Candy Dance keeps the beat for Carson Valley

For most of the past nine decades, Genoa has supplemented its budget by holding the annual Candy Dance.

The event has grown considerably from the days when the dance was the primary source of money for streetlights.

Now grossing more than $200,000 a year, the Candy Dance provides the lion's share of the town budget for the course of the year.

Those are funds the taxpayers of Douglas County do not have to pay to help support what may be the state's oldest town.

Contributors to that effort include residents both in and around Genoa and businesses of all sorts who benefit in some way from the increased number of people drawn to Carson Valley.

It is the sort of community teamwork that has always made Genoa a different sort of place to live and work.

Candy Dance's success always prompts concerns about its future.

"How long can we keep it going?" ask volunteers and observers alike.

One thing is for sure: the volunteers who've devoted their time in the past are getting grayer.

But new faces keep popping out of the woodwork and taking on responsibilities for the big event.

It's important to remember that Candy Dance has been going for more than four generations. New generations have come forward to help and will do so in the future.

Candy Dance has changed over the years and will continue to change. But the spirit that has made it one of western Nevada's key events lives on.

- From The Record-Courier