Silver State musings: Nevada Day, Halloween, Dennis Hof and elections

Every year folks ask what day Halloween trick-or-treating occurs in Carson City.

In any other state and in any other Nevada community, there is no question. Trick-or-treating happens each year on Halloween night, Oct. 31.

But not always in Carson City, where the ghoulish candy-gathering ritual occasionally takes place on some other night.

This is because Nevada achieved statehood on Halloween, Oct. 31, 1864. And beginning on Oct. 31, 1938 the Nevada Day Parade became an annual city-wide event in Carson City; the celebration of which came into conflict with the observance of Halloween.

Then in 2000, the Nevada Legislature declared the last Friday in October as the official observance of Nevada Day, moving the parade to the last Saturday in October.

Since Oct. 31 occasionally falls on a Saturday — the last Saturday of October — Halloween trick-or-treating in Carson City gets moved to a different night during those calendar years, because a state law declares the Nevada Day Parade to take place in the state capital on the last Saturday of the month.

Apparently, we can't have both happening on the same day here.

For all other calendar years, Halloween trick-or-treating in Carson City occurs on Oct. 31, the same as in any other community.

Since Oct. 31 lands on a Wednesday this year, Halloween trick-or-treating in the Nevada capital happens on the actual Halloween night. Nothing gets moved.

The last time Halloween trick-or-treating had been moved in Carson City was 2015, which happened to be the last time that Oct. 31 fell on a Saturday. Trick-or-treat activities that year were bumped up one day to Friday, Oct. 30 to keep separate from the Nevada Day Parade celebration.

According to future calendars, the next time Oct. 31 falls on a Saturday will be two years from now in 2020. At that time, Halloween trick-or-treating will occur on some other night; likely the night before on Friday, Oct. 30 again. But be sure to check with the local city government for an official trick-or-treating date when that time comes.

Occasional alterations to the trick-or-treating schedule makes the Nevada state capital unique from other communities. While the change can be inconvenient, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Families throughout the region have the opportunity to double-dip by trick-or-treating one night in Carson City and another night elsewhere.

The holiday conflict has grown iconic to Nevada over the years, the way Dennis Hof managed to become the face of an industry unique to the Silver State.

The flamboyant brothel owner, who died suddenly on Oct. 16 at age 72, took legalized prostitution in Nevada to, uh, new lengths, so to speak, almost single-handedly reshaping the state's controversial sex industry.

Hof gave himself the endearing moniker, "Trump from Pahrump," hoping to secure a state senate seat as the Republican Party candidate this year. To me, Hof was more like a modern-day P.T. Barnum; Nevada's very own version.

Noted by some as an enterprising entrepreneur, Hof's ambitions were surpassed only by his showmanship.

He was a verbose, controversial attention-seeker. Some may argue that he gave to charities vainly only to look good for his own benefit.

Perhaps.

But no one can dispute that he gave, making him an odd anomaly: A pimp with a charitable edge.

The counties in which his brothels operate have benefited from Hof's business, and so have residents there.

Hof, like the Silver State in which he lived, was a colorful libertarian rebel who managed to upset a lot of folks with his upfront style.

I'd say he did more than that.

Dennis Hof swam against the current, marched to the beat of a different drum, and did things his own way. Right or wrong, good or bad, he lived his life on this earth by his terms.

Fittingly, Dennis Hof passed away inside the suite of one of his brothels following a raucus birthday bash and romp. I wonder if that's the way he wanted to go.

Call it poetic justice or yet another example of Hof doing things his own way. Either way, Nevada lost an icon, a distinctive Silver State personality who never shied away from controversy.

If there was socioeconomic controversy in Nevada, more often than not Dennis Hof was in the middle of it.

Ironically, though, he will not see the conclusion of current political conflicts surrounding his enterprises in Lyon and Nye counties. Voters in those districts will make some decisions on election day, Nov. 6.

This year is shaping up to be as contentious a mid-term election as any in our state's history. Nevadans may well trade in one career politician for another in multiple local and statewide races.

That isn't a uniquely Nevada trend, either. It seems to be the way much of the nation goes most of the time.

The U.S. Senate seat up for vote this year is currently occupied by one career politician, a Carson City local.

He is being challenged by another career-minded politician who is looking to do exactly what he did a few years back: Exchange her seat in Congress for a better one.

What exactly will we have gained by replacing one ladder climber with another?

Then there is the gubernatorial race to replace arguably one of the most popular state governors in recent memory.

In this case, we will lose one career politician to term limits and gain another to occupy the Governor's Mansion on Mountain Street.

Regardless of whether the victor is a pachyderm or a, uh, donkey, he will be a career-minded politician; one from a family rich in Nevada political heritage, and another from a powerful county commission seeking to vault himself into the Governor's Mansion.

The registered independent in me sees both races as a wash. We still get career politicians, no matter how one slices the pie. Their pledges and promises are typically nothing more substantive than sales pitches.

We are not in the business of electing leaders, who tend to feather their nests at our expense, despite what a Reno billboard I saw recently had assumed.

We are in the business of electing representatives who serve as our voices in government. We are the leaders, not them.

Don't you think it's time we start leading and vote in favor of folks who will do more than bend an ear, give us face time, or sick a staffer on us?

We can behave like much of the rest of the country at the polls and continue selecting representatives who do their party's bidding in hopes of moving up the proverbial corporate ladder.

Or, we can start to act more like Nevadans and elect candidates who actually give more than they get, serving their neighbors before themselves.

Those folks are out there. Unfortunately, they aren't usually the ones choosing to run for office, because of their values and priorities. They'd rather raise their families and secure their homes than spend time away from either.

But they are exactly the people needed in office; not those who just want the perks of moving into an executive suite.

It's too late to do the right thing this year. We are stuck with who we've got on the ballot.

That's why primary elections are so important, because then we stand a better chance of selecting candidates with less self-interested motives.

Unfortunately, primary election turn-outs are typically dismal, both here in Nevada and nationwide. I guess a lot folks assume that primaries aren't as important as general elections.

The only wrong or bad vote, in my opinion, is no vote at all. If you skip the primaries, then don't complain about the field of candidates we are left with come November.

One of these days, one of these elections, perhaps the veil will finally be lifted from the eyes of Nevada voters.

Or maybe not. Only time will tell.