Carson City Pokemon Go group brings more than 150 enthusiasts to Mills Park
The Pokémon Go Carson City group joined forces with Fallon, Fernley, Sparks, Reno and South Lake Tahoe Pokémon Go groups to hold the first Northern Nevada All Community Day event — and the biggest community day yet for Carson City — bringing more than 150 enthusiasts to Mills Park on Saturday for competition and prizes, food and family fun.
The idea behind the gathering was to capture footage of Pokémon Go action in the Carson City area, said Raquel Gonzalez-Rivera, one of several event organizers, including Mathew Tholl of Fallon, Darrell Hurles of Reno, David Turner of Reno/Sparks, Josh Oueilhe of Reno, Michelle Beck from Spanish Springs and Kris Ramos of Gardnerville.
Combined, these groups will be submitting a video from Saturday's event to Niantic company, which will be choosing a city and park to host the next Pokémon Go Live event slated for 2020.
The leaders of these groups have been working behind the scenes for months looking for the best location in the Northern Nevada area that fits the entry requirements and Mills Park was the perfect location.
Niantic, Inc. is an American software development company based in San Francisco, which is best known for developing Pokémon Go, Ingress, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
Pokémon Go is an augmented reality mobile game that uses mobiles device GPS to locate, capture, battle, and train virtual creatures, called Pokémon, which appear as if they are in the player's real-world location. The game is free to play.
The hope is for Carson City to be selected for the event, which could bring 10,000 Pokémon Go enthusiasts to the capital city and Northern Nevada for a three-day gathering, said Gonzalez-Rivera.
Players came Saturday from around the greater Reno, Tahoe, Carson Valley and Carson City area to participate.
"The youngest person I met was 5 years old. The oldest was 65," she said. "You want kids to learn history while they play a game? Have them play Pokémon Go."
It couldn't have been a safer event, either, she noted, as participants Saturday included retired police officers, nurses, and search and rescue volunteers.
Scoups Ice Cream and Soup Bar was on hand and provided Pokémon Go-themed ice cream. Gonzalez-Rivera also offered limo service to people from Reno join the event.
"Those who did loved it," she said, noting that companies have since reached out looking to sponsor the next Carson City event.
Carson City's next Pokémon Go Community event will be announced on its website.
To learn more about the Carson City Pokemon Go group, the game, upcoming events and activities, go here.
- Carson City
- 000
- 2020
- bar
- carson
- Carson City Event
- City
- community
- Community,
- Competition
- day
- Development
- event
- events
- Fallon
- Family
- family fun
- fernley
- Food
- Free
- fun
- gathering
- Harry Potter
- hope
- Ice
- ice cream
- Inc.
- JOIN
- kids
- Kids!
- Lake
- learn
- live
- Mills Park
- Nevada
- News
- Northern Nevada
- officers
- play
- police
- police officers
- prizes
- Rescue
- saturday
- Search
- service
- south
- South Lake Tahoe
- Spanish
- Sparks
- tahoe
- video
- virtual
- volunteers
- website
- Carson Valley
- Community Event
- Gardnerville
- history
- Inc
- Lake Tahoe
- reno
- san francisco