A documentary featuring a revival of the North Platte Canteen will premier at the Fox Theatre in early-May.

In mid-June of 2018, Amanda Connick, the Group Tour Specialist for the North Platte / Lincoln County Visitors Bureau fielded a request from a tour operator for suggestions of where to feed more than 700 soldiers being transported back to Arkansas from training in Wyoming. North Platte’s heritage of hospitality inspired Amanda to invite the community to participate in a revival of the North Platte World War II Canteen to serve these heroes.

What followed was magical. More than 400 townspeople greeting more than 700 astonished soldiers with waving flags, signs, banners, cheers, applause, lots and lots of food and birthday cakes.

This incredible accomplishment mirrored in a small way the World War II effort that served more than six million service men and women from Christmas Day 1941 through April 1, 1946. Many national news outlets picked up the story and notes of appreciation and donations came pouring in from all over America.

To commemorate the 2018 Canteen Revival, the North Platte / Lincoln County Visitors Bureau commissioned a documentary film about the event and its inspiration, the original World War II Canteen. The documentary will premiere on May 9 at 7:00 pm at the Fox Theatre. The public is invited to attend. Those who participated in the Canteen Revival may very well see themselves in the film.

Admission is by a free-will donation. The suggested donation is $5.00 per person and the proceeds will benefit the Canteen exhibit at the Lincoln County Historical Museum. Patrons will have the opportunity to see the gift of appreciation the National Guardsmen and women created for the community of North Platte.

Commemorative Canteen prints, the Jim Reisdorff Canteen book and the North Platte Telegraph ‘Canteen – As It Happened’ book will be available for sale with some of the proceeds benefiting the Lincoln County Historical Museum.