Imperial, Nebraska

[ajvrbas321]

Originally Posted by MsBea_1

Imperial is a nice town. I live near it and enjoy this area of Nebraska. We call this area the "banana belt" because we usually don't get as severe of winter weather as the rest of the state. Chase County has a great county fair comparable with a big city fair. This is a great place to raise kids. North Platte, McCook, Kearney, Grand Island are not too far and offer good places to shop. We rarely go to Denver.

pph ya right i have lived all mii life in nebraska and NOBODY has ever called it the bana belt
and i am 11 so beat that :P

[COHiker]

I grew up in Chase County and have lived my adult life in Colorado. As much as I love the area I could never move back. I still visit for class reunions and unfortunately family funerals.

The weather in Nebraska can be severe compared to other places. There are dirt storms that can last for several days in the spring. If you live out of town in certain places you won't even want to walk out the door, and dirt will be in every nook and cranny. Southwest Nebraska even has what my Colorado born and bred husband calls "snirt." That is snow mixed with dirt being blown around by a good wind. It is just my personal opinion but I feel the wind blows a lot there. In the summer there are severe thunderstorms. Huge cells that roll in from the west. If you live in town storms might not be as noticable but if you live in the country they can be unsettling. I can't count the number of trips made to the storm cellar. Over the years my parents lost several buildings to twisters and tornados. Then there is the hail. It is going to hail, it's just a question of when. Every part of the USA has it's own brand of weather, it depends on what you are comfortable with. Living on the plains can be very "stark." Pastures green up in the spring if there was good winter snow and spring rain, but by July and August it is drying out except for the irrigated fields. There are no rolling hills of trees or mountain meadows. Because of this kind of landscape you will not have a fall filled with turning leaves like you do in Oregon. You can end up looking at a lot of "brown" for several months of the year.

Your children are young so they will start to school with the local kids and grow up together. For older children moving into a small rural community it can be tough as classmates have been going to school with each other since kindergarten. If you have a child with a special interest keep that in mind. If they love gymnastics and have been doing that for a few years you might want to check out how far you will drive to find a class or club. If you or one of your children have special health care issues it can also be a drive to see specialists.

If you enjoy taking vacations and traveling you will be making the drive to Denver and DIA to catch a plane. The nearest zoo and large museums and art galleries are also in Denver.

As others have said this is a farming community. They fertilize, have pig farms and feedlots. They crop dust. There are plenty of smells to go along with all of these. Will you be comfortable living in an area where so much fertilizer is applied to fields, because you will be surrounded by them. One of my jobs on the farm as a kid was to run in and shut the windows in the house when we heard the crop dusters fly over. You may also want to check and see if Imperial does community spraying for mosquitoes.

Small rural communities have their challenges like any other community. There will be underage drinking, drug use and a lack of entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights. Sports are very big in small rural communities. The football and basketball games are often THE entertainment in town.

There are not a lot of jobs out there. What are your plans for supporting your family? There will be some ethonol plants being built, so that might be worth looking into.

I would encourage you to spend time out there. Visit the school and the local library. Maybe drive to some larger communities that are close by. McCook, Ogallala or North Platte. Subscribing to the Imperial Republican and Wauneta Breeze for several months might be helpful. They are both online but you do not get the full "flavor" of the paper. By getting both papers you will get a feel for how different things can be for small communities just down the road from each other, and how connected they can be. Both depending on the same hospital, doctors, county fair, county government.

Good Luck!

[MsBea_1]

Originally Posted by ajvrbas321

pph ya right i have lived all mii life in nebraska and NOBODY has ever called it the bana belt
and i am 11 so beat that :P

oh honey, I sure can beat that! I wasn't referring to ALL of Nebraska as the "banana belt" but the southwest corner of the state and I'm not the one that came up with that term.

[itsMeFred]

Yeah, i've heard "banana belt" too. Actually, I heard this area referred to as such long before I actually lived down here.

[MsBea_1]

Originally Posted by itsMeFred

Yeah, i've heard "banana belt" too. Actually, I heard this area referred to as such long before I actually lived down here.

oh good! thanks for confirming. it sure doesn't feel like the banana belt this winter though.

[itsMeFred]

But so far it still beats last winter! By a couple of feet of snow, that is.

I talked to my Dad up in northeast NE a couple of weeks ago when it was so cold. He asked what the weather was like and I said our orange harvest is going to suffer. lol

[Imperial5]

My husband and I moved to Imperial 6 years ago. We have found the community to be extremely welcoming.

Information on Imperial can be found on the city’s website www.imperial-ne.com
Other websites the might be of interest are

Imperial Chamber of Commerce: Imperial Chamber of Commerce - Home

Chase County Tourism: www.chasecounty.com

The Imperial Republican: www.imperialrepublican.com

Chase County Hospital: www.chasecountyhospital.com

Chase County Schools: CCS Homepage

Realtors: www.morelandrealty.com and www.colsonagency.com