This Saturday, the McCook swim team will host teams from four area towns during a swim meet at the YMCA, which means hundreds of visitors to our community for the day.
Over the weekend, several hundred additional visitors will descend upon McCook for the 24 ½ annual Buffalo Commons Storytelling and Music Festival.
Last weekend, golfers were everywhere during Community Hospital’s annual John Mullen Pro Am golf tournament. And more than three dozen two-person high school fishing teams competed at Red Willow Lake, bringing with them supporters and the actual owners of their boats, their parents.
From baseball games to camping and boating, equine events to arts happenings, there are many opportunities around the area for people to visit - or even consider moving - to our communities.
Because of our smaller sized towns, these events tend to have a bigger impact, both financially and psychologically. There is a certain sense of pride when you see all these out-of-town plates on Main Street, getting to experience what we get to experience every day.
Next month, McCook will host two major swim meets as part of the Plains Tsunami Swim League, which includes more than three dozen teams from three states.
On July 10, McCook will be hoping with shoppers during Crazy Days, while the swimming pool will be filled with hundreds of swimmers as part of a qualifying swim meet.
And then on July 17, anywhere from 1,200 to 1,500 swimmers and their families and fans will descend upon the McCook City Pool for a day of competitive swimming.
For years, this final meet was hosted in Lexington, where they have a tremendous aquatic center with an 8-lane competition pool as well as a separate pool with water-slides and a zero-entry area. (But I’m not here to compare pools today; trust me, that will be a later column.)
Fortunately, McCook does have an 8-lane pool, the minimum needed to host such a large swim meet. We also have the hotels, the restaurants and the retail to support an event like this.
Organizers from the league were in McCook recently to prepare for the July 17 meet and their comments struck home. Organizers said the league felt welcomed in McCook, that it felt wanted, that it felt appreciated for being here. Whereas other communities might see the meet as a burden, we have an opportunity to embrace these types of events and make a significant impression on the community.
We can’t let these types of opportunities pass us by, from the dollars they bring to town to just exposing people to everything our community has to offer.
And while I am focusing on events and activities around our area, the same holds true for businesses.
If Mac’s Drive-In opened in Omaha, would anyone really notice? It would be among the dozens of restaurants in a one-mile radius. Yet, we all lamented when they had to cut back their hours, forcing us to have our home-made onion rings for lunch rather than dinner. Could you imagine the uproar if Mac’s shut its doors?
That being said, if we want these businesses to exist in McCook for the times when visitors are here, we need to frequent them with our dollars when visitors aren’t here. If we want these events to happen, community members need to step up, get involved and volunteer to make it happen. And perhaps most importantly, if we want these activities to take place in McCook, we need to have the infrastructure to host larger events to draw people to our area, whether it is a large ball complex, a new welcoming aquatic center or an updated convention center.
We have many opportunities to make things happen which can have a tremendous impact on our communities. All these events and activities, as well as thriving businesses, add up to make sure that our communities will be around for generations to come.
If we all work together to make these events and businesses successful, we can truly make an impact and we can make our communities an even better place to call home.
The names of those people who have made a generational impact on McCook and Southwest Nebraska is a long list. Many of them are working day-in, day-out right now to make their mark on the community. And then there are those people who no longer call McCook home but still make an impact long after they are gone. Allen Strunk is one of those people. Allen passed away on Nov. 1 at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada but he never lost the love of his hometown. Born and raised in McCook, Allen was a member of an already well-known family, Harry and Arlene Strunk. The Strunks started and published the McCook Daily Gazette, with the motto, “Service is the rent we pay for the space we occupy in this world.” A saying that was so important that Harry had it etched at the top of his downtown newspaper office on Norris Avenue. That sense of service was passed along to Allen, who continued to serve his community as he took over leadership of the Gazette. I didn’t know Allen personally until he came back for visits years later. Even though my first job upon arriving in McCook was at the McCook Daily Gazette and Allen had turned over the publishing reins to Gene Morris many years prior, the Strunk legacy loomed large. He was instrumental in the building of the then-new YMCA, moving the facility from downtown to its current location next to the McCook High School. He was a key player in the new hospital, again moving from one location to a new expanded space. And McCook Community College benefitted his involvement in an expansion. Those projects continue to impact McCook today. And the support didn’t stop just because Allen retired from the Gazette and left McCook. There are programs the Strunks are involved in that benefit McCook and Southwest Nebraska. The Strunks continue to support Santa Claus Lane, which is overseen by the McCook Chamber of Commerce. And which after a few years of decline is seeing a resurgence of enthusiasm and nostalgia for the decorative holiday pieces lining Norris Avenue. Allen funds the annual McCook Area Outstanding Teacher award, which provides a financial prize to several teachers every year. And Allen recognized the work of the McCook Community Foundation Fund, providing a donation several years ago so that he could see its impact while he was still alive. This has led MCFF to consider how they will recognize and remember Allen for years to come. Because of his belief in service to his community, this could mean more recognition for the countless volunteers who keep our community thriving. It could be a day of community service, to see how many people can come together to make something happen. It could be a celebration for all the great things happening in our community. During Allen’s memorial service this past week in McCook, his step-daughter-in-law read the poem, “The Dash" by Linda Ellis, who published it in 1996. It reflects on the meaning of the dash between the birth and death dates on a tombstone. The dash is a reminder of everything that happens between the moment a person is born and the moment a person dies. The dash emphasizes the importance of how one lives their life during that time. The dash prompts a person to think about living, rather than worrying about dying. Ultimately, the dash is where all the good - and the bad - happens. And Allen Strunk made the most of his “dash,” both in his community and within his family. We can’t all run a newspaper. We likely aren’t going to etch our favorite saying into a building. But we all need to consider how we are paying the “rent for the space we occupy in this world.” And we can all make a difference in our hometowns, whether we currently live in them or even if we haven’t stepped foot on the main street in years.
Everyone feels a need to be needed and it is shown through the Big Give and Meal Kit Giveaways
SWNE Big Give reaches new heights thanks to enthusiasm of organizations, individuals and businesses
Food pantries are seeing an increased need, which means the community must step up with donations of food and time to help those who struggle to put food on the table.
Goal every year is to raise the most funds for area non-profits, but a goal this year is to have the most number of donors because all donations matter.
McCook's last hometown bakery closed this past week, leaving a void not just for donuts but for connections.
Many organizations and businesses in McCook offer the opportunity to recycle, reuse and repair items that may just end up in the trash.
Organizer for Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival and former librarian named Oct 2025 volunteer of the month.
McCook's Third Thursdays were created to get businesses and organizations involved and designed to create life-long memories for the community.
