Party time

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Scary times here on Earth, what with the hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires and everything else. Not to mention the looming threats of nuclear war, institutional racism and presidential instability. It’s hard not to feel dejected. It’s hard to embrace reasons to celebrate. And it’s hard to feel, in times like these, that to celebrate anything is to be disrespectful of all the people all around the world who are suffering. I’ve got friends and family in Florida and Texas who are experiencing serious losses—and I imagine that many of you do as well. And yet I’m writing now to tell you about a party. Both of those things are true. They can be difficult to reconcile without being flippant.

But we do have things to celebrate in this community. Gentrification sucks, but it’s better than the tumbleweeds-blowing-through-town, somebody-playing-a-sad-harmonica-off-in-the-distance vibe that was omnipresent around town back when the recession hit so hard that a double digit percentage of our population was jobless.

There was a moment—2014?—when we had worked ourselves out of the recession, and things were looking brighter, more exciting, food tasted better, but the yuppies hadn’t yet moved in to drive up the rents. It’s too bad we can’t just stay in that Goldilocks sweet spot forever.

Anyway, here’s some good news. It’s an exciting time here at the Reno News & Review. We’re getting settled into our new office over on Margrave Drive. And this week we’re gearing up for our biggest event of the year—the Best of Northern Nevada winners’ party. I’m really excited about the party, which is at the Nevada Museum of Art on Friday, Sept. 15, from 6:30 to 10 p.m. I was stoked when the sales staff told me what venue they’d managed to secure for this year’s party. I worked at the NMA for a couple of years a decade ago, and love what it represents in our community. If you won something in this year’s contest and haven’t yet received an invitation from an RN&R staffer, send a message to contest@newsreview.com. You won’t want to miss this.