Multiple events sometime seem like too much of a good thing

By John DiMambro

Like a storm of meteorites, the community events in Northern Nevada (specifically Carson City and Reno) seem to often rain down in spheres of voluminous weight.

Last weekend (Saturday in particular), there was a Boys & Girls Club Barbecue & Auction with a concert by none other than the Wichita Lineman himself, Glen Campbell. Also that day, Gov. Kenny Guinn and First Lady Dema held their consistently wonderful Governor's Tin Cup Tea farewell event, once again buoyed by the wild Mustang musical stampede of the Comstock Cowboys. There was a Cancer Foundation fundraiser; a Jesters Joust Battle of the Bands; the stage kids auctions at the Brewery Arts Center; the veterans' picnic at Riverside Park; the First Presbyterian Church annual rummage sale fundraiser; the Reno Balloon Races; the Virginia City Camel Races; and "Voices from the Cemetery" in Virginia City.

One thing is certain: There were no voices in any cemetery last weekend. I think even the dead were in attendance at one or more of the above-mentioned events.

I thought to myself, "Where are all these people coming from?!" So many people with so many interests, doing so many things at so many different places. All at once. That's the problem. A good problem, mind you; but a problem of sorts nonetheless.

Anyway, the point of this column is that there is such a thing as having too many things going on at one time. I can't believe I'm even saying that - me coming from an area back East that is thirsting for events - any events - besides murder, theft and drug trafficking. But I have heard so many people in the community say, "Why doesn't someone look at this stuff?"

"This stuff" that so many people have made reference to is the 20-car pile-up that comes so often to our area in the form of same-day local events. One reader actually wrote a letter to the Appeal torching many organizations for holding their events on the same day, blaming them (in a passionately fiery manner I might add) for being "... both irresponsible and financially unsound..." in their scheduling decisions, and being impervious to how overlapping schedules of major local events "...will hurt (all) events."

I attended the Boys & Girls Club Barbecue & Auction, as well as the Governor's Tin Cup Tea - both truly outstanding outings for unquestionably sound and solid causes.

One thing though (and I'm just being honest), I was comfortingly surprised at the number of people who attended both events, given the congestion of other things going on in the community and closely surrounding areas. And I am told that more than a few of the events did quite well.

But is doing well in these cases sort of like earning a dollar on a 50-cent bet, when you could have garnered five dollars with a sure thing?

At some point, not all events will continue to do well. And the organizations that schedule events should appoint someone who has the time to review all local events globally to avoid the increasing possibility of obscurity by schedule eclipses instead of waiting for the frantic 911 call of diminishing returns.

Believe me - I'm not throwing cold water on a hot thing here. Having more local events than you can say in one sentence without having heart failure is fantastic.

I'm sure this will be the case just about every weekend from now until the end of the year.

But what good is it if you cannot attend most of them because they are ripping like coastal tides and pulling you away with their undertow?

Playing bumper cars with one or two competing events is one thing. Toying blindfolded with the traffic lights controlling more than a handful of local events is a four-corner car crash. Trying to attend more than one or two events in one day is a killjoy for most people.

• John DiMambro is publisher of the Nevada Appeal. Write to him at dimambro@nevadaappeal.com.