Cody Park North Platte Nebraska

Cody Park in North Platte Nebraska is a very nice park to spend your time at. The park is quit big and contains many things for entertainment. This park is a very busy park as it hosts many events through the year. The park host an Arts in the Park, then moves to Railfest, then on to Christmas's North Pole. The park also houses the UP RR museum. This is a great attraction for you train enthusiasts. The train museum is only open from Memorial weekend to Labor Day weekend. What a great park to enjoy. The summer months are very busy with family's enjoying the animals that are kept in this park. Want to have some great family time, buy a few loaves of bread and come on out and feed the birds. The Canadian Geese, Snow geese and ducks love to see you arrive with food in hand. Feeling real brave you can feed the 2 small burrows out of your hand or even the deer. They all love to see you with food in hand as they know they have become the center of attraction. During the summer months an organization hosts a kids fishing day and opens the pond for kids to fish at. There is also a camp ground to stay at if your interested in staying a while. The sites are primitive but does have a modern bathroom house to use.

There is a small carnival inside the park that consists of 5 kiddie rides. The main attraction is the carousel. The historic carousel dates about 1913, the carousel was updated in 2004, The carousel has provided excitement for children and adults as well for many years. There are 24 jumping horses, 1 chariot and 1 stage coach in memory of the wild west. There are painted murals around the top canopy that consist of North Platte's history. One of the pictures is of the Canteen others depict the wild west. I can remember as a child riding the carousel but I remember the old Calliope organ playing the music the most. They have had to replace that organ with a one man band machine but it does a good job. You can see people singing and dancing to the music. There are 4 other small rides for the kids to enjoy. There is a ride that is similar to a Farris wheel but instead of seats to sit on it is cages, that way small children can't fall from it. The next ride is a small miniature train. This is an awesome ride it is the Cody Park Express. There is the swing ride in which as like the carousel the adults can enjoy this one as well. And last but not least there is the ride that has cars on it and goes in circles. Kids really seem to love this. A child can ride all 5 rides for $2.00. It is so inexpensive to take the kids for a day of entertainment.

Right after Thanksgiving the park personnel have worked hard and have the North Pole set up for Christmas. There are 9 small buildings on display and lit up for your enjoyment. In these buildings are animated characters and scenes. The display began in 1946 by Leo Anderson of Leo's Floral here in North Platte and called it Santa's Workshop. Mr. Anderson began the display on his front porch and added characters to it each year till he finally built a single trailer for it all to sit in. I remember it all being placed in this single trailer as a child. It was the greatest part of Christmas when we would get to make that weekend trip to North Platte and it was a must to wait till dark so we could drive by and see the winter wonderland in the trailer. The Anderson's displayed the display each Christmas until they closed the flower shop in 1981. At this time they sold the display to the city of North Platte. Santa's workshop then went on display in North Platte's Memorial Park for a couple of years. The city of North Platte decided to move Santa's Workshop to Cody Park in 2002 to allow for more events for the park and the kiddie rides. What a great decision they made. The community waits for the North Pole to open so they can enjoy the events. The events of North Pole are free carousel rides, free hay rack rides, the concession stand is open and selling popcorn, hot chocolate, apple cider and pop. There are fire braziers and you can bring your items to make smore's or just warm up on the cold nights of enjoyment. The parks personnel work very hard maintaining all this for us to enjoy and deserve a huge THANKS A MILLION. Even the parks fountain is decorated to appear as though it is working but it really is only the lights that make it look this way. It is a very awesome winter experience, come and join us if you can. It is such a warm nostalgic feeling to ride the carousel on a winters night. Before your evening is down be sure to stop and visit Santa Claus.

As a Grandmother I look forward to the events at the park to share with my grandchildren, and they love it to. They always ask to go to the park. If you want a cheap way to feed the animals you may go to our local Old Home Bread Outlet Store and ask for a bag of bird feed. For $2.50 you get a garbage bag of old bread to feed the birds.