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Topping off celebration was a piece of cake
- and then some
BY BOB GLISSMANN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
The ingredients for Omaha's 150th birthday bash this weekend came
together better than organizers expected.
Pleasant July weather, peaceful crowds, outstanding entertainment and a
greater turnout than anticipated created a nearly flawless celebration,
said Bruce Lauritzen, chairman and CEO of First National Bank, who was
chairman of the event.
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Hy-Vee workers cut the giant birthday cake Sunday.
Photo by Josh Laura Inns/The World-Herald |
"The weather was
spectacular. The quality of the events was impressive. And the size of
the crowds far exceeded my expectation," Lauritzen said Monday.
Mayor Mike Fahey agreed.
"We so underestimated the crowds," Fahey said Sunday. "I was just
bowled over. It's been the highlight of my experience as mayor."
Lauritzen was pleased to see some 150,000 spectators for Saturday's
fireworks display.
"It excites me to see our downtown so alive with people, the way it
once was," Lauritzen said.
He offered only two suggestions for future downtown celebrations: more
parking and more portable bathrooms.
"If we are going to bring more people downtown for such events in the
future, we need more bathroom facilities and parking for them," he
said. "Downtown merchants and vendors were doing gangbuster sales."
On Sunday, Omaha's 150! planners whipped up six times more birthday
cake than people to eat it at the Qwest Center.
But that says more about the overwhelming size of the cake - roughly 30
feet by 45 feet - than the number of people who attended the finale of
the formal three-day celebration.
Fahey said the city didn't expect crowds as large as the 35,000 people
who went to Friday night's concert in Memorial Park or the 150,000
attracted by Saturday night's fireworks and concert at Heartland of
America Park.
"People were out on their front porches as far out as 50th and 60th
Streets in Omaha and in parking lots in Council Bluffs to see the
fireworks along the river," the mayor said.
Organizers estimated that 15,000 people participated Sunday, including
6,000 who stopped by the Qwest Center.
"We wanted to have opportunities for people to go and do a bunch of
different events," Fahey said. "We tried not to leave anybody out."
As crowds filled the Qwest Center lobby, perching on stairways and
landings three stories high for a look at the massive cake, little Ali
and Jenny Fisher sang a version of "Omaha, I Love You."
The 32-voice Opera Omaha Chorus performed the song later at three
venues in the city.
Even after cutting 4- by-4-inch pieces - twice the standard size at
weddings - servers from Hy-Vee Food Stores ended up with six times as
much cake as people to consume it.
"We were asked to create a cake to fill enough of the space in the
Qwest Center lobby to look impressive," said Brian Moon, a Hy-Vee store
director in Council Bluffs. "So we've got 39,000 pieces of cake. We
couldn't get that many people through the lobby in four hours."
When the party was over, volunteers from Omaha shelters picked up the
33,000 pieces of leftover cake. Hy-Vee said Monday that every piece of
cake found a home.
The commemorative coins made to mark the anniversary can still be
ordered for $35 each by calling Vic Gutman and Associates at 345-5401.
Additional outlets will be available next week, Gutman said Monday.
Ollie the Trolley and buses took people to several other sites, open
free Sunday afternoon. Each site reported a brisk crowd, including
4,000 at the Rose Blumkin Performing Arts Center.
People flocked to a variety of sites.
Kyle Fountain, 13, of Omaha learned a few things at the Gen. Crook
House.
"Kyle learned about hunting buffalo, but he actually got to weave
yarn," said Elizabeth Fountain, his mother. "Now we're heading to the
Rose Theater and the 20th Street Kids Escape."
The Kids Escape was a tight squeeze as hundreds of families gathered on
the street outside the Omaha Children's Museum.
Children crawled through a giant centipede or rode a vintage 1940s toy
train as their parents videotaped them.
Inside the museum, some children eagerly ran up to pet Mother Goose,
portrayed by Janeve West of Lincoln, while others shied away.
The 1,500 visitors at the Durham Western Heritage Museum represented
more than twice the regular crowd, said weekend manager Melissa Strong.
Jeremy and Maureen Wren of Omaha said they were taking their daughters,
Josette, 6, and Julianna, 3, to places they otherwise couldn't afford.
"They loved the soda fountain at Western Heritage and had fun at the
Rose Theater," Maureen Wren said. "Now we'll have to get tickets for
the theater."
At the Omaha Building at 17th and Farnam Streets, Noah Stump, 4, and
Timothy Herek, 5, left their artwork in chalk on the sidewalk. Inside,
650 filed through to learn about Omaha's history.
At Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha's Botanical Center, 7-year-old Nicholas
Odorisio of Fort Calhoun, Neb., was engaged in the art of flower
pressing.
"I think that's going to be beautiful," said his mother, Pam Odorisio.
At the outdoor refreshment stand, volunteer Mary Sobaski wore a straw
hat and handed out free lemonade, homemade sugar cookies and dill
pickles to some of the 2,000 in attendance.
More than 900 visitors toured the World-Herald Freedom Center to see
the newspaper's printing facility and walk past the 1948 "newsroom
wall" to see memorabilia from newspaper history.
Historian Howard Hamilton gave presentations and signed his book about
Omaha at the W. Dale Clark Library downtown. Jackie Buchta of south
Omaha stopped by to buy a copy, bringing sons Zachary, 8, and Nick, 12.
The boys created a map of downtown Omaha's historic buildings as the
library mascot, Scamper the Prairie Dog, greeted families.
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