Willa Cather Foundation Events

The Willa Cather Foundation holds a variety of events in Red Cloud annually, including several Opera House performances and gallery exhibitions, our Spring Conference, and the Prairie Writers' Workshop. A biennial International Cather Seminar and periodic symposia are also held in other locales that were relevant to Cather's life and work. Check this page often to see our upcoming events, conferences, workshops, seminars, and exhibitions. Don't forget the easiest way to keep up with our activities is to sign-up for our monthly electronic newsletter.

Fixing the Machinery is a painting with a farmer in overalls and an old plow
Fixing the Machinery, by Karen Thurlow

Webster County Memories
Art Gallery:
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We look forward to welcoming Karen Thurlow to the Red Cloud Opera House gallery for our final exhibition of the year! Born in Red Cloud and raised in rural Webster County, Karen is a graduate of Bladen High School. With this exhibit, she recreates Webster County memories based on family photographs and local buildings, rendered in her distinctive impressionistic style and vibrant color palette.

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Delphos Feed Sack
Feed Sack from Delphos, KS

Thrift Style
Art Gallery:
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The exhibition, organized by the Historic Costume and Textile Museum of Kansas State University, provides a nostalgic view into American ingenuity, sensibility, and optimism during a particularly challenging time of economic hardship and war—the period of the Great Depression and World War II. The reuse of feed, flour, and sugar sacks was a cost-saving and resource-saving approach employed by homemakers to make new items to meet their families’ needs.
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Omaha Street Percussion
Omaha Street Percussion

Omaha Street Percussion
Opera House:
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Omaha Street Percussion infuses drums and dance together to create an upbeat show that is guaranteed to get you clapping your hands and shaking your hips! Household items like pots, pans, buckets, and trash cans are used as instruments to help create an energizing and exhilarating experience that will be sure to get you on your feet.
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One Brilliant Flame book cover

Virtual Author Series: Joy Castro
Author Series:
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The 2025 Author Series kicks off with Joy Castro, who will give a reading and discussion about her most recent novel, One Brilliant Flame. A common thread across many of our literary events this year is the role important historical events play as catalysts for original stories. In Castro's case, the Great Fire of Key West and Cuban independence movements alter the fates of One Brilliant Flame's six main characters.
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In the Country of the Kaw

Virtual Author Series: Jim Locklear
Author Series:
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Prepare for spring with author Jim Locklear! Jim will join us to talk about his book, In the Country of the Kaw, a personal account of the natural and cultural wonders of the watershed of the Kaw (Kansas) River, which arises on the High Plains of Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska and joins the Missouri River in Kansas City.
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Tastydactyl
Tastydactyl

Tastydactyl
Opera House:
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Come out to support Red Cloud's own Wade Maudlin and his band Tastydactyl! In their first performance at the Red Cloud Opera House Tastydactyl will treat the crowd to hits from the 90's and early 2000s.
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