Oodles of Noodles Celebrates Dayton's Italian and Chinese heritage

Pasta lovers will be able to use their noodles - lots of them - in Old Town Dayton next weekend for the sixth annual Oodles of Noodles festival in Old Town Dayton.

The festival, which raises funds for the Dayton Museum and for the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 12 on Pike Street.

Chamber of Commerce executive director Cary Dyer said he expected 11 noodle cookers and several times that many vendors.

Booths will open at 9 a.m. for the event, Dyer said, which is designed to celebrate the area's Italian and Chinese heritage.

Oodles of Noodles is one of two street fairs in Dayton, the other being Dayton Valley Days in September, and both seem to bring out the offbeat in vendors and visitors alike.

Dayton resident Michael Ford Harris even penned a little ditty about it:

"Oodles of Noodles - oodles of fun

Oodles of Noodles right here in

Dayton

So grab your hat and a fork

Dig in everyone

Booth to booth - plate to plate

Don't stop 'til you're done.

"Oodles of noodles - morning 'til night

Bring out your family - this pasta is done right

It's a blast for everyone- never a bore

After all, how could it?

There's food and fun galore.

"Oodles of Noodles - oodles of fun

Oodles of Noodles right here in

Dayton

So grab your hat and a fork

Dig in, everyone

Booth to booth - plate to plate

Don't stop 'til you're done."

Tickets to taste all the noodles are $5 for adults and $3 for kids under 12, and the first 250 ticket buyers will receive a goodie bag with more than $20 of items donated by local merchants.

Voters will be part of a drawing to win either $50 or $25, who need not be present to take the prize.

There is one $50 prize and two $25 prizes.

Awards for the best noodle cooks will be given out at 3:30 p.m.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111 ext. 351.

If You Go

Oodles of Noodles

WHAT: Pasta-cooking contest by the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce

WHEN: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. May 12.

WHERE: Along Pike Street in Old Town Dayton

CALL: (775) 246-7909.

Schedule

10 a.m. -

• Introduction by Mike Riggs, president of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce

• Comments by master of ceremonies Tom Tomashek

• Silver and Gold Comstock Singers

• Capital City Cloggers

• Kaulana Na Pua O Hula Dancers.

11 a.m.

• Cowboy Poets of Northwest Nevada, Harold and Diana Miller, Tony Argento and Dave Fisher

Noon

• Dayton High School Jazz Band

1 p.m.

• Ribbon-cutting ceremony for new kiosk at the C & C Depot

1:30 p.m.

• Carson Ramblers

2:15 p.m.

• Improv Theater of Reno

• Singing Cowpoke Rees Butikofer

3:15 p.m.

• Winners of pasta contest announced