dangberg

Historian Patty Cafferata will present “By Gas, Rope, Bullet or Poison: A History of Capital Punishment in Nevada” on Saturday, July 29, at 10:00 am at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park.

Distinguished Nevada lawyer and former district attorney, Patty Cafferata, will share the fascinating history of the death penalty as practiced within Nevada. Cafferata will describe the methods of execution the state has used since its territorial days in 1860 through the present, including death by hanging, firing squad, lethal injection and the gas chamber.

Location

A free Western Heritage Celebration returns to the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, July 22, beginning at 11:00 am.

The event’s second year will include a heritage quilting presentation, a Victorian dressing presentation, songs about local history and cowboy poetry, as well as gold panning and other children’s activities.

The Carson Valley Quilt Guild returns for its second year and will give a demonstration on a variety of quilting methods including the “Crazy Quilt”. This demonstration is from 11:00 am until Noon.

Location

Equestrienne Samantha Szeciorka will speak on her latest “Nevada Discovery Ride” on Sunday, July 9, at 10:00 am at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park. This presentation is free.

Location

Reno band The Sextones will perform funk and soul at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park at 6:30 pm on Thursday, June 29.

The Sextones is a family of music renegades known for viciously executed soul compositions and white-knuckle driving funk. Tipping their hats to the days of Tower of Power and Stevie Wonder, they are forging the path for a new generation of funk and soul.

Location

The featured tellers at this year’s event are Willy Claflin, world music percussion band The Batamba Collective, Mother Lode Storytelling Guild tellers Linda Kennedy and Joan McCammon, and chautauquan Larry Lippmann as “Hank Monk”. The weekend also features early afternoon shows specifically for families and children, an open mic storytelling concert and a storytelling group Carson Valley Memories led by Nancy Raven.

Location

The five-piece band Mo’z Motley Blues will perform blues, rock pop and soul at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park at 6:30 pm on Thursday, June 22.

Monique DeHaviland and the Mo’z Motley Blues Band have been performing originals and 5 decades of cover music with blues infected rock, pop, soul, and country repertoire geared to make audiences move from the minute the music begins.

The band was founded in 2012 and members come from the surrounding Reno-Tahoe area. Band members are Monique DeHaviland, Samantha Moore, Mylo McCormick, Don Lalonde and Ian McDonald on horns.

Location

Speaker Jim Clark will present his program, “Trains in the Westerns”, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, June 17, at 10:00 am.
Jim Clark, known to many as “The Train Man”, will cover some of the 250 films he has worked on. Clark is an engineer and train coordinator who is associated with several of the biggest films with trains and their Hollywood stars. Some of those films include "The Lone Ranger", "Wild, Wild, West" and "Into the West".

Location

Author Frank Tortorich will speak on his book, John A. “Snowshoe” Thompson, Pioneer Mail Carrier of the Sierra in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Sunday, September 25, at 10:00 am.

Location

A free Western Heritage Festival comes to the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, September 17, beginning at 10:00 am.

The festival will include Dutch oven cooking, a heritage quilting presentation, Chautauquas of local historical figures, honky-tonk guitar and jug music, as well as a day filled with children’s crafts and activities.

Location

Historian Steve Davis will speak on a visual exploration of photography and the American West in the nineteenth century, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, September 3, at 10:00 am.

Location

Author and comedienne Kat Simmons will speak on her book, Kat’s Daily Cups in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Sunday, August 28, at 10:00 am.

Kat's Daily Cups is a collection of short stories about raising children, the love of animals, life's challenges, gratitude, inspiration and awakenings. Kat Simmons says some stories will make the reader laugh and some may make them cry. Simmons hopes her book will become a personal book to the reader, in an interactive journey and will answer the question. "What is in your Daily Cup today?".

Location

Author Gary Noy will speak on his book, Sierra Stories: Tales of Dreamers, Schemers, Bigots and Rogues, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Sunday, August 14, at 10:00 am.

Location

Steve Hale will portray Stephen T. Mather, first director of the National Park Service, at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, August 10, at 6:30 pm.

Stephen Tying Mather distinguished himself as a consummate salesman, including the iconic 20 Mule Team Borax brand, which helped him amass a fortune by the early 20th century. After visiting the new western national parks and meeting John Muir, Mather went on to mold the vision of the new National Park Service and was honored by being appointed its first director in 1916.

Location

The Battle Born Civil War Reenactors will present their program, “From Bloomers to Bonnets: A Civil War Historic Dressing”, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, July 30, at 10:00 am.

Location

The weekend of July 23 and 24 the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park will feature two days of Dangberg family history with a Chautauqua on Fred Dangberg, Jr. and a presentation by his real life grandson Steve “Dink” Achard. Both presentations are free.

Location

Author Mark McLaughlin will speak on his book, Snowbound! Legendary Winters of the Tahoe Sierra, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Sunday, July 10, at 10:00 am.

Mark McLaughlin’s latest book is not about meteorology, however it is about weather. In his book, McLaughlin focuses on the top ten biggest winters in the Tahoe Sierra based on snowfall measured at Donner Pass since 1879. He will share amazing weather facts and incredible stories of men and women struggling to cope against some of the most powerful storms on Earth.

Location

Chautauqua performers Dana Blane, Larry Lippmann and Mike Trute will portray local historical figures Donner Party survivor “Patty Reed”, Stagecoach driver “Hank Monk” and U.S. Marshall “Warren Wasson” at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, July 6, at 6:30 pm.

Patty Reed was 8 years old when her family joined the movement west to settle in California. As survivors of the ill-fated 1846 Donner Party, the tremendous hardships they endured left the family destitute. The little doll Patty hid in her clothing survives until this day.

Location

Authors Wanda and Richard Canton will speak on their book, Bodie Railway & Lumber Company: Railroad in the Sky 1881–1917, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Sunday, June 19, at 10:00 a.m.

The Cantons’ book tells the story of the dream of bringing timbers and cordwood to the remote mining town of Bodie, Calif. by train. In 1880 the mining town of Bodie was located at over 8300' in the eastern Sierra. The plans for a 32-mile narrow gauge railway developed through hard work and some luck as well.

Location

The Genoa Cowboy Festival, an annual celebration of the ranching and rural West in the Carson Valley, returns to the historic town April 28 to May 1.

The Town of Genoa, Nevada, announced today that the seventh annual Genoa Cowboy Festival will take place in their town from April 28 through May 1. Previous Cowboy Festivals have attracted thousands of visitors to the picturesque community which is recognized as Nevada’s oldest town, just minutes from South Lake Tahoe.

This year’s event will feature performances by some of the best-known entertainers in Western music and cowboy poetry, including Ian Tyson, Wylie & and Wild West, Mike Beck, Richard Elloyan, Trinity Seely, Andy Hedges, Larry Maurice, and many more.

Storyteller Juanita Westbrook presents “The Moral of the Story” at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday September 30, at 6:30 pm. The event is open to the public and free to attend.
Juanita Westbrook returns to Dangberg Historic Park, this time as a storyteller. Westbrook will present both original and familiar stories and poems, incorporating her own unique creative style. Her stories are interactive, have morals, teach important social-skills, build and foster cooperative learning and are fun for all ages.

Location

Nevada Gunfighters will be performing in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, September 26, at 10:00 am.
Nevada Gunfighters bring the old West to life with drama, comedy, historical portrayals and live action tales. Period dialog and authentic costumes, along with props and backdrops enhance their productions. As an added benefit to their presentations, the audience is educated in gun safety.

Location

Chautauqua presenters Dana Lee Fruend, Yvonne Sullivan, Janet Baker and Judy Quinlan will portray Nevada pioneer women “Nellie Mighels Davis”, “Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Kincead”, “Whilhelmina Springmeyer” and “Hannah Clapp” in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, August 15, at 10:00 am.

Location

While many may not know the name of Lillian Virgin Finnegan, they probably know the Genoa Candy Dance.

Lillian is the woman who started the Genoa Candy Dance in 1919 to raise money to purchase street lights for the town. The dance was held at the Raycraft Hotel, and Lillian and other Genoa women made candy to serve at the dance. In the years that followed, the annual dance continued as a way to raise money to pay the town's electric bill for the street lights. It was considered the "Big Event of the Season" by the people in the Carson Valley, Reno and surrounding communities.