From Central Nebraska Regional Airport in Grand Island, you are never far from the action, with nearby cities and landscapes within easy reach. Grand Island sits on the Platte River in the center of Nebraska, a railroad and farm town that hosts the state fair and one of the great wildlife spectacles in North America. The feel is friendly and unhurried, with a revived downtown, good steak, and big skies that turn gold at dusk. Standout experiences around Grand Island: - Watch hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes gather on the Platte each March - Book a blind at the Crane Trust in Wood River or Rowe Sanctuary near Gibbon - Walk the 1890s Railroad Town and see Henry Fonda's birthplace at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer - Go to the Nebraska State Fair, held here every late August and early September - Cool off at Island Oasis water park - Eat and shop along the Railside district downtown - Swim or paddle at Mormon Island State Recreation Area - Order a runza, the Nebraska cabbage and beef sandwich, and a good local steak Grand Island works as a hub for central Nebraska. Hastings, the birthplace of Kool-Aid, is 25 minutes south and celebrates it with Kool-Aid Days in August. Kearney and the Great Platte River Road Archway spanning Interstate 80 are 45 minutes west, Fort Kearny State Historical Park sits just beyond, and Lincoln is about 90 minutes east. Come in March for the cranes, when the river at sunrise and sunset is worth the early alarm, or in late summer for fair season. Grand Island is small-town Nebraska at its most welcoming.