the advancement Topeka has made over the past decade has Vince looking to the future. He would like to see Topeka’s population grow and its business base broaden even more. His biggest hope is that whatever happens, Topeka keeps moving forward. “It takes time to see positive change,” Vince said. “We just have to keep pushing and keep the enthusiasm for our community high.
