Earlier today, Governor Brian Sandoval and Lieutenant Governor Brian Krolicki held a press conference after arriving by steam locomotive at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City. The governors addressed the celebration of Nevada's sesquicentennial, the unveiling of the Nevada Commission on Tourism's 2013 Discover Your Nevada campaign, and some important news about Nevada's state museums.
Governor Sandoval announced that many of Nevada's museums are upgrading, and all will expand their hours and days of operation. In celebration of the expanded museum operations, all seven Nevada state museums are offering two free admission days.
The free admission days are scheduled for July 6 and 20 and feature special programs, new exhibits, and unique opportunities. The Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City is offering half-price train fares. The Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson city is celebrating Independence Day July 4-7 and offering special outdoor locomotive displays and a chance to ride on a train pulled by the Virginia & Truckee (V&T) locomotive No. 25.
As part of the Discover Your Nevada campaign, the Nevada Commission on Tourism announced that beginning today, July 3, people can vote for their favorite activity, experience, or event in the state. Whichever activity, experience,
or event gets the most votes will receive a plaque, a mention in a
future issue of Nevada Magazine, and much more. Details can be found at travelnevada.com/discover, and by clicking on the Discover Your Nevada graphic below.
With Nevada's quickly approaching sesquicentennial, the governors announced the launch of the Nevada 150 campaign. With 150 events planned during the sesquicentennial year, the Nevada 150 campaign plans to "promote the independent spirit of Nevada through education, tourism, and history."
In lieu of the sesquicentennial, Governor Sandoval signed a law which authorizes sale of a special Nevada 150 license plate, which will be available for purchase through the DMV starting late July. Revenues from the Nevada 150 license plates will support projects and events related to the year-long Nevada 150 celebration.
Thirty countries, their respective flags displayed on the Tower of Nations, competed in the 1960 Olympic Winter Games at Squaw Valley — the last time the Reno-Lake Tahoe region hosted the Games. Photo: Robert M. Reid
Nevada and California Leaders Unveil Joint Effort to Explore Bid for Olympic Winter Games in the Lake Tahoe Region
Fifty-two years after the Olympic flame was first ignited in the Tahoe region, California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and Nevada Lieutenant Governor Brian Krolicki announced recently the formation of the Lake Tahoe Winter Games Exploratory Committee, a new joint California-Nevada initiative, building on the existing efforts, dedicated to developing an Olympic Bid for the 2022 Winter Games.
The new committee, LTWGEC, is an entity created by the leadership of two separate organizations that were set up to explore a potential bid for the Tahoe Region. The two organizations — the Reno Tahoe Winter Games Coalition and the California Winter Games Committee, joined by the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee — will now be committing significant resources to the LTWGEC.
"The timing is right for Californians and Nevadans to come together and seriously explore bringing the Olympic Winter Games to the Tahoe region," Krolicki says. "Our new committee is the evolution of years of work by many people, and if the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) decides to bid on the 2022 Winter Games, we will be ready to showcase the Tahoe region's scenic majesty and winter games capabilities."
The LTWGEC will be tasked with creating a group of business, civic, and political leaders who will work to thoroughly explore the benefits and impacts of hosting the Olympic Games in the Lake Tahoe Region. According to Krolicki and Newsom, the new group's leadership will be announced soon — including a robust environmental leadership team.
"Lake Tahoe's physical beauty is our greatest asset and our greatest responsibility," Newsom says. "We can't do this without the environment being front of mind for us."
Read Krolicki's column, "Pursuing the Olympic Winter Games," here.
Read a related blog and watch a related video here.
Gov. Brian Sandoval and Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki. Photo by Bob Conrad
Governor Brian Sandoval, Lieutenant Governor Brian Krolicki, representatives of the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, and local media came together at the Wilbur D. May Museum in Reno today to officially launch the new Discover Your Nevada campaign.
Sandoval said the program's main purpose is to encourage visitation within the state. "We're excited about the prospect of Nevadans discovering their own state," he said, after he announced that Krolicki and himself will do some discovering of their own. The governors will make three separate journeys together this spring: one to Gerlach and the Black Rock Desert area, a second to Fort Churchill State Park and the Dixie Valley area, and a final excursion down U.S. Highway 95 and across the Extraterrestrial Highway with a stop in the town of Rachel.
The Governor quipped in making a reference to the "Road to.." movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Details of those itineraries will be announced on the official Discover Your Nevada website, where Sandoval will maintain a blog. He also promised plenty of Tweets and fun.
The governors' travels are just the beginning of Discover Your Nevada. The campaign also incorporates public participation, in which you can nominate your favorite Nevada treasures online now through March 18. Voting begins March 19, and the treasures will ultimately be dwindled down to six (the number of tourism-designated territories in the state) and announced in early May.
"This is our chance to fall in love again with the State of Nevada," Krolicki said. "Stay-cation is the theme. Nevadans can put the family in the back of the car and hit the open road."
Both Sandoval and Krolicki praised Claudia Vecchio, Director of the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, for spearheading the new program.
So what are you waiting for? Click here to nominate your favorite Nevada treasure.
On Wednesday, January 25, I attended a breakfast meeting on Sports Economics hosted by the Northern Nevada Development Authority. Held at the Governor's Mansion in Carson City, guests packed the "Nevada Room" to hear five speakers discuss the economic impact of their respective pursuits on the Northern Nevada community.
Krolicki, Killoran, and the rest of RTWGC organization have been working hard to land a bid from the U.S. Olympic Committee to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Next summer (2013), the International Olympic Committee will call for bids from around the world. About a year after that (2014), the U.S. Olympic Committee will decide whether to bid at all, and, if it does, which city or region gets the bid. In July 2015, the International Olympic Committee will make the ultimate decision from a pool of cities and regions around the world.
In the video below, Krolicki elaborates on the timeline and the general excitement surrounding the possibility of the Reno-Lake Tahoe region hosting the '22 Winter Games.
For more information, including background on the 1960 Olympic Winter Games held at Squaw Valley, read this Nevada Magazine story titled "Then and If." Blogger Tiffany Brown does a great job of covering the RTWGC's marketing effort in this article. Finally, Killoran discusses more marketing logistics in this Reno-Tahoe American Marketing Association video.
Reynolds focused on the positives that a conference realignment will have on the University of Nevada, Reno. On July 1, 2012, the Nevada Wolf Pack will move from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West Conference. Reynolds said the university is intent on "raising the bar" athletically, which will have a residual affect on the community and school. He added that the move will lead to building infrastructure and the creation of jobs.
The Reno Bighorns are a member of the NBA Development League, which was founded in 2001 with the goal of being the "minor league" of the NBA, similar to professional baseball's minor-league system. The Bighorns were founded in 2008 and are coming off a successful season, in which the team won the regular-season Western Conference championship and won a playoff series. A local ownership group recently purchased the franchise and have made that bond to the community a primary part of their marketing efforts.
Kinkella talked about how the intercollegiate athletics program was started at Western Nevada College in order to provide a model group to use as a positive example for the rest of the students. Mission accomplished: WNC is the only program in its conference to claim an Academic Team of the Year, which it's done seven times. This has led to successful scholarships and transfers for many athletes. The Wildcats baseball team has been to the NJCAA World Series twice in the past four years.
Granahan cited the successful local outdoor recreation and lifestyle industries, even in the recent economic downturn. Companies such as Aviso American Made, Bently Biofuels, and North Sails are leading this charge. The Ascent Douglas initiative is about targeting these types of industries, hopefully creating 700 jobs in Douglas County by 2022 — the same year we as a region will hopefully be hosting the Olympic Winter Games.—Matthew B. Brown, Nevada Magazine editor
With Nevada's quickly approaching sesquicentennial, the governors announced the launch of the Nevada 150 campaign. With 150 events planned during the sesquicentennial year, the Nevada 150 campaign plans to "promote the independent spirit of Nevada through education, tourism, and history."
