Welcome to Historic Red Cloud: Great Stories Grow Here!

Red Cloud, Nebraska is not just a destination--it’s a place where literature and culture merge with the pleasures of a quiet country town and its prairie surroundings. To visit Red Cloud is to experience a town and entire landscapes, largely unchanged, as world-famous author Willa Cather knew them as a young girl and throughout her life. Red Cloud is an oasis on the prairie.

 
 

Featured Attraction

 

Red Cloud Tourism and Commerce

Community News

May 30, 2025

Read the May 2025 Visit Red Cloud newsletter!!! Learn more about Alumni Weekend, watch videos about the Kay Cover sign dedication and Tom Shute's Bison Mural. Get to know Avery Rasser and so much...READ MORE...

May 8, 2025


We were pleased to be able to announce our annual scholarship winners during the Honors Night ceremony held on May 7th, 2025 at Red Cloud High School!


...READ MORE...

April 30, 2025

Learn more about the opening of the Hotel Garber, the Kay Cover historical sign dedication, Whitetail Properties sponsorship of the old Bud/Palace tournament, happenings for the Class of 2025 at...READ MORE...

 

Events

@The National Willa Cather Center
June 05, 2025 to June 07, 2025

We host an annual Spring Conference in Red Cloud, Nebraska, where Cather scholars, general readers, and those interested in the arts gather to celebrate Cather's legacy and Nebraska's cultural heritage. Held the first weekend in June, Spring Conference is a great time to tour Cather's Red Cloud, hike the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie, enjoy a live performance in the Red Cloud Opera House, and learn even more about Cather's life and writing.

 

7:30pm @ Red Cloud Opera House Auditorium
June 06, 2025

Willa Cather, My Ántonia and the Life of a Writer

We are delighted to welcome Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley! Her talk on "Willa Cather, My Ántonia and the Life of a Writer" will mark the conclusion of a year-long celebration of Cather's 1918 novel as a title selected by the National Endowment for the Arts' 2024-2025 Big Read program. Join us in the bookstore following the event for a book signing. 

The talk will be broadcast live on YouTube and a recording will be available for 2 weeks after the event.

8pm @Red Cloud Opera House Auditorium
June 07, 2025

The Kilbanes (Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses) are a married composing and performing team and recipients of the 2024 Jonathan Larson Grant. Their rock musical Weightless (WP Theater, A.C.T., Public Theater’s Under the Radar) was nominated for Lucille Lortel (Best Musical), Drama Desk (Best Music), and Off-Broadway Alliance (Best New Musical) awards in 2023.

May 15 to August 1st: Red Cloud Opera House Art Gallery
May 15, 2025 to August 01, 2025

 

This summer, the Red Cloud Opera House is excited to welcome artists Steven Tamayo, Paul High Horse, and Anne Steinhoff as they present We're Still Here: American Indian Spirit in the Unmade Place. These Native American artists have brought together a number of cultural touchstones and mediums as they respond to our Spring Conference theme, "Cather's House: Examining Built and Natural Environments in Her Work."