Scene in Passing: Carson Tahoe bows to grit gods, postponing fire-foiled fund raiser until October

Carson Tahoe Health officials made the right call by postponing an outdoor cancer fundraising concert when California wildfire fallout first rained grit on Carson City.

The event instead will be Oct. 4, a Friday, from 5-8 p.m. beside Firkin & Fox, at 310 S. Carson St. It was set for last Friday on the Carson Tahoe Medical Center campus in north Carson.

In retrospect, it seems like postponement must have been a no-brainer. But it certainly wasn’t an easy call; much work went into event set for the grounds of the Carson Tahoe Cancer Center.

The fundraiser called HopeFest was put together by the Carson Tahoe Health Foundation, but everyone knows such foundations amount to arms of the actual firms. This firm is Carson City’s second-largest employer behind state government. It employs nearly 1,800 people in the area. So it’s the largest private-sector employer.

The delay was smart public relations and a move that showed someone understood it also was sound health care thinking. As has become evident in spades since the temporary demise of our usually pristine Northern Nevada air quality, being outside isn’t exactly a walk in the park.

Kudos also go to Mo5aic, pronounced Mosaic, a Las Vegas-based a cappella group. The quintet of singers were set to perform at the outdoor concert. Instead, they performed Friday evening at High Sierra Brewing Co. downtown in a fallback move that was an unofficial fundraiser.

Rescheduling the event for October gives Carson Tahoe a second bite at the goodwill apple. All funds go to help cancer patients with co-pays and non-medical expenses that pile up as cancer treatment needs play out over time.

The scenario amounts to a win-win at a time when this wildfire mess provides a backdrop of lose-lose in the Sierra Nevada region. Not only is the rural national treasure called Yosemite threatened, so too are services to those living in one of the nation’s great cities.

San Francisco, where Tony Bennett and millions of others left their hearts, is threatened with loss of water supply that comes in from the wildfire-infested area southeast of the Bay Area and southwest of Carson City. The Yosemite Rim fire is far from containment at last report. When contained, however, it won’t be over.

In part that’s because — as reported in an Atlantic Cities article Tuesday — a scientist told Mother Jones magazine there may well be a “fourfold increase in parts of the Sierra Nevada and California” fire activity the rest of this century.

That mind-boggling projection came from Matthew Hurteau, a Penn State assistant professor of ecosystem science and management.

John Barrette covers Carson City government and business. He can be reached at jbarrette@nevadaappeal.com.