outdoor event

August events open with a Chautauqua of Calamity Jane and a presentation on Tales Along El Camino Sierra at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park.

On Wednesday, August 4, at 6:30 pm, Chautauquan Kim Harris will present “Calamity Jane: Heroine of the Plains”.

Perhaps no woman embodies the spirit of the Western expansion more than Martha Jane Canary better known as “Calamity Jane”. She challenged society’s standards of behavior for women, and at the same time was admired for her generosity, honesty and lack of pretentiousness.

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The final Chautauqua of the 2019 Festival season will portray Hiram D. Scott, Alpine County, California pioneer, on Sunday, September 22, at 10:00 am.

Hiram Daniel Scott was a ship builder from Pittston, Maine by trade. Initially he settled in Santa Cruz, California in 1847, then followed the Gold Rush when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill. There he operated a ferry business across the San Joaquin River.

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The City of South Lake Tahoe voters, with the strong support of various areas of our community, overwhelmingly approved Measure P for Recreation, a two percent Transient Occupancy Tax increase to fund a new Recreation Center in 2016. Outreach meetings, design options and thorough feedback were given to and received by the community prior to the 2016 election with the outcome being a facility that will allow for locals, visitors and tournaments to enjoy and capitalize on the Center including:

Chautauquan Kim Harris will portray Lizzie A. Borden on Wednesday, July 10, at 6:30 pm, and historian Mark McLaughlin will speak on “Lake Tahoe and the Comstock Era; Stories, Facts and Fun” on Saturday, July 13, at 10:00 am, at Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park.

Lizzie Andrew Borden was tried and acquitted in a court of law for the axe murders of her father and stepmother in 1892, in Fall River, Massachusetts. The court of public opinion sentenced her to a life of public scrutiny and branded her a social pariah.

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The Old West Trio returns to the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park this coming week in an evening concert, while two local musicians are featured at the park’s upcoming Neighbor Fair, an event highlighting Carson Valley’s non-profit organizations.

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Chautauquan Cindy Southerland will portray “Annie H. Martin: The First Woman to Head a U.S. Treasury Facility, the Assay Office at Carson City” at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, August 29 at 6:30 pm.

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Buffalo Bill’s Wild West returns to Dangberg Historic Park for a third year on Saturday, August 25 with festivities beginning at 2:00 pm. This is the park’s final special event of the 2018 Dangberg Summer Festival, focused on raising funds to support the operation and future of the park.

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Chautauquan Deke DiMarzo will portray Watchman Alex Coryell: Virginia City Police Department 1873 to 1891 at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, August 15 at 6:30 pm.

Alex R. Coryell was a watchman for the Virginia City Police Department from 1873 until June 25, 1891. Coryell was a Civil War veteran who left the state of Virginia after the war and moved to Virginia City, Nevada. His family became well known and prominent in Virginia City, with one of his relatives becoming a pharmacist on C Street.

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Chautauquan and noted local historian Michael Fischer will portray “Heinrich Friedrich Dangberg, Sr.” in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, August 4, at 10:00 am.

H. F. Dangberg, Sr. helped to shape the agricultural and livestock history of Carson Valley. Beginning with 160 acres in 1856, Dangberg built an empire of ranches and farms that covered over 30,000 acres by 1902 when he formed the H. F. Dangberg Land & Live Stock Company. Some of the irrigation ditches, canals and reservoirs he dug are still in use today.

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Authors Karen Dustman and Laurie Hickey will speak on their book The Old Genoa Cemetery: A Walking Tour – Book 1, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, July 28, at 10:00 am.

The Old Genoa Cemetery: A Walking Tour – Book 1 is the first book in a four volume series of books written by historians Karen Dustman and Laurie Hickey, which highlight Genoa and Carson Valley’s earliest and most prominent settlers.

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Chautauquan Larry Lippmann will portray notorious stagecoach robber Black Bart at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, July 18 at 6:30 pm.

Stagecoach robber Black Bart was one of the most famous bandits of the old West. Between 1875 and 1883 he successfully robbed twenty-eight Wells Fargo stagecoaches without harming anyone and without taking a dime from any passenger. The story of how he was so successful and how he was eventually apprehended, ranks among the great legends of all time.

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Chautauquan Doug Mishler will portray circus showman P.T. Barnum at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, July 11 at 6:30 pm.

Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, politician and businessman remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus. The circus business was the source of much of his enduring fame. He established "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome", a traveling circus, menagerie, and museum of "freaks", which adopted many names over the years.

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Young Chautauquans of the Douglas County Historical Society will present “Home Means Nevada” at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, June 27, at 6:30 pm.

The Douglas County Historical Society Young Chautauqua presenters are 6 year old Samuel portraying “Claire Vance”, 5 year old Levi portraying “Abraham Curry”, 9 year old Rain portraying “Charley Parkhurst”, 11 year old Miciah portraying “George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.”, 16 year old Sandia portraying “Bessie Johnson”, 11 year old Adalee portraying “Tracy Knight” and 10 year old Mamre portraying “Benjamin Siegel”.

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Author Nancy Raven will speak on her book A Postal Journey: Discovering Nevada Through Its Post Offices at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, June 2, at 10:00 am.

Upon Nancy Raven’s arrival in Nevada, a friend suggested Raven travel the state photographing each town, which she refined to Nevada’s post offices. Raven’s quest took her to every corner of Nevada, with her photographs, her art work and a song becoming the book A Postal Journey: Discovering Nevada Through Its Post Offices.

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In the final concert of the 2017 Dangberg Summer Festival, Sacramento area band, Todd Morgan and the Emblems, will bring 50s, 60s and Rockabilly style music to Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park at 6:30 pm, Thursday, August 31.

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Buffalo Bill’s Wild West returns to Dangberg Historic Park on Saturday, August 26 at 11:00 am as the park’s final major event of the 2017 Dangberg Summer Festival.

The show features Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Annie Oakley, the Pony Express, The Mayfield Gang and the 1st Nevada Cavalry. The Douglas High School Marching Band and western singer-songwriter Krista Jenkins return for a second year to draw the audience back in time to the frontier of the American West.

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Author David C. Antonucci will speak on his book Fairest Picture: Mark Twain at Lake Tahoe at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, August 12, at 10:00 am.

In 1861, Samuel Clemens, the man who would become Mark Twain, hiked to Lake Tahoe to stake a claim for a timber ranch. He spent many blissful days on the Lake but carelessly allowed his campfire to escape, creating a spectacular wildfire. He later wrote about his experiences in his 1872 memoir, Roughing It.

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Author Bonnie Boice Nishikawa will speak on her book Nevada State Orphans/Children’s Home: My Life as a “Home” Kid at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Sunday, August 6, at 10:00 am.

The Nevada State Orphans Home at Carson City was authorized in 1869 by the legislature with construction beginning the same year. The first child was admitted in October of 1870.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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