2007 Nebraska Travel Industry award winners announcedLINCOLN, NEB. (Oct. 19, 2007)—Gov. Dave Heineman announced the winners of the 2007 Nebraska Travel Industry awards at the Nebraska Travel Conference banquet last night.

“Each nominee honored last night truly loves Nebraska and wants to see the state’s tourism industry succeed and flourish,” Gov. Heineman said. “They have shown that they enjoy being from Nebraska and working hard to make this state a tourist destination.”

The 2007 award winners are:

The Nebraska Tourism Visionary Award went to the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission

The Friend of Tourism award went to Ron Shack, a Lincoln resident and St. Paul native who does in-kind work for the St. Paul Development Corporation

The Outstanding Event for a Community up to 5,000 award went to the Punkin Chunkin Celebration in Petersburg

The Outstanding Event for a Community of 5,000-20,000 award went to the Seward 4th of July Celebration

The Outstanding Event for a Community of more than 20,000 award went to Christmas at Union Station at the Durham Western Heritage Museum in Omaha

The Outstanding New Event for a Community up to 10,000 award went to Dinner With Father Flanagan at Boys Town in Omaha

The Outstanding New Event for a Community of more than 10,000 award went to Rail Fest in North PlatteThe Outstanding Regional Association award went to the Loup River Valley Tourism CoalitionThe Outstanding Tourism Campaign award went to the Platte Valley Attractions The Outstanding Tourism Entity award went to the Friends of Carhenge in Alliance

The Outstanding Tourism Publication award went to the Loup River Valley Tourism Coalition for its marketing piece “ESCAPE to Calamus and Scenic Loup River Valley Nebraska”

The Outstanding Web site for a Community up to 10,000 award went to The Village of Boys Town

The Outstanding Web site for a Community of more than 10,000 award went to KAAPA Country-Adventures in Kearney

The following award categories are new this year:

The Outstanding Hospitality in Tourism award went to Suite Dreams in York County

The Outstanding Tourist Attraction for a Community with up to 10,000 award went to St. James Marketplace in St. James

The Outstanding Tourist Attraction for a Community with more than 10,000 award went to Homestead Heritage Center in Beatrice

The Outstanding Eco-Tourism Entity award went to Dancing Leaf Cultural Learning Center in WellfleetThe Outstanding Ag-Tourism Entity award went to KAAPA Country-Adventures

The Irma Award for Volunteerism went to Charlie and Mary Keller with the Czechs of WilberThe Henry Fonda Award went to Anne Anderson, director of the Gothenburg Community Development Office

For information about travel and tourism opportunities in Nebraska, go to: http://visit.nebraska.gov/

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:Christian Hornbaker at 800-228-4307, or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Micheal Collins at 800-228-4307, or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it