Oodles of Noodles - oodles of fun

Ten cooks will get out their pasta pots and be ready to rumble this weekend at the fifth annual Oodles of Noodles festival in Old Town Dayton on Saturday.

Kevin Hogan, general manager for the new Daytona Casino, is improving his odds by entering two dishes in the competition.

"We'll have two kinds of spaghetti, one with an Italian meat sauce and another with a traditional vegetable sauce," he said, adding that the Daytona cooks will also sell Italian sausage sandwiches.

"I think everyone has their strategy," he said. "I think we'll be competitive."

Hogan said proceeds from the casino's booth will be donated to the Lyon County Parks and Recreation's Latchkey Program.

"We want to support the Chamber of Commerce and the Dayton community," he said.

Gilles Galhaud, who won both the main competition and the People's Choice Award last year, regrets that he won't be cooking this year. He is planning to open a French bistro in Carson City in a few months, and said there's just too much to do.

"It is a fun event and well-organized," he said. "I was glad to do it."

He won with a dish of fettuccini alfredo with grilled herb chicken and a pesto drizzle, he said. "They seem to prefer Italian food over anything else," he said.

Cary Dyer, executive director of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, which puts on the event, said tasting will begin immediately at 9 a.m., and the judging will be from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., with people's choice judging at 3 p.m. He added there will be plenty of pasta for hungry festival-goers.

The top prize for the best cooks are round-trip tickets from Reno to Las Vegas aboard Southwest Airlines.

In addition, there will be prizes for tasters as well as cooks.

"The 300th ticket purchaser will receive a $20-goodie bag," Dyer said. "And when they put their ballot in, they should include their phone number. We'll have drawings for one $50 prize and two $25 prizes."

KOZZ will be doing a live broadcast during the event, which drew about 5,000 people last year, Dyer said. The festival benefits the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.

Dyer said many of the entries celebrate Dayton's rich Chinese and Italian heritage, and recipes in the past have gotten extra points for their cultural significance.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111 ext. 351.

If you go

WHAT: Fifth annual Oodles of Noodles festival

WHEN: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Pike Street and Logan Way, Old Town Dayton

CALL: 246-7909

Entertainment Schedule:

10:30 a.m.

Charles Lawson

Jingle and Michael Harris Ford

Silver and Gold Comstock Singers

Mischa Zawaskis, singer-guitarist

Noon

Tee Lee and the Old Fogies Band

Willis Lamm

Harold and Diane Miller, cowboy poetry

2 p.m.

Rees Butikofer

Sarah Hasson

Charlie Duke

3:15 p.m.

Smokey Vanness, vocal impersonator

Tony Argento, cowboy poet