By all accounts—reliable, unreliable, and otherwise—there is to be a grand disturbance of the ordinary order of things in Virginia City this coming May 9th and 10th, in the form of what is being called BONANZA DAYS.
Now, it has long been my observation that the people of Carson City are fond of a good spectacle, provided it contains a proper mixture of history, mischief, and something one may talk about afterward with a knowing tone. I am pleased to report that BONANZA DAYS appears to supply all three in generous proportion.
The occasion celebrates that most industrious of television enterprises, Bonanza—a program which, despite having concluded its official business some decades ago, continues to ride the ranges of memory as if it had never been canceled at all.
The Cartwright family—upright, unshakable, and possessed of a moral compass that would shame a bishop—made their home just outside Virginia City, though I suspect they found time, between cattle and calamity, to keep the entire West in proper order.
It is therefore only fitting that the town which inspired their fictional existence should now repay the favor by resurrecting them—if not in flesh, then in spirit, costume, and enthusiastic impersonation.
Let it not be forgotten that Virginia City was once the roaring heart of the Comstock Lode—a place where fortunes were made, lost, and occasionally exaggerated before breakfast.
From this very soil sprang the inspiration for Bonanza, courtesy of a gentleman named David Dortort, who had the good sense to recognize that Nevada’s stories were already larger than fiction—and required only a camera to prove it.
During BONANZA DAYS, the line between truth and legend will grow pleasantly indistinct, as it always does in proper Western storytelling.
If you are inclined to remain at home that weekend, I will not forbid it—but I will question your judgment, and possibly your character.
For those who do attend, you may expect a gathering rich in history, lively in spirit, and entirely unwilling to apologize for either.
And should you find yourself standing on C Street, with the sound of boots on boardwalk and laughter in the air, you may discover—quite unexpectedly—that the Old West has not gone anywhere at all. It has merely been waiting.
-Event Producer Steven Saylor
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