Hot weather deters crowds
Haymarket heats up at Heyday
By Eric Snyder
Staff Reporter
Despite extreme temperatures in
Lincoln this past weekend, officials
have declared the “Haymarket Hey
days” celebration a success.
The festival, which took place in
the Haymarket district of Lincoln,
featured the dedication of a park on
Thursday, a street dance on Friday
night and an all-day Farmers Market
on Saturday.
Sally Ogelsby, programming as
sistant for Historic Haymarket, said
organizers were “very pleased” with
the turnout for the festival, but that
ten degrees in temperature would have
made a “vast difference” in atten
dance.
Ogelsby estimated that more than
25,000 persons ventured out to the
festival this past weekend, despite the
heat. The largest crowd congregated
Saturday morning and numbered
almost 15,000.
0
Although Ogelsby said she felt
that the high temperatures may have
hurt attendance, at least one mer
chant in the Haymarket believed that
the heal helped local businesses. Sarah
Pleskac, of the Haymarket General
Store and Deli, said the store experi
enced “overflow” crowds during the
weekend.
“We were quite busy compared to
our normal crowds,” she said. Rle
skac said the heat helped the busi
nesses because people were hot and
went inside to get something cold to
drink.
The festival had Five major spon
sors: Historic Haymarket, Family
Service, Gillette Dairy, Burlington
Northern, and KFOR/KFRX radio.
As a result, all events were free to the
public.
Overall, everyone involved said
they were pleased with the outcome
of the weekend’s festivities. Ogclsby
said she and the Historic Haymarket
would like to help with a similar
celebration next year.
Photos by William Lauer
Brandon Aspearen, 31/2 years old, son of Eric and Lisa of Lincoln, explores the
train-modeled jungle gym at the train station.
Doris Buechel (left) and Mary Merritt are decked in Sartorial splendor courtesy of
the repertory theatre at UNL. The women were registering people for complimen
tary tickets at the Lied Center.
Naomi Brugter, 6 years old, gobbles pancakes Saturday morning.
Glenn Schuette polishes his glass display. “It’s a never- ending battle,” he said.