View this email in your browser

Greetings from Historic Red Cloud: Great Stories Grow Here!

Set amid brick-lined streets, charming homes, historic buildings, and the immense beauty of the prairie, Red Cloud offers a glimpse into a storied American past while maintaining a progressive vision for the future. Great stories start in Red Cloud--add your own chapter today!

Almost Famous: Red Cloud, Republican River Bridge have fleeting moments in Jeep Super Bowl commercials

The following is reprinted from the Lincoln Journal-Star. Click on the link at the bottom of the story to read the full article:

The hype hit high gear last month in Webster County.

Was that Bruce Springsteen filming a Super Bowl commercial? Or Rick Springfield?

Brad Pitt? And George Clooney?

They were at the Dollar General in Blue Hill? The bridge just south of Red Cloud? Headed down to Kansas?

Jarrod McCartney had known something was going on, but he didn’t know what. Earlier in January, the Red Cloud Tourism and Commerce director had received an email from an ad agency, asking about filming in downtown and at nearby National Willa Cather Center historic sites.

He’d forwarded it on to the director of the Willa Cather Foundation. Their historic small city in south-central Nebraska gets that a lot, so they didn’t think too much about it.

“We surmised it might be for a Jeep ad or something from the agency's list of clients but they never really said much about a celebrity,” he wrote in an email.

Then, in mid-January, a sheriff’s deputy called: Do you know anything about this film crew downtown?

At about the same time, on North Webster Street, Debbie and Joe Shuck returned home to find a note on their door.

“We called them back,” Debbie Shuck said. “And they said they loved our porch, that it was the right porch. Now it’s famous."

READ THE FULL STORY

The front porch of Joe and Deb Shuck was featured in both advertisements. Read more about how it all came about in these articles from the Lincoln Journal Star and the Hastings Tribune.

Look for footage of the Republican River Bridge as well as the front porch of Deb and Joe Shuck's house in this additional ad from Jeep. This one does not feature Bruce Springsteen.

Is this Red Cloud or the Carlsbad Caverns? The Kaley House always has an array of icicles after a winter storm, but this year's polar vortex brought about some particularly outstanding examples. Owner Jay Yost is pictured above with one of the more impressive stalactites.

Record low temperatures leave Red Cloud in the deep freeze

The Red Cloud area experienced some of the coldest temperatures in the nation during the recent polar vortex event that gripped much of the region throughout February. Local reports indicate that the air temperature dropped to at least -33F in the Inavale and Guide Rock areas during the morning of Tuesday, February 16th. High temperatures struggled to get past -20F on February 15th. Several homes in the area experienced burst pipes and other complications due to the extreme cold but the community was luckily spared from some of the rolling blackouts nearby communities like Superior experienced. In addition to the cold temperatures, Red Cloud residents spent much of February digging out from multiple snowstorms. Lincoln and Omaha have experienced near record snowfalls for this winter as of this writing (Feb. 27th) with the bulk of that falling in the last month.

Thankfully, by the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 24th the high temperature in Red Cloud hit a high of 62, which was 95 degrees warmer than the previous week.

National Willa Cather Center Launches NEH Funded Digital Projects

The National Willa Cather Center is pleased to announce two new digital educational initiatives, made possible by a National Endowment for the Humanities Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act grant. These new projects, a mobile and web-app and a digital collections search tool, will help the NWCC to engage with students and readers–both remotely and while onsite in Red Cloud. "Creation of digital education tools has been on our list of goals for years," said Tracy Tucker, education director and archivist at the National Willa Cather Center. Creating such tools, she notes, is a resource-intensive process but an important one. "The education team here at the NWCC felt strongly about using the time during our closure to move the organization ahead with digital learning."

READ THE FULL STORY & DOWNLOAD THE CUSEUM APP via the app stores on your Android or Apple devices! Click here to learn about even more ways to connect with the National Willa Cather Center virtually.

Red Cloud Tourism & Commerce Awarded Marketing Grants

On Feb 1st, Nebraska Tourism announced that Red Cloud Tourism & Commerce had been awarded $8250 in grant funding for marketing projects. Red Cloud's Heritage Tourism Advisory Committee will work with local partners and use the money to advertise in the 2022 Nebraska Travel Guide and create 2 social media blitzes on Facebook and/or Instagram.

The Commission’s grant programs are very competitive and involve a selection committee of grant reviewers from the private and public sectors, and citizens at large. Because of this funding, it is hoped that enough local resources will now be freed up to produce a Webster County Visitors Guide.

V iew the 2021 Nebraska Travel Guide

Request Your Red Cloud Travel Packet

Armstrong & Piel Represent RC/Blue Hill Warcats at State Wrestling

RCHS Sophomore Brooks Armstrong (38-11) and teammate Aiden Piel (39-9) both qualified for the State Wrestling Tournament this year and both went 1-2 in the tournament. Congratulations to both! Brooks' family put together the special greeting below which was highly visible on Hwy 281 north of town.

Apply Now for Red Cloud Community Fund Scholarships & The Wilson Scholarship

Every year, the Red Cloud Community Fund is proud to award scholarships to local high school seniors. April 15th is the deadline for the Clint Erickson Memorial Scholarship, the Red Cloud Community Fund Scholarship, and the Red Cloud Memorial Scholarship. Student athletes from Franklin, Blue Hill, and Silver Lake are eligible for the Clint Erickson scholarship. Non-traditional students may also be interested in applying for RCCF's John & Dorothy Sherwood Memorial Scholarship year-round.

Webster County students should also check out the Willa Cather Foundation's Wilson Scholarship, which goes to a graduating Senior planning to enroll in a 2 or 4 year program and majoring in an agricultural field or secondary education.

Red Cloud in the News

P addywhack
March 5, 2021

Webster County Hospital Spring Banquet
March 27, 2021

Easter Egg Hunt
April 3, 2021

Melissa Homestead & Alex Ross
March 26, 2021

Joan Wells: Trick Roper
April 3, 2021

66th Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference
June 3-5, 2021

Red Cloud Legends: Silas Garber

Town Founder and 3rd Governor of Nebraska

Click on the photo for an in-depth article on Garber from the Lincoln Journal-Star's Jim McKee, written in 2015. Garber founded Red Cloud 150 years ago, with it becoming official at an election held in his sod dugout in 1871. His gravesite, pictured above, is located within the Red Cloud Cemetery and easy to find.
*Note the headquarters of the Willa Cather Foundation is located at the National Willa Cather Center, not the Farmers & Merchants Bank Building as mentioned in McKee's article, though that was a former headquarters.

Cranes & Cather: Migration in Life & Literature
March 19, 2021
Virtual and In-person options available!

***All 2021 events are tentatively scheduled due to COVID-19 and possible social distancing restrictions. Some events may be canceled or adjusted. Follow us on Facebook for the latest information***

View All Events

The Willie and Kimberly Mohlman family experienced a devastating tragedy on February 9th. Both Kim & Willie were involved in a car accident that resulted in the loss of Kim's life and critical, life-threatening injuries for Willie, and the death of the other driver, Ted Morrow of Cowles. This family will need help for the foreseeable future. While the outpouring of support from locals has been inspiring, it will more than likely not be enough. Please consider donating to this Facebook Fundraiser, which has raised over $26K to date. You can also donate to the family at any Heritage Bank branch, where an account has been set up, or you can mail it to: Heritage Bank, PO Box 385, Red Cloud, NE 68970. There is also a bake sale happening on March 6th at the Red Cloud branch of Heritage Bank and a food account setup for the family at Hometown Market.

"Lonesome Prairie," by Gwen Lewis is just one of several pieces from local artists being showcased in the art gallery of the Red Cloud Opera House as part of The Art Connection exhibit. Items are on display now through April 14th and many can be purchased.

Request Your Red Cloud Travel Packet

Copyright © *2021* *Red Cloud Tourism & Commerce*, All rights reserved.
*Volume 5.2 You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website.

Our mailing address is:
Red Cloud Tourism & Commerce
413 N. Webster St.
Red Cloud, NE 68970
visitredcloudne@gmail.com
Additional Photos: Wade Leak, Jeep, Kimberly Mohlman, Ashley Armstrong, Nebraska Tourism Commission
*

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Here's the full version of Jeep's Super Bowl ad, featuring Bruce Springsteen in his first commercial. We are working on bringing him back so he can get to know a few folks. We would like to see if his message of meeting in the middle is tougher than the rest or merely just a brilliant disguise.