2022 Homestead Days wraps up

BEATRICE – Another annual celebration is in the books for a southeast Nebraska community. The 2022 Homestead Days Celebration finished up Sunday, in Beatrice.

"We've had great weather the whole time and no event that I know of that has been canceled due to any weather. Really great turnouts as far as events and activities so we're very pleased overall, with how its went."

The final day focused on Chautauqua Park and Sunday performances at the Homestead National Historical Park west of the city.  Executive Director for the Beatrice Area Chamber of Commerce, Angie Bruna says the only weather threat was some light rain just ahead of, and as the Saturday Homestead Days Parade was finishing.

"Usually, the streets are really filling in by about eight, and nine...but then I noticed at about nine thirty, there's still a lot of bare spots. But, then by the time the parade actually started, it was full. We had a great attendance, not only entry-wise, but for the people coming to watch."

Saturday, Arts in the Park was the feature along with various kids games at Charles Park.  "We ran out of little craft supplies for all of the stations, so it was really well attended. We had over a hundred tie-dyed t-shirts so we had at least a hundred kids who went home with a Homestead Days t-shirt that was colorful to match the event."

Bruna issued a public thanks to all of the volunteers who helped out with the various events….often a challenge to find enough people. She said looking ahead for next year there will be an effort to find more ways to engage volunteer support to help make the celebration go.   "Just kind of looking at the event overall, what events are the favorites, which ones could we tweak a little bit? The car show has been fabulous...we have all kinds of cars being registered and beautiful weather for it. The outdoor movie was great. Maybe we could tweak some things at arts in the park to have different activities that are engaging for everybody across the ages...but still solid things that we've got going on."

Several organizations that participate in Homestead Days are part of an organizing committee for the annual celebration… a core group of about fifteen people.
"My goal with Homestead Days is to grow it as a community-wide event. Let's get more people involved, because the more excited we are, the more people are going to attend....and it's an event that we all love."

Events and displays are held in different areas of the community and the surrounding area, which Bruna says works well because of a large community footprint and the ability to showcase many parts of the community. She says one challenge of that is making sure visitors know where events are located, and how to get there.