A Pioneering Place
It’s no surprise that Nebraska is one of the richest agricultural states, but the Raising Nebraska display on the new grounds of the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island that gives fascinating details about the state’s agricultural abundance is a wonderful discovery.
Interactive and fun exhibits, spread throughout a 25,000-square-foot hall, show where food comes from, the science and technology of agriculture and the surprising variety of nonfood items generated by agriculture.
You can program a large pivot — the long elevated irrigation machines seen in nearly every field — to control the amount of water for a particular soil type, moisture and elevation and see the results on LED lights extending from the pivots.
Climb into a full-scale replica of a combine filled with the latest technology and experience harvesting corn on a simulator in the windshield.
Watch videos in a corn bin highlighting Nebraska farm families, stroll through a model home to discover what everyday items come from agriculture and walk on a map of the state, where information about a county is displayed on the wall as you stand on the county.
The waste corn left in the fields around Grand Island contributes to its most famous draw, the half-million sandhill cranes that descend on the Platte River Valley in the spring on their way north from winter quarters in Texas and Mexico.
“During the day, cranes are feeding in the fields and meadows,” said Beem. “It is really a great opportunity to see them and hear them. Part of the whole experience is seeing their interaction.”
The Crane Trust and Nature Center has informative exhibits about cranes and other types of waterfowl and is a jumping-off point for various tours during the migration. Groups can have a step-on guide for driving tours, view the cranes and other wildlife from footbridges, or use a viewing blind on the Platte River.
In addition to the sandhill cranes, millions of other migratory birds, including snow geese and rare whooping cranes, come through the area.
The Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer at Grand Island reopened its 41-year-old Edward Durrell Stone-designed museum building in July after an 18-month, $7.4 million renovation.
The sleek white Stuhr Building has well-done exhibits that depict Nebraska history with period rooms, tools, household articles and other artifacts, including a fully loaded covered wagon that illustrates how tightly pioneers crossing the prairie had to pack.
The museum, which covers 206 acres, includes an 1890s railroad town with a collection of stores and houses, including the house in which actor Henry Fonda was born; an antique farm machinery and auto exhibit; an 1893 farmstead; and the example of a community bypassed by the railroad, which features only a church and a one-room school.
“What we are about is pioneer history from 1850s to 1920s,” said marketing director Mike Bockoven.
Wildlife Encounters
Group visiting for the sandhill crane migration can extend and expand their experience a couple of hours north in the rolling hills of north-central Nebraska to catch prairie chickens, whose migration runs from mid-March through April.
“We get a lot of people who come for both,” said Sarah Sortum of Calamus Outfitters, outside Burwell, which gives 90-minute tours in two jeeps of the interesting mixed-grass landscape.
“We are on the eastern side of the sandhills: nice rolling hills, hill after hill after hill,” said Sortum, who drives one of the jeeps and weaves in stories about the area.
“When you hear the historic accounts of the ocean and the grass, this is it. Unlike tall grass, mixed grass is still mostly intact — 96 to 97 percent intact. That’s pretty special.”
If you can’t catch the migrations, mid to late June features a palette of native prairie flowers such as spider wart, wild roses and coneflowers. And then there’s the sweeping landscape.
Evening tours “stop on a hill, there are gorgeous sunsets, and at night, it is a beautiful sky. There is not a lot of light pollution,” said Sortum.
What better way to put an exclamation point on a surprising Nebraska visit.
For more information go to www.visitnebraska.com.
