Our Town Kearney: The Archway finally makes a profit

Many cities in Nebraska rely on tourism dollars for revenue. The Nebraska Tourism Commission says it's the state's third largest industry.

Stretching 310 ft over I-80, The Archway is something you can't miss passing by Kearney.

Built in 2000 by the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, the archway in Kearney was meant to be an attraction for tourism but it wasn't until 2017 that it became profitable.

Archway managers says initial projections for visitors were off and in 2013, The Archway had to go through bankruptcy, making them no longer having to make payments on the loans to build the 60 million dollar exhibit.

Mark Foradori with The Archway, says the gift shop is one of the things that helped boost revenue. They also expanded other ways to gather revenue like renting out spaces and outside picnic areas.

To save costs, The Archway also changed their lighting to LED lights. They say it cut their energy bill by 16 percent, saving them thousands of dollars.

The archway says it had around 57,000 visitors last year. They add that the eclipse was one thing that helped with that. They hope they can be profitable again for the 2018 fiscal year.

Note: Horseback riding in this story was at Christine's Horseback Riding located a few miles north of Kearney.

Website: https://www.christineshorsebackriding.com