Category: Omaha interview

Omaha Interview: Katie Chesebro from the Planters Nutmobile.

OmahaNebraska.com Interview with Katie Chesebro from the Planters Nutmobile at Hollywood Candy in the Old Market

Katie Chesebro in front of the Planters Nutmobile at Hy-Vee

They call me Cashew Katie.

That’s a good one.

Yeah, love it.

What’s your favorite nut?

I love the honey roasted peanuts. They’re probably my favorite, but if you have not tried [them] our dill pickle cashews are delicious. They’re so yummy. So, I like it a lot. We have some trail mixes out there. We have new cashew flavor coming out. So, lots of delicious exciting things, for sure.

What brings you to Omaha?

So I guess a little background of the automobile… Me, Tanya and Mason, we travel the United States from June to June. We’re class 10 of the Planters Peanutters. We hopefully will travel 48 out of 50 states. And so, Nebraska, we were looking at where to stop in Nebraska and Omaha seems pretty attractive to us. We stopped here and Hormel (owns Planters) has a plant here too. We were at Papillion Foods a couple days ago. Check out there, and yeah, now we’re just hanging out in Omaha. So, I guess the people [and the] big city life brought us here.

We really enjoy Omaha and glad we are here too. How did you come to work at the Nutmobile and what did you do before?

Good question! So, I actually went to school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison before this, and I was kind of hitting a point senior year where everyone was asking me what I’m doing next year, and I honestly had no idea. And so, an ad came across my Facebook. My mom was friends with someone who works at Hormel in promoting this job opportunity. And I just got so excited. So that became my Plan A and my dream job that I really wanted to strive for. So, applications opened in January. From there I submit a cover letter, resume, a minute long video of why I would be better, which was my favorite part of the application, and a basic application. And from there I went through an interview process and here we are.

What did you say that made you the perfect Peanutter?

So in college, I had the opportunity to put on a couple of bigger campus events as well as I worked at a radio station and was on the road with them quite a bit, talking to people going to various events, connecting with people getting people to smile, which is exactly what the job is, as well. I actually worked at a car dealership for five years throughout college. And so, I think the driving experience really helped me to handle such a big vehicle. 26 feet long and 11 and a half tall. It’s a pretty big vehicle which I think oddly enough of my experience lined up and I was excited about it, which I think made me the perfect candidate to be the next Peanutter.

That’s pretty cool.

It’s nutty for sure…

Gotta have a lot of puns.

Oh, yeah. My favorite I think is every time people leave, I always say ,“Cashew you later.” Oh, yeah, you know, and so it takes a minute for people to get it sometimes, but when they do I get lots of smiles.

We go we try to go to sporting events, minor league baseball games and stuff like that because what more of perfect a combo is peanuts in sports, you know? They’re a good snack. They’re healthy. So I love that kind of stuff.

Maybe gaming and programming competitions, because snacks are really big… What is in your Nutmobile?

Inside the Nutmobile we have six seats. The seats are embroidered with Mr. Peanut on them and a lot of people describe them as like they’re plane seats, but pretty comfy, so we have six of those on the inside. We also have a timeline of Mr. Peanut on the ceiling, so that’s pretty cool. Starts at 1919 when Mr. Peanut first arrived on packaging today with all the different Mr. Peanuts which is pretty fun. I think there’s like 20 on the ceiling.

Wow.

Obviously, cupholders. We have a TV. We call it our peanut bar with what’s underneath the TV as well as we have a cashew closet in the back and that’s where Mr. Peanut sleeps. He stays back there. Yeah, we get to travel with the one and only Mr. P. But that’s about a third of the vehicle. His bedroom.

Why did you pick here? Did you talk to Hollywood [Candy] ahead?

It’s, I mean when we’re in new cities, we just kind of asked people for recommendations. Honesty, the last class came here and they were like you have to check out candy store. It’s pretty cool…We love seeing cool things. And also, if you stop, you’re going  [to] stop and eat candy too. I think we’re trying to help out the local businesses as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Omaha Interview: Mayor Jean Stothert

OmahaNebraska.com Interview with Mayor Jean Stothert

Thank you to the Mayor for the interview for this Omaha event.

Mayor Jean Stothert

There’s been so much amazing development in the area.

Right.

It has to feel great to have so much done.

Yes, it does.

I know there’s too many lists of favorites but what are some things you are hoping people will check out when they come to the College World Series?

You know, since the teams and their families stay in hotels around downtown. First of all, it was devastating a couple of years ago because of COVID when it was canceled, and people didn’t get to come to the College World Series. Last year, we had record breaking crowds, because people were so happy it started up again. Last year, the Gene Leahy Mall looked pretty, but you couldn’t go in it. It wasn’t open yet.

This year, it’s open. Kids can go in there and run around and play and play in the great play structure there. There’s events that are going on in the Gene Leahy Mall every day if they want to go and do some yoga or whatever. They could see what the other parks are going to look like because they’re getting done. They’ll open up in August. We have the new Steelhouse downtown, the music venue where the players are going to be tomorrow night. We have the Luminarium Now it’s open, the new museum that’s down on the riverfront. Just so much has happened in this downtown area within walking distance of the stadium. So, I think people are going to really be – those that are coming back. They’ve been here before are going to see a big change. And I think those that are here for the first time in many years are pretty much going to be astounded at what downtown Omaha looks like.

I can’t even fathom how many things have happened in so short a period of time.

Yes, especially because of COVID. You know, because a lot of cities everything shut down which we shut down a lot. But development shutdown to, but it really didn’t here. And you know, the Gene Leahy Mall just kept on right on track, right on schedule, all during COVID because the money has already been raised you know, and so they were on top of it. So, it was, it’s really good that downtown has progressed so much, so quickly. A lot more housing downtown now than there was before. You know, the first phase of the Mercantile which is down, which is on the old Con Agra campus that’s open now there’s a nice lap out there. People can walk around. So that’s going to be a real fun experience for people to see what’s going on.

What’s next on the horizon for development?

Well, I would say the one that I have been working with for a long time and I’m glad to see that construction will start is number one, that Civic Auditorium site which we own that site, and we had the old Civic Auditorium and you know, it was beyond its usefulness anymore. We had it demoed several years ago.

We do have a development that will start developing this summer, and then Crossroads, which is 72nd Dodge. And that is something we’ve been working on for years and years and years and that is underway too.

So, and then, we have all the way out west on 144th and Dodge. We have Heartwood Preserve. That is a big development that Applied Underwriters is doing, but that’s just like going like gangbusters too. So, we have them all over Omaha. We have a Downtown, Midtown, all the way. And then of course, I can’t wait. We can see it started coming out of the ground, but the new Mutual of Omaha tower downtown, and that’s underway too. So all of that is going on right now.

It’s really amazing.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you for all your hard work.

Absolutely. It’s a thrill to see it become a reality.

Thank you for the interview.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Places mentioned:

Gene Leahy Mall
1001 Douglas St.
Omaha, NE 68102
402.599.6565
https://theriverfrontomaha.com

Mercantile
901 Farnam St.
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.hines.com/properties/the-mercantile-omaha

Crossroads
72nd & Dodge Street
https://www.lockwooddev.com/development-portfolio/the-crossroads

Kiewit Luminarium
345 Riverfront Drive
Omaha, NE 68102
402.502.3366
https://kiewitluminarium.org

Steelhouse Omaha
1100 Dodge St,
Omaha, NE 68102
402.345.0606
https://steelhouseomaha.com

Omaha Interview: Amy Hornocker, Executive Director at College World Series of Omaha, Inc.

OmahaNebraska.com Interview with Amy Hornocker at the College World Series of Omaha, Inc.

Thank you to Amy for the interview for this Omaha event.

Amy Hornocker, CWS Inc, Executive Director

Please tell me how you came to be here.

I grew up over in Des Moines. I went to school at Iowa State in Ames. I played sports in high school. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I had an advisor that was kind of like we have a sports management program. So I worked in the football office there, and then, I actually came over here in 2005 and did my internship under Katherine and Carol here and then, stayed in touch when I graduated. And then, Katherine’s husband, Dan, started the Omaha Sports Commission. So, I came over and worked for him and was with the Sports Commission for 10 years. Had the chance to do three Swim Trials and about 30 other really cool sporting events, so and then, in 2017, they had a staff vacancy here, and they called me and I was just like at a point where I was ready to try basically what we always say “coming back home.” I came you back here and did the Marketing Committee outreach and then, had the opportunity to interview for this, the executive director position when Kathryn announced she was retiring.

What are some of your favorite things about the College World Series and about Omaha?

Okay, so basically, Omaha feels like home to me now, even though it was you know, it’s not where I’m from. It’s so similar, but everybody’s just .. the amount of support that we get for this event and the amount of people that come out and it’s kind of like what it means to the city and what the city aims to. It’s like it’s so cool to see and so some of my favorite parts about what I get to do here is like less about baseball and more about our what we do in the community with our grant program. We’ve given over $5 million to local baseball and softball fields and projects in the Greater Omaha community.

And then we have this Readers Become Leaders initiative with the NCAA that we work with Omaha Public Schools for third grade reading, once you can’t read a third grade, by the time you’re in fourth grade, you’re behind.

Is that a pivotal age group then?

Yeah, so that’s what the studies show is that if they are lacking by fourth grade, then they never catch up again. And so we do kick offs in the schools. We contribute a bunch of books to each kid and then incentives to read … and then they submit book reports. We had one girl I think she I think I’d have to the look 55 reports she did. She’s the winner. She’s the winner. So 15 of them with their parents will come to the one of the games. We have like five teachers that are from the winning classrooms. So that one’s fun. It’s so fun to go to the kickoffs and see them get excited about like their books and reading and it’s just a little way we can help there.

That’s something with a really great ripple effect.

Yeah, because you know, this one, we want to leave a legacy here. It’s great because the community pours their heart into it.

We put a donation program together this year for the first time with tickets that we’re we’re kind of testing this year. So when you go in to your mobile ticket account, you can transfer, sell, or donate. Like, if you can’t use your tickets or if you just want to donate, and we’re working with three organizations this year to see how it goes.

Vet Tix [https://www.vettix.org], which is a nationwide organization, so you can sign up. I think it’s first responders and military members and then you can sign up for access to these tickets. Then they go into the communities these events and find these people and it’s really turnkey. So we don’t really have to do much with that. And then we’re working with Boys Town and Boys and Girls Club of the Midlands. So because I feel like everybody from every corner of the city should get to enjoy it. So we’re going to try and build on that donation as we move forward. So that is really cool.

I think we already have seen some come through for Vet Tix and with Boys Town. It’s hard to find groups that can take a large quantity that like the last minute and be able to provide transportation, that kind of stuff. Those are some things we’ve got to kind of figure out but those are like some of my favorite things about the events and event and then obviously this time here when I look at the teams here.

We have our intern starting there’s some of my favorites because they change the dynamic of the office and we will have eight more getting here Monday. That will just work the two weeks and they come from all over the country. And so they apply and go through interviews and they they all become friends kind of it’s kind of fun to see them and help navigate this career path.

Did you ever think you’d be executive director..

No. [laughter] No, I’ve always been a behind the scenes person, like operations, and so I never thought that I would be here back here. Because I, you know, my first series, it was 1998 when I came with my high school baseball team. I was a manager.

I did not know that.

I was the manager of my high school team. In Iowa, we play summer baseball. So we were playing in a tournament in Sioux City. We came down here, well to Rosenblatt and did that the GA [General Admission] sat in the grass waiting to get in, and then, it just stuck with me. So, then, I did the internship so I never thought.. no…[laughter] .. I would be here.

Our leadership was and is phenomenal that the our board of directors that had the vision to bring this where it is today. There’s not another national championship that … They have some semi-permanent sites Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma, FCS football in Frisco, but nobody has an organization like this. The NCAA still runs those. They just have like kind of a semi-permanent city.

So they’ve really been smart and how they put this forward and then and how they’ve… during the COVID year, were able to keep us on staff, and then to see the vision of you know of moving it forward and letting me run with a creative and marketing person that we badly needed. There’s a hole that we didn’t have here. So, he’s got two social media interns that are doing cool things.

Is that something different or new you’ve been working on?

Yes, so we did not. So I was in a marketing role. And then we had another staff member and that wasn’t really our background and so we really were intentional about when Kathryn left to kind of restructured that that’s really the hole that was missing-was to promote this event year round and do it in these cool ways. I’m amazed all like, watch over these guys shoulders, because watching them put videos together and the hard work. They are crawling all over. They had the [National Champion] trophy at the zoo. So it’s really fun to watch it.
They took it to the zoo and it got to go in with the penguins and giraffes. Then they took it to the Gene Leahy Mall. And like Ryan was crawling around and so yeah, they took that roll. They’ve been taking around the city. Taking pictures everywhere. I think they went to Blackstone yesterday.

Thank you.

CWS Omaha, Inc., Building Exterior with Signage

College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
808 N 13th St.
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 554-4422
https://cwsomaha.com

You can find the schedule here for #CWS2023 :
2023 Baseball Schedule – College World Series (cwsomaha.com)

Omaha Interview: College World Series Media Tasting, Alec Woockman

OmahaNebraska.com interviewed Alec Woockman,Executive Chef at Levy Restaurants.

What are the inspirations for this year’s offerings for the College World Series?

I try to stay updated on the trends as much as I can.

Also, these are flavors I personally like, and I think they fit well in the ballpark.

I take inspiration from a lot of things and Chris Myer. Everything from a sandwich with a lot of pickles on it to a vegetarian fried cauliflower curry aioli and sriracha. I think there is a broad spectrum of things that I like that I think also work well in a ballpark.

What are some of the items that you are most excited about?

Right, so some of the things I am most excited about are first the fried chicken sandwich.

I really wanted to overwhelm it with pickle ingredients.

I think you either love pickles or love pickles and I am the latter so . . . I took bread and butter pickles, aioli, a sweet and creamy aioli. Then we have fried pickles. We also have these really nice long crinkle-cut dill pickles that just hang over the bun.

I think one of the most fun items that we have is a shared item called The Slugger, an Italian beef sandwich.

So, it’s pretty classic Italian beef. We braise it in house with beef stock, Italian seasonings, and pepperoncini.

We braise that, shred it, and save that braising liquid to make an au jus which we serve along with the sandwich.

A 14-inch, full loaf of bread that we cut open ourselves, put a pound of Italian beef in, and top with cheese and we toast it in our pizza oven.

Then we top that with giardiniera and grated Parmesan cheese and add a cup of au jus.

We cut the sandwich in three pieces. It comes in a nice box with a handle on it that you can carry.

I say it easily feeds three really hungry people, but I think probably you can feed four.

What is your inspiration for the shrimp po’ boy? I’ve never seen that at a ballpark.

So, a shrimp po’ boy . . . it’s a very traditional shrimp po’ boy. We didn’t do anything too crazy. It’s fried shrimp on a hoagie with shredded lettuce and tomato and a remoulade.

It’s just a flavor that I think should be at a ballpark. I think it will appeal to the masses. I think it is missing from this environment. You don’t see shrimp po boys. Why not shrimp po’ boys?

Another very classic flavor this year is our Chicken Parm Sandwich . . . mozzarella, marina . . .I think it fills a slot that a lot of people will enjoy.

How did you become a chef?

I’ve loved cooking from a very young age. I’ve been cooking since I was 16 years old.

…

A few years went by and I went to culinary school and started cooking in restaurants.

I started with CHI, as well as the ballpark here. I’ve been here with this company for about seven years now.

And so, I have been just climbing the ladder.

This week I’ve been very excited. I’ve been wanting to be here for a long time.

I can’t imagine how hard this was, but amazing it is.

Yes. It’s absolutely amazing. Obviously, I love to cook, so getting to do this every day is dream come true.

I would say you are coming up with ideas and creating recipes.

I would say that it gets easier the more time you are doing it.

Starting at the beginning, it is a little harder to put this together, but I think we did a really good job this year in what we are offering. Yeah, it’s a blast!

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Omaha Media Event: College World Series Food Tasting 2022-Images and Description, 15 June

Here are some of our photographs and descriptions of the CWS food sampled at the College World Series Food Tasting 2022 at Charles Schwab Field Omaha:

So how can you have more than one favorite? Go the the College World Series this year and find out for yourself and sample these restaurant quality offerings.

Up next? More food and interviews! Please visit back later to view.

 

 

Omaha Interview: College World Series Pre-Game Press Conference, Omaha Mayor

OmahaNebraska.com interviewed Omaha mayor, Jean Stothert, after the College World Series Pre-Game Press Conference.

There have been many changes over the last many years from Rosenblatt to here. What are some of the more noticeable changes and what were your favorite changes?

Well, I mean we built a brand-new stadium, a brand-new state of the art stadium to keep the College World Series for 25 years. And so there’s been just a multitude of changes. But I think the most important thing is working with the CWS and the NCAA and MECA that we were able to create a state of the art stadium that will keep the College World Series here for years.

What my parts are my favorite? I would say I love this out here [motions to the entire stadium] that it gives people a lot more room to walk around. I love the big screen. I love how the seating is.  It’s just a beautiful stadium so it all works together.

Do you have any favorite baseball memories? I am sure that it’s hard to pick just one or two.

I can’t say that I have one favorite memory. I enjoyed coming in College World Series when it was at Rosenblatt.

I was here for the first game in the new stadium. I think from Omahan perspective, I think one of my favorite memories would have to be sitting in this stadium for the first time.

That’s wonderful. I know that it contributes quite a bit to the economic development of Omaha.

It’s estimated that the College World Series brings in between 75 and 80 million dollars.

And so you know, those years that we didn’t have it because of the pandemic . . . the trickle down was enormous because the hotels weren’t filled, the restaurants weren’t filled, bars weren’t filled. It made a big impact. I thought last year showed that because the first year was back in person we had record breaking crowds, and everybody just wanted to get out and be outside and enjoy some activity. And so, it really just encouraged people to be out again, and the College World Series is something that I think Omahans love and can’t wait for every year.

 It’s been wonderful to watch all these things grow and develop and now Gene Leahy Mall is getting its refresh. Can you tell us a little about what is coming up please?

Sure, there’s 90 acres of city owned property. It’s the Gene Leahy Mall. Go east Heartland of America Park and then you go north to Lewis and Clark Park Landing. That whole area. We are working in cooperation with the private sector. And when it’s all done, it’s going to be about a $400 million project and the city put in $50 million and the rest is private.  And so that just really shows that the good public private partnerships that we have in Omaha and the investment that is going on in Omaha right now.

The Gene Leahy Mall will open the first of July, and it’s fantastic. We’ve raised it up to the street level so it’s usable. It’s usable for events. The old mall was pretty, but you couldn’t use it for anything. I think when people get in it, they are going to love it.

I toured it the other day and it’s gorgeous. It has something for everybody. And then it will go on down to Heartland of America Park which will connect us right to the river. That’s our most important geographic feature we have. We live on the river, so that park will go all the way down to the river and then north to Lewis and Clark Landing where a beautiful new STEM museum will be down there that Kiewit is the major funder. That portion of it, Heartland and Lewis and Clark Landing, should be open by August of next year. So everything is moving along. They are right on schedule. They’re keeping it within budget. And it will be done. And it’s going to just spur development downtown and it already has. With Mutual of Omaha coming downtown now and there’s a new hotel in the Landmark. There’s a lot of other investors looking at downtown because of what we are building downtown. We are pretty much building a new downtown.

 It looks so different, but then a lot of the favorite features are still there.

Yes.

 Everyone is so happy that you kept the arch and the slides.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, we wanted to incorporate everything in there and it will remain the Gene Leahy Mall.

Thank you.

CWS Interview with Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc.

Hurray! The College World Series is back and it’s time for another interview with the Executive Director for College World Series of Omaha, Inc. This is one of my favorite Omaha events and Omaha interviews.

Thank you to Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc. for the interview for CWS 2021 update on 11 June 2021.

Please tell us a little about yourself.

Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director of College World Series of Omaha. This is my 33rd year working on the College World Series and we are thrilled that we are actually playing baseball this year.

I am so looking forward to it as well.

What new changes have there been with either equipment or the facility?

You know in terms of the facility, one of the biggest changes is that we through the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority-They have gone campus-wide to digital tickets-in other words, anyone attending the Swim Trials or were attending the basketball Creighton games this last winter. All the tickets are digital as they are TD Ameritrade Park.

That is a change but it just reflects what is happening nationally. Everybody whether it is an airline ticket or a ticket to a play or something along those lines. It seem like everything is going digital. So, we are joining that group too.

How will that work?

You know at this point, all of our season tickets have been offered to season ticket holders in a digital format. We had our advanced sale that started this last Monday, June 7th, and those were also offered online on https://www.ncaatickets.com/championship/college-world-series . So far we’ve even had one event sold out that would be Saturday night. So, apparently people figured out how to make that work.

That’s good.

Yes.

College World Series TD AmeritradePark Entrance and Statue

Are there any new security or safety measures or changes that the fans might need to be aware of ahead of time?

Well, MECA is certainly the experts in terms of commenting on which changes have been made during the age of COVID. Certainly, one of the ones that I am aware of  that fans will want to know about is that the concessions are cashless now. That means that obviously you’ll want to bring your credit card to the ballpark but also and if you are a fan that likes to use cash, there will be a revers ATM available. So, you can bring in cash and convert it into a debit type card that can be used at the ballpark and used else where after the College World Series.

Wow. That’s the first time I have heard of that. How does the reverse ATM work?

Basically for example, you will take, for example, a $20 dollar bill and feed it into the machine and then out pops something that looks and functions like a credit card but it is obviously limited to the amount of money that you load it on.

Thank you.

Any other changes for the fans?

You know there will be some other changes. For the first time and only for this year, the general admission-the outfield spaces will not be sold in the traditional general admission format. There are a lot of good reasons for that relating to the health and safety of the fans attending still in the age of COVID; recommendations that have been put in place from the NCAA’s advisory team.

So this year, those will be our lowest price reserve seats and the prices will vary depending on popularity of the game. But for example, the first weekend and the finals are the most popular. Those are $30 dollars this year plus ticket master fees. During the week nights, they will be $25 and then during the weekday afternoons they will be $20. The advantage, of course, is to have a reserve seat that we will actually be assigning people to specific section, row and seat number and the bench-style seats do have seat numbers. We actually utilized those as recently as the Major League Baseball game in 2019.

[To read OmahaNebraska.com’s interview with MLB Tiger’s GM Al Avila’s 2019 visit for that game, go to www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omahanebraska-com-interview-with-al-avila-vp-and-gm-of-the-detroit-tigers]

Thank you. What changes are there for the players?

Student athletes will be in a COVID tested zone. They’ll try to restrict their movements so that they are protected as much as possible to protect them from any environment in which they might be exposed to COVID. So, their movements will be more restricted this year. So as a consequence, we won’t be hosting an opening ceremony-type celebration for them this year. That’s another thing that we expect to have coming back in 2022.

Field of College World Series

Tell me more what will be different for celebrations or events at the College World Series.

I think this year the focus is on, “Isn’t it great that we are just back playing baseball again!”

[Interrupts] Yes! Yes!

It’s a kind of back-to-basics year. There will be a handful of other activities that will be occurring to enhance the fan experience. Of course we will have the opportunity for fans to bring their kids on a particular day, that’s Monday afternoon and where some kid’s music and concessions will be featured. We’ll have a throw-back day on Thursday where we hope to have basically fans wearing their most vintage College World Series apparel. And then Friday is a country night. Probably boots and cowboy hats or whatever attire- if you want to participate in that.

What does the College World Series mean to you and to Omaha?

I think this will be a huge emotional boost for Omaha that we have the College World Series back. In a way, it was a little bit last year like trying to image a Christmas without Santa Claus to image summer without the College World Series. I think we were all a little bit let down by the fact that we could not gather together and celebrate college baseball and celebrate the beginning of our Summer. And this year with that coming back, I think it is going to be a huge morale boost for the community.

I am so excited to have it come back and to be able to go and or course to be able to visit with you for the interview.

The last question is why is this “The Greatest Show on Dirt”?

“The Greatest Show on Dirt” is one of those iconic phrases that is associated with the College World Series and I think just reflects not only the fan experience but just the way the student athletes feel when they enter that field and play what could be the last games of their baseball careers and certainly their college baseball careers. They give it their complete 100 percent effort. They play with a lot of heart and I can’t imagine anything better to watch in the summer.

The one other thing that I didn’t mention that I think might be really helpful for people this year is there is a College World Series app that is put out by the NCAA. So, “NCAA Men’s College World Series” is how I believe how it is listed in the app stores. [Here is the link http://on.ncaa.com/MCWSApp] It’s probably the easiest way for fans to follow their favorite team, check the weather, get bracket and scoring information. It’s going to be a real asset for fans who kind of want to be kept up to date to the minute.

Thank you very much.

Would you like to read more stories and interviews about the College World Series? Visit later for new posts and check out the CWS posts below.

College World Series TD Ameritrade Park Game in Progress

Our Omaha blog stories on the College World Series by Year

CWS 2020

No CWS.

CWS 2019

College World Series Fans-Have You Seen the Scooters? (13 June 2019)
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/college-world-series-fans-have-you-seen-the-scooters

Omaha Event: College World Series Interview with Chris Myers, Executive Sous Chef, Levy Restaurants (12 June 2019)
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-event-college-world-series-interview-with-chris-myers-executive-sous-chef-levy-restaurants

College World Series Food Tasting, 12 June 2019
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/college-world-series-food-tasting-12-june-2019

Omaha Event: College World Series Interview with Jack Diesing, President, College World Series of Omaha Inc.
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-event-college-world-series-interview-with-jack-diesing-president-college-world-series-of-omaha-inc

Omaha Event: College World Series Press Conference, 12 June
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-event-college-world-series-press-conference-12-june

CWS Interview with Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc. (5 June 2019)
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/cws-interview-with-kathryn-morrissey-executive-director-college-world-series-of-omaha-inc

CWS 2018

2018 Interview with Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director of CWS Omaha Inc.
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/cws-interview

What’s new in CWS food for 2018
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/cws-media-tasting-2018-great-food-meets-the-greatest-show-on-dirt

2018 Interview with Chef Chris Myers
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-chris-myers-with-levy-restaurants-at-td-ameritrade-park-for-college-world-series

Tigers to Play Royals in Omaha! MLB Comes to Omaha!
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/tigers-to-play-royals-in-omaha-mlb-comes-to-omaha

OmahaNebraska.com Interview with Al Avila, VP and GM of the Detroit Tigers
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omahanebraska-com-interview-with-al-avila-vp-and-gm-of-the-detroit-tigers

CWS 2017

Al Martinez Hits First Home Run for College World Series- Before the First Game is Played!
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/al-martinez-hits-first-home-run-for-college-world-series-before-the-first-game-is-played

Omaha Interview with Kristi Andersen, Director of Communications at MECA
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-with-kristi-andersen-director-of-communications-at-meca

Omaha Interview with Marty Bilek at the College World Series Press Conference
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-with-marty-bilek-at-the-college-world-series-press-conference

Omaha Interview: College World Series of Omaha, Inc. (9 June 2017)
http://omahanebraska.com/omahainterviewcollegeworldseries

Omaha Interview: The Chefs at The Farnam, a New Omaha Hotel

Thank you to Chef Victor Bock (left) and Chef Igor Kokozov (right) for their interviews for our Omaha blog. The interviews took place at The Farnam, a new Omaha hotel on 21 May 2021.

OmahaNebraska.com: We wanted to learn a little bit about you, how you came into the restaurant industry and your journey of how you ended up here at The Farnam.

Victor Bock:  My name is Victor Bock, I’ve been a chef for about 36 years. Done pretty much every facet of the market except cruise ships, primary resort divisions. Most recently I was corporate chef and food and beverage director for a casino company overseeing properties in three different states and the Caribbean, as well.

I have have long standing relationship of one of the owners of Greenwood Hospitality and when this opportunity came up to come out here and do some task force work, COVID had caused my corporate chef position to be eliminated which I know affected a lot of people, of course. So, I came to Omaha back in the beginning of February.

We shared different ideas as far the food concept goes and what they are looking for.  The kitchen was not even built yet. But between Bill Kohl, who was one of the magic partners from Greenwood, and Angie and Jason Fisher, the owners of the property, we had quite the collaboration of what the food was going to be.

I then put together the menus and recipe development and then brought on Chef Igor as the permanent executive chef and we continue from there.

OmahaNebraska.com: Thank you.

Chef Igor Kokozov: Alright, my turn.

My name is Igor Kokozov, I am the executive chef at the Farnam hotel at Omaha, Nebraska.

I start my culinary journey, long, long time, well about 18 years ago and what get me to it is that it has no boundaries. That is why I decide that I have passion for cooking. I realize there is no boundaries in cooking and you pretty much can do and exercise your creativity you know and that is what brought me to cooking.

Also while I join the restaurants and Four Seasons Hotel for fifteen years, I’ve traveled the world, you know, and I have been almost everywhere and that is what  really got me excited. Working with different types of cuisines, there is no stamp, a pattern of knowledge. You keep always learning.

What brought me to Omaha, Nebraska? It’s pretty much that I travel anywhere. One day I just picked up and went to Middle East to open Four Season Hotel and I was thinking why not Nebraska? Is there something wrong in Nebraska? There is still American people living in this state like you go to New York,  Los Angeles ,the cosmopolitan cities, no one pays attention to each other.

Small cities tend to greet you with more warmth. Kind of experiencing this Midwestern hospitality in … since April 15th in my almost a month  you know.

After I came here, I met the owners. I saw Jason and Angie Fisher. I saw how much involved they were in the hotel. Like you see Jason carrying water and he’s doing something. Angie was always taking pictures.

I said to myself when people put in so much heart and soul in something like this, I want to be part of this family, you know. So I brought my family here and we closing on a house on the May 28, so we gonna become Nebraskans you know and that’s the deal right now.

OmahaNebraska.com: You probably won’t laugh (but I know other people but, um, my eyes are starting to tear up) when I finally got my driver’s license that said I was a Nebraskan because we moved around a lot.  I was so  happy I cried.

Chef Igor Kokozov: Yes, it’s a warming city. You don’t see it much in the weather but you see it in the people, oh my gosh.

I used to live in Florida, seven years I used to come out to the door everyone great each other and everyone was smiling you know and this is what I am experiencing here.

One friend of mine he came to Nebraska many years ago. He described it like this, ” It’s almost like a Switzerland you know. People are very courteous,  respectful you know and Swiss hospitality- only in the US!”

OmahaNebraska.com:  I haven’t been to Switzerland so I’ll  see if they are like Nebraskans when I go.

Chef Igor Kokozov:

You should compare Nebraska to Switzerland all the time but Swiss they know hospitality and I think most of the world they follow them. They start the hospitality industry they been there for a while and they know what it is all about.

OmahaNebraska.com:  Thank you

Chef Igor Kokozov: You are welcome.

 

Omaha Interview: Angie Fisher, Co-Owner of The Farnam Hotel

Angie and Jason Fisher

Thank you to Angie Fisher for her interview for our Omaha blog. The interview took place at The Farnam, a new Omaha hotel, on 20 May 2021 after the ribbon cutting.

OmahaNebraska.com: Congratulations on your new hotel!

Angie Fisher: Thank you..we really are so proud and humbled honestly by the support we have gotten and that’s  from all places in the city and even out of the city people who are just excited to have something new and fresh and something that I think exemplifies Omaha, so well.

OmahaNebraska.com:  I was amazed  because I got  tour [Tour was 4 May]  … the  attention to detail on everything and no room the same! It’s just gorgeous!!

Angie Fisher: Thank you, so much. We  definitely tried hard to make it interesting, layered, textural, comfortable and just add a lot of  touches to that really are unique and special.

For instance, like this paneling. behind me. Did you learn about that?

OmahaNebraska.com: Yes, but forgive me…I do not remember all the details.

Angie Fisher: It’s recycled sawdust from our projects.. and they pressed into panels and put it up representative of like farm quarter sections.

OmahaNebraska.com: That part I remember.

Angie Fisher: Yes, so it’s been really a passion project You know. I like to say it’s my hobby t because I am a physician in real life.

OmahaNebraska.com: Oh, I did not know that.

Angie Fisher: But it’s a pretty big hobby and we really just jumped in with both of our feet honestly because neither of us has any experience with building a hotel or a hospitality project especially something this big and special and you know just to do that and bring it to life and to see it with people enjoying it. It’s so great. We are so grateful.

OmahaNebraska.com: How long did the project take from the first little inkling?

Angie Fisher: About three years. Initially we did some market research to figure out what to do with this building. The Landmark building is a beautiful tool.

OmahaNebraska.com: I know and I kept seeing business leave …

Angie Fisher: Exactly.

OmahaNebraska.com: ... and leave …

Angie Fisher: Exactly.

OmahaNebraska.com: … but … I am very happy to be here why aren’t you [other businesses] happy to be here? [Both Little Mountain Web Design and OmahaNebraska.com are located in the Landmark building where the new hotel is located.]

Angie Fisher: So, unfortunately that’s  been kinda the Omaha urbran sprawl and we are hoping to bring more attention and more focus down here along with the park and along with the Holland and along with all the other projects that are happening down here to revive interest in downtown Omaha from a business perspective, for people who want to live down here and that kind of thing.

It’s been really fun but how the project started. We did market research though initially thought we’d be getting into apartments but there wasn’t really a need.

So we then looked at a boutique hotel and Jason and I love to travel. We love boutique hotels and we love details. And so we got to put all of that into this process and this package with a great design team, a great construction team and that was vital because we certainly could not do something like that on our own. So we are very happy to have such great people such great experience to help us on our way.

It’s our baby, so we just love being able to want to present this to Omaha and want to present Omaha like this. And so looking forward to having travellers and- to the College World Series, for instance, they get to experience Omaha at a different level I think then what you are used to.

OmahaNebraska.com: We also have the swim trials coming up.

Angie Fisher: Yes. We have the Golf Senior Open. Just a lot of really great things happening this summer. And now that we are getting out cages and out of our masks.

OmahaNebraska.com: This [your new hotel] comes at a tremendous time in history of Omaha and the country. You are just poised to where we want to enjoy things.

Angie Fisher: We are just ready to take off with the rest of the world. We are so excited. We are here. We are new. Let’s all live life and get out there and have fun and experience this!

Omaha Ribbon Cutting: Historic Florentine Apartments, 14 July

It was a great day for a ribbon cutting with a nice crowd in attendance for this auspicious occasion on 14 July 2019. The Historic Florentine had completed its renovation and became ready for tenants to occupy this grand place!

The Historic Florentine was one of the apartments built by Vincent Chiodo from 1911-1912. Vincent was born in Calabria, Italy. That city is where many of our Omaha Italian ancestors and relatives came from. (Please see Omaha Interview: Little Italy for more information on Italian immigrants in Omaha and reference to Vincent Chiodo.)

Over the years, the building experienced decline until it was sold an auction to an architect, John Schmidt. He had the best bid-and the only bid! No one else came to bid!

Fast forward ahead over five million dollars (and more stories) and it is ready for you to rent at 907 S. 25th St. (Please return for these stories later here on our Omaha blog.)

Amenities include:
Washer/dryer
Stove
Microwave
Dishwasher
Soundproofing between apartments
Large soaking tub

Looking for an apartment in Omaha, Nebraska?

Visit the Historic Florentine with tbe best of both worlds–Old World charm and architecture and New World modern apartments and appliances.

Contact:
NP Dodge
402-255-5099

Visit Online at:
https://www.npdodge.com/apartments/florentine

Historic Florentine Apartments
907 S. 25th St.
Omaha, NE 68105