Sometimes the best opportunities are the ones you never saw coming.
That’s happening right now in Rushville, Nebraska, a small community in northwest Nebraska that has suddenly found itself in the spotlight thanks to HBO’s Lanterns, a new superhero series featuring the Green Lantern.
The Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force in DC Comics that features John Stewart and Hal Jordan. Members are assigned to patrol one of 3,600 sectors in the universe. Every Green Lantern gets a power ring that runs on the user’s willpower and must be recharged every 24 hours or so by lantern-shaped batteries.
While the show was not filmed in Rushville, the community is part of the storyline. Viewers see recognizable pieces of the community, including its water tower, Main Street and other familiar landmarks. The connection comes from Lanterns executive producer Tom King, who’s late
paternal grandparents, Lloyd King and Virginia (Swanson) King, were from Rushville — a town of 877.
Economic development is often about being prepared to recognize an opportunity when it appears. Or in Rushville’s case, a Hollywood superheroes show that puts your town in front of an audience nobody expected. In the end, it’s about paying attention and being ready to act.
For Rushville, that means making it easy for visitors to find the community, giving them a reason to stop, supporting local businesses and creating experiences that encourage them to stay a little longer. It is about giving them something worth experiencing once they arrive.
What you have to offer is what makes them remember you. You never know when your community might get its unexpected moment in the spotlight.
Rushville is a retail-served customer of Nebraska Public Power District.
Written by: Sara Groteluschen, NPPD Economic Development Specialist
Rushville’s grain elevator and water tower are seen at sunset