Have you every enjoyed Kool-Aid? The drink for “kids” of all ages. As a kid we drank it buy the gallons. I liked the Red and Blue flavors best. :-)- The man who invented this All American drink did it right here Hastings Nebraska.
From time to time a city, town or community on US Highway 281 is profiled here. Our featured City this go round is "Hastings Nebraska". Just south of Grand Island, NE. West of Lincoln, NE. and north of the Kansas State line. Denver, Colorado is west of here. Hastings is intersected with US Highway 281 and Highway 6. To the north of Hastings runs IH-80 for the East and West Interstate travelers. Amtrak has a station here for the train travelers and a Municipal Airport here too. Planes, Trains and Automobile, they all can get to this little city.
Hastings, Nebraska. 25,394. The town where Kool-Aid® was invented in 1927. Hastings won Yahoo's Greenest City in America competition for 2007. Home to Hastings College, a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1882. This great place is also home to Fisher Fountain, the largest water fountain between Chicago, Illinois and Denver, Colorado. I have included Websites links throughout this post for further information if you would like. Get out there, explore and enjoy this All American Nebraska Town. We know you can get here by one of the aforementioned forms of transpiration.
The Fisher Fountain, aka "Rainbow Fountain" was considered a "sign of hope" during the Great Depression and dust bowl era. Fisher Fountain was originally meant to be a temporary exhibit at the 1932 Adams County Fair, but was made a permanent fixture of the community, every one loved it. The fountain was relocated to Highland Park in 1933.
The "Rainbow Fountain" describes the continuously changing array of colors of the water jets as they are shot high into the air after dark they are illuminated. A really pretty site at night and coin in the fountain for good luck.
Jacob Fisher Rainbow Fountain Website:
Every Summer they have a celebration to honor the All American drink "Kool-Aid®". In 1927 Edwin Perkins invented this drink mix in Hastings, Nebraska. The six original flavors were strawberry, cherry, lemon-lime, grape, orange and raspberry. First manufactured in Hastings. Nearly 80 years later Kraft Foods owns Kool-Aid. A drink for “kids” of all ages. We drank a lot of Kool-Aid® in our neck of the woods. Every summer we had a Kool-Aid® stand. Who could afford the time and expense of making real Lemonade? After all there was lemon-lime, sorta like Lemonade. Grape was the favorite in our home. What flavor did ya'll like best?
Hastings Kool-Aid Festival Days Website:
Who likes to play chase and find the golf ball? I found three public courses in Hastings. There are more in the area up and down 281. See the Parks and Recreation Department or Chamber Websites for locations and more information. The Elks Lodge and Golf Club. 9 and 18 Hole courses. Southern Hills Golf Course, 18 holes, and Blue Hill Golf Course, 9 holes.
Hasting Parks and Recreation Department maintains twenty parks and facilities for the area. This town has recreational opportunities to be proud of. Just about every sporting activity is available.
Parks and Recreation Website:
The local Hastings College has been recognized as one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the country many years running. Check out the College website.
Hastings College Website:
Do like cinema, the big screen? They have a really, really BIG screen at the Museum. How about five stories tall and seventy feet wide. YES, this isn't a typo. You need big sound with a screen that large. It is here, six channel digital surround sound. YES. Entirely wheelchair and handicapped accessible. The Hastings Museum of Natural & Cultural History. Check the Website for what's showing, times, events and location.
Hastings Museum Website:
As we mentioned earlier, if you travel the rails, they have a station here. This is something I keep forgetting to do, take a train trip. When was the last time you rode the rails? The Hastings Amtrak Train Station, with waiting room is located at 501 West First Street. Served daily by the California Zephyr. Amtrak's 2008 fiscal year an average of thirteen passengers boarded or detrained at Hastings making it the third-busiest stop in Nebraska.
Amtrak Website for Hastings, NE:
Well boys and girls is there Plenty O Fun to be had in Hastings Nebraska? Yes there is. We didn't even talk about all the great shopping, dining and places to visit. We only touched on a few. We wanted to leave you with the chance to discover some of the many exciting things this Great Place has to offer.
Like they say, it is not the destination, it's the journey. Go, Do and Enjoy. What about all the recreational opportunities that are here as well. Hiking, biking, bird watching, fishing, boating, etc. Additionally there are winter activities in the area. Did I mention Shopping and Dining? :-) Many year-round adventures await the whole family. Come, see and do. For additional info about the town and area check the Chamber and Visitors Websites.
The Convention & Visitors Bureau: The City of Hastings Website:
Safe Travels and Ya'll Come Back..
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