🏳️🌈 JUNE 6TH FIRST FRIDAY — PRIDE EDITION! 🏳️🌈
We’re here! Some of us are queer! Let’s celebrate that! It’s time to be LOUD AND PROUD!
Celebrate queer creativity, radical joy, and vibrant community all across the Benson Creative District with art markets, gallery openings, open studios, drag, live music, and more!
✨ Come as you are. Be who you are. Pride is for all!
💖 Support free, public arts programming all year long — become a Friend of BFF at bffomaha.org/friend
🎨 FEATURED POSTER ARTIST: COUSE
A Benson icon! Catch Couse and their band SWAMPD at the Friend of BFF Happy Hour!
🖌 Poster sponsored by BLICK — stock up on supplies and thank them for standing with local queer artists!
First Friday Pride is powered by our FAB sponsors!
First Friday Special Events!
🛍️ ☀️ BFF SUMMER ARTIST MARKET ☀️
The BFF Artist Market is in full swing! 🎉
Join us for an open-air celebration featuring more than 75 vendors and community partners across two full blocks, filled with handmade goods, zines, prints, jewelry, live music, and so much fun!
📍 🧡 NORTH MARKET – Military Ave (between Maple & Binney)
🎨 Featuring: Live Art by Mellow Mandalas + Music by DJ B
📍 💙 SOUTH MARKET – 62nd St (between Maple & Miami)
Featuring: Live Art by Mary Ensz + 2neuro
KEY Designs Fabric Bus, D’Colores Art Bus, and the Omaha Public Library’s Mobile Library!
✨ BFF Youth Art Market ✨🎨
📍 Benson Community Center Parking Lot
(6008 Maple St)
📅 Friday, June 6 | 6–8PM
Come celebrate the creativity and hustle of Omaha’s young artists. The BFF Youth Art Market is part of the Artrepreneurial Academy, a 9-month program where students ages 10–17 learned how to turn their ideas into real-world art businesses.
Throughout the program, they developed branding, budgeting, marketing, and leadership skills. They worked in teams, designed products, and planned every detail of this market themselves. Now they’re ready to show the world what they’ve built.
Expect original artwork, handmade goods, and plenty of fresh ideas. Come shop, support, and connect with the next generation of local creatives.
PETSHOP: UNLEASHED VOL. 2
QUEER FACTOR
6:30–10:00 PM
📍 PETSHOP – 2725 N. 62ND FREE • LIVE • ALL-AGES
9 local legends. One stage. Confusing rules. Millions in prizes. Seriously gay vibes. YOU decide who slayed the haus down! Catch the chaotic drag extravaganza and make herstory as we crown the first winner of Queer Factor!
WHO WILL BE ON TOP?
Ilana Case Deveaux • Lola Valentino • Annie Christ • Alana M Viviana • DeeDee Monic • Molli Poppinz • Pavé von Prisma • Milö Nova • Lucy Cerise
Hosted by: Purris Stilton & Mr. G
Sounds by: DJ Roam
Part of PETSHOP: UNLEASHED VOL. 2 — a rainbow-drenched First Friday Pride explosion from BFF Omaha
62th Club - Music and Burlesque Showcase
📍 Shakedown Street Tavern (2735 N. 62nd St)
6:00 - 9:00
CALLING ALL SIXTY-TOOTH FAIRIES
The 62TH CLUB is popping up at Shakedown Street Tavern — and darling, it’s strictly 21+ behind this curtain.
WELCOME TO THE 62TH CLUB (that’s Sixty-Tooth, doll) A clandestine cabaret of music, mischief, and midnight mayhem —
Live tunes to tempt your soul - Pure XTC • Bell Mine • No Functional Purpose
Burlesque to make you blush - Iona Fortune • Lilly EnVogue • Kali Elvana Cavalier
Live body painting with 2neuro
Emceed with grace and grit by Donna Resuscitate
Stay late for CTRL+ALT+DEL (9PM–2AM) with Grazy & DJ Santi spinning the underground sounds, plus Midnight Drag from Molli Poppinz • Lucy Cerise • Donna Resuscitate
Tilt23 Pride Showcase
📍 Ted and Wally’s (6023 Maple St)
6:00 - 9:00
Join Tilt23 outside @tedandwallys in Benson and get proud with the following acts!
PRIDE PLAYERS - The Rose Theater’s Pride Players is a teen-led performance group that creates original theater about LGBTQ+ life, identity, and community. Through improv, poetry, and skits, they share real stories that inspire dialogue and change. Based in Omaha, this award-winning troupe empowers the next generation of queer voices.
The DEBUT of Citrus Kids (feat. Rowyn Belt + Hannah Gammill)
Darren Renfrow with smooth lyrical vibes
Special guest: NE★bula Dance Crew serving an epic vogue dance! @ne_buladancecrew
Pop-Up Shabbat
Immanuel Lutheran (2725 N. 60th Ave)
6:00 - 8:00
Looking for a meaningful way to welcome Shabbat without the drive west? Kick off your weekend at our first Pop-Up Shabbat with Temple Israel of Omaha & Benson First Friday, made for the young & young-at-heart. We hope you’ll come for an evening of spirit, connection, and community.
• 6 PM – Short & soulful Shabbat service at Immanuel Lutheran
(2725 N 60th Ave)
• Hang out, explore the local scene
• 8 PM – Regroup for drinks and good convos at Eleven Eleven Winery
(6061 Maple St)
Come as you are, bring a friend, and experience Shabbat in a way that feels fresh, thoughtful, and rooted in community.
This event is free and open to all, but please RSVP so we can plan accordingly.
June Friend of BFF Happy Hour featuring SWAMPD
📍 The Sydney (5918 Maple St)
🕕 June 6th @ 6PM
Kick off your First Friday PRIDE at the Sydney for the Friend of BFF Happy Hour and catch a FREE live show! SWAMPD will deliver a two-part set: first, a full band performance—followed by a noisy, experimental improv set!
🐊 All are welcome. Bring your gender fluid and get fully SWAMPD.
🤘 ASL interpretation provided!
Become a Friend of BFF and support artists year round! bffomaha.org/friend
Pride in Bloom
📍 Nebraska AIDS Project (6220 Maple St)
5:00 - 8:00
Decorate a pot and plant your own flower!
🎉 BFF Shop Featured Artist: Imtiaz Galerie
📍 Prints now available via our online shop!
🖼️ Auction open for “Super Booths” – online and on display at the BFF Gallery!
We're thrilled to feature Imtiaz, a black-and-white urban landscape photographer whose work blends striking visual storytelling with deep community care. Through his Accepted Everywhere and Equality series, Imtiaz donates 100% of profits to local nonprofits like BFF Omaha, NEAR, and River City Mixed Chorus. 🖤
FIRST FRIDAY OPENING RECEPTIONS!
📍 Petshop (2725 N. 62nd St)
🕛 6–10 PM
In Mediums, Aspen Monet Laboy weaves together memory, spirituality, and identity through glass sculpture, poetry, and installation. Drawing on traditions, philosophies, and personal history, their work explores how the things we carry—cultural, ancestral, emotional—shape our perception and place in the world. Using mirror, refraction, and found objects, Laboy conjures a “third language” of symbols, guiding viewers through layered reflections on transformation and selfhood.
Sometimes We Return // Shelby Freehling
📍 MaMO – South Lot of Petshop,
(2725 N. 62nd Street)
🕕 6–10 PM
Sculptural installation by Shelby Freehling that explores cycles of material use, memory, and reassembly. Working with reclaimed materials and layered forms, Freehling reflects on the tension between permanence and impermanence—inviting viewers to consider what we hold onto and what we leave behind. An artist talk will follow on Saturday, June 7.
Free Gift With Purchase // Sara Cameli
📍 BFF Gallery (5901 Maple Street)
🕕 6–9 PM
New works by Sara Cameli, a Nebraska newcomer whose large-scale paintings explore her recent change in geography. Repeating patterns evoke nature’s presence within an urban environment. The first 55 guests receive a handmade mystery gift created by the artist.
JOCK // MC Daubendiek
📍 SET the Bar – 6121 Maple St
6–8PM
JOCK by MC Daubendiek is a multi-sensory installation that blends athletics and art through sculpture, video, and photography. As a former Division I athlete, Daubendiek explores the body as both subject and spectacle, inviting viewers to reflect on their own physical presence.
Head Shot // JJ Carroll
📍 Ming Toy Gallery (6066 Maple St)
6:00 - 9:00
Head Shot by JJ Carroll is a striking new exhibition exploring perception, narrative, and the desire to believe in the best version of any story. With bold, intimate works that blur the line between portraiture and abstraction, Carroll invites viewers into a layered visual dialogue about identity, vulnerability, and grace.
SHAG
📍 Central Skate Shop (
2905 N. 59th St)
Omaha’s own Shag is back! After five years in California, the pro skater and multimedia artist returns home with a brand new collection inspired by global travels and DJ culture. 🌍🎧
MORE FIRST FRIDAY FUN!
❤️ Alley Cat Vintage (6132 Military Ave.) Rob Cooke Book Signing
❤️ Benson Brewery (6059 Maple St.) Window Display: CJ Elliott
❤️ Benson Community Center (6059 Maple St.) Youth Open Skate and Games w/ The Bay 3 - 8
❤️ Burke's Pub (6117 Maple St.) Window Display: Emma Skow
❤️ Dany Reye’s Studio (7016 Maple St) One Man’s Trash Art Show
❤️ Elevate Pole Fitness ( ) Pride on the Pole Showcase
❤️ Eleven Eleven (6061 Maple St.) Featured Artist:
❤️ Five Nine (6105 Maple St.) Meet Make Mail 5PM - 7PM
❤️ Jake's Cigars (6206 Maple St.) Featured Artist: January Kristine
❤️ Reverb Lounge (6121 Military Ave) Leafblower with Dance Me Pregnant, Wagon blasters
❤️ StudioDaze (6601 Maple St.) 30 Minutes Sessions for $30
❤️ Super Groovy’s (6003 Maple St.) Featured Artist: Off Primary
❤️ The Waiting Room Lounge (6212 Maple St.) Gallivant with Virgin Mary Pistol Grip, Dream Aura
Become a Friend of BFF and enjoy PERKS every First Friday!
Alley Cat Vintage: 20% off purchase
Benson Brewery: Half off draft beer (3-6 PM)
Beercade: $1 off all drinks
Burke’s Pub: Buy one apple pie shot, get another for a penny (3-6 PM)
Burrito Envy: Free cinnamon crisp with purchase
Edge of the Universe: Free cookie with drink purchase
Jake's Cigars: Half off sangria on tap
Kai Tei: Buy one get one sake
Shaheen’s: 15% off any purchase
Snowy Sundaes: $1 off any drink
St. Andrew’s: $1 off tap beers until 7. $1 off Sangria all night
Star Deli: 10% off purchase
Ted & Wally's: Free scoop of ice cream
The Sydney: $1 off all drinks
Become a Friend of BFF HERE!
Thank You to Our First Friday Sponsors!
⭐ Mutual of Omaha ⭐ Ted & Wally's Ultra-Premium Homemade Ice Cream
Friend of BFF Business Members:
🔹 ASL Interpreting Services 🔹 Blue Line Coffee 🔹 Central Skate Shop 🔹 Dahlia House 🔹 Gregg Grossman, Inc. 🔹 Heather Tedesco, Realtor, BHGRE 🔹 Jake's Cigars 🔹 Maven Social 🔹 Metropolitan Community College 🔹 Ming Toy Gallery 🔹 Nebraska AIDS Project 🔹 Omaha Roller Derby 🔹 RAIL + STEAM 🔹 SET the Bar 🔹 Shaheen’s Afghan Cuisine 🔹 Shipment Vintage 🔹 Slowdown 🔹 Snowy Sundaes 🔹 Star Deli 🔹 StudioDaze Omaha 🔹 Taco Co. 🔹 The Garage by the Grey House 🔹 The Sydney