“Overjoyed, excited, ecstatic, blessed, appreciative” is how Vickie Young is feeling ahead of this year’s long awaited Native Omaha Days Homecoming Parade, which is set for this Saturday at 10 a.m. on 30th and Parker streets in North Omaha.
“We’re ready,” said Young, the parade’s lead coordinator and the current president of the Omaha Chapter of the NAACP. “We are so excited for this opportunity to get together to celebrate each other as family, to celebrate each other as a community.”
The parade is one of many events in this week’s 23rd biennial Native Omaha Days Festival, a week-long celebration that reunites current and former residents of North Omaha together in their community.
This year’s festivities run from July 26 to Aug. 2, and Saturday’s parade is anticipated to be one of the largest in the celebration’s history. Over 90 entries will walk in the “the biggest meet-and-greet on wheels” as Young describes it, including drill teams, local businesses, sororities, faith-based groups and community organizations.
“It’s no different than Cinco de Mayo,” Young said. Like the South Omaha celebration uplifts and amplifies the Latino community, Native Omaha Days gives an opportunity to celebrate Omaha’s Black community’s culture, food and achievements.
The roots of the Native Omaha Days Festival run back to 1976, when Vera Johnson and Bettie McDonald founded the North Omaha Homecoming to reunite former residents with their community. The next year, the women turned the reunion into the week-long celebration and tradition that it is today.
Since Monday, spectators have been enjoying jazz and gospel concerts, high school reunions, discussions on local history discussions, food vendors, dances and more, all while reuniting with friends and family.
Celebration is long overdue for Omaha’s Black community. Last summer’s Juneteenth parade was cancelled due to the pandemic, as was this year’s, in an effort to give the North Omaha community a chance to increase COVID-19 vaccination numbers for a safer Native Omaha Days. Saturday’s parade will be the first time in two years since the community has really been able to gather, Young said.
Organizers worked with the Omaha Police Department’s Northeast Precinct to establish a strategic safety plan. The leaders will also continue to follow the Douglas County Health Department’s recommendations and regulations to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
A full list of the weekend’s events can be found on the Native Omaha Days website. This evening’s activities include “A Stroll Down Memory Lane” from 4 to 8 p.m. Along with enjoying food, music and local vendors, a free ride trolley ride will take guests on the North Omaha Village Historic and Revitalization Tour, which will start at the corner of North 24th and Burdette streets.
Young hopes Omahans from all parts of the city join in the festivites to learn more about– and celebrate– the city’s African American community.
“There are amazing people who are doing amazing things here in North Omaha,” Young said. “It’s a joy and it’s a blessing to be born and raised in North Omaha.”