With less than a month to go before the Nevada Day parade, organizers are now selling merchandise for the annual event from a tiny storefront on Telegraph Street.
The Nevada Day Store is filled with T-shirts, sweaters, blankets and hats that bear the Nevada Day logo as well as photos of the parade from years past, posters, coins and parade buttons.
Earlier this year, the Nevada Day board of directors decided to take over the storefront, displaying its merchandise and setting up the office that now serves as the headquarters for the parade that's now in its 72nd year in Carson City.
"We negotiated this place, moved all the stuff from there to here and all the merchandise, which pretty much just sits in a storage shed 364 days of the year," said Ken Hamilton, president of the Nevada Day board of directors.
At first it was just Hamilton staffing the new office when he had time. Once the city started hosting wine walks in the spring, word started to spread about the new store. By August Hamilton had a full-time employee inside the storefront so it could be open during the day in the months leading up to the parade on Oct. 30.
All of the proceeds from the store go back to fund the $80,000 event, which is also paid for through sponsorships, parade fees and a city grant.
"This is all new to Nevada Day," he said. "They've never had a storefront, so we're still feeling it all out."
He said he would like to see the store grow into a Nevada-centric one, carrying merchandise from around the state.
"We're trying to see what will sell, and what people would like to see," Hamilton said.
For time being, the parade will be the central focus at the store.
The theme for the parade this year is 100 Years of Aviation in Nevada, so the store also is offering propeller hats.
Hamilton, who became the president of the Nevada Day board late last year, said he's been watching the parade since he moved to Carson City with his family in 1972.
"I think it's pretty much stayed the same," Hamilton said. "You always have the politicians in there, you have the marching bands."
The parade even got a mention on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" last week (it's being held on the same day as Stephen Colbert's March To Keep Fear Alive rally in Washington, D.C. Colbert joked the parade could potentially siphon off attendees to his event - especially "balsa enthusiasts" to the pinewood derby).
The video of the Colbert Report is on the parade's website, www.nev
adaday.com.
"That was pretty cool," Hamilton said of parade's proverbial Colbert bump. "He actually showed our posters ... I don't know if it's negative or positive, but it was attention. I don't think it was a bad thing."