FACT
Kool-Aid really was invented in Nebraska.
Inventor Edwin Perkins created it in 1927 in Hastings, Nebraska, originally called "Kool-Ade"
It started as an earlier product called Fruit Smack, a liquid concentrate that kept breaking in glass bottles during shipping, that shipping problem is literally what led him to invent the powdered version
The idea to dehydrate it into powder was inspired by Jell-O, which his childhood friend (and future wife) Kitty Shoemaker introduced him to when he was 11
The company only stayed in Hastings a few years before moving to Chicago in 1931, but Hastings still celebrates it today with a Kool-Aid Days festival and a dedicated exhibit at the Hastings Museum
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Hello 👋 I’m Reid Novak.
I started Omaha Commons because I was tired of what "news" usually means: council votes, crime reports, whatever's going wrong this week. That stuff matters, sure. But it's not the whole story of this city, and definitely not the most interesting part.
The best parts of Omaha are the small ones. The small business owner who's been open at the same corner for twenty years. The neighbor who shovels a driveway nobody asked them to. The weird, wonderful little things that happen every day here that never make it into any headline, but are the actual reason this city feels like home.
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There's a lot of bad out there already getting talked about. This is a place that chooses to focus on the good instead, and on the idea that this city is smaller and more connected than we treat it like it is.
I'm 18, still in school, building this one issue at a time, and eventually, one event, one connection, one small business at a time too. If that sounds like something you want to be part of, I'd love to have you.
—Reid Novak