Fall in the midwest brings to mind lots of events. Traditionally, in Omaha, events include the Omaha Farmers Market, the Food Truck World Tour, OneWorld Omaha’s Milagro, Girls Inc. of Omaha’s Lunch for the Girls, and of course, the start of the Holiday Lights Festival.

These events bring the community together, and in many cases, bring dollars into
the community. 

In Omaha, an economic impact research showed 13.1 million visitors traveled to Omaha in 2018, a 6% increase over 2016, the last time the research was conducted. Those visitors spent a total of $1.3 billion while they were in Omaha, a 6.5% increase over 2016. While the events and tourism industries have been down this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are reasons to host events, and innovative new ways to create events.

This month’s feature well includes a series of articles related to bringing food to events, including how COVID-19 and last year’s flooding has affected the farming, trucking, and catering industries. Many events have turned virtual, and our fourth feature speaks to this.

Department articles include the renovation of Hap Abraham’s kitchen space and how that business has done this year; the new TreeRush Adventures at Fontenelle Forest; and how Vic Gutman started a successful events-production business. The five events mentioned in the first paragraph are all produced and/or managed by Vic Gutman & Associates, and Gutman himself has been a stalwart in this business for the last 40 years. 

It’s been a topsy-turvy year, but events managers have a knack for adapting. I hope each reader gleans something about creating great events from this issue.

This letter was in the October/November 2020 issue of B2B.