This is funny because somebody asked me about this just last week. The Record Courier has published the schedule for this summer's Minden Park concert series. They're also looking for sponsors still, so if you're a business owner that would like to sponsor the concerts, get in touch with Sheryl Christian at schristian@co.douglas.nv.us or (775)782-9828.

May 28 - Shane Dwight

June 18 - Beatles Tribute Imagine

July 9 - Trey Stone Band

July 30 - Mumbo Gumbo

Aug. 27 - Big Bad Wolf

An article on Sutie101.com has proclaimed Carson City to be a foodie's paradise, and highlights some of the many restaurants that led them to think so.

For many years, Carson City’s fame came from being the country’s smallest capital.Though it’s outgrown that title, the city has found new fame as Northern Nevada’s Top Culinary Spot.And since a sizeable number of its new residents were originally from other countries, many of the restaurants have a decidedly foreign flavor.

Adele's, Red's and the San Marcos Grill are some of the restaurants mentioned in the article.

Tickets have now gone on sale for the 2010 runs of the reconstructed Virginia and Truckee Railroad. The trial runs last year proved to be very popular, with most of the Saturday runs selling out for 12 weeks straight. So this year they're bumping up the number of runs, starting on Memorial Day weekend and going until Nevada Day, 23 weekends in all. And they're expanding to also run the steam train on Sundays, for a total of 46 days this year. And, if that isn't enough, they'll also be running the diesel train between Carson and Virginia on Thursdays and Fridays. So Eastgate Depot is going to be a hopping place, with trains running through there four days out of the week this summer.

They're going to be keeping the same schedule as they had last year. All of the Carson-to-Virginia runs will leave at 10 am and return around 4. Though because they're running on back-to-back days the deadheads will be a little different. The steam train will deadhead down to Carson on Saturday morning at 8 am, then deadhead back Sunday night at 5:30. The locomotive will spend Saturday night at Eastgate Depot so it will ready for the next morning's run. And the diesel will deadhead Thursday morning and Friday night.

And with the addition of the diesel runs, a whole new tier of pricing has been introduced. The round-trip steam runs are keeping the same price as they had last year, $48 for adults, $40 for seniors and $30 for kids. That $48 they charged last year was said to be a trial price, and I guess selling out all the tickets proved to them that it's not too high. The one-way steam deadheads will be slightly lower, at $29/$25/$20. The diesel round-trip tickets will be that same price, $29/$25/$20, and the one-way diesel trip will be your cheapest option, at $17/$15/$12. Also keep in mind that the V&T will still be running trains between Virginia City and Gold Hill like they have for decades, and those will be priced around $10 for a round trip. I'm not sure how the Carson City excursions will affect the schedule of the Gold Hill trips, but I guess when the diesel is in Carson the steam will be in Virginia City, and vice versa.

So this year will really be the moment of truth for the reconstructed V&T. Last year there was a high level of excitement because it was the inaugural season, and all the people who had been waiting for decades to ride the train all bought tickets at once. All over town now I see bumper stickers that say "I rode the V&T". The price of $48 seemed really high to some, but all the runs sold out so they thought they were justified in charging that much. Now that price has returned this year, and we'll see if there is still enough interest to keep the runs sold out this summer, or if all the people who were interested in riding the railroad for that price already rode last year. It might prove that the price is just right, and the train stays popular all year because demand is high enough. Maybe all the people who wanted to ride last year didn't, because the tickets sold out. That will lead to a strong first part of the season as everyone finally gets to buy their tickets. The big question mark hanging in the air is, how many of those people are there? And how many people who paid $48 to ride last year will decide to pay it again, and ride again this year? That percentage is probably low. Although the success of this train isn't going to come from locals, this train is meant to be a draw that pulls people in from all over the country. The V&T is meant to make Western Nevada a destination, and bring people here that wouldn't have come here otherwise. And how effective that will be is something we can't predict now; all we can do is sit back and watch how well these tickets sell.

Until then, railfans can look for the train crossing the Hwy 50 bridge several times a week. The first diesel excursion is on May 27th, and May 29th marks the return of steam to Eastgate Station. Should be a busy summer out there in east Carson!

The deer were out again today, bringing traffic to a stop all over the west side of Carson. A good sized herd of about 8 to 10 deer made their way through backyards and across streets, scrounging around in the late winter grass for some good bits of food. They ventured down as far as Division Street, but they attracted all together too much attention there, with everyone stopping to take pictures. So they retreated back to the quiet yards around Elizabeth St. They're probably still hanging around somewhere in the neighborhood. You usually see them on the weekends when the town is quiet.

There's a bit of a fluff erupting in the Record Courier comments about the Matley Ranch. This ranch is about 60 acres of grazing land south of Gardnerville, at the intersection of Hwy 395 and Pinenut Road, across the street from the 7-11. The owner, Peri Enterprises, had requested a change to the master plan that would convert the Matley Ranch from agricultural land to commercial, with the obvious intent of building on the site. The town board approved this change unanimously, and that's what got the commenters in an uproar. They've already been worked up by the news a few months ago that Wal-Mart is coming to Gardnerville, building on the Virginia Ranch just half a mile north. Their objections are that putting a Wal-Mart in the Carson Valley will ruin the rural character of life, as well as cannibalize business away from the local shops that line Hwy 395 through both Minden and Gardnerville. And now comes another announcement, just a short while later, of even more commercial development being planned for the same part of town. And all while the economy is in a slump and the commercial space we already have is sitting empty. So you can see why they're upset.

Although this is hardly the first time development has been proposed for the Matley Ranch. Nearly 10 years ago Peri Enterprises put forth plans for a big hotel-casino on this land, called the Villa Resort. The casino would have been patterned after a Mediterranean village, and featured a large lake fronting the highway. The casino was going to be built so that it appeared to be perched on several small islands in the lagoon, with sweeping stone arches connecting the different parts. There would also have been several acres of RV park located behind the casino. It was a striking plan, one that has stuck with me as being terribly inventive as well as terribly out-of-place in the Carson Valley. But the project fell though, just as so many hotel-casino projects planned for the Carson Valley have died.

Developers never quit, though, and now Peri Enterprises is back looking at "commercial" use for the Matley Ranch, most likely retail and office space. Maybe they'll stick with it this time, maybe it will fall apart like the Villa Resort, which never got off the ground, or the Minden Gateway, which never got above the ground. But I doubt that a few comments on the Record Courier's website will sway things much in one direction or another. Personally I don't have any particular problem with development on the Matley Ranch, since Gardnerville is going to keep growing and there's no use fighting it. That south stretch of highway is the best direction to grow in. But I don't think now is the best time for them to be developing a retail center, considering the failure of the Minden Gateway, the failure of the retail center across the street from Raley's to attract tenants, and the slump that all of Western Nevada is going through right now. It's good to bet on the future, but not too much. This project might be too much right now.

Everyone followed the 3/50 Project whenever possible?

The 3/50 Project is one that starts with you.
http://tinyurl.com/ld3b6n

3
Think of a store here in Gardnerville that you have shopped in and found the perfect gift, pair of pants, candle, or bar of SOAP :). Remember walking into that store and being greeted with a smile, asked how you are, can I help you find anything question, I am here if you need any help. Now can you think of 3 of them? I sure can. Would you miss them if they disappeared?

50
Now $50 isn't a drop in the bucket these days. With the economy still trying to make a rebound times are still a little (or a lot) tough. But.....what if 1/2 of the employed people in the United States spent $50 each a month in a locally owned business? It would generate over 40 billion dollars in revenue. What if only 1/4 of the people did it? Or if everyone spent $25 a month. I spend that on candy every month. Yes I buy it at a local store, but what if I spent that $25 at a small local business to show my support and let them know that I appreciate them.

For every $100 spent in locally owned business $68 returns to the community. Spending the same amount at a chain store returns $43 dollars, and shopping online returns NOTHING.

Main Street Gardnerville, NV has 10 reasons to shop local.
http://www.mainstreetgardnerville.org/

1. Local taxes from spending your money helps fund local police and fire departments.

2. Local merchants contribute to local organizations. I know I give to many non-profit organizations every time they ask. I run the raffle for the Douglas High School Volleyball Team Fundraiser, The Mud Fest Volleyball Tournament http://tinyurl.com/yex5wsd and I asked and I asked over 50 local business for donations. Do you know how many I got. Over 40. Now that is community involvement!

3. Shopping keeps more cars off the road, less pollution.

4. Taxes from businesses pay for road improvements.

5. By supporting local merchants your keep them employed and help increase their income. Then they can come to your restaurant to eat, or buy your house, or have you landscape their yard. In short, they can shop local too.

6. Shopping local is a chance to see your friends! Keep in touch and see and meet others that live in Gardnerville.

7. When you buy from a local business you are talking to the owner most of the time. What a great way to get good customer service.

8. The tax dollars paid to the town from the local businesses pay for the up keep of our beautiful parks right here in town.

9. Money spent local keeps our economy strong and creates jobs. Wouldn't it be nice if every kid who wanted one could get a part time job local and pay for their own gas and insurance? Wouldn't it be nice not to have to drive the HWY 395 corridor to Carson City just to make a few bucks? Just the time saved would give them time to get a lot more homework done!

10. By shopping local you take ownership in your community.

Invest in your future and make this community yours! Shop Local!

The Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City will host a presentation entitled “Postcards from the Past” by museum member Bill Kohler on Monday, March 8, 2010 at 7:00 pm.

The program features a collection of images from the first half of the 20th Century illustrating the building of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, railroad subjects, and a number of vintage aircraft photographs. Vintage ferryboat service on San Francisco Bay will also be included. These images are from the collection of Bear Photography, a supplier of vintage postcards.

Museum volunteer Bill Kohler has done just about every job open to volunteers at the Nevada State Railroad Museum including work in the museum store, annex, tour guide, steam crew, Secretary of the Friends and more since beginning volunteer service in September 1998.

Born in Seattle, Bill moved to San Jose when in grade school. Growing up there included visits with his dad to the San Jose and Santa Clara rail yards checking out steam locomotives and watching those new-fangled diesels appearing. He started at IBM as an assembler in 1965 and soon became a stationary boiler engineer. Retired after 30 years, he and wife Pamela soon settled in Gardnerville, Nevada. A railfan all his life, he loves watching, riding on, talking about and photographing trains.

The Nevada State Railroad Museum operates steam-ups with historic Virginia & Truckee Railroad equipment on selected weekends throughout the year. The museum also participates in scholarly efforts, such as the annual Nevada Railroad History Symposium held in Carson City each fall. Open Friday through Monday from 8:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., the museum is located on Route 395 at the south end of Carson City at the intersection of Fairview Drive. A yellow train station and red water tank at the entrance to the museum grounds are landmarks. For more information, please call (775) 687-6953.

The Nevada State Railroad Museum is one of seven museums of the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs. The Department serves Nevada’s citizens and visitors through cultural and information management, presentation and promotion of cultural resources, and education. The Department also includes the State Historic Preservation Office, Nevada State Library and Archives and the Nevada Arts Council. For more information, please call Teresa Moiola at (775) 687-8323 or visit the department’s website at www.NevadaCulture.org.

Monday night's Block D Memorial Scholarship Dinner was a great success. I just love this community. The people that live in this area remind me of my parent's neighborhood, a place where everyone knew your name. They cared about you and your family. If one of yours was hurt, they hurt too. They would do anything in their power to lend a helping hand.

This community showed last night how much they cared by giving their support to the High School Athletes of Douglas High School. This dinner was for them in honor of the many athletes we have lost over the past 10-15 years.

Mr Ernie Monfiletto, Block D Advisor, informed us that over 400 tickets were sold for the dinner.

A raffle with fantastic prizes was also held. Tickets to a Giants Game, tickets to a 49ers game, a year boosters pass, golfing at Edgewood Golf Course, and a Senior Portrait Package by Stebel Photography http://www.stebel.com.pl/ were just a few of the prizes. Over $9000 was raised last year by this event and Block D's other fund raisers. It could not happen without you. Because of you a child that wants to play high school sports can, even if they can not afford the new shoes or equipment needed. Because of you a young adult can continue on to higher education because they were given a helping hand. It turns this community into a village that helps raise our children by giving them opportunities they might not have had otherwise. Give yourselves a big pat on the back. I am so proud of you all!

A big thank you to Mrs. Kerry Stack and her Culinary Arts Classes for the spaghetti dinner. The Floriculture class, guided by teacher Allyson Lammiman, provided the beautiful table centerpieces. The Booster Club and PTSO helped serve and last but not least the Block D Members. They pre-sold tickets, decorated the hall, set up tables and chairs, manned the buffet line, bussed the tables, sold the raffle tickets, cleaned the tables, tore down and put away the tables and chairs, mopped the floors, AND cleaned the restrooms. Not bad for a nights work.

To see more photos go to
www.SierraSnowSoaps.blogspot.com

There's fairly big news in the internet space today: it's been announced that News Carson City is merging into Carson Now, combining two sites that have already had a pretty close relationship. News Carson City has been around for five years, starting as an internet version of the TV news Dave Morgan was already doing. I spotted in and wrote about it in August of 2005.

And I'm not sure if I've written about Carson Now here yet, and if I haven't it's because I'm still trying to get a handle on it. It's a new community and news site set up by Kirk Caraway, who used to be Internet Editor and columnist for the Nevada Appeal. I know he was always frustrated with all the ways the Appeal refused to use the internet, so a few months ago he decided to leave and start his own thing. Carson Now is his stab at covering Carson City news. It started up a few months ago and I've been watching it since; it's mostly an aggregation of other news sources, like the Nevada Appeal and News Carson City, and even Around Carson. They do have some original content, but it can be tough to weed through all the reposts sometimes to find the new stuff.

But it sounds like this merging of the two sites will lead to a lot more original content being posted to Carson Now, making it a more compelling destination. Dave Morgan himself is moving to Oregon, but he promises that he'll still be on the phone to everybody in Carson City, filing stories remotely even though he's out of state. Plus Jeff Munson, reporter for the Tahoe Daily Tribune and Nevada Appeal, will be writing stories for the site. So I can only see Carson Now growing in the future.

The real loss here is Dave Morgan and his video camera, which used to be seen all over town chasing after every story he could find. Dave's been doing TV news in Carson City for over 15 years, and for as much as I love text there is an immediacy and an extra layer of depth that video can bring to a story. By losing News Carson City we'll be losing an added dimension to the news. Although if you use hindsight to look back over the past couple of months, you could see this development coming. News Carson City for a while has been leaning away from the video and more heavily towards text, and even when there was a big video story there would often be a large editorial to go along with it. This was articulated in early January as Dave announced that News Carson City would be shifting more towards text, less emphasis on video. Then one month ago they canceled the TV news part of it entirely, making News Carson City a 100% online venture. You could draw a straight line from there to Dave leaving town and the site being merged with Carson Now. But at the same time, a lot of work was done on the NewsCarsonCity.com website over the past few months, changing the theme, opening up comments, and trying to build a community around that site. So it seems like maybe abandoning all that wasn't their plan until just recently.

So I'll be looking forward to Carson Now improving as it grows, and they'll be continuing the "Our Town" video interview series that Dave has been doing, kind of an internet talk show. You'll be able to find those on their YouTube channel.

In Memory of:
Those who are no longer with us and have passed through the fields, courts and halls of Douglas High School.

This is from a Facebook page of Molly. Molly passed away April 23, 2009 after a swimming accident. She will always be remembered for her blue eyes and ever-present smile. “I’m convinced God gave Molly this infectious smile and put her on earth to make us happy,” her brother Pat said.

Molly was a friend of my daughters. On Monday, March 1, 2010 we will be helping the Douglas High School Block D Letterman's Club put on a Memorial Scholarship Dinner in Molly's name and many other Tiger athletes that left us way too soon. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of these outstanding kids who made such an impact on our lives.

Ernie Monfiletto is the Block D Advisor. On March 1, 2010 at 6:00 PM he, along with the Block D athletes, their families, and friends invites you to a spaghetti dinner, catered by the Douglas High School Culinary Arts Program, at the CVIC Hall, 1604 Esmeralda Avenue, Suite 101, Minden, NV 89423. Tickets are $10.00 each and may be purchased at the door. The money raised will be used for student/athletes that are in need. There will also be a raffle with some fabulous prizes. Please join us for an evening of sharing and caring, laughing and smiling.