Today is October 31st and any true Nevadan will gladly spurt out "Happy Nevada Day!" To show off both their pride for Nevada and the that there is something more than Halloween to be observed.
The day is the anniversary of the Nevada territory being admitted as a state in the war ravaged union of 1864. The 31st of October has meaning to the holiday which had both the benefit of giving kids a day off on Halloween (which our teachers beat into our heads that the day off was for Nevada, not getting free candy), and providing social capitol for citizen to come together and celebrate a state we all love. Since then it's been a little odd for me when people tell me Happy Nevada Day not on the 31st after Nevada decided to change the day of celebration.
In 1997 a state assemblyman thought it would be a great idea to adjust Nevada Day to the nearest Friday before to create a three day weekend. In 1998 the people approved this idea cheapening the celebration of statehood to something on par with Black Friday. After doing some reading, I think this passed with mildly good intentions, but the day has lost it's only meaning- the date. If we put this idea in a larger context, such as Independence Day, would we be ok to move our July 4th celebrations to accommodate a three day weekend? Probably not. While I think most people enjoy three day weekends, I also think it's reasonable to say a random midweek day off is fun too and when you really think about it, roughly half of the time Nevada Day will fall appropriately to create a three weekend anyhow. So on this Nevada Day, I ask that someone go up to Carson City and fix this. Don't cheapen the holiday of our favorite state the way outsiders cheapen Nevadan culture.
Now that's off my chest, lets celebrate the Great State of Nevada with my yearly favorite "Home Means Nevada" sung by Nevada's very own the Killers.