Silver City Winter Events and News

Silver City, one of the gems of the Comstock, is located within a federally designated historic landmark near Virginia City. Throughout the year, the town's many groups offer public programming in art, science, music, poetry, and more at the local park, outdoor stage (Silver Pavilion) and School House (community center). The townspeople also gather throughout the year for many community events such as holiday dinners and parties. Below are some highlights of December and January events, plus town newsbriefs from October and November.

Monthly Acoustic Jam: The next jam is Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018 from 3pm-5pm at the Silver City School House. Bring your instrument and join in.

Benefit Concert for the Silver City Historic Preservation Society: Masterful guitarist and songwriter Ray Bonneville will grace the stage at the historic Silver City School House on Saturday, January 19, 2019, with Richie Lawrence on keys and squeeze and very special guest songwriter Darren Senn opening. Ray's new record At King Electric is getting rave reviews in the US, Canada, Europe and the UK. He'll have copies with him for sale. Doors open at 6 pm, show at 7 pm. $15-$25 donation requested. Please reserve a seat by emailing SilverCityLive@gmail.com. Beer and wine will be available for purchase. More details: https://www.facebook.com/events/455324871666451/

New Book Includes Poems Set in Silver City: David Lee, who has been at the Resident Artist Program in Silver City in 2016, 2017 and 2018, will publish a new book of poems in 2019, many of them either about or set in Silver City. Lee was Utah's first and longest serving Poet Laureate, was a 2001 finalist for the position of United States Poet Laureate, and a 2016 and 1999 nominee for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. During a 2018 radio interview with KNVC 95.1FM radio, he read several poems written during his time at McCormick House in Silver City: https://knvc.org/featured/poet-david-lee-reads-unpublished-work-from-his-new-collection-mine-tailings/

Silver City's new town advisory board members are Rachel (Lainey) Henderson, Noel Chounet, and Patricia Allander.

Silver City Volunteer Library: The library has a number of new nonfiction and fiction books for both children and adults. Among them is Charles Portis novel True Grit, donated by the Carson Cultural Commission through their NEA Big Read event.

Columnists: Local Susan Stornetta writes a periodic column for the Nevada Appeal. Quest Lakes writes a weekly column for the Mason Valley News under the column header "Silver City Neighbors."

October and November 2018 News Briefs:

During its November 2018 meeting, the Silver City Town Board presented Carson City with a proclamation declaring the community a valued "Arts and Culture Sister City." The proclamation reads in part, “the Silver City Town Advisory Board proclaims its desire and intention to formally declare Carson City a valued ARTS and CULTURE SISTER CITY in appreciation of Carson City's history of promoting the arts and culture of Silver City and in recognition of our mutual understanding that arts and culture are pathways to maintaining our vibrant communities.” Mark Salinas, Arts & Culture Coordinator for Carson City, accepted the proclamation, noting, “I accept this award on behalf of a long line of people who have come before me... I look forward to more collaboration, partnerships, communications, efforts and exchanges between Silver City and Carson City.” Karen Abowd, Carson City Mayor Pro Tempore and a Carson City Cultural Commissioner, signed the proclamation, thanking the Silver City Board for the recognition. Terri McBride, Chair of the Carson City Cultural Commission, also signed the proclamation, saying, “Thank you for encompassing us in your efforts. I think creativity works synergistically and so we can bounce off each other’s creativity and all rise to a higher level.” The proclamation was also signed by Silver City advisory board members Chali Haugen, Cal Dillon, and Cristee Davis.

Silver City Arts group co-sponsored an October event at the School House that included a screening of a film about the American Flat historic site with an introduction by BLM, and a fascinating illustrated lecture about the architecture of the site by local consulting architectural historian and industrial archaeologist Ron Reno, PhD.If you missed the "American Flat Remembered" event but would like to see the film, it can be found online at this link: https://youtu.be/Xotaj-ywdkE

Also in October, there was a well attended Halloween costume party for adults with music by Red Rose and friends.

Locals gathered for a Silver City community Thanksgiving Dinner in November.

The town's Christmas dinner, sponsored annually by the Silver City Volunteer Fire Department, was lots of fun for both kids and grown ups. Christmas carolers braved bad weather and sang from the School House porch on Christmas Eve. December also included the monthly acoustic jam at the School House; plus the Silver City Arts group's annual holiday show and sale; and an open studio day at Julie La Croix's.

Display: Renate Victor created a lovely display this December at the Post Office full of photos of people at past Silver City community dinners and other Silver City events.