This past year residents and visitors alike could enjoy musicals, dramatic plays, outdoor concerts, a film festival, a Story Telling Festival, and Heritage Weekend with its myriad of activities. A drive to Omaha or Denver was not necessary to scratch your cultural itch!

Southwest Nebraska Community Theater Association presented “The Music Man” in March. Large crowds turned out to see Doug Ohlson ‘76 as Harold Hill, a flim-flam salesman who was out for a quick buck in this delightful musical. The grand finale each night had members of  the McCook High School Band parading to “76 Trombones.” “SWNCTA” supported the band with a $10 donation per person per performance to help them raise funds for their next band project. Some alumni who acted or worked backstage included: Phil Goodenberger ’54, Chuck ’59 & Dian Keene ’61 Trail, Charles Coleman ’67, Sarah Gansebom Brown ’72, and Jim Coady ’73.

In August, “SWNCTA” presented “God’s Favorite. The 1974 Neil Simon comedy was performed in the round at the McCook Community College Weeth Theatre. God wagers with the Devil that Joe Benjamin (Randy Andrews ’73) will never renounce God no matter how much pain and suffering Joe has to  endure. Rose Benjamin (Peg Augustyn Andrews ’74) is Joe’s nervous and excitable wife. The Benjamin’s servants were Nancy Haller-Towne ’69 and Chuck Trail ’59.  Chuck and Diane Keene Trail ’61 did their usual wonderful work of designing and building the set.

The 15th annual Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival was the second weekend of June.  The festival began in 1997 with the belief that a community’s greatest gift is the evolving history of its people and their stories. In 1987, Frank Popper, the chairman of the urban studies department at Rutgers University, and his geographer wife, Deborah, concluded that the arid Great Plains would lose almost all of their people within the coming quarter-century. Time has proven them wrong! This year’s events included a Wild West Bus Ride” tracing the historic cattle trails through the rugged hills of Southwest Nebraska. Award winning storyteller, recording artist and educator Awele Makeba treated the audiences to her own tale of western trails. The finale at the Fox Theatre was emceed by Cal Siegfried’ 73.

September brought the NET/Fox Theatre Film Festival to McCook. Spearheaded by Tim Monzon ’75 and Charlie Coleman ’66, the Fox Theatre became the first venue in the state to ever host a film festival exclusively devoted to showing original films produced by Nebraska Educational Television. Several NET producers were on hand to discuss their films.

The four day event included these films: “Walk Ons: Husker Edge”; “Homemade Astronaut: The Clay Anderson Story”; “Standing Bear’s Footsteps” and “STRATCOM 9/11: A Different Doomsday.” It was an engrossing film about the involvement of how STRATCOM, (based in Bellevue, Nebraska) was an essential part of protecting President Bush when America was threatened by the horrific acts of terrorism on September 11, 2001.  Included in the finale on Sunday, September 11, was a “Salute to Heroes,” a filmed series of interviews paying tribute to our own local First Responders and America’s military men and women. Dan Stramel ’73 told of his late father Ray, who had a point position in the deadly Battle of Peleliu during World War II. He summed it up this way: “In the view of our fighting men, including those who have won the Congressional Medal of Honor, America’s real heroes are those who did not return from the battlefield.”  The film was produced by Cody Dame ’01 of Divine Productions and sponsored by McCook National Bank.

The last weekend of September was the 41st annual Heritage Days. Do you remember when it was German Heritage Days? Chamber of Commerce director, Pam Harsh ’73 couldn’t have asked for better weather!   The grand marshal of the Saturday morning parade was Mickey Stubblefield, a barrier-breaking right-handed pitcher who played with the McCook Cats in the early 1950s. On Thursday evening, several hundred people turned out to pay tribute to Mickey and reminisce about the 20 years he lived in McCook and raised his family (see our front page story). Most of his children who attended school in McCook accompanied him throughout the weekend.

Friday morning was the Norris Foundation Prayer Breakfast at the Heritage Senior Center. Tom Vickers, a former State Senator, was the keynote speaker who offered his opinion on what Senator Norris might think of the current state of the unicameral. Friday afternoon the McCook Community Foundation awarded over $25,000 in grants to McCook organizations at Norris Park. Their first annual Random Act of Kindness Grant was awarded to the McCook Heritage Senior Center. John Kugler ’75 and several of his hot air balloon enthusiast friends drifted through the skies of McCook to the delight of those who looked upward.

The parade on Saturday morning had nearly 100 entries and was enjoyed by a large crowd. The Class of 1971 had their 40th reunion and many attendees rode on a flatbed truck together. (see picture page).

Yes, McCook was “hot” this past year. Hope you were there to enjoy some of these events!

By Randy Andrews ’73 & Peg Augustyn Andrews ‘74