When I covered a Colorado school district as a cub reporter, board meetings were a natural alternative to sleeping pills. And school board elections, tucked away at the bottom of the ballot, garnered little interest among voters.
But if you’ve haven’t paid much attention to a school board election before, this is the year to start. In Washoe County, a slate of critics of the school district is challenging three incumbents. In addition to traditional issues like test scores, staffing shortages and budgets, those contests have become skirmishes in the nation’s culture wars.
The challengers are frustrated and angry, echoing a small but vocal group of protestors who often attend board meetings. They decry what they see as the “liberal indoctrination” of students by an alleged far-left cabal. Their rallying cry is “take back our schools.” They have declared war on district policies that address equity, diversity and inclusion. They worry about transgender kids using bathrooms. They fret that talking about systemic racism may make white kids feel guilty.
The challengers are allied with trustee Jeff Church, who shares many of their views.
You may agree with those folks. Or not. But be aware of the massive sea change that will roil the board—and the schools—if those challengers win board seats. Voters must understand each candidate’s position in order to make an informed choice.
School-board trustees work long hours and deal with complex matters while being paid just more than $700 a month. Many candidates want to serve because they have a passion for public service (while some also see it as a stepping stone to higher office). It’s hard work; it’s a serious job for serious people. On Nov. 8, you will decide who those folks will be.
If you’ve never paid much attention to a school-board election, it’s time to start.
—FRANK X. MULLEN frankm@renonr.com
LETTERS
Rent control is not a solution
Rent control (RN&R, August 2022) is only a short-term cure to higher rents. In the medium and long term, it stifles investment in new and existing rental units, thereby eroding the quality and supply of the housing stock.
The solution to higher rents is for the city to support the building of more rental units thorough streamlining the development process, reducing entitlement fees, increasing density and reducing parking requirements. Rent control has never worked in the long run.
George Graham Reno
Rent control stops gouging
The only people who believe that rent control is useless are the folks that don’t need it.
Drive by 5599 Quail Manor Court, and ask the seniors in the community why they are getting 60-day notices to move. It certainly isn’t for not paying their rent every month for the last several (some for 25-plus) years! Our complex was purchased by a California LLC, which took over in March 2021. We were previously a 55-plus
community. (The property owner) immediately changed our community to come one, come all, without advising the current residents, and raised the rent for newbies exponentially. This past January, we only saw a rent increase of $100 without renewing the lease.
Starting in March, they handed out eviction notices. It wasn’t just to raise the rent, but clearly by design, it was to remove the old and rent to the new.
Rent control/affordable housing is an absolute must until a long-term solution is achieved; governments need to put a stop to evictions! Neither of the Reno mayoral candidates is interested in rent control, so the situation will get worse. The “affordable housing” under construction is too late for many. We can only (blame) the mayor and City Council for their inaction. It’s a damn shame.
Ted Green Reno
Penalize greedy developers
The cost of living, the median income and the inflation rate should dictate the price of housing. Having a place to sleep that is safe and sheltered from the elements is a basic human need—not a playground for investors who see tenants as eminently exploitable.
One way to regulate the (rental) market might be increasing tax rates on landlords where there are high vacancy rates and high homeless rates. There should be a penalty for developers who build things no one can afford. Any developer who doesn’t want to give back to the community, who doesn’t want to pay taxes and operate respectfully, should be called what they really are: parasites.
Andrea Daerice Reno
Applause for Edison Garcia
I have to say that the review of Reno Little Theater’s Putnam County by Jennifer Santina (RN&R, August 2022) was a bit skewed. I agreed with many of her comments but was totally upset by the fact that she left out the amazing singing and acting performance by Edison Garcia, who played the part of Mitch Mahoney. Garcia’s singing was by far the best and most professional of the cast—no false notes and great vocalization. His acting of an ex-con in repentance mode, was hilarious and very well performed.
Tsk, tsk to have overlooked such an important actor and singer in this play!
Phyllis Beverly Sparks
Mailing address: 31855 Date Palm Drive, No. 3-263, Cathedral City, CA 92234
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Cover and Feature Design
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Contributors
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The RN&R is a proud member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the Nevada Press Association, and the Local Independent Online News Publishers.
Prevent wildfires—and stay safe when they spark
As a third-generation Nevadan, I’ve seen our wildfire seasons get longer, hotter and more dangerous. I’ve made it my mission in the Senate to get our state what it needs to fight back—from pay raises for firefighters and additional funding for wildfire prevention to resources to help Nevadans keep themselves safe.
I’m especially committed to ensuring that all our communities have key support during wildfire season. Wildfire smoke can be especially harmful for children, seniors, people with pre-exist ing conditions and people who work outdoors. That’s why it’s so important for Nevadans to be as informed and prepared as possible. And that’s why I’m continuing to work to do everything I can at the federal level to help us prevent wildfires, respond to those that spark, and restore and recover after a fire.
I’m leading legislation to make sure that small business owners can get disaster relief if they are forced to close or limit hours due to wildfire smoke and unhealthy air quality. And I’ve also introduced legislation to strengthen the federal government’s research into wildfires and improve technology to monitor and control them.
I’m also continuing to work to pass my Western Wildfire Support Act, a comprehensive bill to help communities in Nevada and across the Western U.S. acquire the training, equipment and funding they need to handle the dangers posed by rangeland fires. My bill would put a focus on preventing wildfires, from helping homeowners create defensible space to ensuring communities have easy-to-follow plans that will help seniors know what to do in case of emergency.
In the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, I worked to secure more than $3.4 billion for wildfire prevention, suppression and restoration, including a provision I authored that allocated $10 million for the kind of wildfire-detection equipment developed at the University of Nevada, Reno. This cutting-edge equipment can detect fires sooner, giving Nevadans across the state more time to prepare and evacuate if needed. All together, the infrastructure law contained $8 billion in resources to combat wildfires. Some of that funding—$1 billion of it—is now available to communities in Nevada and all over the West. The law also increased the pay for all 16,000 federal firefighters through 2023.
STREETALK
What’s the best thing about being in Northern Nevada?
Asked at Pignic Pub & Patio, 235 Flint St., Reno
There is a lot you can do on your own to prepare for wildfires. You may already have a plan to evacuate, but if not, now is the time to make one, as well as to prepare a “go bag” with everything you need in case of disaster. The University of Nevada, Reno, Extension runs a program called Living With Fire (www. livingwithfire.com) that provides extensive resources. In addition, many other entities, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, provide guidelines, checklists and advice on disaster preparedness.
Everyone in the West needs to work together to cope with the increasing threat of wildfires as the climate continues to heat up.
I’m proud that I’ve fostered conversations among community leaders at every level, and I’ll keep working to make sure that Nevadans have what they need to prepare for fires, and recover after they hit.
BY DAVID ROBERT
Elizabeth Linn Research analyst
The access to all the beauty of Tahoe, Donner Lake, Pyramid Lake, etcetera. I love being in the forest and being near the high desert, too. The people of Northern Nevada are very friendly; like, when hiking in the mountains, people will say hi to you. I love Nevada Pride and the Nevada Day parade in Carson City. But the worst thing is the cost of living. The rental market is priced very high, and legit locals are having a hard time living here.
Will Curtis Military
Faith Spampanato
Sole proprietor
The weather here in Northern Nevada is wonderful. The people are friendly. The gambling is good here; I play video poker, jacks-or-better. I’m up three bucks as of this afternoon, but that’ll change by tonight. It’s very easy to meet people here. I love hiking, and the scenery is beautiful—the openness of the desert. I hike out by Fallon, and I go up the hills to look at the vastness of the desert. Northern Nevada has four seasons. The best part about the winter season is that the snow melts by the afternoon. The culture here is very diverse—a lot of different ethnic groups. People are friendly and helpful. If you get stranded with your car, someone will stop and ask if you’re OK. The bad part is the homeless hanging around and leaving a mess.
Terence Spampanato
Construction project manager
The small-city vibe, and the closeness to the beautiful countryside. Even though we have traffic, it’s still better than San Francisco or Chicago. The construction business is doing very well. Rebuilding America! The heat can be bad in the summer. Winter is my favorite season. The positives outweigh the negatives.
Corrinne Wallace
Escrow officer
The diversity. The different parts of the city. The river downtown. We came here today and didn’t even know that there was going to be a Hawaiian festival going on. There were food trucks, and we put our feet in the river. This morning, we rode our bikes, zipped around and saw a sunflower festival. There’s a lot to do here. Traffic can be a problem, and so can the homeless; that’s sad.
GUEST COMMENT BY SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO
BY JIMMY BOEGLE
Facts matter
I’ve been asked a lot of questions and gotten a lot of suggestions since the Reno News & Review returned to print.
Will you ever go back to being a weekly? (Alas, no. There are no commercial newspaper printers left in Northern Nevada, making weekly publication cost-prohibitive.)
You should bring back the horoscope! (The horoscope column we ran for a couple of decades is written for a weekly cycle, not a monthly cycle, so it wouldn’t work.)
Since you brought back the Best of Northern Nevada readers’ poll, will you be bringing back the BONN party? (It kills me to say it, but not this year. We’re still getting back on our feet after reviving the paper following the post-pandemic shutdown. That, combined with the fact that this is an election year, means Frank and I lack the bandwidth to put together a Best of Northern Nevada party that’s worthy of the name. It’ll be back next year—I promise.)
However, one question/suggestion has come up more than any other: You shouldn’t be as political as the old RN&R was
Translation: They did not like the RN&R’s “old” “politics.” To hone that in even further: They thought we were too liberal.
Full disclosure here: I am a pretty liberal person, as are many of the RN&R’s staffers and contributors. That said, I don’t consider the RN&R to be a “liberal” publication. All political viewpoints and opinions are welcome here, as long as they’re based in facts.
Let me repeat that last part: as long as they’re based in facts. The problem is, far too many politicians and their followers these days— most of whom belong to the Republican Party—are choosing to disregard or flat-out deny proven facts.
made climate change is real, and it’s kicking our butts right now. COVID-19 vaccines, while not perfect, saved a whole lot of lives. There is no credible evidence that the 2020 election was anything but fair and legitimate.
“When people like Jim Marchant have a very real chance of becoming Nevada’s secretary of state, our state, our institutions and our democracy are in jeopardy.”
Here are just a few examples of facts: Man-
All of these statements are verifiably true. The scientific consensus on climate change is overwhelming—and we’re seeing the effects of climate change play out in real-time, with terrible, planet-changing consequences.
The statistics on vaccine effectiveness couldn’t be clearer. And despite the best efforts of many—remember that Arizona audit, performed by a group hellbent on finding some shred of evidence of ballot-tampering, that ended up being a complete failure?—each and every indication shows that
the 2020 election was fair, honest and legitimate.
If you’re coming to the RN&R with a viewpoint or opinion which I, or Frank, or anyone else involved with the RN&R disagrees with, it’s still welcome here, as long as it’s based in something resembling facts. But if you come to us saying something that’s verifiably, provably false—such as a would-be RenoNR.com commenter who tried to claim the “science” behind climate change is faulty, and that the powers-that-be are simply trying to “use climate change as a way to lock us down and restrict us”—we don’t want you here.
Look at how many people died because they got swept up in vaccine skepticism. Witness the harm being done by forces invested in climate-change denial. And when people like election-denier Jim Marchant have a very real chance of becoming Nevada’s secretary of state—a topic John L. Smith eloquently breaks down on Page 11—our state, our institutions and our democracy are in jeopardy.
Facts and dissenting opinions have always, and will always, be welcome in the Reno News & Review. But mistruths and lies have no place here.
UPFRONT
Repelling an invasion of robocalls
In the war between robocalls and humans, the robots are winning.
“I’ve gotten scammed before, and I felt really embarrassed that I got … got,” said Danielle C. Smith of Reno, who said she receives six to 10 robocalls daily, often back-to-back. “I feel really bad that this is happening to older people, disabled people and the most vulnerable among us.”
She’s right. According to data from the National Consumer Law Center, Americans currently receive more than 1 billion of those calls each month, more than 33 million daily. Seniors are frequent targets. Robocalls are generated by computers and can be legitimate, but many are the work of scammers.
The con games are designed to scare or trick people into disclosing personal information or sending gift cards to pay some a fake bill. The Silver State receives the sixth-highest number of automated calls in the country, according to estimates based on TrueCaller survey data. In 2021, Nevadans received about 460 million robocalls, nearly 200 million (42%) of which were from scammers. That’s between six and seven calls for each Nevadan per month, although some folks report that many per week. More than a quarter-million Nevadans lost money to scam calls in 2021.
Jim Tyrrell, a vice president at Transaction Network Services, a company that collects data by routing more than a billion and a half calls a day over its network, said although it may be hard to believe, scam robocalls decreased slightly in the past year, and were down about 6%. “Still, (more than) 5 billion scam calls get through every month,” he said.
With election season under way, industry experts forecast a significant increase in both legal and scam robocalls. Even if a recipient is immune to scams, getting the frequent calls is annoying.
“It’s a moment or a flicker out of life. It’s a fishhook that takes you out of the moment,” said Dean Hinitz, clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. “… These calls take away a micro bit of my autonomy. I want to be the author of my day, and this takes away from my own authorship.”
—Pax Leigh Robinson
NEWS
Our children’s future
Right-wing candidates run for the school board to “take back our schools”
Voters in November will decide if the Washoe County School Board, under siege from “culture wars” protestors for the past two years, will take a political right turn.
Protestors flocked to board meetings to oppose COVID-19 mask mandates, as well as the remote and hybrid learning models that replaced in-person classes during the height of the pandemic. Some attend the meetings to air grievances against the district’s equity and diversity programs, the way the history of racism is discussed in classes, sex education and LGBTQ issues. Their rallying cry is to “take back” the school board.
Outspoken critics of the panel have sometimes created a threatening atmosphere at the meetings, according to some trustees and other attendees. Passions run high in what has been an often-chaotic two years, as board members navigated the effects of the pandemic—and the divisive political landscape.
The panel weathered the resignation of several members, including former trustee
| BY FRANK X. MULLEN
Members of the public protest the Washoe County School Board. Photo/Eric Marks
moral values and parents’ roles, and encourages racism and a distorted view of America’s history and accomplishments.”
Although it’s technically a nonpartisan board, politics regularly rears its head. Some of the critics who attend the board’s meetings present their views in a civil manner; others interrupt discussions with shouts, and scream at panel members during public comment periods. That’s a national trend, experts say, and it’s organized at a national level.
“It’s getting kind of wild,” said Rebecca Jacobsen, an associate professor of education policy at Michigan State University who studies national education issues.
A national rage machine
Washoe County’s experience isn’t unique, Johnson said. The nation’s school boards, formerly known for tedious meetings about budgets and conducting sleepy election campaigns, have become battlegrounds in the culture wars. Boards have become steeped in partisan politics—and that’s no accident. It’s part of a national conservative—and often, Trumpist-related—strategy, some experts conclude.
Kurt Thigpen, who left his seat in July 2021. Thigpen has said he was facing death threats and felt that his life was in danger from some of the more vehement board critics. An activist in 2021 mounted an unsuccessful recall campaign against board president Angie Taylor, who said in October that the district now has a “safe room” in its headquarters building for the trustees and staff. Teachers who attend board meetings have complained that protestors photographed their license plates and ID badges, a tactic they said has a chilling effect on their ability to make public comments at the meetings.
This year, nine candidates under the banner of “Save Washoe County School District” challenged four board incumbents in the June primary. Three incumbents and three challengers advanced to the general election; the fourth incumbent retained her seat after getting more than 50 percent of votes in the primary. The SaveWCSD website, now taken down, alleged that the district has “an ultra-left curriculum that ignores academics, promotes propaganda over objective instruction, derides traditional
For decades, Jacobsen said, school boards have sometimes been a venue for conflicts about social and political issues, including sex education, school prayer, evolution, federal testing requirements and busing. Culture wars issues have occasionally flared up, instigated by both the left and the right.
“What’s different now is the combination of well-organized national interest, and it can be from either the left and the right. This time it happens to be coming from the right,” Jacobsen said.
Organizations like the conservative Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute and others have put together “slick packets” and templates for proposed laws for local activists. “They tell them what to say, how to say it, and really gave them play books,” she said. “They’ve also been really successful with getting the word out on social media with groups like Moms for Liberty and No Left Turn in Education.”
When recruiting candidates, some national groups aren’t interested in people who say they will weigh the evidence and examine both sides of issues, Jacobsen said. “What happens when these national groups enter, and money becomes a real big issue, is that the politics becomes what we see at the national level,” she said. “We heard candidates tell us over
and over that … nobody wants candidates who say they want to compromise. (These groups) want candidates who will ‘pound your fist for this thing, or pound your fist for that thing.’
So it’s causing school board members to take stronger, more polarized stances.”
The groups sow the seeds of dissent and support local activists and candidates, even providing funding. “You add social media to that, and it really took off like wildfire,” Jacobsen said. Opposition to “critical race theory,” a theory about systemic racism becoming self-perpetuating that is taught in graduate-level classes (and never in K-12 schools), was a “purposeful creation” by a scholar at the Manhattan Institute. “He’s said on Twitter that he’s going after that term and redefining it to mean everything that’s making people feel angry … gender issues, bathroom issues, books—you name it.”
The line between national and local politics has been blurred, Jacobsen said, because “everything is moving so quickly. … You can look like you are local, but really be coming from that national interest.”
Washoe County’s school board challengers say their concerns are organic. They say they are thinking for themselves, and no one is pulling the strings of their campaigns. They have a well-financed ally, though, in Robert Beadles, who has pledged to replace the board members he considers to be liberal. He is a proponent of a national “precinct strategy” that’s seeking to dominate local politics one county at a time, according to one of his websites, operationsunlight.com. Beadles moved to Reno from California in 2019 and first attended a Washoe County School Board meeting on Oct. 25, 2021. That was a special session to discuss the possible censure of Trustee Jeff Church, an effort Beadles called a “kangaroo court.”
“God has blessed me,” Beadles told the panel during the public comment period. “I have a shit-ton of money, and I’m going to do everything I fucking can to remove all of you.”
Beadles, who did not respond to the RN&R’s request for comment, subsequently contributed to the campaigns of several board challengers, according to state campaign-finance reports. He also paid for the unsuccessful recall effort against Taylor and a recall effort against Washoe County Commissioner Vaughn Hartung, which was withdrawn. Beadles’ political action committee, The Franklin Project, paid for a recount in the state GOP primary, funded an unsuccessful lawsuit by failed gubernatorial candidate Joey Gilbert, and produced direct-mail attacks on local incumbents, including School Board Trustee Elizabeth Smith.
‘Domestic terrorists’
The mailer accused Smith of supporting “totalitarianism and enlisting the full might of the U.S. surveillance state on parents who exercise their right of free speech to voice their displea-
sure of far-left indoctrination of public schools, labeling them as potential ‘domestic terrorists.’” The mailer accused Smith of supporting critical race theory, which is not taught in K-12 classrooms, and “radical sexuality and gender identity theories taught to our children.”
Smith, who won her seat outright by getting more than 50 percent of the vote in the June primary against two challengers, said the mailer was bizarre and historic. “I’m the first Washoe County School Board trustee candidate to ever have a PAC go after me,” she noted.
Trustee Jeff Church, who is two years into a four-year term, supports the three challengers. The SaveWCSD site was his idea, he said, adding that neither he nor the challengers are radicals. “I think we’re very mainstream,” he said.
The district, Church said, has taken a political left turn; he and the challengers want to improve the schools, not tear down the district. “I just think we can do better,” Church said. On a scale of 10, where 1 is extremely leftist and 10 is the right-wing fringe, Church considers himself “about a 7.”
Placing an item on the board’s agenda requires the support of at least two trustees, and Church often stands alone. If one of the challengers wins, he banks on having more clout and getting some of his proposals on the agenda. If all three win and support Church’s positions, they will have a majority on the seven-member panel. “If we had four … then we really change the direction of the school board,” Church said. “(With) two, we can get stuff on the agenda.”
Reno resident Richard Jay, who has been active in local boards, service groups and civic associations for 30 years, has been the self-appointed “Jeff Church watchdog” since 2020. Jay, who has written guest columns for local media outlets, said Church has flooded the public with misinformation and fans the flames of political partisanship at the board. He supports the three incumbents, all dedicated people who are serious about improving the district, he said. Church and the challengers, he said, are bent on politicizing the panel and creating chaos.
“What’s at stake in this election is our children’s future—our future doctors, lawyers, mechanics, carpenters and business owners,” said Jay, a Republican. “One hundred percent of our future is at stake.”
‘Blowing up’ the school system
Critics of the school board have consistently voiced their anger and frustration during the panel’s twice-monthly meetings.
School Board candidate Melanie Sutton, who has attended the meetings for more than a year and is facing incumbent Joe Rodriguez, frequently addresses the trustees. “We’ve been calling on all parents to pull their kids out of
School Board Trustee Jeff Church at a recent meeting. He said that neither he nor the School Board challengers are radicals. “I think we’re very mainstream,” he said. Photo/David Robert government schools, because it’s no longer a public school system. … They are indoctrinating our children. We need to blow up this school system and then rebuild, because you guys suck,” she told the panel during the Oct. 12, 2021 board meeting. Sutton did not respond to the RN&R’s interview request.
“Why are (critics) so angry?” asked Washoe County School Board Trustee Ellen Minetto, who is facing challenger Colleen Westlake in the November election. “I think it’s because they are afraid, afraid of change, afraid of the future.”
Some critics want to return to an idyllic bygone age that never existed, she said, and the hopelessness of that goal, along with the litany of grievances fanned by national conservative groups, breeds fear and anger.
Focusing school board campaigns on hot-button partisan issues isn’t always a winning strategy, some research shows. A study by Ballotpedia, released in May, identified 141
school districts in Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin that held elections in April, where candidates took a position on COVID-19 responses, racial issues in education or sex/ gender in schools. In those “conflict races,” Ballotpedia reported, two-thirds of the incumbents kept their seats.
When school boards become a battleground for partisan politics, school districts can seesaw back and forth across the national political divide, Jacobsen noted. In Denver, she said, factions from the left and right of the political spectrum have had majorities on the school board at different times, creating a chaotic situation.
“There have been these wild swings back and forth,” Jacobsen said. “… The effect on the teachers and the district, trying to handle this agenda that swings back and forth every couple years, doing these 180-degree turns, is really harmful to the employees and ultimately to the students.”
| BY FRANK X. MULLEN
Meet the candidates
Three incumbents face challengers in Washoe School Board races
Three seats on the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees are up for grabs in the Nov. 8 election.
Elizabeth Smith, the incumbent in District D, received more than 50 percent of the vote in the June primary and will retain her seat automatically. The other three incumbents, who also had faced multiple challengers and finished first in the primary, will face the candidates who came in second in those races.
The three hopefuls—Colleen Westlake, Graeme Reid and Melanie Sutton—were among nine primary candidates endorsed by a group called “Save Washoe County School District.” That group’s website stated those candidates opposed “critical race theory,” a graduate-level course that is not taught in Washoe classrooms (or any other school district), and other hot button issues embraced by right-wing groups.
Opposition to CRT has become a cause celeb among critics of public schools nationally. Their opponents say the complaints about the theory are shorthand for favoring a sanitized, white-centric version of American history, and a catch-all phrase for other conservative causes.
DISTRICT B
Covers Sun Valley and parts of Sparks, including the new Hug High School Ellen Minetto, incumbent: Minetto, 62, was elected to the board in 2018. She is a retired teacher with 31 years of service, including 29 in the Washoe County School District. Minetto’s three children graduated from district schools.
nation” of students to socialist views, the way history is taught in schools, and other complaints would create “mayhem” at the district if they were elected, she said. Minetto noted she and other incumbents have been verbally attacked in public comments and subjected to what she said was a deluge of misinformation from opponents during the primary election. She said critics’ vitriol—rather than solutions—is their only motivation.
“They hate us,” she said. “They have such anger about everything; they want to dismantle the school board.”
The district has big challenges going forward, she said, including recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 restrictions; dealing with staffing shortages among teachers, bus drivers and support personnel; and crafting policies that better serve teachers, students and parents.
Minetto praised the district teachers and staff, but she said if the panel’s incumbents are replaced with people who have no experience with the district and seek to tear it down, she predicts a “mass exodus” of employees. The district, she said, must support every aspect of students’ development —not only academics, but the students’ social and mental health needs as well.
Staffing problems at the district, including a shortage of bus drivers and teachers, is a national issue, she said, and education budgets are set at the Legislature, not by school districts. Most members of the current board are working hard to solve problems, she said, but critics complain without proposing solutions.
It’s the first time she has run for office. She entered the school board race, because “I’m passionate about kids. I feel it is time for me to give back to the community and to serve,” she said.
The school district, she said, is “not doing our kids justice, because they have gone so far astray from teaching the basics. I’d like to get the ship turned around.”
She said the district’s emphasis should be a rounded education of reading, writing, arithmetic and other traditional subjects. “They need to get their eyes back on the ball,” she said. The children, she said, need to be prepared for a future “that is not just bright for them, but a future where they can give back to the community and contribute to their community.”
Westlake objects to some district policies including “equity and diversity,” which she says is lowering educational standards. The district’s website explains the “equity and diversity” policy as: “Equity means that every student is provided the support and resources they individually need to accomplish the same end goal: graduation and college- and career-readiness. The end-goal for all students is the same, but the process of getting there differs.”
Westlake said she has a different definition: “I’m all for equality,” Westlake said. “But the way ‘equity’ is used in schools is treating all students the same, no matter how much work they put into it. We don’t want little Johnny to fail, so we lower the bar.”
Westlake said that the schools also shouldn’t be concerned with “social and emotional” platforms. “The parents should provide emotional support; the responsibility of the school is education.”
DISTRICT F
An at-large seat that covers about half of Washoe County Adam Mayberry, incumbent: Mayberry, 51, was appointed to the school board in November and has served on the panel for about a year. Mayberry, the communications officer for Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue, also has served on the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority Board, Secret Witness Board and Sparks Citizens Advisory Committee, as well as other community boards and committees. He has two children in local schools.
Mayberry said he wants to stay on the panel for the same reasons he applied for the post last year. After seeing the negativity and conflicts that have recently plagued the board, he said, he wants to serve as “a voice of reason” on the panel. He opposes the distraction of political ideology that often is injected into board meetings and “the weaponization of students themselves,” who can become pawns of critics’ political agendas.
Board policies, he said, should be centered on improving students’ academic performance, and hiring and retaining excellent teachers and staff. The district, he said, needs appropriate resources and policies that keep students safe and secure. Parents, he noted, have many avenues to get involved in their children’s education, including parent-teacher groups, volunteering at schools, participating in the Washoe County Parent University, communicating with teachers and board members, and sitting in at classrooms to see what goes on there.
Minetto said her main motivation in serving on the board is a love for the children. She decided to run for re-election, because candidates who were running against incumbents in the primary election seemed bent on tearing down the educational advances made in recent years. She noted that protests at board meetings during the last two years have centered on divisive political and cultural issues that have little or nothing to do with the board’s responsibilities.
“Some of (the protestors) have been really scary,” Minetto said.
Candidates who echo critics’ concerns about COVID-19 masks, alleged “indoctri-
“We need a good, solid school board,” Minetto said, that is focused on real issues and not a national culture war. “We can do better, of course, but we won’t get anything done if we’re looking through some cultural or political lens.”
According to the Nevada Secretary of State’s campaign-contribution reports, last updated July 15, Minetto reported a total of $500 in contributions and $540 in expenses. She received a single $500 contribution from Irish Capital LLC, according to the report. The state’s next reporting period is in October.
Colleen Westlake, challenger: Westlake, 60, works for a Reno orthodontist and has been employed in the dental field for 30 years. She served on the Sierra Youth Football League board for more than a decade, but hasn’t served on any boards or as an elected official.
Westlake has no children attending school in the district, but has seven young grandchildren who presumably will enroll in Washoe schools.
Although Westlake has not sat in on any classes in local schools, she bases her criticism of the district on low student test scores, even before COVID-19 disruptions hit the district. She said test scores have been “declining for years.” (Editor’s note: An assessment by Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, released in August after Westlake was interviewed by the RN&R, shows that Washoe County School District students this spring earned high scores in English language arts and math.)
According to the July campaign contributions report, Westlake had $2,774.06 in contributions and $4,266.26 in expenses. Her contributions came from three donors, with the largest contribution coming from Sparks residents Greg and Sharla Gerhardt, who donated $1,000. Westlake said supporters have encouraged her to solicit contributions from Robert Beadles, who is backing other board challengers, but she has declined. “I don’t want to be beholden to him,” she said, adding she also won’t accept contributions or endorsements from unions.
Some critics accuse the district of indoctrinating students with “leftist” ideas, teaching them that white people are oppressors and equating policies about transgender students to pedophilia. Those “false narratives are set up as bogeymen. … They want to instill fear so that they can take a wrecking ball to public schools,” Mayberry said.
The “diversity, equity and inclusion” policy that is often a target of critics, he said, is about creating a level playing field, not moving the educational goalposts. “Students learn at different paces,” Mayberry said. “Some need more support than others. It’s based on what the student needs, not on just promoting students. … Some may need tutors, or after-school programs, or summer school. If a student needs more help, they should get it. That’s the role equity plays.”
Mayberry said he is running a positive campaign about the issues, not false narratives. “We need to hire and retain good teachers and staff,” he said, and state government needs to restore educational funding that was slashed in recent years. “The next (legislative) session needs to be the educational session,” he said.
Mayberry’s other priorities include teacher and staff recruitment and retention, helping
students catch up after the disruptions caused by the pandemic, making sure teachers have the resources they need, keeping class sizes down, and maintaining the student meal program.
On his July campaign finance report, Mayberry listed a total of $32,588.62 in contributions and $23,829.33 in expenses, including many monetary contributions that exceeded $100. His biggest contributions include a $5,000 donation from Reno resident Sandy Raffaelli; a $2,000 donation from Grand Sierra Resort and Casino; $1,000 from the Washoe Education Association; $1,000 from Peppermill Casino Inc.; and $500 from Reno Councilman Devon Reese.
Graeme Reid, challenger: Reid is a 20-year resident of Reno, where he has owned and operated a law firm since 2015. He has two sons in elementary school and a daughter who will soon attend district schools.
Reid said he is running because he is not happy with the direction of the district, which he said has allowed education to be politicized. “Politics should be kept out of education,” he said. “… The schools should be neutral. Children should be taught to think critically and not (taught) with critical theory.”
He defines “critical theory,” including critical race theory, “as a form of conditioning minds.” CRT classes, which are a way of understanding how American racism has shaped public policy, are taught at the university graduate level. But Reid said its principles are being applied in K-12 level classes in Washoe County.
“(The district) is applying those principles to classes, manipulating the children to comply with that agenda,” he said.
Diversity, equity and inclusion policies are the “enforcement arm” of CRT, he said. Those policies are causing a lot of the older teachers to quit the district, he said, although he was unable to cite any data in support of the statement. If The district gets rid of those policies, he said, more teachers can be retained. Reid said there are marginalized groups in the U.S., but the diversity, equity and inclusion policy isn’t the way to resolve that problem.
On the other hand, Reid said, “history is an ugly subject, and teachers need to be able to talk about all of it, but viewing it through a critical race theory lens is problematic.” Partisan politics should be left out of those discussions, he said. “It’s not an objective form of teaching,” Reid said. “It’s meant to get an emotional response from the child. It’s a subjective form of teaching.”
Reid said he district also is collecting an inordinate amount of data about students through its Infinite Campus databank and other means, which could create privacy problems for students. “I think the board is not taking those risks seri-
ously enough,” he said.
Student discipline, Reid said, also is a problem at local schools and that the “restorative justice” policy used by the district isn’t working. That process, in use at schools around the country, is based on bringing students together in peer-mediated small groups to talk, ask questions and air their grievances, according to Edutopia.com. He’s not sure what should be done to tighten up discipline in schools, he said. Reid supports school uniforms, but isn’t making it a campaign issue.
Although Reid said he has been called a “rightwing extremist” candidate, he takes offense at the term, which he said is “a popular slander” by opponents. “I would say I’m more in the middle” of the political spectrum, he said.
Reid’s July campaign contributions report showed a total of $10,315.02 in contributions from seven donors and $9,934.15 in expenses for the reporting period. His largest contribution of $5,000 came from Robert Beadles. Aguirre Riley of Reno and Valerie Fianacca of Sparks each donated $1,000 to Reid’s campaign.
District C
Covers Spanish Springs and North Valleys high schools; Cold Springs middle school; Desert Heights and Lemmon Valley elementary schools; Gerlach K-12 School and others
Joe Rodriguez, incumbent: Rodriguez, 38, a 22-year resident of Washoe County, was appointed to the District C seat a year ago. He works for the Nevada State Police as an assistant state fire marshal for the State Fire Marshal Division and has three children attending local public schools.
In an interview with the RN&R, Rodriguez said the district needs to prioritize its recovery from the effects of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The district, he said, is using the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSR) to pay for tutoring and summer schools. The Legislature, he said, must make increased funding for schools a priority.
Rodriguez said he wants to remain on the board, because he has been involved in jobs that serve the public since he was 18, including as a firefighter with the Bureau of Land Management, serving in the National Guard, and being in law enforcement, where he came into contact with a lot of at-risk children.
“I came across kids who had no place to go, where the only safe place (they had) was the schools,” he said. “I can’t think of a better board to be on,” said Rodriguez.
In the past year on the panel, he said, “I have seen some things that were frustrating, but I’ve seen a lot of successes, too.”
He noted that the board has had a lot of distractions, including COVID-19 disrup-
tions, controversies over masks in classrooms, distance learning, CRT debates and other “culture wars” protests. In addition, the board weathered the attempted censure of one panel member, the failed recall effort of another, and the resignations of others for various reasons. “But I think that’s behind us,” Rodriguez said. The newer board members, including Mayberry, Smith and himself, he said, “really bring a fresh, new perspective. … We’re not politicians or looking to run for higher office; we’re just parents who really care about the students and the schools.”
Rodriguez said the best way to counter misinformation about the schools is to get parents more involved. “There always will be an element of the community which will never believe anything we say,” he said. “One way to build trust is to get parents in the classrooms as volunteers, join parents’ groups, come to the classrooms and see what’s going on.”
He said school curriculum is set by the state, not the district, and that teaching basic subjects—reading, writing and math—are at its core. He agrees that “the basics” are especially important as the district recovers from the disruptions caused by the pandemic. “We need to get our kids back where they need to be (academically),” he said. “… We need to give our students the cutting edge education they need to meet the challenges of the future.”
Teaching history accurately is part of that quality education, he said: “We need to teach accurate history, our failures included,” he said. Part of that, he said, “is that no race, gender or religion is being shamed. It’s just history.” Attempts of a vocal minority to take over the school board and remake it in line with their political ideology is a “power grab,” Rodriguez said, that has nothing to do with educating pupils.
Rodriguez reported a total of $8,042 in contributions and $11,560.79 in expenses in his July campaign report, including a total of $2,000 in contributions from the Washoe Education Association’s Together in Politics; $1,000 from the Nevada State Education Association and $250 from Reno City Councilman Devon Reese.
Melanie Sutton, challenger: Sutton, 43, did not respond to the RN&R’s request for an interview. According to information published by the Reno Gazette-Journal prior to the primary, Sutton graduated high school in 1996 and is, or has been, a supermarket worker.
Her profile page on the now-inactive SaveWCSD site and her current campaign site described her goal as to “dismantle the current dysfunctional School Board and rebuild it. We know our kids are not receiving the quality education they need and deserve and I intend to bring our focus back to improving academics for every child in the Washoe County School
District and ensuring we graduate students capable of becoming productive, successful adults in our community.”
Sutton was in the news in June 2021, when school district police told her to remove her vehicle from district property, because she had a gun in the back seat of the vehicle. She did so and wasn’t cited for the incident. Sutton didn’t bring the gun into the building.
The Reno Gazette-Journal, which reviewed video of the incident, reported that Sutton told police she needed the firearm for protection from “Antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement.”
The following statements are from her campaign website and were posted in advance of the June primary. Some of her comments center on the district’s COVID-19 mask requirement, which was discontinued in February:
“I need your vote this June. Here’s why: First and foremost, I am a devoted wife and mother of three children. Having been born and raised in a small farm town on my grandparents ranch, I am most at home in the countryside. I have lived in Reno five years. My children are 10, 1, and 18. They are my world. I coached Babe Ruth softball for 3 years. I was the chair at Relay for Life Cancer Society for two years. And to my children’s delight, I currently own and run a traveling petting zoo.”
Sutton wrote that she removed her children from school and is home schooling them because “of the way our District was handling COVID as it pertained to the schools.”
She wrote that the mask requirement, the district’s online-learning model and the “hybrid” system the district adopted in August of 2020, which allowed kids to be in school halftime, “was a disaster. I knew what the masking combined with the dismal education would do to my kids, and I have now witnessed the results. … Now our kids have lost a year and a half of proper education, and test results and grades clearly show the decline.
“As concerned as I am about our children’s education, I am equally as concerned about their mental and emotional well-being. I believe the school closures, hybrid learning model and two years of masking has been devastating to our kids.”
She objected to there being no exemptions available to children for medical reasons, including students who suffered “panic attacks.” The board, she wrote, “allowed discrimination to go on, and kids to be masked for two years without listening to what the majority of parents were begging for. That is why I chose to homeschool my kids, and that is why I am running for School Board. I would like my kids to be able to go back to school in Washoe County. I want them learning math, English, history and how to balance a checkbook while breathing oxygen and not being discriminated against for our family’s medical decisions.”
| BY JESSE STONE
Cut down
The
city of Reno couldn’t save 100-year-old elm trees from an apartment development
One August morning, Lori Burke, a resident of Reno’s historic Powning District, woke up to the sound of a chainsaw and watched as the 100-year-old trees that neighborhood residents had tried to save fell prey to a new apartment development.
In May, she and other area residents were upset that the long row of elms near the apartment project at 700 Riverside Drive was being mowed down. Burke and three neighbors filed an appeal of the building permit for the development, but construction continued apace.
“People say there aren’t many people who live (near the development) and
are affected,” Burke said. “That’s not true. Everybody who goes to the farmers’ market; everybody who goes downtown, parking, businesses. It’s a public right-of-way.”
For decades, Burke was able to stand in front of her house, almost directly across Jones Street from the new development, and look straight down the road lined with elms. When crews were in the process of cutting the trees in May, Burke called the city and a councilmember got involved. The developer agreed to save a few trees, if possible. It wasn’t possible, according to city officials. But Burke believes that more careful—but presumably more expensive—construction techniques could have
saved the trees.
The owners of the development, Urban Investments, could not be immediately reached for comment.
The Powning District is classified as one of the city of Reno’s Conservation Districts, marking it as a neighborhood that deserves special attention to maintain its historical character. Cassie Harris, a city spokesperson, noted that the development is private property and that experts evaluated the trees.
“The trees on Jones Street, located adjacent to the Riverside development project, were evaluated by an arborist and, in consultation with the city of Reno urban forester, were
Lori Burke points to the stumps of the few remaining elm trees that she and other residents tried to save. The trees were cut on Aug. 15. Photo/David Robert
determined to be structurally compromised,” Harris said. “They presented a risk to structures, pedestrians and vehicles, and were removed.”
Councilmember Naomi Duerr, a self-described tree advocate, said that after residents complained in May, the developer agreed to save as many trees as possible. Duerr noted that although she wasn’t familiar with the specifics of this development, other sites and a few other companies around Reno had seen success in preserving trees by using techniques such as building sidewalks that use thinner materials, or building sidewalks above ground.
“It’s not a requirement,” Duerr said. “I went out onsite and called the developer and told him the value of those trees in sense of place, value in the new development in sense of permanence, and stability that it brings.”
Burke wants the city of Reno to take action under a section of the city’s Land Development Code, which is designed to preserve landscapes that are affected by specific types of development projects in historic districts. Burke believes that process would give the public and the neighborhood more opportunity to interact with the project. Burke said cutting down the trees was an example of bad faith between the developers and the neighborhood.
“We always knew there was (going to be) development and had no problem with that, absolutely none,” Burke said. “I don’t think anybody doesn’t recognize that (building more) housing is a clear issue. But not every project is good, and this is a bad project. It doesn’t fit.”
NEWS
A serious threat
News analysis: Jim Marchant’s secretary of state candidacy is no laughing matter
It’s almost too easy to write off Republican Secretary of State candidate Jim Marchant as Nevada’s political Gump.
Marchant has found a way to rise in a state GOP under the spell of Donald Trump, largely by never wavering from the former president’s every deception—especially his big lie about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. When it comes to carrying out ever-more-elaborate conspiracy theories about spooky voting machines and deepstate Geppettos, Marchant is so far down the rabbit hole that he can see the Queen of Hearts, and even Joey Gilbert.
And yet, as the namesake implies, when it comes to promoting the big lie, Marchant turns up in the oddest places—long after most, well, reasonable people have returned to reality.
Look closely at photos taken during the Nevada GOP’s scammy alternate elector signing ceremony in December 2020 in Carson City, and you’ll see Marchant standing to the side, beaming with pride. The audacious attempted end run on the peaceful transfer of power was a dud, but has drawn intense interest from the FBI in its ongoing criminal investigation.
In the Nevada Republican Party’s fiercely competitive race for greatest fealty to Trump, Marchant ranks with the front-runners. On his campaign website, he touts his endorsement by Trump—the P.T. Barnum of corporate self-promotion—as a “brilliant” businessman.
Marchant moved to Nevada from Florida in 2005 and was elected to a single-term in
the state Assembly in 2016. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in District 4 in 2020 and, you guessed it, claimed he was “a victim of voter fraud” after losing to Steven Horsford by more than 16,000 ballots—around 5 percent of the vote. In that race, he touted endorsements from Trump and congressional election deniers Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar and Jim Jordan.
Let’s set aside the fact that such a fraud, if it were true, would rank among the larger election deceptions in the history of the republic. Nevada’s own political history has seen races for U.S. Senate decided by a few hundred votes without the losers sniveling about being robbed. Marchant’s whiny claim wasn’t true, but that hasn’t deterred him for a moment from repeating it.
Nevada voters were fortunate to have strongwilled professionals guarding their interests and protecting the election process in 2020 against a firestorm of disinformation, vexatious litigation and even physical threats fomented by Trump’s big lie. It’s been often reported, but bears repeating, that much-vilified Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske played a pivotal role in preventing those who would win at any cost from doing so.
For that, she paid the price in the form of censure by her own party. May she wear it like a badge of honor. Now Marchant wants to replace her.
As a candidate for secretary of state, he’s piled on the prevarication about election security and has promoted a lineup of pseudo-experts who have spent the better part of two years vilifying those who protect the election process, as well as the use of Dominion Voting Systems machines.
Some candidates consult with their families and political advisers before embarking on a run for office. Perhaps Marchant did all that. But he also has said that he decided to run for secretary of state after receiving encouragement from QAnon conspiracy influencer Juan O Savin. It wasn’t happenstance.
Those who attempt to marginalize Marchant do so at their own peril. He was among several Republicans leading the “America First Secretary of State Coalition,” a collection of big lie true believers. It was Marchant who led a “strategy session” in May 2021 in Las Vegas and has become a go-to talking point on the subject on Steve Bannon’s popular podcast.
Last year, Marchant was among the speakers to appear at the Patriot Double Down in Las Vegas, an event presented by a QAnon-linked group. But when asked by a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter about the QAnon conspiracy—which, among many deceptions, posits that Democrats are pedophiles and participate in child sex-trafficking—Marchant claimed not to know much about it. Then he continued to circulate among his fellow conspiracy theorists.
Marchant has been a steady presence in rural Nevada, where belief in the big lie and voting-machine voodoo appears strongest. In Nye and other counties earlier this year, Marchant led a parade of election deniers and those who believe Dominion machines are not only unreliable, but so easily hackable that they should be decertified in favor of paper ballots counted by election officials.
Paper ballots. Counted by people who might share the same worldview as Jim Marchant. Marchant claims without any proof that
|
BY JOHN L. SMITH
Jim Marchant, at left, with the six fake electors who signed a certificate in December 2020 falsely certifying that Donald Trump had won the presidential election in Nevada. Marchant, who was not among those who signed the document, is the Republican candidate for Nevada Secretary of State. The state GOP posted the image on social media. Photo/Nevada GOP
Nevadans’ votes have been manipulated for years, and officials haven’t really been elected, but “installed by the deep state cabal.” In a primary debate in February, he out-crazied several opponents and proclaimed, “Your vote hasn’t counted for decades. You haven’t elected anybody. The people that are in office have been selected. You haven’t had a choice.”
It’s also true he finished first in the primary despite taking hits from more than $2 million in attack ads, by his own campaign’s count. Translation: His beliefs may be unhinged, but he’s tougher than he looks, and he has no plans to ride off into a QAnon sunset.
If you think his fellow Republicans appreciate the trouble Nevada’s Gump represents, think again. In August, Marchant received the endorsement of the influential Keystone Corporation, which boasts former Nevada Gov. Robert List on its board of directors.
As I write this, it’s unclear whether Marchant’s name will surface in connection with a brewing scandal first revealed by The Washington Post, exposing an attempt by Trump acolytes to collect ballot information and spin it into false voter-fraud claims. Part of the alleged scheme included a Nevada connection with voter data obtained from Clark County that was later presented at a 2021 election-fraud symposium in Sioux Falls, S.D., sponsored by conspiracy theorist and MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell. County officials said the data gathered contained no sensitive information, The Post reported.
Marchant’s role, if any, remains to be seen. But it’s hard to ignore his Aug. 10, 2021, tweet: “Couldn’t be happier to accept the invitation of Mike Lindell to look deeply into election integrity. Sioux Falls, here I come!”
He not only promotes the falsehood about the 2020 election, but has loudly embraced the idea of overturning future ones. That’s not a person Nevadans should want anywhere near the office constitutionally dutybound to ensure fair, accurate and secure elections.
When the head scratching, raised eyebrows and nervous laughter finally subsides, try to remember that Jim Marchant is a genuine danger to fair elections in Nevada.
| BY JANICE HOKE
Historic prison preservation
Growing up among killers in a prison molded two sisters’ lives
Patti and Marcia Bernard had an idyllic Nevada childhood, living at one of the state’s most historic sites, riding horses amid the sagebrush—and hanging out with murderers.
Today, Patti Bernard of Reno and her sister, Marcia Bernard Cuccaro of Carson City, say the experience of growing up at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City was a strong influence on their lives and careers. Their dad, Arthur Bernard, was appointed by Gov. Charles Russell as the state prison warden in 1951 and served until 1959. When the family moved into the only residence on the grounds, Marcia was 7, and Patti was 5. Their brother Don was 15 and left after high school to attend college. Their days were filled with normal activities, like making their own beds, a formal dinner every night, and attending school a mile away in Carson City. Patti rode her horse, Twilight, through the fields of sagebrush and rabbit brush outside the walls. Don received a learner’s permit to drive before he was 16 and drove his sisters
to school.
It seemed a privileged life. They were surrounded by cooks, gardeners and housekeepers—all inmates working in their home. Some were convicted of murder, but Warden Bernard trusted them with his children.
“Our father had an affinity for murderers,” Marcia said when she and Patti spoke at a fundraiser luncheon for the Nevada Women’s History Project. “He said that they only murder once.”
Christianne Hamel, a history project member, said she learned that the inmates, called trustees, “truly looked out for the two girls, and at the same time the girls were given interesting skills, such as how to pick a lock.” On one occasion, trustees rolled back the odometer on the family’s 1955 Chevy and fixed the car’s damage after one of the girls had a fender bender. Their parents were never informed.
(No one likes a snitch.)
Ophelia, the family’s first housekeeper, shot a man who had stalked her. “She was the first Black person I’d ever met,” Marcia said.
The friendship and empathy the young girls developed for their inmate friends influenced
Sisters Patti and Marcia Bernard, inset on left, as girls, in a portrait drawn by a state prison inmate in 1957. Marcia Bernard Cuccaro and Patti Bernard, their positions reversed, are shown at the prison in July. They grew up in the warden’s residence in the background of the photo. Photo/Janice Hoke
events such as the sisters’ presentation. Some of the project’s profiles have been published in the Reno News & Review.
Learning each inmate’s story
For years, Patti wondered why her father would go back to his office in the prison every evening to work alone for an hour or two after dinner. When she reviewed inmate files sent to the Nevada State Archives, she discovered that her dad had been poring over the files for every inmate in the prison to understand their lives and reasons for incarceration. He realized, she believes, that “a single event altered their lives forever.”
His concern and empathy for the inmates rubbed off on his daughters. It made an impression on prisoners as well.
Lisa-Marie Lightfoot attended the sisters’ talk and was moved by their story. “What I left thinking about was those prisoners, how they responded to having purpose and family,” Lightfoot said. “They contributed to their community and touched Marcia and Patti’s life, mostly in a positive way.”
Marcia’s career in social work, working in rehabilitation services and at the state Division of Aging Services.
Hamel said the girls “lived in an interesting crucible that caused them to be acutely aware of how people behave under duress and stress.”
Patti remembers Teresa, known as “Tessie,” who was the sisters’ baby sitter for a time. She was a 37-year-old war bride charged with strangling a boy for whom she was caring. A budding writer, she composed original poems to the warden on her birthdays. Florence, a Northern Paiute from Pyramid Lake, crafted beautiful buckskin Native American doll clothes for the girls. Knowing Florence was the genesis of Patti’s interest in indigenous people’s history, traditions and culture.
“Knowing her influenced how I taught history,” said Patti, a middle- and elementary-school teacher who became a principal in the Washoe County School District. Now retired, Patti does historical research and is chairperson of the Nevada Women’s History Project. The group collects and shares narratives about Nevada women through its website, publications and
Her father’s interest in one woman inmate, Emma Jo—whom he thought had been unjustly convicted for murder—brought Erle Stanley Gardner into the case. Gardner, who would later become famous for his Perry Mason mystery novels, founded The Court of Last Resort, an initiative similar to the modern Innocence Project.
Gardner’s investigation found that the woman whom Emma Jo had allegedly killed had a history of heart problems and had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Not only was Emma Jo innocent; no murder had been committed.
“Emma Jo was freed and married the man who had waited for her while she was in prison,” Marcia said. “Uncle Erle” Gardner became a friend of the Bernard family and chose to have his wedding in their Washoe Valley home after the family left the prison residence, Marcia said.
Prison tours slated for fall
The old state prison is now closed, but tours will be available starting in the fall. After their talks in July, Patti and Marcia revisited the prison for a tour led by Glen Whorton, who was director of Nevada prisons from 2005 to 2007.
The tour highlights the history of different buildings erected over the 150 years that the prison was operating, from its founding as a territorial prison in 1862 to its closing in 2012. The original prison was built by Abraham Curry, the founder of Carson City and the first warden. He also established the sandstone quarry that provided the stone for the prison, the state capitol, the U.S. Mint building and many structures and residences in Carson City. The Warm Springs Hotel that Curry built on the prison grounds was used by the first Legislature until the capitol building was finished in 1871. Most of the oldest buildings have been razed, and the tour visits those built in the 1920s and later.
The prison has been used for movie sets “because it really looks like a prison. The directors love it,” Whorton said. An Innocent Man, a 1989 movie that starred Tom Selleck, was filmed there. The Mustang, which featured inmates training wild horses, was released in 2019. Earlier film credits include State Penitentiary in 1950 and Deathwatch in 1965. Tour-goers experience the loud clangs of heavy steel cell doors that Whorton said “can take fingers off” and get a taste of the claustrophobic atmosphere of the various cells. One wing of the prison housed older inmates who made their two-person cells homier, Whorton explained. Those cells, made into two-room “apartments,” were assigned to inmates who participated in the “puppy program,” raising and training stray dogs to be offered for adoption.
One stop on the prison tour may be the most memorable. The glass-enclosed execution chamber, which was a gas chamber later modified for lethal-injection executions, has a gurney equipped with leather straps. The chemicals used for the executions travel in tubes from behind a wall and into the condemned inmate’s veins. The room is chilling, Wharton said, “because it is so foreign to people’s experience.” Nevada State Prison Preservation Society volunteers, some of whom will be conducting the fall tours, posted photos on the chamber walls of all inmates executed there, along with photos of their victims.
A unique feature of the Nevada prison was a gambling casino called The Bullpen, established by Warden Matthew Penrose in 1932, when gambling became legal in Nevada. The inmates, including Joe Conforte, who once owned the Mustang Ranch brothel in Storey County, ran the games and reaped the profits. No legal tender was wagered. Instead, brass tokens, which are now collectors’ items, were stamped with denominations from a nickel to $5. The tokens had value only inside the prison. It was not unusual for prisoners to develop interests and talents to make their time in prison go faster, Whorton said. Some honed skills as upholsterers, furniture-makers,
in
shirt, talks
painters, leatherworkers and woodworkers. Some worked at the governor’s mansion.
The prison baseball team was, for years, “the team to beat,” Whorton said. Warden Bernard coached the prison boxing team and also was a mentor for parolees on a San Diego boxing team. An inmate named Clark was a master mechanic, Patti said, and built a sports car from salvaged parts for her brother, Don. Other inmates created the artwork that tour goers may view in the visiting rooms today.
The famous Western artist and writer Will James, who was serving a sentence for cattlerustling, used his prison term of 18 months from 1914 to 1916 to develop his talent for drawing. His work now hangs in museums, and he later wrote and illustrated books, including the children’s tale Smoky the Cowhorse
The prison industries were self-funded and offset some costs, supplementing the inadequate state funds earmarked for the facility. Over the years, inmates quarried sandstone and stamped out license plates. The main industry in the 1880s, Whorton said, was making shoes to be sold in Carson City. The prison had a mattress factory and a book bindery
“The prison was a great place to work,” Whorton said. “There was something funny, exciting, interesting, sometimes scary every day.”
The exception was working in the guard tower, he added, which was “the most boring job in the world.” Whorton said that inmates
State
during
were generally not fearful of the guards, but wary of other inmates. “The (cliché of a) brutal warden is a myth,” he said. Prison conditions worsened in the 1970s and 1980s, he said. “It was a difficult situation with more violence, the rise of gangs and racial tension.”
The tours were developed last year by volunteers as part of repairs and improvements by the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society. That group began in 2012 under president Myron Carpenter, a Douglas County teacher. Whorton, the current president, said the preservation included roof repairs, power restoration, installation of handicapped-accessible restrooms and the paving of walkways. The prison has applied to be designated a National Historic Site pending approval by the State
The
the
Recognize
Historic Preservation Office.
Ghosts also attract visitors. Paranormal investigations at the facility have been conducted by Preservation Society member Susan Bernard, a great-granddaughter of warden Matthew Penrose. She leads groups of 20 people from all around the world on tours during the twilight and evening hours. Bernard also is planning ghost walks in the fall. All tour fees go to the preservation of the prison. The society’s work is funded through tour fees, donations, membership fees. More tour guides are needed (no prison experience required), and the society is soliciting stories from past employees and inmates. Whorton edits a monthly newsletter that is posted on the group’s website, nevadastateprison.org.
“We only allow families with children to live in ground floor units” “These are our rules for children”
Glen Whorton,
the red
about the Nevada
Prison execution chamber
a tour of the prison in July. Photo/Janice Hoke
For September, 2022
ASTRONOMY
This sky chart is drawn for latitude 40 degrees north, but may be used in continental U.S. and southern Canada.
September’s evening sky chart. Illustration/Robert D. Miller
planet to appear to retrograde, or go backward, in Taurus, for about 11 weeks. Mars goes past the Pleiades only once, but will pass Aldebaran, the Hyades star cluster and the horns of Taurus three times each—all triple conjunctions!
As Earth closes in on Mars, try to spot Syrtis Major, the first surface feature of another planet ever recorded (in 1659). Using a 6-inch telescope at 150-200x, observers can note it as a dark triangular marking near the center of the tiny Martian disk, on Sept. 20 at 1:22 a.m., and about 39 minutes later on each successive morning for the next week, through Sept. 27, at 5:55 a.m. Mars’ south pole is now tipped about 20 degrees into the sunlit side, but only slightly toward Earth, so the remnant mid-summer cap may not be visible. Mars’ disk will grow in apparent size to 17 arcseconds by its closest approach to Earth, within 51 million miles, on Nov. 30.
September skies
Jupiter is as close to Earth as it’s been in decades—and our planet is closing in on Mars
Jupiter is closer to Earth this month than it has been in 71 years—and it won’t be this close again for 107 years!
On Sept. 1, Jupiter rises in the east a bit more than an hour after sunset, some 46 degrees to the lower left of Saturn in the southeast. Jupiter rises just more than 4 minutes earlier per day, and first appears on our evening twilight chart during the second week. On Sept. 26, Earth passes between the sun and Jupiter. The giant planet, shining at magnitude -2.9, then rises at sunset and appears at opposition, 180 degrees from sun, and is up all night: low in the eastern sky at dusk, highest in the south in the middle of the night, and low in the west at dawn—setting at sunrise.
On the night before, Sept. 25, Jupiter makes its closest approach to Earth since October 1951, at a distance of 367 million miles. Not until October 2129 will Jupiter
come closer!
Mars now rises in the east-northeast late in the evening, by 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 1, and around 10:15 p.m. on the 30th. Watch for it rising far to the lower left of Jupiter, by 60 degrees on the 1st, and by 77 degrees on the 30th.
Best seen in the morning, before dawn, Mars flares up from magnitude -0.1 to -0.6 this month while Earth closes in, from 89 to 73 million miles. Mars gleams against the spectacular background of Taurus, the Bull, and passes within 5 degrees of Aldebaran, the Bull’s eye, from Sept. 2-12. The minimum distance apart (4.3 degrees) occurs on Sept. 7, slightly closer than the 4.5 degrees separating Pollux and Castor, in the neighboring zodiac constellation to the east, Gemini, the Twins. Mars remains in Taurus through late March 2023, a total of 7 1/2 months! Mars lingers here, because our planet Earth will overtake Mars in early December, causing the red
In evening twilight in September, the southern half of the belt of zodiac constellations is on display, from Virgo setting in west, through Libra, Scorpius with Antares, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius low in the south, Capricornus with Saturn, Aquarius with Neptune, and Pisces about to rise or rising in the east, containing Jupiter. When the moon is near first quarter phase in Ophiuchus on Sept. 3 and Oct. 2, it’s close to half full and about 90 degrees, or one-quarter of a circle, east of the sun’s location. The moon’s location one-quarter of the way around the zodiac from the sun previews where the sun will be in a quarter of a year, or three months later. Those dates are close to the winter solstice, Dec. 21, the date of the lowest midday sun of the year. So expect the evening half-moons of Sept. 3 and Oct. 2 to be low in the southern sky at dusk. Also expect the waxing crescent moons in the western sky on the evenings leading up to Sept. 3 and Oct. 2 to be tipped over, like a bowl spilling its contents. In September’s morning twilight sky, the belt of the zodiac is steeply inclined to the horizon. The northern half of the belt is on display, from Pisces and Jupiter setting in the west; through Aries with Uranus; Taurus, with Mars and Aldebaran high in the southern sky; Gemini with Pollux and Castor; Cancer with the Beehive cluster; and Leo with Venus and Regulus low in the east. Regulus in the first week of September is just emerging from the far side of the sun. Using binoculars, watch for a few days around Sept. 5, when Venus passes 0.8 degrees north of the star. When you see the moon near last quarter phase (about half full) high in the southern sky in morning twilight on Sept. 17 and 18, it will be in the northernmost part of the zodiac, in Taurus and Gemini, among the same stars the sun appeared near three months earlier, in June, not far from
| BY ROBERT VICTOR
the date of the summer solstice, when the midday sun was highest of the year. Expect the waning crescent moons in the eastern sky in morning twilight Sept. 20-24 to be oriented like an upright bowl, holding its contents.
Follow the moon: Evenings an hour after sunset, find the moon near Antares Sept. 2, 3 and 30; and near Saturn on Sept. 7 and 8. The Full Harvest moon occurs on the night of Sept. 9-10, rises in twilight the next three evenings, and appears near Jupiter nearly all night long on Sept. 10-11 and Sept. 11-12.
Mornings an hour before sunup, find the moon 5 to 6 degrees south of the Pleiades star cluster on Sept. 16. That morning, the waning gibbous moon forms an attractive triangle with Mars and Aldebaran, 6 to 7.5 degrees on a side. On Sept. 19 and 20, the waning crescent moon forms attractive patterns with Pollux and Castor. On Sept. 23, find a thin crescent moon 5 degrees to the lower left of Regulus. Look a half-hour closer to sunrise to catch Venus rising within 20 degrees below the moon.
Venus rises a full hour before the sun on Sept. 1, shrinking to less than a half-hour by month’s end. Although Venus shines at magnitude -3.9, it doesn’t seem impressive.
The lineup of planets Venus-Mars-Jupiter marks well the ecliptic, or plane, of Earth’s orbit—the centerline of the zodiac—through our morning sky. Note the brightest star, Sirius, the Dog Star, is well to the south of that plane, and Capella, the Mother Goat Star, is well to the north. These stars mark the southern and northern vertices of the Winter Hexagon In clockwise order, its stars are Sirius, Procyon, Pollux and Castor, Capella, Aldebaran, Rigel, and back to Sirius. Betelgeuse, Orion’s shoulder, is inside the polygon. On Sept. 2, Spaceship Earth, in its motion around the sun, is heading in a direction 5 degrees north of Aldebaran.
Autumn begins in Earth’s northern hemisphere on Sept. 22 at 6:04 p.m., four days before our home planet overtakes Jupiter.
Also on Sept. 2, Earth is moving away from a point 5 degrees north of Antares in the evening sky. A line from Jupiter to Saturn extended westward across the sky passes not far north of Antares and Spica and closely marks the plane of Earth’s orbit. Note the Summer Triangle of Vega, Altair and Deneb nearly overhead, and the star Arcturus in the west, are well north of the Earth’s orbital plane.
Sky Calendar includes illustrations of many of the events described in this article. To subscribe or to view a sample issue, visit www.abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar.
Robert Victor originated the Abrams Planetarium monthly Sky Calendar in October 1968, and still produces issues occasionally, including the October and December 2022 editions. He enjoys being outdoors sharing the wonders of the night sky.
Stereographic Projection
Map by Robert D. Miller
Evening mid-twilight occurs when Sun is 9 below horizon.
Education, naturally
A variety of organizations offer a plethora of outdoor-learning opportunities, no matter your interest
As kids head back to school, it’s natural for our minds to meander toward education.
Outdoor education has gradually made its way into more and more classrooms across the nation—but what about adult learning? It can feel daunting to pick up a new hobby or new activity, but if you want to learn to, say, knit, you can watch some videos or sign up for a class.
Did you know you can do that to learn outdoor activities as well?
Opportunities abound to help you safely explore the varied and exciting outdoor playground in the Reno-Tahoe area. If you’re unsure where to go or how to get the most out of your time in the wilderness, consider a guided hike. The Tahoe Rim Trail Association offers many guided hikes around the Tahoe area throughout the spring, summer and fall—many for free! Depending on what you’re interested in, you could join an outing to learn fall photography tips, enjoy spring flowers in the mountains, or
deeper into specific skill sets, like map and compass navigation, through an REI workshop; or wilderness medicine, via Lake Tahoe Community College’s Connect Community Education programs.
Perhaps mountain biking piques your interest. Truckee-based Battle Born Prodigies offers personalized mountain-biking lessons in Tahoe. Whether you’ve never been on a mountain bike before, or you’re looking to improve your form, Battle Born Prodigies has customizable clinics to fit your needs. If you’re looking for a group to ride with and learn through osmosis, the Tahoe Area Mountain Bike Association (TAMBA) often organizes mountain-bike day trips. They also frequently host bike tune-up days at Bijou Bike Park in South Lake Tahoe, where you can learn to maintain your bike before joining TAMBA members for a ride in the park.
visit a gushing waterfall in early summer.
The Tahoe Institute for Natural Science also offers specialty guided hikes that introduce people to topics like birding, native nocturnal creatures, local scientific research and even explorations of dragonflies. Nevada State Parks hosts a diverse range of events, from history hikes and meadow yoga, to ranger chats and hunting for scorpions after dark—armed with black lights! Are you interested in giving back while you get out? The Sugar Pine Foundation provides plenty of educational opportunities to replant trees in burn scars, and weed out both overgrown vegetation and water-sensitive new growth during drought years.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your outdoor adventures and learn some new skills, many local organizations can help you. Learn to backpack through a multiple-weekend-long guided backpacking workshop with the Tahoe Rim Trail Association, where you learn the skills you need—and then practice them by backpacking with a skilled local guide. Dive
Have you ever wondered how to get into climbing or bouldering? Numerous climbing gyms around Reno offer classes to help you learn to climb and belay, including Basecamp, Mesa Rim and North Peak. And if you’re already familiar with the basics, there are opportunities to dive deeper still, with leadclimbing classes or crack-climbing workshops. While not always available, REI occasionally offers outdoor climbing trips and workshops as well. Check the schedules at other REI locations (such as in Folsom or Roseville) if you’re willing to travel a bit for an educational crusade. While warm weather is still with us, why not get out on the water for a guided paddling excursion? Clearly Tahoe offers one of the most unique ways to see Lake Tahoe—from the comfort of spacious, clear kayaks. They lead trips all around the lake, including some that are pet-friendly; they even have afterhours glow tours to see the lake and enjoy the stars after sunset. The Tahoe City Public Utility District has night SUP (stand-up paddleboarding) paddles and evening sailing clinics on its roster. Learn how to confidently sail a boat with classes from Lake Tahoe Sail or Sail Tahoe Blue; you can even enroll in a four-day course leaving from Tahoe City with
| BY MAGGIE NICHOLS
Cruisers Academy.
Right here in town, Sparks Marina Paddle can help you learn to SUP. Take it up a notch by registering for an exciting SUP class on the Truckee River with The River SUP Guy. Or find a new way to challenge yourself and relax by learning how to merge yoga with paddleboarding at Tahoe City Kayak. If motorized boats are your jam, check out the many boater-education courses offered by the Nevada Department of Wildlife.
Beyond boater education, the Nevada Department of Wildlife also has a plethora of other outdoor-education courses for adults. Learn about hunting, fishing and archery, or go out with a ranger to observe Nevada’s diverse wildlife firsthand.
Always wanted to try fly fishing? Matt Heron Fly Fishing in Truckee can take you out, teach you the basics, and help you improve your craft along the Truckee River. Recon Fly Fishing also has guided trips and personalized clinics for the aspiring fly fisher. Great Basin Guide Service offers fishing tours on Pyramid Lake, while Current Fly Fishing runs catch-and-release guided fly-fishing journeys as far south as Mammoth Lakes.
The dwindling summer is no reason to stop learning how to get outside, either! While fall hikes, rides and paddling trips are wonderful, with Tahoe on our doorstep, winter recreation opportunities abound! Most local ski resorts offer lessons, for beginners through advanced skiers and snowboarders. Get away from the crowds by learning to snowshoe at an REI clinic, or even by taking an overnight snowcamping course through the Tahoe Rim Trail Association.
The internet is full of information to help you learn a new skill or better prepare you for your next outdoor adventure—yet for most of us, hands-on learning is hard to beat. There is no shortage of opportunities to get outside with an outdoor specialist in Reno-Tahoe. With often small group sizes and many personalized lessons available, why wouldn’t you want an expert to support, guide and teach you new skills?
It feels like we’ve all gone down some sort of rabbit hole in recent years, doesn’t it?
Strife. Economic debacles. An insurrection, even—and a plague that got curiouser and curiouser, and continues to trouble us to this day.
As a result of this disorienting reality, the Best of Northern Nevada poll— the area’s largest, most accurate, and most generally amazing survey of readers in all the land—took an unplanned slumber in 2020 and 2021. But we’ve finally awakened from that most curious dream, and in 2022, we’re back in a big way.
Some 5,800 of you voted in the final round of our readers’ poll—thank you, by the way—and here are the results of all of those individual votes, nearly 180,000 in total.
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists. From those of us here at the RN&R—thank you for making Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Minden, Gardnerville, Truckee, Tahoe City, Incline Village and South Lake Tahoe such wonderful, whimsical places to be.
Welcome to the Best of Northern Nevada 2022.
—The Editors
BEST CASINO Peppermill
2. Atlantis
3. Grand Sierra Resort
4. Eldorado
5. Rail City
BEST CASINO BAR
Peppermill Fireside Lounge
2. Peppermill Terrace Lounge
3. Atlantis Bistro Napa
4. Atlantis Sports Bar and Lounge
5. Rail City Casino Ale House Bar
BEST CASINO BUFFET
Toucan Charlie’s Buffet and Grille at the Atlantis
2. The Grand Buffet at the Grand Sierra Resor t
3. The Buffet at the Sands
BEST CASINO RESTAURANT
Western Village Steak House
2. Atlantis Steak House
3. Bimini Steakhouse at Peppermill
4. Roxy at Eldorado
5. Manhattan Deli Atlantis
6. Anthony’s Chophouse at the Nugget
BEST CASINO HOTEL Peppermill
2. Atlantis
3. Grand Sierra Resort
4. Eldorado
5. Nugget
BEST CASINO-HOTEL FOR A ROMANTIC GETAWAY
Peppermill
2. Atlantis
3. Grand Sierra Resort
4. Eldorado
5. Nugget Casino Resort
BEST ECO-FRIENDLY CASINO Peppermill
2. Atlantis
3. Grand Sierra Resort
4. Silver Legacy
5. Eldorado
BEST POKER ROOM Peppermill
2. Atlantis
3. Grand Sierra Resort
4. Silver Legacy
BEST SPORTSBOOK Peppermill
2. Atlantis
3. Caesars Race and Sports Book at the Eldorado
4. Rail City Casino
BEST WAY TO WARM UP ON A COLD WINTER’S NIGHT
The Hot Buttered Rum at Rum Sugar Lime
1039 S. Virginia St., Reno
It was Dec. 26, 2019, a bitterly cold evening on which my husband and I happened to have free child care. (Thanks, Mom.) We braved the cold to go out for a date-night cocktail, and headed straight to Midtown’s Rum Sugar Lime, where my eyes lit up when I saw the night’s special: the Hot Buttered Rum.
Friends, my life was forever changed. This rich, butterscotch-y, creamy concoction was like nectar of the gods, utterly warming and comforting to wrap my hands around and savor slowly. Owner Loren DeVincenzi explained that the proprietary batter, which
he’d made himself, was stored in mason jars and for sale in limited quantities; he’d been getting requests from folks who wanted to buy the jars—while begging for the recipe. In 2020, RSL began selling Hot Buttered Rum take-home kits, and yours truly was one of the first in line. My homemade version was only OK—a pale imitation of the real thing, the incomparably creamy, perfectly proportioned, toe-warming delight, prepared at Rum Sugar Lime. Each winter, its availability is like Pavlov’s bell to me, a siren song. Try it; you’ll thank me later.
—Jessica Santina
BEST ANIMAL SHELTER
Nevada Humane Society
2. SPCA of Northern Nevada
3. Canine Rehabilitation Center and Cat Sanctuary (CRCCS)
4. Catmandu
5. Washoe County Regional Animal Services
BEST ART GALLERY
Nevada Museum of Art
2. The Holland Project
3. Sierra Arts Foundation
4. Stremmel Gallery
5. Artsy Fartsy
BEST CHARITY RACE OR WALK
Moms on the Run
2. Reno-Tahoe Odyssey
3. Reno Wine Walk
4. Walk MS
5. Biggest Little Half Marathon
BEST DOG PARK
Rancho San Rafael
2. Hidden Valley
3. Link Piazzo Dog Park
4. Cyan Park
5. Fuji Park
BEST LOCAL BAND
Buffalo Moses and His Ex-Wives
2. Greg Gilmore & The Fever
Dreams
3. Nevada 445
4. First Take featuring Rick Metz
5. Nevada Hazzurd
BEST LOCAL DANCE COMPANY
Reno Dance Company
2. Ballroom of Reno
3. Forever Dance
4. Lavish Vaudeville
BEST LOCAL PODCAST
Worst Little Podcast
2. Our Town Reno
3. Renoites
4. Up in the Mix
5. A Book and Its Author
BEST LOCAL THEATER COMPANY
Good Luck Macbeth
2. Reno Little Theater
3. Brüka
4. Western Nevada Musical Theater
BEST LOCAL TV NEWS
2news (KTVN)
2. KOLO Channel 8
3. KRNV Channel 4
BEST MONTHLY EVENT
Food Truck Fridays
2. MidTown Reno First Thursdays
3. Reno Wine Walk
BEST MOVIE THEATER
Galaxy Theatres Legends
2. Century Summit Sierra
3. Galaxy Theatres Victorian, Sparks
4. Century Riverside 12
5. Century Park Lane 16
BEST NONPROFIT GROUP
The Eddy House
2. Nevada Humane Society
3. The Holland Project
4. Trauma Intervention Program of Northern Nevada
5. Reps4Recovery
6. Headlock on Hunger
BEST OPEN MIC
Polo Lounge
2. Open Spike Night
3. A To Zen
Nevada Museum of Art. Photo/David Robert
BEST RADIO STATION
K-Bull 98.1 FM
2. KWNK 97.7
3. KUNR Public Radio
4. Alice 96.5
5. 105.7 KOZZ
6. Willie 96.9
BEST SPECIAL EVENT AT LAKE TAHOE
Lake Tahoe
Shakespeare Festival
2. American Century Celebrity Golf Championship Tournament
3. Fourth of July
4. Lake Tahoe Concours d’Elegance
BEST SPECIAL EVENT IN CARSON CITY
Nevada Day Parade
2. Ghost Walk
3. Taste of Downtown
4. Capital City Brewfest
BEST SPECIAL EVENT IN DOWNTOWN RENO
Artown
2. Hot August Nights
3. Northern Nevada Pride
4. The Great Italian Festival
5. Fourth of July
BEST SPECIAL EVENT IN DOWNTOWN SPARKS
Best in the West Nugget
Rib Cook Off
2. Hot August Nights
3. Sparks Hometowne
Christmas Parade
4. 39 North Pole Village
5. Star Spangled Sparks
BEST SPECIAL EVENT IN MINDEN/GARDNERVILLE
Genoa Candy Dance Arts and Crafts Faire
2. Parade of Lights
3. Carson Valley Days
4. Aviation Roundup at Minden-Tahoe Airport
BEST COVERAGE OF THE HOMELESS
Our Town Reno www.ourtownreno.com
Our Town Reno is a hyperlocal, socialmedia-driven reporting initiative from the Reynolds Media Lab at UNR’s Reynolds School of Journalism. Since 2016, the student-run project has focused much of its reporting on the plight of unhoused people in Northern Nevada, including families living in the city’s (fast-disappearing) weeklyrental motels. Its reporters tell stories about people living on the banks of the Truckee River, in shelters, and in “last resort” housing. The work can be found at www.ourtownreno.com and on social media; hashtags include
#helpeachother #heroesofreno and #keeprenorad.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Our Town Reno reported on the growing number of unhoused people in the Truckee Meadows, the policies that affected them, police “sweeps” of tent cities and camps, and the new ”super shelter” now run by Washoe County. The young reporters talk to folks whose voices often are ignored—and tell stories that would not otherwise be told.
—Frank X. Mullen
BEST BAGEL
Truckee Bagel Company
2. My Favorite Muffin
3. Einstein Bros Bagels
4. Rounds Bakery
5. Desert Sun Bagels
BEST BAKERY
Perenn Bakery
2. Josef’s Vienna Bakery and Café
3. House of Bread
4. Rounds Bakery
5. Homage
BEST BASQUE RESTAURANT
Louis’ Basque Corner
2. JT Basque Bar and Dining Room
3. Villa Basque Cafe
BEST BARBECUE RESTAURANT
BJ’s Nevada Barbecue Company
2. Brothers Barbecue
3. Butchers Kitchen Char-B-Que
4. Carolina Kitchen and BBQ
5. Famous Dave’s
BEST BLOODY MARY
Two Chicks
2. Stone House Cafe
3. PJ’s
4. Squeeze In
5. Noble Pie Parlor
6. BJ’s Nevada Barbecue Company
BEST BREAKFAST
Two Chicks
2. Peg’s Glorified Ham n Eggs
3. Stone House Cafe
4. Squeeze Inn
5. BJ’s Nevada Barbecue Company
BEST PLACE FOR A GRADUATION PARTY
Pub N' Sub
1000 Ralston Street, Reno
Hosting a college-graduation party can be a pain—but for my family, Pub N’ Sub owner Steve Mathers made it super-easy. When we called Steve back in February to inquire about a May party, he thoroughly answered our questions and made helpful suggestions about food, beer and nonalcoholic beverages based on the number of normal adults, new college graduates (who obviously need more beer—they’re celebrating) and under-21 guests we were expecting.
The party went off better than expected; Steve even lit a bonfire for us in the outside fire pit. The graduate and his friends polished off many pitchers of beer in the beer garden—and, to add to the fanfare, the graduate even drank beer out of a shoe. A shoey, they called it.
Disgusting traditions aside, Pub N’ Sub was THE best place to hold a graduation party.
—David Robert
BEST BRUNCH
Stone House Cafe
2. Two Chicks
3. The Shore Room
4. Peg’s Glorified Ham n Eggs
5. Squeeze In
6. Noble Pie Parlor
BEST BURGER
In-N-Out
2. Juicy’s
3. Royce Burger
4. Beefy’s
5. Ryan’s Saloon and Broiler
6. Two Chicks
BEST CARSON CITY RESTAURANT
Red’s Old 395 Grill
2. Sassafras Eclectic Food Joint
3. San Marcos Grill
4. Z Bistro
5. Piazza
BEST CATERING COMPANY
Roundabout Catering
2. Cherry Bomb Catering
3. BJ’s Nevada Barbecue Company
4. Big Blue Q
5. Fig Tree Catering
6. Blend Catering
BEST CHEAP EATS
Gold N Silver
2. Noble Pie Parlor
3. Bully’s
4. Big Ed’s Alley Inn
BEST CHEF
Mark Estee, various 2. Brett Moseley, Washoe Public House
3. Sean Munshaw, The Shore/ Renaissance Reno Downtown Hotel
4. David Holman, Atlantis
5. Jonathan Chapin, Reno Recipes
BEST CHICKEN WINGS
Noble Pie Parlor
2. Slater’s Ding-a-Wing
3. Wingstop
4. Bully’s
5. BJ’s Nevada Barbecue Company
BEST CHINESE RESTAURANT
Kwok’s Bistro
2. Palais de Jade
3. CJ’s Palace
4. Chin Chin
5. Shanghai Bistro
BEST COFFEE
The Human Bean
2. Coffee Bar
3. Bibo Coffee Company
4. Hub Coffee Roasters
5. Old World Coffee
6. Magpie Coffee Roasters
BEST COFFEE ROASTER
Hub Coffee Roasters
2. Old World Coffee Lab
3. Bibo Coffee Company
4. Magpie Coffee Roasters
5. WoodFire Roasted Coffee Co
BEST DESSERTS
TIE
Josef’s Vienna Bakery and Café
Perenn Bakery
3. Black Rock Desserts
4. Homage
5. Cheesecake Factory
BEST DOUGHNUTS/PASTRIES
DoughBoys Donuts
2. Perenn Bakery
3. Jelly Donut
4. Donut Bistro
5. Rounds Bakery
6. Homage
BEST FINE DINING
Western Village Steakhouse
2. Beaujolais Bistro
3. Atlantis Steakhouse
4. Johnny’s Little Italy
5. Brick’s
6. Twisted Fork
BEST FOOD TRUCK
Slater’s Ding-A-Wing
2. Hey Hey’s Fried Chicken
3. Kenji’s
4. The Fix
5. La Barca
BEST FRENCH FRIES
Noble Pie Parlor
2. GourMelt
3. BJ’s Nevada Barbecue Company
4. Two Chicks
5. Slaters Ding-a-Wing
BEST FRENCH RESTAURANT
Beaujolais Bistro
2. Z Bistro
3. Le Bistro
BEST FROZEN YOGURT
Yogurt Beach
2. Honey Treat
3. sweetFrog Premium Frozen Yogurt
4. Everbowl
BEST GLUTEN-FREE DINING
Great Full Gardens
2. Two Chicks
3. Noble Pie Parlor
4. Haven on Earth
BEST GREEK RESTAURANT
Niko’s Greek Kitchen
2. Nick’s Greek Deli
3. Wrap It Up
4. The Shore
5. Lucky’s Sparks
BEST HAWAIIAN RESTAURANT
L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
2. Aloha Shack
3. Kenji’s
4. Loco Ono
5. Lili’s
BEST HOT DOG
Costco
2. BamDog
3. Sinbad’s
4. Taste of Chicago
5. Coney Island Hot Dogs
BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT
India Kabab and Curry
2. Taste of India
3. Thali
4. Barwatchi
5. Royal India
6. Cafe Masala
BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANT
Casale’s Halfway Club
2. Johnny’s Little Italy
3. Zozo’s
4. Mario’s Portofino
5. La Cucina
-Thank you for voting for us!-
6. Pietro’s Famiglia 1/8 V
BEST JAPANESE RESTAURANT
Kauboi Izakaya
2. Ijji
3. Ichiban Japanese Steak House
4. Tokyo Sushi
5. Haru
BEST JUICE/JUICE BAR
Jüs
2. Keva Juice
3. Great Basin Community Food Co-op
4. Jamba Juice
5. Nektar
BEST LATE-NIGHT DINING
Gold N Silver
2. Roberto’s Taco Shop
3. Noble Pie Parlor
4. Homegrown Gastropub
5. Shenanigan’s Old English Pub
BEST MARGARITA
El Adobe
2. Los Compadres
3. Miguel’s
4. Mari Chuy’s
5. Casa Grande
BEST MARTINI
Roxy at the Eldorado
2. Death and Taxes
3. Wild River Grille
4. Bistro Napa
5. Sparks Water Bar
BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT
Los Compadres
2. Miguel’s
3. El Adobe
4. Anna’s Mexican Grill
5. Murrieta’s
6. Casa Grande
BEST CAFÉ TO GET SOME WORK DONE
Walden’s Coffeehouse 3940 Mayberry Drive, Reno
Those of us who work remotely know the critical importance of a good local coffeehouse.
Not just any coffeehouse will do. First, you must have food—and not just a few paltry pastries. I mean legit, hunkerdown-for-several-hours-and-eat-two-full-meals food. Second, the coffeehouse needs electrical outlets—many, and easily accessible. There should, of course, be good, free wi-fi, not to mention plenty of places to sit.
If you have these things, I’ll be your fan for life and will undoubtedly spend a lot of money with you. For these reasons and more, I’m a fan for life of Walden’s Coffeehouse—the O.G. location in West Reno.
The food is outstanding, from great bagels and cream cheese, to full-on egg and pancake breakfasts, to French dip sandwiches, to turkey chili—a heavenly concoction topped with cheese, red onions and crisp bacon; it’s probably my favorite chili in town. The wi-fi is free and not timed, and most every table is at or near a window—plus there’s a roomy patio. And I can always find an electrical outlet. With all this, Walden’s is hard to beat.
—Jessica Santina
BEST MIDDLE EASTERN/ AFRICAN RESTAURANT
Zagol Ethiopian Cuisine
2. Aladdin’s Market and Kitchen
3. Suri’s
BEST MINDEN/GARDNERVILLE RESTAURANT
JT Basque Bar and Dining Room
2. The Overland
3. Minden Meat
BEST OUTDOOR DINING
Stone House Cafe
2. Wild River Grille
3. The Shore
4. Noble Pie Parlor
5. Mari Chuy’s Midtown
6. David’s Grill at Red Hawk Golf and Resort
BEST PIZZA
Blind Onion Pizza and Pub
2. Smiling With Hope
3. Noble Pie Parlor
4. Sizzle Pie
5. R-Town Pizza
BEST RENO RESTAURANT
Washoe Public House
2. Two Chicks
3. Noble Pie Parlor
4. The Shore
5. R Town Pizza
BEST RESTAURANT WORTH THE LONG WAIT
Casale’s Halfway Club
2. Two Chicks
3. Tokyo Sushi
4. BJ’s Nevada Barbecue Company
5. Noble Pie Parlor
BEST ROMANTIC RESTAURANT
Beaujolais Bistro
2. Wild River Grille
3. La Strada
4. Bistro Napa
5. The Shore
BEST GASTROPUB SALADS
Mamma Celeste’s Gastropub and Pizzeria
360 Los Altos Pkwy., Sparks
I’m extremely picky when it comes to salads. A perfect salad has high-quality ingredients, a mixture of textures, and the perfect amount of salad dressing, preferably house-made—not too much, and not too little, with every bite having a nice coating.
Mamma Celeste’s salads meet all of these criteria—and more. You can’t go wrong with any salad you order, but my favorite (so far) is Little Nick’s Grecian, with both baby spinach and romaine lettuce; black and kalamata olives; pepperoncini; cherry tomatoes; bacon; feta cheese; and Mediterranean dressing. I personally hold the kalamata olives, but that’s up to you!
—Cheree Boteler
BEST SALAD
Great Full Gardens
2. Süp
3. Saladworks
4. Noble Pie Parlor
5. Two Chicks
BEST SALAD BAR
Whole Foods
2. Toucan Charlie’s Buffet and Grille
3. Saladworks
4. Churrasco Brazilian Steakhouse
5. Pizza Factory
BEST SANDWICH SHOP
Full Belly Deli
2. Deli Towne USA
3. Michael’s Deli
4. Capriotti’s
5. Port of Subs
6. GourMelt Grilled Cheese Shop
BEST SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
Oceano at the Peppermill
2. Sky Terrace Oyster Bar at the Atlantis
3. Smee’s Alaskan Fish Bar
4. Nugget Oyster Bar
5. Mr. Crab
BEST SMOOTHIE
Keva Juice
2. Jüs
3. Jamba Juice
4. The Human Bean
5. Nekter
BEST VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT
Golden Flower
2. Pho 777
3. Pho 999
4. Pho La Mint
5. SF Kitchen
BEST SPARKS RESTAURANT
Western Village Steakhouse
2. BJ’s Nevada Barbecue Company
3. Sparks Water Bar
4. GourMelt Grilled Cheese Shop
5. M&M’s Southern Cafe
BEST STEAK
Western Village Steakhouse
2. Atlantis Steakhouse
3. Texas Roadhouse
4. Bimini at the Peppermill
BEST SUSHI
Tokyo Sushi
2. Tha Joint
3. Ijji
4. Hinoki Sushi
5. Ohana Sushi
BEST TAHOE RESTAURANT
Gar Woods Grill and Pier
2. T’s Rotisserie
3. Jake’s on the Lake
4. Lone Eagle Grill
BEST THAI RESTAURANT
Bangkok Cuisine
2. Thai Lotus
3. Moo Dang
4. Thai Chili
BEST PATIO
Engine 8 Urban Winery
1260 C St., Suite 150, Sparks
Sure, Reno has plenty of great patios—but I think Sparks often gets short shrift in the Best Of business. Fortunately, those of us in the know have discovered Engine 8 Urban Winery.
The owners, Mike and Wendi Rawson, and their staff are friendly and welcoming; the wine and food are great. But Engine 8’s best feature is its patio—my favorite spot to while away a summer evening (or a spring evening, or a fall evening). The winery enjoys a location that makes its patio ideal for long, relaxing evenings, and it’s open year-round. Situated in front of the Galaxy Theatres in the ever-growing Victorian Square, Engine 8’s roomy patio is surrounded on three sides by apartments and businesses, providing both plenty of shade on hot evenings and an upbeat, urban vibe. The patio has offers plenty of seating, including a six-top featuring a firepit at its center, perfect for cold nights.
BEST SOUPS
Süp
2. Great Full Gardens
3. Saladworks
BEST TRUCKEE RESTAURANT
Squeeze In
2. Jax at the Tracks
3. Drunken Monkey
4. Moody’s Bistro Bar and Beats
5. Trokay
BEST VEGAN FOOD
Great Full Gardens
2. Nom Eats
3. Laughing Planet
4. House of Mexica
5. Noble Pie Parlor
BEST VEGETARIAN FOOD
Great Full Gardens
2. Laughing Planet
3. Nom Eats
4. Two Chicks
5. Noble Pie Parlor
BEST WHISKEY/BOURBON/ SCOTCH SELECTION
Chapel Tavern
2. Whiskey Lounge
3. Ceol Irish Pub
4. Z Bar
BEST WINE BAR
Whispering Vine
2. Craft Wine and Beer
3. Engine 8 Urban Winery
4. Midtown Spirts, Wine, and Bites
5. Vino 100
6. Archive Wine + Beer
BEST WINE LIST
Whispering Vine
2. Bistro Napa
3. Midtown Spirits, Wine & Bites
4. Atlantis Steakhouse
5. Archive Wine + Beer
GREEK KITCHEN
Servingtraditional Greekfoods for lunch & dinner
THANK YOU FOR VOTING US
Engine 8’s live-music lineup, its menu featuring charcuterie and outstanding specialty pizzas, and its wine flights all invite you to linger, sip and relax all evening long.
—Jessica Santina
Engine 8 owners Wendi and Mike Rawson. Photo/David Robert
BEST ADULT THEMED STORE
Chocolate Walrus
2. Suzie’s
3. Adam & Eve
BEST ANTIQUE STORE
Junkee Clothing Exchange
2. The Nest
3. Reno Antiques
4. Carson City Antiques and Collectibles
5. Antiques & Treasures ROCK!
BEST BANK
Great Basin Federal Credit Union
2. Wells Fargo
3. United Federal Credit Union
4. US Bank
BEST BARBER SHOP
Derby Supply Company
2. Beautiful Bearded Man
3. Maxwell’s Barbershop
4. Commonwealth Barber Company
5. Town Barbers
6. Tabu’s of Reno Barber Lounge
BEST BEAUTY SALON
Jensen & Co. Salon
2. Eye Candy Salon
3. Au Salon
4. Siren Salon
5. Shearz
BEST BICYCLE SHOP
The Reno Bike Project
2. High Sierra Cycling
3. Blackrock Bike Shop
4. College Cyclery
5. The Drop Out Bike Shop
6. Sierra Cyclesmith
BEST BOOKSTORE TIE
Grassroots Books
Sundance Books and Music
3. Barnes and Noble
4. The Radical Cat
5. Golden Owl
BEST BOUTIQUE CLOTHING STORE
Junkee Clothing Exchange
2. Bad Apple Vintage
3. Biggest Little Fashion Truck
4. Nomad Boutique
5. Labels Consignment Boutique
BEST JEWELER CREATIVITY
D Street Designs 45 St Lawrence Ave., Reno
Doug E. Moore’s philosophy is to create love via the jewelry he makes. While he does offer ready-to-purchase pieces, working with Doug on a custom piece of jewelry is a delightful experience. I’ve had the pleasure of both doing this myself and being with friends who have
created pieces. This customized experience is one that I would highly recommend to anyone looking to purchase something, be it for themselves or a friend/loved one. Doug’s creative process includes spending time getting to know you and discovering the emotions behind the piece (or pieces) of jewelry you’re looking to create with him. It’s personal to him—because it’s personal to you.
D Street Designs uses only the highest-quality metals and stones, and prices range from affordable to sky-is-the-limit.
—Cheree Boteler
BEST BRIDAL SALON Swoon
2. Blue Garter
3. La Di Da
4. Moonlight Lace
5. Studio Inspire Bridal
BEST CAR WASH
Sierra Car Wash
2. Surf Thru Express Car Wash
3. Hutch’s Car Wash
4. Buggy Bath Car Wash
5. Jimmy’s Express Car Wash
BEST CARPET CLEANING COMPANY
Evergreen Carpet Care
2. Full Steam
3. New Sunrise
4. Coit
5. Details
BEST CHILDREN’S CLOTHING BOUTIQUE
Once Upon a Child
2. Biggest Little Baby
3. The Children’s Place
4. Chez Vous
Doug E. Moore of D Street Designs.
Open 9 Hours a Day • 6 Days a Week Monday-Saturday 10am – 7 pm • Closed Sundays Shop online at RCWilley.com.
Dillard’s
2. Best Buy 3. Reno Computer Fix 4. New 2 U Computers 5. Mac-O-Rama
BEST EVENT PROMOTER
Amplified Entertainment
2. Chris Payne
3. Late-Nite Productions
4. Steve Emmerich
5. Design on Edge
BEST FRAME SHOP
Nevada Fine Arts
2. Michael’s
3. Midtown Frameworks
4. The Frame Shop
5. Eagle Framing
BEST GROCERY STORE
Trader Joe’s
2. WinCo
3. Raley’s
4. Great Basin Co-op 5. Sprouts
BEST GYM
St. Mary’s Fitness Center
2. South Reno Athletic Club
3. Planet Fitness
4. Orangetheory Fitness
5. Anytime Fitness
6. Parkway Athletic Club
BEST HARDWARE STORE
Carter Bros. Ace Hardware (Midtown)
2. Home Depot
3. Lowe’s
4. Shelly’s True Value Hardware
BEST HEAD SHOP
The Melting Pot World Emporium
and Smoke Shop
2. Art Dogs and Grace
3. Smok’n Ray’s
4. Sol Cannabis
5. Pyramid Vapory and Art Studio
BEST HOME FURNISHINGS STORE
RC Willey
2. The Nest
3. Consign Furniture
4. Forever Yours Fine Furniture
5. Mor
BEST HOUSE CLEANING SERVICE
Molly Maid
2. Munoz Cleaning Service
3. White Lotus
BEST JEWELRY STORE
Michael & Son’s Jewelry Co.
2. BVW Jewelers
3. Midtown Diamonds
4. Honey and Goldies
5. D Street Designs
BEST LIQUOR STORE
Total Wine and More
2. Lee’s Discount Liquor
3. Ben’s Fine Wine and Spirits
4. Craft Wine and Beer
5. Pyramid Liquor
BEST TIRE SHOP
Barajas Tires
2255 Glendale Ave., No. 7, Sparks
I needed a couple of tires replaced earlier this summer, but when I called my usual Fourth Street tire stores, none of them had my size in stock. Supplychain issues were the culprit; my tire size is normally as easy to find as a coffee shop in Midtown. The internet was perused; more rubber barons were called; no luck.
That is, until I called Barajas Tires. A jolly fellow named Pablo answered the phone and assured me that he had the
BEST MARIJUANA DISPENSARY
The Dispensary
2. Mynt
3. Silver State Relief
4. Rise
5. Sol Cannabis
BEST MORTGAGE COMPANY
Bay Equity Home Loans
2. Greater Nevada Credit Union
3. Guild Mortgage
4. Caliber Home Loans
BEST MOTORCYCLE DEALER
Reno Harley-Davidson
2. Big Valley Honda
3. Carson City Motorsports
4. Sierra BMW
BEST NEW CAR DEALERSHIP
Dolan Toyota
2. Bill Pearce Honda
3. Dolan Lexus
4. Corwin Ford
BEST OPTICAL SHOP
Costco
2. Pritchett Eye Care
3. DeMers Family Vision Group
4. Downtown Vision
5. Arlington Eye Center
tires in stock. Great! Even better: The price was about 20 percent less that I had paid for these tires before.
Off to Sparks I went. Pablo greeted me outside his neat and clean shop and told me to take a seat. In about the time it took me to go over my emails on my phone, the tires were mounted— and I was ready to safely hit the streets again.
—David Robert
The Dispensary. Photo/David Robert
BEST OUTDOOR GEAR SELECTION
BEST MORTGAGE COMPANY
4. Sierra Trading Post
BEST PET BOARDING
5. Fantasia Pet Resort
BEST PET SUPPLY STORE
5. Hammer’s Healthy Hounds
BEST PILATES STUDIO
Juice Box Yoga
2. Studio Sculpt
3. Club Pilates
4. Sunday Pilates
BEST PLACE FOR MUSIC LESSONS
It’s All About Music
2. Mountain Music Parlor
3. Lucas Paul - Kid Rocker
4. Play Your Own Music
BEST PLACE TO BUY A FIREARM Scheels
2. Bizarre Guitar and Guns
3. Cabela’s
4. Mark Fore and Strike
5. Sportsman’s Warehouse
BEST PLACE TO BUY A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
Bizarre Guitar and Guns
2. Guitar Center
3. Mountain Music Parlor
4. Blue Note B’s
BEST PLACE TO BUY CDS OR VINYL Recycled Records
2. Sundance
3. Discology
BEST PLACE TO BUY PLAYA GARB
Junkee Clothing Exchange
2. The Melting Pot
3. St Vincent’s Thrift
BEST PLACE TO BUY VINTAGE CLOTHES
Junkee Clothing Exchange
2. Bad Apple Vintage
3. The Nest
4. Savers
5. Empty Hands Vintage
BEST PLACE TO GET A CAR REPAIRED
Greg’s Garage
2. CoAuto
3. A Master Mechanic
4. Independent Auto
5. Devine Automotive
BEST PLACE TO GET AN AUTO SMOGGED
Instant Smog
2. SmogCheck
3. Hutch’s Quik Smog
4. GK Auto Smog
5. Smog Monkey
BEST PLACE TO GET PIERCED Black Hole Body Piercing
2. Evolution Tattoo
3. Under Your Skin
4. Claire’s
BEST PRINT SHOP
Pitch Black Printing Co.
2. Reno Type
3. Laika Press
4. Allegra
BEST SELECTION OF LOCAL ART
The
BEST SHOE SELECTION
Reno Running Company
2. DSW
3. Scheels
4. Off Broadway Shoes
5. Dillards
BEST SKATE SHOP
Classic Skate Shop
2. Sierra Nevada Skateboards
3. Vans
4. WheelHouse CC
BEST SPA
Peppermill Spa Toscana
2. Spa Atlantis
3. Dolce Vita Wellness Spa
4. The Refuge Spa
5. Bella Grey Medical Spa
BEST SPECIALTY FOOD STORE
Trader Joe’s
2. Great Basin Food Co-op
3. Sprouts
4. Butcher Boy
5. Whole Foods
BEST TATTOO PARLOR
Evolution Tattoo
2. Aces Tattoo
3. Lasting Dose
4. Marked Studios
5. Twofold
BEST THRIFT STORE
Junkee Clothing Exchange and Antique Store
2. SPCA of Northern Nevada Thrift Store
3. Savers
4. St. Vincent’s Thrift
5. Assistance League Thrift Store
BEST USED CAR DEALERSHIP
Carmax
2. Reno Tahoe Auto Group
3. Bill Pearce Motors
4. Mountain West Auto
BEST USED CLOTHING STORE
Junkee Clothing Exchange
BEST VAPE SHOP
Happy Dayze
2. Cloud 9
3. Pyramid Vapory & Art Studio
4. Knuckle Dusters
BEST VETERINARIAN CLINIC
Klaich Animal Hospital
2. Mountain View Animal Hospital & Holistic Pet Care
3. VCA Baring Boulevard
Animal Hospital
4. Desert Hills Animal Hospital
5. Southwest Veterinary Hospital
6. Mountain View
BEST VIDEO GAME STORE
Cap’n Games
2. GameStop
3. Best Buy
BEST WEDDING RECEPTION SITE
The Elm Estate
2. Tannenbaum Events Center
3. River School Farm
4. Whitney Peak Hotel
5. National Automobile Museum
BEST WINE SHOP
Whispering Vine
2. Total Wine & More
3. Craft Wine and Beer
4. Lee’s Discount Liquor
5. Napa Sonoma Grocery Company
6. Archive Wine + Beer
BEST WORKOUT WEAR SELECTION
Scheels
2. Lululemon
3. Dick’s Sporting Goods
4. Big 5
BEST YOGA STUDIO
Juice Box Yoga
2. The Studio
3. Temple Yoga
4. Yoga Pod
5. Yoga Six
6. Biggest Little Baby
2. Plato’s Closet
3. Savers
4. Bad Apple Vintage
BEST FLOWER SHOP
Sparks Florist
2. Moana Nursery
3. Amy’s Flowers
4. Helianthus Floral
5. The Garden
BEST GARDEN NURSERY
Moana Nursery
2. Old Stone House Gift and Garden
3. Rail City
4. Sierra Water Gardens
5. Natural Selection
BEST CANNABIS GROWER (LOCAL)
Sol Cannabis
2. SRENE
3. The Real McCoy
4. MMG Agriculture
BEST CANNABIS PRODUCT (LOCAL)
Sol Cannabis
2. Sierra Well
3. MMG Agriculture
BEST HARVEST FESTIVAL
Andelin Family Farm
2. Garlic Festival
3. Nevada Youth Empowerment
Project Fall Harvest Festival at Bartley Ranch
BEST PLACE FOR AN AFTERNOON STROLL
Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden at Rancho San Rafael Park 1595 N. Sierra St., Reno
The Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden at Rancho San Rafael Park is a hidden gem of natural splendor in the midst of the concrete and asphalt of Reno.
The gardens are beautiful in spring and summer; the tree groves flame with reds, oranges and brilliant yellows in the autumn. Well-groomed paths flow through a variety of plants and trees in themed gardens and groves. Sheltered benches provide
spaces to relax and enjoy the sights of the changing seasons, enhanced by birdsong and sightings of rabbits, squirrels and other wildlife. Evans Creek flows through the area, providing them a sheltered habitat. The arboretum and gardens are open daily year-round for quiet walks and gatherings in all seasons. Several of the gardens host weddings by appointment.
—Frank X. Mullen
BEST LANDSCAPING COMPANY
Cory’s Lawn Service
2. Moana Nursery
3. DRC Landscaping
4. Carson Valley Lawn and Landscape
BEST LOCAL FARM/PRODUCE GROWER
Andelin Family Farm
2. Reno Food Systems
3. Girl Farm
4. Prema Farms
Sparks Florist's Tracy McDonald. Photo/David Robert
BEST ARCADE GAMES
Coconut Bowl at Wild Island
2. Press Start
3. Grand Sierra Resort
4. Circus Circus
5. Atlantis Fun Center
BEST FAMILY OUTING
Lake Tahoe
2. Andelin Family Farm
3. Reno Aces
4. Coconut Bowl at Wild Island
5. Press Start
BEST INDOOR ACTIVITY FOR KIDS
The Discovery: Terry Lee Wells
Nevada Discovery Museum
2. Coconut Bowl at Wild Island
3. Fly High Trampoline Park
4. DEFY Sparks Trampoline Park
5. Press Start
BEST KID-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews
2. Two Chicks
3. Laughing Planet
4. Great Full Gardens
5. Press Start
BEST LIBRARY
Downtown Reno Library
2. Northwest Reno Library
3. Spanish Springs Library
4. South Valleys Library
5. Sparks Library
BEST PARK
Rancho San Rafael
2. Idlewild
3. Pah-Rah
4. Lazy 5
5. Cyan Park
BEST TOY STORE
Toys N More
2. Learning Express
3. Biggest Little Baby
4. Kelekia Toys and Gifts
BEST WEEKNIGHT ACTIVITY
Magic Carpet Golf
2. Riverside Farmer’s Market
3. El Rancho Drive-in
4. Press Start
Great Full Gardens Cafe & Eateries
Welcome Back RN&R & Burners!
Headed to the Playa this year? Grab some frozen soups and frozen organic cold-pressed juice to fuel your burn. Pre-orders now being taken at info@greatfullgardens.com!
Three full-service locations to serve you
Midtown • South Meadows • Sparks at Legends The Kitchen at Longley/McCarran www.greatfullgardens.com
BEST ALL-AGES SPOT
The Eddy
2. The Holland Project
3. Press Start
4. Pure Country Canteen
BEST BAR
Chapel Tavern
2. The Glass Die
3. Pure Country Canteen
4. The Stick
5. Cypress
BEST BEER SELECTION
Piñon Bottle Company
2. Beer NV
3. Craft Wine and Beer
4. The Glass Die
5. Pure County Canteen
BEST BOWLING ALLEY
Grand Sierra Resort
2. Coconut Bowl at Wild Island
3. High Sierra Lanes
4. Carson Lanes
BEST COCKTAIL MENU
Death and Taxes
2. Rum Sugar Lime
3. Roxy
4. Blind Dog Tavern
5. Pure Country Canteen
BEST COMEDY CLUB
Laugh Factory
2. Reno Tahoe Comedy
3. Reno Improv
BEST CONCERT VENUE
Grand Sierra Resort
2. The Holland Project
3. TIE
Bartley Ranch
Nugget Event Center
5. The Alpine
6. Cargo Concert Hall
BEST CRAFT COCKTAILS
Death and Taxes
2. Rum Sugar Lime
3. 1864 Tavern
4. Chapel Tavern
5. Pignic Pub & Patio
BEST LOCAL WHISKEY
Frey Ranch 1045 Dodge Lane, Fallon
BEST DANCE CLUB
Pure Country Canteen
2. Lex Nightclub
3. Faces
4. Cypress Reno
BEST DISTILLERY
10 Torr
2. The Depot Brewery and Distillery
3. Ferino Distillery
4. Seven Troughs
5. High Mark Distillery
BEST DIVE BAR
40 Mile Saloon
2. Shea’s Tavern
3. Pure Country Canteen
4. The Elbow Room
5. Woodrow’s Tap Room
BEST GAY HANGOUT
Five Star Saloon
2. The Emerson
3. The Glass Die
4. Faces
5. Carl’s
I had the pleasure of first touring Frey Ranch when their first batch of whiskey had been in barrels a little less than a year. As a whiskey lover, I remember thinking, oh, man, I hope this turns out good.
Several years later, the time had come to taste. That first sip of Frey Ranch’s whiskey not only met my expectations, but exceeded them, by far. Every time I sip on this local whiskey, made with love by Ashley, Colby and the Frey Ranch team, I am delighted. While I really enjoy their bourbon, it’s the straight rye whiskey I prefer to sip (neat, please), to enjoy in my favorite cocktail (the Boulevardier), or to savor in a Whiskey Bloody while brunching. Never had a Whiskey Bloody? Well, after trying one with Frey Ranch’s rye, I am quite sure you’ll never go back to the original Bloody Mary.
—Cheree Boteler
BEST KARAOKE
West Second Street Bar
2. The Point
3. Pure County Canteen
4. The Stick
BEST LOCAL BREWERY
Great Basin Brewing Company
2. Revision
3. Lead Dog
4. IMBĪB Custom Brews
5. The Brewers Cabinet
6. Brasserie St. James
BEST PLACE FOR A FIRST DATE
The Eddy
2. The Glass Die
3. Kauboi Izakaya
4. Pure Country Canteen
5. The Hideout
BEST PLACE TO BUY SEXY UNDERWEAR
Chocolate Walrus
2. Victoria’s Secret
3. Adam & Eve
BEST ROMANTIC BAR
Fireside Lounge
2. Death and Taxes
3. Whispering Vine
4. Archive Wine + Beer
BEST SPORTS BAR
Flowing Tide Pub
2. Bully’s
3. The Stick
4. Old Bridge Pub
5. Coach’s Grill & Sports Bar
BEST STRIP CLUB
Men’s Club
2. Peppermint Hippo
3. Fantasy Girls
4. Spice House
BEST TRIVIA NIGHT Bighorn Tavern
2. Little Waldorf
3. Beer NV
4. 10 Torr
5. Woodrow’s Tap Room
Chapel Tavern. Photo/David Robert
BEST POOLS
Carson Valley Swim Center
1600 State Route 88, Minden
My family and I stumbled upon this state-of-the-art aquatic center in Minden on a road trip, and it was like a gift from heaven.
The Carson Valley Swim Center offers not one, but SIX pools— two outside (adult and child), and four indoors. The large lap pool outside also features an expansive climbing wall, from which daring climbers can jump right into the deep end. Indoors, take a spin on one of CVSC’s two impressive water slides; sit in a shallow pool under a splash pad; or choose between a high and low diving board at the large, deep center pool—all under the watchful eyes of lifeguards.
Plus, CVSC offers a fully equipped fitness room, a party room, shaded picnic tables and a clean, spacious locker room that even has a swimsuit spin dryer. Swimming and diving lessons are available for both children and adults; you’ll also find water aerobics, lifeguard classes and CPR classes. And access is available for low, low prices: I’m talking $3 a day for kids, seniors and people with disabilities; $5 for adults 18-60; and $15 for a family. Oh, and it’s open year-round!
—Jessica Santina
BEST BICYCLE RIDE PATH/ DESTINATION
Truckee River Bike Trail
2. Tahoe East Shore Trail
3. Damonte Ranch Wetlands Loop
4. Ash Canyon Trail
BEST GOLF COURSE
Red Hawk Golf and Resort
2. Lakeridge
3. Washoe
4. Somersett Golf & Country Club
5. Sierra Sage
BEST HIKING TRAIL
Tahoe Rim Trail
2. Hunter Creek Trail
3. Galena Creek Trail
4. Mount Rose Trail
BEST LOCAL HOT SPRINGS
Walley’s Hot Springs
2. Carson Hot Springs
3. Steamboat
4. Carson Hot Springs
BEST PICNIC SPOT
Rancho San Rafael
2. Bower’s Mansion
3. Idlewild
4. Tahoe Meadows
5. Crissie Caughlin Park
BEST PLACE TO SWIM
Lake Tahoe
2. Sand Harbor 3. Truckee River 4. Pyramid Lake
BEST SKI RESORT
Mt. Rose
2. Northstar
3. Palisades Tahoe (formerly Squaw Valley)
4. Sky Tavern
BEST SNOWBOARDING
Mt. Rose
2. Heavenly
3. Boreal
4. Alpine Meadows
5. Diamond Peak
Lake Tahoe. Photo/David Robert
We would like to thank the Reno community for voting Dr. Tiffany McCormack “Best Plastic Surgeon” in the “Best of Northern Nevada” poll by Reno News & Review! At our practice, Dr. McCormack continues to achieve refined, high-quality plastic surgery results that complement patients’ natural features. She excels in the entire spectrum of cosmetic surgery, including: FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY
BODY CONTOURING PROCEDURES BREAST SURGERY
We perform all procedures in our on-site, AAAASF-accredited surgical facility to help you achieve your desired results with the privacy, safety, and one-on-one attention you deserve.
Contact Dr. McCormack online at plasticsurgeryrenotahoe.com or by calling (775) 284-2020.
• CoolSculpting® and KYBELLA®
• BOTOX® Cosmetic
• Facial fillers including JUVÉDERM®, RHA®, and Sculptra®, among other products
As one of few medical spas in Reno and Lake Tahoe led by a board-certified plastic surgeon, M Spa is equipped to help you look and feel your best with convenient, in-office treatments! We offer cutting-edge non-surgical services, such as: NOT SURE WHICH TREATMENTS WILL MAKE YOUR GOALS A REALITY?
• Cellfina™
• Laser Hair Removal
• FemTouch
• Genius™ Radiofrequency Microneedling
No problem! Visit our website and simply select on the specific concerns you want to improve. Our team will contact you with treatment suggestions and answer all of your questions.
Contact M Spa online at mspareno.com or by calling (775) 284-2020.
Reno historian Alicia Barber didn’t set out to be a journalist—yet she became a watchdog regarding historic preservation and the progress of new development in Reno.
While media outlets cut budgets and decrease coverage, Barber digs deep into documents, monitors Planning Commission/City Council agendas, and contextualizes debates and decisions that will chart the area’s growth for generations. Her Barber Brief (aliciambarber.com) and newsletter inform residents about what’s going on behind the scenes. With the thoroughness of a historian and the curiosity of a reporter, she delivers wellresearched and insightful reports about official actions and trends that otherwise
would fly beneath the public’s radar. As developers squeeze maximum profits out of their projects, Barber reports without pay, because she cares about the future of the Truckee Meadows and the public’s right to know.
She also is co-founder of Reno Historical (renohistorical.org), a smart-phone app and website dedicated to Reno’s history, and she is the author of Reno’s Big Gamble: Image and Reputation in the Biggest Little City. She knows the city—and she gets the scoops.
—Frank X. Mullen
Alicia Barber.
BEST INTERIOR DESIGNER
Amy Gail
2. Charlotte Michaels, Transcend Interiors
3. Jody Bratt Sigstad
BEST LOCAL ACTIVIST
Grant Denton
2. Meredith Tanzer
3. Lily Baran
4. Lori Thomas
5. Jake Maynard
BEST LOCAL ACTOR/ACTRESS
Jeremy Renner
2. Stacy Johnson
3. Mary Bennett
4. Steve Longley
5. Holly Natwora
BEST LOCAL ATHLETE
Colin Kaepernick
2. David Wise
3. Krysta Palmer
4. Shelace Shoemaker
BEST LOCAL AUTHOR
Marie Navarro
2. Mikalee Byerman
3. Michael Branch
4. Jacci Turner
BEST LOCAL MUSICIAN
Cliff Porter
2. Greg Gilmore
3. Rick Metz
4. Canyon White
5. Brandon Dolph
BEST LOCAL POLITICIAN
Hillary Schieve
2. Joey Gilbert
3. Devon Reese
4. Jenny Brekhus
5. Eddie Lorton
BEST LOCAL RADIO DJ OR DJ TEAM
Chris Payne, Rock 104.5
2. JJ Christy, K-Bull 98.1
3. Bella Rios, 95.5 The Vibe
4. Jamie Lynn, 105.7 KOZZ
5. Bella Rios, 99.5 The Vibe
BEST LOCAL RAPPER
Eli McCoy
2. ZP Ratik
3. Deeday The Scorpion
BEST LOCAL SONGWRITER
Grace Hayes
2. Tyler Stafford
3. Spike McGuire
4. Eric Henry Andersen
5. Canyon White
BEST LOCAL TV NEWS ANCHOR
Kristen Remington, 2news (KTVN)
2. Joe Hart, KRNV
3. Rebecca Kitchen, KOLO
4. Jeff Martinez, 2news (KTVN)
5. Arianna Bennett, 2news (KTVN)
BEST MASSAGE THERAPIST
Lexi Palmer, Live In Peace Wellness Center
2. Nancy Kellogg, Galena Sport Physical Therapy
3. Erica Riddle, Ritual Massage
4. Sara Freschi, ZENERGY Massage Therapy
BEST NAIL TECHNICIAN
Riley Catt, Catt’s Claws
2. Adina Pearl, Shear Pearl Salon
3. Kim Vastano, Natural Nails by Kim
BEST PERSONAL TRAINER
Sherilyn Cabanting Allen
2. Shelace Shoemaker
3. Carey Kytle
4. Esteban Cordova
BEST PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeramie Lu
2. Ali Rivera
3. In 1 View Media
BEST REAL ESTATE AGENT TIE
Cary DeMars
Kathy Wilson
3. Rogelio Garcia
4. Richard Berman
5. Shannon John
BEST TATTOO ARTIST
Tony Medellin, Lasting Dose Tattoo
2. Ron Rash
3. Jake Griffin, Aces Tattoo
4. Jon McCann, Aces Tattoo
5. Chris Arredondo, Lasting Dose Tattoo
BEST THERAPIST/COUNSELOR
Caitlyn Wallace
2. TIE
Nicole Altamirano
Leslie Delacruz
4. Brett Glanzmann
5. Steven Ing
BEST VISUAL ARTIST
Joe C. Rock
2. Nathaniel Benjamin
3. Jaxon Northon
4. Julie Steiner
BEST WEDDING PLANNER
She Said Yes Weddings and Events
2. Event Planning by Annie
3. Liane McCombs Wedding and Event Planning
Attorney Marilyn York. Photo/David Robert
ARTS & CULTURE |
Reno ... who knew?
The organizers of the Reno Tahoe International Art Show want to make Northern Nevada into a national art center
After moving here a few years ago, Kevin O’Keefe and his daughter, Briana Dolan, fell in love with the abundance of art.
“We were totally shocked to find that there are so many artists, makers, designers and builders of all kinds here in Reno alone, and then, of course, in Tahoe and the expanded region,” Dolan said during a recent phone interview with her and O’Keefe.
The two of them decided to sell some of their art—and that effort quickly morphed into a citywide collective. Now they’re prepar-
ing for their biggest project, the Reno Tahoe International Art Show (RTIA), taking place Thursday, Sept. 8, and through Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. From visual art in numerous mediums to live music, screenings, Q&As and more, the RTIA is truly celebrating everything that is art.
“I was working for a hospitality designer in New York City, and my dad had previously been in the trade-show world, and he was running a big exhibition in New York City called ICFF (the International Contemporary
Furniture Fair),” Dolan said. “Our two careers were sort of intertwined that way, but both came crashing to a halt because of everything happening with the pandemic. Ever since we’ve arrived here … this whole city and region continue to surprise us in so many ways, all positive, and we’re very happy to be forwarding this mission that we’re calling the Reno Creative Movement.”
Dolan and O’Keefe began selling some of their art online shortly after moving here, but quickly broadened that idea.
BY MATT KING
“Duet” by Alexandra Averbach, courtesy of the George Billis Gallery.
“We turned it into the Reno Fine Arts Collective (www.renofineartscollective.com); that was initially just an online gallery and collective of local artists presenting their work and selling it online,” Dolan said. “We popped up a gallery downtown at the bottom of the Chase building on Virginia for five months last summer, and it was really just to kind of test the market. Two things we were hearing so prominently was that there was really nowhere to hang art for local artists, and people felt that consumers who could buy art of any level of quality would not come to the locals to buy it; they would go to a major city like San Francisco or L.A. with the assumption that the quality is higher in these larger places. We were pleasantly surprised with the reaction to the gallery we had, considering the smoke last summer and lingering COVID issues. We had a lot of art that sold; we had a lot of people come in, and a lot of enthusiasm around the addition to the art scene.”
This enthusiasm led to the inaugural RTIA show, an event Dolan said she hopes will lead to more recognition for Reno’s art scene.
“The last piece of this creative movement was always going to be a large show, because that’s where my dad’s background comes in,” Dolan said. “… There’s an energy here in Reno; we feel the timing is really great to try something really loud and to make a statement about Reno being an arts and culture destination, and a center that could really be recognized nationally. Maybe someday … people don’t talk about Austin or Miami; they talk about Reno and Tahoe.”
O’Keefe focused in on Miami as an example of what he and Dolan want to accomplish.
“Miami was a very dangerous place, and no one would ever visit there willingly—and it was totally changed with Art Basel, which at first wasn’t a big deal—but within four or five years, they ended up being the art center for both North and South America,” O’Keefe said. “… With all these changes, with COVID— with California and New York changing so much—we really felt that this was a time to take all of these artists, put them all together, and feature them … going out to all of the galleries in the country to say, ‘You need to come here.’
“We have 100,000 people who have moved here from someplace else who are wealthy and affluent art buyers, and we have a lot of people here who are art enthusiasts.”
Dolan pointed out that the show has a tongue-in-cheek slogan: “Reno, NV ... who knew?”
“Every piece of the show celebrates this
sort of discovery of how cool this region is. ... We’re very happy to be able to incorporate the film aspect and celebrate some local filmmakers,” Dolan said. “For the talks, we’re putting together a schedule that’s exciting and interesting, and really highlights a lot of pieces of the show. We also have musicians throughout the weekend. Many of the performances will be taking place at the Convention Center, but we do have an opening-night concert taking place at Cargo Concert Hall at the Whitney Peak … highlighting an all-star group of selected musicians who will be performing together for one time only. We also have a (Reno Tahoe Artist Award) program that is going to culminate with a gala event at the Nevada Museum of Art on Saturday over the show weekend; that’s a separate 501(c)(3) program. We’re giving out eight awards in various categories, plus a grand prize we are calling the Reno Creative Movement award.
Some of the art from Burning Man will also be making an appearance in the RTIA show’s sculpture garden.
“We’ve also got the sculpture walk, which is actually a huge piece of the puzzle that we did not anticipate,” Dolan said. “We wanted to have some sculptures coming from Burning Man because of the timing (just before the RTIA show), so we’ll have almost 20 largescale sculptures coming directly from the desert to the show. Those will be paired with almost 40 other sculptures throughout the entire show, and those are coming from artists from all over the world, many of which are associated with the Buffalo Creek Art Center in Gardnerville.”
A special exhibit will be dedicated to Native American art, called First Nations, Indigenous Peoples
“It’s probably the biggest collection of the
best of Native American artists in the West,” O’Keefe said. “It’s 3,000 feet, and over 300 pieces of art, ranging from sculptures that are $100,000 all the way down to beautiful pottery. It’s something we’d like to anchor here in Reno and turn into a major place where everyone in the whole country and Europe can come and look at what’s best in Native American art in Reno.”
If you like art mysteries … how about some paintings that may or may not have been painted by Jackson Pollock?
“We had a call from someone who said, ‘We have about 25 original Jackson Pollocks here,’” Dolan said. “They’re very contentious with the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (which was established by Pollock’s widow), but they have the science behind them to spend $20 million vetting these pieces; there’ll be a lot of controversy associated with it.”
Added O’Keefe: “Pollock was very wealthy, and with that, he was kind of a wild man, so he wasn’t happy with just the wife; he had other girlfriends, and he gave them some things. When Jackson Pollock died in a car crash, his wife said, ‘OK, this is all of the inventory that my husband ever did; there is no more,’ and there were several girlfriends who said, ‘Yes, there is.’ The Wyoming Working Group has been saving these pieces, and now they have the DNA science behind it. Pollock-Krasner never says that they’re not Pollocks; they just don’t say they are.”
The Reno Tahoe International Art Show will take place from Thursday, Sept. 8, through Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, 4590 S. Virginia St., in Reno. Tickets are $25 to $100 in advance. For more information, visit rtiashow.com.
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A work by Russ Connell.
ARTS & CULTURE
From Victorian Theater to Van Gogh
September brings arts, history and book events to Northern Nevada
Fall is in the air—and arts and culture events are dropping like autumn leaves this month.
The Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl returns to Reno on Saturday, Sept. 10. Participants are invited to join in an exploratory day of fiction, nonfiction and poetry readings, as well as panel discussions, family activities and workshops, all taking place at venues around California Avenue, including the Downtown Reno Library. Access to all events is free and open to the public.
The crawl will kick off with keynote speaker Aimee Nezhukumatathil at the Nevada Museum of Art at 11 a.m. Nezhukumatathil is the author of World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments, named Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year in 2020.
History is in the air
The Nevada Historical Society, 1650 N. Virginia St., presents Writers’ Wednesday on Sept. 7 with a book signing, reception and lecture from 5 to 6:30 p.m. with
Carolyn Grattan Eichin, author of From San Francisco Eastward: Victorian Theater in the American West.
The Historical Society on Sept. 9 is offering a new docent orientation session from 10 a.m. to noon. The society is looking for volunteers to help lead gallery tours for fourth-graders, organizations and adults. Volunteers also are invited to learn how to scan images and create records for the society’s database. Those interested may fill out the volunteer application form at www.nvhistoricalsociety.org or email society director Catherine Magee at cmagee@ nevadaculture.org.
On Thursday, Sept. 15, the society’s monthly “High Noon: Shootout With Neal Cobb” lecture will feature Guy Clifton, author of Dempsey in Nevada. Clifton, an award-winning Reno journalist, will talk about Dempsey’s life story from hobo kid to heavyweight boxing champion to beloved American icon. Dempsey, Clifton says, left his footprints across the Silver State.
At noon, Sunday, Sept. 11, Historic Reno Preservation Society will host a program by Debbie Hinman entitled “Exploring the El
Beyond Van Gogh continues at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center’s Exhibit Hall 3 through Monday, Oct. 3
Reno Apartment Homes” at the Downtown Reno Library, 301 S. Center St. The El Reno Apartment Homes are examples of the work of architect Paul Revere Williams. In 1936, Williams built a demonstration house made of steel for the Architects Building Materials exhibition in Los Angeles. A year later, builder Roland Giroux had 15 of the homes shipped to Reno and assembled at 1307 S. Virginia St. Ten years later, the units were sold off individually and moved to other spaces; 12 of the units still exist. Hinman, a HRPS tour guide and a researcher and writer for society’s publication, FootPrints, will present an overview of the homes and their occupants. Details at www. historicreno.org.
Artown, art shows and Van Gogh Artown’s September to December Encore Series kicks off at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Sept. 12, at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts when the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis makes its Northern Nevada debut. Composed of 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra produces thousands of performances and educational/broadcast events each season, both in New York City and around the world.
On Sunday, Oct. 30, the Dance Theatre of Harlem will perform at the Pioneer Center
| BY FRANK X. MULLEN
at 7:30 p.m. Dance Theatre of Harlem is a leading dance institution of global acclaim, encompassing a professional touring company, a leading studio school, and a national and international education/community outreach program. Then on Sunday, Nov. 6, the Soweto Gospel Choir is scheduled to perform at the Pioneer. The choir is a three-time Grammy Award-winning group which commemorates South Africa’s Freedom Movement and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The evening will include a program of South African freedom songs and works by Billie Holiday, James Brown, Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield and Aretha Franklin. Details: artown. org/encore.
Beyond Van Gogh continues at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center’s Exhibit Hall 3 through Monday, Oct. 3, with continuous performances Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The show boasts more than 300 of the greatest works of post-Impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh projected as a three-dimensional immersive experience. Tickets start at $39.99, and details can be found at vangoghreno.com.
Capital City Arts Initiative’s Contrasts exhibition, by Mariah Vargas and Sogand Tabatabaei, is open at Western Nevada College’s Bristlecone Gallery, 2201 W. College Parkway in Carson City, through Thursday, Sept. 15. Other Carson City Arts Initiative events include James McCarthy’s Alignment photography exhibit at the Community Center’s Crowell Board Room, through Thursday, Oct. 20. Moiré, by Claire Pasquier, continues in the Courthouse Gallery through Thursday, Sept. 29. Details at www.ccainv.org.
on Monday, Sept. 12.
The world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis makes its Northern Nevada debut
ARTS & CULTURE
Be careful what you wish for
The Sierra School of Performing Arts’ production of ‘Into the Woods’ is quite charming, despite a long, slow second act
When I was in graduate school, I took a class in children’s literature. I expected the class to be a lovely balm for my soul, but when we read the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, I realized how very dark and miserable those stories are. Gone were the Disney-fied happy endings. This was torturous stuff—parents abandoning their children, witches kidnapping people, mermaids wishing for legs as they suffer the pain of knives with every step.
The Sierra School of Performing Arts’ latest production, Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, masterfully illustrates—with a few laughs along the way—just how rough these cautionary tales are, and how fairy tales really do showcase the worst, mostselfish instincts in all of us.
As the show opens, we meet a host of characters, many familiar, who all wish
for something. As our narrator (Kirk Gardner) explains, the baker (Chad Sweet) and his wife (Melissa Taylor) wish for a baby, but they can’t have one, because a witch (played by two actresses, Cindy Sabatini and Hanna Blayney) has cursed the baker’s family. Then there’s Cinderella (another shared role, played by Darby Beckwith and Elise Van Dyne), whose wicked stepmother (Barbara Brand) forbids her from going to the king’s ball. Little Red Riding Hood (Tara Rispin) wishes to visit her granny’s house deep in the woods. And little Jack (played by Quentin Powers and Sam Crabtree) loves his cow, Milky White (Reno Biondi), like a pet, but his mother (Lynette Gardner) insists he sell it.
To have the child they wish for, the baker and his wife must go into the woods to seek out four items for the witch: a cow as white as milk; a cape as red as blood; hair as yellow as
| BY JESSICA SANTINA
Chad Sweet and Melissa Taylor in the Sierra School of Performing Arts production of Into the Woods.
corn; and a slipper as pure as gold. Off they go into the woods—but as they and all the others soon discover, they should be careful what they wish for. Little Red’s journey into the woods puts her squarely in the path of a big, bad wolf (Scott Hernandez). Jack’s decision to trade his cow for the baker’s magic beans leads him to a deadly encounter with a giant (Marti Creveling). And even Cinderella’s Prince Charming (also played by Hernandez) isn’t all he’s cracked up to be.
The first act’s brisk pace, clever comedy and happily-ever-after finish make the time fly, and I love every minute of it. However, I’ve never been a fan of the show’s second act. It’s a huge bummer—the hangover the morning after. Sure, it’s the whole point—the moral of Sondheim’s story—when these characters’ dreams come crashing down around them, but it’s also a giant speed bump slowing the action to a crawl.
SSPA’s production is a charming rendition, with a few standout performances. Beckwith’s Cinderella is a standout, as are real-life couple Sweet and Taylor as the baker and his wife. Their acting chops and excellent vocal talents get a full workout here. Also noteworthy is Powers as Jack, whose recent return from weeks of military service makes his performance even more impressive.
But that second act, though … it just feels long and slow. Also frustrating were some gratingly high-pitched voices and technical glitches. But in fairness, what I caught was essentially a dress rehearsal; I expect those will smooth out as the show proceeds with its run.
It would have been impossible for me not to enjoy myself, as I enjoyed a night of great laughs, stunning costumes and beautiful songs.
The Sierra School of Performing Arts’ production of Into the Woods will be performed at 7:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 8-10; and at 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 10 and 11, at Reno Little Theater, 147 E. Pueblo St., in Reno. It will take place at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Sept. 16 and 17; and 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 17 and 18, at Brewery Arts Center, 449 W. King St., in Carson City. Ticket prices vary. For tickets or more information, visit www. sierraschoolofperformingarts.org.
Think Free!
The last one showering shouldn’t be left in the cold! GO
ART OF THE STATE
A legacy revered
A photographer’s tribute to Paul Revere Williams’ 20th-century Nevada buildings is on display at the Nevada Museum of Art
Janna Ireland is a Los Angeles photographer who has spent the last few years researching and photographing buildings designed by Paul Revere Williams. Her exhibition, Janna Ireland on the Architectural Legacy of Paul Revere Williams in Nevada, is this summer’s featured show at the Nevada Museum of Art, on display through Oct. 2 Renoites might recognize Williams’ name from his iconic Lear Theater on Riverside Drive. He worked from the 1920s through the 1970s and was the first well-known Black architect in the Western U.S.—a fact that the exhibition explores with quotations on the walls. (One example: In 1937, the so-called “architect to the stars” talked about designing “roomy estates, entrancing vistas, and stately mansions,” yet being excluded from the neighborhoods in which they were built.)
Williams’ left a long list of notable buildings in the Silver State, including the El Reno Apartments on Mt. Rose Street and La Concha Motel in Las Vegas (now part of The Neon Museum).
Janna (rhymes with “Donna,” not
Janna Ireland, “El Reno Apartments,” Reno, Nevada, 1937, 2021 (cropped), chromogenic print. Photograph courtesy of the artist.
work by a photographer who’s interpreting the work as an artist.
When you are doing architectural photography, do you think a lot about what we can learn from people and communities by photographing structures?
I do. But in the Paul Williams’ work, what I wanted to do was really center him and make sure that I was looking at him as a person, which meant a lot of times kind of putting the people who were actually living there in the background and trying to avoid showing too much of the life going on in this space— alluding to it, but not focusing on it, so I could be focusing on the architecture. … if I’m approaching a building that’s abandoned, for example, trying to photograph it with the same respect I would a structure that’s been really well taken care of.
I thought that came out really loud and clear in the exhibition. In photography, there’s often this mystique of old, falling apart, abandoned buildings. And that’s not what you were doing. You were addressing the building itself, not its state dilapidation. Thank you.
“Hannah,” says her website) Ireland talked by phone from Los Angeles about the book and the exhibition.
Before this exhibition got under way, you were working on a book, Regarding Paul R. Williams—A Photographer’s View. How did that project come about?
In the summer of 2016, an architect based here in L.A. named Barbara Bestor—who is also the executive director of the Julius Shulman Institute at Woodbury University—approached me and asked if I would be interested in doing a new body of work about the architect Paul Revere Williams, and then having a show at Woodbury’s gallery.
In the summer of 2019, I met the publishers of Angel City Press, and they invited me to meet with them and pitch a book to them. So I did. And that ended up becoming Regarding Paul R. Williams—A Photographer’s View. It was important to come up with a title that would let people know what kind of book it was. That’s where the “photographer’s view” part comes in—so that it’s clear that it’s not a biography of Paul Williams or a collection of historic photographs of his work, that it’s new
How did the commission with the Nevada Museum of Art come about?
A few years ago, I heard from Carmen Beals (the museum’s Las Vegas-based associate curator and outreach director), whom I didn’t know at the time, but she was interning for the Nevada State Museum. … And she had an idea to do a project for the Clark County School District about Williams. She wanted some photographs for this project, and the project ended up falling through. But later on, she brought me to the attention of the Nevada Museum of Art, which led to the fellowship.
What does the fellowship consist of?
It’s this project, and it’s over the course of two years. So there was a long period of research and actually photographing, and now we’re … reaching the end of the fellowship.
As you were looking at Williams’ Nevada buildings, what kind of decisions were you making?
The process … was actually very different from working on this project in Southern California. I visited Las Vegas for the first time in 2018 and made some photographs for the
| BY KRIS VAGNER
magazine Art Papers of Williams’ buildings. And that’s actually how Carmen ended up finding me, because she was looking into Williams’ connection to Nevada. … But then when I began to work with the museum, I had Carmen doing research. (Historians) Claytee White and Alicia Barber and Brooke Hodge were all doing research support, and that meant that it wasn’t me by myself sending emails and trying to figure out (if I could get into the buildings). There were people to do that legwork for me, which was amazing. There is a microsite, alegacyrevered.org. It has all of the photographs on it, as well as the essays and information about Williams.
In Reno, we largely know Paul Revere Williams in connection with the Lear Theater. There are probably so many stories about him that we haven’t heard, so I’m glad to hear that a lot of this is becoming available. Yes. And I’m hoping that it means that we get answers to more questions and hear more stories. Like, where did he stay when he came to Reno, for example? Did he have friends here?
Have there been any surprises for you as you’ve been traveling in Nevada?
Something that I really loved learning about was the El Reno Apartments. … One thing about Paul Revere Williams that I find fascinating is that he was interested in innovative materials, and the El Reno Apartments were constructed out of steel, which meant that when the land underneath them was sold to be repurposed, the buildings themselves could just be picked up and moved because of the way they were constructed. … It meant that so many of them have survived, and are now dotting the city.
What are you working on now?
I was just hired in a tenure-track teaching position at Occidental. … I’m also doing some work about my family here in Los Angeles, and in the beginning stages of planning some work about my family back East, where I grew up.
Is this a similar project, where there will be historical research involved, and you’ll be traveling and looking at places?
I’m more interested in looking at people for this project.
Janna Ireland on the Architectural Legacy of Paul Revere Williams in Nevada is on view at the Nevada Museum of Art through Oct. 2 and will be on view at the Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas starting Dec. 3. Learn more about Ireland, Williams, and related research by Alicia Barber, Brooke Hodge and Claytee White at alegacyrevered.org.
|
BY BOB GRIMM
Brawny barrister
‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ is hindered by bad CGI; ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’ Is horror that tries—unsuccessfully—to be satire
I’ve watched the first four episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law—the latest from the Disney/Marvel streaming juggernaut—as of this writing, and I have mixed feelings. Better Call Saul’s ending certainly leaves a void for attorney shows, but this hardly fills it.
The show is episodic—sort of a spoof of comic books, lawyer shows and Marvel in general. The story doesn’t really follow through from one episode to the next, and this takes away some of the urgency of watching, because the episodes are relatively self-contained.
Tatiana Maslany stars as Jennifer Walters,
lawyer and cousin of Bruce Banner (a game Mark Ruffalo making guest appearances).
After a bloody car accident, she gets infected with Bruce’s Hulk mojo and becomes the title character.
I couldn’t really get past how bad the SheHulk CGI is. When Jennifer Walters is in Hulk mode, it looks like they put Maslany in some prosthetics, increased the scale of her image in the frame, and gave her skin a strange, glowing green hue. It’s distracting, especially when Ruffalo’s “Smart Hulk” is standing next to her—and looks 100 times better. She-Hulk looks like she belongs in a Shrek sequel. The show does have some virtues. Maslany is fun in the role, and I suppose there is room in this world for lawyer-show satire … but I just couldn’t get past the she-totally-lookslike-Shrek thing. If Donkey had ran into the frame, it would not have discombobulated me.
Actually, I kind of miss Donkey; that Eddie
Murphy is a regular riot! As for the show’s grabs at humor, it’s hit and miss. As Marvel shows go, Loki was funnier.
So, I am not enthralled after four episodes. I’ve gotten messages from friends saying quite the contrary after watching the first episode, so maybe I’m a pill, and my Shrek-phobia is stupid. There are five episodes left for me (the first season is nine episodes), so we shall see. For now, I’m not impressed.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes being released every Thursday through Oct. 13.
The normally reliable A24 film studio delivers a useless horror film with Bodies Bodies Bodies, a run-of-the-mill slasher comedy that tries to masquerade as a satirical statement on today’s rich kids.
First off: We don’t really need a horror movie that points out the shallowness and narcissistic leanings of today’s social-mediadependent, rich 20-sometings. It’s just not relatable humor. OK, if you are a narcissistic, rich 20-something, it’s relatable, but all of us other philistines don’t give two shits.
Second: The premise of the film involves
these rich 20-somethings experiencing real murders while playing a game called Bodies Bodies Bodies? There’s no such game (at least that I know of), so when they blurt out the rules early in the film, it just sounds like a bunch of nonsense—a third-rate Clue rip-off. Also, rich 20-somethings generally don’t play games like Bodies Bodies Bodies at sleepovers. That’s the stuff of 12-year-olds’ sleepovers … maybe.
The cast includes Pete Davidson as Pete Davidson, or some douche who is just like Pete Davidson, which is the role Pete Davidson always plays. There’s also Amandla Stenberg, Rachel Sennott, Chase Sui Wonders and Maria Bakalova (from the Borat sequel) rounding out the cast, all of whom are required to yell and scream a lot.
The film offers nothing original regarding how the young adults are being dispatched. They get shot; they get stabbed; they fall down; they fall down again. The body count stacks up, and the paranoia builds, but the film lacks any structure or true sense of mystery that would make us care. When the big reveal comes near the end, it falls flat.
The one redeeming quality is Bakalova, who shows range beyond being Borat’s stooge. Otherwise … Bodies Bodies Bodies is boring boring boring.
Tatiana Maslany in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Amandla Stenberg and Maria Bakalova in Bodies Bodies Bodies
An acre of fun
South 40 brings food, drink, games, live music and a whole lot of space to South Meadows Parkway
South Reno is one of the more familyfriendly areas of Northern Nevada—and that makes South 40 a perfect fit.
South 40—its name is a reference to what was once one of the largest ranches in the region—spans one full acre, the perfect size to allow kids and adults to enjoy a variety of activities, dining experiences, music, gaming (the adult kind and the kid kind) and more.
Formerly known as The Zeppelin—also a nod to the immense size of the space at 1445 South Meadows Parkway—the property was purchased about eight months ago by local dining dream team Dennis Banks, Art Hinckley, Chuck Jeaness and Kevin Jepsen. Known for hotspots like Norte
Cantina, Napa Sonoma South and Mexcal, the group tapped its collective expertise to create the South 40 concept and quickly recruited Al Karsok to oversee the project. Karsok brings decades of experience to the table, having managed the parent company that owns the aforementioned restaurants. The restaurateurs also brought on Blaire Smulyan as the restaurant general manager, and Russell Upton as director of catering. With plans to make South 40 a premier events venue—there are two banquet spaces that fit 70-150 guests each, both with private entrances—catering is a top priority.
Bringing the food to life is executive chef
Alfred Johnson, well-known as the multi-awardwinning former executive chef at the Bonanza
Casino’s Cactus Creek Prime Steakhouse.
This fantastic lineup of pros was put to the test during South 40’s recent soft opening, as they debuted an abbreviated menu—a delicious teaser of what’s to come when the full menu launches in early September. Guests should come prepared to enjoy an array of dishes ranging from sesame-crusted ahi, to lobster mac and cheese, to varied pizzas. On the beverage side, the menu includes custom cocktails and an array of wine and whiskey. South 40 opened serving lunch and dinner, while management plans to soon phase in Saturday/Sunday breakfast and brunch. Gaming is slated to be added to the restaurant’s bar in the new year.
To get started on the South 40 journey, guests
| BY CHEREE BOTELER
South 40 co-owner Dennis Banks: “Our hope is to become the go-to location for a good time.” Photo/ David Robert
enter through the “entertainment” area’s bulk candy store and retail center. Get nostalgic and grab some jelly beans from the 25-flavor Jelly Belly bulk dispenser, or go with treats from local candy-maker Kimmie Candy. Dots Ice Cream, Napa Sonoma gift baskets and a wide selection of greeting cards round out the offerings.
The arcade includes games for players young and old; the vast space features games such as Halo Fireteam Bravo, Guitar Hero, Big Bucks, Mario Cart, Lane Master, Down the Clown, Willy Wonka Coin Pusher, Connect 4 Hoops, and even a ring toss; people can also enjoy virtual reality rides such as Kong: Skull Island and Virtual Rabbids.
“So many families living in south Reno don’t want to drive all the way to downtown, midtown or Sparks to do fun activities,” Jepsen said. “We want this to be the place for everybody— adults, kids, families—so that’s just what we’ve created.”
The Backyard at South 40 is a fully customizable space. Patrons are invited to “create their own living room” with modular, moveable couches and food service from either South 40’s Backyard Snack Bar or the restaurant. Activities abound, including cornhole, six miniature bowling lanes, darts, axe-throwing and ping-pong tables. The athletic set can enjoy challenges thrown by the hyper pitch machine, Super Kixx Pro soccer kicker and Golden Tee golf. DJs and bands will perform outdoor concerts on the weekends. For those more concerned with food and drink, the aforementioned Backyard Snack Bar offers a specialty beer wall flanked by TVs galore and a 20-foot projector screen, offering all the sports viewing fans can handle.
Speaking of golf, Golf NV is the golf shop at South 40. The shop by itself is 9,000 square feet, and plans for the space include practice simulator bays, private-\ lesson rooms and a putting green, along with all the latest golf equipment, name-brand clothing and merchandise.
“We hope community members will choose us when they’re in need of a venue for any type of celebration,” Banks said. “Our hope is to become the go-to location for a good time.”
Biggest little wine region
A trip to three local wineries—two in the same Fourth Street building, and one in downtown Sparks
Welcome to the crush! September is harvest time in the vineyard—and if you are a wine lover as I am, you probably wish you were in wine country right now.
Well, what if I told you that you are in wine country right now, and you can visit wineries right here in Reno?
In 2015, Nevada passed a law allowing commercial wineries in counties with a population of more than 100,000. Previously, wineries could only exist in the smaller counties, but that law paved the way for the creation of several wineries here in urban Washoe County—some even producing wine from vineyards located here in Nevada.
To clarify: Wineries are different from vineyards. Wineries produce wine from grapes that grow in vineyards, just as breweries produce beer from grains grown on farms. Wineries are production facilities, and vineyards are farms. While many of us picture wineries nestled in amongst the vines, that’s not the only place they can be.
In 2016, three wineries decided to work together in a shared location to keep costs lower: Basin and Range Cellars, Nevada
Alynn Delisle and Mike Steedman opened Nevada Sunset Winery—credited with being the first urban winery in Nevada— in 2017. Photo/David Robert
are available for purchase by the glass or bottle in the tasting room; bottle prices range from $20 to $35. Both red and white wine flights are available—three wines for $8. You can also sign up for the wine club, which brings along discounts and special events.
You don’t even have to leave your seat to visit another winery. Great Basin Winery (greatbasinwinery.com), owned by Wendy and Adam Hand, opened in 2018. Adam is the winemaker and has been making wine for many years. He began as a home winemaker, but his skills and determination drove him to open a commercial winery. Adam has longterm relationships with vineyard owners in Amador, Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California, allowing him to source high-quality fruit and make high-quality wines right here in Reno. Adam has used natural fermentation since 2017.
“I really like to let the fruit make the best wine it can,” he said. “I do nothing to adjust the PH or the sugar content and really try to take a minimalist approach to winemaking.” That hands-off approach really shows in the quality of his wines.
Great Basin offers a tasting of five wines for $8, as well as wines by the glass or bottle; prices range from $18 to $25 per bottle. Great
Basin also has a wine club providing discounts and member benefits.
I asked Jeff and Katherine, two Great Basin Winery regulars and wine-club members (and childhood friends of Adam’s), why they enjoyed visiting the Fourth Street wineries.
“It is fun and casual, not packed like Midtown,” Jeff said. “Non-wine drinkers can get a beer at Lucky Dog and sit with their friends.”
Haden, a UNR grad student, decided to take Joel, his wine-loving college friend who was visiting Reno for a few days, to the Fourth Street wineries. Joel said he was to surprised to find the wines on par with—or even better than—the wines from Northern California wineries.
“I love Rombauer chardonnay, and this Great Basin 2021 Chardonnay is every bit as enjoyable,” he said.
If you are looking for a different type of urban winery experience, you may want to head to Engine 8 Urban Winery (www. engine8urbanwinery.com), located at 1260 Avenue of the Oaks, Suite 150, in Sparks. Owners Mike and Wendi Rawson started the winery in 2018; leveraging Mike’s foodservice experience, they have created a unique place for people to eat, drink and gather. Engine 8 has an extensive food menu as well as regular live music, creating a unique winery experience that might seem more like a wine bar—even though you’re actually in a tasting room.
So welcome to Reno … the biggest little wine region in the world!
Sunset Winery, and Great Basin Winery. They were able to secure a lease of half of Lead Dog Brewing’s building at 415 E. Fourth St. Sadly, one of the three, Basin and Range, has suspended operations; calls to learn the status and future plans of the winery have gone unanswered. We hope they reopen soon.
Nevada Sunset Winery (nevadasunsetwinery. com), owned by Mike Steedman and Alynn Delisle, opened in the summer of 2017, and is credited with being the first urban winery in Nevada. When you visit Nevada Sunset Winery, you will be hosted by one of the owners, who will not only pour your wines, but also take you back into the production area to show you how they make the wines. Where else will a winemaker host you in the tasting room, and then give you a tour? Take that, Napa!
Nevada Sunset Winery offers a wide selection of red, white and rosé wines, made with grapes from both California and Nevada vineyards. The current tasting menu offers 19 different wines with something for everyone, including favorites like chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon, as well as some lesserknown grapes like Frontenac. All of the wines
Engine 8 Urban Winery opened in 2018. Photo/David Robert
MUSICBEAT
United by jazz
The Reno Jazz Orchestra merges with Reno Youth Jazz Orchestra in an effort to enrich music education for all
The Reno Jazz Orchestra (RJO) and Reno Youth Jazz Orchestra (RYJO) separately catered to different age groups for many years, only occasionally sharing a stage.
At long last, that’s changing: The groups announced a merger in July, and the nonprofit orchestras are now working together to enrich music education across the area.
During a recent phone interview, Reno Jazz Orchestra executive director John
Smiles among members of the Reno Youth Jazz Orchestra.
Orchestra organization represents a huge milestone for us in terms of developing and growing our education programs. I’ll let Vern and Karen speak more to this directly, but they grew RYJO from a tiny seed on their own back in 2006 into what it is today, and their students have gone on to do incredible things. … I’m just really thrilled to be affiliated with them and to be a part of continuing their mission and ours as we go forward.”
The RYJO started out of necessity, Vernon Scarbrough said.
“In 2006, Karen and I recognized that there were quite a few youth groups in the community already, but none of them were focused on jazz,” Vernon said. “Consequently, as a band director, we decided we’d start a nonprofit, and tried to create an organization that would give kids an opportunity to play jazz outside of the school district, and supplement and complement what they were learning in the school district. We started a big band in 2006, and we had I think 23 students start with us. We approached the Reno Jazz Orchestra at the time and made our pitch to them, hoping to merge or become a part of the RJO, but they were not ready for that, and we were not ready for that. … The RJO is for the professional big-band players in town, and the RYJO is for the developing ensemble. We just have been running in parallel for years to the point where the RJO matured into an organization that would be capable, and have the resources available, to continue the RYJO.”
After 16 years, both Karen and Vernon said they are ready for the transition.
more youth musicians … and giving them more opportunities to perform alongside their mentors, and become peers with their mentors as professional musicians.”
Karen talked about how the RYJO helped out someone close to Bennum.
“One way that John was personally affected by RYJO is through (who is now) his fiancée,” she said. “She’s a trombone player and was a great kid. She didn’t have the transportation, so we were able to help her with that; she would come to rehearsal on the bus with her big trombone, and then we were able to get her home. Then we were able to procure a trombone donation for her—and she went on to be a spectacular player.”
Bennum didn’t get the chance to play in the RYJO, because it started two years after he graduated from high school.
“So many of those kids (have been part of the RYJO),” he said. “Some of them have been my own students, and many of them have become my colleagues, so it’s really special to me. … It’s really special to me to see that my students get those opportunities.”
The Scarbroughs said they firmly believe that the best form of education for musicians comes through playing with other musicians, and they’re excited that the merger will provide more opportunities for the orchestras to commingle.
Bennum joined Reno Youth Jazz Orchestra founders Vernon and Karen Scarbrough to discuss the merger.
“I’m new to my position with the Reno Jazz Orchestra, but Vern and I have a long history; he was my first music teacher in the sixthgrade. He was my band director, and he has recently become our (board) vice president of the Reno Jazz Orchestra,” Bennum said. “He has been a great mentor to me, then and now. The inclusion of RYJO in the Reno Jazz
“We’ve been doing it for such a long time, and we grew it into two big bands and a combo,” Karen said. “Over the years, we’ve had hundreds of kids graduate; we have a 100% graduation rate from high school; we have many kids who went on full scholarships for music. We have kids who’ve turned pro; we have one who’s touring with a band. We were ready to hand over all the administrative duties—like the fundraising and setting up the gigs and that kind of stuff—to the RJO. They’ve been wanting to merge with us for a long time, so it just is a natural transition, really.”
However, the founders will remain involved.
“As this was their baby, Karen and Vern will be continuing to oversee our operations and the music direction of that youth program for at least the first year, and then probably in a supervisory role or some kind of consulting role, because it really was their vision that we want to continue,” Bennum said. “After that, of course, we want to continue that legacy and just grow it by hopefully serving
“For the RYJO, our purpose is not to create professional musicians,” Vernon said. “We’re trying to teach jazz education by giving our students performance opportunities that they would not get in their school. Unlike the school district that rehearses every day, our program only meets one day a week, and we only practice for two hours. Creating that opportunity for students to play is really what it’s all about. … I’m a firm believer that the younger kids need to have the chance to see what right sounds like, and what right looks like, for these really high-caliber musicians. They can sit next to a player who’s much better than them, and it raises up their own level of playing.”
Bennum pledged that the merger will benefit both orchestras.
“I know Vern said that the goal is not to specifically foster professional musicians here, but that is a part of it,” Bennum said. “Continuing to foster those opportunities without changing what is already great about their organization would be my specific goal, and I think the goal of our board of directors. We just want to pool our resources to make sure that this is something that can continue to grow forever.”
For more information, visit renojazzorchestra.com.
Thee Saturday Knights is, simply put, a badass rock band. The Reno band’s two releases, Life of Crime and Already Dead, sound like ’70s rock with some punk influence thrown in. Any song by the band is perfect for driving really fast, running or headbanging. For more, visit theesaturdayknightsreno.bandcamp.com. Noland Magnuson is the guitarist and vocalist for the band.
What was the first concert you attended?
Garth Brooks at the Lawlor Events Center in 1992. My mom and some of her friends camped out in front of JJ’s Ear Candy in Carson City for two days to get those tickets.
What was the first album you owned?
The first album I bought with my own money was No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom in ’95 or ’96. I bought it on cassette, then on CD a few years later, and just a few years ago, I bought it on vinyl. It’s still worth a listen, even though it doesn’t grab me the way it did when I was 12 or 13.
What bands are you listening to right now? Currently, I really like C.O.F.F.I.N., Bloodshot Bill, Chubby and the Gang, The Trash Bags, Wyldlife, Jackie Mendez, a lot of the Mango Hill and Penrose Records stuff, Jacques Le Coque, and The Barreracudas.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?
There are so many. I won’t call anything out, because everybody should enjoy what they like.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
I never got to see the Ramones, The Clash or the Shangri-Las. I’d love to see The Cramps just one more time.
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?
You shouldn’t feel guilty about what you dig, but I will say that when “Steal My Sunshine” by Len comes on the radio, the windows go up, and so does the volume!
Same goes for “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass.
What’s your favorite music venue?
Discoteca Penelope in Benidorm, Spain. Every year over Halloween weekend, they throw a giant rock ’n’ roll party. The place is like an M.C. Escher painting come to life or something. There are multiple levels
with multiple rooms and a swimming pool. It’s wild!
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
“You should be labeled with a skull and crossbones; you’re a jinx to my soul,” “Skull and Crossbones,” Sparkle Moore.
What band or artist changed your life? How? The Cramps and Devo. The Cramps opened up my world to all sorts of trash culture and music. Devo showed me that punk was more than abrasive guitars; it could be abrasive synthesizers, too!
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking? I’d ask Los Shains, a Peruvian band, how they heard “The Crusher” by The Novas, a regional Minnesota band, in 1964, and how on earth they thought to play it together with “Out of Limits” by the Marketts and create “El Monstruo.”
What song would you like played at your funeral?
“Caveman Hop” by Jerry Coulston, or “Mah Mah Chicken Pot Pie” by the Leopards.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time? Out of This World by Gino Washington.
What song should everyone listen to right now? “It Don’t Move Me” by Danny Dodge.
JONESIN' CROSSWORD
| BY MATT JONES
“Trade Offs”—well, it’s close enough. By Matt Jones Across 1. Pack down firmly 5. Garbage bag size 9. ___ above (slightly better) 13. Hammer on the screen
Heed a hypnotist
Downton Abbey countess
16. Scratches left on the chalkboard by a temporary teacher?
19. Director Guillermo ___ Toro 20. ___-Hulk: Attorney at Law (new Disney+ series) 21. Theme park attractions 22. Riding transit without having to buy a ticket? 27. Yell at some sporting events 28. Assistance for a treasure hunter 29. Japanese eel and rice dish 31. Forensic scientist Barry (aka The Flash) 34. Tommy Pickles’ younger brother on Rugrats
Quick bite
38. Java that works even better in all caps?
42. Actress Collette of The Staircase
43. South Africaborn Strictly Come Dancing celeb Mabuse
44. “Swell!”
45. Spanish newspaper whose name means “The Country”
47. ___ Lingus (carrier based in Dublin)
48. Option for a nongrad
50. Difference between Nasdaq and Euronext?
55. “Blue screen of death” cause
57. Merchandise tracking ID
58. Be obligated
59. “Don’t haggle too much at the flea market” and others?
64. D.C. management?
65. Natural gas add-in (for safety reasons)
66. Reasonableness
67. Lead-in to “margarine”
68. Rome’s fifth emperor
69. Window frame
Down
1. “___ words have never been spoken”
2. Easy pace
3. Appropriation starter
4. Some high-end brain imaging
5. Pacific Northwestern pole
6. ___ Dhabi (capital of the UAE)
7. “___ me tell you ...”
8. Soapmaker’s need
9. Berry that’s somehow still trendy
10. Separate with rope
11. Steve of Family Matters
12. Cafe cup
13. ___movie (2008 web animation series named for the left-hand home keys)
17. Denny’s rival
18. ’60s TV equine
23. Chef Lagasse
24. Brackish swimmer also called a grindle or a swamp trout
25. The U of SVU
26. 1 on the Mohs scale
30. Blazing
31. Toward the rear of a ship
32. Language spoken in Vientiane
33. Hard-hit baseball
Think Free!
36. Card game with diamonds, squiggles, and ovals
37. “Hold it right there!”
39. Scam or sham
40. Ending for meteor or phosphor
41. Allowance of a sarcastic questioner (or a great Wordle score)
Find the answers in the “about” section of RenoNR.com!
15 MINUTES
The specs guy
Michael Grover
Michael Grover was fascinated by Latrodectus mactans—black widows—as a kid; not-so-consequently, he wanted to become an entomologist when he grew up. Then he wanted to be a truck driver. And then he wanted to be a rock star. “That certainly didn’t work out,” he says. Instead, he became an optician— specifically, someone who focuses on eyeglass frames and repairs. If you have a pair of spectacles that needs help, or you need a new pair, head to 141 Vassar St.; visit www.eyeglassrepairnv.com to learn more.
How did you get into the optical trade?
In high school, my brother and I worked sorting mail. He was offered a job in an optical lab; he took one look at that and said, “Hell no, but Mike might like it!” I jumped right in. They had a pile of frames and an acetylene torch, and I asked if I could play around with it. I took to it like a fish to water and never looked back—and pretty soon, I got so busy doing repairs that I couldn’t work for anyone else, and now I’m so damn busy that I can’t even work for myself. … (If only) I could clone myself—but without a mouth.
How long have you been at the Vassar Street location?
This is my 14th year here as of June 1.This building has morphed. It’s been a recording studio. It’s been a conduit for a lot of cool things. For 14 years, it’s been just me, one guy, autonomy. There’s nobody else here, just me to answer the phones, fix the toilets, pave the parking lot, pull the weeds and fix the roof. I wear a lot of hats. I’m not slinging drinks all day—not that that’s a bad thing; I do love my drink-slingers. But I do make people see. I’m an optician, which is the fun part. I’m a light-bender, and I like doing that.
What’s your clientele like?
Ages 2 to 102. Everybody has eyes, and a lot of people need glasses, and everyone who has glasses either breaks them or loses them or whatever else. I don’t just fix them; I also make them. I have my own frame line … and have 300 to 500 frames in stock at any one time. Just a quick, friendly warning: You know how they keep the spray paint locked up at Walmart in a glass case? They should keep fucking superglue locked up, too. Don’t try using superglue to fix your glasses; everybody tries it, and it doesn’t
| BY DAVID ROBERT
work! People don’t realize how viscous that stuff is. It hits the lens, and then it dries and sticks to the fingers. It’s a mess. Superglue is my nemesis.
What about environmental sustainability— keeping eyeglasses out of landfills?
I could easily fill up this building, if it had three stories, with all the eyeglasses I fixed or made over the last 38 years. One guy can make a dent (in the amount of waste); it only takes a small percentage of people to make a difference. To have a disposable society where everything is just tossed is fucking ludicrous. It’s like that movie WALL-E—it’s happening right now! We’re so goddamn close to Idiocracy, it’s frightening
Have the presence of online discount optical companies and the rise in laser surgery affected your business?
With all those options out there, it hasn’t made a dent. It’s one-on-one when you walk in my door. I know what I’m doing. I know someone’s prescription by a half a diopter just by looking at them. Sometimes, it’s just dead nuts on—I know what the cylinder axis is. And by just looking at a prescription, I will interpret the face shape and have four or five pairs already picked out and waiting for the customer to choose from. Nowadays, you can’t even get someone to answer a phone call with things like telemedicine. You can actually walk through my door without an appointment, and talk to a guy with four decades of experience.
VINTAGE FOOD TRUCKS MEET VISIONARY CUISINE
VIEW OUR WEEKLY LIVE ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULE!
Get your grub on at our unique Food Truck Hall. This 5,000-square-foot culinary and entertainment destination is your new place to gather with friends.
In Crust We Trust! Pizza Genius makes its home in a 1940s-era farm truck. Our geniuses create your favorite pizzas and subs. Fall in amore with our antipasto and seal the deal with our scrumptious cannolis.
Red 88: It’s always the Year of Yum inside this classic 1955 Ford Vanette. From the spicy to the sublime, from miso to shoyu, and plenty of toppings—you’ll get ramen your way. Pair it with poke to amp up the authenticity.
At Loco Bueno, we’re making mouth-watering Mexican favorites in an iconic 1969 Chevy P30 Step Van. This truck turns out more than tacos. Sample our perfect al pastor or fresh ceviche — It’s All Crazy Good!
Craft 55 pours the best local and regional craft brews and cocktail creations. Why the 55? Because we always have 55 rotating beer varieties.
ANOTHER BONUS? CATCH LIVE ENTERTAINMENT from artists at The Bandwagon on a classic chassis – a 1953 White Motor Company 3000.
