Category: Old Market

College World Series Omaha Guide

The College World Series transforms Omaha into one of the most exciting sports destinations in the country each summer. Fans from across the United States and the world travel to Omaha for championship baseball, restaurants, nightlife, entertainment districts, arts venues, breweries, and local attractions throughout the city.

Whether you are visiting Omaha for the first time or returning for another year of the tournament, this guide will help you explore Omaha during the College World Series.

ABOUT THE COLLEGE WORLD SERIES IN OMAHA

The College World Series is one of the most recognized traditions in college baseball and one of the largest annual sporting events in Nebraska. Each summer, fans from across the country and the world travel to Omaha to watch the final teams compete for the national championship.

Omaha has hosted the College World Series since 1950 after local civic leaders worked to bring the tournament to the city. Over the decades, the event became deeply connected to Omaha’s identity and helped establish a national association between the city and college baseball.

Volunteer organizations, local businesses, civic leaders, and generations of fans helped shape the College World Series into one of Omaha’s most recognized annual traditions.

The tournament continues to draw visitors from across the country and world while helping shape Omaha’s national reputation as both a sports and tourism destination.

Games begin 12 June and the official schedule when available will be located here:
https://cwsomaha.com/sports/baseball/schedule/2025-26

QUICK NAVIGATION

About the College World Series in Omaha
About Charles Schwab Field Omaha
Old Market
Blackstone District
Midtown / Central Omaha
Aksarben Village
Capitol District
Millwork Commons
NoDo / North Downtown
Things To Do Between Games
Places To Watch Games
Classic Omaha Food Experiences
Breweries & Nightlife
From Our Interviews

ABOUT CHARLES SCHWAB FIELD OMAHA


Games are played at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in downtown Omaha near restaurants, nightlife, entertainment districts, and RiverFront attractions.

The stadium sits near several visitor areas including:
• Old Market
• Capitol District
• NoDo / North Downtown
• Millwork Commons
• RiverFront parks

The downtown location allows many visitors to explore restaurants, bars, attractions, arts venues, and entertainment districts before and after games.

OLD MARKET


The Old Market is one of Omaha’s most recognized visitor districts and becomes especially active during the College World Series.

Block 16
1611 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://block16omaha.com

Spaghetti Works
502 S 11th St
Omaha, NE 68102
402-422-0770
https://www.spagworks.com/spaghettiomaha

Upstream Brewing Company
514 S 11th St
Omaha, NE 68102
402-344-0200
https://upstreambrewing.com

Brickway Brewery & Distillery
1116 Jackson St
Omaha, NE 68102
402-933-2613
https://brickwaybrewery.com

Clio
1001 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.clioomaha.com

BLACKSTONE DISTRICT

Blackstone has become one of Omaha’s busiest dining and nightlife districts.

Crescent Moon
3578 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
402-345-1708
https://crescentmoon.com

The Berry & Rye
3355 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
https://berryandrye.com

Mula
3932 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
402-934-8734
https://mulamexican.com

Coneflower Creamery
3921 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
https://www.coneflowercreamery.com

Archetype Coffee
3926 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
https://archetype.coffee

MIDTOWN / CENTRAL OMAHA

Midtown Omaha includes restaurants, coffee shops, international cuisine, and locally owned businesses located between downtown Omaha and west-central neighborhoods.

Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant
4422 Cass St
Omaha, NE 68131
402-991-5662
https://www.lalibelaomaha.com

Lucy Ethiopian Coffee
421 N Saddle Creek Rd
Omaha, NE 68131
402-916-9427
https://www.facebook.com/lucyethcoffee/

AKSARBEN VILLAGE

Backlot Taphouse
2110 S 67th St Ste 108
Omaha, NE 68106
402-502-1917
https://backlottaphouse.com

Inner Rail Food Hall
1911 S 67th St
Omaha, NE 68106
https://theinnerrail.com

Grand Patisserie
2283 S 67th St
Omaha, NE 68106
https://www.facebook.com/Omahagrandpatisserie/
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-zied-allam-rafika-oudelha-grand-patisserie-an-omaha-french-bakery/

Blue & Fly Asian Kitchen
721 S 72nd St., Omaha, NE 68114
(402) 504-6545
https://www.blueflyasiankitchen.com
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-joe-kang-and-yi-san-owners-blue-and-fly-restaurant

CAPITOL DISTRICT

Let It Fly Sports Bar
1080 Capitol Ave
Omaha, NE 68102
https://letitflysportsbar.com/omaha

Texas de Brazil
1110 Capitol Ave
Omaha, NE 68102
402-783-1122
https://texasdebrazil.com/locations/omaha/

The Exchange
1101 Davenport St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://theexchangeomaha.com

MILLWORK COMMONS

Archetype Coffee
1229 Millwork Ave Suite 101
Omaha, NE 68102
https://drinkarchetype.com/pages/drop-by-say-hello
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-isaiah-sheese-of-archetype-coffee/

Coneflower Creamery
1229 Millwork Ave
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.coneflowercreamery.com
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-brian-langbehn-and-katie-arant-chapman-of-coneflower-creamery-part-one/

Hot Shops Art Center
1301 Nicholas St
Omaha, NE 68102
402-342-6452
https://hotshopsartcenter.org

NODO / NORTH DOWNTOWN

Slowdown
729 N 14th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://theslowdown.com

Steelhouse Omaha
1100 Dodge St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://steelhouseomaha.com

CHI Health Center Omaha
455 N 10th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://chihealthcenteromaha.com

Blatt Beer & Table
610 N 12th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.blattbeer.com

THINGS TO DO BETWEEN GAMES

Family Attractions

Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
3701 S 10th St
Omaha, NE 68107
402-733-8401
https://www.omahazoo.com

Luminarium
345 Riverfront Dr
Omaha, NE 68102
https://luminarium.org
Omaha Children’s Museum
500 S 20th St
Omaha, NE 68102
402-342-6164
https://ocm.org

Lauritzen Gardens
100 Bancroft St
Omaha, NE 68108
402-346-4002
https://lauritzengardens.org
Arts & Culture

Joslyn Art Museum
2200 Dodge St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://joslyn.org

KANEKO
1111 Jones St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://thekaneko.org

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
724 S 12th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://bemiscenter.org

The Durham Museum
801 S 10th St
Omaha, NE 68108
https://durhammuseum.org

Film Streams
1340 Mike Fahey St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://filmstreams.org

PLACES TO WATCH GAMES

This is just a few of the places to watch the games.

Blatt Beer & Table
610 N 12th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.blattbeer.com

Let It Fly Sports Bar
1080 Capitol Ave
Omaha, NE 68102
https://letitflysportsbar.com/omaha

Crescent Moon
3578 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
402-345-1708
https://crescentmoon.com

CLASSIC OMAHA FOOD EXPERIENCES

Johnny’s Cafe
4702 S 27th St
Omaha, NE 68107
402-731-4774
https://johnnyscafe.com
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-kari-kawa-harding-of-johnnys-cafe/

BREWERIES & NIGHTLIFE

Benson Brewery
6059 Maple St
Omaha, NE 68104
402-934-2928
https://bensonbrewery.com

Vis Major Brewing Co.
3501 Center St
Omaha, NE 68105
https://vismajorbrewing.com

Mercury
329 S 16th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.mercuryloungeomaha.com

FROM OUR INTERVIEWS

“There are no bad days in Omaha.”
— Anthony Holman

“The College World Series is just growing in national profile.”
— Amy Hornocker

“The College World Series is something that I think Omahans love and can’t wait for every year.”
— Mayor Jean Stothert

“You will fall in love with Omaha.”
— Mayor John Ewing Jr.

The College World Series offers visitors the opportunity to experience not only championship baseball, but also Omaha’s neighborhoods, restaurants, nightlife, attractions, arts venues, museums, breweries, and local culture.This guide will continue expanding with updated recommendations, interviews, local coverage, and Omaha visitor resources leading into the 2026 tournament.

Please visit back and learn more about Omaha and the fun things to do here!

Did we miss something you enjoyed? Email us at info@omahanebraska.com and let us know!

Omaha Event: Santa Lucia Festival

This is one of my favorite Omaha festivals!

Santa Lucia Festival Schedule:

2026 Santa Lucia Festival Events Schedule. (Text is below.)

Thursday, June 4

Santa Lucia Festival
5:00 PM – 10:00 PM
10th St & William St
Omaha, NE 68108

https://www.santaluciafestival.com/

5:00 PM Open Bocce Ball Play
7:00 PM Opening Ceremony
7:45 PM Arch Lighting Ceremony
8:00 PM La Banda

Friday, June 5

Santa Lucia Festival
5:00 PM – 11:00 PM
10th St & William St
Omaha, NE 68108

https://www.santaluciafestival.com/

5:00 PM Mark Morello
6:00 PM Bocce Ball Tournament Begins
6:15 PM Santa Lucia Festival Band
7:00 PM Cannoli Eating Championship
7:45 PM Downtown Collective Band
8:00 PM Arch Lighting Ceremony

Saturday, June 6

Santa Lucia Festival
12:00 PM – 11:00 PM
10th St & William St
Omaha, NE 68108

https://www.santaluciafestival.com/

12:00 PM Carmelita de la Guardia
1:00 PM Bocce Ball Tournament
1:30 PM Chicken Wire Band
2:00 PM Genealogy Room Opens
4:00 PM Katy Bisanti and Mark Morello
5:00 PM Patrick McFall
6:00 PM Santa Lucia Festival Band
8:00 PM Finest Hour

Sunday, June 7

Santa Lucia Festival
9:45 AM – 10:00 PM
10th St & William St
Omaha, NE 68108

https://www.santaluciafestival.com/

9:45 AM Member Procession
10:30 AM Vesting of the Statue of Santa Lucia
11:00 AM Festival Mass
12:00 pm Statue of St. Lucia exits the church
12:15 PM Procession through Little Italy
1:00 pm Genealogy Room Opens, Travis the Band
2:00 pm Bocce Ball Tournament Continues
4:00 PM La Banda
5:50 pm Patrick McFall Accordionist | Sunday mass (St. Frances Cabrini Church)
6:30 pm Santa Lucia Choir,
6:55 pm Arch Lighting Ceremony
7:00 PM Queen Coronation and Closing Ceremonies
9:00 pm Benediction (St. Frances Cabrini Church)
9:30 PM Street Dance

Omaha Restaurant Closing: Plank Provisions

This last day of the year is also the last day for Plank Provisions in Omaha’s Old Market.

Plank Provisions is part of the Flagship Restaurant Group and will be replaced with another of their restaurants, Anthem. Anthem is a restaurant featuring Texas Asian fusion offerings.

I tried new items: the Faroe Island Salmon and the Fosters Bread Pudding.

The Faroe Island Salmon was perfectly cooked and seasoned. The pepper coulis was a nice counter balance to the salmon.

Goodbye Plank. You and the leaving staff will be missed. (Some of the staff will remain for Anthem.)

 

Omaha Interview: Katie Chesebro from the Planters Nutmobile.

OmahaNebraska.com Interview with Katie Chesebro from the Planters Nutmobile at Hollywood Candy in the Old Market

Katie Chesebro in front of the Planters Nutmobile at Hy-Vee

They call me Cashew Katie.

That’s a good one.

Yeah, love it.

What’s your favorite nut?

I love the honey roasted peanuts. They’re probably my favorite, but if you have not tried [them] our dill pickle cashews are delicious. They’re so yummy. So, I like it a lot. We have some trail mixes out there. We have new cashew flavor coming out. So, lots of delicious exciting things, for sure.

What brings you to Omaha?

So I guess a little background of the automobile… Me, Tanya and Mason, we travel the United States from June to June. We’re class 10 of the Planters Peanutters. We hopefully will travel 48 out of 50 states. And so, Nebraska, we were looking at where to stop in Nebraska and Omaha seems pretty attractive to us. We stopped here and Hormel (owns Planters) has a plant here too. We were at Papillion Foods a couple days ago. Check out there, and yeah, now we’re just hanging out in Omaha. So, I guess the people [and the] big city life brought us here.

We really enjoy Omaha and glad we are here too. How did you come to work at the Nutmobile and what did you do before?

Good question! So, I actually went to school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison before this, and I was kind of hitting a point senior year where everyone was asking me what I’m doing next year, and I honestly had no idea. And so, an ad came across my Facebook. My mom was friends with someone who works at Hormel in promoting this job opportunity. And I just got so excited. So that became my Plan A and my dream job that I really wanted to strive for. So, applications opened in January. From there I submit a cover letter, resume, a minute long video of why I would be better, which was my favorite part of the application, and a basic application. And from there I went through an interview process and here we are.

What did you say that made you the perfect Peanutter?

So in college, I had the opportunity to put on a couple of bigger campus events as well as I worked at a radio station and was on the road with them quite a bit, talking to people going to various events, connecting with people getting people to smile, which is exactly what the job is, as well. I actually worked at a car dealership for five years throughout college. And so, I think the driving experience really helped me to handle such a big vehicle. 26 feet long and 11 and a half tall. It’s a pretty big vehicle which I think oddly enough of my experience lined up and I was excited about it, which I think made me the perfect candidate to be the next Peanutter.

That’s pretty cool.

It’s nutty for sure…

Gotta have a lot of puns.

Oh, yeah. My favorite I think is every time people leave, I always say ,“Cashew you later.” Oh, yeah, you know, and so it takes a minute for people to get it sometimes, but when they do I get lots of smiles.

We go we try to go to sporting events, minor league baseball games and stuff like that because what more of perfect a combo is peanuts in sports, you know? They’re a good snack. They’re healthy. So I love that kind of stuff.

Maybe gaming and programming competitions, because snacks are really big… What is in your Nutmobile?

Inside the Nutmobile we have six seats. The seats are embroidered with Mr. Peanut on them and a lot of people describe them as like they’re plane seats, but pretty comfy, so we have six of those on the inside. We also have a timeline of Mr. Peanut on the ceiling, so that’s pretty cool. Starts at 1919 when Mr. Peanut first arrived on packaging today with all the different Mr. Peanuts which is pretty fun. I think there’s like 20 on the ceiling.

Wow.

Obviously, cupholders. We have a TV. We call it our peanut bar with what’s underneath the TV as well as we have a cashew closet in the back and that’s where Mr. Peanut sleeps. He stays back there. Yeah, we get to travel with the one and only Mr. P. But that’s about a third of the vehicle. His bedroom.

Why did you pick here? Did you talk to Hollywood [Candy] ahead?

It’s, I mean when we’re in new cities, we just kind of asked people for recommendations. Honesty, the last class came here and they were like you have to check out candy store. It’s pretty cool…We love seeing cool things. And also, if you stop, you’re going  [to] stop and eat candy too. I think we’re trying to help out the local businesses as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Omaha Interview: The Chefs at The Farnam, a New Omaha Hotel

Thank you to Chef Victor Bock (left) and Chef Igor Kokozov (right) for their interviews for our Omaha blog. The interviews took place at The Farnam, a new Omaha hotel on 21 May 2021.

OmahaNebraska.com: We wanted to learn a little bit about you, how you came into the restaurant industry and your journey of how you ended up here at The Farnam.

Victor Bock:  My name is Victor Bock, I’ve been a chef for about 36 years. Done pretty much every facet of the market except cruise ships, primary resort divisions. Most recently I was corporate chef and food and beverage director for a casino company overseeing properties in three different states and the Caribbean, as well.

I have have long standing relationship of one of the owners of Greenwood Hospitality and when this opportunity came up to come out here and do some task force work, COVID had caused my corporate chef position to be eliminated which I know affected a lot of people, of course. So, I came to Omaha back in the beginning of February.

We shared different ideas as far the food concept goes and what they are looking for.  The kitchen was not even built yet. But between Bill Kohl, who was one of the magic partners from Greenwood, and Angie and Jason Fisher, the owners of the property, we had quite the collaboration of what the food was going to be.

I then put together the menus and recipe development and then brought on Chef Igor as the permanent executive chef and we continue from there.

OmahaNebraska.com: Thank you.

Chef Igor Kokozov: Alright, my turn.

My name is Igor Kokozov, I am the executive chef at the Farnam hotel at Omaha, Nebraska.

I start my culinary journey, long, long time, well about 18 years ago and what get me to it is that it has no boundaries. That is why I decide that I have passion for cooking. I realize there is no boundaries in cooking and you pretty much can do and exercise your creativity you know and that is what brought me to cooking.

Also while I join the restaurants and Four Seasons Hotel for fifteen years, I’ve traveled the world, you know, and I have been almost everywhere and that is what  really got me excited. Working with different types of cuisines, there is no stamp, a pattern of knowledge. You keep always learning.

What brought me to Omaha, Nebraska? It’s pretty much that I travel anywhere. One day I just picked up and went to Middle East to open Four Season Hotel and I was thinking why not Nebraska? Is there something wrong in Nebraska? There is still American people living in this state like you go to New York,  Los Angeles ,the cosmopolitan cities, no one pays attention to each other.

Small cities tend to greet you with more warmth. Kind of experiencing this Midwestern hospitality in … since April 15th in my almost a month  you know.

After I came here, I met the owners. I saw Jason and Angie Fisher. I saw how much involved they were in the hotel. Like you see Jason carrying water and he’s doing something. Angie was always taking pictures.

I said to myself when people put in so much heart and soul in something like this, I want to be part of this family, you know. So I brought my family here and we closing on a house on the May 28, so we gonna become Nebraskans you know and that’s the deal right now.

OmahaNebraska.com: You probably won’t laugh (but I know other people but, um, my eyes are starting to tear up) when I finally got my driver’s license that said I was a Nebraskan because we moved around a lot.  I was so  happy I cried.

Chef Igor Kokozov: Yes, it’s a warming city. You don’t see it much in the weather but you see it in the people, oh my gosh.

I used to live in Florida, seven years I used to come out to the door everyone great each other and everyone was smiling you know and this is what I am experiencing here.

One friend of mine he came to Nebraska many years ago. He described it like this, ” It’s almost like a Switzerland you know. People are very courteous,  respectful you know and Swiss hospitality- only in the US!”

OmahaNebraska.com:  I haven’t been to Switzerland so I’ll  see if they are like Nebraskans when I go.

Chef Igor Kokozov:

You should compare Nebraska to Switzerland all the time but Swiss they know hospitality and I think most of the world they follow them. They start the hospitality industry they been there for a while and they know what it is all about.

OmahaNebraska.com:  Thank you

Chef Igor Kokozov: You are welcome.