Buffalo Jones Festival has potential to be among largest of the year

Kudos to the groups organizing the Buffalo Jones Outdoor Festival, set for next June in Barnett Park.

Inspired by this year's HEAR Nebraska event, The McCook Area Chamber of Commerce, McCook Economic Development and McCook/Red Willow Visitors Bureau got together to plan a festival honoring the bison conservationist while filling out a busy Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival weekend.

Our print edition erroneously mentioned a Norris Park location in the headline, while the story was correct, it will be in Barnett Park, location of the HEAR Nebraska concert.

Perhaps Norris Park came to mind because the 2017 date triggered 1917, when the Norris Park bandshell was built, at least according to a note on the back of an old photo published in the Gazette when the structure was refurbished in 2011. A centennial celebration of some sort is certainly in order.

But back to Barnett Park -- the Buffalo Jones Outdoor Festival will help connect McCook with its "Capital of the Buffalo Commons" brand, as well as highlight the wide array of outdoor activities available in Southwest Nebraska.

It would probably take change in state law, but we'd like to see a "wrist band" type system in place so people enjoying the beer garden wouldn't have to be fenced off, like, say, a herd of buffalo in a zoo.

Add a good dose of complimentary "red dirt" style music from headliners and local bands, attendance building on the momentum from the Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival, and the Buffalo Jones Outdoor Festival has the potential to rival Heritage Days as the biggest event of the year.