KEARNEY — A ribbon cutting was held to celebrate the opening of the new Kearney Welcome Center, which houses Development Council for Buffalo County, Kearney Visitors Bureau, and Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce.
There was standing room only as Derek Rusher, President/CEO of the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce, welcomed everyone to the event.
Rusher said the new building was a long time coming. In 2019, it was clear to the Chamber of Commerce board of directors that a new space was needed. Rusher said their former location was overused and wasn’t the most usable space by chamber members.
Rusher said the building reflects the community and area, with brick walls honoring Kearney’s downtown area, native grasses, displays about the sand hill cranes and the donor wall taking on the look of a flowing river, a nod to the Platte River.
The new welcome center would not be possible without the donors, big and small, which Rusher took time to thank.
Trevor Lee, President of the Development Council for Buffalo County, also spoke thanked everyone who contributed and gave to the new welcome center.
Lee said that if everyone left with only one thing, he wanted it to be confidence. The confidence that the staff of all three entities show up everyday to outwork their peer and peer communities.
Roger Jasnoch, the outgoing Director of the Kearney Visitors Bureau, expressed his gratitude to Rusher and Lee for their partnerships and collaboration over the years.
John Ricks, Executive Director of the Nebraska Tourism Commission, also attended the event and quipped that he was jealous of the new Kearney Welcome Center, while admiring the state-of-the-art building.
“What a fantastic place, congratulations to Kearney,” Ricks said, “People will love it, you guys should love it.”
Jasnoch, who retires in June, was given the honor of cutting the ribbon.
Kearney Welcome Center
Ground was broken for the building in the fall of 2023 for the $5.3 million, 12,000 square foot building. The building is located at the southwest corner of Talmadge Street and 11th Avenue in southwest Kearney, directly east of the Kearney SportsPlex site.
“In addition to modern offices and private collaborative meeting space, the new building will house a large training room, a board room, and a premier welcome center that will truly be the front door to Kearney and the Platte River Valley,” according to statement from Forward Kearney.
As a new location was sought, one thing was clear, the three entities must remain housed in the same space. Rusher said the success of Kearney not only comes from the people but the fact that groups are willing to collaborate and not care who takes the credit in the end.
Having moved into their new space, Rusher said the building was designed in a way to promote new ways to collaborate that were not possible in their former space.
Rusher noted that the size of the space has not necessarily increased from their former location, but they have maximized the use of the space to better fit all three entities’ needs.
When asked about the location of the new facility, in the south of Kearney amid numerous developments and construction projects, Rusher said that it was the Kearney Visitor’s Bureau that wished to be close to Interstate 80, to be a front door for the community.
The Welcome Center has become an attraction all on its own and Rusher said Kearney deserved a premier welcome center. He added that their former space didn’t showcase Kearney in the way that it should.