Four products still standing in Nebraska chamber’s annual manufacturing contest

LINCOLN — Now down to four contest finalists, voting has opened for the third and final round of this year’s “Coolest Thing Made in Nebraska” competition organized by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Of the final four products, two are made in the western Nebraska city of Gering.

The annual bracket-style tournament is aimed at highlighting the state’s manufacturing industry. Final-round voting ends at 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

The winner will be revealed Oct. 29 at the chamber’s Manufacturing Summit in La Vista.

Initially, 16 products representing companies statewide kicked off the tournament after a panel of business and nonprofit leaders reviewed and whittled down an even larger pool of nominees submitted by supporters and workers.

Chamber representatives said more than 20,000 individual votes were cast in the first two rounds of this year’s contest. 

The four finalists announced Wednesday by the chamber and contest co-presenters Pinnacle Bank and the Nebraska Manufacturing Alliance: 

• Modular Housing by Family Built Homes, Gering
• Fresh, Stone Milled Flour by Grand Republic Milling Co, of Gering
• Animal Health IV Fluids by Nova-Tech, Inc., of Grand Island
• Popcorn by Popcorn County, USA, of North Loup