Crying foul about fairs and veterans and volleyball

The first Nebraska territorial fair was held in September 1859 in Nebraska City. The first state fair was also held in Nebraska City in 1868. Next came Brownville and then alternately Lincoln and Omaha until the 1901 Nebraska Legislature gave it to Lincoln, permanently -- or so everyone thought.

The first veterans' home in Nebraska was the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Grand Island in 1887. Based on a number of promises, everyone thought the Grand Island home would be the flagship forever.

The Nebraska School Activities Association moved the state high school volleyball tournament to Grand Island in 2010, based mostly on the fact that Grand Island offered the newer and larger Heartland Events Center for the games. That site trumped Lincoln's Pershing Center (auditorium).

In 2008, the University of Nebraska revealed plans to build the Nebraska Innovation Campus on land next to the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The only problem, the Nebraska State Fair and a handful of historically significant buildings were in the way. The University helped convince lawmakers that a new and shiny set of buildings would attract entrepreneurs to the campus and allow the university to make great strides in research. The Legislature voted to move the fair to Grand Island. Several citizens filed a legal challenge that was ultimately rejected by a lower court and then the Nebraska Supreme Court. A petition drive for a referendum to reverse the action also failed.

Score two for Grand Island. The State Fair AND the state volleyball tournament. The state allocated $42 million to construct new facilities in Grand Island at the legendary Fonner Park and 109 years of Lincoln tradition was little more than a memory. Construction of seven new buildings was completed and the 2010 Nebraska State Fair opened to rave reviews in the new venue. By all accounts, the first state volleyball event outside of Lincoln in 18 years was also a success. Meanwhile back in Lincoln, neither the NSAA Board nor the Lincoln City Council donned orange t-shirts and whined about Grand Island's victories. They didn't show up at the opening of either new event in Grand Island wearing said shirts to let the public see they were eating sour grapes. Grand Island had won fair-and-square and life went on for the citizens of Nebraska.

The edge came off the euphoria in Hall County a couple years ago when a long-running feud among Nebraska veterans' leaders came to a boil and likely caused the state to look at alternative locations for a new veterans' home to replace the aging facility in Grand Island. The lid blew off in July when Gov. Dave Heineman announced that he had reviewed reports from a special study team and picked Kearney as the new location of the state's flagship veterans' home. As if that wasn't enough, Grand Island's other tri-city rival, Hastings, came in second place behind Kearney. Grand Island was third.

Pointing to the home's 126-year history in Grand Island, only 17 years longer than the state fair had been in Lincoln, State Senator Mike Gloor of Grand Island said, "You're basically taking part of the culture of the community and yanking it out."

So it was that Grand Island city leaders and about 100 others donned orange shirts and heckled the governor during opening remarks of this year's State Fair in their city. Some charged that there were secret meetings with Kearney. Kearney Mayor Stan Clouse said he didn't know that the Grand Island home was slated to be replaced until he heard from the disgruntled veterans groups. He said the city then inquired as to whether the state would even consider other locations and was told that state officials hadn't thought much about seeking proposals for the 225-bed home and 350 jobs. Spokesmen for both Heineman's office and the state Department of Health and Human Services said that's when they made a decision to open the process to other central Nebraska communities. Grand Island, Kearney, Hastings and North Platte submitted proposals in June.

In July, a motion to move the state volleyball tournament was settled in two sets. A motion to keep it in Grand Island for three more years failed. A motion to move it back to Lincoln for three years passed unanimously.

Lincoln's bid included the new and shiny Pinnacle Bank Arena and the renovated Bob Devaney Sports Center, which is now the home of the Nebraska volleyball team. Grand Island made a similar offer for free venues. In the end, it came down to the venue and it appears that Lincoln's new and shiny won the day.

It's hard to say what will happen when the new wears off the State Fair in Grand Island. But it might be a good time to be an orange T-shirt vendor.