🇺🇸 How We Celebrated America 250 🇺🇸
- Kathryn Larson
- 9 hours ago
- 7 min read
The year 2026 has been a huge milestone for both America and for the Plainsman Museum. On July 4th, 2026, the United States celebrated its 250th birthday! Meanwhile, the Plainsman Museum also celebrated its 50th birthday! As the local historical organization, the Hamilton County Historical Society wanted to make the most of this special year, and thus the Hamilton County, Nebr. Celebrate America 250 campaign was launched in 2024. Now, as we move further into the latter half of 2026 and beyond, we look back on how we as a county celebrated our nation's birthday, and how we celebrated Hamilton County's part in the broader American story!
★ Museum Exhibit Renovations and Building
Throughout 2025 and 2026, volunteers at the Plainsman Museum worked diligently to renovate old exhibits and build new ones in preparation for America 250 and for the museum’s 50th anniversary. Exhibits were also decorated with patriotic colors for the summer of 2026 to celebrate America’s birthday!
★ Hamilton County, Nebr. Celebrate America 250 Committee
To help spearhead our America 250 celebrations in the county, the Hamilton County Historical Society officially organized the Hamilton County, Nebr. Celebrate America 250 Committee on June 20, 2024. For the next two years, the committee worked “to facilitate in cooperation with other community entities a commemoration of this historic event in our nation’s history.”
Thank you to all our committee members for your dedication and hard work to make our
America 250 celebrations a memorable time for all!
"The purpose of the committee is to facilitate in cooperation with other community entities a commemoration of this historic event in our nation's history. This means the committee will serve as a conduit by which Hamilton County citizens may be brought together to celebrate as they see fit. The committee is here to help jump-start ideas on how we may celebrate our nation's anniversary on or before July 4, 2026." - Mission of the Hamilton County, Nebr. Celebrate America 250 Committee
★ Official Campaign Logo
For our Hamilton County, Nebr. Celebrate America 250 campaign, a custom logo was made by our Social Media and Communications Coordinator, Kathryn Larson. The logo was featured on most of our America 250 materials.
★ Official Webpage
Throughout 2025 and 2026, we updated and rotated information on the official webpage we created pertaining to our America 250 celebrations.
★ “Our Signature Recipes” Commemorative Cookbook
One of the biggest projects for our America 250 campaign was creating a commemorative cookbook for the occasion, featuring recipes sent in by residents of Hamilton County. We began collecting recipes in the spring of 2025, and were able to collect over 350 recipes by mid-June of that year! We collected recipes through both physical and online forms. The cookbooks were printed by Morris Press Cookbooks in Kearney, and were first available for sale at the Plainsman Museum during Thanksgiving weekend of 2025.
Cookbook prototype image
★ Hamilton County America 250 Merch Items
Several other merch items we had available in addition to the commemorative cookbooks were t-shirts, stickers, refrigerator magnets, stadium cups and bistro mugs. These were available for purchase at the Plainsman Museum and at two other local businesses on the Square - Honeysuckle Lane and Aurora Floral & Homestead Market.
Red t-shirt Navy blue bistro mug Stadium cup Refrigerator magnet Sticker
★ Light Pole Banners and Window Decals
To help spread awareness and cohesiveness for America 250 around Hamilton County, we had custom light pole banners and window decals made that were distributed throughout the area. Each of the towns in Hamilton County got a series of light pole banners to place on their main streets, and we sent window decals to various businesses and organizations for them to place in their windows. The pole banners were printed locally by Kris Willcock at Krash Grafix.
★ Custom Commemorative Banners
In honor of the services of several non-profit organizations around the county, as well as our schools, first responders, towns, and other community entities, the HCN Celebrate America 250 Committee had special custom 4’ x 6' banners made that were gifted to these organizations, which they could display in their facilities in honor of America 250 and in honor of their own history. Each banner featured the organization’s name, four historical photos of their institution, and our celebration logo.
★ Veteran Grave Markers
In honor of the veterans buried in Hamilton County's cemeteries, the committee had custom grave markers made that were placed beside veterans’ gravesites during the summer of 2026. These markers were designed by Kathryn Larson, and were made by US veterans at Flagman of America. These markers will remain in place through Veterans Day of 2026.
★ History Detectives Scavenger Hunt: Patriotic Edition
For all children visiting the Plainsman Museum (and for all kids at heart), we had our History Detectives scavenger hunt activity available with a patriotic theme for this year. Those participating could pick up a “case file” from the front desk, and then find the answers to the questions as they explored the museum’s Main Building. Once completed, participants could bring the case file back to the front desk and have their detective certificate signed and receive an American history detective pin as a prize! This activity was scheduled to run in the summer from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. Our detective mascots, Vivian and Orville, were also featured in an animated video that was requested by Hampton Public School to help explain and promote America 250 to their students.
★ “A More Perfect Union” Timeline Exhibition
Hosted and crafted at the Plainsman Museum, this 2-part exhibition began Memorial Day weekend of 2026.
Part 1 - Featured a series of standing banners placed around the museum which told the stories of several families and individuals throughout Hamilton County’s past. The banners also included interactive QR codes which contained further information about the families/individuals and their family trees, as well as an audio recording of the banner text, many of which were read aloud by a relative/descendant of those featured on the banner! This portion of the exhibition is scheduled to be displayed from Memorial Day weekend through October 31.
A special thank-you to Brenda Klawonn and Karrie Wiarda for helping conduct research for the banners and for helping draft the banner text!
In photo - Kathryn Larson, Karrie Wiarda, Brenda Klawonn and Tina Larson
Part 2 - An animated timeline video looking at the histories of both the USA and Hamilton County as they unfolded alongside each other from July 4, 1776 to July 4, 2026. This multimedia presentation was made to be played on a loop in the Main Building’s movie theatre exhibit, and will run through the end of 2026 for visitors to see during their tour. This production was written and created by the museum's Social Media and Communications Coordinator Kathryn Larson, and narrated by Executive Director Tina Larson.
★ A’ROR’N Days - Celebrating America 250
This year, the City of Aurora had “Celebrating America 250” as the theme for A'ROR'N Days! The Plainsman Museum's contributions to this year’s festivities included...
A Parade Float - The Plainsman Museum entered a float in both the Hampton Booster Days parade and A’ROR’N Days parade during June of this year, with the float decorated to celebrate America 250 and the 50th anniversary of the Plainsman Museum. We also received prizes for our float during both of these parades!
The Nimble Thimble Quilt Guild Americana Quilt Show - Hosted during A’ROR’N Days, the Nimble Thimble Quilt Guild’s annual quilt show featured a special Americana theme this year, with the quilts displayed in our Agricultural Museum alongside our antique tractors, cars, buggies and other farm implements. This year’s award-winning featured quilter was Bonnie Kucera, and the show also featured several local artisans demonstrating their skills in quilting (Nimble Thimble Quilt Guild members), tatting (Megan Sharp, The Stuhr Museum, Grand Island), weaving (Kelsey Quandt, The Fiber Mill, Stromsburg) and spinning (Kathryn Larson, Plainsman Museum). Darlene Brewer of the Nimble Thimble Quilt Guild also gifted her quilt, “Land of the Free,” to the Plainsman Museum in honor of the Plainsman Museum's 50th anniversary!
★ “Hamilton County: This is US” Digital Time Capsule
Made by B&B Productions, this film was created to document the spirit of Hamilton County and its citizens in 2026. The film had several showings at the 12th Street Cinema in Aurora during A’ROR’N Days weekend in June, and also had additional showings by popular request in July. The film is currently pending release on the Plainsman Museum’s YouTube channel.
"Hamilton County: This is US" film premiere - June 25, 2026 "Hamilton County: This is US" film poster "Hamilton County: This is US" film showing at the 12th Street Cinema
★ The Plainsman Museum’s 50th Birthday
On July 3rd, 2026, the Plainsman Museum held its 50th birthday party! While the celebration was primarily for the museum’s special milestone, the party was also themed around America 250. Party features included a hamburger feed hosted by the Aurora High School cheerleading team, root beer floats and ice cream served in our soda shop exhibit, lawn games, party favors, live music performed by the Hamilton Community Band, and an open house of all our exhibits and buildings.
In honor of the museum's 50th birthday, we also released to the public the audio recording from the Plainsman Museum's dedication day on July 4th, 1976! The audio for the event was recorded by Jack O'Brien and digitized by Connor Kreikemeier from B&B Productions.
At the end of July, the Plainsman Museum also held its annual Charitable Golf Scramble Fundraiser in honor of its 50th birthday! During the golf scramble, the museum was able to raise around $11,000.
HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY TO THE PLAINSMAN MUSEUM!
★ The Hamilton County Fair - “Stars, Stripes and Summer Nights!”
The theme for this year’s Hamilton County Fair centered around America 250 with “Stars, Stripes and Summer Nights!” Some of this year's festivities for the fair featured 4-H exhibitions, open class exhibitions, a carnival midway, demolition derby, special music performances, trailer races, concessions, vendors and more!
★ To the Future!
As time marches on for both the USA and for Hamilton County, we hope that in looking back at our past we can better appreciate the present, and in doing so continue to strive towards "a more perfect union" with one another - both on the national and local levels! It is also our hope that our observances of America 250 have done due honor to those in our past, brought a spirit of celebration and unity to those in the present, and may inspire those for generations to come.
HAPPY 250th BIRTHDAY TO THE USA!
"History is the past telling the present how important the future is." - Tina Larson, Plainsman Museum Executive Director
