Dayton Valley Days celebrates both old and new

The new Dayton Valley Days organizers are honoring the new people in Old Town Dayton who have rehabilitated historic old buildings and brought them back to live.

The theme of the annual street fair is "Old Places, New Faces," said Dave Small, who with his wife, Ruth, have taken over the event from the Lyon County Sheriff's Search and Rescue.

The pair put on the event for 13 years and when the search-and-rescue unit decided not to do it this year, the Smalls took it back, Dave Small said.

"My wife did this for 13 years, and we were afraid it was going to die, so we took it over," he said.

They chose the theme because of all the old buildings in Dayton that now have new businesses in them, like J's Bistro and Chuck's Old West Grill, he said.

"They've remodeled them and brought them back up to make them look good, and we want to call attention to that," he said. "We're just trying to call attention to Dayton itself. We want people to know what Dayton is and see what we see in it."

The event will be from 7 a.m. to late afternoon Sept. 20-21 on Main and Pike streets in Old Town Dayton, and will include a parade, car show, a silent auction, pancake breakfast, vendors galore, live music, children's games and food.

The parade will begin at 10 a.m. Sept. 20, and the Gold Creek Car Show 'N' Shine, sponsored by the Dayton Valley Car Club will begin on Main Street immediately following. The car show will last to 4 p.m. Entry fee is $30. Contact Dennis Lindsay at 246-1620 to be in the car show.

The parade is open to floats, cars, trucks, motorcycles, antique tractors, marching groups, horse-drawn cart, mounted horses, rescue and fire equipment and other entries appropriate for an old-fashioned parade. Trophies will be awarded for the best entry in each category.

Entry fees are clubs and organizations $5 per entry or unit, businesses $15 and political parties $25.

The parade is set for 10 a.m. on Sept. 20. It will travel down Main Street to Pike Street, terminating at Terrible's Casino.

A special living history presentation by James Saylor, historian and former caretaker from the Laws Railroad Museum in Bishop, Calif., will be at 1 p.m. at the Dayton Museum at Shady Lane and Logan.

Saylor will portray H.M. Yerington, who was the vice president and general superintendent of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad in the 1800s, an event cosponsored by the Comstock Historical Society and the Historical Society of Dayton Valley. Later the Lyon County seat of Yerington was named for him.

Entertainment will be by Wild Will Strickland both days near the Community Center.

Proceeds will go to the preservation of downtown Dayton and other community groups in need, Small said.

"We've made it into a community-type deal this time, and if some of the organizations like the Kiwanis or the Lions Club need funds, they will get some of the money," he said.

Small said there would be bull riding and other rodeo events at the Dayton Valley Events Center on Schaad Lane from 2 to 4 p.m. Sept. 20.

- Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-7351.