The Omaha RiverFront, a publicly and privately funded $325 million project, is now open to the public.
The City of Omaha contributed $50 million, while local philanthropists donated the remaining funds. The 72-acre RiverFront resides in downtown Omaha and consists of three parks, which are all connected: the Gene Leahy Mall, the Heartland of America Park and the Lewis and Clark Landing. The Gene Leahy Mall opened in July 2022 and has been a popular attraction for Omahans and tourists since. Amenities of the mall include a children’s playground, hammocks, a pavilion, a dog park and a large expanse of grass.
Over a year later, on Aug. 18, the City of Omaha, the Downtown Riverfront Trust and the Omaha Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority (MECA) reopened the Heartland of America Park and the Lewis and Clark Landing, which had both undergone four years of construction. MECA is a nonprofit organization that manages the CHI Health Center and Charles Schwab Field, providing security for the spaces it oversees.
The park contains Conagra Lake and a coupled amphitheater, a skate ribbon, bocce ball courts, hammocks and more. The landing contains a playground even larger than the Gene Leahy Mall’s, volleyball courts, and an “urban sandy beach.” It is also the home to the Kiewit Luminarium, a recently opened interactive science museum.
OJB Landscape Architecture was behind the RiverFront’s structures and layout, with Lanoha Nurseries, Miller Electric, Outdoor Recreation Products, C2 and Shawmark Concrete also contributing to the renovations.
The parks are an approximately four-minute drive, or a 10-minute ORBT ride away from Central, and many Central students have already been quick to take advantage of their amenities. Senior Ren Livingston, for example, unknowingly planned an excursion to the Gene Leahy Mall on the night of the newly opened parks’ unveilings.
“It was my birthday, so I was out for dinner downtown and decided to go on a walk afterward at Gene Leahy Mall, not realizing it was the first night the new [parks were] open,” Livingston said. Ultimately, she ventured around the Heartland of America Park and stumbled upon the skate ribbon, where a live DJ provided music. Livingston credited roller skating as the highlight of her visit to the RiverFront.
Omaha has been without a roller-skating rink since the closure of Skate Daze in 2018. With the opening of the skate ribbon, Omahans no longer must drive to the nearby city of Bellevue to roller skate. The ribbon is even free to use, and skates are available to rent for $5.
Skating was also popular with junior Callahan Hernandez, who spent “countless hours” on the ribbon. In the winter, the roller-skating rink will become an ice-skating rink, which Hernandez looks forward to, as ice skating has been popular among his friends in recent years.
Hernandez admires the beauty of the Heartland of America Park, with its remarkable views of downtown Omaha and winding paths that overlook the Missouri River and Conagra Lake. But there was something else that caught his eye.
“The landscaping was well thought out and used many native plants, which intrigued the people I attended the park with to look into more of Nebraska’s native plants,” Hernandez said.
According to The Riverfront’s website, 15 tree varieties and 55 species of shrubs, grasses, perennials and aquatic plants are rooted in the parks: “The RiverFront landscape design also aims to revegetate much of the park space, recreating desirable habitats for some of the small wildlife that call the Missouri River home.”
The parks were also constructed with sustainability in mind. The website states that, “Items such as artwork, benches and handrails were upcycled for continuous use; limestone has been carefully removed and is being utilized in another city park; and pallets of bricks were collected and stored for preservation of the Old Market’s historic cobblestone streets.”
Hernandez looks forward to picnicking with his friends at the park, which he thinks offers a welcoming environment with its open green spaces and shrubbery. Livingston also believes the skate ribbon and the hammocks will be particularly popular among high schoolers.
Additionally, the MAHA Music Festival, frequently attended by Central students, is moving from Aksarben Village to the Heartland of America Park next summer. Hernandez is excited about this change of scenery but dreads the chaos of parking downtown that will come with it.
All three parks that make up the RiverFront are hosts to playgrounds that young children – and even some daring teens – can climb, swing and slide on. “I know I would’ve loved to have been able to go there as a younger kid, so I think it’s great for families,” Livingston said.
Another favored destination for families is the Kiewit Luminarium. “The Luminarium is an interactive science museum that teaches kids about different aspects of science in ways that are easy to comprehend,” senior Beth Mergens explained.
Mergens attended the museum with her family friends and their 10-year-old son. She thinks that its exhibits were perfectly geared toward children his age. “[The Luminarium] benefits Omaha because it is accessible to everyone of all ages and makes learning fun,” Mergens said.
“I think the Omaha RiverFront is an exciting new development for the Omaha community. You can tell a lot of funding and work went into the parks, and that’s cool to see,” Livingston said.
Hernandez has similar sentiments. “Public parks are important for education, fun, and community events. I believe the new parks offer all of those and more,” he said.
