Lindsay Event Center plans moving forward

Progress continues to march forward on the Lindsay Area Event & Wellness Center.

The committee for the Event Center continues with the next phases of this project.

After the June 29 community launch, the committee held small group informational sessions to answer questions from community members and dig into the details regarding the project in more depth.

“The positive feedback and support for the project has been overwhelming,” Micaela Wegener, Lindsay Area Development (LAD), said.

“The most frequent initial concern that attendees have brought to the meetings is wanting to know more information about flooding and impact,” Aaron Reichmuth said. “After sharing more details about the work being done already to Dry Creek to remove the overgrowth of trees and debris, there is increased understanding of what historically has prevented water from flowing. Spending more time in looking at the Army Corps of Engineers maps on the 100-year floodplain has helped provide context for the reasons for past flooding due to poor drainage. Factoring in the recommendations from the engineers on further improvements to address areas within the 500-year floodplain, which are included in the current $12.9 million project budget, attendees have been leaving in support of the location and desire to move forward.”

“We’ve had the opportunity to spend more time digging into the funding plan and also the impact this project will have on the community, which has also confidence the community has in our group to make this a reality, but to ensure it has a strong plan for a sustainable future,” Jenny Korth, LAD secretary/treasurer, said.

Jacob Hall, project committee member, said, “It’s been exciting to pass along the feedback we’ve gotten from groups outside of Lindsay who also see the potential of our community and have helped validate our business plan is realistic.”

Members of the Event & Wellness Center committee, along with officers from LAD and LAIC (Lindsay Area Investment Club hosted representatives from Nebraska Department of Economic Development and also Loup Public Power and NPPD representatives June 29 to share past achievements, current projects and discuss the plans and needs for the future of Lindsay and surrounding rural areas served.

The DED provided feedback and education regarding various programs and what other cities in similar situations have done successfully.

“There is a lot of programs and partnership opportunities out there. It’s a matter of understanding the business model and how a project your tackling will qualify and where to go to learn more,” Korth said.

“We’ve demonstrated as a community, there is a desire to invest in projects and support the growth of the community. With 36 active members financially investing in the growth of the community through Lindsay Area Investment Club, it’s important to work closely with the other groups, like LAD, to be aligned on opportunities that come up,” Lyle Herchenbach, President of LAIC, said.

Chris Rasmussen, Northeast Housing Program representative, said after her visit to Lindsay that she appreciated the opportunity to visit and tour the community and see firsthand the successes and your plans for a bright future.

“Your commitment, energy and enthusiasm are contagious. It takes a community-wide effort to build the future; Lindsay Area Development, Lindsay Area Investment Club, and each of you are making that happen. Working together works,” Rasmussen said.

What’s next for the project? “Because we have the validation from the community that they are in​support of the project and want us to continue to move forward, we will begin the formal process and discussions will be held with the Village of Lindsay about the location,” Reichmuth said.

He added, “The current proposed site is on village-owned property. We didn’t want to waste the board’s time and energy pursuing if we didn’t know it was what the community wanted, so there were no formal requests made with the exception of the ability to conduct the survey by the engineering group to see if it was a viable option.”

“We have presented the impact that this project can have on the future of Lindsay residents, rural community members and local business owners, but there are additional financial benefits the town itself will receive that this project can bring that we ha

What’s next for the project?ven’t gotten into the details yet, so we are excited to share more with the village board,” Korth said.

In parallel to finalizing the location for the Center, the group is formally kicking off its community fundraising to meet the final match requirements for grants to be applied for in the upcoming months.

“We will be launching more information next month on our fundraising plan, but are working on the back-end logistics to be prepared,” Wegener said. “We will be sharing more information on the project to alumni and a new website to keep everyone informed is coming soon. We also have the ability to take pledges in the form of cash, grain, cattle, commodities and other property and want to keep the process simple and easy for anyone who wants to support.”

The committee plans on holding additional session to share updates based upon community feedback.

No further dates have been set, but if anyone is interested in learning more about the project they are invited to contact Jenny Korth (402) 889-5639, Micaela Wegener (402) 709-7734, Jacob Hall (402) 920-0613 or another member of the project committee.