Gov. Pete Ricketts will visit the Legacy of the Plains Museum on Wednesday, Sept. 29 to meet with constituents and partake in an ice cream social.
Marty and Barbara Martinson will be hosting the event. Marty serves as a museum board member and Barbara is the Governor’s chairperson for Scotts Bluff County. The ice cream social will last from 3 to 5 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome, and there are no reservations required to attend.
“It will give people an opportunity not only to meet the governor, but to tour the (museum), if they haven’t been out there,” Barbara Martinson said. A longtime friend and supporter of the governor, Martinson said Ricketts will greet his constituents and take questions from them. She said it was important for Nebraskans to have the chance to interact with their elected officials.
Ricketts will arrive slightly early, Martinson said, in order to tour the museum facilities and outside buildings with Marty Martinson and the museum’s executive director, Dave Wolf.
People are also reading…
This will be the second time the Martinsons have hosted Ricketts at the museum. The first ice cream social event with the governor took place in 2019 and served as a fundraiser. This social will serve exclusively as a way for Ricketts to interact with Nebraskans. He was largely unable to travel across the state last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Now he’s trying harder to get around to different places in the state where he hasn’t been able to travel,” Martinson said. “He’s really excited to be coming back because he loves the panhandle.” Ricketts last visited Gering during an education-focused town hall event in July.
Wolf said the event is one of several the museum has hosted over the years. He said it often serves as a gathering space, hosting the likes of weddings and class reunions. Barbara Martinson reached out to him for dates and they decided on one which would fit the Governor’s schedule.
“We’re very glad we can get people from outside the area to come and see what we have to showcase,” Wolf said.
The community room in which the ice cream social will take place has enough seating for around 100 people, he said. Including the lobby, he said there should be space for 150.
Martinson said she did not know how many attendees there would be, but they should have enough ice cream “to last the first hour, hour and a half at least.” Guests can choose the flavor and number of scoops they want, then load up on toppings.
The event will be free to attend, but access to the Legacy of the Plains Museum’s exhibits will cost their usual admission fee for non-members.