This was the last Ak-Sar-Ben electrical parade in 1926. Lines at left were made by Benson High School band members, who wore lights on their uniforms. Parade equipment went up in the fire that destroyed the Ak-Sar-Ben Den at 20th and Burdette Streets in 1927.
Before there were Disney’s nighttime theme-park parades and the old Orange Bowl evening spectacles down Biscayne Boulevard (remember those, Husker fans?), was the granddaddy of them all in Omaha?
Ak-Sar-Ben’s electrical parades: for nearly 30 years every fall, they delighted thousands. Following the downtown trolley lines, the parade route featured floats imagined by the wizardry of Gus Renze and originally illuminated by the city electrician.
Back in 1895, Omaha businessmen had landed the Nebraska State Fair under a five-year contract. While organizing into the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben, which became the leading arm of Omaha society to this day, they purchased the floats from that year’s Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans.
They also leased, and later purchased, the Omaha Coliseum (or Colosseum) at 20th and Burdette Streets in North Omaha. Opened in November 1888, the 81,000-square foot building — said to seat 20,000 — hosted six-day bicycle races (the track was eight laps to the mile), concerts, boxing and wrestling matches.
He transformed the Mardi Gras floats, which had depicted a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, into the telling of “The Feast of Mondamin,†a festival celebrating the discovery of the land of Quivera. He turned New Orleans’ man-eating giant into a corn-eater. These floats were not illuminated by electricity. But the parade route was lit up on the night of Sept. 19.
Publisher Clement Chase, in his otherwise complimentary review of the parade in the Omaha Excelsior, wrote, “Mondamin may be a very fine fellow according to Longfellow, but his appearance in the parade was not very assuming. He was big enough but his whole appearance was more that of Fiji Islander boiling missionary soup than the great prophet of Nebraska cooking succotash.â€
Omaha ate it up anyway. Stands and seats had been erected anywhere and everywhere. All windows in buildings at 16th and Farnam Streets were rented days in advance, for $10 and up. A princely sum in those days.
Pun intended, for following the parade was the first Ak coronation. The crowning of E.M. Bartlett as king and Meliora Woolworth as queen ran into the wee hours because the parade ran late. It was 11 p.m. before the entourage returned to the coliseum, by now being known as the Ak-Sar-Ben den, and the pageant began 15 minutes before midnight.
The next year, the theme was classical, “The Feat of Olympia.†Greek gods and heroes and their girlfriends stepped out in a blaze of electric light.
Renze stepped up the presentation level in 1897 for “The Feast of Quivera.†The floats’ electric power came from the trolley lines, as devised by city electrician Edward Schurig (who later was granted a patent). The unveiling came during “Samson’s McKanikal Parade,†with fewer than a dozen floats. The parade started at 16th and Cuming Streets and wound through downtown as far as 19th and Harney Streets before returning to the start.
The first full electrical parade was in 1898, the year of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. “The Spectacle of the Heavenly Bodies†was comprised of the 20 flats typifying the constellations.
Gustave Adolph Renze (1861-1933), German-born, came from St. Louis to Omaha in 1889. He’d say he came to town with exactly “$2.18 and the tuberculosis.†After spending a nickel for a beer at Ed Maurer’s restaurant and bar, “that left $2.13. I finally decided to horde my pile carefully and look for a job here, and stay.†The next day, he was hired as a sign painter.
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His position as Ak’s artificer required him to be a historian. How did the Monitor look? How many stars were on the U.S. flag during a certain period? What kind of boots did Stonewall Jackson wear? He was versed in mythology and fairy lore. He read Mother Goose and history books. His had an artist’s temperament. He could be touchy and suggestions had to be put to him tactfully.
Upon Renze’s death, the oldest living Ak king, E.P. Peck, said, “He helped build Ak-Sar-Ben with his head and hands.â€
Reusing the horse-drawn wagons every year, Renze created floats to match the parades’ topical themes. “The Allies Answer†was 1918’s during World War I. “Story of the American Legion in War and Peace†was 1925’s during the Legion’s national convention in Omaha.
After the state fair ran its course and returned to Lincoln in 1900, Ak continued with a fall carnival in conjunction with the parade and the coronation ball.
The only year without a parade was 1919, which was Ak’s 25th year. “The Famous Love Stories†and a floral automobile parade were scrubbed in the wake of the Will Brown lynching at the Douglas County Courthouse the Sunday of carnival week. Renze put the 18 floats under waterproof canvas until the next year. The carnival went on, although the tension in the city cut into attendance, and the coronation was held under military guard at the Ak den. The “Famous Love Stories†floats were used for the 1920 parade.
For the last 15 years of the parades, the last float was followed by the Dan Desdunes band of Black musicians as a windup with a “flash of lively melody,†as Robert Manley wrote in The World-Herald in 1952. “A big crowd of cheering kids always followed the band.â€
The lights went out on the electrical parades and the carnival week when the Ak-Sar-Ben den went up in smoke in June 1927. It was a fire of unknown origin. Gone were the floats and Renze’s vast library.
“I am broken-hearted,†Renze said. “I couldn’t stand to be near it and as soon as I could get away, I left for home.â€
Ak-Sar-Ben built a new coliseum on its grounds at 63rd and Shirley Streets in the aftermath. Its coronation ball continues, updated for the times.
In September 1954, a one-time Ak Electric Parade — using portable generators (rented from the Orange Bowl folks) as the trolley lines had passed — was held downtown to commemorate the city’s centennial. The float builder? Gus A. Renze Co., now called Renze Display, which has been owned by the Buchanan family since 1935.
Since there’s a streetcar line in Omaha’s future, when the time comes why not launch it with an electric parade along its route? It’s been done before.
This was the last Ak-Sar-Ben electrical parade in 1926. Lines at left were made by Benson High School band members, who wore lights on their uniforms. Parade equipment went up in the fire that destroyed the Ak-Sar-Ben Den at 20th and Burdette Streets in 1927.
Beneath the melted mass of metal in the foreground are the remains of floats used in the Ak-Sar-Ben electrical parades. The picture was taken when fire had ravaged the entire building and not a wall was left standing.