Carson City holiday ornament featuring Nevada State Prison released

The 14th Carson City holiday ornament has been released and depicts a silver plated Nevada State Prison.

This tradition, started by the Downtown Redevelopment Citizen’s Committee, began in 2002 as a way to highlight unique Carson City buildings that have historic and architectural character and to help attract people to local businesses during the holiday season. Each year, a few shops around town sell a limited number of ornaments.

The Purple Avocado on Curry Street is one of the shops that has been selling these keepsakes since they started.

“It is a tradition for us,” said Sue Jones, co-owner of The Purple Avocado. “The ornaments started our second Christmas open, so we have been with this since the beginning.”

Sue and her husband Stan Jones, who also owns The Purple Avocado, said the ornaments have become tradition for their family as well as many in Carson City. They said they will get people calling them asking to reserve an ornament.

In previous years, the ornament has depicted various Carson City sites such as the Carson City Central School and the Governor’s Mansion. Many of the past ornaments still may be available for purchase at the shops.

The 2015 ornament is the state prison because of its importance to Nevada and Carson City history and because of its recent addition to the National Register of Historic Places, said Ronni Hannaman, Executive Director of the Carson City Chamber of Commerce. The ornament is a silvered image of the prison with the dates of when it was open.

“It is just a popular thing and people look forward to it,” Stan said.

The ornament can be purchased at the Purple Avocado, 904 N. Curry Street; Carson City Chamber Artisan Shop at 1900 S. Carson; the Nevada Legislature Gift Shop; the Carson City Visitor’s Bureau; the Nevada State Museum and from the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society from Cheryl Knight at 297-3242.