Carson City's annual Fourth of July carnival, fireworks show at Mills Park planned for 2021 holiday weekend
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Thu, 03/11/2021 - 11:55am
The Fourth of July carnival and fireworks show held annually at Mills Park in Carson City is already in the works for this Independence Day weekend, organizers confirmed.
Molly Walt, CEO of the Nevada Rural Counties Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, also known as RSVP, said plans are moving forward for this summer's event.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, RSVP’s biggest fundraising efforts were canceled last year, along with all other carnival events the non-profit sponsors.
“We’re hoping it can be 100 percent capacity,” Walt said. “The person who supplies the carnival rides, he’s on board, the pyrotech is on board. Everybody is ready to go.”
RSVP partners with Pyroguys, a fireworks company based out of Reno, to put on the fireworks show. Wold Amusements, based out of Hanford, Calif., supplies the carnival rides for the event.
“It doesn't make it worth our while to have the carnival without 100 percent capacity,” Walt said. “A fence going around the entire venue to maintain capacity and having security, it’s costly.”
To make up for lost funding in the last year, Walt said RSVP is looking into securing external sponsors to help pay for the costs of carnival rides, fireworks, and even a few new amenities RSVP wants to bring to the weekend event.
Sponsorship packages, for those interested in donating, are available on RSVP’s website here. Before the pandemic ensued, a cancellation of all the RSVP carnivals, Walt said people were able to purchase tickets for a VIP Tent Experience for use during the Fourth of July celebration.
Tickets and special packages are still available for purchase and all proceeds go toward assisting RSVP in coordinating the carnival and fireworks show.
Additionally, Walt and her team are planning a fun run to substitute fundraising for the annual Mother’s Day carnival, which has already been cancelled this year due to capacity restrictions.
RSVP will be holding a virtual 5k/10k run, walk, jog called “Steppin’ Up For Seniors”. The event will circulate online for the entire month of April, which happens to be Volunteer Appreciation Month. More information can be found here. You can sign up here.
“To celebrate our volunteers, we’re doing Steppin’ Up For Seniors,” Walt said. “Those virtual runs can go nation-wide, but this is a fundraiser we can hopefully kind of capture our rural counties as well where we provide a lot of services for them.”
