The Virginia City and Gold Hill Chamber of Commerce has a new events coordinator and a new building to match.
Virginia City's Crystal Bar is officially open for business but still very much a work in progress, according to new Events Coordinator Kristen Hamlet.
"We're going to have antique furniture, and different areas will be divided by velvet ropes," she said, pointing to a mission-style desk. "We're going to keep to the period, like a museum and we will be in costume."
Her position is funded jointly by the Chamber of Commerce, Storey County and Virginia City Convention and Tourism Authority and she will be working with all three entities. In addition to coordinating the many events for locals, Hamlet will be talking to businesses and interests from Reno to Douglas County and beyond, encouraging them to coordinate their events with those in Virginia City.
"The uniqueness of this area is a big selling point and we have a lot to offer the hotels in Reno, " she said. "For example, when they bring people in for a five-day convention, those people could spend a day up here."
Hamlet will also be talking to businesses in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Complex, encouraging them to use Virginia City facilities for meetings and conventions.
"I relished the challenge this position will bring," she said. "This isn't business as usual. I'm not going to be frozen to chair. I'm going to be doing it."
With hazel eyes, long sandy hair and freckles, Hamlet is a bundle of energy that belies her 50 years.
The daughter of a veterinarian, she is originally from Elko and moved here with her parents when she was in the fourth grade. She grew up primarily in the Reno and Lake Tahoe areas and has been a Virginia City resident for about nine years. She calls herself a Northern-Nevada and western-history buff.
Before taking this position she was a receiving inventory specialist for Porsche, a job that included a lot of liaison work between the United States and overseas interests.
When the company relocated to Atlanta, Ga. , Hamlet opted to stay here and was in the unemployment line when she found out that the Virginia City Chamber of Commerce was looking for a "meeter and greeter."
"They were having trouble filling the position because no one wanted to make the commute up here," she said with a smile. "Someone pointed to me and said, 'she lives up there!'"
She began working for the Virginia City Chamber of Commerce as an administrative assistant Jan. 11 of last year and accepted her new position a year later. She's lived in Virginia City for about nine years.
"I like the ambience here and I like the small-town atmosphere," she said.
"I'm crazy about Northern Nevada and I'm a history buff. Nevada State Archivist Guy Rocha, she says, "is one of my favorites."
