Nebraska Wind Symphony at Sumtur Amphitheater

Sunday night, the community bands that Sarah plays in were performing at Sumtur Amphitheater.  First the Nebraska Wind Symphony played several patriotic songs and American marches. 

This is a very laid back environment and the concession stand has a good choice of food and drinks.  I asked them what they had in terms of beer and after listing the usual suspects (bud light, bud lime, etc.) the man said they had Lucky Bucket.  I think having a local brewery has been a great benefit to local beer lovers.  While it is not my favorite brewery, it is a vast improvement on the other American light lagers that are the normal fare.

The concert itself was great.  Classic marches, musical numbers and patriotic songs all well played in great weather.  After the Wind Symphony, the Swingtones (a jazz big band) played several standards.  Sarah plays in the group as well.

In the end, this was a great concert in a great venue.  I'll try to go to more events at Sumtur and I am also looking forward to the reprise concert July 4th at Chalco Hills.

Summer Arts Festival

On Sunday, we headed downtown to the Omaha Summer Arts Festival.  This is another in the category of semi-free events.  It is free to attend but you inevitably feel the need to buy food, drinks and art.

The art is impressive.  It is amazing to me that people know how to make intricately carved wood pieces, perfectly blown glass vases or any of the other artworks available from dozens of local and national artists.  I don't know if you have to study to do this type of art or if it is a natural gift that these artists have honed and perfected over the years but one vital component to being a true artist seems to be owning a white tent.

The art is also expensive.  I recently had a conversation with my cousins (who are actual artists) about how we value art.  Yet again, blame Wal-Mart!  People want these unique, often original pieces of art for the price they can find it at a big box store.  Art takes time; art takes talent; art is not something that should be made in a factory to be sold in a warehouse.  We go to at least one of these major art festivals every year (often in Brookings, SD) and I think our goal is to pick up interesting pieces when we can and understand that true art (while expensive) has a great value both monetarily and personally.

As always, Kennedy just enjoyed being outside.  She did okay with the Mexican food we got from Maria Bonita.  I thoroughly enjoyed my burrito but I think it was a bit spicy for Kennedy.

In the end we did get a print for Kennedy's room.  The food was reasonably priced and we got to listen to a jazz combo play on the Luigi Waites stage.  Other than that, we lucked out and found street parking so we saved money there.  Overall, a fun event with a lot of great art, food and entertainment.

Pub Quiz at Slowdown

Pub quiz is one of my favorite events here in Omaha so I might be stretching a bit to call it free.  The quiz is four categories, 40 questions and really a very difficult, random quiz.  In teams of five or fewer, people try to know more about the obscure (and often inane) categories than the other quiz-goers.

Here is the free caveat, if you win then your drinks are free.  We did not win.  I suppose I could have not had anything to drink or, like my friend Julie, only had a soda.  In these cases the even would be free or at least inexpensive but with a great beer selection on tap, that is doubtful for me.

The night we went was the fourth anniversary of The Slowdown opening.  As a special treat for this occasion we had ice cream from the Ice Cream Man of Portland!  Four years is no small feat and if you are not familiar with The Slowdown, it was recently the subject of a Planet Money report on Omaha's revitalization and reversing the trend by attracting college graduates to live and work in the city.

Regardless of the cost, this is a super fun event and I'll continue going, win or lose.

Taste of Omaha & Polish Festival

I hesitate to put these events on a "free" blog since they are not strictly free.  Taste of Omaha is fun event held at Lewis & Clark Landing on the currently flooding Missouri river.  The whole point of the festival is to buy food.

Resturaunts from all over the city have booths and you use tickets rather than cash to buy food.  There we have the non-free part.  To do much of anything like ride rides, eat food or even get your fortune told, you need to have purchased tickets.

Once we had our food and had found a shady place in the grass to sit, that is when the free part came out.  On the landing there was a band playing.  The band was Velvet Crush and this honestly is the best cover band I've seen this summer.  The venue was also perfect, set on the water while we got to sit in the grass under a tree, I don't think it could have been nicer.  This would have been free if we had not bought food.

After a walk over the pedestrian bridge to nowhere Iowa and far too much walking in the sun, we got home and had all set into nap mode when my friend David called saying he was going to the Polish Festival at Crecent Moon.  Again, not a free event but it would be free if you didn't want food (or beer).

I am not sure I can envision a situration where you would go to a beer garden to hear a polka band play "In Heaven There is No Beer" and not actually get a beer.  This is probably the least free event so far.  Cheers.


Next up: Pub Quiz on Tuesday

Sand in the City

Today, we did several things but the "free" event of the day was the Sand in the City sand castle building competition.  The sand castles are very impressive and many of them look more like stone than sand.  We also had the opportunity to see a team of workers actually building a sand sculpture.  It is impressive, tedious work.

There were also a lot of activities for children as this was clearly a family oriented event.  They had sand for kids to play in, face painting, bounce houses and they even had a stage with The String Beans playing children's music. 

Overall, this was a fun event but it was not really suited to a one-year-old.  We also had to pay for parking and if this had been our only stop downtown, it might have seemed like a bit of a waste.  Fortunately for us, this was an event-laden day for downtown Omaha.

Actual cost: $7.00*

*Grandma paid for parking

McKenzie River Band @ Shadow Lake

Tonight Kennedy and I went to yet another free concert.  Talent-wise, this might have been the best band I've seen for free.  The McKenzie River Band played classic rock and country but I think I would describe it as simply alt country.  One thing about the band, and this will make me sound like an old man, is they seemed very loud for the venue.  When you're literally playing into a solid cement hallway, you can turn it down a little.

About the venue: At the end of the day, you're just at a mall. Even if it isn't quite to the level of Robin Sparkles, it still is very much a mall.  This mall has a very nice courtyard area but it does lack places for kids to run and play.  When Kennedy tried to walk around, she often ended up in the walking lanes since every other spot is taken by someone in a chair.

That brings me to my next point, bring a chair!  There are some places to sit but not many and get there early.  I got there about 20 minutes after the concert had started and it was already very full.  We found a good place to stand near the back of the courtyard but if we had been pushed back much further, we would have been in a parking lot.

There was food available and there are also many restaurants since it is a mall.  I had a cheeseburger, soda and chips and it was really good.  They were also selling beer but I was disapointed it was only Bud Light.  I was really hoping to see an option from Nebraska Brewing Company.  I think they are the best brewery in Nebraska and it seems wrong to see people walking around with Bud Light when Hop God is so nearby.

Final thoughts:  I think I would go back again but in the future I'll get there earlier and I'll bring a chair.  This has been my least favorite venue so far though.
Actual Costs: Burger, soda and chips - $5.75
Up Next: Sand in the City - Qwest Center & Concert at Aksarben Village.

Concert at Bayliss Park

Tonight's free event was the first of Council Bluff's "Music in the Park" series.  The band was Stan Galli & Stuff and I think their name pretty-well describes what type of music you'd expect.  Music from the 50's, 60's and a few other random songs thrown in.  As always, you get what you pay for.  They were at least well rehearsed and played their songs well.  Kennedy enjoyed dancing to the music so what more could you want?

Now about the Bluffs.  I can honestly count the number of times I've been to Council Bluffs on one hand.  I however, cannot count the number of times I've made fun of "Counciltucky".  With that said, I was pleasantly surprised by Bayliss park and the downtown Bluffs area.  It reminded me of the picturesque small town squares, think Stars Hollow.  Downtown Council Bluffs is a very cute area and a place I would actually like to visit again.  I will not take back any of the negative things I've said about the rest of the city... they are still true.

Things I learned about this event: 

1. Bring a chair, there are not many public benches that face the band shell. 
2. Bring food and something to drink.  There was a surprising lack of food vendors so if you didn't bring it, you feel really awkward eating it.
3. Parking is actually really easy but there are currently some odd detours on HWY 6... why must every bridge in the Bluffs be redecorated by a crazy person?

Actual Cost: Since there was nothing to buy, I did quite well in this department.  $0.00
Next up: Friday June 3rd at Shadow Lake