Main Street Fernley looking to place billboard on I-80

Hoping to bring more activity to Fernley’s downtown, especially during special events, the Fernley Downtown Corridor Association, doing business as Main Street Fernley, hopes to rent an I-80 billboard for at least three months this summer. 

The proposed billboard will tout “Main Street Fernley, drive to it, not through it” and will list some upcoming special events, according to Lowell Patton, president of Main Street Fernley. The group hopes to have the billboard up sometime next month, depending on availability, or as soon as an existing billboard lease adjacent to Fernley expires, he said. 

The billboard effort was made possible last Monday by a $6,250 grant from the Fernley Convention and Tourism Authority, which Patton said should cover about half of the expected cost, with Main Street Fernley to cover the other half with its own funds. 

The City of Fernley approved a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Main Street Fernley on June 4, granting the organization $25,000 a year in funding for the term of the MOU to promote Fernley and, hopefully, enhance downtown facade improvements and support other programs created by the group. 

Late last year, Main Street Fernley received a $25,000 grant from Nevada Main Street to construct a high visibility crosswalk across Main Street at Silver Lace Boulevard to the Main Street Art Park. 

Patton was not sure when the crosswalk work will begin this summer, as it depends on getting an encroachment permit from the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) and the availability of the contractor hired to perform the work. However, Main Street Fernley is planning a celebration of the crosswalk completion on Sept. 27, he said. 

The group’s poker walk, usually conducted during the city’s Fourth of July celebration, will instead be conducted during the crosswalk celebration this year, Patton said. During the poker walk, attendees purchase a poker card for a nominal fee and get it stamped at participating businesses, hoping to win prizes by filling their cards. 

Main Street Fernley will still have a presence at the city’s Fourth of July celebration, Patton said, noting that the group will have a booth and is planning extra space for a children’s booth with some kind of entertainment.