By Robert Perea
Among the crowd for this year’s Battle of the Bands at the Out of Town Park, a single moment rose above the music, the lights, and the cheers—a moment of pure, joyful magic.
Partway through the event, a woman using a white cane walked into the venue with her husband. Surrounded by the vibrant energy of the evening, she stood quietly near the edge of the crowd, taking in the first few performances with a calm, attentive presence. And then something beautiful happened.
Moved by the music and the atmosphere, her husband gently escorted her to the center of the concrete dance area. As the last band of the night, Leeteville Junction, launched into their set, the couple began to dance. What followed was nothing short of extraordinary—she twirled, laughed, and beamed with radiant joy, spinning to the rhythm with the freedom and abandon of someone completely immersed in the moment. She may not have seen the stage, but she felt every note—and it showed. Her joy became the joy of the entire crowd.
She was smiling, laughing, just glowing. It reminded all of us what this event is really about—connection, joy, and community.
The Fernley 4th of July Committee is proud to host events that don’t just entertain, but bring people together. That single dance reminded us why we do this. Moments like that make every ounce of effort worth it.
Planning the 4th of July celebration is a 12-month endeavor, and we do it with an all-volunteer committee of seven members. But really, we’ve only had seven members for the past three months. For most of the previous two years, we’ve had as few as five. We also have a handful of invaluable volunteers. Two of them organize the parade and do an absolutely phenomenal job.
We have another volunteer who isn’t on the board but helps with administrative things and is also absolutely essential. This year, volunteers from Crosswinds Church stepped up to run the Free Kids Zone and they already have ideas to make it better next year.
But truthfully, like just about every other organization that puts on public events, we need more help. Our seven member board is divided into 33 separate committees that handle individual aspects of the preparation for the event, and 21 of those “committees” are just one person. Some of those are more complicated than others, but they all take a tremendous amount of time.
The Fernley 4th of July is also not a function of the City of Fernley, although the event would not happen without the city’s support. We receive grant money from the Fernley Convention and Tourism Authority and the Lyon County Room Tax Board to pay for advertising, and the amount of money we receive from them determines how much we spend on advertising. Also, for the last several years, the city has paid a little more than half of the cost of the fireworks, although this year, the City Council approved Mayor Neal McIntyre’s request to fund the entire cost of the fireworks, which was $30,000.
If the cost of the fireworks increases next year, we will need to either raise more money, or have a shorter fireworks show.
Most of our donations come from business sponsors, but the truth is, every organization in Fernley that puts on an event is knocking on the same doors asking for money. In essence, we’re all competing for the same pool of money.
If you attended this year’s event and came away with ideas that could make it even better, and ideas for how to how to get those things done, then we could definitely use your help. It was two new members who took our idea of hosting a Battle of the Bands this year and made it happen.
Watching that woman dance last Thursday evening made the whole year’s work worthwhile. Let’s see how we can work together to make more beautiful moments like that next year.
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