Tag: downtownminden

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how the cottonwoods of Minden along County Road were doomed because of disease, age, and street improvements. Well they move quick in Minden, and now the trees are gone.

Now work will continue to lay an underground storm drain to carry the water from that ditch, then a sidewalk will be poured on top of it. New trees should be planted next spring.

It's a fact that trees get old and sick, and the time comes that you either have to pull them out or face the danger of them toppling in a wind storm. That's the case with many of the old cottonwoods around downtown Minden, and that's why many of them are being removed. Several of the large trees that line County Road are coming out, as part of a larger project to put in sidewalks and send the old irrigation canals in that part of town underground.

The cottonwoods between First and Fourth, seen above, will be cut down by the end of the month. Kind of an ignoble end to the trees that have probably been around for the better part of a century. The ditch that runs along County Road is part of the old irrigation systems that used to (and still do) distribute water from the Carson River all over the valley. The land that Minden sits on used to be part of the Dangberg Ranch, but I don't know if there are any records showing if these trees were around before the town was founded in 1906. The main thing is, they old, and with trees old means stately but it also means hazardous. So unfortunately, it's time.

This irrigation canal will be put into an underground pipe, and a sidewalk laid along here.

Some nearby trees have already met their fate. Back behind the Minden Inn (which houses the county offices) there used to be a small parking lot under the shade of several large trees. This site was long planned to be the home of a parking garage which would have solved the parking problems in downtown Minden for decades to come. But it was finally decided there was no money for a garage, and they would just go for a surface lot instead. Both plans, though, called for the trees to be pulled out. That was done earlier this month.

Downtown isn't going to stay bare forever, though. These trees may be coming out, but next spring, after all the paving and sidewalks are done, new trees will be planted in their place. They won't be as stately at first, or as shady, but they'll grow, and they should be a part of Minden for the next hundred years.

For now, let's just hope the wood from the old trees is put to good use and not just tossed in a landfill.

Record Courier: C.O.D. Casino gets final nod from county.

The C.O.D. Casino cleared its final hurdle Thursday, and owner Scott Tate said he has faith in the project despite dissenting Commissioner David Brady’s assertion gambling is on the decline and the plan is a “quick fix.”

The board voted 4-1 to grant the final zoning map amendments to convert the 97-year-old former automotive garage in downtown Minden to a 14,303-square-foot casino, bakery and museum.

Tate said Friday he hopes construction will begin in six to nine months.

The Carson Valley farmer's markets are coming back this summer. Dates have been announced.

Minden Farmers Market opening day May 20

The Minden Farmers Market opens May 20 and will be open every Tuesday from 4-8 p.m. through summer on Esmeralda Avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets. Information, Roxanne Stangle, 782-2444.

Farmers Market at Lampe Park opens May 21

The Lampe Park Farmers Market offers an abundance of seriously fresh produce and a variety of food, farm, and dirt-oriented items. The market features flowers, perennial plants, fresh bakery items, outdoor décor and gifts. The farmers’ market will be open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays at Lampe Park in Gardnerville. Information at the Douglas County Recreation Division, 782-9828.

These two markets open two full weeks before the Carson City Farmers Market, which this year begins on June 4th.

With all the issues going on in the world with rising food prices and rising oil prices, the "local foods" movement is starting to gather a lot more steam and attention.There have been special articles about it in the Nevada Appeal and Record Courier lately, and even celebrity chefs are starting to speak out. And we're lucky because here in the Carson area we're firmly located in the breadbasket of Nevada. Most of the rest of the state is miles and miles of unforgiving desert, but here were have rivers that bring some life to the land, the Carson River, Walker River, and Truckee River. A lot of agriculture is focused around these rivers, in Fallon, in Fernley, in the Mason and Smith Valleys. In the Carson Valley much of the green land is given over to grazing cattle, but there are scattered plots that are dedicated to growing crops. And the best place to go to get all of this local produce is to the farmer's markets.

There is another option, though, if you're not in the mood to hunt through the market to find the best produce. It's called Community Supported Agriculture, and here in Northern Nevada we've had it for a couple of years at least. In essence, by signing up with a CSA you get a "subscription" to a produce delivery service. You pay one flat fee up front at the beginning of each season - spring, summer, and fall, and then each week a basket full of produce is delivered with your name on it. This produce is all grown on local farms, and the contents of the basket change throughout the year as different fruits and vegetables fall in and out of season. So in May you'd start getting a variety of spinach and lettuce, then in June peas and carrots start coming into season so those start showing up in your basket. And it continues all the way through December when you're getting potatoes and squash. And because it's all locally grown, your money is staying in Northern Nevada and helping out our farmers here.

The big CSA in our area is Great Basin Basket, which can be found at www.greatbasinbasket.com. There you can sign up for your shipments (the spring subscriptions are already sold out, so the earliest you can sign up for is Summer). I also found an article in the RGJ about Great Basin Basket, as well as the option to start a garden of your own. And, I just discovered a new-to-me blog, Local Food Northern Nevada, which is all about seeking out local food in our area. And of course they're subscribers to Great Basin Basket.

So if you're looking to have a summer full of real food, check out some of these options for eating food that's been grown in Nevada.

The other day I took a walk through downtown Minden and snapped a few pictures. You can view all the pictures at this link, or just checkout the slideshow below.

Minden I think has one of the nicest little downtowns around, partly because it's one of the few downtowns that doesn't have a major highway running right down the middle of it. So you can actually step out into the street and jaywalk without worrying about being run down. The downside is that it can be kind of dead most of the time, though. The town and county offices are both located downtown, along with a few private offices, so it's not like there's nobody downtown. But there are a few little lonely stores that seem like they wouldn't get much business, and one of the two restaurants downtown went out of business last fall. People don't come downtown for fun, they only come to work. Maybe all that will change with the coming of the C.O.D. Casino, which is still in the approval process. That project should pump a lot more people into the downtown area, but whether it will benefit any of the other businesses remains to be seen.

I think downtown Minden is probably one of the nicest downtowns in the area, because it's just about the only one that doesn't have a highway running down the middle of it. The fact that Hwy 395 runs one block to the north means that a lot of people can drive right by Esmeralda Street without even noticing it, but it also means that the few people who do make they way down there get a nice, quiet street with little traffic.

They also get a street that's able to be closed off for special events, and having Minden Park right there helps a lot too. The newest event that has been announced is the Minden Farmer's Market, which will be taking over downtown Minden every Tuesday night from May 22 through September 25. Unlike the farmer's market that already takes place at Lampe Park on Wednesdays, which closes right after lunch, Minden's market will be open in the evening, from 4-8pm, so a lot more people will be able to head down after work.

The Concerts in the Park should be starting up in Minden soon too, bringing even more people to the best downtown in Northern Nevada - oops, sorry, Greater Reno-Tahoe.