Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway Plans Annual Conference

Get in touch

Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway Plans Annual Conference

Twila • April 16, 2021

Broken Bow – The Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway (SJNSB) will host their Annual Conference on Friday, April 30th, and Saturday, May 1 in Broken Bow.

The theme is ‘Celebrate Us!’ in honor of being one of two scenic byways in Nebraska to receive national designation. Festivities begin on Friday, April 30 at 5:30 p.m. C.T. at the SJNSB Visitor Center, aka The Barn on the east edge of Broken Bow. Refreshments will be served. The Visitor Center committee will have a symbolic sod turning at the site of a proposed sod house. This will be followed by a ribbon cutting to officially recognize national designation with the new logo for the Byway. Hopefully unveiled that night will be the new road signs that will replace the Byway road signs along the 272 miles of Nebraska Highway 2 from Grand Island to Alliance. Nebraska Department of Transportation (NEDOT) will replace the old signs with the new ones after the Byway pays for the production of them.

The Broken Bow Library is the site for the annual SJNSB meeting Saturday from 10:30 to 11:45, followed by lunch which is catered by Legends Neighborhood Grill. After lunch, the annual awards will be presented to deserving individuals or businesses for Friend of the Byway, Individual, Business, Community Enhancement, and new this year, for the first time Frontline Friend of the Byway. Speakers confirmed are Sharon Strouse, Executive Director of the National Scenic Byway Foundation, who will officially welcome the SJNSB into the America Byways Collection via Zoom from Maine. Jon Vanderford who with his wife, Taryn, produce Pure Nebraska, a 30 minute showcase on Lincoln’s 10/11 TV station, will speak on treasures they have found along the byway. Mitch Hunt of Huntrex, formerly of Broken Bow, will showcase the Byway videos he produced several years ago but have now been edited to include the word ‘national’. His father, John Hunt will finish the day discussing his literary project, “Secret of the Sandhills”.

Cost to attend is $25 for Saturday’s award luncheon, while Friday festivities are being sponsored by Custer Economic Development Corporation, Broken Bow Chamber, SJNSB Visitor Center Committee, Grocery Kart of Broken Bow, Kinkaider Brewing Co., Custer Co. Tourism, and the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway organization. Registration may be paid at the door for May 1, but RSVP for meal count must be given to Terri Licking, president of the SJNSB by Monday, April 27. Email your RSVP to her at twlicking@ymail.com, put Byway RSVP in subject line please.

< Older Post Newer Post >

A road going through the Sandhills with a blue sky in the background.

Announcing: The Official Sandhills Journey App

By Mitch Hunt • November 2, 2022

The Sandhills Journey Releases the Official Byway App

BRAN 2022

By Bill Burdett • July 19, 2022

What a ride! Downhill from Alliance to Wahoo over much of the SJNSB!

July Newsletter

By Mitch Hunt • July 19, 2021

Hello from the rejuvenated green hills of the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway. This past weekend saw a gentle rain of over 1.5 inches near Thedford, and elsewhere on the Byway, which was much needed moisture. Hope the moisture continues. Bulls are out to pasture, and cows and their calves are grazing on fresh grass. God is good! The Nebraska Passport Program is in full travel mode. As of June 28 – the number of Passport booklets requested – 43,680. The participants completing all 70 stops is 46. From the Passport app, total stamps collected were 31,758. Then add to the Tourism Passport, one can get stamps on the Nebraska Beef Passport with 40 restaurants serving great Nebraska beef and the Nebraska Wineries and Grape Growers Association has a Passport program as well. The biggest compliment one can have is plagiarizing, and that has certainly occurred with the Nebraska Tourism Passport, now in its 11th year. The SJNSB has eight of those 70 stops on or within our promotion corridor – which would make a great week-end excursion for the family. SJNSB Passport stops – Grand Island- Tommy Gunz Bistro and Stuhr Museum; Broken Bow – Chapins Furniture. (Not on the passport, but worth seeing on the east edge of Broken Bow is our SJNSB Visitor Center). Turn south at Merna, travel 21 miles to Arnold and enjoy Grazers Bar and Grill or stay on our Byway and at Anselmo – just north is Victoria Springs Recreation Area, Halsey -The Nebraska National Forest, Bessey Ranger District. Hyannis has the Hyannis Hotel, which is also on the National Register of Historic Places. At the western end of the SJNSB, Alliance has Shelmadine Print Shop. There are plenty of special events this summer happening on our Byway. Fireworks will be enjoyed on July 3 and 4. Sandhill Days will be celebrated July 3 at Halsey, with one of the biggest and best firework displays for a village of less than 100 you will ever see. July 9 at Grazers is the iconic CW band, Confederate Railroad. (Purchase of tickets required). Then the next day, July 10, the public is invited to Victoria Springs near Anselmo which will have their centennial celebration. Add in all the county fairs, rodeos, and water fun on the Middle Loup River, one cannot be bored on our byway. Bring your telescope, because after the festivities of the day, one can see the magnificent starlight in one of the best places without light pollution in the world! (Just leave the cities and villages, pull off on a county road, or far on the side of the road – safety first - and enjoy our night sky!) On a political note, support for the National Scenic Byway program will hopefully be accomplished in Congress before the year is out. The House has passed the INVEST in America act, where $64 million will be allocated over four years - $16 million each year. The Senate is working on their bi-partisan bill which hopefully will allocate NSBP funding as well. Contact your Congressman or Senator to encourage their support. Tourism is economic development! Locals cannot keep the restaurants, lodging venues or fuel stations supported on their own. We need the visitors here in rural Nebraska! The complete collection of all 184 byways in the America’s Byway collection is now out for viewing at the following link - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep/scenic_byways/designations/fhwadesignationsbooklet.pdf And last – we contracted with Mitch Hunt, Huntrex LLC, to revamp our website. It is a slow process, but we know it will be better than ever to help us showcase our national designation. Stay tuned! Enjoy you travel time this summer –start in your own backyard – aka the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway!! Remember – To get to anywhere, one must go through somewhere – let us be part of that scenario! B C N U on the SJNSB! Photo credit above: SJNSB Primary Photo featured in America's Byway booklet. Photo by T. Phillips along the Middle Loup River between Thedford and Seneca.