Workshop Location
The workshop sessions will take place on the campus of Chadron State College, which lies within the southern boundary of the city of Chadron, Nebraska, with a population of approximately 6,000 residents. Chadron State College is located about 290 miles north of Denver, CO and 100 miles south of Rapid City, SD Highways 20 and 385 intersect in Chadron. For driving directions and regional and campus maps, please visit the Chadron State College website. The city of Chadron has a municipal airport with daily flights to Denver International Airport.
In addition to our workshop sessions on campus, other events will take place in the rugged beauty of the surrounding region. The scenic Pine Ridge of northwestern Nebraska has long been recognized as the most beautiful portion of the state. The prairie and hills around Chadron are rich in pioneer history, and the town was founded in 1885. Fort Robinson, twenty-eight miles away, was once a colorful frontier military post and provides a variety of activities amid its historic buildings, including the Post Playhouse, sponsored each summer by the college’s theatre department. Chadron State Park, the Pine Ridge, the Museum of the Fur Trade, the Sandhills of Nebraska, the Hudson-Meng Bison Site, the Agate Fossil Beds, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and the Hot Springs Mammoth Site provide opportunities for exciting day trips, including sight-seeing, fishing, hunting, hiking, mountain biking and skiing. In 2000, Sports Afield designated Chadron as one of the “top 50 outdoor sports towns” in the nation and one of the four best mountain biking towns in the United States. Outside magazine has selected Dawes County, where Chadron is located, as one of the nation’s top 100 counties in which to live. The climate in the Pine Ridge Region during late May/Early June is typically pleasant, with clear skies and moderate temperatures—with highs in the low eighties and lows in the upper forties.
The Chadron State College residential campus, occupying two hundred eighty-one acres, is bound on the south by the tall, pine-clad buttes of the Pine Ridge. Twenty-four major buildings with more than one million square feet of floor space provide state-of the art facilities for residential students. A highlight in the last decade was the development of the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center, which pays tribute to the western Nebraska native who became one of America’s leading authors—and which will be our “headquarters” for the Workshop and Festival this year. The center focuses on the settlement and development of the High Plains region, including the history of the cattle industry in the C.F. Coffee Gallery. The center houses an archive of important historical documents and artifacts, as well as a state-of-the-art digitizing laboratory, the Kosman electronically mediated classroom, a gallery of rotating artistic and historical exhibits, permanent exhibits on Sandoz and the high plains environment, and the outdoor Heritage Gardens that feature Sandhills and pioneer plantings.
Family Day Trips
In addition to workshop sessions on campus, other events will take place in the rugged beauty of the surrounding region. Chadron was founded in 1885 and the prairie and area around the town are rich in pioneer history. Fort Robinson, twenty-eight miles west, was once a colorful frontier military post and provides a variety of activities amid historic buildings, including Post Playhouse productions by CSC's theatre department. Chadron State Park, Museum of the Fur Trade, the Sandhills dune formation, Hudson-Meng Bison Site, Agate Fossil Beds, as well as the Black Hills and the Hot Springs Mammoth Site in South Dakota provide opportunities for exciting day trips, including sight-seeing, hiking and biking. Chadron has been designated as one of the “top 50 outdoor sports towns” in the nation and one of the four best mountain biking towns in the United States. The scenic Pine Ridge, tracks across Western Nebraska and extends into South Dakota. It is characterized by hundreds of square miles of ponderosa pine forests, meadows, steep buttes, small canyons, minor peaks and numerous small streams. The altitude ranges from 3,000 feet to nearly 5,000 feet and there is an abundance of wildlife in the area and many hiking opportunities.
Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center
The Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center, which pays tribute to the western Nebraska native who became one of America's leading authors, is located at Chadron State College. This will be the “headquarters” for the workshop and festival. The center focuses on the settlement and development of the High Plains region, including the history of the cattle industry. It houses an archive of the author's papers and other historical documents, as well as a gallery of rotating artistic and historical exhibits, permanent exhibits on Sandoz and the high plains environment.