Homestead Days festivities finish up a hot weekend

BEATRICE – Homestead Days 2025 made it through an extreme heat warning over the weekend, still drawing thousands to activities in the Beatrice area and at the Homestead National Historical Park.
"It's been fun. We've been hot, but we made a few adjustments to a couple of events. People are still coming out."

As temperatures hit the upper 90s to low 100s…accompanied by strong winds, an annual car show at Chautauqua Park was expected to draw around 100 entries as events shifted to the park for the final day of the celebration.

Executive Director of the Beatrice Area Chamber of Commerce, Angie Bruna says the high heat prompted a schedule adjustment to activities as Charles Park, on Saturday.  "Our outdoors, we moved into the BPS building...the Admin Building gym. It worked out pretty well. The bounce houses were all in there...the arts in the park and we still had our climbing rock wall, so we still did it....we just modified it, a little bit."

This was the final time Bruna will lead coordination of a Homestead Days Celebration as the head of the chamber. She and her family will be moving to Papillion, where she has taken a job doing foundation work…meeting with the public along with event planning.  Bruna says to put on a celebration like Homestead Days, it takes upwards of a hundred volunteers when you consider chamber, Main Street, organizational and national park-sponsored events.

"They all are volunteer-driven. Most of the activities planned....it's not like the staff executing the events, so just pick one of the things and give your effort toward it. We're super grateful for our volunteers that do come out. We have our great boards from the different groups that get together...we have a great partnership with the City of Beatrice to make it all happen. It's definitely not something that our small staff at the chamber can make it come to life on our own."

Those with suggestions for future events as part of Homestead Days….keep one thing in mind..."If you bring the idea, make sure you bring the support to make it happen, too. We're always looking to evolve Homestead Days, because the same events we would have done twenty years ago aren't necessarily the ones we're still doing. Sometimes, we'll do throwback events, too. If you have ideas and would like to see something come together, definitely get in touch with the group and we can see what we can work out."

One of the final events of the Homestead Days celebration was the duck race outside the Big Blue Water Park…..a fundraiser that helps keep the celebration going.