Candy Dance keeps Genoa in the light

This weekend Genoans take the fate of their town into their own hands with the Candy Dance Arts & Crafts Faire.

Genoa's future in 1919 was not particularly bright. The county seat had been finagled off to Minden three years before and the town was slowly evaporating. Most of the business that remained in town after the 1910 fire left with the county seat.

The 1910 census shows the town had about a quarter of the people listed during its heyday.

But instead of facing dissolution in the face of a very dark future, townspeople led by Lillian Virgin decided to start raising money on their own.

Originally the plan was to purchase streetlights and then money had to be found to keep the lights on.

Over the years Candy Dance has altered substantially, but its purpose has not.

It has consistently supplemented the funds supporting the town, keeping residents' taxes low and providing services far above what a town its size could support.

Some concerns have been expressed about the future of Genoa and the Candy Dance.

Certainly the faces of the people who've brought the event to life over the decades have changed many times.

But the town continues to thrive and grow, and we believe it will in the future.

Both the spirit and the motivation that has kept Candy Dance alive all these years still exists.

Different people will take up the torch and we predict Nevada's first settlement will continue to travel its own path for the next 87 years.