Underlying nearly every quantitative discussion of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant is uncertainty about its distance. Here we present optical images and spectra of nebulosities around two stars whose mass-loss material appears to have interacted with the remnants expanding shock front and thus can be used to estimate the Cygnus Loops distance. Narrow passband images reveal a small emission-line nebula surrounding an M4 red giant near the remnants eastern nebula NGC 6992. Optical spectra of the nebula show it to be shock-heated with significantly higher electron densities than seen in the remnants filaments. This along with a bow-shaped morphology suggests it is likely red giant mass-loss material shocked and accelerated by passage of the Cygnus Loops blast wave. We also identify a B7 V star located along the remnants northwestern limb which also appears to have interacted with the remnants shock wave. It lies within a small arc of nebulosity in an unusually complex region of highly curved and distorted filaments along the remnants northern shock front suggestive of a localized disturbance of the shock front due to the B stars stellar winds. Based on the assumption that these two stars lie inside the remnant, combined with an estimated distance to a molecular cloud situated along the remnants western limb, we propose a distance to the Cygnus Loop of 1.0 +/- 0.2 kpc. Although larger than several recent estimates of 500 - 800 pc, a distance ~1 kpc helps resolve difficulties with the remnants postshock cosmic ray and gas pressure ratio and estimated supernova explosion energy.
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