Once upon a time, I heard someone describe Lincoln in a way I will never forget: “Lincoln has small town nice, with big town spice.” I can accredit that phrase simply to an Applebee’s manager who was otherwise a stranger to my parents and I.
The manager was going around checking on tables as they like to do at places such as Applebee’s, and the conversation between her and my parents quickly escalated from basic talk of our experience at the restaurant to friendly conversation of how great of a place Lincoln is and how pleasant the people here generally are. Imagine that.
Also, once a upon a time—in 1856 in fact—Lincoln was founded as the village of Lancaster, then became the county seat of Lancaster County in 1859 (as it remains so today), and finally became the capital of Nebraska in 1864. Now, more than 262,000 people live in Lincoln—and we’re growing. Three years ago, Lincoln voted to pass the measure to build the now-open, 16,000-capacity Pinnacle Bank Arena, accompanied by the multitude of new businesses in the Haymarket area. Those businesses include several restaurants and bars, hotels yet to be opened, and a bar and venue called Vega to open later this year.
Back in 2010, there were plenty of naysayers to the plan, but now that the project is close to being finished, most Lincolnites seem optimistic and excited about the Pinnacle Bank Arena and the Haymarket development and, in turn, the effects it may have on the future of Lincoln. Three specific Lincolnites recently visited with Seeds Entertainment and individually gave their insight and opinions about how the Haymarket development and the presence of Arena might affect Lincoln’s music scene, nightlife and community in general. Each individual spoke with fondness of Lincoln as well as optimism, excitement and healthy confidence about the future of the city.
Lincoln’s addition of the Pinnacle Bank Arena and the recent Haymarket project carries hype and weight with it, especially right now. Most Lincolnites are curious and are looking forward to the area finally being in action after a very long process of planning and building. “I think it’ll be really cool,” said UNL Grad and Lincolnite Samantha Kingsley in regard to the Arena and surrounding development. “I think Lincoln is going towards being a more artsy city and interesting city and I think the Arena [and surrounding development] will help that–help show that Lincoln has cool stuff going on and we can do upscale, cool things. I think it’ll be good. I’m excited to see what it’s like.”
People who work at some of Lincoln’s currently popular venues and bars such as The Bourbon Theatre and Duffy’s Tavern seem to greet and tackle the entire Haymarket project and everything it holds with preparedness and confidence. “I don’t think anything that the Arena is going to be doing is going to affect attendance at shows at places like The Bourbon or Duffy’s or the Zoo Bar or anything,” said Jon Dell, booking agent and talent buyer at Duffy’s Tavern in Lincoln. “The Arena is a 16,000-person venue and the next biggest venue in town besides the Rococo is the Bourbon and their capacity is only like 1,000, so I don’t think it’s going to affect what bands get booked at these places. The Arena won’t. The Arena will just bring big Arena acts.”
The theme in conversations with people who work directly in Lincoln’s nightlife and music scene, if you will, is that the opening of the Arena itself will simply be different than anything else in Lincoln. “I think that the Arena is just going to be a better Pershing and I think it’s going to bring in some of the more mainstream runners, [like Pink],” said Alex Munson, manager of security and event operations at The Bourbon in Lincoln. “It almost seems separate to what I see going on in Lincoln right now. I feel like that’s a whole different world of performers and artists. Not necessarily a step above or better, but just different.”
The descriptions given individually by Dell, Kinsley and Munson of Lincoln and of the current state of Lincoln’s ‘music scene’ were all in the same vein:
“The music scene is small, but thriving, for sure,” said Dell. “It’s a really tight-knit group but everyone works really hard. A lot of people go to shows.”
“It’s pretty inclusive,” said Kingsley. “People seem to feel pretty okay about showing their music to people. People come out to shows a lot.” Kingsley goes on to explain how most people in Lincoln are excited about and supportive of the music scene here. Kingsley said there’s lots of different genres here, like jam bands, hippie music and indie sounds. “There’s definitely some main staple bands that people are into, like Universe Contest always puts on a great show,” said Kingsley. “It’s a pretty solid music scene and it seems like [Lincoln musicians] are very inclusive of each other and like support each other and want [the music scene] to get bigger and more solid.”
Munson has had a particularly interesting insight into the matter as he has been working at the Bourbon since it opened and started at the Box Awesome when the music scene in Lincoln was really starting to take off. “Lincoln is kind of a well-kept secret but at the same time, it’s a really healthy place to grow as far as an artist is concerned,” said Munson. “The downtown community in Lincoln is so wonderfully supportive of itself and I think it’s a very comfortable environment for artists to grow. I really like where Lincoln’s music scene is going.”
Vega is one of the several businesses inside the Railyard District—the entertainment area in the newly-developed Haymarket area which features an open space allowing alcoholic beverages from the businesses connected to the courtyard. If anything, this new bar/restaurant/music venue with a capacity of 500 people would be the one thing of the Haymarket project that would be a possible threat to places like Duffy’s and The Bourbon—and yet, it is not viewed as a threat. “We just think it’s going to be another music venue and I don’t think it’s going to be a threat,” said Munson. “The venues in Lincoln do a really good job of looking out for one another and I don’t think it will be a threat or a rivalry or anything. I really have a positive outlook on where things are going.”
For anyone who knows Lincoln, it should not come as a surprise that Vega is greeted with positivity and a welcoming disposition by people that run other local bars and venues like The Bourbon and Duffy’s—and that the owners and employees of all three of these establishments are friends and have worked with each other for years, specifically promoting the progression of Lincoln’s music scene. “I think there’s room for everybody here,” said Dell in regard to Vega opening in Lincoln. “I think it’s going to be good. I think it’ll just add another option,” said Dell. “I don’t think it’s going to affect anything negatively.”
No one, including Munson, views Vega as trying to ‘steal’ music from The Bourbon or anything of the sort. Rather, the owners of Vega are “out to create another music venue to bring more music to Lincoln,” said Munson. “I think it’s all just going to be music-growing.” In terms of Vega being a possible point of competition, other local music venues recognize and embrace this as a natural and healthy part of a good business. “We welcome competition,” said Dell. “That’s the free market.”
Dell also spoke of the understanding that operators of music venues have for needing to adjust to what’s going on around them and the market that they’re dealing with, like how Duffy’s has rearranged the whole bar in the last ten years. “So we’re constantly adapting. And this is just one more thing we’re adapting to,” said Dell.
An important point to make is that each of the traditionally prime music venues in Lincoln have their own size and capacities, their own specific and loyal audiences, and their own functions and therefore will continue to serve the niche in which they each operate in. Kingsley works at Duffy’s as a cocktail waitress and supports bands and artists in Lincoln and the places that serve to publicize those artists, such as Duffy’s. “Duffy’s is cool because you can get your friend’s band to come play there or a slightly bigger band, but something that’s touring that has a lot of recognition isn’t going to play at Duffy’s, so it’ll be good to have a medium-sized place instead of the Bourbon—instead of doing a front room show at the Bourbon,” said Kingsley of Vega.
The majority of people seem to agree that the new Haymarket businesses including the Arena and Vega will be beneficial to Lincoln and will draw in more non-local bands and will help build a stronger base for local bands to grow in.
There has been controversy with some of the rules implemented in areas such as the Railyard District of the Haymarket like a brief dress code and the three dollar minimum price for drinks and shots. One may wonder just what kind of crowd the district will pull in and if it there is a possibility that the new Haymarket businesses will take traffic away from other businesses, such as similar ones on the 14th and O Streets vicinity.
“It’s going to be a different environment than somewhere that might be a little bit more laid back, like Duffy’s,” said Dell of the new district. “At Duffy’s, we have one dollar tallboys and we have fishbowls and stuff like that. [Places in the Haymarket] are not going to allow things like one dollar tallboys.”
Munson puts it nicely: “I think our UNL has an interesting influence on Lincoln because we have both a temporary populous and a permanent populous and it’s interesting to see how those effect one another,” said Munson. “I could see a lot of the temporary populous of the UNL student body attracted to the really urbanized, modern appeal of what’s going on around the Arena but I think the people that are more permanently established here can really appreciate what’s going on at The Bourbon, Duffy’s, Zoo Bar and everything else that Lincoln has to offer.”
Kingsley said that the audience of the new Haymarket District seems like a mid-to-late 20’s and 30’s group. “Maybe more of a Marz crowd will go there…[crowds that have] some more money or solid jobs and don’t necessarily want to be around a bunch of super drunk people but want to sit around and have a good talk with their friends,” said Kingsley. “I feel like the 14th and O crowd will still stay pretty similar because that’s the kind of stuff that most of those people want.”
Places like The Bourbon and Duffy’s are not at all worried about their crowd dissipating in the future. As Munson said, “As long as we’re bringing in music that people want to see, people will continue to come to The Bourbon.”
Lincoln Calling and Lincoln Exposed are two different annual music festivals that traditionally are located at and around The Zoo Bar, Duffy’s and The Bourbon. Again, no negative impacts are foreseen for these strong, local traditions. Dell points out that the Haymarket district will not negatively affect either festival because they are centralized in the 14th and O Streets area and they will continue to serve the demand of that area. “It’s such a long-standing thing that has always drawn so well,” said Dell. “I don’t think that will change.”
In fact, Munson believes that the two festivals will be just as strong if not stronger. “I think that just having more establishments in the Haymarket area will make our downtown or Lincoln more appealing overall which will then maybe bring more people to experience Lincoln Calling or Lincoln Exposed,” said Munson. “So I think they [the Haymarket area and the 14th and O area] will complement each other. I hope so.”
Kingsley said she typically attends Lincoln Calling and Lincoln Exposed, referring to each as a lot of fun. “I think it’ll be really good to have more venues,” Kingsley said in regards to the two local festivals. “It’s a bummer that Vega is not going to be ready for Lincoln Calling yet this time. I think it’ll be really great to have more venues included because we’ll get more bands and more places to play. I think it’ll be good. It’s too bad that it [Vega] is removed from the majority of the places that they have the bands play at but I think it will still be good.”
Munson pointed out that The Bourbon and Omaha venues like The Waiting Room and The Slowdown are similar in some ways but have never been considered direct competitors with one another. However, because of the scope of each, it is possible that CenturyLink in Omaha and our Pinnacle Bank Arena will be after the same acts. As Kinsley puts it, big acts aren’t going to play twice in Nebraska and because Lincoln’s Arena is brand new and fueled with anticipation, it’s possible that the Pinnacle Bank Arena could end up taking acts that CenturyLink would otherwise likely feature.
Lincoln may as well be famous for its strong sense of community, its support for anything local, the friendliness of the people, and the dizzying web of encounters with exchanges involving something to the effect of, “Oh, you know so-and-so? Small world!” Once again, the Lincolnites interviewed each were firm in the belief that the community feeling of Lincoln will not dissipate or weaken in any way down the road due to the expansion and growth of the city. “I hope it doesn’t go away,” said Dell. “That’s my favorite thing about this city.”
“I think it will still feel smaller than it is but people will be more excited about it and I think they’ll have more pride in it,” said Kingsley. “It’ll be growing but still have the small town feel.”
Kingsley went on to make the interesting and welcomed comparison of Lincoln to Austin, Texas. “Austin feels kind of like Lincoln,” said Kingsley. “Everything is sort of within 20 minutes away from each other and people kind of know about each other. There’s lots of different groups but a lot people know each other. But they have tons of stuff going on all the time but it feels small and close at the same time. I feel like it [Lincoln] will be a city sort of like that. Not a giant place but there’s cool stuff happening that isn’t happening other places, like cool music and art.”
Munson also speaks kindly of Lincoln. “Lincoln is the happiest city in the U.S. for a reason,” said Munson. “And I think we’re really proud of that subconsciously. I think Lincoln likes to saturate itself in that. We’re really proud that we have a small town feeling to it and I hope that we try to maintain that. I think we’re too proud of it to let it change too much.”
As Munson puts it, the longer a person is in a city, the prouder he or she becomes of that city. “I think we’re all excited for it to grow but I think we’re also excited for it to stay Lincoln.”
