GI version of State Fair a winner, and that's no bull

Fourteen years later the decision seems like a no-brainer, but at the time the jury was mixed.
Moving the Nebraska State Fair from Lincoln to Grand Island was in fact a bold move, but it was the right one. The amazing growth and success of the fair, including year-around use of world class facilities, combined with the progressive use of the old state fairgrounds in Lincoln as a technology park and innovation campus made this a win-win payoff for everyone involved.
One of the concerns raised originally was that moving the fair waaaaaaaay out west to Grand Island would kill the event. Many lawmakers shared those thoughts from the floor when the issue was debated in the final hour, suggesting that it’s just such a long drive to Grand Island for the good folks in Lincoln and Omaha who might just skip it. If you recall, the State Fair tradition was struggling in Lincoln during those later years, so much so that lawmakers voted to designate lottery proceeds to help keep it going. In short, there were serious questions about the need for and financial viability of a State Fair, especially when throwing in the unknown dynamics of moving it out west, where new facilities would have to be built and new traditions created.
Fast forward to Sunday, when a young family from Grand Island was surprised and honored as the 4 millionth guest of the Nebraska State Fair in its new host community. Ironically, for locals who may recall, the 1 millionth guest passed through the gates back in 2013, honoring Aurora’s own Clay and Angela Lents.
But back to the issue of traveling west in Nebraska, I’ve always chuckled at that notion having grown up in Imperial, tucked down in the southwest corner of the state just a few miles from the Colorado and Kansas state lines. It was not a big deal for our family to get up early on a Husker Saturday, drive to Lincoln, cheer on the Huskers, then head for home all in the same day. It’s the same distance both ways, of course, a fact sometimes lost on Lincoln and Omaha residents who are accustomed to being an hour away from “everything they need.”
All of this banter, some but not all of it lighthearted in nature, made me laugh out loud earlier this month when I heard about a billboard posted at 45th and Dodge in the Big O which touted this year’s State Fair.
“Grand Island is too far away,” the simplistic layout read, followed by two icons — one of a bull and one of a pile of manure. Now that’s funny:-)
Jack Sheard, a GI native who works with IdeaBank Marketing, gets the credit for a promotion which dialed up just the right mix of fun, tongue-in-cheek humor and Nebraska geography. In other words, bull, to the notion that GI is too far out west for an event designed to celebrate our state’s ag-based heritage. Marketing with an edge — I like it.
Statistically, I’ve been told, the state’s center line population-wise falls around 70th Street in Lincoln, though there is in fact a whole lot of scenic beauty, quality of life, job opportunity as well as fun and interesting things to do waaaaaaay out west here in outstate Nebraska. 
The Nebraska State Fair is just one of them.

KURT JOHNSON can be reached at kjohnson@ hamilton.net