Summer 2026

The Photo Issue

LOOK INSIDE FOR THE WINNERS OF OUR 14TH ANNUAL FOCUS ON NEVADA CONTEST!

TIME TRIP TRAVEL WITH NEVADA HISTORY ON THE ITINERARY SCHOOL OF THOUGHT A Q&A WITH CCSD SUPERINTENDENT JHONE EBERT

Committed to Community

Roseman University is training the next generation of compassionate and highly competent healthcare providers in pharmacy, nursing, medicine, dental medicine and graduate studies to thrive in the ever-changing world of healthcare.

With more than two decades of building from a firm foundation to a broad universe of healthcare education, Roseman continues to develop innovative programs that train a diverse student body to be exceptional leaders in their chosen fields. We look ahead to the limitless promise of the future, in providing our communities unparalleled patient care, scientific discovery, and commitment to improving healthcare outcomes in our region and beyond.

HOW DO WE COMMIT TO OUR COMMUNITY?

Through community-engaged service from faculty, staff and students to offer free health screenings, dental care, and education on a variety of healthcare topics

Through our student-led Medicare Call Lab assisting seniors with their Medicare enrollment, saving them more than $3M since 2015

Through ASPIRE: inspiring and nurturing the next generation of healthcare providers through community-based programming

Learn more at roseman.edu

Transforming Education. Reimagining Healthcare. Embracing Discovery. Committed to Community.

roseman.edu | @rosemanuhs

THE HEAT IS ON—BUT YOUR LANDSCAPE NEEDS LESS WATER THAN YOU MAY THINK!

Before you can say “how hot is it?”, another scorching Southern Nevada summer is here. And now that those sultry days and nights have arrived, the time is now to learn how you can keep your landscape happy and healthy even during summer’s intense heat—while you help the community save water and manage your monthly bill.

Now, you may be tempted to overwater your plants and trees as the mercury climbs. However, your landscapes— especially those on waterefficient, drip-irrigated systems—can thrive and be healthy even when the heat is on.

As the community’s mandatory summer watering restrictions take effect from May 1 through Aug. 31, consider following these tips to help maintain your landscape’s vitality while using water efficiently and managing your water bill:

Follow a recommended four-day-a-week schedule for drip-irrigated trees and plants, watering 30 to 90 minutes once per watering day depending on the flow

of your emitters. Be sure to monitor your plants and trees to make sure they are receiving adequate water.

Water grass with sprinklers for a maximum of 12 minutes per watering day, set in three four-minute cycles, spaced one hour apart. That’s all your grass needs.

Grass can be watered up to six days a week in summer; Sunday watering is not allowed year-round. However, just because you can water more, it doesn’t mean your landscape needs it.

Slowly ramp up the number of watering days as temperatures increase.

During the summer months, sprinkler irrigation is prohibited between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., when water can be lost to intense heat and high winds.

And don’t forget, watering during prohibited hours or allowing water to spray or flow off your property could result in a costly water-waste fine (and nobody wants that).

A CA RI BBE AN STEA KHOUSE

BY KWAME ONWUAC HI

HOW FAR WILL ONE MAN GO TO RETRIEVE THE FLAVORS OF ANOTHER WORLD?

SAVOR THE FIRE

Maroon, a new dining concept from James Beard award-winning chef Kwame Onwuachi, combines the untamed avors of Caribbean-jerk cuisine with the signature air of one of the culinary world’s most important innovators. Prepare to experience a truly new and unforgettable take on the Las Vegas steakhouse, at Maroon.

Embracing the ups and downs of Vegas’ hottest months

CCSD’s new supe grades her first year

Medicaid cuts imperil mental health services

Hikers wanted, hearing not required

Global warming isn’t for the birds

Think theming’s dead? Head to a bar and find out By Lissa Townsend

Is Hendo upping its dining game? By Heidi KnappRinella

off (indoors)

Four big, new reads by local authors By Reannon Muth

Capt. Paiute fights bad guys — and stereotypes By Jimmy Romo-Buenrostro

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Analog crafting is cool again. Here’s how to start By Aleza Freeman

For members, this men’s chorus strikes a chord By Janis Hashe

Luxury has a new

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Editor’s Note

LOVIN’ SUMMER

Iam looking forward to summer. Hear me out, heat haters. From my 50s — and all they’ve wrought on my body — I, too, have learned to loathe Las Vegas’ long stretches of 100-plus-degree temperatures. And that’s not to mention the pent-up rage I’ve developed from years as a part-time environmental reporter (and current subscriber to Emily Atkin’s Heated ).

Yet, I still look forward to summer. Maybe, on a personal level, it’s because I’ve never shaken the utter insouciance an 8-year-old feels when school is finally out. That has carried over to adulthood — including work — for me. My husband and I tend to take our vacations in July, when his job schedule is light. And at Desert Companion, this has traditionally been a time of year for fun projects, like our pies feature from a while back, and, of course, our yearly Focus on Nevada Photo Showcase.

I’m not exaggerating when I say the photo contest is among the top five things that drew me to working here. I’ve written in this space before about the brilliance of doing a fun, meaningful community event that translates into beautiful print feature (p. 65). And last year, I also noted the natural symbiosis between this feature

and our much-loved travel special, of which you’ll find this year’s iteration — history travel! — on p. 58. And this time around, we’ve made the photos-travel-summer connection sort of literal, including our first guide to summer in All Things (p. 19). Kudos to Editor-at-Large Scott Dickensheets for the idea (now that I think about it, he was probably behind most of those fun summer things we did when he was here full-time).

In it, you’ll learn where soccer insiders will watch the FIFA World Cup, get a list of music festivals taking place on the Strip, read Scott waxing poetic about the heyday of Lake Mead, and — for those escaping 100-plus degrees — find tips for living your best #vanlife.

I hope you have as much fun reading all this as we did writing it. Given the work it takes to just face the news each day, we figured the least we could do was offer a little insouciance for your summer.

Drink plenty of water, Heidi

CORRECTION

Regarding the February 2026 issue: In “Mountain West law-enforcement agreements with ICE rose five-fold in 2025,” Sergio Morais-Hechavarria is the Cuban detainee’s correct name. Desert Companion regrets the error.

PRESIDENT & CEO Favian Perez

MANAGING EDITOR Heidi Kyser

ART DIRECTOR Scott Lien

DIRECTOR OF PHILANTHROPY

ASSISTANT EDITOR Anne Davis

EDITOR-AT-LARGE Scott Dickensheets

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Ryan Vellinga

KNPR PRODUCERS AND REPORTERS

Paul Boger, Yvette Fernandez, Mike Prevatt , Jimmy Romo-Buenrostro

ASSISTANT CORPORATE SUPPORT MANAGER

Allison Hall

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Markus Van’t Hul, Britt Quintana

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Marlies Daebritz

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Jeff Jacobs

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Juergen Barbusca, Josh Bell, Morrigan DeVito, Scott Franz, Aleza Freeman, Janis Hashe, Lorraine Blanco Moss, Reannon Muth, Heidi Knapp Rinella, Lissa Townsend Rodgers, Shannon Salter, Charlize Smith

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CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

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CONTACT

EDITORIAL: Heidi Kyser (702) 259-7855 heidi@desertcompanion.com

ART: Scott Lien (702) 258-9895 scott@knpr.org

ADVERTISING: (702) 259-7808 sales@nevadapublicradio.org

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Marlies Daebritz (702) 259-7822 marlies@desertcompanion.com

Desert Companion is published quarterly by Nevada Pub lic Radio, 1289 S. Torrey Pines Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89146. It is available by subscription at desertcompanion.vegas, or as part of Nevada Public Radio membership. It is also distributed free at select locations in the Las Vegas Valley. All photos, artwork, and ad designs printed are the sole property of Desert Companion ed or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. The views of Desert Companion writers are not necessarily the views of or Nevada Public Radio. Contact us for back issues, which are available for purchase for $7.95.

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ART GARFUNKEL

AT REYNOLDS HALL

ART GARFUNKEL RETURNS to live performances with What a Wonderful World Celebration Concerts Friday, September 25 at The Smith Center.

Friday, September 25 thesmithcenter.com

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS

AMANDA MOORE-SAUNDERS | Conduit Entertainment chair

ANDREA GOEGLEIN, PH.D | ServingSuccess vice chair

SCOTT NIELSON | Nielson Consulting, LLC treasurer

FAVIAN PEREZ | Nevada Public Radio secretary

DIRECTORS

CYNTHIA A. DREIBELBIS | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

FRED J. KEETON | Keeton Iconoclast Consulting, LLC

EDWIN C. KINGSLEY, MD | Comprehensive Cancer Centers

JEFFREY REIMAN | The Broadband Group

ERNEST STOVALL | Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino

KELLIE VANDER VEUR | Retired

ROB ZIEMS | Gaming Arts, LLC

DIRECTORS EMERITI

CYNTHIA ALEXANDER | Dickinson Wright, PLLC

SUSAN M. BRENNAN | The Brennan Consulting Group, LLC

DAVE CABRAL | Business Finance Corp.

LOUIS CASTLE | Childlike Wonder Games

PATRICK N. CHAPIN, ESQ. | Patrick N. Chapin, Ltd.

ELIZABETH FRETWELL | C4ward Strategies, LTD

DON HAMRICK | Retired

GAVIN ISAACS | Games Global

CHRIS MURRAY | Avissa Corporation

JERRY NADAL | Luna Entertainment Consulting Services

WILLIAM J. “BILL” NOONAN | William J. Noonan Consulting

KATHE NYLEN | Retired

ANTHONY J. PEARL | Baha Mar

MARK RICCIARDI, ESQ. | Fisher Phillips, LLP

MICKEY ROEMER | Roemer Gaming

TIM WONG | Arcata Associates

LAMAR MARCHESE | president emeritus

READTO WIN!

May 15 to July 15

Sign up for the Library District’s Summer Challenge program to enjoy reading whatever you like, earn cool rewards, and participate in fun events!

EVENTS FOR KIDS: EVENTS FOR TEENS: EVENTS FOR ADULTS:

Koo Koo

A high-energy, laugh-out-loud, get-upand-move performance the whole family will love!

Wednesday, May 20 at 4 p.m.

Whitney Library

Thursday, May 21 at 11 a.m.

West Charleston Library

Ages 2 – 8

Buckets N Boards*

A hilarious and high-energy show chockfull of amazing percussion, ridiculous songs, spectacular tap dancing, and inventive instrumentation.

Tuesday, June 23 at 11 a.m.

Whitney Library

Tuesday, June 23 at 4 p.m.

Whitney Library

All Ages

Havana Hop with Paige Hernandez

Dance along in this dynamic participation play where one actress creates three generations of lively Cuban women. Learn the basics of hip hop, salsa, and partner dance with adults and children together!

Tuesday, July 14 at 11 a.m.

West Charleston Library

Wednesday, July 15 at 11 a.m.

Clark County Library

Friday, July 17 at 11 a.m.

East Las Vegas Library

Ages 3 – 8

Scan here for event details

DIY Studio Create a paint-pouring project you can keep!

Tuesday, May 19 at 4:30 p.m.

Windmill Library

Ages 12 – 17

Anime Your Way with Carlos Nieto*

Learn how to create unique characters!

Multiple dates & locations in June

Ages 12 – 17

Paige in Full with Paige Hernandez

Move your body in this beat-filled visual mixtape that blends poetry, dance, media, and music.

Tuesday, July 14 at 4 p.m.

West Charleston Library

Ages 12 – 17

*More

The Filharmonic Live Performance*

This LA-based a cappella group of FilipinoAmericans was featured in NBC’s “The Sing-Off.”

Friday, May 29 at 11 a.m.

Spring Valley Library

Vocal Workshop

Saturday, May 30 at 6:30 p.m.

Windmill Library Concert

Lori Tapahonso* –Lecture

Learn the history of oral storytelling and teaching customs in Indigenous communities.

Wednesday, June 24 at 11 a.m.

Enterprise Library

Wednesday, June 24 at 4:30 p.m.

Centennial Hills Library

Tochi Onyebuchi –Author Visit

Join this author and former civil rights attorney as he shares his science fiction & fantasy books and explains his creative writing process.

Wednesday, July 29 at 6 p.m.

Sahara West Library

VIBES

ALL THINGS

IDEAS, CULTURE, FOOD, AND OTHER WAYS TO CONNECT WITH YOUR CITY

Just a Lake

Long before it was a symbol of ecological distress, Lake Mead was just where I acted like a fool

BY Scott Dickensheets

big, dumb fun, rather than the alarming example of ecological anxiety and perilous resource management it’s become. If it had a bathtub ring at the time — as it’s had periodically as far back as the mid-1960s — I didn’t clock it. It was just where we went to enjoy boating, camping, picnicking.

Also, really illegal fireworks. I’m talking rockets the size of donkey legs, at least in my memory, procured from ads in Soldier of Fortune, a magazine for armchair mercenaries.

I should mention here that I was hanging out with some guys who were six or eight years older than me. While no more emotionally developed than I was, they had fun-enabling things I didn’t, like credit cards and boats.

So picture five or six people zooming to a quiet spot far across Lake Mead in the night. Dumb-fun fact: If you fire rockets into the lake rather than over it, they won’t snuff out. They’ll explode down there: massive, mesmerizing flashes of silent light.

One memorable July 4 evening found us floating beside a spire of rock in a distant cove. Among other combustibles, I had a brightly colored box containing 16 smallish rockets — you light one fuse, and they fire in sequence. I clambered

a few feet up the rock, where I set the box on a small ledge and lit it. Dumb-fun fact: When rockets shoot from one side of a rocket box, its weight distribution shifts. The box suddenly tumbled toward me, shooting fiery missiles within inches of my fear-widened eyes and heaving chest. Only the luck of the stupid spared me, everyone else, and the boat itself from injury. Naturally, that didn’t stop us the next year, or the next. And in case you’re wondering, absolutely no drugs or alcohol were involved.

I won’t tell you the pipe bomb story. But rest assured, there is one.

Not all of our pursuits were so destructive. Some were just typical youthful peacocking. I couldn’t ski, but I could fall really well, so, like lots of other people, we cliff-jumped, though less often from the crowded shoreline spots than from the highest points we could boat to. Dumb-fun fact: Plunge from high enough, and your flipflops might tear into pieces when you hit the water.

We towed one other on inner tubes behind a speedboat, too. Now, when the driver whips into a turn, and the torque snaps the tube-rider outside the wake, and you’re audibly sizzling across the water — that’s a helluva jolt. But if you fall off at that speed, lake water is only slightly more forgiving than land. You cartwheel across the surface like a broken rag doll. More than once I tumbled to a stop, then had to find my swimsuit.

Yes, looking back, so much of this was just dumb. I mean, fireworks into the lake?! Why didn’t I think twice about this behavior? Apart from youthful recklessness, the answer is this: Back then we could still take the lake’s durability for granted. It was just the lake. Dumb-fun fact.

My mangy adolescent testosterone finally waned in my mid-20s, and I haven’t inflicted any harmful idiocy on the lake since. I’m happy to report that my environmental awareness has caught up to the hard realities about the lake’s precarious future. But I’d be lying if I said I don’t occasionally relive that sizzle, and smile. ✦

GOING MOBILE

Rolling on a Dream

So you wanna spend your summer in a van?

#Vanlife tips from a guy who knows

BY Juergen Barbusca

Seeing more camper vans on the road these days? It might be because the RV industry is growing, with van life responsible for about 15 percent of that growth. Searches for “vanlife” have increased by 216 percent since 2018, and the #vanlife hashtag has logged more than 5 billion views on TikTok. Known in the industry as Class B motorhomes, vans drive like a car, fit in standard parking spaces, and can be surprisingly well-equipped, providing both a home for full-time dwellers and an appealing way to see America. Here’s a quick guide for the curious.

BUY OR RENT: Not ready to spend six figures? Rentals are widely available through companies like Roadsurfer, Escape Campervans, and Travellers Autobarn, or try peer-to-peer options like Outdoorsy and RVshare. Average cost: $100-$250 per night.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY:

Modern vans come with a bed, stove, refrigerator, and sink. Solar panels, batteries, or a generator provide power. Heat, AC, a toilet, and shower could be optional. Such amenities leverage a van’s compact design and versatility, allowing anyone to get off the grid without special skills.

OVERNIGHT PARKING: Walmart and other big-box stores often still allow overnight parking, but some are clamping down. RVs can also stay at most Cracker Barrel restaurants free of charge. Member-

Hosts offers thousands of unique overnight locations, including wineries, ranches, and museums. Kampgrounds of America, Good Sam campgrounds, as well as state and national parks are priced from $20 to more than $400 and may require reservations. On BLM land, dispersed camping is often free up to 14 days at a time.

GET OUT OF THE HEAT:

On his blog, climate scientist Brian Brettschneider created two widely cited cross-country routes with an average year-round high temperature of 70 degrees. But consider driving U.S. 89, the National Park Highway, a scenic route that stretches from Flagstaff, Arizona, to the Canadian border, linking seven major national parks, 14 national monuments, historical sites, and recreation areas, plus access to 22 wilderness areas.

DITCH THE PHONE: Using a paper map and practicing basic orienteering instead of relying on GPS and turn-by-turn directions will stimulate your “spatial awareness.” Besides, a traditional road map reveals sightseeing stops, recreational areas, scenic routes, and physical features at a single glance. You can even plot your traveled route for post-trip showand-tell.

SET ITINERARY OR OPEN END: Take a cue from road writers such as Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck, and William Least Heat-Moon: Leave room for spontaneity and curiosity, and let tips from locals and serendipity guide you. After all, the best destinations are the ones we never plan. ✦

Juergen Barbusca is the author of No Overnight Parking: A Year of Vanlife, Discovery, and the Open Road. Find him at juergenbarbusca.com

Where will you be June 11-July 19? If you’re a soccer fan, you’ll be looking for the best place to plant your butt in front of a (preferably theater-sized) screen that’s streaming the 2026 FIFA World Cup. As Google will tell you, practically every sports bar and book in Las Vegas will be showing the global tournament. But if you ask the true local fans (which we did), they recommend these spots.

BEST OF THE FESTS

If you’re itching for a summer festival, here’s what’s coming to town.

››› VEGAS ELVIS FEST

“I have two. First, Mt. Charleston, because it’s beautiful and it’s easy. Second, Dodger Stadium.”

— Nathan Tannenbaum, KLAS traffic and weather guy

A seven-time Best of Las Vegas weathercaster, Tannenbaum is now the morning traffic anchor for 8NewsNow and is active in the community.

CHINATOWN

Crown & Anchor

British Pub

4755 W. Spring Mountain Rd. crownandanchorlv. com, 702-876-4733

DOWNTOWN

Circa Resort & Casino’s Stadium

Swim rooftop pool 8 Fremont St. circalasvegas.com 702-247-2258

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Ojos Locos

Sports Cantina 3227 N. Civic Center Dr. ojoslocos.com 702-443-9580

“Finding a shaded pool with a cold beverage is my first choice. If I plan to stay dry, the Pinball Hall of Fame is a fun alternative to stay inside and while away an afternoon!”

— Kim Owens, Main St. Provisions

Owens has lived in Las Vegas for 26 years and opened her Arts District restaurant, Main St. Provisions, in 2020.

SOUTH STRIP

Rí Rá Irish Pub

The Shoppes at Mandalay Place 3930 Las Vegas Blvd. South 702-632-7771

SPRING VALLEY

Jackpot Bar & Grill 4485 S. Jones Blvd. jackpotbarlv.com 702-463-0333

SUMMERLIN

Red Rock

Casino Resort

Sports Book 11011 W. Charleston Blvd. redrockresort.com/ play/race-and-sports 702-797-7777

“I plan for the fall. That way, I can just hunker down and dream about the next planting season all summer long.”

— Lisa Ortega, executive director of Nevada Plants

Ortega is a master arborist and proponent of community forestry. She also gives tree advice through

At the end of May, fans of Elvis Presley impersonation can watch lookalikes compete — and perform — as Elvis Tribute Artists. (May 28-31, times vary, $276-$767, Alexis Park, vegaselvisfest.com)

››› LAS VEGAS JUNETEENTH FESTIVAL

The Las Vegas Juneteenth Festival will host its milestone 25th anniversary celebration with food vendors and live musical performances, all celebrating Black culture. (June 20, 4-9p, free, World Market Center, june19lv.com)

››› LAS VEGAS SONGWRITERS FESTIVAL

Independent songwriters gather at summer’s end to perform and showcase their talents. With 100 live performers, multiple Grammy-nominated songwriters, and award-winning artists, it promises to be a showcase of talent and a fun three-day festival. (Aug. 20-22, times vary, $333-$577, Mandalay Bay, vegassongwriters.com)

››› DRINK LAS VEGAS

Coming just after Wynn’s Revelry food festival, Park MGM, Bellagio, Aria, and Cosmopolitan will offer their own chance to treat yourself. With 50 events planned around different kinds of alcohol, the event is sure to be a goodie. (Sept. 24-27, times and pricing vary, MGM Resorts, drinklasvegas. com) — Charlize Smith

Deleted

Las Vegas Scenes from Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

››› Trying to enter Hades, Odysseus wanders into Tesla tunnels. “Close enough,” he shrugs. Later he’s fined by OSHA.

››› Greek sailors wake up in trashed Strip hotel room with a baby and a tiger. “Wrong myth,” Odysseus snarls, disemboweling Zach Galifianakis.

››› Greeks win Battle of Fremont Street Experience by hiding soldiers in large novelty margarita.

››› Odysseus calls “Sirens direct to your room.” Later, they steal his Rolex.

››› Having enraged the god of downtown parking, the Greeks endlessly circle the Arts District before giving up on delicious Vesta latte.

››› Odysseus battles spies to reveal secrets of Treadstone. “Wrong movie,” Matt Damon snarls, disemboweling Zach Galifianakis.

The Odyssey comes out July 17.

— Scott Dickensheets

EDUCATION

‘Not Just Sitting in My Office’

In her first year, CCSD Superintendent Jhone Ebert says, community needs, data, and a changing world drive her decisions

BY Paul Boger

CDuring a recent school board meeting, you said the district is “stabilizing, growing, and regaining trust of the community.” What are you doing to accomplish that?

Number one is getting out there and making sure I’m not just sitting in my

lark County School District Superintendent Jhone Ebert has been on the job for about a year now — and she could have picked an easier time to take over. Amid declining enrollment in public elementary schools nationwide, paired with an increasing number of high school graduates opting out of college, the teaching veteran faced a top administrator’s daunting task: keep students, along with their parents and teachers, engaged in their education. Desert Companion checked in with Ebert to see how that’s going.

JHONE EBERT

office. This year, our entire team started by making sure we were at the football games. I went to one at Boulder City High School. The principal there said that they hadn’t seen a superintendent for over a decade. So, getting out into the community so they know we come to work every single day on behalf of children.

It’s also getting out there and making sure they have the correct information and being honest about where we need to go. You can’t build trust if you’re just saying everything is wonderful and that we don’t have any work to do in the Clark County School District. We have a lot of work to do in the Clark County School District, but there are also great celebrations with graduation rates up and all.

So, what are you focused on as you head into the summer and the next school year?

My degree’s in mathematics. So, data is my thing. All year, we’ve been tracking how to increase that graduation rate by making sure students are in the right classes, that if we see students who aren’t coming … making sure that they’re coming to school, they’re staying on track, that they earn great grades in

school, and that they participate.

We’re also working directly with the students who have the steepest climb — those who are behind and not proficient in mathematics or literacy. We just partnered with the College Football Playoff Foundation. They came to town. Their mission is to support the cities that they’re in with education. … So, they are working with us on behalf of our students with dyslexia. We did not have a (dyslexia) screener previously in the Clark County School District to screen our students. And so now we’re going to screen our students for dyslexia and make sure that teachers have the resources they need to support those students and their parents.

Those are just a few of the things we’re focusing on for the next year.

In 2020, there were about 480,000 students in Nevada public schools. Now there are about 455,000 students. How big is declining enrollment’s impact on the district?

We had this massive influx of students moving into Southern Nevada. We were building a school a month for a very long time. Finding educators, finding teachers, was our core business … So, staffing-wise,

we’re in a great place. But how are we going to use our facilities now? We’re exploring that through our facilities master plan. We have over 1,000 — close to 1,500 — portables in the Clark County School District. We won’t need those anymore. Do we sell them? Do we have other entities come in, like nonprofits that partner with us, like the United Way or Communities in Schools?

Those are all things we’re exploring, so we’re trying to get ahead of the news. Some people have gotten out and are saying, ‘Oh, we’re closing schools.’ Well, if we do, it won’t be for another four years. But we want to know what the community wants to see. Do they think we should use our school buildings for our partners, including on-campus health services? Is that a good idea? We’re going to expand pre-K. What does that community need?

A letter to staff earlier this year said roughly 1,200 CCSD employees were at risk of losing their jobs next year. What’s the status of those positions?

Yes, the numbers are down. The staff right now, whom we call “surplus,” who have the opportunity to select other positions available across the district, is just around 450.

We have many staff members who have been here for 30 years or more and are going to retire. I have some wonderful staff members whose husbands just got jobs in other states, and they’re moving. It’s standard that spring is a time for movement, so we are in that process right now. We are finding positions for those staff members. We expect to have everyone in a position on time, though it’ll be close. Other places, like L.A., had more than 1,000 pink slips. We are not near that at all at this point.  … So, we’re making sure we stay focused on core academics, that our students are proficient and successful, that they … own their learning, that they have a pathway they identify with, and that our parents know our schools are safe and fun. ✦

HEAR MORE from Ebert on KNPR’s State of Nevada.

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HEALTHCARE

More Than Services

Providers of mental health support and families of patients fear the dire consequences that will come from changes to Medicaid

BY Anne Davis

Fifty-first. That’s Nevada’s ranking in Mental Health America’s latest annual report, published last year. For years the state’s prevalence of mental illness has run up against, and created friction with, a dearth of accessible services.

Measures of Nevada’s continued struggle toward more ubiquitous, better funded, and attainable mental health programs are disconcerting. UNR’s Nevada Health Workforce Research Center estimates that more than 91 percent of the state’s population lives in a federally designated mental health professional shortage area. Though only 7 percent of Nevadans with mental illness are uninsured, almost 33 percent

of residents with significant mental health burdens report being unable to see a doctor because of prohibitive costs — even with insurance.

Now, providers are expressing concern that federal-level Medicaid changes, mandating all able-bodied adults log 80 hours of work monthly, could create even more suffering for Nevadans seeking mental health care.

“We’re at an inflection point,” says Priscilla Otoo-Adjorlolo, director of behavioral health at The LGBTQ+ Center.

She says the Trump administration’s new, increasingly stringent Medicaid requirements will jeopardize care for already vulnerable patients. “About 80 percent of

the clients that come (to The Center) rely on Medicaid,” Otoo-Adjorlolo says.

Indeed, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, without intervention, that new requirement will cause nearly 150,000 existing Nevada Medicaid recipients to lose their coverage in 2028 — an estimated 49 percent decline in enrollment. Many of those patients use it for mental health care services.

“When all these millions are cut, then what’s going to happen to that one last line of defense?”  Otoo-Adjorlolo asks.

That concern appears to be universal, at least among staff at UNLV Health’s Mojave Counseling clinic.

“I’m 22 years into the profession, and I haven’t seen anything this bad,” says Lisa Durette, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at UNLV’s Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine. Durette also practices child and adolescent psychiatry at Mojave.

Mojave’s clients, too, heavily rely on Medicaid to receive clinical care. The worry, says Durette’s colleague Jason Schwartz, Mojave’s director of community support services, is that there’s no exception carved out for Medicaid recipients who are able-bodied physically but not psychiatrically.

“We’re dealing with 300 people who are psychiatrically disabled, can’t work, are losing their SNAP benefits now, are going to lose their Medicaid entirely, and won’t be able to have psychiatric treatment with us in January of 2027.”

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in an emailed statement that it is working to address emerging needs.

If nothing changes, the fallout for many young patients, especially, is profound.

“It’s like having a car that was in a really bad crash and saying, ‘Let’s just put a new tire on,’ but it never quite drives right,” says patient advocate Rebeka Acosta, a mom of two teenage boys who have needed mental health care — and have been unable to receive it in Nevada — for years. “(My youngest) feels that he runs on this three-month cycle” as he waits to receive mental health care in neighboring states.

Otoo-Adjorlolo takes it a step further: “When funding disappears, people don’t just lose services. They lose stability. Safety. In many cases, they lose their lives.” ✦

Peak Quiet

On a silent hike at Spring Mountain Ranch, deaf and hard-of-hearing hikers listen with their eyes

BY Reannon Muth

I’m on a guided hike at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, and no one is talking. Even though our group has more than 20 people, we remain mute as we crunch up the gravelly trail. A woman ahead of me stops and steps out of the way, gesturing at me to go around her. I nod, grab my 5-year-old daughter’s hand, and hurry to close the gap in the line that snakes up to a lookout point. In any other circumstance, this wordless exchange might feel awkward. But on this Saturday morning, the quiet is by design. We’re on a silent hike.

Kate Bloomfield, a park interpreter with the Nevada Division of State Parks, began hosting silent hikes for the deaf and hard of hearing at Spring Mountain Ranch in 2024. Although the hearing can attend — and some do, mostly CSN students studying American Sign Language — the program targets the deaf and hard of hearing and their family members.

“The silent hikes have been wonderful,” Las Vegas resident Letty Calderon writes in a message exchange. “Being in nature has always been important to me.” Calderon has been on three so far and likes that the guided hikes serve as an opportunity for the deaf and hard of hearing to feel a sense of belonging, interact with the rangers, and “enjoy the hikes like hearing people.”

Kim Bauer-Schaub, a Las Vegas resident whose 7-year-old daughter is hard of hearing, says she likes that her daughter gets to be around other people who sign. “It brings normalcy. It encourages her,” she says.

I’m not deaf, but I tagged along hoping to learn how to better listen with my eyes. But the irony, as I discover, is that your hearing intensifies. With no small talk, my ears tune into the background noises, like the murmur of the stream or the call of a songbird, even the squeal of tires on State Route 159.

Two groups of hikers pass by, greeting us with “Hello!” and “Good morning!” When a man walking a German shepherd tries to engage the people behind me in conversation, I fight the urge to respond.

If you haven’t visited…come and see.

We arrive at a cemetery. One of the guides — the park enlists staff and volunteers to help lead the hikes — talks about the ranch’s former owners, one of which was the German actress Vera Krupp, who Bloomfield later tells me was involved with the deaf community. As the guide speaks, an ASL interpreter, paid for with grant funds, translates next to him. A woman asks a question, her hands signing quickly. The woman’s name is Sharon Meyers, and she tells me later through an interpreter: “We’d love to get more deaf people to join the hikes.”

“I really hope other parks would do something similar,” adds another hiker, Darla Connor, through an interpreter.

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act requires state and national parks to provide interpreter services upon request, many parks do not offer programming specifically for the deaf or hard of hearing. Bloomfield says the program at Spring Mountain Ranch came about after she examined her goals. She had two: Make connections with local residents and reach underserved communities.

“As I had already had many deaf visitors to the park, I realized that the deaf community met both,” she said in an email.

While the silent hikes and an annual Deaf Family Day event are the only inclusive/accessible recreation programs planned for the park, Bloomfield would love to add trail wheelchairs, too. “My granddaughter is medically complex. She cannot walk (and) is nonverbal but loves to be outside,” Bloomfield explains.

To date, the Spring Mountain Ranch State Park has hosted five silent hikes and house tours, with two more on the way this year. Bloomfield plans to reapply for the grant in the fall.

My daughter and I say our goodbyes to the group and climb into our car. I don’t turn on the radio, as I usually do, deciding to extend the silence just a little bit longer. ✦

CLIMATE

Adjusted Flight Plans

Climate change is disrupting the seasonal travel patterns of birds that visit Southern Nevada

BY Morrigan DeVito

Birding has become a popular way to get outside and connect to nature. But newcomers to the hobby might have a skewed baseline of what to consider normal as climate change disrupts the typical progression of seasons. So, what are some of the patterns that longtime birders are noticing in the Las Vegas Valley?  Nature is dynamic, not a still life. As climate change and other pressures, such

as urban development, affect our world, it’s difficult to attribute one reason to changes in bird abundance and behavior. One example is migration.

Typically, in the springtime, hormonal cues triggered by increasing day length spark the urge for many birds to migrate north, beginning with the males racing to secure the best breeding territory. “It doesn’t take much to disrupt the vital flyway that birds have to go through twice

DAVID ANDERSON

a year,” says Tim Almond, a local who’s been birding here since 2000. “And we’re seeing earlier migrations.”

Warmer temperatures cause plants to bloom and insects to emerge sooner, so some migrants are arriving and breeding earlier in the calendar year. Whether they reap the rewards of coming early or suffer from a sudden cold snap is part of migration risk and will affect which genes are passed onto the next generation.

This year, birds such as American avocets, a type of shorebird vulnerable to wetland disturbance and drought, arrived as early as mid-February to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, among other Southern Nevada destinations. Historically, they’d arrive in late March or April.

“And it just doesn’t seem to get that cold anymore,” Almond adds. “You see over winter a drop in waterfowl numbers; they’re not being pushed south.”

The warmer temperatures also affect the birding experience itself. Dave Anderson, a bird guide and vice president of the Red Rock Audubon Society, has been birding in Las Vegas since the late 1980s.

“Because of the heat,” he says, “I’m birding earlier. The birds are not singing as long and are not active as long. I’m focusing on ... the water because the birds don’t have as (many) water resources, so I’m going to those places to see birds.”

Anderson has also noticed earlier breeding behavior in species such as resident LeConte’s thrashers, which typically sing and hold territories in April from low-elevation Joshua tree woodlands. Development and prolonged drought have affected this bird, along with other species.

As for urban areas, Anderson says, “You don’t really see the same changes,” because most urban birds are more adaptable and will use introduced plant species from our landscaping for foraging and nest building.

Of course, there are exceptions. Specialists such as Lucy’s warblers, which typically nest in mesquite tree cavities along Las Vegas Wash, and burrowing owls, which nest in abandoned burrows excavated by tortoises and small mammals, are experiencing declines because they have no alternatives for breeding in highly urbanized areas.

But while some species are becoming less common, new rarities made appearances in December. Species that normally migrate along the Mississippi Flyway — such as the Cape May warbler, Tennessee warbler, and Northern parula — made appearances at Clark County Wetlands Park, an urban park with cottonwood and willow habitat. Anderson speculates this may be triggered by warmer temperatures shifting the migratory routes of these birds.

“For bird watchers, it’s interesting, because something is messing up (their migration path), and birds are showing up that aren’t usually here,” he says.

These observations are more than anecdotal. Anderson and Almond, like many birders, use an online citizen science platform called eBird, run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, to keep checklists of the birds they see in the field.

While the effects of climate change on birds are complex, birders are one group who help contribute to understanding the bigger picture. And as birds change in response to warmer temperatures, prolonged drought, and the pressures of urbanization, birders will be watching. ✦

TASTE LOCAL. EXPLORE NATURE. DISCOVER THE UNKNOWN.

This is a di erent side of Nevada, far from the casinos, fancy suites and ritzy nightlife. Instead, here you can dig into the comforting tastes of a small-town diner. Explore the region’s scenic hiking paths, peaceful campgrounds, and winding o -road trails. History comes alive in forgotten ghost towns that hold an air of mystery and whispers of the past. Out here, there are even tales of UFO sightings and other unexplained oddities. It’s a place where good food, outdoor adventure, and a touch of the supernatural come together. Come out and explore, there’s a story in every town, and an adventure around every bend.

chefs, dishes, and spots to try around the valley

BY Lorraine Blanco Moss

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH ‘BRASSERIE’ braseriabyedo.com

Foodies have been waiting for EDO Hospitality Group’s Braseria for a long time, and now it’s here. I was blown away by the golden tartare, a spectacularly balanced beet appetizer topped with a Savora mustard sorbet. Inside, the space soars with 24-foot-high ceilings, intricate chandeliers, and a sultry Latin-inspired mural overhead. This Spanish-French mashup sparkles at The Collective on Paradise.

BRASERIA Foie Gras Tart

HENDO HAILS HAYWORTH hayworthlv.com

Chef Alex Reznik honors heritage and hospitality in every corner and every dish at his new Horizon Ridge Parkway spot, Hayworth. From the nod to his Jewish roots in the warm challah knot served with chicken schmaltz to the best charred cabbage… yes, cabbage… that has ever crossed my lips, this is a Henderson restaurant you can’t miss.

STEAK THAT STEALS HEARTS butcherandthief.com

One bite of the zabuton steak at Butcher & Thief and you know this is a hidden gem. At the southwest spot near Sunset and Durango, chef Cory Harwell favors a buttery, beefy cut — like anyone who knows their meat. Order the peanut butter bacon with jalapeño cucumber jelly, and finish with the banana cream pie. It has a pb caramel that’s still got me all shook up.

CARBONE RIVIERA SURPRISES carboneriviera.com

I was hesitant at first, given some lukewarm reviews and many premium-priced dishes, but Carbone Riviera at Bellagio pleasantly surprised me. I enjoyed the zesty Mediterranean sea bream served carpaccio-style and accompanied by a trio of inventive vinaigrettes. Indeed, I enjoyed the menu from beginning to end. Although the somm was excellent, the service overall was meh for a fine dining experience. I’d go back for the food, hoping for a friendlier and more knowledgeable server.

MICHAEL MINA GIVES

ALINEA A RESIDENCY bellagio.mgmresorts.com

The same year Michelin is back in Las Vegas, a chef who earned three stars for 15 consecutive years is making his final stop on the 20th anniversary tour of his groundbreaking Chicago restaurant, Alinea. You can get a taste of Grant Achatz’s remarkable modernist cuisine at Michael Mina at Bellagio until May 31. I’m in! Who wants to go eat some balloons with me? ✦

Livin’ the Theme

As theming declines in Las Vegas, some valley bars keep the fun alive

BY Lissa Townsend Rodgers

Once upon a time, Las Vegas was a land of make-believe.

People could sleep in hotels that resembled Arabian palaces, gamble at casinos designed as spaceships, and eat in restaurants that looked like a mermaid’s living room. But over the past decade or two, much of that personality has been smoothed over as once-extravagant properties dwindled into neutral-toned meh.

But there’s one kind of place where imagination is still considered a draw for customers: the bar. From tiki joints to dive bars and beyond, theming remains in play. “It’s escapism,” says Jerad Jay of Viking Mike’s Alpine Yurt Bar, on Main Street. “You can kind of go all-in on a concept and shoot for the stars.”

For instance: Guests entering his place are confronted by a wall of mule deer

antlers and a blast of freezing air before walking through a room with a stone bar and into a round wooden yurt. The theme carries over to the menu, with more than 10 kinds of mead, and cocktails such as the Valkyrie. Jay explains the bar’s guiding principle: “We created a fictional character and a place in time, and we structured (the bar) around it. There’s a little bit of Viking, a lot of Scandinavian, a lot of alpine influence.”

Other bars have their own takes. Dark Sister , also on Main, creates a boho, witchy vibe: dark walls cascading with greenery, crushed velvet upholstery on curvy Victorian chairs, and a drink menu that includes cocktails named for ghost stories and Zodiac signs. Near UNLV, the Hofbrauhaus’ dedication to serving pilsner and a particular aesthetic extends from the bier hall setting to the schnitzel menu to the chick on the bandstand playing tuba in a dirndl.

Museums get in on the act by giving visitors the opportunity to wallow a little longer in the subject of their fascination. The Mob Museum’s Underground displays gangster photos and memorabilia while pouring Prohibition-era cocktails and hosting live jazz acts. The Punk Rock Museum’s Three Star Punk Bar is covered in stickers and graffitti, serves drinks in Pringles cans, and has punk bands.

Other bars’ personalities may not be as easily summed up but still carry their own distinctive style. Red Dwarf, on East Vegas Valley Drive, is a hybrid

NIGHTLIFE

ODDYSSEY MANOR

punk-tiki joint with blowfish lamps and a wall of vintage concert posters, while Henderson’s Grey Witch is a laid-back, pagan rock ’n’ roll bar with taxidermy, stained glass, and creepy artwork, as well as an alchemist’s library-style speakeasy accessed through a fake fireplace. Bar owner Russell Gardner explains that the unusual atmosphere is as much of a draw as the beer and pizza. “You want to feel like it’s something you don’t get to go to every day,” he says. “That’s why people go to Disneyland, that’s why people go to Universal Studios. They kind of want to be immersed in a different world for a little bit.”

The idea of the bar as immersive venue is taken to the next level at Area 15’s Oddyessy Manor , which is part bar, part club, part theatrical experience. “More than creating a narrative, I wanted to build an environment,” creative director Mallory Gracenin says. The manor is a sprawling space where patrons can lounge in a red velvet boudoir, watch burlesque dancers in an indoor garden, or sip gin cocktails poured from a bathtub faucet. There are actors moving throughout the space in a narrative loosely based on The Odyssey , but guests can choose their own adventure.

Gracenin says, “If you’re inclined, you can ask questions, engage in a conversation, have a cheers. But if you’re on a date and want to sit in a beautiful, unconventional room and have bathtub gin all night long, there’s no right or wrong way to do it.”

Echoing Jay’s comment about escapism, Gracenin says she wants to create “an environment you can really dive into and then come back to life after having a little rest.” Jay agrees, pointing out that people are stressed and need breaks. Themed places let them “be in a different world and have an experience that takes them out of reality” — even if only for a drink. ✦

‘Rooting for Henderson’

The past two decades have seen the town’s restaurant scene grow. Is it reaching critical mass?

BY Heidi Knapp Rinella

Kathryn Palmer and Juan Vazquez both remember when it was somewhat of a challenge to find a great meal in Henderson.

“I think there’s been a revolution in independent restaurants,” says Palmer, a Green Valley resident since 2004. “When we moved here, we had Applebee’s, and we had Chili’s, and we had Elephant Bar at The District.’’

Palmer says for years, she and her husband, CJ Foster, felt compelled to go to the Strip, Summerlin, or southwest Las Vegas for dinner out. But no longer.

“You’re seeing more of these independent, multi-unit owners,” she says. “Folks who are serving more interesting food are headed our way, which is such a relief. Not

as many breakfast restaurants; now we have legitimate dinner restaurants. That’s a huge change for Henderson.”

When Vazquez and his wife, Darcey, moved to the Horizon Drive-Horizon Ridge Parkway area in 2001, they felt the same lack of interesting dining spots. They love craft beer, and about 10 years ago, friends told them about Lovelady Brewing Company, which opened on Water Street in 2016.

“Lovelady was the first new business that opened; they built from the ground up,” he says. “We would go and have a couple of craft beers, and now we’re hungry. We’d have to get in our car and go to the Stephanie and Marks area.”

They were in the position to actually do something about it. They had opened

AZZURRA

Juan’s Flaming Fajitas + Cantina on the west side of the valley in 2013, and started thinking that Henderson might be a good place to expand. Likewise building from the ground up, they opened on Water Street — next to Lovelady — in 2018. And they haven’t looked back.

“We just enclosed the patio area,” Vasquez says. “We’re definitely blessed.”

The City of Henderson reports that it issued 107 new restaurant and food–service licenses in the past year, which representatives say is about average.

“In terms of volume, I don’t see more,” says Windom Kimsey, a Water Street developer. “I think there’s a lot of churn. If it’s a decent location, somebody else is going to give it a try.”

Kimsey, who opened Public Works Coffee Bar and Azzurra Cucina Italiana because of a lack of such spots on Water Street, is planning a new building there with an upstairs bar. Kimsey and Tim Brooks, a Henderson casino executive, are hoping to find an upscale Thai restaurant for the downstairs space. He is also

enthusiastic about plans for San Diego-based Better Buzz Coffee Roasters opening on Lake Mead Parkway, and the impending completion of the Watermark mixed-use project on Water Street, which is to have a number of restaurants.

“For me, it’s all about the quality and changing the dining landscape downtown,” Kimsey says.

The Stephanie Street corridor has, as Vazquez noted, long offered a collection of restaurants, and there’s been a lot of churn there recently. Just in the section between Russell and Warm Springs roads, a Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar and a First Watch have replaced former restaurants, and a LongHorn Steakhouse opened in a former Applebee’s Grill + Bar, which moved down the street.

It seems that whether you think the Henderson restaurant scene is improving depends in large part on what neighborhood you live in.

“Not really,” says Alyse Corrigan, who lives in Inspirada. “We desperately need restaurants.”

“Cadence still feels like it needs something,” Palmer says.

“People are very neighborhood-centric,” Kimsey says.

Claudine Branchaud West and her husband, Bill, like to occasionally venture to Water Street, but they’ve also been watching changes around their Green Valley neighborhood. There, she says, they find “great happy hours and charcuterie; just fun stuff,” and anticipate what’s to come.

“Last year we had North Italia and Flower Child,” which both opened at The District at Green Valley Ranch. “I know that The Cliff (retail development) will be opening, and that will bring some restaurants within walking distance to my house, which is lovely. I have noticed a lot more mom-and-pop stuff.”

Close to Branchaud West’s house is the Paseo Verde Plaza at Valle Verde Drive and Paseo Verde Parkway, which has become home to a number of independents, such as Boom Bang Fine Foods & Cocktails, from Jo ë l Robuchon-trained chef Elia Aboumrad; Tacotarian, an offshoot of the groundbreaking Arts District spot; and Makers & Finders

Urban Coffee Bar, also an offshoot of an Arts District spot.

Makers & Finders owner Josh Molina, who has several locations across the valley, opened in Henderson in 2023.

“I’ve been in Vegas for 25-plus years,” Molina says. “Henderson wasn’t known as a place you could go dine. You’d think about (the recently shuttered) Claim Jumper; you’d think about the basics. Other than The District, there really wasn’t much until they revitalized Water Street.”

But across the city, he’s seeing an evolution.

“I was a little early in Henderson,” Molina says. Now, he sees change echoing what transpired in the Arts District: “first, independents, and then national brands kind of converging in one place. I think it’s exciting. It makes me feel good about my choice.”

Molina echoed the neighborhood-centric element Kimsey noted.

“Henderson people — I think they like to stay where they’re at,” he says. That’s contributed to his Henderson location doing more in takeout and delivery than the Arts District spot he’s had for 12 years.

“We have people ordering multiple times a week,” he says, adding that at times the dining room may be empty, but the kitchen slammed with takeout and delivery orders.

“Henderson has exploded in the St. Rose Parkway area,” Vazquez says. “There’s a lot more going on down there. I keep my eye on West Henderson because one day, Lord willing, we’d like to be down there as well.”

“There’s people opening some more interesting things,” Kimsey says. “Horizon Ridge Parkway has always been a place for people trying things out.”

“It almost feels like people are banding together with these interesting restaurants,” Palmer says. She also noted the opening of a fresh pasta shop, a&m pasta lab, at Lake Las Vegas.

“It’s these kind of tiny moments that seem headed in the right direction,” she says. “We’re getting to it. I’m rooting for us. I am.” ✦

JUAN’S FLAMING FAJITAS

LOVELADY BREWING

CULTURE

Ihope you’ve cleared your spring calendars, local culture enthusiasts. Our venues, galleries, museums, and various facilities of leisure sure haven’t. The May and early June slate of offerings in Southern Nevada is so robust, it would make an East Coast arts commentator … well, even more pale and flummoxed. Oh, what will they do with their hands if they can’t wring them into bruised stumps?

To wit: The first weekend of May has not one, not two, not three — nay, four opera events in the Vegas Valley. Someone pass Timothée Chalamet the smelling salts! Doing a lot of the heavy lifting are the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District branches hosting most of these productions — which means they’re all free.

Vegas City Opera will be very busy through the first half of May with its Songs of the East presentation of Asian and Pacific Islander staples ( May 2-16, 3p, various locations, vegascityopera.org). VCO’s second May event takes it outside to the new Carolyn G. Goodman Plaza at the Las Vegas Civic Center, as Music of the Night promises to thrill Vegas theater kids of all ages (May 2, 7p). Then Opera Las Vegas gives parental vibratophiles a perfect opportunity to introduce their young ones to the artform when it stages Pinocchio at multiple branches and the Winchester Dondero Cultural Center (May 1-8, times vary, operalasvegas.com). OLV will also collaborate with International Opera Institute — Southern Nevada’s third (!) opera organization — on Puccini’s magnum opus, Madama Butterfly (May 2-31, various times and branches, internationaloperainstitute.org).

Can your calendar handle this much good stuff?

BY Mike Prevatt

Bonus: Technically, the UNLV Symphony Orchestra’s May 3 performance of Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung isn’t an opera concert — but, following Wagnerian protocol, it will certainly be operatic. Artistic director Taras Krysa will pare a famously 15-hour work down to

a 90-minute performance, an act that should shame any Broadway chop job on the Strip (3p, Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall, $22 and up, unlv.edu/music/events).

After all that trilling drama, you may be seeking some comedic relief. Enter David Sedaris , America’s foremost storyteller. He’ll hold The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall audience in rapt attention as he delves into his dry brand of the cringe and unhinged. Maybe he’ll mention (or read from!) his newish children’s book, Pretty Ugly. Maybe you’ll wanna ask him about that dichotomic professional twist during a scheduled post-performance Q&A, and have him sign said title (and others) during one of the two book signings that evening — all without some VIP-access upcharge (May 5, 7:30p, $52-86, thesmithcenter.com).

The stories told at the exhibit Rhythm and Resilience: Black Vegas are much less sardonic, but they similarly reveal the power and value of sharing personal histories. Carmen Beals curated an expansive collection of artifacts, artistic works, and textual displays that cover more than a century of African American pioneering in, and influence on, Las Vegas (through August 20; Monday-Thursday, 10a-3p; Las Vegas Civic Center Gallery, free, lasvegasnevada.gov ). Meanwhile, Las Vegas/New York artist Jean -

nie Hua offers her own account of personal upheaval and recovery in Ephemeral Recomposition, told through the scraps she employs in her collages — almost literally putting the pieces of her life back together (through June 6, Wed-Sat, hours vary, Left of Center Art Gallery, free, leftofcenterart.org).

Back to drama and music: Majestic Repertory head Troy Heard told “KNPR’s State of Nevada” last year that he was going to produce a very modern, politicized version of Romeo and Juliet (through May 24, times vary, Majestic Repertory Theatre, $20-40, majesticrepertory. com ), inspired in part by the ICE raids and the No Kings protests. If there’s anyone who can put new flavor into Shakespeare’s most reheated tragedy, it’s Heard. Want to keep it light, theatergoer? Good luck. Even Super Summer Theatre is starting its 2026 season with Newsies ( May 29-June 13, 8p, Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, $25-40, supersummertheatre.org), a musical about corporate overlords hiking up prices and stirring public outcry. As it happens, this is a Disney production. Did you already throw down for $100-plus tickets to the Happiest Place on Earth? Fortunately, you can return home and indulge in many affordable entertainments in the Culturiest Place on Earth. ✦

LITERATURE

‘A Little Cliché, a Little Real’

Four novelists with local ties and new books detail the ups and downs of depicting this region

BY Reannon Muth

“Home Alone could have never been set in Vegas,” I told my husband recently. I’d been thinking how a city like this one, with its many baked-in stereotypes, would be tough to casually write in as a setting. “You can’t just set a story in a nondescript neighborhood in Summerlin without Vegas playing a major role in the plot,” I argued.

When I mention this to Krista Diamond, author of the forthcoming Close Relationships with Strangers, one of four Southern Nevada-area authors with new books on the way, she agrees. But for her, that’s part of the appeal. “I actually moved to Las Vegas ... because it’s a fascinating and challenging place to write about,” she explains. “So much media that I’ve seen about Las Vegas goes one way or another. It’s either totally set on the Strip and it’s like nothing else exists, or it’s set in the suburbs. I wanted to write something that shows both realities.”

Novelist Maile Chapman says Las Vegas automatically “adds a layer of mystique” to any story. Chapman, who has lived in Las Vegas for 20 years and teaches English in UNLV’s creative writing MFA program, wanted her portrayal of Las Vegas to feel real. The protagonist in her psychological horror novel The Spoil lives in a townhouse and works for a real estate company. “There’s so much written by people who don’t love Las Vegas,” she says. She adds that it’s evident because the writing often lacks a “lived-in feeling.”

Author Claire Vaye Watkins says finding original ways to describe life in the desert is part of the writer’s job, though spending your formative years in Nevada can help. (She lives in Tecopa, California, but has also spent time in Pahrump.) People from a vice capital like Las Vegas have a sense of humor and “a certain wryness,” she says. “It’s a culture that values the loose and authentic.”

DAVID SEDARIS

Watkins, who sets her latest book, Yellow Pine, in the South Pahrump Valley, regularly walks in the Mojave Desert, which is both ancient and very much alive with plants and animals people may not notice. “The ground at Yellow Pine was walked on by the giant ground sloths. … That’s a very different place than what you see in writing of it being a ‘dead’ place.”

Longtime Las Vegas resident Amanda Skenandore spent years juggling her career as a writer of historical fiction and her job as a nurse. Now a full-time author, she credits the Southern Nevada writing community for helping shape her career. “Some people joke that there’s no literary culture or community here,” she says. “That’s entirely false.”

While none of her novels have been set in Las Vegas — her latest, When No One Else Will, takes place in Chicago in the 1940s — she says

she’s waiting for the right Nevada story to tell. “I would love to set a book in Las Vegas,” she says. “I’m really interested in the nuclear testing that they did in the 1950s. I’m interested in Hoover Dam.”

Maybe Home Alone couldn’t be set in Las Vegas, but perhaps that isn’t a bad thing. As Diamond points out, whether or not you frequent the Strip, the tourism industry influences the lives of everyone who resides here. To ignore this would be to depict a version of life in Nevada that’s as inauthentic as anything on TV. In Close Relationships with Strangers , the protagonist lives in Spring Valley and works in a restaurant based on the Peppermill. But she added elements unique to living in a resort town, like going to a casino to watch a movie.

“For people who live here,” Diamond says, “often our experience includes a little bit of the cliché and a little bit of the real stuff.” ✦

LOCAL AUTHORS, WIDE-RANGING BOOKS

OUT NOW

Mandy, a real estate professional in suburban Las Vegas, cares for her Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother while contending with her own mental health issues, grief — and something supernatural.

The Spoil

By Maile Chapman 552 pages, $20 Greywolf Press

MAY

Defying her religious upbringing, a nurse in 1940s Chicago works for an illegal women’s clinic, becoming deeply invested in the lives of patients.

When No One Else Will By Amanda Skenandore 368 pages, $18.95

Kensington Books

JUNE

Ben, one of the few remaining paparazzi, pursues a dream shot of a scandalized star through the streets of Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Close Relationships with Strangers

By Krista Diamond 320 pages, $29

Simon & Schuster

JULY

Faced with rapacious capitalism in the form of an invasive solar development near Pahrump (based on a real installation), Rose must shuck her desert isolation and risk a fuller life.

Yellow Pine

By Claire Vaye Watkins

256 pages, $29

Riverhead Books

AMANDA SKENANDORE

Suddenly, Cool Again

Three Las Vegas film scholars find their niche in special features for films on physical media

BY Josh Bell

“When I was in film school, laser discs were all the rage,” local film critic and historian Tony Strauss says. “They had these things called commentaries on them, and I thought they were the coolest things ever.”

It might sound like Strauss is reminiscing about an outdated mode of movie watching, especially in the modern streaming era, when seemingly every film is available online at the click of a button, but he’s actively involved in the still-thriving world of home video.

When boutique labels put out meticulously restored editions of vintage films or carefully curated releases of newer independent movies, they often include copious bonus materials designed to appeal to cinephiles and collectors who want more than just a convenient way to watch a favorite movie. This is where Strauss and fellow Las Vegas-based film scholars Heather Wixson and Stephanie Crawford come in. They’ve worked on commentaries, retrospective documentaries, audio essays, liner notes, and other special features for DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K movie releases ranging from cult obscurities such as Zombie Rampage and Hide and Go Shriek to mainstream hits such as Orphan and Rounders.

Wixson also has fond memories of her early format of choice. “When I went away to college my freshman year, I put my bed on cinder blocks so I had room to stick all of my VHS tapes under my bed,” she says. For her, the curiosity about film history began at an early age, after watching the 1984 horror compilation Terror in the Aisles. “I was only like 8 years old, but I was obsessed, and I wanted to know more,” she recalls. “I rented (Dario Argento’s Suspiria) with my best friend, and she never forgave me for it.”

“I got really ill when I was a teenager, and that’s when I started diving deeper into movies, and listening to commentaries and reading books about filmmaking,” says Crawford, who co-hosted The Screamcast and is a regular contributor to numerous other movie podcasts. Wixson has published two volumes of her Monsters, Makeup & Effects book series, and a third is on the way this year. Strauss is the editor of cultfilm magazine Weng’s Chop, which is returning after a five-year hiatus. That kind of dedication to and immersion in film history informs every element of their work on home-video special features, especially sitting down to talk for 90 minutes or more on a commentary track.

“Panic, panic, panic,” Crawford jokes about her commentary preparation process. “I tend to watch the movie a lot of times.” She takes general notes and goes on “a wing and a prayer after that,” while Strauss calls himself “very nerdy and academic about it. I like to have extensive notes on stuff to talk about, never leave gaps in the commentary, and always provide as much information as I can for people who are nerdy like me.” Wixson takes a mixed approach: “For the longer ones, I will give myself an outline now. But for the most part, I’ve always been more of an off-the-cuff person.”

Whatever the strategy, the three approach each movie with respect and enthusiasm, knowing that their audience is often the most devoted fans. “Even if it’s a vampire movie shot in somebody’s garage, I like to treat as if it were a Criterion release,” Strauss says. Wixson, who collabo-

FILM

rates with her editor husband, Brian J. Smith, on detailed documentary featurettes, stresses the importance of understanding potential viewers. “I don’t want to waste anybody’s time and just give them two hours for the sake of giving them two hours,” she says. “But certain fan bases, you know that they’re going to want to know every little intricacy.”

All three are longtime special features fans themselves. Strauss cites the early laser disc commentaries of directors Martin Scorsese on Taxi Driver and Danny DeVito on The War of the Roses as favorites, and Wixson admires the exhaustive 2010 Nightmare on Elm Street franchise documentary Never Sleep Again Crawford remembers listening to Roger Ebert’s highly influential commentary on Citizen Kane. “It’s almost like getting a new film from the same source material,” she says. Ideally, that’s what Strauss, Wixson, and Crawford provide as well. Strauss has taken the most pride in working alongside Italian film historian Eugenio Ercolani on 1987’s The Belly of an Architect, from his all-time favorite filmmaker Peter Greenaway. “That was one of those gigs where I would’ve paid them for it, honestly,” he says. Wixson’s favorite project was Michael Dougherty’s 2007 horror anthology Trick ’r Treat: “That’s like the mothership calling me home.” Crawford recently recorded a commentary track for George Romero’s zombie landmark Night of the Living Dead as part of a package of documentaries, shorts, and classics that she describes as “a Halloween party on a disc.”

Strauss is currently overseeing a pair of box sets of Hong Kong martial-arts films, Wixson is working with renowned horror studio Hammer Films, and Crawford has projects on tap from groundbreaking boutique label Severin Films. They’re all optimistic about the state of physical media, which is experiencing resurgent popularity, particularly from younger consumers who didn’t grow up with VHS or laser discs.

“You hear for years that physical media is dead, and you’re a weirdo for having all these movies at home,” Crawford says. “And then, suddenly, it’s cool again.” ✦

Capt. Paiute to the Rescue

Theo Tso’s Indigenous character is a new kind of superhero

Theo Tso is an enrolled member of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe and creator of the comic book Captain Paiute: Indigenous Defender of the Southwest. He came up with the character in his junior year at Rancho High School after growing frustrated with the lack of Indigenous representation in comic books.

Captain Paiute lives on a reservation and works for the tribe as a hydrologist. He harnesses the powers of Pah, the Paiute word for water, from Mother Earth, and alters its state — whether creating steam or freezing the moisture in the air — to fight the story’s villain, Bad Medicine, who comes from the tribal cemetery.

The Indigenous Defender of the Southwest can become incredibly strong, as he can pull water straight into his muscles. Tso gave him this ability so that he could battle his classmates’ comic book characters during art class. And Captain Paiute dominated.

Tso’s character took a hiatus after the artist grew frustrated following rejections by DC Comics and Marvel Comics. But about 15 years ago, Tso dug him out of his portfolio and picked it back up. Now after publishing his comics, he’s gotten the ultimate kudos — Indigenous kids reading them and thinking he’s cool.  —Jimmy Romo-Buenrostro

HEAR TSO talk about his comic.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

The Joys of Analog

Take a tech break with these hands-on creative experiences

BY Aleza Freeman

Humans seek comfort through technology ranging from streaming entertainment to sex bots. But sometimes you just want to opt out of digital everything. A healthy approach to clearing your mind is to unplug, get creative, and make something at one of many art classes and workshops across the valley. Here are a few to get you started.

Get in the Loop

Merri Medley has been crocheting since age 7. Now 66, and the founder of the Art

of Crochet Project , Medley changes lives every day with a crochet hook and yarn. She shares the generational art and tradition of crocheting in individual and group classes for all ages and abilities, with an opportunity to sell what you create at a local farmers market. The Cultural Master Class is a journey through crocheting techniques from Japan to Ireland, Morocco to Mexico. Proceeds help support the nonprofit organization Mats Project, which upcycles plastic bags into bedding for the unhoused. ( 7495 W. Azure Dr., classes up to $160, www.crochetclass.org)

Multiply Your Mediums

Former school district art teacher Melinda Stender runs Clay Paper Ink, a creative hub for making art, both in classes and on your own. Try traditional media, such as painting and collage, or get crafty weaving wires for wearable art. Build a cottage for fairies, have fun with felt, sew — art journaling lets you dip your brush in multiple media. The studio is stocked with supplies and tools, such as felting needles for when you feel stabby. (9155 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Ste. 250, $15-$40, claypaperink.com)

Creative Freedom on Paper

The first rule of the Junk Journal Club is that there are no rules. Messy, personal, and expressive, it’s permission to slow down and use your hands layering scrapbook paper, stickers, receipts, clippings, washi tape, and anything else you can fit onto a page. Started by Ej Gonzalez to bring women together, the popular club has grown into a monthly meetup at her gift and stationery boutique, Shop Mama Sage, in the Downtown Container Park. Note: Spots are said to go fast. (707 Fremont St., $30, shopmamasage.com)

Project-Driven Pottery

It only takes a lump of mud to build art and community at Clay Arts Vegas. Co-owner Peter Jakubowski describes the teenage- and adult-only, project-driven classes as Sunday supper, because they bring students to the table for a common experience: building ceramic skills and discovering your creative voice. The Master’s Workshop Series is taught by pro clay artists and targets those with a ceramics background, but wheel throwing and hand-building classes cater to all levels, including novice potters. ( 1353 Arville St., $195 for 8 weeks, clayartsvegas.com)

Rage Against the Machine

Expressionism isn’t a modernist art movement at Arttherapy Cafe, though you will express yourself, move, and make art. Mental health advocate Leah Devora throws “art rage” events to help people de-stress and express themselves. She passes out ponchos, gloves, glasses, paint, and painting tools, such as brushes and squirt guns, then lets you go wild. Other classes, such as meditation with painting, or creating candles in the shape of a beloved pet, also bring peace through creative practices. (353 E. Bonneville Ave., Ste.183, $35 donation, arttherapycafe.com) ✦

SONG IN THEIR HEARTS

Musical achievement is just one goal of the Las Vegas Men’s Chorus

By Janis Hashe

Aword keeps coming up in conversations about the Las Vegas Men’s Chorus: love. It’s implied by the six guiding principles of the group, founded in 1993: community, harmony, opportunity, respect, unity, and service.

The chorus’ concerts are full of energy and effervescence — but are also emotionally powerful. “You’re going to walk away feeling something. The love is palpable,” LVMC Artistic Director Ryan Duff says. In his 13 years as AD, Duff has cultivated the organization’s growth from about 10 members to more than 100.

Duff’s music background is broad and eclectic. His Vegas gigs include Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding at the Rio and The Can-Can Cabaret at the Paris. For many years, he’s been an award-winning high-school choir director for multiple local schools. In 2025, the Nevada American Choral Directors Association named him Teacher of the Year.

He’s proud that the LVMC “takes people as they are.” The group walks the walk in inclusivity, fostering an environment where everyone is welcome, from those who have autism to the unhoused to those coming to terms with their authentic selves. Members range from present and former Strip performers to people with quality voices who just love to sing. Over his time, Duff has witnessed an organizational sea change. “For the longest time, (LVMC) struggled with an identity crisis in this entertainment-saturated city,” he says. There was also a problem with Vegas’ transience — people would join, then move on.

Today, he says, the major problem is that LVMC has outgrown most of the performance spaces available to it. UNLV’s Ham Concert Hall and The Smith Center are two of the few places that can accommodate 100 performers onstage.

His dream is twofold: their own rehearsal space and an organizational budget allowing him to transition to full time and hire an executive director. The board of directors is working on these challenges.

Assisting in that effort is longtime supporter Kim Ritzer. A former president of the Nevada Music Educators Association, she told him when he was named AD that she would support him however she could: “I love that the mission is to spread music and joy.” Duff teaches members about empathy and how to support each other, Ritzer says. “It’s a haven for folks. Our city needed it.”

She describes concerts as a culmination of many areas of the arts. “I like that there are themes,” she says, citing the holiday show, “Let Your Heart Be Light,” and the spring show, “The Best of the Boys!” She praises the group for its outreach and recommends to some of her students that they join after graduation — not just for musical opportunities, but because it’s a safe space.

Ritzer shares that a song that’s become LVMC’s unofficial anthem, “Peace Like a River,” moves her to tears every time. “The audience is Jell-O,” she says. “If people want to hear what heaven sounds like, listen to them sing this.”

TWO JOURNEYS OF AFFIRMATION

The LVMC is not specifically a gay chorus. Eighty-five percent of its members identify as LGBTQIA2+, but interviewees point out that its inclusivity extends to straight men, as well. The group’s acceptance has turned some members’ lives around. Its website says more than 40 percent of them “have or are currently experiencing homelessness, addiction, mental and physical health issues, abuse, or incarceration.”

And singing, especially in a group, is not just a positive vibe. Multiple studies show that participating in group singing can have restorative effects on the body, mind, and spirit.

In 2022, Lee New had been out of incarceration for a couple of years when he attended an AIDS walk where he saw a group of men singing. What he saw in the group, who were from LVMC, was a chance to “do something productive, and find a safe space outside the recovery room,” he says.

He has since also sat on its board of directors, which he says was important in turning a corner in his life. He now has received both an associate’s and a bachelor’s degree, and is the executive director of a nursing college.

LVMC’s accepting atmosphere has been crucial for New: “Never once have I ever felt judged. My differences have been celebrated. It’s the most welcoming room I’ve ever been in. Such strong hearts.”

Marc, another chorus member (who asked that we only use his first name for privacy reasons), agrees. Raised in a traditional Christian home, he knew his budding attraction to both men and women would not be tolerated, so he kept it to himself. He met his future wife in church when he was 6, dated through college, and married her in 2008. They had twins, and were viewed by many as the perfect couple. In 2022, as part of a job promotion, the family moved here. “I’ve always loved singing, so I sought out choral groups in Vegas,” he says.

Marc knew that by keeping his true self hidden, he wasn’t being honest with himself or anyone else. He recognized LVMC as an open, affirming space. “There was a part of myself I hadn’t explored. I would be cracking the door open by going into that space.” He took the risk and joined.

It’s meant a huge life change; Marc is going through an amicable divorce. But he’s also found a chosen family that gave him what he needed to be himself. He’s now officially out as bisexual. “I found the strength because of this group,” he says.

‘FUN IN THE SUN’

The chorus is planning to complete its 33rd season with a performance titled “Fun in the Sun.”

“I love beach and pool parties,” Duff says. He ticks off a list of songs: Along with featured music from (naturally) the Beach Boys, Pharrell Williams, and Lady Gaga, there will be the 1973 Hues Corporation hit “Rock the Boat,” “Under the Boardwalk,” yacht rock favorite “Come Sail Away,” and, to mix it up, Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

Like all LVMC shows, this season finale will be a full-scale production, with choreography, lighting, and sound effects. “People who don’t enjoy traditional choirs will love this,” Duff says. “It’s like a rock concert.”

Adding to the party mood: June is Pride Month. Attendees can rock their rainbow beach attire — and maybe experience “Peace Like a River.”✦

Join Vegas PBS in commemorating the United State’s 250th Anniversary with programming that explores its rich history, performances and art that define America.

Great Performances: Suffs

Friday, May 8 at 9 p.m.

Witness the American women’s suffrage movement in this Tony-winning Broadway musical.

Friday, May 1 at 10:30 a.m.

This new special from The Jim Henson Company follows Ronald, a rule-following pig, and Roxy, a free-spirited hedgehog as they explore the “wows” of Sequoia National Park.

National Memorial Day Concert

Sunday, May 24 at 8 p.m.

America’s national night of remembrance honoring 250 years of service and sacrifice, featuring powerful storytelling and musical salutes from world-renowned artists.

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW:

250 Years of Americana

Monday, June 1 at 8 p.m.

ROADSHOW discoveries reflect 250 years of American art, artifacts, crafts & collectibles.

vegaspbs.org/america250 | @vegaspbs Wowsabout

HENDERSON RISING

Where desert calm meets urban convenience

By Debbie Hall

Henderson, as a community, continues to be a distinct counterpoint to the neon pulse of Las Vegas. While close enough to access the energy of the iconic Las Vegas Strip, the city is nestled within the McCullough Range, offering abundant outdoor recreation and a reputation for safety and strong communi-

ty initiatives. This focus on safety helps prospective residents feel protected and valued. The dining scene continues to grow along with an expanding arts presence and family-friendly amenities. It has evolved from a bedroom community to a destination in its own right. In this urban desert enclave, quality of life is the headline.

RECREATION

A growing network of more than 80 parks and trails offers an active, outdoor-oriented lifestyle. These thoughtfully designed spaces offer a range of amenities, including playgrounds for families, dog parks, seasonal splash pads, multi-use sports fields, and scenic walking and biking trails inviting everyone to enjoy

outdoor activities and support community wellness.

❱❱❱ Cornerstone Park (1600 Wigwam Parkway) stands out as one of Henderson’s largest and most popular outdoor destinations. Its scenic lake views, framed by walking trails, picnic areas and wildlife, blend nature and recreation. Its paths make it ideal for jogging, dog walking, or simply unwinding while taking in one of the area’s signature views, inspiring a sense of adventure and appreciation for nature.

❱❱❱ Designed with families in mind, Discovery Park

(2011 Paseo Verde Parkway) delivers a community-focused atmosphere. The park features shaded playgrounds, basketball courts, picnic areas and versatile spaces for recreation and casual gatherings, encouraging visitors to explore and enjoy its amenities.

❱❱❱ Hidden gem Hidden Falls Park (551 Mission Drive) invites visitors to feel calm and relaxed. This smaller neighborhood park brings a peaceful setting with a playground, splash features and open grassy areas. Enjoy a more low-key outdoor experience.

Water Street District

For more info on parks, visit cityofhenderson.com

❱❱❱ The groundbreaking for the new West Henderson Fieldhouse on May 21, 2025, marked a milestone with the growth of expanding community in Henderson. Construction has begun on a 160,000-squarefoot indoor sports and entertainment complex scheduled to open in the fall. The complex will be located near St. Rose and Maryland parkways.

n The Wild Side

In Henderson, outdoor exploration goes well beyond playgrounds and walking trails—offering unique opportunities to connect with native wildlife and encounter unforgettable animals. From peaceful birdwatching spots to one-of-a-kind attractions, the city provides experiences for nature lovers.

❱❱❱ The premier destination for bird enthusiasts and birdwatching, Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve (350 E. Galleria Drive), is located within the Water Reclamation Facility. Spanning approximately 140 acres, the property offers accessible trails for families and wildlife lovers to explore. The preserve features nine tranquil ponds and five miles of trails, including both

paved (wheelchair-accessible) and soft-surface trails.

cityofhenderson.com

❱❱❱ The curated wildlife experience, Lion Habitat Ranch (382 Bruner Ave.), is dedicated to the care and preservation of lions and other animals. The ranch serves as a sanctuary where guests can explore, observe majestic animals up close and safely, while being educated about conservation efforts.

In addition to lions, the ranch is home to giraffes, ostriches and other animals. lionhabitatranch.org.

n Wet and Wild

In Henderson, outdoor adventure comes in many forms—from high-energy water attractions to expansive natural landscapes just beyond the city limits. Whether

cowabungavegas. com/bay.

you’re looking to cool off with family-friendly thrills or explore one of the Southwest’s most iconic recreational destinations, Henderson offers easy access to experiences that capture both the excitement and the beauty of the desert environment.

❱❱❱ The splash-filled escape, Cowabunga Bay Water Park (900 Galleria Dr.), delivers a mix of slides, wave pools and interactive attractions. Designed with a retro surf theme, the park features everything from adrenaline-pumping water slides to a relaxing lazy river and dedicated kids’ play areas. It’s a go-to destination during the warmer months, offering a refreshing way for families and groups to beat the desert heat without leaving the city.

❱❱❱ Lake Mead National Recreation Area (10 Lakeshore Road, Boulder City, Nevada), a short drive from Henderson, provides a striking contrast with its vast open waters and rugged desert scenery. One of the largest artificial lakes in the United States, Lake Mead is the hub for boating, fishing, kayaking, water skiing, picnicking and camping. Explore hiking trails, scenic overlooks and quiet coves, whether seeking adventure or unwinding in nature. nps.gov/lake

n

Golf

Golf enthusiasts can swing and putt in an array of courses that combine challenging play with breathtaking scenery. Amenitiesincluding practice facilities, pro shops and dining - enhance relaxation and playing the game, whether seeking a serene morning round or a competitive game with friends.

❱❱❱ Chimera Golf Club (901 Olivia Parkway) stands out as a cutting-edge destination for golfers in Nevada, being the first course in the state to feature a TrackMan-powered driving range. This technology allows

❱❱❱ Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve

❱❱❱ One of more than 80 Henderson parks

HENDERSON RISING

players to monitor and improve key aspects of their game, including Ball Speed and Carry Distance, making practice both precise and engaging. Overlooking the lush 18-hole course and offering stunning views of the Las Vegas Strip, The Pavilion at Chimera Golf Club provides a scenic setting to enjoy a round of golf or unwind after practice. chimeragolfclub.com

❱❱❱ Meanwhile, Wildhorse Golf Club (2100 W. Warm Springs Road) offers a rich slice of golf history combined with an enjoyable, challenging layout. This municipally owned Henderson course has welcomed players since its opening in 1959, including a brief period under the ownership of tycoon Howard Hughes. Wildhorse appeals to golfers of all skill levels seeking a fun and strategic course at a great value. golfwildhorse.com

RAISE A GLASS

The bars and cocktail lounges in Henderson are as diverse as the city itself, offering lively lounges, cozy neighborhood pubs and craft-focused destinations. Handcrafted cocktails, live entertainment and sporting events create inviting

atmospheres where friends can gather, unwind and enjoy a memorable night out.

❱❱❱ WSKY Bar + Grill Inspirada (3231 Bicentennial Parkway) exemplifies neighborhood bar charm with promotions, themed events and live sports. The bar offers an impressive selection of nearly 50 whiskeys and crafted flight experiences. With a menu that tempts with bar bites, lunch, dinner and brunch, WSKY creates a warm, inviting atmosphere. wskybarandgrill.com

❱❱❱ Don’t let the name fool you—Las Vegas Distillery (7330 Eastgate Road) is a locally driven distillery and tasting room bringing craft cocktails to the heart of Henderson. Guests can sample housemade vodka, rum, bourbon and innovative infusions

like lavender gin or spiced apple brandy while touring the new facility or relaxing in the vintage Vegas-inspired tasting room. lasvegasdistillery.com

BREW A COLD ONE

Henderson is a vibrant hub for craft beer enthusiasts, where breweries, taprooms, and beer-focused events cater to different tastes and preferences. Small-batch artisanal brews and innovative seasonal releases add to the city’s beer scene, appealing to visitors seeking new flavors and atmospheres.

❱❱❱ Lovelady Brewing Company (20 S. Water Street and 1550 N. Green Valley Parkway) is a family-owned and operated brewery known for its flagship and seasonal beers. The Water Street

expansive indoor mall to sophisticated outdoor lifestyle centers and a revitalized historic downtown, the city provides both national brands and charming local boutiques.

location features a dog-friendly outdoor patio, and both locations welcome families of all ages (when accompanied by adults 21 and over). loveladybrewing.com.

❱❱❱ Wyndee and Dave Forrest brought their European craft beer inspiration home to Henderson with Crafthaus Brewery & Taproom (7350 Eastgate Road). Inspired by the relaxed, community-focused beer culture they experienced abroad, the Forrests created a space where patrons can feel a similar experience. crafthausbrewery.com

RETAIL THERAPY

Henderson is a shopper’s haven, offering an eclectic mix of retail experiences that can excite and inspire for retail therapy. From an

❱❱❱ The walkable shopping experience is The District at Green Valley Ranch (2240 Village Walk Drive), featuring over 40 retail shops, including many popular brands. The District offers a lively community atmosphere with regular events like farmers’ markets and outdoor movie nights, making it a vibrant hub that invites locals and visitors to connect and enjoy. shopthedistrictgvr.com.

❱❱❱ For a more traditional mall experience with a wide selection of fashion and lifestyle retailers, Mershops Galleria at Sunset (1300 West Sunset Road) is a must-visit. The center hosts popular stores, and shoppers can also enjoy a variety of dining options - from sit-down meals to quick bites - in the Food Court. galleriaatsunset. com

❱❱❱ The Cliff is a new $55 million, 100,000-square-foot open-air retail and dining destination planned for Hender-

The District at Green Valley Ranch

Offering authentic cultural experiences, signature traditions and celebrations for unique family-friendly fun!

Art Festival of Henderson

May 9 & 10

Juneteenth Festival

June 19

Fourth of July Celebration

July 4

Henderson Hot Rod Days

October 2 & 3

Aki Matsuri Japanese Festival

October 10

Henderson Bluegrass Festival

October 17

WinterFest

December 3 & 4

Never miss an event. Follow us!

FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION Heritage Park

HENDERSON HOT ROD DAYS Water Street District

AKI MATSURI JAPANESE FESTIVAL Water Street Plaza

HENDERSON RISING

son’s Green Valley Ranch, located at 2500–2550 Paseo Verde Parkway near St. Rose Parkway and the 215 Beltway. The project will transform two existing office buildings into a modern, walkable campus that blends upscale shopping, chef-driven dining, and inviting outdoor amenities. The development will feature approximately 30 tenants. Groundbreaking is scheduled in June 2026.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Henderson has evolved into a place where desert serenity meets modern luxury. A growing collection of spas offers restorative, holistic experiences designed to recharge both body and mind, fostering a sense of trust and comfort.

❱❱❱ Lapis & Oak Spa and Salt Lounge (615 S. Green Valley Parkway) features personalized service with a holistic approach. Indulge in customized massages and targeted skincare treatments. The spa’s Salt Lounge offers halotherapy in a calm, restorative environment designed to support respiratory wellness, improve skin health and promote deep relaxation. lapisandoak.com

MEDICAL EXCELLENCE

Wellness in Henderson reflects a broader lifestyle centered on balance, prevention and long-term health. Wellness integrates fitness, nutrition and integrative care, supported by a network of professionals. Henderson fosters an environment where healthy living feels accessible and empowering.

❱❱❱ Integrative Wellness Clinic of Nevada (303 S. Water St.) has opened its second location in Henderson. As Southern Nevada’s largest mental health provider, specializing in neurofeedback and offering advanced brain training that uses innovative, individualized interventions. This approach helps clients explore new possibilities for managing mental health conditions including traumatic brain injury, anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, mood disorders and highly sensitive nervous systems. iwcnv.com

❱❱❱ Henderson Hospital (1050 Galleria Drive) and West Henderson Hospital (1155 Raiders Way) are part of the Valley Health System network. Henderson Hospital

is a full-service acute care facility. The hospital provides comprehensive medical and surgical services, including emergency care, cardiology, orthopedics and maternity care, serving as a key healthcare hub for the region. West Henderson Hospital offers around-the-clock emergency care for the rapid diagnosis, intervention and treatment of patients experiencing strokes and heart attacks. Other services include advanced heart procedures such as interventional cardiac and electrophysiology, interventional radiology to treat a wide range of medical conditions, and general and specialty surgical capabilities. hendersonhospital.com, westhendersonhospital.com

❱❱❱ Las Vegas Recovery Hospital, an independent acute-care facility in Henderson, offers a modern, integrated approach to treating substance-use disorders and co-occurring medical needs. With 68 beds and a dedicated interdisciplinary team on site around the clock, the hospital provides comprehensive medical support designed to guide patients safely into recovery. lvrhn.com

❱❱❱ Optum operates a broad network of primary and specialty care providers across Southern Nevada, with multiple locations serving the Henderson community. As part of Optum Care Nevada, the organization offers spectrum of services, ranging from primary and urgent care to specialty treatments in cardiology, oncology and orthopedics, along with virtual visits and wellness programs. Optum functions as one of the region’s largest integrated healthcare systems, providing a comprehensive range of services focusing on coordinated care. optum.com

❱❱❱ St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Siena Campus, part of the Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican Siena Campus (3001 St. Rose Parkway), is celebrating 25 years as a full-service hospital. Opened in 2000, the Siena Campus became the second acute-care hospital to open in Henderson. dignityhealth.org/las-vegas

THE GOAL OF EDUCATION

Diverse and growing educational systems give families and students confidence in choosing from innovative private schools and comprehensive public universities that meet various needs and interests.

❱❱❱ Henderson International School (1051 Sandy Ridge Ave.) is a single campus, private IB World School authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organization, serving students PK through 8th grade. The school emphasizes inquiry-based learning, STEM and language development. hendersonschool.com

❱❱❱ Nevada State University (1300 Nevada State Drive) offers accessible higher education with bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in fields such as education, nursing, business and liberal arts. The university provides a supportive campus environment focused on career readiness. nevadastate.edu

❱❱❱ Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada offers three locations in Henderson (10001 S. Eastern Ave., 2460 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway, 1505 Wigwam Parkway), with specially trained teams of doctors, researchers, nurses, and healthcare professionals providing patients with groundbreaking cancer treatments since 1974. cccnevada.com

GRADUATE EXCELLENCE

GRADUATE EXCELLENCE STARTS HERE

Touro University is Nevada’s premier provider of highly skilled medical, healthcare, and education professionals, o ering advanced graduate degrees in education, nursing, osteopathic medicine, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, and physical therapy. Through cutting-edge simulation labs, AI-driven diagnostics training, and the latest medical technology in the classroom, we educate compassionate, community-focused healthcare professionals equipped to meet tomorrow’s challenges. The path to excellence starts here.

tun.touro.edu

HENDERSON RISING

❱❱❱ Roseman University of Health Sciences and PDS Health

Roseman University of Health Sciences and PDS Health (4 Sunset Way, Building A) marked the dedication and ribbon-cutting of the Thorne Clinic for Integrative Oral Health and Primary Care at the university’s Henderson campus. The 12,000-square-foot facility includes 35 dental chairs and expands the university’s ability to serve a growing community and meet diverse health care needs.

Roseman also has submitted a letter of intent to the AVMA Council on Education, the first step toward establishing a College of Veterinary Medicine in Henderson. If accreditation benchmarks are met, the earliest entering class could begin in 2028. roseman.edu.

❱❱❱ Touro University Nevada (874 American Pacific Dr.) Founded in Henderson, Nevada, in 2004, Touro University Nevada is a private non-profit institution with the College of Osteopathic Medicine and College of Health & Human Services, offering graduate degrees in osteopathic medicine, physician assistant studies, education, nursing, occupational therapy,

physical therapy and medical health sciences. The university was founded on the values of values of teaching, service, and learning, to provide expanded healthcare and education services to our Nevada community and beyond. Touro Nevada was the first medical school in Southern Nevada with the College of Osteopathic Medicine, the only osteopathic medicine degree offered in the state. In 2026, Touro Nevada had a 100% match/ placement success rate for residency programs of which a record 72 stayed in Nevada. tun.touro.edu

A COMMUNITY OF ARTS AND CULTURE

The city expresses its creative spirit through a vibrant arts and culture scene. From intimate galleries and public art installations to live music and cultural programming, Henderson provides meaningful opportunities to engage with the arts.

❱❱❱ James Ruel Gallery (1300 Sunset Road) artwork incorporates classic and contemporary styles, demonstrating technical mastery and creative range. In addition to original works, he is highly

regarded for his expertise in art restoration. rueljamesgallery.com

❱❱❱ Henderson’s cultural identity is led in part by the Henderson Symphony Orchestra. Serving Nevada since 1987, it is dedicated to promoting classical music appreciation and education. Through 11 free concerts annually at various venues, along with educational initiatives such as interactive Music 4Kids concerts, the Young Artists Competition and the HSO Conductor Camp, the organization continues to cultivate both emerging talent and a lifelong love of music within the community. hendersonsymphonynv.org

❱❱❱ At the Firelight Barn Dinner Theater (546 S. Boulder Hwy) enjoy family-friendly shows, featuring country western favorites,

old-time rock n’ roll, classic movie hits and a variety of guest artists. Great music and award-winning barbecue offer a taste of the wild west. firelightbarn.com

❱❱❱ Sun City Anthem (2450 Hampton Road) features the entertainment venue, Freedom Hall, a 300-seat, full-production, state-ofthe-art theater in Independence Center. Shows feature top tribute artists, superb performers and full production numbers. scahoa.com

RELIVING HISTORY

Today, people can take a walkable history tour of Henderson. Explore early architecture, interpretive landmarks and cultural sites that tell the story of the city’s rapid rise during the 1940s, and its transformation into a thriving community today.

❱❱❱ A cornerstone of that story is the Clark County Museum (1830 S. Boulder Highway), a 30-acre site that brings regional history to life. The museum’s Heritage Street features preserved historic homes representing different eras of local history, including a railroad cottage and a wedding chapel. Indoor and outdoor exhibits showcase the region’s cultural and industrial development. clarkcountynv.gov

❱❱❱ The Water Street District serves as the historic heart of the city, where early buildings, colorful public art murals and interpretive signage create an engaging, self-guided walking experience. Visitors can explore the area’s 1940s origins while enjoying its lively mix of dining, entertainment and community events. cityofhenderson.com

❱❱❱ For a deeper look into Henderson’s founding, the Henderson Historical Society offers a unique bus tour experience with access to the original BMI plant site. These guided tours provide historical context and insight into the magnesium production complex that led to the city’s wartime creation. hendersonhistoricalsociety.org

❱❱❱ Touro University

Henderson’s new home for better health

The Cactus Healthcare Center is here, and calling Henderson our new home just feels right.

As our biggest facility yet, the Cactus Healthcare Center offers primary and specialty care, a full array of health services, and a community center for patients 55+, all under one roof. Whether you’re a new patient or a long-time member of the Optum family, we’re committed to providing compassionate, high-quality care as your family’s most trusted provider.

Thank you, Henderson, for welcoming us. We’re open, ready to be of service, and honored to care for our new community — today and for many years to come.

Call us at 1-702-877-5199, TTY 711 or visit us at optum.com/nevada.

1655 E. Cactus Ave. Henderson, NV 89183

BACK IN TIME, AND

Five writers traveled to Nevada spots with something to say about the state's history. Here are their dispatches

BACK AGAIN

What we call the Silver State today is rich in history, having held inhabitants of different cultures for millenia. For this year's travel feature, Desert Companion writers fanned out across the state, experiencing what locals had to offer, and paying particular attention to various views of history. Here's what they found.

DEATH VALLEY

The journey to Death Valley is as much about the ride as the destination. Head west from Las Vegas, and you pass by Pahrump strip malls and casinos before hitting miles of open desert. Aside from the dreamlike vision of the luminously abandoned Amargosa Opera House and Hotel, it’s a long ride through sand and sky. Go north and pass silver sage and Joshua trees, Air Force bases and prisons, as well as alluring roadside kitsch such as Nevada’s only Big Boy franchise (now closed), the burger-slinging souvenir stand of the Alien Café, and the Stateline Saloon’s cold beers and pool tables.

Either direction takes you on a winding path through an austere yet breathtaking landscape. Some hills are smooth, warm sand piles like half-risen dough, others are jagged shards of stone breaking through the earth. Plains are stretches of sand ripe for Zen contemplation or fields of wildflower color. A few miles into the National Park lands, the road twists and what at first seems to be a mirage rises up: rows of palm trees surrounding a Spanish castle, its tower silhouetted against the clear blue sky.

This is the Inn at Death Valley, built in 1927 by the Pacific Coast Borax Company, which saw the area’s stunning natural beauty while digging enormous holes in it. Six years later, the U.S. government established Death Valley National Monument (later expanded and redesignated as Death Valley National Park, with a subsequent act adding “Homeland of the Timbisha Shoshone” and returning 7,800 acres to the tribe).

Soon, an increasing number of visitors rode the railroad out from the

Soft Times in a Hard Place

Find elegance, history, and the desert’s harsh beauty at the Oasis at Death Valley

BY LISSA TOWNSEND RODGERS

coast and took touring cars through the desert to bask in the sun and silence. In 1933, the Borax Company bought a nearby ranch and developed it into another tourist destination. Today, the two properties have been combined — along with pools, tennis courts, and the world’s lowest-elevation golf course — into the Oasis at Death Valley.

General manager Anthony Beckerley says the Ranch is “geared toward families, golfers, and guests who are looking for a comfortable place to stay after a full day exploring the park,” while the Inn is designed for “guests who want a quieter, more relaxing stay” and “provides a more refined experience.”

Part of that experience is early-20th century American history.

“By the 1950s, the Inn had become a popular getaway for celebrities and other well-known guests, and it still reflects that old Hollywood feel to this day,” Beckerley says. Among the golden age luminaries who visited were Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert, John Barrymore, and Jimmy Stewart. Socialite Slim Keith — who would marry into British aristocracy and Hollywood royalty, as well as being one of Truman Capote’s legendary swans — actually began her career here.

Continued on page 78

THE OASIS AT DEATH VALLEY

ELKO Dispatch From the Rails

The train is just the trip you need if you’re looking for Nevada

BY PAUL BOGER

MARCH 18: RENOèELKO

3:20 P.M. Train arrives. For a moment, the platform is a bustle as scores of folks exit, ready for a Reno weekend.

3:25 P.M. Boarding. Confusion over where to sit. Older couple asks if it’s okay to sit next to me. They’re on their way to Denver.

3:37 P.M. Train leaves on time. Feels like a minor miracle.

4:01 P.M. Cell phones blare loudly in front of me. Loud conversation behind me. Head to the observation car for peace.

4:25 P.M. Purchase bourbon, Sprite, and water bottle from café. $15. Start reading.

4:43 P.M. Not actually reading, just staring out the window. We make our way through the Virginia Range, where the Comstock Lode, a couple of miles to the south, helped secure Nevada’s statehood. Abandoned mines still dot the view, a stark contrast to the warehouses and data centers currently being built on those hills. The Truckee River meanders, and so do I.

6:05 P.M. A family takes the table next to me. They pull out a deck of Uno cards. “I

KNOW ALL THE RULES!” the young girl screams. She does not.

6:30 P.M. Just past Winnemucca. On one side of the car, the Humboldt River slowly carves its way through the heart of the Great Basin. On the other side, the sun sets behind the Sonoma Range. Did John Frémont think Nevada was as pretty as I do when he named the river?

7 P.M. Decide to go all in and grab dinner in the diner car.

7:30 P.M. Seated at a table with three others, all traveling separately. Two are lovely, third hammered. Food decent. Conversation lacking.

9:20 P.M. Arrive at the concrete slab that is Elko Station. Taxi and rideshare are available, but unreliable. There is a shuttle, however. $2 round-trip.

9:51 P.M. Check in at the former Stockmen’s Hotel & Casino, now a Ramada. $76 a night. Nicer than expected, but AC appears busted. Still, I’m tired, and the pillows seem okay.

MARCH 19: ELKO

7 A.M. Wake up tired. Moving slowly.

8 A.M. Free breakfast at

Stockmen’s diner. Bad food, nice server. She’s moving to Reno in the fall to go to UNR.

8:30 A.M. Old men in the corner talk loudly about what’s wrong with the world today (everything, seemingly).

9 A.M. Back to my room. Work.

1 P.M. Explore historic downtown Elko. Venture into J.M. Capriola Co., which has sold Western attire and saddlery for nearly 100 years. The smell of leather both overpowers and comforts me. Cowboying in style must be expensive.

2 P.M. Realize the last time I was in Elko was while covering a Biden 2020 campaign event. I should come here more often.

3 P.M. Venture into a nearby dive bar, Goldie’s. Order beer. Latest gossip: Bar regular is in jail for fighting a cop.

3:30 P.M. Guy walks in, states: “I’ll give you $20 if you can cook this bacon for me.” Bartender — confused as the rest of us — says she only has a microwave. “That’s fine,” the man says as he hands over entire package of bacon and money. He leaves.

3:45 P.M. Much discussion

CALIFORNIA TRAIL CENTER

COMMERCIAL CASINO

on how best to cook bacon in a microwave.

4:30 P.M. Bacon man returns to get the saddest plate of bacon I’ve ever seen. Immediately leaves again, offering no explanation. Bar collectively shrugs.

5 P.M. Back to room to wash off the smell of cigarette smoke and bacon.

6:30 P.M. Skip Star Hotel & Bar. Done it (it’s fine). Go to Machi’s Saloon & Grill instead. Have truly delectable prime rib. Market price.

8 P.M. Go for a walk. Brandy’s Bar has live music. Band’s not bad, and beer’s cheap.

9:30 P.M. Walk the block and a half back to Stockmen’s for bed.

MARCH 20: ELKOèRENO

2 A.M. Wake up.

3:07 A.M. Shuttle arrives.

3:25 A.M. A handful of us slowly shuffle onto the train. It’s quiet, dark. I throw myself into a nearby seat, fall asleep before we’re out of town.

5 A.M. Conductor announces, “Next stop, Winnemucca.” It’s still dark. The train swaying is nice.

6:30 A.M. Tired and ready to be home. Sunrise over the desert. Damn, Nevada is pretty.

7 A.M. Grab coffee from cafe car. $3. It’s bad.

7:30 A.M. Buy another cup.

8 A.M. Woman behind me calls her son. She’s trying to make sure he’s bringing her grandson. It’ll be her first time seeing him. I’m excited for her.

8:30 A.M. Stare out the window, amazed at what you miss when you drive. Wetlands bring pelicans and other waterfowl to the marshes of the Carson and Humboldt Sinks. Cows with their calves and horses with their foals eke out a life. Tiny communities — places with maybe 5, 10 houses or trailers, dot the landscape. So do countless abandoned places — mines, towns. Nevada is filled with so many views, often only spoiled by our inability to clean up after ourselves.

9:10 A.M. Train arrives in Reno. Scores exit, leaving remainder onboard bound for Truckee, Sacramento, then the Bay. ✦

GENOA

Preserved and Persevering

Nevada’s first settlement is a charming stop in Carson Valley

BY ALEZA FREEMAN

It’s early evening on a crisp fall Friday night in the Carson Valley, and the patio is already buzzing at Nevada’s oldest saloon, Genoa Bar. Deeply rooted at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, less than an hour from Reno, the bar and its red brick building opened in 1853, two years after Genoa was founded. A fire destroyed many of the small town’s buildings in 1910, but the bar on the cozy corner of Main and Mill streets continued thriving.

Beyond the front door, booze is flowing, barstools are full, and history hangs like smoke in the air. Walls are slathered in 19th-century paintings and ephemera, the ceiling is stained with ketchup, and iconic sex symbol Raquel Welch’s bra dangles from the right antler of a mounted deer head. The bar has hosted famous folks, including Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt, Clint Eastwood, Clark Gable, Johnny Cash,

THE BUSINESS DISTRICT OF ELKO, 1940

Willie Nelson, and Rob Lowe, and every inch of the room tells a story.

At the behest of a customer, the bartender shines a flashlight into the large heirloom diamond dust mirror behind the bar, causing it to glitter. This gemlike gleaming is not a Picon Punch-induced hallucination. It’s a reflection from the Victorian-era tin-mercury amalgam behind the glass.

This seemingly magical mirror from Scotland, delivered across the Sierra Nevada mountains via a covered wagon in the 1840s, is a microcosm of Genoa as a whole: Antiquated yet perfectly preserved, and oozing with history and charm, Nevada’s first non-native permanent settlement is not your ordinary small town.

Genoa resident Lacey Ludwig calls it “a sweet spot” in Northern Nevada.

“It’s just a really good central jump-off point,” Ludwig says. “We’ve got Lake Tahoe half an hour from us. There’s hiking, biking, fishing, museums, antique stores, fine dining. We have the big trail system that goes all the way up to the Tahoe Rim. You’re close enough to Reno … or you can just sit out where there’s no light pollution and look at stars. And you know, it’s just beautiful here right up against the mountains.”

Ludwig and her husband, Caden Gould, run the boutique White House Inn, located around the corner from the bar and next door to the aptly named Pink House restaurant on Genoa Lane. Most of the businesses in the town’s nationally recognized historic district, from the Genoa Courthouse Museum to the Genoa Town Hall, are within a short walking distance, on two or three tree-lined streets, quaintly tucked in the mountain’s eastern foothills, off State Route 206.

Ludwig and Gould met 18 years ago at Genoa Bar, or “the vortex,” as they call it, “because you would go in the afternoon and then you’d come out at 3 a.m.” Their inn is one of the town’s original settler

Continued on page 78

GOLDFIELD

Learning From the Past

How to become a living ghost town in just 100 years!

Going from boom to bust in about a century might be a tall ask for some places. But not Goldfield, a “living ghost town” just three hours north of Las Vegas. Now a burg of about 225 residents, it used to be among the most prosperous towns in Nevada, vying for prominence with the state’s capital. A stock exchange, a hospital, three newspapers, a major railroad, and the “finest hotel between San Francisco and Denver” served some 20-30,000 people at the town’s height.

BY ANNE DAVIS

A series of unfortunate events, bad breaks, and poorly parked dynamite cars slowly eroded the town’s population and prestige over the century-plus between the first gold strike and where it sits today. If you’re looking to speed run your own ghost town creation, here are five tricks to get you started.

ESTABLISH A TOWN WHOSE FUTURE DEPENDS UPON A FINITE RESOURCE (E.G., GOLD) . After its founding in 1902, the town produced more than $86 million worth of precious metals at its height. It quickly petered out, and the local industry largely collapsed after 1910. SEE IT TODAY: Tour Florence Mine, the largest historical mine in the area.

UNKNOWINGLY APPOINT MORALLY DUBIOUS LAWMEN. Virgil Earp, the older brother of the infamous outlaw Wyatt Earp, served as the town’s sheriff in 1905, before dying one year into the job from pneumonia. He notably lied in his oath of office, swearing he never fought a duel. At that point, Goldfield was still very much a Wild West town — tombstones indicate many deaths from disease and violence.

SEE IT TODAY: Pay your respects to Earp’s townsmen and colleagues at Goldfield Cemetery.

PRO TIP: Take a high-clearance car to visit the more remote Black cemetery.

Continued on page 78

SEARCHLIGHT

In the Middle of Somewhere

A few reasons why this town is more than a pit stop

BY JIMMY ROMO-BUENROSTRO

SEARCHLIGHT IS JUST a pit stop for many travelers — a place to fill up on gas while driving to or from Las Vegas on U.S. Route 95, then moving on. With a population of roughly 300, Searchlight is known as a living ghost town. It was the birthplace of Nevada’s most influential U.S. senator, the late Harry Reid, who referred to himself as a “Son of Searchlight.” But, I found lots to do in the earea. Here’s a list, ranked from most to least favorite.

HIKE

Grapevine Canyon

The area around Searchlight is the ancestral homelands of the Mojave, Chemehuevi, and Southern Paiute people. Just southeast of the town is a sacred holy site, Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, also known as Spirit Mountain.

From Searchlight, head south to Nevada State Route 163, then go east. Take Christmas Tree Pass Road to Grapevine Canyon Road. Once you park, the canyon is a quarter-mile west. To your right are boulders with petroglyphs and pictographs dating back to 1200-1800. Take

your time looking, but do not climb on or touch the boulders. Continue through the canyon and you’ll find amazing rock formations, along with pink, purple, and yellow flowers and grapevines growing along the base of the mountain.

STARGAZING

Cottonwood Cove

Once it gets dark, head east to Cottonwood Cove Road, then take it down to Cottonwood Cove, on the Colorado River. By that time, you should be able to skip the toll, and you’ll be just far enough in to stargaze on the pier. I liked a spot just in front of the café. Face your folding chair away from the lights of Las Vegas to enjoy constellations such as Orion’s Belt and the Big and Little dippers next to the calm water.

VIEW

Walking Box Ranch

West of Searchlight is Walking Box Ranch, where famous silent film actors Clara Bow and Rex Bell built their home without a phone to escape Hollywood. To visit, plan ahead — the ranch is usually only open

on the first Saturday of the month. (Check the Friends of Avi Kwa Ame events page to see when the ranch is open.) Tours are typically combined with another event. The ranch is in the process of adding original furniture back to the Spanish Revival home, which should complete the experience.

EAT

Terrible’s Casino  “Best pizza in town” claims a banner on the Terrible’s casino/McDonald’s/gas station. To get some, make your way to the bar on the casino floor, past Terrible himself. The effort is worth it; it’s a good pizza. You can add most toppings for 75 cents each — but skip the pickle chips. Enjoy the nine TVs in the lounge while you eat.

STAY

BV Motel

To check in at the BV you’ll have to stop by Room 7. At least, that’s what the sign at the front office advised when I stayed there. Just be sure to check your rooms. Some might come with an open bottle of tequila … or tenants. I recommend looking for a place to camp. ✦

GOLDFIELD HOTEL FIRE, 1906

HONORABLE MENTION: Town & Country

DAKOTA GARLOCK

UFO art installation under a starry sky near Rachel, Nevada

The Judges

CHASE R. McCURDY Fine Artist and Director, 33.G

DAN McELHATTAN III

Professor & Program Director Graphic Communications College of Southern Nevada President / Founding member AIGA Las Vegas

ANGELA ORTALIZA

AO Creatives Las Vegas Photography Educator, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

RONALD PHELPS B&C Camera

MICHAEL PLYLER Fine Art Photographer

LAURA L. SANDERS Executive Director, Rita Deanin Abbey Art Museum

ANNE DAVIS

Assistant Editor, Desert Companion

SCOTT DICKENSHEETS Editor-at-Large, Desert Companion

HEIDI KYSER Editor, Desert Companion

SCOTT LIEN Art Director, Desert Companion

Outof ThisWorld

Who isn’t a photographer these days? It’s as easy as pulling out your phone, which was probably already in your hand anyway. Consequently, our visual life is awash in every kind of photograph representing every skill level, leading many to lament the oversaturation of our optic nerves. But at Desert Companion, we’re not here to chastise the Selfie Generation for flooding the zone. Because one thing that’s become apparent not only in the results of our annual Focus on Nevada photo contest, but even in the act of judging each year’s tranche of entries, is that all of our culture’s energetic photo taking and sharing has actually imbued many of you with a sharp eye. With a knack for stylish composition. With strong ideas about what a good image looks like. So, arriving at the winning selections on these pages was a real (and fun!) challenge. There were so many deserving entries from photographers up and down the experience scale. Congrats to the winners. As for the rest of us, let’s keep clicking! —Scott Dickensheets

FOCUS ON NEVADA ARTISTIC & ABSTRACT

1ST PLACE

LINSIE LAFAYETTE

Kids interacting at Anthony McCall’s “Swell” exhibit at Nevada Museum of Art

2ND PLACE

LES KAGAWA

Reflection of Paris balloon in the window of a business on the Strip

HONORABLE MENTION

G. JOHN SLAGLE

Ghost sculptures at sunrise at Goldwell Open Air Museum

HONORABLE MENTION

JOSE ALDANA Airport seats

FOCUS ON NEVADA

STORYTELLER

1ST PLACE

JULIE JAY

Young

2ND PLACE

IRENE YEE

An alpine adventure 22 miles from the Las Vegas Strip

HONORABLE MENTION

MICHAEL VIAPIANA

HONORABLE MENTION

JOSE GOMEZ

Sightseeing lady at Seven Magic Mountains

coyote sleeping in trash at the Clark County Wetlands Park

Young wrangler at a rodeo in Pahrump

FOCUS ON NEVADA

LANDSCAPES

1ST PLACE

CHRIS COLACURCI

Lightning storm over the Las Vegas Valley, aerial drone shot

2ND PLACE

DALE FEHR

Cathedral Gorge State Park in black and white

HONORABLE MENTION

JARROD AMES

Aerial view of Amargosa Sand Dunes at sunrise

HONORABLE MENTION

ANTHONY DONOFRIO

Light-painted bentonite clay walls under a moonless sky

HONORABLE MENTION

NANCY FLORENCE

Aurora Borealis at Cave Rock at Lake Tahoe

1ST PLACE

2ND PLACE

HONORABLE MENTION

HONORABLE MENTION

JOSE GOMEZ Escaramuza team practicing in Pahrump

NORM CRAFT Nevada Spillway at Hoover Dam

MARK M c EWEN Bull rider at the 2025 Helldorado Rodeo in Las Vegas

JESSE BRADFORD Aerial view of Goldfield Cemetery with a fallen cross among standing shadows

PLANTS & ANIMALS

HONORABLE MENTION

HONORABLE MENTION

MARYLOU SCHINDLER

Dragonfly perched on a stick in Little Washoe Lake, Washoe Valley

RACHEL BELLINSKY

Butterfly at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve

KIM STEED

Barn owl in flight, backlit by afternoon sun

MISTY ONEILEPSTEIN

Sunlit Grey fox among rocks and weeds in east Henderson

FOCUS ON NEVADA

1ST PLACE

ABIGAIL

HUMPHREY

Rainy Pahrump road stretching into the distance at sunset

2ND PLACE

ERIC THOMPSON Fog rolling in on Fremont Street

HONORABLE MENTION

ALEXANDRA BARTEE

Airport workers descending the parking spiral at Harry Reid International Airport

HONORABLE MENTION

SHERRI M c GEE Cold winter morning on the range in Carson Valley

HONORABLE MENTION

MICHAEL MOORE Dead tree bathed in sunset light with new sprouts at its base

Grand Prize

JARROD AMES

Showgirl illuminated by flashlight backstage at The Usual Place

Programs

Death Valley, Continued from page 59

About 10 years after the hotel opened, Nancy Gross drove up in her yellow Packard convertible and checked in. One of the heads she turned was that of movie star William Powell, who dubbed her “Slim,” became a lifelong friend, and introduced her to the exalted social circle she would rule for a half-century.

Even if the crowd today is more cargo pocket than bias cut, the Inn remains a place of handcrafted finishes and old-school glamor. It’s easy to imagine weekend leading men lounging in the off-lobby library with its velvet sofas and oak tables set for chess games. Or a swim-suited starlet sashaying over to the enormous, mosaic-tiled pool. The pool is fed by Travertine springs, so it stays at about 85 degrees; the springs also provide water for the hotel’s gardens.

About a mile down the road, past the “elevation sea level” sign, is the Ranch, a collection of tiny, white-fenced guest cottages around a Mission-style town square. There’s an ice cream shop with black-and-white floors and a soda fountain serving root beer floats and chili dogs worthy of ’50s Frankie and Annette fantasies. If you prefer your American iconography from further back, the Last Kind Words Saloon simulates the Wild West of the late 19th century. Red wallpaper, faux-gaslight chandeliers, and everything from portraits of Billy the Kid to framed pantaloons ornamenting the walls: It’s an ideal setting for a glass of bourbon and a bowl of bison chili after a long day.

Of course, the real attractions of Death Valley are found in the landscape. Beckerley says the annual Dark Sky Festival each February is a big draw, adding “the reappearance of Lake Manly and the super bloom have drawn large crowds hoping to see the special phenomena.”

Seeing the spectacular doesn’t require a unique occasion, just choosing a landmark. The Artists Palette trail got its name from the dazzling array of color stippling its rock formations, formed by the deposit of volcanic minerals. The salt flats of Badwater Basin, which stretch for 200 square miles, offer a surrealistic vision of glowing white extending toward the shadowy cliffs of the Black Mountains. The glowing hills and shady tunnels of Golden Canyon lead to the scarlet cliffs of the Red Cathedral rock formation.

If some of these otherworldly places seem curiously familiar, it may be because of Death Valley’s ties to another Hollywood classic: Star Wars. A number of the planet Tatooine scenes in the 1977 and 1983 films were shot here: Obi-Wan Kenobi roamed the Mesquite Flats sand dunes, Luke Skywalker brooded over his destiny on Dante’s View, and Jabba the Hut held court in Twenty Mule Team Canyon.

“Death Valley is a unique place to visit. Its beauty is something that needs to be experienced,” Beckerley says. Perhaps you’re on an early morning hike up Zabriskie Point to watch the morning light glow above the canyon ridges and salt flats. Or maybe sitting in a lobby bar’s leather club chair, sipping an old-fashioned, as you gaze past the rows of palm trees, past the Snow White gardens and Gatsby pool, toward the sun sinking behind the peaks of the Panamint Mountains.

Regardless where you take it in, Death Valley is always a stunning view. ✦

Genoa, Continued from page 62

homes, built in the 1850s. Gould’s aunt bought it in 1982 and converted it into lodging, naming it for the town’s original White House Hotel, another victim of the 1910 fire.

“There’s probably 25 homes in town that are original,” says Gould, who serves as vice chairman of the Genoa town board. “Everybody takes pride in trying to keep everything looking nice. We really do try to preserve it to the best that we can.”

A handsomely restored Victorian house with a white picket fence, the White House Inn looks like it hopped off a Hallmark card. Autumn leaves from the property’s trees float wistfully in the breeze. Free-roaming deer munch on fallen apples. Inside, the property is modern and warm with a comforting cottagecore aesthetic. The sun-filled common room is well stocked with board games and books about Genoa.

On a grassy plot across from the inn, Mormon Station State Historic Park reveals the story of Genoa’s origin as a trading post for Mormon travelers on the California Trail through interpretive signs, a reconstruction of the 1851 trading post (the original burned down), artifacts, and a pioneer-era homestead, including a blacksmith shop, chicken coop, apple orchard, and veggie garden.

All is quiet on Saturday morning with an uneven deer-to-people ratio on Genoa Lane. An energetic chipmunk scrambles across the state park’s picnic area as a man walks his dog nearby. Early risers sip coffee and eat breakfast at Flutter and Buzz Cafe on Main Street. Located kitty-corner from Genoa Bar, the cafe has an anti-inflammatory latte made with espresso, almond milk, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon powder, and maple syrup — a delicious and much-needed hangover cure. ✦

Goldfield, Continued from page 63

TAKE UP MOONSHINE BREWING AS YOUR ADHD HOBBY-OF-THE-MONTH. While Prohibition was in full swing, a private, unattended liquor still caught fire in the early morning of July 6, 1923, and leveled the Main Street area (supposedly with the help of a dynamite-filled miner’s car, which subsequently exploded nearby and spread the flames). Two people died, 25 blocks were burned, and hundreds of residents got out of Dodge in the aftermath. A second fire in 1924 did in many of the remaining buildings.

SEE IT TODAY: Take a ghost tour of the Goldfield Hotel, which miraculously survived, or visit the still-active volunteer fire station.

HAVE YOUR PARTY TOWN LUNCH EATEN BY YOUR YOUNGER SOUTHERN NEIGHBOR. The railroad, and its proximity to Los Angeles, made Las Vegas more accessible than ever in the 1940s. And though Goldfield had saloons and gambling halls, Las Vegas’ early casino resorts were a more attractive, glamorous option for out-oftowners with cash to burn.

SEE IT TODAY: Stay overnight and gamble at the Santa Fe Motel & Saloon.

DECIDE “IT IS WHAT IT IS” AND EMBRACE YOUR LIVING GHOST TOWN CRED. The Goldfield Historical Society and the town’s current residents do a phenomenal job of preserving Goldfield’s remaining buildings, many of which are from its early days, and the local historical documents on display.

SEE IT TODAY: Flip through old newspaper clippings and letters or grab a detailed walking tour map at the Esmeralda County Courthouse and start exploring! ✦

WHERE TRUE LOVE IS BORN

The Birthplace at Centennial Hills Hospital offers individualized birth plan options to suit your needs, including vaginal or cesarean delivery, anesthesia services for pain relief and water laboring tubs.

The facility provides:

• 12 labor, delivery and recovery rooms

• 36-bed postpartum unit and newborn nursery

• Cesarean surgical suites located on the unit

• Lactation consultants on-site

• Level III NICU with 25 beds and nine private baby suites

woman in a dolphin tank

BY Shannon Salter

seeing far away

milk starts out as grass and then the big smell of aloe yolk rich apple tide

water burst inside our governor’s house soft erotic dance at the old MGM

when our wave reached the Pacific

you are living the heart and soul that I am

* hold still and you see little worms an ice cream truck over the moon another yellow

* you know the stars are music

Our shadows take up space

desert you are a Joshua tree flower our eyes with bee wings one lemon’s crushed seed

everything here is a stem

when it comes time to swim I choose push

YOUR HOME BASE FOR Mesquite adventures

Welcome to Mesquite—home of iconic parks, amazing outdoor experiences, and our two resort destinations as your home base.

Discover new adventures at CasaBlanca with remodeled rooms and fresh eateries like Jersey Joe’s Diner, Ritas & Fajitas, and StreatWalk Food Hall. At Virgin River, explore new restaurants and our state-of-the-art Sportsbook, then relax in your remodeled room before setting out on your next adventure.

BOOK NOW

EXCITING GAMING | CHAMPIONSHIP GOLF COURSES | LUXURIOUS SPA | POOLSIDE RELAXATION PLUS, DISCOUNTS ON NEARBY ADVENTURES FOR MESQUITE JOURNEY REWARDS MEMBERS

All participants ages 0 – 17 receive a book reward, and participants ages 18+ receive a Book Buck that can be redeemed for any one item at any Library District bookstore. Participants of all ages also receive a voucher for five free boneless wings from Wingstop.

Then, when you complete the challenge, you will receive a voucher for a free treat from Freed’s Bakery, one free personal pizza from Pizza Hut, and your choice of one of these cool rewards.

KIDS & TEENS AGES 0 – 17