An Economic Boost

After a year of shutdowns and cancellations, the return of the girls and boys state basketball tournaments to Lincoln brought forth a sense of the return of “normal activities.” Over the course of the months leading up to the tournament, there was a sense of worry throughout the business community while very public discussions of whether state basketball would be in Lincoln again this year, or if a move to another city was going to happen. Thankfully for Lincoln, we kept the 2021 tournaments here.

The Nebraska School Activities Association and Lincoln Public Schools invested a great deal of time and effort to put measures into place that follow the local guidelines while creating a friendly environment for all who attended both tournaments. The move of the tournament to a five-day schedule instead of the traditional three days in order to spread out the games brought and kept people in Lincoln. Safely hosting state basketball tournaments is a complex undertaking and because of thoughtful and intentional planning by the NSAA and LPS, Lincoln provided thousands of basketball fans an unforgettable experience.

Our local businesses are some of the best imaginable when it comes to hosting guests from other communities. I enjoyed and appreciated the feel of state basketball weekends in Lincoln. Local stores were seeing the impact of our guests from out of town out and about as well as our restaurants seeing more traffic. Having dealt with many difficult circumstances over the past year, serving guests from every corner of the state brought a revived energy to our city and a strong sense of encouragement we all need. We could feel it in the air.

We are seeing more and more events coming back—people will be going back to the ball park, our kids are able to participate in more activities than at times last year. Most important, things are feeling like we are getting back to more of the activities we feel are normal. We will continue to be doing in-person activities at LIBA to allow our members to connect in-person.

LIBA PAC Endorsements

This spring Lincoln will be having elections for City Council, School Board, and Airport Authority. These elections are important for our community. Primary Election is on April 6 and the General Election is May 4. These groups all have a tremendous impact on our day to day lives and pocket books. We must show up and make our voices be heard.

For the Primary Election, the LIBA PAC (Political Action Committee) endorsed the following candidates for City Council: Tom Beckius, Roy Christensen, Mary Hilton, Elina Newman, Trevor Reilly, and Bennie Shobe. For School Board: LIBA PAC Endorsed Kathy Danek in District 1. In the Airport Authority race, LIBA PAC endorsed Jason Krueger and John Olsson. Following the Primary, the LIBA PAC will review candidates who qualify for the General Election and make announcements of further endorsements. Most important, we all must show up and participate in this election! The future of our city depends on our participation.