Nebraska City Tourism and Commerce News Newswire

Ask the "Budget Guy"

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:00:00 GMT

To enhance transparency and provide citizens accurate information regarding financial matters, the City of Nebraska City is pleased to offer resident’s access to the “Budget Guy.” Residents may e-mail amehlers@windstream.net with questions regarding the budget or other financial information. Submittals are subject to editing for content, tone and clarity. All submissions will be posted anonymously.

NCTC Announces New Detour Dollars Winner, Kimmy McGiffin!

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Congratulations to Kimmy McGiffin, winner of NCTC's second Detour Dollars drawing for $100! There's still time to win; pick up your playing cards at the NCTC office or participating stores. This is your chance to be rewarded for supporting our local businesses who have been impacted by the road construction, this season.

GET YOUR TOO TRENDI HUSKER SHIRTS AT TICKLED PINK!

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Stop by Tickled Pink to see our newest product line: "Too Trendi" The Too Trendi Story Too Trendi is about expressing a unique sense of style. The fashionable designs are exquisite, tasteful, and empowering to women. It began the way a lot of successful ideas do-as a casual comment between two friends. For this story, it was while watching their children play in the backyard. The founders, Lisa Kortan and Jill Rotella, did not realize it at the time, but this conversation would eventually lead to a complete business venture they now call, "Too Trendi." Driven by a real desire to have a business that would allow them to be at home with their children, and both with a passion for women's fashion, Too Trendi is a culmination of many creative ideas for clothing, design, and fashionable accessory solutions. We invite you to update your wardrobe with what's "Too Trendi!" GET YOUR TOO TRENDI HUSKER SHIRTS AT TICKLED PINK!!!!! We have sizes 0-3months,3-6months,6-12months 2T,3T, & 4T Women's sizes-XS-XXL Hope to see you before Saturdays game~ Tickled Pink Elaine & Melanie 615 Central Avenue Nebraska City, NE

NCTC Website Statistics

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Did you know that Nebraska City Tourism & Commerce is able to run statistic reports on our website activity? Following is some statistics about our website activity 11/11/2009 to 08/26/2010: The total number of referrals from our Web-site business directory during this period was 1,599,316. Each member averaged 1,322.84 referrals from our Web site this period. Each day this period there was an average of 5,534 referrals from our Web-site business directory. Following is a list of the top categories visited and the number of times each category was displayed: Things to See & Do 14,379 Places to Shop 13,303 Places to Dine 7,257 Places to Stay 6,381 Health Care Services 6,363

Last Farmers Market on September 9

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

The Nebraska City Farmers Market is open every Thursday thru September 9th. Located in the Memorial Building parking lot at the corner of 8th street and 1st Corso, market will be open from 3:45 - 6:00p.m. Stop out and support our local food vendors and feed your family fresh foods! For more information contact AmyA@NebraskaCity.com

NET Travels to Nebraska City in September for “Friday Live” and History Harvest

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

NET travels to Nebraska City in conjunction with NET's “History Harvest” project for two events on Sept. 10 and Sept. 12. Both NET Radio’s “Friday Live” program and a special history-gathering event are free and open to the public and will be held at the Lewis & Clark Visitors Center and Interpretive Trail, 100 Valmont Drive. “Friday Live,” the weekly arts and culture radio talk show hosted by William Stibor, will broadcast live from 9 to 10 a.m. on Sept. 10 and will preview the “History Harvest” project headed by Will Thomas, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Professor of History. Additional “Friday Live” guests include Irv Friesen, Lewis & Clark Center executive director; Rose Ralstin, promotion coordinator for Nebraska City Tourism & Commerce and the upcoming AppleJack Festival; Jenni Brant, executive director of the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and two of its current Artists in Residence, artist Mary Day and composer Andrew Turpening; and ReLeasT, a Nebraska City contemporary Christian band. Other guests include Barbara Heger from the Morton James Public Library and Susan Freshman from Arbor Day Farm. On Sunday, Sept. 12, from 1 to 4 p.m. NET Television and the UNL History Department are inviting all Nebraska history fans, collectors and genealogists to the “NET History Harvest.” Because so many historical sources and archives are in people's attics or in trunks, the History Harvest program will allow the public to bring their old letters, photographs, diaries, maps, images, documents or other noteworthy items to share with historians. The objects will be analyzed and discussed with the owner, photographed and documented. The goal of the project is to digitize Nebraska history materials and make them available in a shared online repository for schools, universities, colleges and interested citizens. Some people and their objects may even be featured in an NET Television segment. For more information and to sign-up to reserve a Sunday time, visit netNebraska.org/historyharvest or call 800-634-6788. The registration period begins Aug. 25 and runs through Sept. 8. “Every family has a history, and yet we sometimes think that the nation's history remains separate," said UNL History Professor Will Thomas. “The nation's history intersects with family histories all the time. The History Harvest hopes to bring these together and open up new sources for understanding our past." The two “History Harvest” events are funded in part by the John, Paul, Anton and Doris Wirth Foundation. NET Television and NET Radio are a service of NET. For program schedules or more information about NET Television and NET Radio, visit netNebraska.org.

Leveraging the Boom: How to Turn Events into Sales

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

25 August 2010 By: Marianna Hayes Chapman, Founder of the Results Revolution | Small Business Owner Marketing Consultations & Advice | Speaker By design, you’ve got customers and lots of them – because they are attending an event that you are hosting or sponsoring. They are a captive audience. Now what? How do you hold on, keep the edge, make the big event pay off? It’s all about “Leveraging the Boom.” When you have a dense customer population in your small business – a.k.a. a boom – you MUST make the most out of the event attendees literally while it’s happening in order to grow your business for the long-term. This is the only way to truly get the most return on investment from your event. To make the most of the bump, you must make smart use of marketing tools to do two things: 1.Capture new customers. 2.Educate them about the benefits of using your company. There are a lot of ways to accomplish these things, but here are three easy ways to connect that are extremely easy and efficient to accomplish – and fast – ways to turn a short-term boom into long-term sales and business growth for your small business: a) E-mail. Get that e-mail address! It might not be a hard fact, but it seems like at LEAST 50% of folks have an e-mail enabled smart phone. For example, here’s a fun way to gather a bunch of e-mail addresses at a large event venue: Ask attendees to send an e-mail to you during the event. Then, announce the winner of an immediate prize: move to the front row, get a chair at the chef’s table, win a free dessert, receive an upgrade to the super-duper best package. “Just e-mail us, and we’ll pick a winner… right now.” Taking the 3-5 minutes at an event venue may net you 15 to 100 email addresses – easy. b) Facebook + TEXT (SMS). While there is a lot you can do with text messaging, here is one free way to gain a connection to your new prospects and customers so that you can sell them more stuff over and over again for a long time. Start by looking at the number of Facebook “Likes” or Twitter followers you have before the event begins. During the event, post signage and also just ask folks to text “LIKE YOURPAGENAME” to FBOOK (36556). For us we’d say “text LIKE RESULTSREV” to FBOOK on your phone right now. Guess what — you just got a new like! Live events can produce huge bumps in the like numbers for a Facebook Page. c) Twitter + TEXT (SMS). The same thing holds true on Twitter. Have attendees text FOLLOW RESULTSREV to Twitter (40404). Yep, that’s all it takes to start tweeting. They’ll get your tweets on their phone – even if they’ve NEVER signed up for Twitter before. But at the end of the day, did that ring you more sales? Probably not today – but it did make sure that you made contact with the people who attended your event. Now, tomorrow, you can stay in touch with them and get to know them better and expose them to new elements of your business – and yes, increase your sales accordingly. It will blow your mind. I promise. What about you? What is your best method to turn an event into long-term customer relationships (and sales)?

Nebraska Educational Television event

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

NET is coming to Nebraska City for History Harvest, Sunday, Sept. 12th from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Lewis & Clark Visitors Center. Bring your family photos, letters, diaries, heirlooms and artifacts that help to tell your family story. This shared history will be digitized and make available to our schools, universities and colleges. Will Thomas, Chair of the UNL History Dept., will be analyzing and discussing the artifacts. What is the story of your family? How does your story relate to the larger narrative of American history? For more information and to sign up to reserve a time visit netNebraska.org/historyharvest or call 800.634.6788 Registration period August 25-September 8, 2010. On Friday morning, September 10, Bill Stibor of NET will have his live show at the Lewis & Clark Center from 9:00 – 10:00. The public is welcome to attend both events.

Wildwood Historic Home & Art Gallery Welcomes New Artist

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Wildwood Historic Home & Art Gallery welcomes artist Kris Hammond! "In my work I’m trying to marry an appreciation of nature with photography to capture the emotional essence of the scene in front of me. I’m capturing these moments of nature to share with others, so they can share in the beauty and serenity of the places I’ve visited." "I’ve had many friends guide me on both my journey to appreciate nature as well as using a camera to capture these moments to share with others. My good friend Ruth Green helped me “touch” the natural world by mentoring me in bird banding, she also helped me capture beautiful photos of these birds. My friends at the local Schramm Park Nature Photography Club have helped me both expand my technical abilities with my camera as well as challenge me to see the natural world around me in different ways. My colleagues at the Old Market Artists Cooperative Gallery have also been a major source of inspiration; their different photographic styles as well as very different art mediums have helped expand the “lens” I use to see the world around me." Kris's exhibit will be displayed September 3 - September 30.

New Class at Ambassador Wellness Center

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Let's face it, working out can be healthy, rewarding and beneficial. The Zumba® program fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves to create a one-of-a-kind fitness program that will blow you away. Our goal is simple: We want you to want to work out, to love working out, to get hooked. Zumba® Fanatics achieve long-term benefits while experiencing an absolute blast in one exciting hour of calorie-burning, body-energizing, awe-inspiring movements meant to engage and captivate for life! Join Stephanie Farmer at the Ambassador Wellness Center, LLC on Tuesdays at 5:30pm and Thursdays at 6:30pm beginning September 7, 2010 to experience Zumba® Fitness first-hand. Please call the wellness center at (402) 873-3337 with questions.

Make your NebraskaCity.com Listing work for you!

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Attention NCTC Members Interested in making your on-line listing in the NCTC Membership directory more exciting? Please contact Rebecca at rebeccat@nebraskacity.com or 873-6654 for assistance. Check out other NebraskaCity.com listings for inspiration!

Festival Season Spruce Up

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Now is the time to make sure your bump-outs and business properties are well-maintained. Take a little time to spruce up your public spaces to put our best face forward to our Nebraska City visitors.

Central Avenue Mill & Overlay Project

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

The Mill and Overlay project has begun! The project will take place in sections, moving down Central Avenue. The project is scheduled to be completed prior to the Applejack celebration which starts on September 17th. If you have questions about this project, you can contact City Hall, 1409 Central Ave., Nebraska City, 402-873-5515.

Leadership Nebraska City is Looking for Applicants

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Leadership Nebraska City is currently seeking applications for Class #6. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the services and businesses in Nebraska City, and network with other companies and organizations. Completed applications can be returned to 806 1st Avenue, Nebraska City. You can contact Rose or Amy at 402-873-6654 with any questions.

2010 LNC Application

Memorial Building Costs

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Memorial Building cost estimates are available. At the City Council meeting Monday July 19th, Pat Haverty presented the Mayor and Commissioners the architects’ estimates for the renovation of the Memorial Building. The project includes the acquisition and removal of the buildings to the west to allow for additional parking and for the construction of an addition which will house the restrooms and elevators for each floor. The total project cost estimate is $6,119,000 which includes a number of potential alternative components including adding geothermal heating and cooling for the facility. These cost estimates are preliminary and include a number of upgrades which may or may not be included in the final project. City staff has applied for grant assistance and are contacting a number of organizations private donors to attempt to obtain funding assistance for the project. Staff plans to prepare a ballot question to finance the balance of the project through a bond. The ballot question may be brought before the voters in a special election in the spring of 2011. If you would like additional information or have suggestions which fee would assist this project in becoming a reality, please contact Pat Haverty or Arnold Ehlers at City Hall, 873-5515 or any of the City Commissioners.

Detour Dollars Drives Business!

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Worried about the road construction on South 11th Street and Central Avenue negatively impacting Nebraska City businesses? Play Detour Dollars to bolster their sales. The Nebraska City Tourism and Commerce office (NCTC) is sponsoring a game designed to reward people for negotiating the detours to shop at the stores being impacted. Simply pick up a playing card (in the Penny Press and at participating businesses), follow the instructions on the card to collect your "Passport Stamps," and enter your completed playing card at the NCTC office (806 1st Ave) to be entered into drawings for Chamber Bucks -- redeemable like cash at any NCTC member business. Call NCTC 402-873-6654 with questions.

Memorial Building History

Mon, 24 May 2010 04:00:00 GMT

On March 10, 1943 the City of Nebraska City paid $20,000 for the Memorial Building to keep it open for public use. Part of the deed reads as follows: “This conveyance is made by the grantor and accepted by the grantee upon the express condition that, subject to all reasonable rules and regulations which the said City of Nebraska City may by resolution adopt and promulgate, and which rules and regulations may from time to time be amended by said City of Nebraska City, all Posts, Societies and Chapters of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Spanish War Veterans, the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and like societies, chapters or organizations of United States veterans of past, present or future wars, and their auxiliary posts and societies (the eligibility of any of which posts, societies, chapters, organizations or auxiliaries not hereinbefore designated by name may be determined and designated by the City Council of said City by resolutions regularly adopted and promulgated) shall forever have free use of the room heretofore and now commonly known as the Veterans’ Room, or American Legion Room, of said building, together with the Service Room North of said Veterans’ Room and adjacent thereto, and the space formerly used for and known as the Trophy Room, for the purposes of their meetings and activities, together with such use of the kitchen, dining hall, auditorium, and entrances of said building as may be reasonably required by them… The City of Nebraska City abided by this document for 65 years, now the condition of the structure requires a substantial investment to make the building safe and bring it up to ADA and modern standards. Please keep yourselves informed as to the true facts surrounding this memorial to our sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters who have proudly served our country.