McCook as 'Capital of Buffalo Commons'

"Why," you wonder, "did you guys pick 'Capital of the Buffalo Commons' as the brand for the McCook area?"

Good question. As a guy who has lived through McCook's ups and downs during the past quarter of a century, let me do my best to explain.

It all started in the early 1990s in the McCook High School Auditorium. A big crowd gathered there to hear from the Poppers -- Frank and Deborah -- a pair of professors from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Why, we don't know, but for some reason the husband-and-wife Popper team took it upon themselves to tell us how to run our business. Here, paraphrased, is what they said: "This place where you live -- the stretch of plains reaching from Texas to the Dakotas -- is not fit for human habitation and should be de-populated and de-privatized and turned back into a place for the buffalo to roam." No kidding. That, in essence, was the the Poppers message to the world, most especially to us folks who call the Golden Plains our home.

As you might imagine, the Poppers' idea -- to de-privatize and de-populate the Plains -- didn't sit well with the folks who settled this land in the 1800s and have made it our home ever since.

We ain't saying it was easy, but -- with grit, gumption and God's guidance -- we have persevered for more than a century, managing to build farms, ranches and towns on this land that the Poppers have written off as both desolate and doomed.

"Not so fast, Mr. and Mrs. Popper," screamed we people who love this land. "We're not only going to stay, we're going to show you why this area -- which you portray as unfit for humans -- is not only worth saving, it is worth celebrating."

That -- in a few words -- is why we picked "The Buffalo Commons" as our new brand. We are kicking dust into the Poppers' faces, making fun of their foolish fantasy to de-populate the plains. Instead of running away, we decided to re-commit ourselves to making this area the best place it can possibly be.

Our 'Buffalo Commons' ... the place we live and love ... is not a place to exit, it is a place to excel ... to devote ourselves to making as good and glorious as our hearts and minds allow.

The Poppers wanted us, the people of the Golden Plains, to fade away; but, instead, we are arising, harnessing our pride and our passion to help carry 'The Buffalo Commons' forward into a future filled with progress and promise.

Just before McCook was founded as a railroad town in 1882, American Bison roamed this land in huge herds, even attracting a Russian prince, the Grand Duke Alexis, to come hunt with Buffalo Bill in what is now northwestern Hayes County in 1873. Later -- in the 1890s -- Buffalo Jones established a ranch on the northeastern edge of McCook -- near where the airport is now situated -- to start reviving the species which had been decimated by widespread rifle hunting of the massive mammal in the late 1880s.

Together those two truths -- the bison presence in-and-around McCook and the Poppers' unintended, but appropriate, naming of this area -- gives us the right and the privilege to declare -- now and forever more -- our new nickname: "McCook: Capital of the Buffalo Commons."

From this point forward, we will not only acknowledge the title, "McCook: Capital of the Buffalo Commons," on a year-round basis, we will also expand the annual Buffalo Commons Festival to show America why we are so very, very proud to proclaim our pride in being the "Capital of the Buffalo Commons."

We have always had Bison Pride, as the mighty mammal is the symbol of our high school sports teams. Now that pride is spreading, extending to citizens throughout the Golden Plains of America. We are the Buffalo Commons, home of America's National Mammal.

Like the Bison, we are big ... we are fast ... and we are strong. Be ready, America. We're starting a stampede of action and awesomeness.