Tag: minden

As I said on Twitter last night, I was driving through Minden for the first time in a couple of weeks, and saw that the old Taco John's building, right next door to McDonald's, has a sign saying "Super Burrito Coming Soon". Taco John's closed a little over a year ago, after being open for only two years. Super Burrito seems to be taking advantage of the hard fortunes of some other companies to expand their operations into the Eagle and Carson Valleys. They're also opening a store in the old Burger King building by Carson Mall. A few commenters have said that the Super Burritos in Reno and Sparks make pretty good food, so I'm looking forward to these opening so I can try it out.

As part of their new ownership and remodel project, the Carson Valley Inn will be getting a brand new sign. The new sign is going to be a little bit down the road, instead of right at the entrance like the current sign. And it will include an electronic readerboard that has many residents concerned about light levels.

The new sign will be 26 feet high, the same height as the current sign. But because it's a new sign in a new location, special approval needs to be had from the Town of Minden and from Douglas County to install the sign. Minden approved the new sign this week; the county planning commission reviews the request next week.

The Record Courier reports on a new senior living community that has been approved for construction in Minden. It sounds like the new building will be located right at the corner of Hwy 395 and Hwy 88, so this will be a very visible project. This parcel of land was on tap several years ago for a big casino project, but that fell through. The new plan is to make this part of the Minden Medical Center complex, which is right next door. The Verandah facility will have 116 units, along with many on-site services like pool, spa, salon, dining room , and even a theater. It's targeted at residents age 75 and over. The building is going to be pretty large, 150,000 square feet spread over three stories. And they got approval from the county Planning Commission for the height of the building to reach 45 feet, 10 feet higher than the normal limit. They say this will allow them to give the units higher ceilings to make them more attractive.

Many people have questions about what happened to The Sugarplum Bakery in Genoa? The last two years have been a turmoil for the mother daughter team who owned The Sugarplum Bakery and Treats in Genoa. After many months of struggling to either resume operations of the bakery or be paid for the bakery it came down to the local District Judge David Gamble giving Therese Abraham-Noble full possession of her bakery with full rights of ownership. The location in Genoa is now occupied by a different business so the bakery deserves a new space. With that said it was time to consider where to relocate her.

After searching for the best location for the Sugarplum Bakery site, Therese and her daughter Kamryn felt that returning it to Douglas County was in the best interest of the bakery. We have many customers from Carson City and Reno, however The Sugarplum was born into Douglas County and we felt it should stay in Douglas County.

The menu is very similar to the days of old with several new additions. Since the new location is in The Minden Village at the old Quiznos place, the new location still has the large toaster oven left behind by former tenant Quiznos. This means that tasty treats in the morning can be toasted in a new manner, including homemade scones, muffins, breads sliced and smothered in homemade jams, preserves and spreads. At lunch the tuna salad, chicken salad or egg salad can be toasted on your choice of breads. This is surely a new take on old favorites. The BLT is my favorite and add some avocado or sliced tomato and I am tickled pink.

Looking to rekindle the magic The Sugarplum gave you, imagine if you will your favorite cookie toasted lightly just before you bite into it...it is just as good as coming right out of the oven. Most baked goods are going to be made on premises however the newest edition to the baked delights are Persian treats such as Saffron Pudding, Toot's (mulberry candies), Walnut Cookies, Fromage (french custard) and more baked by local Carson City residents and brought into The Sugarplum for sale.

The Sugarplum Fairy's have been hard at work creating a warm and inviting atmosphere. Although the bakery was scheduled to open in December for Christmas it didn't happen. Pipes froze and water flooded the newly rented space rapidly. This delayed the progress of the space being dolled up for her old clientele.

This is an open invitation to visit the new location and have a gander. The pastry case is just as beautiful as ever full of incredible delicacies from your childhood memories to the newest and latest trends. Come and see for yourself what The Sugarplum Fairy's have been up too! Have a Fairy nice day and a Happy New Year!

December is here, and that means it's time for all the Christmas kickoff events to happen all at once. There's quite a few, and if you're really quick you might be able to catch most of them.

* Carson City's Silver & Snowflakes Holiday Tree Lighting, Thursday the 3rd. That's tonight! This celebration takes place on the Capitol grounds as the state Christmas trees are lit, a choir performs, and Santa Claus makes an appearance. In past years Santa arrived on the back of a Model T, driven by a golden retriever named Beau. But since Both Beau and his trainer Bill Williamson passed away this year, Santa will arrive instead by horse-drawn carriage. After the lighting at the Capitol, everyone will walk over to the First Presbyterian Church to light the city Christmas tree.

* Minden Park Lighting, Friday the 4th. Santa arrives at 6pm at Minden Park to light the gazebo and the makeshift "christmas tree" they achieve by running lights up the flagpole.

* Genoa Tree Lighting, Friday the 4th. This one is simultaneous with Minden's, at 6pm, so you have to decide which town means more to you.

* South Lake Tahoe Community Tree Lighting, Friday the 4th. This will be held at the Visitors Center, 3066 Lake Tahoe Blvd, at 5pm. Santa Claus will be there, and sleigh and carriage rides will be available.

* Carson Valley Parade of Lights, Saturday the 5th. The parade leaves Lampe Park in Gardnerville at 5pm, and makes its way along Hwy 395 to downtown Minden. The parade units disperse after they reach Minden Park, but many of them hang out for a while so you can see them up close.

* The Virginia City Parade of Lights take place at the same time. Saturday the 5th, 5pm. This parade takes place on C Street through downtown Virginia City.

Marcello's Ristorante & Bar in Minden has been sold, but the new owners are keeping almost everything but the name. It is now known as the Buona Sera Ristorante & Bar, with a few additional items on the menu and lower prices. The new owners are Burr Otto, former Douglas High teacher, and his wife Cindi.

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Ever since the Minden Gateway Center declared bankruptcy, the land has been sitting there growing weeds. The owner says he's making progress restructuring his debts, and hopes to resume construction soon. But until then, it's nothing but an ugly lot surrounded by chain link.

So that leaves the community with an eyesore at one of its major intersections. And the town board figures that someone needs to clean it up, and if the owner of the land won't do it, it might as well be the town. The plan is to use prison crews and jail inmates to rip out the weeds and generally clean the place up. As you can see from the picture above, it dearly needs a good weeding; some of those plants are getting to be the size of a car.

Once the town takes over responsibility of keeping the place clean, they're committing to coming back every year and cleaning it up over and over, until construction starts up again. Which could happen next spring, or could be years and years in the future.

News Release: Free Stargazing Events at Mormon Station and Dangberg Home Ranch

Nevada State Parks invites the public to attend free stargazing events on Saturday, August 15, at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park in Minden, and on Friday, August 21, at Mormon Station State Historic Park in Genoa. Both events begin at 7:00 p.m. and end by 10:00 p.m.

Members of the Astronomical Society of Nevada are providing telescopes for the public to view Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, a comet and various galaxies, star clusters and nebulas. The public is welcome to bring telescopes as well.

Visitors are encouraged to bring bug repellant, a flashlight with a red lens, a blanket, lawn chairs and a light jacket.

The Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park, located just west of Minden in Douglas County at 1450 Highway 88, features several historic buildings constructed between 1857 and 1920, including what was once one of the most prominent homes in Carson Valley. The site was settled in 1857 by Carson Valley pioneer Heinrich F. Dangberg, Sr.

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Mormon Station State Historic Park is located in the center of Genoa at the intersection of Genoa Lane and Foothill Road. The stargazing event will be held in the northern portion of the park.

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The C.O.D. Garage Casino project is still chugging along, although way behind the original schedule. It still pops up in the newspaper every so often, the latest mention just yesterday. The developers of the casino were trying to get the town to share in the costs of paving the parking lot, which is located across the street where the old livery stables used to be. I guess they wanted the town, and other downtown merchants, to help pay for the parking lot because the lot will be used as public parking during downtown events like the farmers market and the summer concerts. The town balked though, because it is a private lot on private land.

I guess this is just one of the perils of offering free parking, as just about every casino in Nevada does. There's always the risk that somebody's going to park in your lot and then go somewhere else, not stopping by your business. I doubt that other casinos, like Circus Circus and Silver Legacy in Reno, got public money to build their garages, so it's not going to happen in Minden either.

I've been remiss in putting up the yearly schedule for the Concerts in Minden Park summer series. In fact, one concert has already come and gone! Another one is coming up this Friday. Here's the lineup for the rest of the summer.

June 26 - Shane Dwight.

July 17 - Rick Hays & American Steel.

August 7 - The Savannah Blue Southern Rock Revue.

August 28 - Caravanserai.

All concerts are on a Friday night at 6:30pm, except for the final one on August 28th, which starts at 6:00. Get your picnic baskets ready!