The Genoa Candy Dance: Crafters and crowds inside the Mormon Station State Historic Park stockade. Photo by Joyce Hollister. Even though organizers of the annual Genoa Candy Dance Arts and Crafts Faire expected fewer people this year, the 88-year-old only-in-Nevada celebration was jammed, and some say it was larger than in 2007.
The sleepy little town nestled at the base of the eastern Carson Range normally is so quiet that elderly dogs lie in the street without fear of being run over, and deer wander through gardens looking for a juicy flower to eat.
But traffic jammed up and down Genoa Lane, and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office closed the right lane of U.S. 395 to slow cars down as they turned onto the main access road to Genoa. Airport mini buses and an open-air trolley pulled by a tractor circled around from the town center to outlying parking lots all day both Saturday and Sunday, September 27 and 28.
Food at the Candy dance: Candy Dance Arts and Crafts Faire offered different kinds of food booths. Photo by Joyce Hollister. Thousands of folks from Northern Nevada and California joined the crowds braving the last of summer’s heat to buy almost any handmade item you can think of: art, photos, knick-knacks, decorated mirrors, pottery, clothing, jewelry, rugs, metal and metal sculpture, and soaps and scents. You could hear music played on a Native American flute, then buy one to play yourself.
One popular booth sold hats for dogs…and the hatmaker’s dogs slept though all the comments of “How cute!” and “Is he real?” wearing their homemade headgear. If you were a kid, you could ride a pony or a dinosaur. If you were an adult, you could down a beer—or a fresh-squeezed lemonade, if you’d rather. If you were hungry, you could have an Italian sausage sandwich, a burger, Indian tacos, or garlic fries. At the new Trimmer Outpost, you could nosh on three kinds of fruit cobbler baked in a Dutch oven, cowboy-style in hot charcoal.
Volunteers made 4,000 pounds of candy, which sold briskly both days. The event began in 1919 as a dinner-dance, during which candy was served and sold, to raise money for streetlights. The fair was added in the 1970s and has eclipsed the dance in importance. If you’re one of the few who missed this year’s event, try next year; it’s always held the last full weekend in September. For details, visit genoanevada.org.
A reporter from The Record-Courier, the local newspaper, found that crafters were having a good day after all. They said when the economy goes south, people like to return to traditional events for not only good deals but for comfort. Scott Neuffer talked to vendor Bob Saxton, who makes home and garden decorative items in Chico, California. Saxton said he had the best day ever after 9-11, and as for Candy Dance 2008, Saxton told Neuffer, “There was fear that people…would hold back on their purchasing, but I haven’t seen it today.”
There’s something comforting about tradition, and Genoa proved that true last weekend.
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