First it was the designation of U.S. Highway 50 as "The Loneliest Road in America." Now, a new program to promote rural Nevada is designed to educate the traveling public about vacation activities along U.S. Highway 95, which runs directly through Fallon.
Through grants from the state and various donations, Nevada Silver Trails, Inc., a nonprofit organization, produced a presentation package that includes a "Come Alive on 95" CD to listen to while traveling through the rural parts of U.S. 95.
The route includes 15 towns and eight additional destinations off the beaten path.
According to a promotional placemat, the program covers "from Indian Springs to Lovelock and all points in between."
This is a great promotion for rural areas, said Rick Gray, executive director of the Fallon Convention Center and Tourism Authority.
The program was developed by members from the designated locations to promote fun activities that can be done without leaving the state, or to bring in vacationing visitors from nearby states, said Nevada Lt. Gov Lorraine Hunt.
The program includes a bumper sticker, an 80-minute travel CD, placemats at businesses along the route and a newspaper developed by Nevada Silver Trails, Inc.
Hunt introduces the program on the promotional CD.
Nevada needed an expanded marketing venture to help promote rural communities and its outdoors adventures, she said.
"My experiences as a child driving to Niagara Falls, N.Y., my hometown, brought about the idea for something to see and do right here in our own state," she said. "I did not develop the program. We have a lot of volunteers that have devoted their time to bring this together."
"We have a lot more power working together than we do apart," she said. "These people have put together a project to make the trip across Nevada fun, meaningful and memorable."
Kids may have fond memories going across Nevada that can last a lifetime, she said. With a little creativity and showmanship, you have a great program that is both culturally rich and historically entertaining, Hunt said.
The history of each location is narrated by TV personality John Tyson. He is well known for his special state reports, "John Tyson's Journal," on KOLO News Channel 8 in Reno.
"The program is only a year old, and we've already used nearly all 10,000 CDs printed to promote the project," said Virginia Ridgway, project director. "We're not just out of the box with this project, we're way out of the box."
Members from each town got together and came up with ideas that have been fine tuned by everyone involved, said Ridgway.
"The project took three grants totaling more than $45,000, more than 90 volunteers giving more than 900 hours of their time - which would equal more than $15,000 in wages - and $17,000 in donations from various businesses and members along the route to make this program work," she said.
"This is by far the best tourism project rural Nevada has ever seen," said Ridgway.
The promotional material is free in each town at the chambers of commerce and various businesses.
"The next time you want to get out of town, visit Nevada," said Hunt. "We're wide open for adventure."
• Viktoria Pearson can be contacted at vpearson@lahontanvalleynews.com.