Welsh Heritage Centre in Wymore, getting tourism funding toward expansion

BEATRICE – A cultural center in southeast Nebraska is getting a lodging tax revenue boost, toward an expansion project.

The Gage County Board Wednesday approved a $25,000 Visitors Improvement grant to help the Welsh Heritage Center in Wymore, expand its space.
Gage County Tourism Director Dakota Hurley says the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Centre is a museum in need of more room.

Gwen Colgrove, the President of the Welsh Heritage Centre, said the center is a one-of-a-kind attraction about Welsh settlement in the U.S. "We have grown substantially since 2001. Last year, we brought the National Festival of North America, of Welsh people, to Lincoln. And, they also came, of course to the Homestead and came down to our museum. They saw that we were in dire need of expansion, because we are getting so many one-of-a-kind items contributed to us from Wales, from Canada and throughout the United States. So, from those people coming to see what we are doing down there in Wymore, we decided we needed to expand by 2,200 square feet."

The expansion would be onto the south side of the museum, on property already owned by the Heritage Center. "Right now, we are in the process of raising $175,000 to complete this project."

Hurley says the attraction brings tourism to the area….and a new separate project…..the Heritage Inn across the street, will have its ribbon-cutting on Thursday, September 26th.

Colgrove says the fundraising process for the expansion is at the $75,000 level, having just recently started. "It will happen. We raised $100,000 for the archive....and not a problem."

Gage County Board member Don Schuller, whose district includes Wymore…invites people to visit both the museum and the new Inn. "But if you go and visit it, you really get an idea of what's happening there, and see how crowded the Welsh Center is. It is very well kept, it is very organized, but it is crowded. And, it would be a big improvement for them to be able to expand."

Colgrove says the museum preserves historical items that are kept in an environment-controlled area. The current museum is about four-thousand square feet….and would add half that amount in additional space.  County supervisor Gary Lytle described the attraction as remarkable, and a good recipient for lodging tax revenue support. The board approved the grant on a 7-0 vote.