NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/708333
12 NEBRASKAland • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2016 rand Island is Nebraska's largest city outside of the Omaha and Lincoln metro area. The town was named after the French LaGrande Ille, referring to a large nearby island in the Plate River. During the spring, a sandbar just south of Grand Island is home to one of the largest crane roosts in the world. More than 80 percent of the world's population of sandhill cranes converge on the Platte. Millions of migrating ducks and geese also arrive with them. Those who love to learn about history and agriculture will also want to visit the Stuhr Museum and Raising Nebraska. The award-winning Stuhr Museum is an incredible way to relive pioneer history. The newly renovated Stuhr Building houses permanent history displays, an art gallery, and an interactive children's area. The museum is also home to a 1890s railroad town. Costumed interpreters act as pioneers, cooking on wood stoves, selling wares in the mercantile, crafting in the mill and hammering horseshoes in the blacksmith's shop. Festivals and holiday celebrations are held year-round. Interested in agriculture? Raising Nebraska is a 25,000 square foot exhibit designed to let people see agriculture from every angle – from water conservation to soil health, from animal well-being to food safety, from economic impact to global hunger. Touring Raising Nebraska is free and open to the public Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-noon and 1 p.m.-4 p.m., as well as the second Saturday of the month from 10 a.m.-noon. Grand Island is also home to the Nebraska State Fair and Fonner Park. The annual fair features a great variety of concerts, a fantastic midway and agricultural competitions. A variety of popular concerts are scheduled in the Heartland Events Center during the fair and year-round. The 2016 State Fair will run from Aug. 26 through Sept. 5. Fonner Park features live thoroughbred horse races daily from mid-February through early May, along with year-round nationwide simulcasting. Located in the Fonner Park Concourse, The Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame is filled with racing memorabilia. Those looking for a place to stay while in town will find a variety of options from campgrounds to comfortable hotels. Named for the winter stopover used by Mormon emigrants heading westward, Mormon Island State Recreation Area offers comfort and conveniences to campers and other travelers on I-80, as part of Nebraska's unique "Chain of Lakes." The first of these areas developed was Mormon Island. This area and companion Windmill SRA near Gibbon are the most intensely developed. Grand Island also offers a diverse selection of restaurants sure to please any craving. Dining options range from steakhouses like Texas T-Bone Steakhouse to Japanese cuisine at Fuji Steakhouse and just about everything in between. A plethora of national chains line Merchandise Mile along Highway 281. Fast food, ethnic food and diners can all be had within a few blocks of the many stores in this shopping district. Downtown is peppered with unique, locally owned restaurants like Wave Pizza Company and Banzai Beach Club, which serves gourmet pizzas, and Sin City, which serves great burgers and breakfast. For more information go to VisitGrandIsland.com. ■ By Angela White, Nebraska Tourism Commission Grand Island r a F the Plat Blacksmithing at the Stuhr Museum as part of rmon on on on on on State Fair Sin City Grand Island