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Carson City Fourth of July Fireworks will be leaving Mills Park area for first time in 33 years

UPDATE: Carson City responds to questions regarding Fourth of July fireworks changes, access to Centennial Park.

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For the first time in 33 years, the Carson City Fourth of July fireworks will not be held near Mills Park.

Instead, the display will move to Eagle Valley Golf Course, located at 3999 Centennial Park Dr. In addition, the Fourth of July celebration will now include a golf tournament in addition to a dinner and VIP Fireworks viewing option.

The fireworks have been put on each year by Nevada Rural Counties RSVP Program and is one of their largest fundraisers for the year, which helps them offer free services to seniors throughout the rural Northern Nevada counties.

According to RSVP Director Molly Walt, the original site was behind Carson High School in an empty field near Mills Park. However, that field has since been given to The Greenhouse Project and can no longer be used for the fireworks. For the past two years, the Ryder Homes development next door to the high school has been allowing them to use the undeveloped portion of their property as the fireworks site, but now has been converted to housing.

“Starting July 5 of last year, I started looking for a new staging site,” Walt said. “The site that I was looking for was one that could accommodate eight and 10 inch mortars because those are the ‘wow’ factor. You need a large amount of land for the staging site. We exhausted every location that could possibly keep it closer to Mills Park.”

The city also wanted to keep the fireworks display near Mills Park since people enjoy using the park during the day for picnics leading up to to the fireworks.

“The only place we could find is Eagle Valley Golf Course,” Walt continued. “There’s not a lot of housing or structures, it’s far enough away from Highway 50 and there is access for (fire trucks) to get there through Centennial Park in case of a fire.”

And, most importantly, the driving range has enough space to allow for the eight and 10-inch mortars.

“RSVP pays for the fireworks with the help of the city and sponsors such as Carson City Toyota and Allison & McKenzie, but this is our fundraiser so we needed it to have the fundraising appeal as well. Now with it being at the golf course, we’re doing a golf tournament and for those who aren’t golfers, the dinner starts at six.”

While entrance to the golf course for the viewing does require a ticket, Walt says she expects people will still be able to see the fireworks from all around. Walt said at this time, Carson City Parks and Recreation will not be opening Centennial Park to the public for the fireworks.

“We as a community have to come together to make this work if we are to continue to have a fireworks show,” Walt said.

Ticketed events:

Golf Tournament – Dinner – VIP Fireworks Viewing:
Start your 4th of July with a fun and friendly golf tournament. Tee time begins with a shotgun start at 2:30 p.m., and the tournament promises to be a competitive and enjoyable experience for golfers of all skill levels.
 
Dinner and VIP Fireworks Viewing: 
If golf isn’t your thing, join us for a delightful dinner and a VIP viewing of the fireworks show. The dinner will commence at 6:00 p.m., featuring a sumptuous menu prepared by Duncan Golf.
Following the dinner, guests will be treated to a VIP viewing of the 4th of July fireworks show, offering the best seats in the house to enjoy the dazzling display.
 
Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.nevadaruralrsvp.org, scan QR Code, or by contacting Molly Walt at (775) 687-4680 or info@nvrsvp.com.

We will provide updates when available.

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