Chamber attendees told Carson City needs to develop its ‘identity’

Told every community needs to develop and enhance its “Sense of Place,” its identity, some 50 attending the Chamber’s monthly Soup’s On luncheon agreed generally Carson City already has an identity and mostly needs to get the word out about what it offers.

The luncheon speaker was Robert Price, author of the book “Bakersfield Sound,” which explores that city’s identity. He said Carson City has “done a fantastic job of preserving your old West heritage.” He pointed to the number of historic buildings not only on the west side but downtown saying that’s the direction he thinks Carson should go.

“I think you folks are right to recognize what a great heritage you have here,” Price said.

Those attending agreed but argued Carson City has a lot more than just its historical heritage.

“There are a whole lot of things going on in Carson City,” said Mayor Bob Crowell. He said Carson should be the “face of the state.”

“What it gets down to is we’re the capital of the state of Nevada, but we’re not picking one thing over another.”

He said what Carson City needs to do is “recognize what we’ve got” and tell visitors.

He and others pointed out the city has the annual Nevada Day parade and is bringing back the Rendezvous event. There’s the monthly wine walk and a growing number of musical events among other attractions including a growing trail system for not only hikers but bicyclists.

This summer, the city is hosting the Epic Rides bicycle event that’s expected to draw several thousand visitors and riders to what they have billed as Carson City Off Road, a three-day competition that even includes a music festival.

Chamber Director Ronni Hannaman said the city needs to do a better job of getting the word out about those attractions including more signage to direct people to not only historic buildings but to parking since there’s no parking on Carson Street itself.

Bob Ash said he and his wife moved to Carson City seven months ago from southern California and love the place. He said the city should recognize how beautiful it is with the surrounding mountains, the numerous trees, the location near Virginia City and Lake Tahoe and the friendliness of the people.

And he too pointed out there are numerous historic buildings, museums and other attractions in town but few maps, signs and other things to make people, especially tourists, aware of them.

Others, however, pointed out the problem with signs in the past was many were literally stolen from the places they were erected to direct visitors. And once they were up, there were a number of complaints about too many signs cluttering historic areas.