Nevada State Parks invites the public to a weekend of free historic events at Mormon Station State Historic Park in Genoa.

June 18 is Pioneer Living History Day with the Sierra Nevada and Truckee Meadows Mormon Pioneers from 10am-4pm.

Learn how to make rope and corn-husk dolls, watch Dutch-oven cooking demonstrations, have children play pioneer games, see tools used by early pioneers and enjoy the cannon, muskets and black powder rifles fired each hour, on the hour throughout the day.

For more information, contact the park at (775) 782.2590.

Bring a picnic lunch and enjoy a day at the park. Visit the log-cabin museum and see an 1862 Light Cavalry sword on display for the first time in more than 40 years. Admission to the museum is $1 for adults; children 12 and under are free.

After a national review of exemplary children’s museum efforts conducted by Metlife Foundation and Association of Children’s Museum, the KidZone Museum, a nonprofit children’s museum in Truckee, was one of the three museums to receive top honors and a $10,000 cash award.

The educational experiences at the KidZone Museum are highly interactive, creating a place where children can explore, discover and learn through play.

To earn a Promising Practice Award a children’s museum must stand out as innovating and redefining traditional museums where play is highly interactive. Museums are competitively evaluated among a jury of experts in museum design and programming.

The KidZone Museum received its Promising Practice award for the KidsReach program, which increased visitation to the Museum from low-income children and families by 500 percent in three years.

The other two museums that received top honors were the Stepping Stones Museum for Children (Norwalk, Conn.) and DuPage Children’s Museum (Naperville, Ill). Three Promising Practice Honorable Mentions included: Treehouse Museum (Ogden, Utah), Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and the Bay Area Discovery Museum (Sausalito).

The KidZone Museum’s current exhibit, Starfish Enterprise, features an Imagination Playground “reef” building, a research submarine, reading nook and sand play.

For additional information, go online. The Museum is dedicated to and designed for families with children up to age 7. Exhibits change periodically and focus on sparking a child’s curiosity.

Immortalized by Brooks and Dunn in “Just Another Neon Night” and followed by cowboys with the pro-rodeo circuit with an almost a cult-like fervor, Ricky & the Redstreaks is returning to the El Dorado County Fairgrounds for a reunion concert that promises to fill the house.

It was 1968 at the El Dorado County Fair when high school pals John Jackman, Ray Brown, Scott Thomas and Jan Volz hooked up to form a band called the Train. Part of their act was a special performance by Ricky and the Redstreaks, which later grew into popularity on its own and became the official band of the Pro Rodeo Circuit.

And the rest is history and phenomenon, according to fans and music critics who says thousands of people will show up during the closing nights of a rodeo as word-of-mouth spreads the news that the Redstreaks are in town.

Though cowboys love ‘em, the Redstreaks don’t play country music. They prefer rock ‘n’ roll. What we now call classic rock, including Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and ZZ Top. Throw in what’s described as “cabaret corn and titillating innuendo” from Jackman, who fronts the band, and you have an evening with Ricky and the Redstreaks—part concert, part comedy show, part rip roarin’ dance-on-the-tables party.

The band attributes their four-plus decades of success to the loyalty of their fans.

They’ll perform back-to-back concerts with their original band the Train on June 17 beginning at 8pm on the Main Stage at the El Dorado County Fair.

The concert is included with the price of fair admission.

The 2011 El Dorado County Fair is June 16 to 19 in Placerville. For more information, call (530) 621.5860.

By Kathryn Reed

It was getting to the point that the store looked more used than the items on the shelves.

Fourteen years after the Attic Thrift Store moved to its Lodi Avenue location, it finally got a thorough spring-cleaning. It was so intense the shop was closed for six weeks before reopening last month.

Pat Lacey is in charge of house wares at the Attic Thrift Store. Photos/Kathryn Reed

A fresh coat of paint complements the new flooring, curtains and display cases.

“It was getting pretty raunchy,” says Pat Lacey, one of the nearly 125 volunteers who make up the Barton Auxiliary.

The auxiliary, which is in its 51st year, opened the South Lake Tahoe thrift store in 1961. Through the years it has raised millions of dollars. In the early days this money is where the payroll came from for the doctors at Barton Memorial Hospital.

The $315,000 the group raised in 2010 is going to pay for the $800,000 expansion and renovation of the Barton Community Clinic.

The bulk of what the auxiliary raises is from the thrift store.

During the recession donations have not tapered off, but the number of people shopping has shot up.

The Attic is cleaner and less cluttered.

“We have some really nice stuff. Some things from stores are brand new,” Lacey said while sitting on one of the couches that is for sale. “The celebrity golf tournament (last year) donated T-shirts. Harrah’s donated shirts, too.”

A designer dress with the original $159 price tag came in recently. It sold for a few dollars within minutes. Pricing is consistent for a particular item; it’s not based on the age or wear and tear of it.

Children’s clothing is popular because little ones outgrow their clothes so fast that most of these items look like they have not been worn much.

Baby clothes sell well.

Plenty of shorts are on racks now. Jeans are something the Attic seems to keep a steady supply of.

No clothes with holes are put out – and workers would rather they were never donated. Children’s clothing gets washed on site, but not any of the other garments. Nelta Brown handles all the baby stuff.

Several straw hats with red, white and blue piping around them have been donated. Odds are they’ll be snatched up for a Fourth of July party.

Lacey is responsible for the house wares area. She’s sold a ton of canning jars lately. As she straightens the shelves, she makes sure the Father’s Day mugs are front and center.

Although the prices on items are relatively inexpensive, most days the Attic has a sale. On Friday it was half off on DVDs. There’s even a free table out front. Things that have been in the store awhile often end up there, along with dinnerware with a chip in it.

Workers know some people shop for deals and then resale the item at a higher price.

“If they want to make money, we don’t care. It’s free to us,” Lacey explained. She relayed the story of a guy buying a $4 piece of artwork and selling it for $150.

Most of the workers are from the auxiliary – so they are working for free. The store manager, Henry Suarez, is paid. So are a few of the guys who help with sorting and doing the heavy lifting.

The Attic is open Monday through Friday, 10am to 4pm and Saturdays 10am to 2pm. For information, call (530) 541.3378.

North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District IAFF Local No. 2139 Incline Village and Crystal Bay firefighters are putting on the 2nd annual Firefighters’ Poker Pedal June 25.

Event registration begins at 1pm at Great Basin Brewery, 5525 South Virginia St., Reno.

The event raises funds for Northern Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation.

The ride starts at 2pm. Registration is $20 online or $25 on day of the event.

The 9-mile loop starts at Great Basin Brewery and riders will stop in to pick up a poker card at each participating eatery and breweries – Clary’s Bar & Grill, Ceol Irish Pub, Foley’s and Silver Peak Restaurant complete the hand.

Black Rock Bicycles is donating a cruiser bike for the winning male and female poker hands and there will be additional raffle items to keep it interesting.

No bike? No problem. Black Rock Bicycles will be on site with bicycles for rent. Rentals will be $20 per preregistered rider.

Aries is a sweet young Husky-shepherd mix who is too smart for his own good. He can climb fences — the last time he did that, he ended up at the shelter and then his owner moved away and left him.

He is friendly and playful with all people and dogs, and walks nicely on the leash.

Aries is neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated.

He is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes.

Call (530) 573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz

The folks at the El Dorado County Fair are offering a special incentive to make the trek to Placerville a little easier for Tahoe residents.

The $2 Tahoe Trek Ticket offers entry to the June 16-19 fair for $2 per person per day. That’s more than 70 percent off the price of an adult ticket at the gate and more than 50 percent off the price of a child’s ticket.

“We got the idea to offer this special pricing for Tahoe residents when gas prices started to climb and construction work on Highway 50 threatened to make it especially tough for Tahoe residents to get to Placerville,” fair CEO Jody Gray said in a statement. “It just really seemed like Tahoe residents deserved a break. It’s important to us that people who live in the eastern part of our county also get a chance to enjoy the fair.”

Tahoe residents can obtain their $2 tickets at the fair entrance by presenting one of the following:

1) A current California or Nevada ID with a Tahoe address

2) A current utility bill in your name with a Tahoe address

3) A Tahoe merchant receipt showing a Tahoe address, dated the day you attend the fair.

Making the trek easier is the fact Echo Summit is open in both directions on weekends without delays.

For more information, go online.

Submissions are open now through Aug. 31 for the 2011 Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Prize.

Bona Fide Books of Meyers annually awards The Melissa Lanitis Gregory Prize for an unpublished collection of poems.

Lanitis was a South Lake Tahoe artist who died in 2009. This award created by Bona Fide Books Publisher Kim Wyatt is in honor of her friend and to recognize the inspiration Lanitis gave to so many others in pursuit of literary and artistic dreams.

The winner will receive publication, 10 copies, a $500 cash award, and a reading at Lake Tahoe.

For guidelines, go online.

By Kathryn Reed

“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.”

Those words from Mt. Tallac High School counselor Amy Jackson resonated with the students sitting before her in their blue graduation gowns.

Fidel Valdez Moya with his daughter graduates June 10 from Mt. Tallac High School. Photos/Kathryn Reed

The 45 students who received their diploma Friday morning have overcome obstacles many adults twice their age have yet to – and may never – experience.

While plenty of family and friends turned out for the momentous occasion, many of these young adults have been living on their own for years. Some couch surf – having no real place to call home. A few are already parents. Many work full time. For some, they are the first in their family to earn a high school diploma.

And about 70 percent of these graduates are going onto college. Most never thought a high school diploma would be possible, let alone pursuing higher education.

Austin Beentjes was one of three student speakers. His first stint in the juvenile detention center was at age 14. He admits it took a while to confront a drug addiction.

“A while ago I was scared of the world. Now I’m taking it by the reigns,” Beentjes said. “A while ago I was in an 8 by 10 cell. Now I stand here free.”

All of the speakers praised the school’s staff for providing them an opportunity and the inspiration to be successful.

Emily Yelle spoke of how Mt. Tallac has given all students a second chance.

Her spiral downhill started in fall 2009 while she was a junior at South Tahoe High. Her whole family came down with the flu. It hit Yelle’s mom the hardest. She was hospitalized, airlifted to a Reno hospital, and eventually suffered a stroke that left her brain dead. Yelle’s mom died Nov. 12 that year.

Yelle didn’t go to school. She became depressed. She and her dad started fighting. Family finances were thin.

Finally, she was given the chance to go to Mt. Tallac. It turned her life around.

Yelle told her classmates what makes them different is they’ve been tested so much sooner in life than the average teenager.

“Our stories will not break us,” Yelle said.

Fidel Valdez Moya panicked when his girlfriend told him he was going to be a father. How was he going to support a family without an education? With his daughter now 6-months-old, he doesn’t have to answer that question. He has a high school diploma and has a desire to join the military or go the fire academy.

On Friday, he walked across the stage carrying his daughter – with a huge smile on his face.

Plenty of tears were shed (some adults admitted to wearing sunglasses to hide that fact), lots of hugs were shared, and smiles filled the audience as they celebrated this next step in these young people’s lives.

“This is a pretty incredible class,” Susan Baker, who runs the school, said after the ceremony. “They are very smart and very focused.”

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (Toccata) launches its 6th Big Blue Summer Music Fest with a concert series entitled Baroque to Broadway.

Flutist Josue Casillas will be the featured guest along with the Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and vocal soloists. Works by C.P.E. Bach, Vivaldi, and Barber will be performed along with Broadway favorites, spirituals and patriotic songs.

Concerts are July 2 at 7pm at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church in Incline Village; July 3 at 3pm at St. Theresa Catholic Church in South Lake Tahoe; and July 5 at 7pm at St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral in Reno. The Reno concert is part of the Artown festival.

Tickets are $25 adults, $20 seniors, and $5 students. Preferred seating is $35. Tickets may be purchased in advance by credit card online or at the door by cash or check.

For more information, call (775) 313.9697.