Welcome to Historic Red Cloud: Great Stories Grow Here!

Set amidst brick-lined streets, charming homes, historic buildings, and the immense beauty of the prairie, Red Cloud offers a glimpse into a storied American past while maintaining a progressive vision for the future. Willa Cather’s prairie novels introduced the world to the community and have left indelible impressions in the minds of her readers. Yet rich literary history is only one part of this unique town’s present-day draw. Your off-the-beaten path adventure will let you explore a rural lifestyle while also immersing yourself in arts, culture, history, and recreational pursuits.

 
 

Featured Attraction

 

Red Cloud Tourism and Commerce

Community News

June 12, 2023

by Laura Kiniry, Smithsonian Magazine

Great Plains novelist Willa Cather grew up in Red Cloud, and this year the small Nebraska town is celebrating the 150th anniversary of her...READ MORE...

June 26, 2024

 

by Jarrod McCartney, Red Cloud Heritage Tourism & Economic Development

RED CLOUD--Representatives from the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office (...READ MORE...

May 28, 2024

RED CLOUD—The Red Cloud Community Fund (RCCF) is pleased to announce its 2024 traditional scholarship winners. Addie Minnick received the Red Cloud Community Fund scholarship and will attend...READ MORE...

 

Events

@Red Cloud Opera House Art Gallery
June 25, 2024 to August 10, 2024

In 2023, the Associació Internacional Duana de les Arts presented, for the fourth consecutive year, a catalogue of graphic arts contest winners in an exhibition called Hommage à trois. Each year this contest has been structured into three categories designed to honor the memory of three literary figures on the occasion of the celebration of their birth centenaries. The authors chosen in 2023 were:

Willa Cather (1873–1947)
Federico Garcia Lorca (1889–1936)
Wislawa Szymborska (1923–2012)

@Burlington Depot
June 26, 2024 to August 15, 2024

Travis Hencey's work may be familiar to regular attendees of our gallery exhibitions. Since 2013, he's been a contributor to our invitational exhibitions, exhibiting work that featured collaged paper and graphite drawings that drew on Cather's featured novels in those years. Simultaneously familiar and fresh, these works featured aged paper and book components in new compositions, punctuated by Hencey's drawings in graphite.

Bladen, NE
July 25, 2024 to July 27, 2024

Check out Webster County's top visitor attraction and enjoy 3 nights of professional rodeo, live performances from the Jessy Karr Band (July 26), and Borderline (July 27) after the rodeo, and eat some scrumptious FREE BBQ on July 25th and 26th!

FFA and 4H exhibits, a demo derby, and various rock climbing and other fun thing for kids all 3 days! 

Go to webstercountyfair.org to learn more

9am @Red Cloud Golf Club
July 27, 2024

9am start. $200 entry fee. Please see the flyer below for more information. Call the Golf Course at 402-746-2567 for more details.