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Jazz on the Green's season is over, but thanks to a new venue the event feels like it's just getting started.
After spending 25 years at the Joslyn Art Museum, the Omaha concert series got bigger and better this summer, its first at Turner Park. And organizers want to continue expanding the event.
“It's surpassed every expectation. We're having a grand time with it,” said Joan Squires, president of Omaha Performing Arts.
“It was 25 years at the Joslyn, and we owe them a debt of thanks for producing it for so long. For us, being able to build on the legacy of Jazz on the Green and take it to the next level is just terrific.”
Attendance has gone up after the move to Turner Park, according to organizers at Omaha Performing Arts.
Thursday evening's show, a tribute to the late Omaha musician Luigi Waites, was the last of the season.
The six events this year attracted an estimated 50,000 people, organizers said. They said the park's midtown location, available free parking, vendors, stage and atmosphere were big draws.
And while attendance has gone up, there's still space to grow.
“We've got room for more, actually. Nobody feels crowded,” Squires said.
Retailers at Midtown Crossing, the development just west of the park, have ramped up for Jazz on the Green nights because they get flooded with customers.
“I think it's been better than the retailers thought it would be,” said Molly Skold, Midtown Crossing's marketing director.
By next year, several more businesses will be open.
Délice bakery and cafe, Wohlner's Grocery, Element Hotel, Crave, Cantina Laredo, Republic of Couture, Blanc Burgers + Bottles, Three Dog Bakery and some as-yet-unannounced businesses will open at Midtown Crossing by next summer, increasing shopping and dining options for jazz fans.
“We're about 75 percent leased now, and I think by this time next year we'll be open and running and every place will be full with the rate that we're going,” Skold said.
Earlier this year, Joslyn officials decided that the concerts had outgrown the museum grounds. Some concerts at Joslyn last summer drew more than 8,000 people and were encroaching on the museum's sculpture garden.
Omaha Performing Arts took over organizing the series and planned to move it downtown, to a grassy space east of the Holland Performing Arts Center. In March, however, the group announced that the series would take place at Turner Park.
Larry Frederickson, bassist for the Prairie Cats, has attended Jazz on the Green for years and performed there with the band four times, including this year.
He loves the new venue.
“When I was there for (the Prairie Cats) and the Grand Marquis, I thought the sound was really good,” he said. “It was really nice having a dedicated stage there. You didn't have kids running around in front of you and behind you.”
Frederickson said the location is conducive to fans having a good time.
“They just love it,” he said. “I hope it's there for many, many years.”
Betty Ryba, 65, of Omaha attended the event for about the last 10 years at Joslyn, but she prefers Turner Park.
She parks in the free garage near Mutual of Omaha, and she likes the sun facing the musicians rather than the audience, unlike the Joslyn setting.
“It's great for us,” she said Thursday as she sat in her lawn chair under tree branches south of the concert area.
If she has a complaint about the new venue, Ryba said, it's the lack of shade because of the park's small, younger trees.
Steve Rydberg, 44, of Bellevue said Turner Park is a fitting concert venue.
“It's almost like a natural amphitheater,” he said as he stood in the middle of the park.
Midtown Crossing apartments and condos form a half-circle on the western edge of the park, and the grass slopes down to the concert stage, allowing spectators to sit or lie down and still see the musicians.
Organizers are happy to see the event flourish more than 25 years after its start and credit it as one of the premier events in town.
“I think it's a wonderful treasure for Omaha,” Squires said.
World-Herald staff writer Jonathon Braden contributed to this report.
Contact the writer:
444-1557, kevin.coffey@owh.com
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