News Release

Winter Festival of Prairie Cultures Happening Now at Homestead National Historical Park

Come experience homesteading prairie cultures at Winter Festival!

NPS/Robert Hartwig

News Release Date: December 4, 2025 Beatrice, Neb. – Homestead National Historical Park is hosting its annual Winter Festival of Prairie Cultures now through January 3, 2026, at the Education and Heritage Centers.

Special programs will be offered December 7, and December 14, 2025, at the Education Center.

Sunday, December 7, 2:00 p.m. – Cortland Opry House Dulcimer Players: Holiday Music

The Cortland Opry House Dulcimer Players will perform holiday music on the dulcimer. This fretted string instrument, used by some settlers during the homesteading era, provided entertainment in many rural households.

Sunday, December 14, 2:00 p.m. – Paper Moon Pastries: Holiday Baking Traditions and Palmer-Epard Cabin Baking Competition

Lindsey Oelling of Paper Moon Pastries will present holiday baking traditions and offer samples of kolaches and cookies. A baking competition will follow the program.

The competition will include three participation groups: youth ages 7 and under, youth ages 8 to 16, and participants over age 16. Oelling will serve as head judge. Winners will receive $25 gift cards courtesy of the Friends of Homestead National Historical Park. 

For information on accommodations contact Accessibility Coordinator Amber Kirkendall at [phone] or e-mail us.

The festival highlights winter traditions connected to the many families who came to the United States under the Homestead Act of 1862 and established new communities on the Great Plains.

The Homestead Act offered 160 acres of free land to eligible applicants, drawing people from across the country and around the world. As homesteaders settled on the prairie, they brought with them a wide range of winter customs and practices. The Winter Festival of Prairie Cultures features exhibits and tabletop displays that reflect these traditions and how they might have appeared in homesteading communities.

Homestead National Historical Park is a unit of the National Park Service, located four miles west of Beatrice, Nebraska. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Trails are open daily from dawn to dusk, and admission is free. The park has a diverse schedule of events planned for 2025. For more information, please call [phone], or visit https://www.nps.gov/home/index.htm; Instagram (@HomesteadNPS) “X” (@HomesteadNHP), and Facebook (Homestead National Historical Park).

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