Rural America Remembers; Highway 77 lined with farm equipment and American flags

BEATRICE, Neb. (KLKN) – From tractors to combines to equipment of all sizes, the message being sent alongside highway 77 is that Rural America Remembers.

Twenty-five years after the devastating Sept. 11 attacks, communities from Beatrice to Lincoln lined farm equipment decked out in American flags alongside highway 77.

The project is the brainchild of Gage County Supervisor Emily Haxby and was first started five years ago.

The night before Friday’s display took full effect, the first signs of remembrance could be seen as Haxby, her children and other community kids helped paint the American flag across hay bales at the side of the road.

The morning of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, cattle producer Taylon Lienemann made sure to bring out his tractor, a truck hauling a skid loader and a trailer to the front of his family’s ranch.

Why? He had this to say.

“The passion that rural America has to support our troops and our first responders, that would be kind of our true meaning behind our display,” said Lienemann.

Although he was just a child when the attacks occurred in 2001, he remembers the terror in his parents’ eyes.

Now, he takes part in the ‘Rural America Remembers’ project to send a message of unity.

“It’s not necessarily to showcase for us. It’s more about showing our appreciation to them and the work that they do,” said Lienemann.

“It’s really cool to see the community put it all together and come together and put so many different pieces of equipment and flags and display the true beauty of rural America and the hard work that we put into it, and now people kind of get a little glimpse into what we get to see every day,” he said.

Friday’s event had equipment lining the highway from Gage County to Lincoln.

“I think that at its core, rural America are just good neighbors. We all stand together when something happens. In every community, that’s how that works,” said Haxby.

She says when she first held the event, her focus was trying to get Highway 77 covered from Beatrice to the Cortland-Princeton area because that’s what she was most familiar with, but each year it continued to expand.

“We had 70 pieces of equipment in that stretch of highway, and it was just, it was almost chilling, [a] goosebump feeling to drive down the highway and see that,” said Haxby.

She began to share the idea with other county supervisors across the state.

Another participant in Friday’s lineup was Matt Langley.

He is the Beatrice Rural Volunteer Fire Chief and brought out his shiny red combine to the corner of Hackberry Road and Highway 77.

“To have this display that we have going on here today, I think is just remarkable. The American flag is just something everybody can get behind. It’s one of the most United Acts of Patriotism,” said Langley.

He told Channel 8 that he still remembers watching the moment the twin towers collapsed on the news and today remembers all who lost their lives.

“Thousands of innocent lives that were just taken in an instant, and the other thing is just to not take anything for granted. We never know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” said Langley.

Haxby says she hopes that the display continues to spread across the state each year.

“It lets people start talking about it, making sure that they remember, and making sure that they’re talking to their neighbor and having those conversations, no matter what political party, no matter what color of combine they drive,” she said.