The hottest place in Grand Island today will be the Heartland Events Center, where a bunch of local teams take on some of the best teams in the midwest at the first Heartland Hoops Classic. If there is an ounce of the basketball jones flowing through your veins, this is the place to be.

Outstanding matchups including one of the most anticipated contests in the state with Fremont Bergan boys taking on high-flying Ainsworth. Locally, it is "rivals day," with the Islander boys and girls matched up with Kearney and Central Catholic boys reviving its storied history with Wahoo. Heartland Lutheran boys get to see what Palmer is made of and the Northwest boys get to see highly regarded Boys Town up close. We could go on about the high-caliber of athletes and teams on display today, but check it out yourself. Tino Martinez, the local entrepreneur who organized the event, did a masterful job of coordinating the pairings and making the HEC the center of Nebraska hoops for today. It will be a state tournament atmosphere and a great chance to see the Events Center strut its stuff. And it will be warm inside.

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Speaking of new venues to check out in Grand Island, the pre-school children who attended the annual Bear Fair Wednesday morning at the newly enlarged and renovated Grand Island Public Library could 'bearly' contain themselves as they learned safety and health lessons. From costumes, to tattoos (temporary, please,) to demonstrations about seat belts from the sheriff's department, the kids had a blast. Scrubby Bear from the Red Cross taught them about thorough hand washing. The event closed out with the reading of several children's books about bears by Pam Wetzel, of the library staff in the reading room. While it is just one of many events on the library calendar, it is a classic example of why the facility is so important to the community. It is a place to learn, have fun and appreciate the assorted cultures that can be absorbed through reading.