Come Back Home

Nancy Herhahn writes a wonderful newsletter from rural NE, Nebraska Rural Living. In this month’s issue she’s has two articles that really caught my attention.

Mary Terry and her husband moved back home to Red Cloud, NE (population 1,131) from Denver, CO where Mary ran a 150 seat restaurant. After sitting around for a year, she and her husband bought the 1893 historic McFarland Hotel, which they are renovating. Already they’ve opened Cutter’s Café in the building.

This is what it is all about in my opinion, but in Mary’s own words, “Since an elderly patron lost her driver’s license, I often pick her up and bring her in for breakfast, and when she is ill, I’ll even deliver food to her. But that’s just what communities like ours are like.”

Another item in Nancy’s newsletter is an experimental marketing campaign she has started to counter negative rural stereotypes and promoting life in NE. The three postcards promote the differences in traffic jams (cars vs. cattle); housing prices ($395,000 vs. $100,000); and security (alarm systems vs. Fido). Check them out on her website.