Vist North Platte announces the winners of the 5th annual Excellence Tourism Awards

Visit North Platte

(North Platte, Nebraska, May 8, 2024) – Visit North Platte hosted the 5th Annual Excellence in Tourism Awards Luncheon on May 8 at Venue304. Forty-one nominations were submitted from the public for the seven award categories. The ‘Excellence in Tourism’ awards recognize outstanding customer service in hotels or other accommodation establishments, restaurants or other dining establishments, events, attractions and retail outlets, as well as the Volunteer of the Year and Hero of Tourism awards. The nominees can be both private individuals and companies.

The Visit North Platte Board of Directors selected the award winners from the nominees based on the nominations submitted and the awards were presented to:

Tyler Sexon (courtesy of Visit North Platte)

Excellent service at an attraction – Tyler Sexon, NPIce

Tyler has gone above and beyond to work hard and dedicate his time and financial support to starting NPIce. He has worked tirelessly to establish this rink so that North Platte and all the surrounding communities can come and enjoy something to do during the colder months of the year. Tyler is one of the most generous and supportive people North Platte could have!

Excellent service during an event – ​​Dusty Barner, Dusty Trails Spring Birding Tours

Dusty Trails is a premier destination for all your outdoor adventures in North Platte. It offers a number of satisfying outdoor experiences, ranging from horseback riding through Buffalo Bill’s original ranch to sailing down the iconic North Platte River in a tank, tube, canoe or kayak. Just a few years ago, Dusty took the plunge by offering an experience outside his expertise: spring birding tours. Each spring, Dusty offers a variety of Sandhill Crane tours and a morning Prairie Chicken Tour for three weeks to visitors from across the country and beyond. He quickly became an expert on these birds and their behavior to provide each guest with an experience they will not soon forget. In addition, when he conducts these tours, he talks about all the other great things visitors can do and see in North Platte. He gives them a reason to come and then gives them even more reasons to stay. He is a true gem to the community and deserves recognition for that.

Excellent service in a hotel – Craig Warneke, Best Western Plus

Craig worked at Best Western Plus for the past three years. Within this time, Craig continuously gives everything he does, not just for his position, but for the entire building, staff and guests. Always willing to step up and assist where necessary to ensure the property maintains guest satisfaction. Craig shows his passion in everything he does by making sure everything is done right the first time. Even if he gets a call late at night or on his scheduled days off. And when you enjoy it

If you cross this guy, you can always count on him having a joke ready to get a good laugh.

Excellent service in a restaurant – Chris Lane, Boss’ Pizza and Chicken

Chris came to North Platte and took over this establishment and turned it into a great place to get away, have a good meal and a few beers. Chris is friendly, outgoing and wants to be part of the community. He has made a huge difference here! It’s also a great place to watch any sport, but especially local games in Nebraska. He always puts the customer first and provides excellent service.

Excellent service within a retail business – Michelle Wilson, Kwik Stop

Michelle goes the extra mile with every customer. She runs to a pump to help someone who is having a hard time. She doesn’t direct customers where the items are; she will walk out and help them. She treats every client with the same level of respect, regardless of their status or appearance. Her achievements inspire me to continue providing excellent customer service.

Volunteer of the Year – Cheri and Al Erickson, Wava Best, Betty Sones and Judy Thompson, Prairie Arts Center

Cheri, Al, Wava, Betty and Judy have dedicated their time, blood, sweat and tears to the Prairie Arts Center for the past 16 years. This group of people have not only helped make the arts center a staple in downtown North Platte, they have also volunteered for the past 16 years renovating and restoring the beautiful 1913 building, working at the front desk , to help with fundraisers and to help working class people. , bartending, making food and promoting the love of the arts in this community. Not only have they worked tirelessly for the past 16 years, with no complaints, but sheer vibrancy for the art… they continue to be a part of this great facility and the art today. Their passion has created a home for the arts in Western Nebraska, but also a home where people can gather, create and communicate. Without this group, the arts would not be as alive and vibrant as they are today.

Hero of Tourism – Nebraska State Senator Mike Jacobson

In his second year in the Nebraska Legislature, Senator Mike Jacobson, representing the 42nd District, had to dive in to protect tourism, not just for North Platte, but for tourism across the state. Working with local tourism professionals and the Nebraska Travel Association, he helped amend four damaging bills. Following governors’ demands that the Nebraska Legislature cut property taxes by 40% this year, senators were everywhere looking for dollars and tourism tax dollars were a target. LB 1067 was introduced to eliminate Nebraska’s estate tax over the next five years and proposed using lodging tax funds to offset the loss of income to counties. Senator Jacobson understood the devastating effect of allowing the provinces to divert tourism funds for non-tourism purposes. He worked with the bill’s sponsor to amend it to eliminate the use of the lodging tax. He showed his strong leadership and persuasiveness during the floor debate to secure the vote to approve the amendment. A bill that emerged from last year’s session LB624, which proposed placing the Nebraska Tourism Commission back under the Department of Economic Development, also came up for debate. An amendment was proposed by the introducing Senator to add two seats to the Nebraska Tourism Commission, one for DED and one for the Nebraska State Chamber, and remove the language to place NTC back under DED. Senator Jacobson was very vocal during the floor debate on NOT reinstating NTC under DED, emphasizing the importance of keeping the entities separate. He led the debate to inform the legislative body of its importance

of keeping the Commission intact and led them to uphold the amendment. The Appropriations Committee released its mid-year budget, LB1413 recommended an amount of $5 million dollars from the State Visitors Promotion Fund (NEBRASKA Tourism Commission Budget). LB1412 proposed moving that money to the Department of Economic Development “for a statewide marketing campaign.” Senator Jacobson (North Platte) introduced an amendment to remove the Committee Amendment provision that wipes out tourism funds, successfully ending the cleanup. The senator was quoted as saying: “I filed a floor amendment to stop the transfer, which was ultimately successful. These funds are very important in attracting more in-state and out-of-state travelers to visit Nebraska attractions. Many of these attractions are located in District 42: Nebraskaland Days, the US Highway 2 Scenic Byway and the Nebraska Passport Program, to name a few.” District 42 is fortunate to have a representative who sees the whole picture and fights for tourism as hard as he does. This is why Senator Mike Jacobson is a pure tourism hero!

This year also saw the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award presented to David Fudge, the outgoing Executive Director of NEBRASKAland DAYS.

David has been working at NEBRASKAland DAYS since 2005. After his term on the board, he was hired as executive director. David has grown the party enormously by bringing in big names. David has volunteered for many different organizations, including the North Platte Planning Commission, Ambassadors, the Quality Growth Fund review committee, and the North Platte Public School Foundation, and is also very active in his church. The list can go on endlessly.

Visit North Platte would like to thank all of their incredible tourism partners in Lincoln County who help make tourism successful each year, as well as all the nominees and winners for their incredible contributions to our community!