Enjoy the Omaha Farmers Market at Aksarben on Sundays (5 May -13 October 13) from 9 AM to 1 PM with food, booths, veggies and more!
Aksarben Village
67th Street & Mercy Road
https://omahafarmersmarket.com/aksarben-village/
Papillion: 3 July, 7:05 PM
Storm Chasers vs. Iowa Cubs with fireworks after the game
Werner Park
12356 Ballpark Way
Papillion, NE 68046
https://www.milb.com/omaha/tickets/single-game-tickets
Ralston: 3 July
-Granary Green 74th & Main-6-11PM
Enjoy music from Swingtones, Nebraska Wind Symphony and Lemon Fresh Day
-Downtown Ralston 77th & Main, 9-9:30 PM
Omaha Circus Arts-Fire Dancers and Cyr Wheel show
Ralston: 4 July
-80th & Highland-73rd & Main,1PM
Independence Day Parade
-Liberty First Credit Union Arena, 9:30 PM
Fireworks
Liberty First Credit Union Arena
7300 Q St.
Ralston, NE 68127
More in Ralston at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/granary-green/independence-days-on-the-granary-green/726300892515659/
Omaha: 4 July, 8:30 PM
Concert and Fireworks
Gene Leahy Mall
1110 Farnam St.
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.omahasymphony.org/concerts/july4
As you know, we mostly focus on free events and this is another good one.
The Melanin Market is a great free Omaha event with many different vendors and is happening at Millwork Commons on 6 July from 11AM to 5PM.
I’ve gone last year,enjoyed it and found some great gift items.
Come out and meet the vendors and support local!
Millwork Commons
1229 Millwork Avenue
Omaha, NE 68102
The Santa Lucia Festival is one of my favorite Omaha events, so save the dates and come!
The Santa Lucia Festival will be taking place 1-4 August.
While every year that I have attended has been great, this year is extra special as it is its 100th year!!
More information at:
https://www.facebook.com/SantaLuciaFestival
https://www.santaluciafestival.com/
Here are some of the locations for the food described earlier:
| New Items | Location |
| Big Kahuna Burger | Burger Burger & Gas Works |
| Crispy Chicken Club | Clubhouse & Stockyards |
| Dinger Dog | Clubhouse & Eat Zone, Gas Works |
| Dinger Dog | Diggity Dawg & Big Hits |
| Everything Turkey Bagel | Eat Zone, Diggity Dawg, Big Hits |
| Footlong Frank & Bean Dog | Diggity Dog |
| Frank & Bean Dog | Big Hits & Stockyards |
| Grand Slam Nacho | Eat Zone, Diggity Dawg, Big Hits |
| Grounds Crew Tacho | Great Plains |
| Home Plate Meatball Sliders | Slice |
| Ice Cream | Burger, Clubhouse, Great Plains |
| Kid’s Meal | Slice, Big Hits, Gas Works |
| Mediterranean Brat | Batter’s Box |
| Moon Shot Fries | Slice |
| NachOmaha | Batter’s Box |
| Out of the Pork Fry | Stockyards |
| Stealing Home Pretzel | Burger Burger |
| Triple Play Pork Sandwich | Great Plains |
| Veggie Burger | Burger Burger |
| Walk-Off Burger (french toast) | Burger Burger |
Please tell us a little bit about your creations and your favorite ones. And I notice they’re very inspired by different ethnic cultures, which is a lot of fun this year.
Yeah, absolutely. We have, I think 12 new concessions items this year, which is a decent amount for us. It’s more than maybe in years prior. But yeah, we like to feature a lot of different flavors and a lot of different…you know, our favorite types of foods. So there’s some Middle Eastern items out there. There’s kind of some Mediterranean things with our gyro and our Mediterranean brat. We have some…definitely some southwestern flavors. That’s very normal for us… jalapeno jack cheese sauce everywhere and jalapenos and things like that. And then we definitely have some breakfast items this year that we’re…you know, we’re big fans of breakfast flavors. Bacon’s great, that type of thing. So we tried to include that in a couple items this year.
I would say my favorite items… probably the Walk-Off Burger, which is a burger that is nestled between French toast. It has bourbon, bacon, onion jam which has some maple in there as well. Cranberry compote, just to add some acidity and some sweetness. And like I said, it’s nestled between two pieces of French toast. So it kind of covers a lot of breakfast slots there.
One I feel like we need to touch on is the Stealing Home Colossal Pretzel. We love having shareable options that you can buy and feed a few people. Maybe, you know, you and a couple of kids and your friends? Whatever. So it’s a giant pretzel—I mean, probably 12 inches wide type of thing. And it has three different types of meat. So we have pork carnitas, chicken tinga, taco beef, cheese sauce, poblano crema, pico de gallo, so southwestern flavors, but just on a huge pretzel that is very shareable, very filling.
And I think I should touch on a hot dog. I mean, we got a lot of great hot dog options this year. We’re doing Footlong Frank and Bean Dog with baked beans on it, bacon bits, mustard BBQ sauce. And then we also have… in that Mediterranean kind of realm, we have a loaded brat with tzatziki, lettuce, tomato, feta cheese. Just have a nice fresh take on a brat. And then the Dinger Dog is a fun one as well. So that’s also more southwestern flavors. There’s avocado, poblano crema, lettuce, tomato, bacon, stuff like that.
So those are probably the ones that are my favorite this year. I can touch on any of them if you want more specifics, but those are the few that I could think of.
You told me before how you could share inspiration, but I always find it interesting. And then each year’s got to be just a little bit different.
Yeah. You know that that is the thing. Every year, there’s maybe one or two things that stick around from the previous year’s menu. And then this year we’ve got 12 new things. So it is a group effort. We have a group of chefs that all work together on these things. We couldn’t do it with just one person. It always helps to have a lot of minds thinking on it. And we have people from different cultures and backgrounds who have some great flavor profiles to work with, so… the Big Kahuna Burger’s got the Asian Hawaiian influence. And we’ve got, obviously, lots of southwestern flavors. But it’s really a group effort. It takes a lot of people to come up with these different types of…
Of the returning ones, which one is your favorite?
Of the returning ones, I think everyone’s favorite is usually the Grounds Crew Tatch. That’s come back for years and years now, so that one’s great. The Nacho Omaha has been a big hit for a few years now. We’ve got like an Italian Meatball Slider and a Home Plate Box that’s been popular for us. So those are the big three, I would say, that are returning. Yeah.
Thank you.
ICYMI, Please enjoy our College World Series posts from this year with more to come!
2024
Please check out our posts on the College World Series and share!
Omaha Interview: Alec Woockman, the Executive Sous Chef at Levy Restaurants
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-alec-woockman/
Omaha Event: College World Series Food Tasting, 12 June
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-event-college-world-series-food-tasting-12-june/
Omaha Event: College World Series- Food Tasting-The Fan Food
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-event-college-world-series-food-tasting/
Omaha Event: College World Series Pre-Game Press Conference, 12 June
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-event-college-world-series-pre-game-press-conference-12-june/
Omaha Interview with Amy Hornocker, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-with-amy-hornocker-executive-director-college-world-series-of-omaha-inc/
Please, tell us about the NCAA and ways that people aren’t thinking of it, because there’s so much hard work that goes on there.
Yeah. I think one of the comments I mentioned during the press conference was about the excitement that these young men will have. It’ll be reminiscent of when they played Little League, right? They’re still playing for their institutions, for their teammates, and that’s still important to them, so we just want to make sure that that’s not lost in some of the other news media that’s going on around name, image, and likeness to (?) as employees. What you’ll see over the next two weeks is young men playing for the love of the game, and that’s what we’re excited about.
I think the balance of all those things is rather difficult to achieve, so…
Yeah, it is. I think certainly there’ll be thousands of fans here watching and cheering for them, and should they reap some benefits from that? And I would say absolutely. And I think that’s the model that we’re moving to.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you came into your position.
Well, I’ve been at the National Office for 15 years now, all in Championships. Prior to that, I spent some time in professional sport and amateur athletics and high school association and the Olympic movement, so all in sport for over 25 years. But just working through various groups and departments and connections kind of afforded me an opportunity to join the NCAA 15 years ago.
What baseball memories would you like to share with us?
Oh yeah, so I was a baseball player growing up and loved the sport. It was my first love. I was a catcher and outfielder…really enjoyed the game. I really like the…it’s a team sport, but there’s an individual component. When you’re in the batter’s box trying to figure that out or a ball’s hit to you and how you have to make a play on that, and other people are relying on you. So I remember those lessons learned playing Little League, high school, collegiate league to understand and have kind of a connection with the young men who are playing now. So, but yeah, I could never have played at the level that these guys are playing at, so I’m a huge fan. I just really like to watch and enjoy their talent and their performance.
I think that’s really key and important, and I’m glad that you’re emphasizing the love of the sport and all of that. It’s hard to have that balance between running it and preserving it.
I really enjoy seeing you year after year and all your presentations, and I’m so happy that this is finally the year I was able to interview you. So thank you.
No, no. My pleasure, and thank you for your coverage and your support, for sure.
Thank you.
A food tasting event was held after the Pre-Game Press Conference on 12 June.
Alec Woockman, the Executive Sous Chef at Levy Restaurants, presented his and his teams tasty offerings for the College World Series.
Transcript of Event by OmahaNebraska.com
Alec Woockman: I’m Chef Alec Woockman. I’m the Executive Sous Chef of the buildings here. I’ll walk you guys through everything we do around here.
So, first, on my right here, we have our Ancho Chicken Quesadilla. This is our house-seasoned grilled chicken, cheddar jack cheese blend, pickled jalapenos, cilantro and a chipotle ranch dipping sauce.
Next is our first hot dog. This is our biggest hot dog. We have a Footlong Frank and Bean Dog. So, this is a 100% beef, half-pound Omaha Steaks hot dog. A combination with hot dogs and campfire baked beans, so we’ve loaded it up with campfire baked beans, bacon bits, diced red onions and some mustard BBQ sauce.
Our next hot dog is our Dinger Dog. Dinger Dog is—once again all of our hot dogs are 100% beef Omaha Steaks hot dogs. This has avocado on it. It has lettuce, tomato, red onions, bacon bits and roasted poblano crema.
Next up, we’re going to talk about our gyros. So, something new this year, we have a portable gyro cart, which we haven’t done in the ballpark yet and we’ll be offering two different types of gyros. So, we’ll have a traditional Lamb Gyro and a house-made Chicken Shawarma Gyro. So, we’ll have both to try. It’s naan bread, house made chicken shawarma, lettuce, tomato, onion. We’ve got cheese and then of course tzatziki sauce on it.
We have one loaded fry this year. Our loaded fry is the Moon-Shot Fries. So, it is crinkle-cut fries, jalapenos, cheddar and jack cheese sauce, sliced kielbasa sausage, bacon and onion jam, which we liked it so much we put that bacon jam on a few items today we’ll talk about, and then some fresh diced jalapenos.
So, next we have our first burger of the day. Our first burger is the Walk-Off Burger. It is a breakfast-themed burger. I think breakfast food, it’s good. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. We don’t have to confine it to just in the morning, but that being said, double headers, we’ll have folks walking around here at 11:00 a.m., so maybe they’ll need something to eat yet. So, we have an Omaha Steaks All Beef Patty. It is nestled between two pieces of grilled French toast. We have pepper jack cheese and we have bacon, onion, and maple and bourbon jam. And then to round it all out, give a little acidity, we have a cranberry compote on there.
So, next we have our loaded brat option. So, this is our Mediterranean Loaded Bratwurst. So, basically, we take the same toppings we have on our gyros and put it on a brat. So, shredded lettuce, tomato, onion, feta, tzatziki. It’s a fresh take on a brat, which you can find, obviously, in any stadium.
So, next we’re going to talk about our shareable option. We always like every season to come up with something that you could buy and share with your kids or share with a couple of friends. So, this is our Stealing Home Colossal Pretzel. So, it’s this giant soft pretzel. There’s three different types of meat piled everywhere, so we have pork carnitas, chicken tinga, ground beef taco, our jack and jalapeno cheese sauce, and our roasted poblano crema.
We’ll move on over here to a few sandwiches here.
So, our last burger we’re going to talk about today is our Big Kahuna Burger. So, this is a Hawaiian-themed, you know, kind of tropical Asian take on a burger. So, we have that same Omaha Steaks burger patty, we have pineapple chutney, teriyaki aioli, cheddar cheese, and bacon.
Two different fried sandwiches here. First one we’re going to talk about is the Fried Chicken Club. This is more of a classic flavor combination, but just a new take on our fried chicken sandwich here in the stadium. So, we have lettuce, tomato, a heavily dilled ranch aioli, bacon, cheddar cheese on a brioche bun.
And the last sandwich, maybe my favorite sandwich among our concession sandwiches, is our Triple Play Pork Sandwich. This is a fried pork cutlet topped with two other types of pork called the triple play. So, there is smoked pork, and then that same bacon jam we’ve been talking about and some whole-grain mustard aioli.
And last but not least for our concessions’ items, we have our Everything Toasted Turkey Bagel sandwich, another item I think you know for our double headers, we have people walking around at 11:00 a.m. for that breakfast option at any time of the day. So, it is an everything bagel that is toasted, schmeared with chive cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and a thick stack of smoked turkey breast. That kind of concludes our concessions food.
We have a couple of premium items too that will be available only in the suites, but I just wanted to touch on a couple of those.
So, we have our summertime fresh mozzarella, cucumber, tomato salad, balsamic glaze, basil. It’s just a nice new fresh salad for our suites. And a new salsa offering we’ll have upstairs is our roasted corn and black beans, salsa, house-fried chips.
And that concludes the food today. So, it’s a lot of concession items and premium things. I think we have a wide selection for everybody out there. So, we’re excited to be able to have all these offerings and hopefully give folks what they want. So, that’s all I have today.
