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May 23, 2023 • 13 mins
Mitch Beaumont, Communications Director for the City of LaVista came in to tell me about the LaVista Salute to Smmer parade and all day event this Saturday May 27th! How many times have you seen an ad or heard someone talk about an event, and you wanted to go... you think! Listen here to all the fun details and I am SURE you'll want to go to this FREE event!
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Episode Transcript

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(00:00):
Hi, It's Lucy Chapman with anotherpodcast for you about live and local events.
And I'm really excited about this onebecause a special guest in the studio
today. I've got Mitch Beaumont withthe Government of Leavista. Say it like
that, that so sounds so ominous. We're just you know, we're city
employees, we're civil servants. Well, Leavista has been around for a while.

(00:20):
Tell me a little bit about thecity. Yeah, So Leavista was
founded in nineteen sixty and we werefounded as started as a housing development east
of seventy second Street. So there'sa track of houses east of seventy second.
It was called the House of Nines. If you know the story behind
the house why it was called theHouse of Nines, and it's because the

(00:41):
houses were sold. You could buythem for nine thousand, nine hundred ninety
nine dollars and you can put downpayment of ninety nine dollars and then pay
ninety nine dollars a month. Carpainted two for that No, but but
speaking of paint, if you agreedto paint the interior of the house,
you get a discount. Wait aminute, you mean you could buy a

(01:02):
house equity that was not exactly finished. Correct. Yeah, yeah, it's
it's just you know how the howthe developer was trying to sell its houses.
Um So, Yeah, the Houseof Nines. That's how how Lavista
got its start. And it wasabout three hundred homes east of seventy second,
no tax base, no businesses,no schools, nothing. Back probably
in the seventies or so. Uma group of residents got together and decided

(01:26):
to create an annual celebration of thecommunity. Back in the day, it
was called La Vista Days, andover the years we've we've changed names and
concepts a couple of times. UmSo, back in twenty fifteen, we
renamed La Vista Days to be SaluteSummer the Slut Summer Festival because we had
sort of narrowed in on that MemorialDay weekend as being our our weekend to

(01:48):
celebrate, and we wanted to sortof mark the weekend. It's Memorial Day
for a reason, so we dosome of that. But then it's also
the kickoff to summer, so we'resaluting and we're kicking off summer at the
same time, so we do alittle bit of both. It's a great
annual tradition I think our residents havereally come to look forward to it.
The festival itself has changed concepts overthe years. Used to be four days

(02:09):
in the park with a carnival,with some development and some other things.
We had to sort of pivot onthat through in a pandemic and a couple
of other things, and it's beeninteresting. So last year was the first
time we were able to do afull fledged one day celebration with lots of
live music, car show, lotsof food, lots of games for all

(02:30):
ages, of very full fun oneday celebration. Now we're going to talk
about that, but if people haveto leave and they can't stay with us,
give us just like what time,Win and Wear Saturday, May twenty
seven, PREE starts at noon.All the festivities are on the City Hall
campus. PREDE goes down park ViewBoulevard, but the City Hall campus is
at eight one one six park ViewBoulevard, eighty fourth and park View just

(02:52):
south of Harrison Street. All theactivities are there inside and outside between our
campus and La Vista Quina Mitch.I've lived in small town, small towns
that I didn't grow up in,and they had festivals, and I thought
this is going to be great.I can't wait to get there. I
know La Vista is such a partof the Omaha Papilion, Bellevue, all
of those communities surrounding it. Iknow it's such a big part of that,

(03:15):
and it has integrated, or you'veall integrated so much that it's kind
of hard to say where's Omaha andwhere. So if somebody doesn't live in
Lavista, should they go and bringfriends? Absolutely, you can bring friends
and bring your whole family. Wedo have We really truly have things for
every age. One thing I wouldsay about our festival, it is truly

(03:36):
distinct from any other celebration in themetro area. Part of that is because
it's just one day, and anotherreason is it's free, with the exception
of food trucks. So if youwant to eat off a food truck,
you should bring some money for that, but you have free food. Right
after the parade on Saturday, probablyone thirty ish, we'll have a free
community to cook out, burghers,chips, and drinks completely free. So

(03:57):
if you want to bring the familyand you know you and forward, or
don't want to eat off the foodtrucks, you can do the entire day
for free. We feel very stronglyabout for our community to provide that,
but we also wanted to create uscelebration that was going to be distinct to
La Vista. Doing the same thingthat everybody else does, it doesn't always
fit in Lavista, and I thinkwe've created something that will bring people and

(04:21):
that our residents will appreciate and enjoy. Here, I am trying to integrate
you into Omaha. No we are. We are. We're very distinct and
I love that. I'm glad thatyou brought that up, because it's good
to be distinct, and especially inthese days when you've got others, so
many other things competing for people's timeright now, so much competition for people's

(04:45):
time and money. And this isjust about celebrating community. This is about
celebrating Lavista, the truly special placeit is. You know, speaking for
the employees who work for the community, we're take a lot of pride in
putting this together and there's a lotof men and women who work their tails
off to make this happen. Lavistais a really special place. Well,

(05:05):
let's talk about some of the eventsthat are going to start with the parade.
Will you be there will. Idon't know what exactly I'm doing yet.
I'll find that out tomorrow. Butyou'll be announcing the parade. So
if you attend the parade, thenyou will hear Lucy's voice over the loudspeakers.
I'm excited announcing every entry is thatcomes by the stand, and I'll

(05:26):
be right next to you. I'mexcited about Grand Marshal. Grand Marshal act.
We have a Grand Marshal. It'ssomebody else. Sorry, that job
is filled. My my apologies,No I am leaving into my humiliation in
this podcast. There will be noediting parade. Announcing is an honor and
we are well okay, then whatever, okay, So let's talk about the
parade starts at noon. It startsat eighty seventh and Park Few and then

(05:50):
parades down park Few Boulevard down toseventy fifth and ends. So then after
the parade one fifteen, one thirty, the festival grounds are open. We
have we'll have the free community cookoutthough we already talked about. Then the
car show opens across the way atLevisaquino. They have a beer garden over
there, and then on the festivalgrounds we have another beer garden, so

(06:12):
there's two, and then we havethree fun zones for a variety of ages
and activities. So we have theKid Zone, which is pretty much in
the City Hall parking lot, andthat's got a virtual reality game, truck
play, video games, fine,we've got face painting and balloons, We've
got chalk our carnival games. Wehave caricature artists over there as well.
Wildlife Encounters will be there for twoshows. Wildlife Rescue. They do a

(06:34):
great show. They get the audienceinvolved and you can go up and touch
the animals and it's a lot offun. So they have shows at one
thirty and three. At four o'clockwe have Mister Kay He's going to do
a singing dance sort of thing forsome of the smaller kids. And then
at five o'clock we'll have a magicshow. And then at six o'clock,
this is all in the kids Zone, we'll have the Omaha Show Wagon's first

(06:56):
talent show of the summer. OhI remember that as a kid. Exactly
how long is it? It wasgone for like thirty years, A long
time, long time. So they'vefinally brought it back and they've scheduled a
whole series of talent shows this year, and we are the first one.
Oh that's fun. So that'll befrom six to eight in the kids zone.
Now that's all filled. Talent showhad a few slots I heard yesterday
had a few slots left, butit was getting full, okay. And

(07:17):
as soon as people see this,if they have never seen it before,
which I endure with it being goneso long. Yeah, as soon as
people see this, the next event, if you think you want to do
this, the next event gets signedup, so I think you can look
it up Omaha show Wagon online.So then we have an adventure zone,
a challenge zone. So all ofthese are open twelve to eight all day,
and all of these activities that I'mreading it off are free, okay,

(07:39):
completely free. There's no cost.We get a lot of questions on
social media, how much does itcost? It can't find the information because
it's not there. It's free.It's free, food trucks and beer garden.
That's it. That's it. That'swhat you gotta pay for. That's
it. Okay. So in theadventure Zone, we have a bunch of
inflatables, bounce houses, obstacle courses, slides, and a climbing on they're
all free, lots of free,lots of free. Fund In the challenge

(08:00):
zone, we have laser tag,we have bungee basketball, we have human
hamster balls, paddle smashing, somedisc golf. So that is all from
twelve to eight. All three,Okay, So I'm not done yet.
I know, I know. Iwas going to say that it doesn't matter
how old or young, you aretons of stuff to do. There's a
ton to do. We added aton this year to just try to keep

(08:22):
everybody engaged for the full day.I don't know how you couldn't be engaged
with so much going on. You'renot done. I'm not done. So
inside our community center so attached tocity Halls, so we have a gamathon
going from two to six where youcan play a bunch of a bunch of
games and compete against each other.Then it goes from two to six.
I think you can play as oftenas you want. We also have drop

(08:43):
in pickleball. Oh in the gym, so if you wanted to try your
hand to pickleball, we have thelions Panet's all ready to go. You
can try that in the gym.If that's from two to six, and
if you've heard of this game,it's called nine Square in the air,
sort of like four square and volleyball, but it's all above your head.
You're popping the ball through these openingsabove your head. So there's also a

(09:05):
black light version of that in thedark. So we have a black light
nine Square in the Air in oneof our racquetball courts and that'll be from
two to nine also inside the communitycenter. I don't think I want to
be on this planning committee. Thisis a lot. It's a lot.
It's a lot. It's distinctive.You will not find a festival in the
metro area that does this. Tellme about the music real quick, and

(09:28):
then we have the music. Ohit's not quick. We have acts starting
at three o'clock going all the wayuntil nine thirty. So we start with
guitarist for vets Omaha. So theyare a nonprofit. They do some some
veterans things. They're playing at three. At four o'clock, we have School
of Rock. Those kids came lastyear. They've been a great job.
Five o'clock we have Lloyd McCarter andthe Honky Tonk Revival. Oh sounds like

(09:52):
I like that. That sounds likea lot of fun. Six thirty we've
Matt Whipkey Oh sure, Omaha iconYeah, and then eight o'clock we have
Rhythm Collective will be the sort ofthe headline act for the day. At
nine thirty we will have the Metroareas first, drone and fireworks show,
drones and fireworks. Are you afraidof the drones getting hit? They're not
my drones? Okay, yes,so I don't care. It is safe.

(10:15):
It is safe. There's a companyout of the northwork that does the
drone part, so they'll be umfive to seven minutes of fireworks and then
drones, and then the show finisheswith fireworks again. So the drones will
display different logos and different different Nebraskaicons. It'll be a lot of fun.
And how much does that cost?Nothing? It's free. It's all
free. It's free. I lovethat you've got all these activities, but

(10:39):
that you've also given people if theydon't want to do anything, the family
does, they can sit watch likemusic, absolutely some shows and they can
enjoy it as well. Yes,you can. Set you can be as
active as you want to all day. The Car Show runs over Keno from
one to nine I think, andthen we have. We have another element
here which is the Veterans Memorial Daypiece of this so if we of course,

(11:00):
if we can go into that.So that starts on Thursday, May
twenty five, so that's a coupledays before the festival starts. So it's
our hometown Heroes event. It's onour city, on our city called campus.
We have a Blue Star Memorial andthat is where we pay tribute to
the men and women who have diedfor our country in service to the military,
and so we have a special speaker. We have American Legion Post thirty
two they participate. We also havemusicians from Papilion Levis to high school.

(11:24):
They play some music for us,and then a special speaker as well.
So that's our sort of our it'sour Memorial Day ceremony. It's in person,
but we're also live broadcasting it onour Facebook channel and our YouTube channel,
so if you can't make it andyou want to tune in, you
can do that there. And thenSaturday, as part of the festival,
we have something called Levista Gives,which is a give back to the community

(11:45):
effort joint effort between the city andthe Levista Community Foundation. This year we're
calling it to Love our Vets project. We've purchased the elements of hygiene kits
for homeless veterans and some of thoseand give them to Moving Veterans Forward,
a nonprofit here in the Metro areabased in Pavilion, and they help find
housing for homeless vets and then theywill, as they encounter homeless vets throughout

(12:07):
the year, than they will helpthem along as well. So we have
all the elements for those hygiene kitsand anybody attending the festival that day can
come into city Hall and assemble thoseas well. Oh wow, that is
an aspect that is absolutely unique toLa Vista. It really is. Well,
Mitch, thank you so much forcoming in today. Give me all
the quick details on when and where. Saturday May twenty seven, noon to

(12:30):
ten pm. Starts with a paradealong Perfect Boulevard at noon and then we
finished with a fireworks of drones showat nine thirty and lots of activities,
lots of activities and it's all free. It's all free. So how much
does it cost? It's website.Yeah, Salute to Summer dot org.
All right, Mitch, thank youso much for letting us know about this
and I think you're gonna get abig crowd. I hope so. And

(12:52):
I will be there for the parade. Yes, we'll see there, all
right, Thanks l see take care,
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