Picture the Scene at North Platte’s Art and Gift Gallery.

Instead of souvenirs, bring home inspiration. Nebraska’s thriving art community will enchant, enthrall and entertain you. Just picturing the scenes captured by these local artists will conjure up fond memories of your travels and give you a creative boost.

Combined, the five galleries of the Art and Gift Gallery offer one of the largest selections of quality, original art in south-central Nebraska. The artists provide a wide selection of two-dimensional media including watercolor, oil and acrylic paintings; pencil drawings and mixed media pieces, and fine art, nature and landscape photography. Three-dimensional works include pottery, woodcarving, pine-needle basketry and original jewelry.

The Art and Gift Gallery is located at 516 N. Dewey Street in downtown North Platte and can be reached at 308-534-1946.

You can pick up your Passport at any Passport location or the North Platte / Lincoln County Visitors Bureau at 315 W. Eugene Ave., North Platte, NE>

You can find a full description of the Nebraska Passport Program online at www.NebraskaPassport.com. When you visit any of the attractions listed in the passport, get you passport stamped. There are two places for stamps – one next to the attraction name in the passport (that’s for you to keep) and one on the prize-entry sheet tucked in the back (that’s what you’ll redeem for prizes.)

You’re eligible for prizes for each completed tour as well as for totals of 20 and 40 stamps. At each prize level, you will also be entered into a grand-prize drawing for an iPad mini. An additional drawing for 300 $1 Nebraska Lottery Scratch tickets will be held for all participants 19 years of age or older who turn in passports with at least one stamp.

After your travels are completed and you’ve collected as many stamps as possible, it’s time to claim your prize(s). Simply mail the prize-entry sheet to: Nebraska Tourism Commission, Attn: 2013 Nebraska Passport, PO Box 98907, Lincoln, NE 68509.

5 MONTHS, 10 TOURS, 80 STOPS …
WHAT WILL YOUR ADVENTURE BE?

Hit the Hot Spots in North Platte at NEBRASKAland DAYS June 8 – 22.

What could be hotter than Nebraska’s official statewide celebration? In fact, it’s billed as “Nebraska’s Wildest Ride!”

The fun gets into full swing on Saturday June 8 with the Heritage Festival at the Lincoln County Historical Museum, then the official opening ceremonies at 4:30pm at the Wild West Pavilion followed by the Wild West Microfest and Midwest Championship Fighting “Wild Wild West” Mixed Martial Arts fight.

The excitement is nonstop the next week with the Miss Rodeo Nebraska contest, Art Show, Frontier Revue, Stock Car Races, RODEO, Golden Games, Live Music at the Fort Cody Summer Music Series, Antique Car Parade, Sandcastle Building Contest, Carnival, NEBRASKAland DAYS on Parade… on, and on, and on goes the list!

Did I mention food? How about the Sweet Saloon, Prime Rib Sandwich Feed, BBQ Pork Sandwich Feed, Flapjack Feed, Eagles Pork Breakfast, Sandhills Chili Cookoff. And, of course, the Beer Garden and Food Court open each night of the rodeo at the Wild West Arena.

But wait! There’s more! the US Cellular Summer Jam Concert Series featuring Kid Rock with Special Guests Lee Brice and Thomas Rhett gets under way at 8pm on June 21. Then on June 22 is Halestorm and the Sick Puppies, all at the Wild West Arena.

More information can be found at www.NEBRASKAlandDAYS.com.

You can pick up your Passport at any Passport location or the North Platte / Lincoln County Visitors Bureau at 315 W. Eugene Ave., North Platte, NE>

You can find a full description of the Nebraska Passport Program online at www.NebraskaPassport.com. When you visit any of the attractions listed in the passport, get you passport stamped. There are two places for stamps – one next to the attraction name in the passport (that’s for you to keep) and one on the prize-entry sheet tucked in the back (that’s what you’ll redeem for prizes.)

You’re eligible for prizes for each completed tour as well as for totals of 20 and 40 stamps. At each prize level, you will also be entered into a grand-prize drawing for an iPad mini. An additional drawing for 300 $1 Nebraska Lottery Scratch tickets will be held for all participants 19 years of age or older who turn in passports with at least one stamp.

After your travels are completed and you’ve collected as many stamps as possible, it’s time to claim your prize(s). Simply mail the prize-entry sheet to: Nebraska Tourism Commission, Attn: 2013 Nebraska Passport, PO Box 98907, Lincoln, NE 68509.

5 MONTHS, 10 TOURS, 80 STOPS …
WHAT WILL YOUR ADVENTURE BE?

Everyday Americans Get Chance at Thirty Seconds of Fame

Mutual of Omaha is taking its popular Aha Moment Tour back on the road this summer, visiting 20 cities to collect real aha moments — life-changing moments of hope and inspiration — from real people across America.

Traveling more than 7,300 miles, four crewmembers will tour in a custom built 34-foot Airstream trailer designed as a mobile video recording studio. Participants who share their personal aha moments may be featured in a new 30-second television ad, which will begin airing in spring 2014.
In its three-year run, the tour has captured more than 3,000 people sharing their aha moments, with the videos shared socially and posted to the campaign website at http://www.mutualofomaha.com/aha. Each previous tour culminated in a month-long online public vote to determine which stories will be featured in Mutual of Omaha’s nationwide television advertising campaign. Nearly 40 commercials have been produced and aired since the campaign’s inception in 2009.

This year’s tour will kick off in Sacramento, Calif., May 6-8 and will visit 20 cities in 20 states through early August. The complete tour cities and schedule are as follows:

May 6-8: Sacramento, Calif.
May 13-14: Carson City, Nev.
May 20-21: Santa Fe, New Mexico
May 23-24: Amarillo, Texas
May 28-29: Shreveport, Louis.
June 3-4: Biloxi, Miss.
June 6-7: Pensacola, Fla.
June 10-11: Montgomery, Ala.
June 13-14: Columbus, Ga.
June 18-20: Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
June 24-26: Nashville, Tenn.
July 1-3: Cincinnati, Ohio
July 8-10: Indianapolis, Ind.
July 15-16: Topeka, Kan.
July 18-19: North Platte, Neb. (parked at the Fort Cody Trading Post on Thursday, July 18th and Friday, July 19th from 10am to 6pm each day.)
July 22-23: Fort Collins, Colo.
July 25-26: Laramie, Wyo.
July 29-30: Provo, Utah
August 1-2: Boise, Idaho
August 6-7: Salem, Ore.

Exact tour stop locations in each city can be found at http://www.ahamoment.com/tour, along with the ability to register for a time slot in advance of the stop. Or individuals may simply stop by the trailer from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day to share their moment of inspiration, hope and catalytic change.

The aha moment campaign was created to support Mutual of Omaha’s mission to offer insurance, retirement, banking and investment products that can help people insure the possibilities that come with the life changes which often result from aha moments.

Mutual of Omaha kicked off its sponsorship of life’s aha moments with a national advertising campaign, a website devoted to aha moments and a robust online community via Facebook, Twitter and various other social networks. The stories collected over the coming months will be shared at http://www.mutualofomaha.com/aha.

Mutual of Omaha, proud sponsor of life’s aha moments, is a full-service, multi-line organization providing insurance, retirement, banking and investment products for individuals, businesses and groups throughout the United States. For more information about Mutual of Omaha, visit http://www.mutualofomaha.com.

The Cowboy Sports Association is bringing a Cowboy Mounted Shooting demo and new shooter practice to the Sutherland Rodeo Arena on April 28, 2013 at 10am Central Time.

Cowboy Mounted Shooting is the fastest growing equine sports combining fast horses with .45 caliber guns to shoot at targets. The demonstration and practice will be at the Sutherland rodeo arena with registration at 10am CT and the demonstration starting at 11am CT.

Instructors will start with ground shooting then work on starting horses. Participants are urged to bring their own horses. Guns and holsters will be provided and experienced horses will be available to help. There will be a cost for ammo and no outside ammo will be allowed.

Participants must become members of the Cowboy Sports Association for insurance purposes. The cost is $25 per person or $45 per family.

For more information contact Jessie Warner at 402-853-4899 or Twila Brown at 308-239-4577 for more information and to RSVP by April 26th so organizers can plan for lunch.

The workshop is limited to 12 participants. Minors are welcome with adult supervision. The public is welcome to attend.

The schedule for the 2013 Fort Cody Summer Music Series in North Platte has been released. The series is sponsored by Nroute Entertainment, a not-for-profit group in North Platte whose goal is to provide quality and affordable entertainment to the people of central Nebraska while at the same developing venues and places to perform for artists as they travel across Nebraska. The Fort Cody Music Series concerts will be each Thursday night from June 13th through August 8th. Each concert starts at 6 p.m. Central Time with a local opening act. The headline act takes the stage at 7 p.m. The concert costs $5 for adults; Kids 12 and under get in free. Concert passes will go on sale soon for $20 and will grant the holder admittance to each of the nine concerts. Food and beverages will be available for sale at each concert. The concerts will be held in the stockade of the Fort Cody Trading Post at 221 Halligan Drive in North Platte.

June 13th- Paul Siebert
June 20th- Jami Lynn and Dylan James
June 27th- Reggie Shaw
July 4th- CeCe Otto
July 11th- Doug Rees
July 18th- Daniel Christian
July 25th- Jefferson Fox
August 1st- The Littlest Birds
August 8th- Word of Mouth

A more detailed schedule can be found at www.facebook.com/nrouteentertainment that includes links to each of the artists and the opening acts. For other concert details or more information please call Rob Martinson at 308-530-2233.

Not that all the seasons aren’t filled with amazing performers, if there ever was a time to purchase an annual membership to the North Platte Concert Association, that time is now. The upcoming season is filled with wonderful artists, and the price can’t be beat. $45 for an annual membership before June 1, and $50 afterwards. It includes admission to ALL FIVE performers!

The Lightning Bugs, Sunday October 13, 2013 at 2:00 p.m.

The Lightning Bugs will take you back to when the big bands were blowing, the dance floors were crowded, and the Mills Brothers helped everyone fall in love. The Bugs use smooth vocal harmonies and tasteful instrumental styling to tip their hats to such masters as Duke Ellington, Fats Waller and Nat King Cole.

Ann Chang, Monday, December 2, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

Ann Chang is an active piano performer and lecturer in the U.S. and Europe. She was recently a Fulbright Scholar in Belgium (Brussels). Ann is the founder of the award-winning Meadowlark Music Festival. More recently, she was appointed Artistic Director of the Lied Center for Performing Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is the Director of the University of Nebraska’s Arts Entrepreneurship Program. Ann resides in Lincoln, Nebraska, with her children, Sarah, Hannah and Peter.

Sons of the Pioneers, Friday, February 28, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.

For over 75 years the Sons of the Pioneers have been proud to perform the music of the American West celebrating the West, its awesome landscape, its people, its culture and the American Cowboy. Certainly, many of the songs they originally introduced and which have become their signatures as “Tumbling Tumbleweeds”, “Cool Water” and “Ghost Riders in the Sky” have become forever entwined into the fabric of the west.

Tribute to ABBA, Tuesday, March 18, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.

Thank You for the Music – a Modern Tribute to ABBA is an exciting and dynamic tribute to the Swedish pop super-group ABBA. Powerful harmonies, high-energy dance, and the unforgettable hits of ABBA make this musical tribute one not to be missed. Join us as we turn back time, and re-live the moments of our past… moments when we heard each and every one of ABBA’s truly timeless hits.

John Davidson, Monday, May 19, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.

For nearly 40 years, this star of stage, television, film, nightclubs and recording has been entertaining audiences of all ages. John is best known for hosting That’s Incredible, The New Hollywood Squares, and the John Davidson Show, and for his Broadway work in Camelot, The Music Man, Oklahoma!, Ragtime and State Fair. A consummate performer, John Davidson has never been better!

Membership Categories:
Adult: $45 before June 1, $50 after June 1
Student: $15
Family: $90 before June 1, $100 after June 1
Contributor: $150, includes 2 adult tickets
Donor: $200, includes 3 adult tickets
Patron: $300, includes 4 adult tickets
Benefactor: $500, includes 6 adult tickets
Gold Benefactor: $1000, includes 8 adult tickets

Information can be found on the North Platte Concert Association website: www.npconcertassociation.org.

Mail checks for membership to Pat Hoban, 1412 W. 4th St., North Platte, NE 69101. For more information call 308-534-4699.

George Armstrong Custer

One was the nation’s best-known Indian fighter and the other was one of the world’s most famous members of royalty. Joining one of the greatest figures of America’s civil war and a western hero of dime novels, they all met in Nebraska for a winter vacation.

Custer and Grand Duke Alexis

The 1872 meeting of Lt. Col. George Custer, Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, Gen. Phil Sheridan and “Buffalo Bill” Cody was a world-famous event. Yet few know today of the dignitaries’ tour through the frontier town of Omaha and their world-famous hunt in western Nebraska.

Nebraska author Jeff Barnes will reacquaint attendees of the North Platte Public Library’s Brown Bag Luncheon series with the state’s past in “Custer in Nebraska: The Royal Buffalo Hunt of 1872,” his lunch-and-learn presentation at the library on Thursday, April 25, at 12:00 PM. The presentation is sponsored by Humanities Nebraska and is free to the public. Seating is limited so reservations need to be made by calling the library at 535-8036 by April 24th. Attendees may bring their own lunch. Coffee, tea and water will be provided.

“It was a very exciting and pivotal time,” says Barnes. “Omaha was the fastest-growing city on the frontier, while the great buffalo herds of the plains were disappearing and the Indian tribes forced to reservations.

Using newspaper accounts with photographs and images of the period, Barnes narrates the Omaha tour, the cross-Nebraska trip on the Union Pacific railroad to North Platte, the well-publicized buffalo hunt in southwest Nebraska, perhaps the most-famous big game hunt ever.

Buffalo Bill Cody

The Nebraska visit is featured in Barnes’s book, “The Great Plains Guide to Custer,” the first comprehensive travel guide to Custer’s activity and related sites on the Great Plains. In compiling the guide, Barnes travelled through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana. He used historic images wherever possible – some familiar to Custerphiles and some in print for the first time – along with contemporary photographs by the author.

A former newspaper reporter and editor, Barnes writes freelance and lives in Omaha. He is a fifth-generation Nebraskan, trustee of the Nebraska State Historical Society, and a former chairman of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission. His first book, Forts of the Northern Plains, is now in its fourth printing with Stackpole Books. Barnes is a frequently requested speaker with Humanities Nebraska and has presented for the Mountain-Plains Museum Association, the South Dakota State Historical Society Annual Conference, the Fort Robinson History Conference, and numerous state and national parks, museums and libraries.

General Sheridan

For author interview: Jeff Barnes (402/571-1349 or husker80@cox.nethusker80@cox.net
For more information: www.TheCusterGuide.com

The Nebraska Boating Safety course is required for all powerboat operators born after Dec. 31, 1985, which includes operators of personal watercraft and all other motorboats. The minimum age to operate a motorboat in Nebraska is 14.

A boating safety course is offered at the Nebraska Game and Parks district office in North Platte from 8:30am to 3pm on Saturday, April 20. Scott Eveland, Boating Safety Officer for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission encourages people to take the class early to avoid the summer rush.

The six-hour class covers everything from equipment requirements to safe boat operation and accident prevention, and is for both new and experienced boaters. Boat owners who complete the class may qualify for insurance discounts. Parents are encouraged to attend with their children and boaters of all ages are welcome.

Students must be at least 14, or turning 14 this calendar year to be certified. Students should bring a sack lunch and there is a $10 fee. A minimum of 10 pre-registered students is required or the class will be postponed.

To register for the class, call the NGPC office at 535-8025 or contact Scott Eveland at 308-289-0017 or scott.eveland@nebraska.gov.

North Platte’s Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center has announced its first ever photography contest.

The only requirement is that the photo includes a train. It can also include people, animals, scenery or anything else.

The winning photo, selected by a panel of judges will be enlarged to an 18 x 36′inch print, framed and placed on display in the main entry area of the Golden Spike Tower for one year. The photographer’s name and hometown will be prominently noted as well. The winning photograph will be announced in September.

Entries will be accepted between April 1 and July 31. Online entry and contest details are available at www.goldenspiketower.com.

Cost is $25 per entry. Photos can be black and white or color.