As a college town, Seward has a good number of residents who came from other towns to begin their adult lives here – first jobs, maybe children and a first home – before being drawn somewhere else.
Joe and Marilyn Srb grew up in Leigh and Hyannis, respectively, and met at the University of Nebraska, where Joe studied engineering and computer science and Marilyn studied education.
They moved to Seward County when Marilyn taught in Garland. They had three daughters while living in the area, and bought a farm northwest of Highway 34 and Matzke Highway.
After a few years, a job called Joe to Columbus and the girls went through school there before becoming industrial engineers.
The sisters have married and remained in southeast Nebraska. Cindy Srb Tederman, who lived here until first grade, lives in Yutan with her husband Matt, Marie and Cory Kapels live in Columbus, and JoAnn and Adam Haworth are in Louisville.
But the family has kept that farm east of Seward, Tederman said.
A few years ago, when the old dairy west of the farm was put on the market, the Srb family decided to buy it and started exploring ways that parcel of land could complement the eastward-growing community.
Downtown Seward is distinctive and has its own draws, she said.
“It’s taken us a long time to figure out what would be a complement to that,” she said.
The Dairy Quarter, as the family calls it, will be developed into a multi-purpose event venue, offering a new 10,000 square foot building to accommodate up to 500 people.
“It’s a gigantic room,” Tederman said, noting that may oversimplify the project.
The concrete foundation has been finished and Tederman expected the construction contractor to arrive on Nov. 13 to begin the work of creating the building. The Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership and Ambassadors were to be on hand Nov. 18 for an official ground-breaking.
The Srb family envisions a welcoming space for corporate and community events, large weddings and other activities that require a good amount of space in close proximity to Seward.
They have been working with Seward city officials and the SCCDP for awhile, and Tederman said former Seward zoning official Ed Gonzalez offered great encouragement for their vision.
The event building is their first priority, Tederman said, noting that converting a former dairy into an entirely different kind of business has required a good deal of research into regulations. Plans for other parts of the land will come later.
Ideally, they hope to open the building for events next fall.
