26 Nebraskaland • April 2021
IN THE FIELD
Joanie Stone's energy is immediately apparent. As she
answers questions about her own history at Eugene T.
Mahoney State Park, her eyes are always toward her
grandkids, who are playing nearby. She's a multitasker and
a great conversationalist — she's the ideal campground host.
"When Mahoney State Park originally opened, we were
the second trailer to come into the park," she said. "We had
traveled a lot back East, and there were campground hosts at
the parks we stopped at."
So she and her husband, Al, talked to Roger Kuhn and Jim
Swenson, who were both park superintendents at that time.
"'Maybe,' they told me. 'What do those people do?'
"We told them that they give information. They help out
around the park. Soon after, we, along with another couple,
became the first campground hosts in the state."
Since then, Joanie and Al hosted at Mahoney every year
until his passing in 2015. Following that, Joanie continued to
host, only missing because of the pandemic in 2020.
"Mahoney is home away from home," she said. "This is
where I feel close to my husband. It's what we liked to do
together."
She laughed about the crowdedness of Memorial Day
weekend, how she loves having so many people around.
She's also looking forward to the days when College World
Series visitors begin showing up again. She likes her time at
Mahoney so much that she'll be hosting for a month starting
in late May, then return to host during Mahoney's Halloween
celebration later in the year.
While hosting, Joanie stays in touch with parks
administration about who's coming and going, she straightens
the bathrooms and helps maintain the cleanliness of the park
and answer peoples' questions about what to do in the area.
"Go to the zoo, the Wildlife Safari, the little shops in
Ashland to visit," she tells them. "There are a lot of places
to visit."
Most importantly for her is letting people know how lucky
they are to have our state parks system.
"I want people to know they're missing something if
they're not using their state parks. It doesn't have to be
Mahoney. It can be Chadron. It can be Indian Cave. They
need to use them. They really don't know what they have,
that's for sure."
It's a message Joanie will be gladly sharing long into the
future.
For more information, visit OutdoorNebraska.org/
Campgroundhost.
By Jeff Kurrus
THE INVALUABLE CAMPGROUND HOSTS
JEFF KURRUS, NEBRASKALAND
