North Platte Canteen Festival Celebrates 80 Years Since Canteen's Open
By Aaron Bonderson 
, Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
Dec. 17, 2021, 4:21 p.m. ·
On Saturday, the North Platte Canteen Festival celebrates 80 years since the railroad pit stop was conceived. World War II soldiers passed through the canteen while waiting in the western Nebraska town for their next train.
Amanda Connick with the North Platte Visitors Bureau said musical performances will catalog stories of the 12,000 volunteers within the North Platte community who served meals and refreshments for the soldiers.
“It’s going to be more of a vignette sort of performance where you’re going to hear personal stories of people that were a part of this that I think people are really going to relate to,” Connick said. “You’re going to hear that they’re actually people. They’re not just names in a history book.”
Connick said the event shows how people are still willing to volunteer their time, much like individuals from 80 years ago.
For more than four years during World War Two, the North Platte Canteen served 6 million soldiers.