IV Main Street Beautification Campaign Kicks Off, Incline Green Clean is Coming Up, and More

Local businesses and entities in Incline Village/Crystal Bay recently started collaborating on ways to make Incline Village/Crystal Bay look nicer, welcoming, and more accessible to visitors and residents alike. Here are some upcoming sustainable, green initiative events to take part in as we usher in summer at the lake:

Incline Village Main Street Beautification Campaign

Businesses have been complaining about the lack of having a “main street” in Incline Village for a long time, therefore the IVCBA has partnered with the Incline Tahoe Foundation (as well as Main Street America and Nevada Main Street) to launch the Incline Village Main Street Beautification Campaign. According to the Incline Tahoe Foundation, the purpose of the campaign is to facilitate and support transformational strategies for economic revitalization and commercial core redevelopment of Incline Village. 

Thanks to a one-time reinvestment grant in the amount of $75,000 from Washoe County, the Main Street Beautification Campaign is focused on revitalizing Incline’s commercial core through fresh organization, design, promotion, and economic vitality. Beautification committees are chaired by volunteers, working towards building Incline with a consistent design with elements that are incorporated into the landscaping, lighting, signage, and public art. 

Some of the first projects underway to help fulfill this goal include: promoting spring and fall community clean-ups with local organizations; working with local landscapers to create a better-looking commercial area; improving commercial zone signage; reviewing the current landscaping in the Highway 431/Incline Village roundabout; identifying, enhancing, and promoting public art; reviewing and possibly installing new streetlights to increase safety while also considering the effects of light pollution; and more. 

The IVCBA just hired Incline Village Main Street Manager Jonathon Gardner to help facilitate Beautification Campaign efforts. For more information about the IV Main Street Beautification Campaign, feel free to contact Jonathon Gardner directly at jonathon@ivcba.org. To donate to the Incline Village Main Street fund, do so through the Incline Tahoe Foundation at https://www.inclinetahoe.org/incline-village-main-street.html.  

June 1^st, 9am-noon: Incline Green Clean Community Clean Up Day

The entire community will be coming together on June 1^st to help clean up Incline Village, and the more who participate the merrier. In a coordinated effort between the IVCBA, IVGID Waste Not, Tahoe Blue Crew, Clean Tahoe, Waste Management, the Incline Education Fund, Incline Highlanders, and the Washoe County Library System, the first big community cleanup day of the year– Incline Green Clean– is happening the morning of June 1^st. The event kicks off at the Incline Village Library at 845 Alder Avenue at 9am where you can pick up tools, safety vests, trash bags, disposable masks/gloves, and meet fellow clean-up crew members. At 11am, everyone will meet back up at the library as it begins its block party to enjoy food, fun, and more. 

The whole family is encouraged to attend, as this teaches our kids the importance of stewardship and taking care of our town and environment.  For more information, contact Waste Not at (775) 832-1284 or email wastenot@ivgid.org. 

June 1^st, 11am-2pm: Incline Village Library Block Party 

Following Incline Green Clean, the Incline Village Library is hosting its second annual block party filled with activities and information booths from local organizations around Incline Village/Crystal Bay. Grab friends and family, play some cornhole, eat a hot dog or two, and don’t forget to sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge and claim your free book. 

How to Organize Your Own Community Clean Up Crew

The League to Save Lake Tahoe formed the Tahoe Blue Crew to empower and support anyone taking the initiative to create a litter-free Lake Tahoe, which is why they’ll be at the June 1^st Incline Green Clean community cleanup. However, if you can’t make the June 1^st event, there are many other ways to get involved. One of them is by forming your own Tahoe Blue Crew. To become a Blue Crew leader, pledge to adopt a litter “hot spot”, clean it at least three times a year with your crew, and report the results back to the League. For more information, visit https://www.keeptahoeblue.org/join-us/tahoe-blue-crew/. 

Additionally on the East Shore, Incline Village Enhancement Fund is “calling all trashbusters” who are interested in organizing neighborhood clean-up crews. For more information, visit InclineEnhancement.com.

Why It’s Important to Keep Tahoe Clean

According to the League to Save Lake Tahoe’s website, “Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places on earth, but the Lake’s environment feels the impact of 15+ million visitors each year. Litter is the most visible sign that Tahoe is at risk of being loved to death.

Litter harms the Tahoe ecosystem by spreading bacteria, clogging storm drains, leaching chemicals, marring our pristine outdoors, and harming wildlife. Community cleanups like those conducted by the Blue Crew reduce litter, protect our ecosystem, raise awareness, and build environmental stewardship.

Tahoe receives three times the number of annual visitors to Zion National Park or Yellowstone National Park, but it doesn’t have the same strict protections as a national park. Public land managers don’t have the staff or resources to keep up, so they need the help of Tahoe-lovers to protect Tahoe’s delicate environment.”

Originally Published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 05/23/2024, Written by Katelyn Welsh

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Photos of trash strewn beaches and dizzying stats on the thousands of pounds of trash pulled from Tahoe may not be hitting the mark on changing litter behavior, according to a psychologist brought into Tahoe’s litter conversation. 

“It can be a little bit worrisome to spend too much effort focusing on problem behavior,” Dr. Renee Bator explains, “Instead, try to find what’s going well and what people are doing right.” That’s because learning what others are doing, can be very influential in what people decide to do, the State University of New York Plattsburgh professor says.

This information has Tahoe environmental organizations and government agencies preparing positive success stories for messaging as they head into summer—the fourth of July lurking just around the corner.

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Photo from Thunderbird Lodge – Tahoe Daily Tribune