Reno-Tahoe

The region’s preeminent holiday celebration and fireworks display – Star Spangled Sparks – takes place on July 4 with events at locations including Victorian Square in downtown Sparks, the Sparks Marina and the Legends at Sparks Marina destination retail center. The fireworks show, launched from John Ascuaga’s Nugget and viewable from Victorian Square at 9:30 p.m., is equally impressive.

• Reno’s new baseball team is offering its own show with fireworks launched at Aces Stadium in downtown Reno after the game.
• In North Tahoe/Truckee, several shows in Incline Village (Incline Beach), Tahoe City (Commons Beach) and Donner Lake (West End Beach) start at 9:30. If you’re headed to Truckee be sure to check out the parade downtown.
• And in Carson City, Mills Park offers revelers a party atmosphere highlighted by fireworks at 9:15 p.m.

File it under “Only in Reno.” It’s a Michael Jackson tribute, by an Elvis impersonator singing karaoke at Club Cal Neva. That’s like four great things all mixed together.

Special events season is underway in Reno Tahoe, and for fans of beer, blues music and hearty barbecue there may be no better time than the Great Eldorado BBQ, Brews & Blues Festival, June 27-28.

Microbreweries from all over the world pour into the region – 31 in all – this weekend to pour their finest wares, while bands play on several stages and ribs, burgers and brats sizzle on the grill.

Virginia Street in downtown Reno is closed to traffic and lined with vendor tents, all under the downtown casino skyline. Read More

Terrible’s Sands Regency Casino Hotel is bringing extreme rock crawling to downtown Reno. The W.E. Rock Western US Rock Crawling Nationals will take place as part of Reno Rocks 4×4.com over Father’s Day weekend.

Two additional events scheduled for Reno Rocks 4×4.com will give amateur drivers the unique opportunity to test their skills on the manmade W.E. Rock course, the Surplus City Jeep Parts High Sierra Rock Crawling Championship and Northern Nevada 4×4 Club Challenge Crawl.

Other Reno Rocks 4×4.com highlights include a Wheelers for the Wounded Tour Stop, 4×4 Show & Shine and 4×4 Rough & Tough competitions, the Surplus City Jeep Parts Teeter Totter and Ramp Travel Index (RTI), a People’s Choice Team Tire Climb, Beauty and the 4×4 Beast Contest, New 4×4 Showcase, Military and Public Safety 4×4 Vehicle Displays, a Manufacturers Midway, a Friday night pool party with men’s and women’s swimsuit competitions, and free live music in the casino Friday and Saturday nights. For more information on any of the events taking place at Reno Rocks 4×4.com, visit www.RenoRocks4×4.com and follow the Forum links.

Spectator season passes for Reno Rocks are now available at www.sandsrenoevents.com. Participant registration packages are also available.

Recognized as one of the most comprehensive art festivals in the country by the National Endowment for the Arts, Artown brings more than 400 events to downtown Reno, Nev., for an extraordinary showcase of theater, dance, film and history as well as multi-cultural, musical, visual and performing arts.

Now in its 14th year, Artown expands its month-long event into a 32-day festival transforming the city into a summer epicenter of cultural entertainment. Launching Artown into the month-long cultural celebrations, the festival’s July 1 opening night brings Richie Havens, the artist that opened Woodstock 40 years ago.

This year’s Artown Opening Extravaganza includes a children’s hands-on printmaking workshop with festival artist Candace Nicol, face painting for children with Body Masterpiece and a performance by Havens. The festival continues with the nationally recognized and multi-faceted Aspen Santa Fe Ballet July 24 and ”Queen of Bluegrass” Rhonda Vincent and the Rage with opening band Contraband July 25.

A number of Festival favorites return including the Family Series, Monday Night Music Series, World Music Series, Dancing in the Park, Rollin’ on the River music series, Movies in the Park, Artown After Dark and the Discover the Arts children’s series. Artown’s Closing Night, which has grown year after year to now rival opening night, brings Motown stars The Funk Brothers to Wingfield Park on what festival organizers are dubbing July 32 (Aug. 1) to wrap up the festival’s 14th year on a Saturday.

For schedule details or to advance order a FREE copy of the Little Book of Artown, visit www.RenoIsArtown.com or call 775-322-1538.

Reno’s Tamarack Junction Casino will host the best athletes from the canine world at the Splash Dogs Summer Solstice Dock Jumping Competition on June 19-21.

The event, open to dogs of all shapes, sizes and abilities, takes place in the casino parking lot and features a portable pool and dock. And for the non-athletes, there’s plenty of barbecue, drink and fun on-site.

Check out event details here, and come on out for a good time.


Event Schedule

Friday, June 19

• Registration opens – 2PM
• Open Practice Dock – 2PM
• Wave #1 – 4:00 PM
• Wave #2 – 6:00 PM
• Dock Closes – 7PM

Saturday, June 20

• Registration opens – 9AM
• Open Practice Dock – 9AM
• Wave #3 – 3:00 PM
• Wave #4 – 5:00 PM
• Super Vertical – 7:00 PM
• Dock Closes – 8PM

Sunday, June 21

• Registration opens – 8AM
• Open Practice Dock – 8AM
• Wave #5 – 9:00 AM
• Wave #6 – 11:00 AM
• Lap Dog Finals – 1:00PM
• Junior Handler Finals – 1:00PM
• Open Finals – 1:00PM
• Pro Finals – 2:00PM
• Pro Final 4 – 2:00PM
• Dock Closes – 6PM

The Hills are alive in Reno-Tahoe, as the 11th Annual EuroFest takes over the parking lot at Terrible’s Sands Regency this weekend, June 5-7.

With a huge selection of beers ranging from Spaten, Warsteiner, Kronenbourg and Stella Artois, to Hoegaarden, Bass Ale, Young Chocolate Stout and Monty Pythons’ Holy Grail Ale, there’ll be no shortage of beverages to quench any thirst brought on by dancing to the live music.

Also, sample a variety of European cuisine, including specialties from Germany, England, Spain (including Basque country), Poland and Italy.

EuroFest, as always, is free so bring your friends and have a great time at the Sands.

Silver Legacy, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Alice 96.5 are teaming up to help find a cure. The first annual “Buy a Bachelor, Find a Cure” auction is on Thursday, June 4 at 6 p.m. in Aura Ultra Lounge.

Alice’s own Connie Wray will MC the event, as local celebrities and eligible bachelors are auctioned off to the highest bidder, all to help find a cure for blood cancers. Hors d’oeuvres will be served during the bachelor preview at 6 p.m. with the bachelor auction starting at 7 p.m. Guests can sip on the signature drink for the evening, the “Incredible Hunk.” A portion of this drink’s sales and all proceeds from the bachelor auction will be donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The winning bachelor and his bidder will win dinner at Silver Legacy’s Sterling’s Seafood and Steakhouse. Other prizes include dinner packages at Café Sedona and Fairchild’s Oyster Bar.

The event also includes a silent auction featuring items such as spa treatments, Silver Legacy dinner and show packages, gift certificates for local eateries, wine tasting packages, comedy club tickets, Aces family pack of tickets and more.

Calling this a “shopping center” doesn’t do it justice. It’s a shopping experience.

The Legends at Sparks Marina, a destination retail center under construction in Sparks, Nev., is almost ready for its June 18 first-phase opening. And developers of the mega-mall are going big. Really big.

From a huge tower that anchors the center of the center, to common areas with statues depicting Nevada historical figures, features and wildlife, the concept behind Legends is to create a mecca for shopping and socializing. The first phase is expected to bring 28 tenants online, with a total of 47 tenants open for business by Aug. 1. Several tenants are already wowing visitors, including Scheels, the World’s Largest All Sports Store (at nearly 300,000 square feet) and Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen. By next spring there will also be a 13-theater movie complex, complete with an iMax screen – and tentative plans call for a destination casino hotel resort to anchor the north end of the project, as well as a concert venue that can seat up to 9,000 for big-name acts.

Bringing the “legends” to Legends

“The idea is to celebrate the history, people and places of Nevada,” said Dennis McGovern, Legends general manager. “When the first phase is finished you’ll see three ‘living room’ areas surrounded by artist depictions of the bristlecone pine (Nevada’s state tree), bighorn sheep, desert tortoise, a statue of Samuel Clemens …”

Common areas are replete with waterfalls, firepits, and lush landscaping. McGovern says developers are planting 1,600 trees and 26,000 shrubs at the site. The landscape is also varied – elevation changes enhance the feeling place and reflect the diverse topography of Northern Nevada.

Designed to appeal to all of the senses, a 151-speaker sound system will be installed at Legends, along with spaces for public events, including a five-story Christmas tree during the holiday season.

But it’s (mostly) about the shopping

On Wednesday 500 workers were on site – installing fixtures, punching out final touches on storefronts, hanging signs, pouring concrete and powering the huge electrical infrastructure.
“This place is changing every day,” McGovern said. “You can barely walk through here right now, but by June 18 this won’t even look like a construction site.”

The tenant mix will be 60 percent outlets – good news for deal seekers. Stores that have signed on the dotted line include:

Entertainment

• Dickinson Theatres & IMAX
• Kingpins

Hotel/Casino

• The Legends Bay Casino, Resort, Spa (Olympia Gaming)

Restaurants

• Cadillac Ranch
• FreshBerry Yogurt Cafe
• Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen
• Olive Garden
• Patsy Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria
• Subway

Stores

• Adidas
• Ann Taylor Factory
• Banana Republic Factory Store
• Bath and Body Works
• BCBG
• BCBGirls
• Best Buy
• Bose Factory Store
• Carter’s
• Converse
• Easy Spirit
• GameStop
• Gap Outlet
• GNC
• Guess Factory Store
• Gymboree Outlet
• Harry & David
• Jones New York
• Kasper
• Kenneth Cole
• Lane Bryant Outlet
• Leather Works
• Lucky Nails
• Michael Kors
• Nike Factory Store
• Nine West Outlet
• Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse
• Old Farmer’s Almanac
• Osh Kosh B’Gosh
• Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th
• Samsonite Factory Outlet
• Scheels
• Skechers USA Outlet
• Sprint
• Styles for Less
• Target
• Tommy Hilfiger
• Vans
• Volcom

Celebrate Reno-Tahoe’s newest destination

Although the ribbon will be cut June 18, Legends is going to stretch the party all summer long. A grand opening celebration runs July 31-Aug. 9.  Events include a summer concert series, fashion show, celebrity appearances, fireworks and more. The opening events coincide with the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open PGA Tour event and Hot August Nights.

McAvoy Layne is The Ghost of Mark Twain in a special one night performance of Mark Twain’s Nevada from the Wild Stallion to the Automobile on June 13, at the National Automobile Museum, The Harrah Collection, in downtown Reno.  The doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the program beginning at 7 p.m.

Layne (whose resemblance to Mark Twain is eerie) begins his saga of Twain’s experience in Samuel Clemens’ boyhood home of Hannibal, MO and skips along “jaunty-jolly” to his piloting days on the Mississippi. The Twain scholar regales his audience with Twains hapless Civil War misadventures, where he admits “I was missing in action before a shot was fired.”

Layne’s portrayal of Mark Twain continues with his Overland journey to Nevada, culminating with his love affair with the “Lake of the Sky,” Lake Tahoe.

Since Twain loved technology, Layne will share some of the humorists’ first impressions of the newest form of transportation available in his day – the automobile.

A constantly lively part of every program is when Layne, as Mark Twain, takes questions from the audience.

Tickets for the one night only performance are $20 for adults and $10 for children and are available at the National Automobile Museum, 10 S. Lake St. in Reno.  A portion of the proceeds from this performance benefits the Museum, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. For more information on the National Automobile Museum, visit www.automuseum.org or call 775-333-9300.