“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.”
― Ruth Reichl
Happy New Year Main Street Gardnerville!
Well, 2023 sure came in with a statement! More like an exclamation point! We haven’t experienced snowfall like this in many years, all at once, relentless, and still so beautiful. Although, I must admit, waking up to snow on Thursday morning (again) made me a little melancholy and dreaming about warmer summer sunny days. This quickly changed after setting our event calendar for the year. I decided winter can stick around for a little bit longer and I will live in this season just a little bit longer.
We had our first committee meeting of the year and firmed up dates for 2023 events. You can expect so many fun activities again this year. Our friends at CV Flyte are working on the Wind Down series for the summer to compliment our Main Street staple: the Third Thursday Wine Walks. It is going to be a great year and we can’t wait to share it with you. Make sure to scroll down and peek at the Events Calendar for the year and mark your calendars!
Last year sure kept us busy with new events, partnerships, and ART. We have been working on collecting all our accomplishments, volunteer hours, and stats for the year to include in our 2022 Impact report, and I have to tell you, compiling all the data and seeing it on paper is astonishing. With the volunteers hours calculated so far, we are over 2000 volunteer hours and this does not include Wine Walks, Flower committee hours, or events! (Have I mentioned how amazing our volunteers are?) As Idowu Koyenikan said, “There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals.”
Thanks to the help of our volunteers, community partners, and sponsors like you, we were able to invest $29, 564.55 into our community through our Façade Grant program, over $5000 in public art, and host a multitude of community events and we are just getting started! This next year we are looking to invest even more back into the community through programs, resources and projects aimed to improve our community as a whole and help our local businesses and property owners so we can have them around for a long time.
We will publish our Impact Report very soon and also announce Round Two of our Façade Grant Program so stay tuned!
We want to take a second to congratulate Eddy Street Vintage Market for being a repeat champion of our Light Up Main Street Holiday Light Contest. They have earned themselves a 2023 business sponsorship on us. It was a tough competition, I have to say. I wasn’t sure they would beat the Unicorn & Flamingo display at Fabric Chicks, the beautiful traditional lights at JT Basque Dining Room, or the incredible lawn display at the Museum but they did! (I think Derek was a little nervous about the unicorn.) Congratulation Eddy Street Vintage Market & welcome back to Main Street!
With the impact of the weather postponing our transition out of the holiday season, it feels a little bit like we are still stuck in the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Hurry up and wait. This weather has tested our patience and perseverance, and it’s still just January. Some days are harder to keep the melancholy post-holiday blues away and the snow isn’t much help. Reminding ourselves better days are ahead and memories we made together last year will keep us going. Winter can be very lonely and isolating for many who can’t venture out. Remember to check on your neighbors, send a smile to a stranger, find opportunities to let the sunshine on your face, help each other out, be patient and kind, and we will get through this together.
I hope you find some joy in this winter season and have opportunities to get out, explore and try something new in the snow. Enjoy the beauty of our home and all its seasons. Until next time Main Street.
See you on the streets!
Jen Nalder, Program Director
Main Street Gardnerville