Entrepreneurship is not a one-time spark but a fire that needs to be tended, said Excelsior Springs business owner Daphne Bowman as she delivered the opening keynote at the Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference.Bowman, who co-owns Willow Spring Mercantile with her husband Jim, described how the evolution of their business mirrored the transformation of downtown Excelsior Springs over the past 20 years.“We all are here to connect ideas and concepts that we can take back into our cities and we want to do that through economic and entrepreneurial impact,” said Bowman. “Along with that, it is really important to create a culture and to create an individual identity.”Her story set the tone for the two-day conference, which drew recordbreaking registration and representation from 46 counties across Missouri. Organizers noted nearly three-fourths of attendees were women, highlighting the role women play in leading a...