“Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.”– Jenny Han
Summer, summer, summertime!
We hope you are surviving the heat wave, Main Street. As far as elements are concerned, in the Carson Valley, it comes all at once and relentlessly. You might want to capture some photos of Jobs and Freel Peaks, there haven’t been many years when we see snow on our peaks while trying to survive 100-degree weather! Oh Nevada, we sure love you.
Speaking of 100-degree weather – thank you to everyone who braved the heat to come wine walk with us last night! The weather was warm (ok HOT) and the beverages were refreshing. Although it was one of our lesser-attended events of the year with just under 400, we still had a phenomenal time. We are very grateful to everyone who supported our fundraising event and our fantastic small businesses. Thank you to our business district for staying open late and offering your incredible hospitality once again. We are really loving the hydration stations and refreshing nonalcoholic beverage options that are starting to pop up for our designated drivers and as palate cleansers for our walkers. I think I drank my weight in lemonade last night and was delicious. There is something about sipping on a sweet beverage and walking down our beautiful main street, it’s summertime memories at their finest.
If you have FOMO don’t worry, we have another fun Third Thursday Wine Walk planned for August. Grab those poodle skirts and grease that hair, “You’re the Wine that I Want” 50’s hot rod theme is coming at you, Thursday, August 17th!
We want to express a BIG thank you to Douglas County Sheriff’s Department for their support last night. They had extra traffic patrol on hand to slow that traffic down and ensure our pedestrians had a safe place to enjoy downtown. Thank you, Sheriff Coverly, Undersheriff Elges, and the entire Sheriff department for identifying this need for added safety and providing it. DCSO is the BEST.
ICYMI we hosted our Annual Freedom 5k – Run for the Wreath, the most patriotic 5k on this side of the Carson Valley, on the 4th of July. We had a record number of participants at 297 registered and just over 320 counting our tiny “runners” and our four-legged friends. It was such a great event! We can’t recall the last time we saw so much red, white, and blue in one place other than our July events. This is what we love about our community when we say dress up, you all understand the assignment! Our winners of the most patriot-dressed were our tiny runner, 8-year-old Kinley Holdridge, and husband and wife duo Jason and Tanya Hatfield. Until now, we would have never thought it was possible to run in jorts. Jason, you have proved us wrong!
This year we saw a new 1st place winner, Ramona Sanchez with a time of 18.32 minutes. We thought for sure our returning champ Luis Abandis was going to take it this year and become a threepeat champion. He wasn’t far behind Ramona finishing 2nd with a time of 19.23, and hot on his heels was 14-year-old Cayden Mosby finished 3rd with a time of 19.24. Luis has supported our event over the years and as a veteran himself, it is an honor to see him cross our finish line. The Freedom 5k marked a total of 1,281 days of running for Luis and we are sure by now he is close to hitting 1,300 days of running. Congratulations to all our winners and to everyone who crossed that finish line. If you didn’t catch our Freedom 5k promo series featuring “Meredith Knievel”, a screaming eagle, and Uncle Sam riding a unicorn – you can find it here on our YouTube Chanel
This event was so successful we were able to raise over $1800 for our Wreaths Across America Ceremony on December 16th at the Garden Cemetery. Thanks to your generous support of this fundraising event, we are 89% towards our goal with 195 of the 225 wreaths sponsored! This ceremony is near and dear to our hearts. Having an opportunity to honor our veterans laid to rest is very humbling and special to us here at MSG. Thank you for helping to make this happen. If you haven’t attended this event, check out this quick highlight of last year’s ceremony.
We talk a lot about fundraising around here, and how our signature events like the Third Thursday Wine Walk, Fall Festival, and Coffin Races, Freedom 5k raise monies for our organization, but you may not know what these funds are raised for. Most of you recognize our efforts with our iconic Main Street in Bloom flower baskets and flowerpots along Main Street, our community garden – the Heritage Park Gardens, murals, statues, and benches, but what do we do with the rest? At our core, we are a revitalization organization whose efforts are focused on developing a unique identity and preserving the historic nature of our community.
In simple terms – we are passionate about saving our buildings and helping our business and building owners with necessary improvements so the structures we are stewards of can last the tests of time. Our long-time goal became a reality last year with the creation of our Façade Improvement Grant program to do just that. The best part of it all, by attending our events and sponsoring our program, YOU help to make that happen.
We are very excited to announce our recent awardees of the 2023-2024 Façade Improvement Grant program. Last year thanks to your support, Main Street Gardnerville had $11,773.22 of Main Street dollars invested in this year’s grant cycle, and Douglas County, through its Economic Vitality department (and thanks to Douglas County Community Service Transient Occupancy Tax – TOTS funds) has contributed an additional $20,000 for this fiscal year for a total of $31,773.22 available for projects. These grants are reimbursement grants of up to 50% of total project costs awarded upon completion, which means we will see OVER $60,000 reinvested into the downtown this year!
And without further ado, your MSG Façade Improvement Grant winners: A Wildflower florist – updated signage, Re:Style Clothing Exchange – exterior paint, Historian Inn – balcony repair, and the Heritage Preservation Company for Cheshire Antiques – new roof. We are very excited to assist these businesses with their improvement and to have our first historic preservation project in this program with the rehabilitation of one of our oldest buildings in the district.
In other great news, we still have a balance left to award of just over $6,000 which means we are opening a fall cycle! Get those bids ready, fall cycle opens on September 1st. To learn more about this program and how to apply click HERE or on the flyer below.
If you love old buildings, flowers, art, gardening or just volunteering in general and want to learn more about Main Street Gardnerville and ways you can further help our mission, we invite you to join us for our I Scream for Main Street Ice Cream Social on August 10th from 5:30-7 pm at the Patio at DST Coffee. We will have our organization and committees on hand for you to learn all about our four-point approach and how you join! As we like to say, we put FUN in fundraising.
If you are looking for an opportunity to help before that, our Heritage Park Gardeners are hosting a community garden workday tomorrow, Saturday, July 22nd starting at 8 am until the heat sets in. Please come help the gardens tackle the weeds and bring the gardens back to its beauty. We have all the tools, we just need you. Grab some gloves and sunscreen and meet us in the Gardens!
Don’t forget to pop into our Just a Drop in Main Street Farmer’s Market every Wednesday from 8 am – 1 pm and get some wonderful organically grown produce and some unique finds from local vendors.
We also have the CV Flyte Wind Down Wednesday coming up quickly on July 26th from 4-8 pm at Heritage Park. The gals at CV Flyte continue to do an incredible job of organizing this event and bringing our favorite food trucks and beverage vendors. With the partnership and generous contributions from the Cultural Arts Foundation of Douglas County which provides the music lineup, this event is FREE to attend. This month’s music lineup will be the Rose Bud’s Dance Band and Cody Hayes Band for your music enjoyment with visual artist Bfree. You don’t want to miss it!
Thank you our loyal 5 readers for making it this far in the blog! There is always something happening here on Main Street, and we don’t want you to miss a moment. Here’s to more summer nights of making main street memories together. Throw on that sunscreen, hit the trails and beaches, venture downtown, sit for a spell in the cool air conditioning, and enjoy the days of sweet summertime. As always, remember to support your local businesses, tip generously, and be kind to each other.
We hope you are surviving the heat wave, Main Street. As far as elements are concerned, in the Carson Valley, it comes all at once and relentlessly. You might want to capture some photos of Jobs and Freel Peaks, there haven’t been many years when we see snow on our peaks while trying to survive 100-degree weather! Oh Nevada, we sure love you.
Speaking of 100-degree weather – thank you to everyone who braved the heat to come wine walk with us last night! The weather was warm (ok HOT) and the beverages were refreshing. Although it was one of our lesser-attended events of the year with just under 400, we still had a phenomenal time. We are very grateful to everyone who supported our fundraising event and our fantastic small businesses. Thank you to our business district for staying open late and offering your incredible hospitality once again. We are really loving the hydration stations and refreshing nonalcoholic beverage options that are starting to pop up for our designated drivers and as palate cleansers for our walkers. I think I drank my weight in lemonade last night and was delicious. There is something about sipping on a sweet beverage and walking down our beautiful main street, it’s summertime memories at their finest.
If you have FOMO don’t worry, we have another fun Third Thursday Wine Walk planned for August. Grab those poodle skirts and grease that hair, “You’re the Wine that I Want” 50’s hot rod theme is coming at you, Thursday, August 17th!
We want to express a BIG thank you to Douglas County Sheriff’s Department for their support last night. They had extra traffic patrol on hand to slow that traffic down and ensure our pedestrians had a safe place to enjoy downtown. Thank you, Sheriff Coverly, Undersheriff Elges, and the entire Sheriff department for identifying this need for added safety and providing it. DCSO is the BEST.
ICYMI we hosted our Annual Freedom 5k – Run for the Wreath, the most patriotic 5k on this side of the Carson Valley, on the 4th of July. We had a record number of participants at 297 registered and just over 320 counting our tiny “runners” and our four-legged friends. It was such a great event! We can’t recall the last time we saw so much red, white, and blue in one place other than our July events. This is what we love about our community when we say dress up, you all understand the assignment! Our winners of the most patriot-dressed were our tiny runner, 8-year-old Kinley Holdridge, and husband and wife duo Jason and Tanya Hatfield. Until now, we would have never thought it was possible to run in jorts. Jason, you have proved us wrong!
This year we saw a new 1st place winner, Ramona Sanchez with a time of 18.32 minutes. We thought for sure our returning champ Luis Abandis was going to take it this year and become a threepeat champion. He wasn’t far behind Ramona finishing 2nd with a time of 19.23, and hot on his heels was 14-year-old Cayden Mosby finished 3rd with a time of 19.24. Luis has supported our event over the years and as a veteran himself, it is an honor to see him cross our finish line. The Freedom 5k marked a total of 1,281 days of running for Luis and we are sure by now he is close to hitting 1,300 days of running. Congratulations to all our winners and to everyone who crossed that finish line. If you didn’t catch our Freedom 5k promo series featuring “Meredith Knievel”, a screaming eagle, and Uncle Sam riding a unicorn – you can find it here on our YouTube Chanel
This event was so successful we were able to raise over $1800 for our Wreaths Across America Ceremony on December 16th at the Garden Cemetery. Thanks to your generous support of this fundraising event, we are 89% towards our goal with 195 of the 225 wreaths sponsored! This ceremony is near and dear to our hearts. Having an opportunity to honor our veterans laid to rest is very humbling and special to us here at MSG. Thank you for helping to make this happen. If you haven’t attended this event, check out this quick highlight of last year’s ceremony.
We talk a lot about fundraising around here, and how our signature events like the Third Thursday Wine Walk, Fall Festival, and Coffin Races, Freedom 5k raise monies for our organization, but you may not know what these funds are raised for. Most of you recognize our efforts with our iconic Main Street in Bloom flower baskets and flowerpots along Main Street, our community garden – the Heritage Park Gardens, murals, statues, and benches, but what do we do with the rest? At our core, we are a revitalization organization whose efforts are focused on developing a unique identity and preserving the historic nature of our community.
In simple terms – we are passionate about saving our buildings and helping our business and building owners with necessary improvements so the structures we are stewards of can last the tests of time. Our long-time goal became a reality last year with the creation of our Façade Improvement Grant program to do just that. The best part of it all, by attending our events and sponsoring our program, YOU help to make that happen.
We are very excited to announce our recent awardees of the 2023-2024 Façade Improvement Grant program. Last year thanks to your support, Main Street Gardnerville had $11,773.22 of Main Street dollars invested in this year’s grant cycle, and Douglas County, through its Economic Vitality department (and thanks to Douglas County Community Service Transient Occupancy Tax – TOTS funds) has contributed an additional $20,000 for this fiscal year for a total of $31,773.22 available for projects. These grants are reimbursement grants of up to 50% of total project costs awarded upon completion, which means we will see OVER $60,000 reinvested into the downtown this year!
And without further ado, your MSG Façade Improvement Grant winners: A Wildflower florist – updated signage, Re:Style Clothing Exchange – exterior paint, Historian Inn – balcony repair, and the Heritage Preservation Company for Cheshire Antiques – new roof. We are very excited to assist these businesses with their improvement and to have our first historic preservation project in this program with the rehabilitation of one of our oldest buildings in the district.
In other great news, we still have a balance left to award of just over $6,000 which means we are opening a fall cycle! Get those bids ready, fall cycle opens on September 1st. To learn more about this program and how to apply click HERE or on the flyer below.
If you love old buildings, flowers, art, gardening or just volunteering in general and want to learn more about Main Street Gardnerville and ways you can further help our mission, we invite you to join us for our I Scream for Main Street Ice Cream Social on August 10th from 5:30-7 pm at the Patio at DST Coffee. We will have our organization and committees on hand for you to learn all about our four-point approach and how you join! As we like to say, we put FUN in fundraising.
If you are looking for an opportunity to help before that, our Heritage Park Gardeners are hosting a community garden workday tomorrow, Saturday, July 22nd starting at 8 am until the heat sets in. Please come help the gardens tackle the weeds and bring the gardens back to its beauty. We have all the tools, we just need you. Grab some gloves and sunscreen and meet us in the Gardens!
Don’t forget to pop into our Just a Drop in Main Street Farmer’s Market every Wednesday from 8 am – 1 pm and get some wonderful organically grown produce and some unique finds from local vendors.
We also have the CV Flyte Wind Down Wednesday coming up quickly on July 26th from 4-8 pm at Heritage Park. The gals at CV Flyte continue to do an incredible job of organizing this event and bringing our favorite food trucks and beverage vendors. With the partnership and generous contributions from the Cultural Arts Foundation of Douglas County which provides the music lineup, this event is FREE to attend. This month’s music lineup will be the Rose Bud’s Dance Band and Cody Hayes Band for your music enjoyment with visual artist Bfree. You don’t want to miss it!
Thank you our loyal 5 readers for making it this far in the blog! There is always something happening here on Main Street, and we don’t want you to miss a moment. Here’s to more summer nights of making main street memories together. Throw on that sunscreen, hit the trails and beaches, venture downtown, sit for a spell in the cool air conditioning, and enjoy the days of sweet summertime. As always, remember to support your local businesses, tip generously, and be kind to each other.
Until next time Main Street!
Jen Nalder, Program Director
Main Street Gardnerville
Main Street Gardnerville is a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to revitalize downtown Gardnerville utilizing design, organization, promotion & district vitality to develop a unique identity and preserve the historic nature of our community