What is the BEST town in Nebraska?

[SCGranny]

The BEST town in NE?
That's kind of hard to say. We haven' been to every - or even most! - towns in NE.
Looking forward to going to O'Neill on St. Patrick's Day; since we are Irish it just has a draw.
There are so many festivals and rodeos and other community -centered events that it is hard to choose, too! Of course I am prejudiced - I moved to Cody. The area (Sandhills) here is beautiful, the folks are warm and welcoming, and the general attitude of the local folks just tickles me. Valentine is great; lots of really nice folks, good restaurants, friendly bars. Every one from the desk clerks to the people walking down the street are friendly, open, will stop and chat and tell you things for hours. What really tickles me is that everywhere in NE we have gone, everything is... clean. People don't throw trash on the streets, and keep their neighborhoods with a little pride. Merritt Dam and the Niobrara River are beautiful; even frozen they are breathtaking. We missed the Star Gazer Party at the dam last year, this year we do not intend to! Buncha people sitting out, in the dark, under the stars and looking at the night sky... sheer lunacy where we come from. I know because we used to do it and people thought we were crazy. Here it is the norm!

I sent all my friends the stories of "The Butt Bandit" and his escapades. They loved it. They live with crack dealers on street corners at the red lights accosting cars, boom boxes rattling their windows day and night, trash thrown into their yards and streets, and drive-by shootings.

This New Year's Eve, our next door neighbors had a huge party. We waited for midnight, knowing that every previous year in SC, our dogs would become tortured with the fireworks that would go on for hours. Not one 'pop', no explosions - just the sound of silence. Even our neighbors didn't have loud music in the yard... we have no idea what time the party broke up! No beer bottles in our yard, no trash-path to their door.

Listen - you could hear the coyotes howling on the ridge, and a cow lowing... and that was all...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I just have one question - with all of the people of Norweigian, German, and Scandinavian descent, how come there are no weeklong Oktoberfests? I love sauerkraut, brats and beer...And Polka! Grin. I only get them (minus the polka) at potlucks!

[jeepejeep]

SCGranny, you should get into writing. Your posts are so descriptive and entertaining. Darn it, I gotta get out there to see NE myself!

[SCGranny]

Jeepejeep, if you drive out here, make sure you keep your hands on the wheel at 10-and-2... it makes it easier to wave back at the passing cars and trucks.

The experience is like stepping back into the 1950's before there was Social Services and all sorts of bureaucratic expansions. There is a lot of self respect and respect for others here. As one rancher says, "We drag our own saddles here" - they are independent and don't take (or proffer) handouts, but expect everyone to pull their own weight. A lot of folks nowadays can't deal with that; they want some kind of safety net - and there isn't one. But the results of that are innovativeness, and a lot of personal freedom. You can count on folks in a crisis - they'll rally round - but to expect day-to-day succor and support, fahgeddaboudit. It's a great way to live, if you have an independent streak. I was always thought to be hardworking and industrious but these folks make me feel lazy!

[Chris19]

There are many great communities in Nebraska and picking the absolute best one is tough. For some odd reason, Kearney is my favorite community. I like its size and it is a clean city with friendly folks and I love the mesuem east of Kearney on I-80. UNK was one of the colleges I was considering and would have been my top four choices along with USD in Vermillion, SD; Northern State in Aberdeen, SD; and Wayne State College in Wayne. USD won out due to proximity to home and offering the best scholarships. Other communities I like include Wayne, Columbus, Hastings, Coleridge, Laurel, Geneva, Stromsburg, Papillion, Gretna, and Omaha. Many of the smaller communities I like are generally well-kept and/or friendly and down-to-earth folks from my expereinces. There are many other communities, but I will keep it at that or I will end up writing a 600 page novel.

My very special friend from college, who passed away two months ago due to health problems, taught me plenty about Nebraska and in addition to my time passing through(prior to knowing her and afterwards). She and I had very good memories when going to Norfolk and to Omaha. But her spirit lives on. In that way, Nebraska hold a special place in my heart and memories.

[73-79 ford fan]

I will pick Kearney as well although I have only been there a few times and I am considering moving there. Nebraska has a certain appeal to me, don't know why just does.

[ashnat]

I lived in Kearney for 8 years thru college and my first career job after. All I can say is I'll never go back for more than a day.
I'm a big city girl tho. I like Papillion, Gretna, Omaha, Lincoln. No Gretna isn't big but it's close enough to Omaha.
I have family north and south of GI and Hastings. Towns around there are just too small for my liking.

[ercillor]

I was stationed at Lincoln Air Force Base in Lincoln, Nebraska from 12/55 to 1/58. In those days Lincoln was a nice little midwestern town. When I returned for a visit thirty years later the downtown area had changed into something very beautiful however no'one could even reember that there had ever been an enormous air base housing four thousand young men in Lincoln. It took the residents of Naples, Italy over a thousand years to forget that they were living above the buried city of Pompeii. Lincoln residents were able to accomplish this sort of memory lapse in less than thirty years.

For my money the best town in the state of Nebraska is East Hampton, New York.

[laserdisque]

My favorite town outside of Omaha would have to be Brownville. Nebraska City and Valentine are tied for a close third.

[xordite]

I grew up in Ord, I thought it was the best town anywhere! Now when I go back to visit, I get depressed. My town is gone. So many of the historic buildings in Ord have been razed, it looks like a ghost town.
I don't know about the rest of the state, but I'd like to find out. Has the rest of Nebraska been torn down, too?
I really want to get back to a small town. I'm tired of the congestion and crime here in Colorado.

[Flat Water 1867]

Originally Posted by xordite

I grew up in Ord, I thought it was the best town anywhere! Now when I go back to visit, I get depressed. My town is gone. So many of the historic buildings in Ord have been razed, it looks like a ghost town.
I don't know about the rest of the state, but I'd like to find out. Has the rest of Nebraska been torn down, too?
I really want to get back to a small town. I'm tired of the congestion and crime here in Colorado.

I grew up in a small town in Northeast Nebraska about 55 miles from Norfolk in the late 70's and 1980's. I can tell you that my hometown today is a shadow of what it once was. You can't throw a rock in any direction in my hometown without hitting a vacant house. There are empty buildings on Main street that were thriving businesses 25-30 years ago. So many residents have left the area in the last 18 years in favor of more populated areas with more job opportunities. It's nothing that my hometown has done wrong to facilitate its own decline, it's just the general trend of rural depopulation that has befallen isolated small towns up and down the Great Plains from North Dakota to Texas. I posted on a thread here last year that any small town in Neb. that is under 5000 people and is not either located along I-80 or located within commuting distance to a population center has almost certainly lost population since 1990.
To add my $00.02 to this thread: Best small town in Nebraska under 10,000 people: Nebraska City. (It ain't even a close race, folks) Best town in Nebraska between 10,000 and 50,000 people: Kearney. As for towns above 50,000.....Gee, we have so many to choose from, huh? I'll let others on this board argue Lincoln vs. Omaha.
(Actually, Bellevue may have hit the 50,000 mark recently, so there you go! We have THREE communities that fall in that third category.)