Nebraska’s largest record show continues over 40-year legacy

The Firefighters Union Hall was packed Sunday as 60 vendors and hundreds of patrons showed up for the annual Omaha Record, Music & Collector’s Show. Some people were looking for old country, while others pulled rock albums, but all of them bonded over music. “It’s just something that soothes,” Tim Behrens, owner of Kanesville Collectibles, said. “It’s something different, probably for everybody, but it soothes them down and calms people down.” For close to four decades, Behrens has attended the show, both as a vendor and a collector. He’s seen it grow from a few people to almost 500 collectors who came through Sunday’s show. “A lot of them have been coming for so long they’re just like, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ Now, the newer people, I have to introduce myself,” Behrens said. Lists prepared and cash in hand — these music lovers were ready to rock and roll. “If you don’t collect records, people don’t understand,” private collector John Yates said. “When you’re rubbing elbows with other collectors, they understand collecting. Nobody judges anybody on what they collect.” Over the last 40 years, demand has changed, and Omaha’s record community is seeing it firsthand. “They’re a lot more expensive, a lot more collectible. A lot more people are collecting them,” Yates said. “A lot of people from the 50s and 60s are getting older, and they’re downsizing,” Behrens said. “A lot of [sales] are 70s and 80s stuff because the younger kids are getting into it and buying that stuff.” Several collectors called their hobby a lifestyle with collections in the thousands. Yates has nearly 100,000 records. “There’s an old adage that everybody likes some kind of music and I like music,” Yates said. “I guess I’m a music lover since going back to my high school days.” Yates said he doesn’t plan on stopping soon. “When you’re a record collector, you’re always on the hunt, you’re looking everywhere,” Yates said. “Yes, I’ll probably buy something today.”