When cattle prices crashed during the farm crisis of the 1980s, rural Nebraska faced a hard question: what’s next? For farmers and ranchers near Valentine, the answer came not from the pasture, but from the Niobrara River. In this episode of Building Nebraska, host Rebel Adamson visits with Mary Mercure of Brewers, Canoers, and Tubers to learn how a simple idea to boost local tourism turned into a thriving river recreation industry.

Mercure explains that her husband’s parents were local teachers who saw opportunity in the scenic waterways of Cherry County. “They were on a board looking for another avenue for Valentine,” she says. “They hired a group to do a study, and that’s when they realized the Niobrara River could be a new resource.” What started as a few canoes on the water became the roots of what’s now known as Nebraska’s tubing capital.

Today, that legacy lives on. Thousands of visitors each summer come from across the Midwest to float the Niobrara, bringing a major boost to Valentine’s restaurants, campgrounds, and motels. “They’ve really embraced tourism here,” says Mercure. “Golfing, stargazing, vineyards, local shops, people have found new ways to keep this community vibrant.”

What once started as a survival strategy is now a symbol of resilience and reinvention in rural Nebraska.

Listen to this episode of Building Nebraska, powered by the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, to hear how Valentine and Cherry County as a whole have embraced tourism as an asset to their community.