KIMBALL - The town and county of Kimball in the panhandle may look like a stop along a major interstate, but its many events and attractions have brought in thousands from around the country and the world.

Jessica Rocha is the Kimball County Tourism Director and mentioned a few upcoming events drawing people to the area.

“We have a variety of different things happening,” Rocha said. “On the second of July, the Dix Volunteer Fire Department is holding a hamburger feed,  there’s also a movie in the park, and for Fourth of July, connect Kimball is having the events in the park again this year,  so they’ll be having some craft things for the kids, truck rides with the fire department, watermelon eating and everything that goes along with that.”

In addition to the 14 different events Kimball County has planned through September, unique features of the area are also a draw. Rocha says she’s seen the number of visitors increase, not only in amount, but also in location.

“We have seen quite a few people coming in,” Rocha said. “Numbers are going up through the summer, which they normally do, but we’ve also been happy to see numbers going up with international travelers, some from South Africa, quite few Canadians coming through, doing tours of the U.S. which has been fun.”

When it comes to some of those features that do draw people in, it relates to the uniqueness of the Nebraska panhandle as a whole.

“People just don’t realize the open spaces that we have,” Rocha said. “We’ve had people come all the way from New York who have never seen the stars before… Being able to offer people a little bit of nature, a little bit of reprieve, is really a wonderful thing.”