Spring has sprung . . . a leak!

Hoppy Easter and Happy Friday Main Street Gardnerville!

Judging by the weather we have officially survived the second false spring and third winter. If you lived here long enough you know if you don’t like the weather wait 5 minutes! Flip flops and wool coat season is here, and we are very, VERY grateful for all that precipitation it brings.

April is Volunteer Appreciation Month! Last night we had the pleasure of hosting our Annual Volunteer Gala at Woodette’s. It was an incredible evening of amazing food, smiles, hugs, and celebration of everyone’s hard work and dedication. Among the honorees, we presented our friends Keith and Monica at Big Daddy’s Bike and Brew with the 2021 Business of the year award. Keith is a HUGE supporter of our program and graciously hosts not only of our most popular Wine Walk registration locations but has also become the home of our community partners’ fundraising events as well. The gracious hearts at Big Daddy’s is another wonderful example of and representation of what this community is all about.

Last night we also had the pleasure of celebrating our 2021 Volunteer of the Year, Pam Sbragia. Pam’s contributions and dedication to Main Street Gardnerville over the years are nothing short of incredible. I think her nomination says it best: “She is one of the most dependable and dedicated volunteers I have had the pleasure of interacting with since she joined MSG and the Flower Committee in 2013.” “One can count on Pam to be first to offer her assistance wherever and whenever there is an opportunity. These opportunities include flower promoting, planting, and decorating activities; HPG workdays and events; garden art painting and selling events; wine walk registrations; and numerous other MSG activities. Her willingness to participate goes beyond anyone’s expectations.” Thank you Pam for the years of dedication and heart you have given to Main Street. You are really a “Big Dill”

I commonly say, Main Street Gardnerville is a 99% volunteer-driven, 100% inclusive organization. We are proudly a 501(c) non-profit – a fancy word for saying we are a non-profit organization made possible solely through volunteer efforts, funded by sponsorships, donations, grant funding, and support from our community, local municipalities and county. How very fortunate and blessed we are as an organization to have so many incredible volunteers that make it all happen and make me look like a superstar. Main Street Gardnerville’s mission is to actively work to cultivate communities, and I can say after looking over the room last night, that is indeed what we do. For highlights of the evening click HERE.

If you are interested in joining this amazing group of people, we would love to have you! Our next Volunteer opportunity is SWEEP THE TOWN happening on May 7th at 9 am. Grab a broom, gloves, and your friends to help tidy up our Main Street! Everyone is welcome. We will have water provided by our Silver Key Sponsor Carson Valley Medical Center. For more details check out the flyer below. Can’t make it? Don’t worry we have so many more volunteer opportunities that can be found at the bottom of the newsletter, so make sure your scroll ALLL the way to the bottom!

WINE WALK SESON IS HERE! We are on cloud WINE to have the opportunity to bring this event back for another year! And to add even more fun to the event we have brought back themes for each Third Thurday Wine Walk!

• • May “It’s Wine o’clock Somewhere” Tourist in your own Town Theme. Spend the evening viewing your town through the eyes of a visitor. Grab your Hawwiian shirt for a voyage through the town or weather depending, your parka for a fun arctic adventure!
  • June “Wine-stone Cowboy” Western Theme. Ye haw, grab your partner in wine and get Rodeo ready!
  • July “ Red, WINE and Blue” Patriotic Theme. Benjamin Franklin once said “ Beer is proof God Loves us and wants us to be happy”. We think he meant wine too. In the “spirit” of our president, who are we to argue?
  • August “Hey Daddy-o! Lets sip some Bordeaux” 50’s Theme. Don’t be a square.
  • September “Fall into Wine and have a Hauntingly Good Time” Fall Festival theme. Are you Team Coffin or are you Team Scarecrow? Whether you are a die hard fan of the Annual Slaughterhouse Lane Coffin Races or the Scarecrow we want to see your favorite fall fashion.
  • October “Sip, Sip Rosé!” Our Paint the Town Pink celebration is back for it’s second year. Join us for our last wine walk of the season and do some great thing for our local cancer treatment centers while you are at it!

Don’t forget: this year we are introducing a Season Pass for the season! Don’t want to worry about registering every month? We have you covered, Third Thursday Wine Walk Season Passes are available for pre-purchase through May 13th. You will have your own VIP line to check in and get your sticker and stamp for the month’s event plus a bonus gift for registering for the whole season.

Want to be a Participating business? You don’t have to have a brick-and-mortar in the district to participate. We are an equal opportunity promoter. This year you have two options to participate:

1. 1. As an out of district vendor, you can pay per event $25 and fill out the registration form to participate
   2. Become a 2022 sponsor of the Main Street Gardnerville program starting at $100, and all wine walks entries are included PLUS the perks of being a sponsor such as advertising space in this super cool email newsletter, placement on our website, and promotion through our social medial pages. (Clearly the best value)

ALL PARTICIPATING BUSINESSES MUST BE REGISTERED WITH MAIN STREET GARDNERVILLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE THIRD THURSDAY WINE WALKS

Don’t Forget about the FREE Jazz and Art Festival to Heritage Park on May 22, from 1- 6 pm. We are partnering with our friends at Carson Valley Arts Council to bring you this fun free community event. Bring your chairs, picnic lunch, and beverages for a fun day of great music and art. Scheduled to perform are the DHS Jazz Band, The Jazzettes, The Gardnervillains, Mile High Jazz Band, and the Sagebrush swingers. Again this is a FREE event to attend.

Don’t forget to sponsor your hanging flower baskets and Adopt-a-pots! MAIN STREET IN BLOOM Flower Basket and Adopt-a-Pot program is a unique program that allows us to work with Smith Valley High School Ag Department, China Springs Youth Camp, and Douglas High School FFA. These students get hands-on experience creating the baskets and flower pots you enjoy in the district during late spring and summer. How incredible is that? We are so appreciative of the future gardeners and ranchers and our Flower Committee for the time and care they put into cultivating this beauty for us. If you want to learn more about the program CLICK HERE. These pots will adopt quickly so get your registrations in today!

Main Street Gardnerville Facade Improvement Grant Program, our exciting new program with the support of our terrific community supporters: the Town of Gardnerville and Douglas County Nevada Economic Vitality, will allow us to invest back into our business community through a forgivable 50/50 grant for our business to do exterior improvements and enhancements on their buildings. We will be announcing the opening of the grant cycles, who is eligible, and how to apply on NEXT WEEK! We are so excited to help give back to our community as we create a distinct downtown together.

As always, thank you Main Street Gardnerville, our partnering organizations, and the community at large for your continued support and enthusiasm for our program. We could not do it without you!

We hope you have a Happy Easter and enjoy the beauty of our area over Spring Break. Get out and EXPLORE!

See you on the streets!

All the best,

Jen Nalder, Program Director
Main Street Gardnerville

Experience the Past. Enhance the Present. Embrace the Future.