Spring and Summer events in Carson City are being tentatively planned, dependent on lifting COVID restrictions

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the cancellation or postponement of Spring and Summer activities in 2020, which Carson City locals and beyond have marked on their social calendars as ‘until further notice’.

With restrictions loosened on Feb. 15 in a “safe reopening” effort through May 1, regional event coordinators have begun to plan 2021 entertainment in anticipation of lifted regulations.

David Peterson, Executive Director of the Carson City Culture and Tourism Authority, also known as “Visit Carson City,” said getting outdoors has been at the forefront of their promotion to locals looking for safe, socially-distanced activities.

“We’re a perfect city, a perfect sort-of center point with our surrounding communities,” Peterson said. “We talk about getting up into Ash Canyon, getting up into Kings Canyon. You have the Prison Hill Recreation Area, you have the Carson River. Parks and Rec has done an amazing job with the trail development and the muscle-power building up and creating the trails.”

Additionally, Peterson said the Kit Carson Trail, or blue line trail, has been relaunched in the Historic West Side of Carson City with sandstone markers made from the same Nevada State Prison quarry that constructed many of the buildings on that side of town.

“It’s a part of our ‘Discover Your Capital’ campaign to Nevadans,” Peterson said. “Talking about the Kit Carson Trail and getting people out and about to see these wonderful old, historic buildings that bring in the culture of Carson City, not to mention our heritage and history.”

A collaboration between Visit Carson City and Silver State Industries, funded by the C.A.R.E.S. relief fund, allowed for the production of 20,000 individual hand sanitizer bottles to be distributed among local businesses, according to Peterson. More on how Visit Carson City is taking COVID precautions can be found here.

“Our approach is showing (visitors) what’s open and saying, when you’re ready, we’re here,” Peterson said. “We want to make sure Carson City is still top of mind with them.”

Additionally, the Nevada State Prison, which closed in 2012, is offering tours as a newly renovated museum as early as this spring. Go here for more on how a functioning prison has become a historical landmark for the community to explore.

Chris Moran, Public Relations Specialist for the Nevada Division of Tourism, said Travel Nevada is continuing to monitor changes in the pandemic for national promotion of tourism in Nevada, but is encouraging in-state travel through the Discover Your Nevada campaign.

The Nevada State Museum Carson City, State Railroad Museum, and the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum all opened their doors again to limited capacity in January, according to Moran.

“The museums follow state directives requiring face coverings, use of hand sanitizer and social distancing,” Moran said.

Whether or not the annual Father’s Day Pow Wow will be held this year at the Stewart Indian School grounds is still to be determined.

Lisa Lee, Executive Director of Advocates to End Domestic Violence, oversees the Taste of Downtown, which is the biggest fundraising event for AEDV in Carson City, started in 1994.

What began as a small restaurant vendor event has now grown into over 35 restaurants sharing their piece of Carson City local dining. Annually held in June, Taste of Downtown is now greenlit by the city for the beginning of September, according to Lee.

“A few years ago, our second year of doing it, our restaurants pushed us to do two in one year,” Lee said. “We did one in June and one in September. September was beautiful, just perfect weather. We’ll probably take it back to some of our original beginnings, to where it was smaller, we’ll limit the number of tickets sold and we probably limit the number of restaurants that we can include.”

Lee said she’s wary of limiting the number of vendors at this year’s party, because she knows local restaurant owners have been “holding on by their fingertips” to get past the economic disparity of the pandemic.

“We want to use it as a tool, which our original intention was, as a way to promote restaurants,” Lee said. “Possibly by September, we’ll all need to be reminded about how great it was to go out and eat, and there are some wonderful places in Carson City.”

Elaine Barkdull-Spencer, General Manager for the V&T Railroad, said V&T has partnered with a railbike company called Freedom Rail out of Utica, New York. Freedom Rail will provide V&T with up to 15 bikes for use of patrons who want to come to the railroad for the experience.

“Railbikes can start earlier than a train,” Barkdull-Spencer said. “Railbikes can be cancelled if there’s a weather event, but if the weather continues the way it is now, we’re actually planning to get started on Apr. 17.”

According to Barkdull-Spencer, bikes are sterilized after each use by a different party, and all riders must wear a mask while they are waiting their turn in the depot among other parties. Employees working the railbike events must be masked at all times, as well as be conscious of their proximity to one another.

“We’re fortunate with railbikes because our facility is very big and large and roomy,” Barkdull-Spencer said. “We have tables that we sit (riders) at and we social distance everyone all of the time.”

Each railbike ride is an hour and fifteen minute tour of the Carson River Canyon and includes two water and snack breaks along the way. A railbike can seat up to four riders and tickets are 45 dollars a seat. Those interested can learn more about how to ride here.

The Jazz and Beyond Music and Arts Festival, put on by the Mile High Jazz Band Association, has played every August in Carson City since 2004. The event was subsequently moved to virtual live-streaming last year due to ongoing health concerns.

“We were fortunate to receive a PETS (Pandemic Emergency Technical Support) grant that will help us with the additional technical costs associated with presenting music during the pandemic in non-traditional ways,” said David Bugli, conductor of the Carson City Symphony and leader of the Mile High Jazz Band.

Bugli said the MHJB Assoc. has plans to present the Jazz Festival Aug. 13-29. In addition, the Open Studios Tour will be presented on two days this summer, on Aug. 21 and 22, being reimagined in a live, live-streamed or pre-recorded fashion, wherever the musicians are playing from.

“I and the people I work with plan on staying flexible,” Bugli said. “We will take advantage of safe opportunities to perform for our northern Nevada neighbors, as we have since 1984.”

Jayme Watts, Co-Owner of Sassafras Eclectic Food Joint, has been organizing the Sassabration event since 2015. The event is normally held in June or July, but may be pushed back to September this year, according to Watts.

“We’ve heard from a few vendors that are interested, and obviously the bands want to get back out into the world,” Watts said of the community event. “But we just don’t know what to do, obviously. If we do (the celebration), we’re going to do it the way we’ve always done it.”

According to Gina Lopez, Executive Director of the Brewery Arts Center, the popular Levitt AMP concert series, funded by the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation, is planned to stage a 10-week series beginning on June 26.

“The audience will probably have to be in social distanced circles,” Lopez said. “Unfortunately doing it that way, with the space that we have, we’re probably looking at doing it for a fraction of the people that we would normally serve in a typical concert year.”

When socially distanced activities forced the BAC to pivot on their Levitt AMP plans last summer, the rise of flatbed concert series was a suitable alternative. The mobile performances will be back again this year, beginning as early as March.

“It’s a part of a pre-Levitt series,” Lopez said. “We wanted to start in January, but the weather had prevented us from doing that. So we’ll be popping up when we can as weather permits.”

According to Peterson, Carson City officials in Health and Human Services, among others, have done an incredible job of promoting messaging around social distancing and enforcing governor directives.

“We’re known as the Destination Marketing Organization, the DMO, for Carson City,” Peterson said. “But since COVID has happened, really I see the M has changed from marketing moreso to management, and actually managing Carson City as a visitor destination because we don’t want people coming in if they don’t feel safe and if they’re not ready to travel.”

Local theater companies in the Carson City area are also struggling to hold live performances amidst COVID restrictions, go here for that recent story.

Epic Rides has also cancelled their June dates for the Off-Road bike event held in Carson City. Go here for that story.