Fresh snow arrived today, just in time for the Ullr Fest on Friday! It’s the first big community fundraiser for the year, raising funds for young skiers through Diamond Peak Ski Education Foundation. Watch the torchlight parade at Diamond Peak and don’t forget your Viking helmet! If you are not a skier, but love the Olympics, why not attend the Evening of Champions on Saturday at the Hyatt to benefit the Ski Team? Olympians Marco and Anna Sullivan are on hand for a Meet and Greet.

I come from a Minnesota/Scandinavian heritage that believes in showing love by sharing a cookie platter after (and before!) every meal during December.  I cling to the tradition of a cookie exchange with my girlfriends in Tahoe, but I gotta tell you, the enthusiasm is waning. Stepping on the scale in January was my first clue that the cookie tradition had to stop! After the holidays, many of us are trying to detox and eat clean, whatever that means! Find out at Natural Grocers this Saturday and Feb 7 at their 11am “Hack Your Health”  classes taught by Alina Neacy.  Teaser: Balancing your blood sugar is more than just cutting cookies from your diet.

The healthy theme continues in February, right around the corner. February is Heart Health Month at Tahoe Forest Health System.  The balmy weather this winter makes it easy to get over to Truckee for their noon workshops on Wednesdays. Exercise and diet are obvious ways to promote heart health, but DID YOU KNOW that gum disease, stress, and dairy also affect your heart?  Find out more at www.tfhd.com . Now for the fun part… Friday, February 6, is Wear Red Day!  For those of you who remember my  Dress The Party costume store, red is still my favorite color. I can’t fit into that hot leather dress from the 80’s that is still in my closet, but I will break out one of my red sweaters.  I hope you will too!

LIKE WHAT YOU READ?

IVCBA is the Community and Business Association that promotes our local businesses and nonprofits, organizes community events, and produces the Weekly SnapShot!  If you are a subscriber and regular reader, please join as a Community Supporter for $50. If you are not a subscriber, do for free! Go to IVCBA.org. We are financially supported by our local agency “investors”, and our business community and residents. Please help! JOIN HERE

I thought I was a city girl for the first twenty years of living in Incline. We had a high-rise apartment in downtown Minneapolis in the early 80’s…in our single days! When we moved to Incline to start a family in 1988, we kept a home in Minnesota for frequent visits. I assumed we would go back to a downtown lifestyle. Hmm. Not anymore, now that we are seniors. I still go back for family visits, and I get my city fix by staying with our daughter Nicole and her wife, Patty, in their urban home in south Minneapolis. BUT  today’s Lens is about the benefits of living in a small town, especially in Incline, whether you are a senior or raising a family.

HELPFUL NEIGHBORS

IVCBA’s Marketing & Communications Manager, Kristin Derrin, tells the story of coming back to Incline after living abroad for 4 months. Her family arrived in the middle of the storm to find that their neighbors had plowed their driveway so they could get into their house. Many of our full-time residents moved here when they were much younger. They count on neighbors to check on them and help them out. 

SUPPORT FOR SENIORS

Sometimes those longtime residents need more help to get by. Sierra Senior Services and Washoe County provide Meals on Wheels, delivered by Jim Dykstra and other volunteers who take time to do a wellness check as well. Incliners offers a variety of activities, including a potluck at Diamond Peak during the winter season.

SUPPORT FOR FAMILIES

Myriad organizations make Incline family-friendly. Most families need after-school care like that offered by the Duffield Youth Center. I want to give a shout-out to Daisy Day Care, which now offers a babysitting service on Friday nights and ski & ride camp as childcare on Saturday and Sundays. 

APRES SKI

I used to love the after-ski experience and miss it now that I don’t downhill ski. BUT I am tempted to go to Bowl Incline for those Après Ski parties on their patio! 

GREAT LOCAL BUSINESSES

I never tire of talking about our 3 local markets, our hardware store, and the businesses that offer staples so we can skip the trip to Mt. Rose, especially in bad weather. Please patronize them and let them know how glad you are that they are here.

LIKE WHAT YOU READ?

IVCBA is the Community and Business Association that promotes our local businesses and nonprofits, organizes community events, and produces the Weekly SnapShot!  If you are a subscriber and regular reader, please join as a Community Supporter for $50. If you are not a subscriber, do for free! Go to IVCBA.org. We are financially supported by our local agency “investors”, and our business community and residents. Please help! JOIN HERE

Take a moment next Tuesday to honor the men and women who wear a military uniform to serve our country in the United States Armed Forces. Veterans Day originated with Armistice Day to mark the end of World War I. Incline Village/Crystal Bay has several organizations serving veterans, all of whom invite the general public to attend their meetings, events, and fundraisers. Perhaps the largest is the Incline Village Veterans Club, which meets monthly on the last Thursday at the Chateau for lunch. The Military Officers of America Association has a speaker series. The upcoming leadership series is on November 20 and features District Attorney Chris Hickman as the speaker. President of the Lake Tahoe Chapter, John Hoffman, is also Chairman of the Onward Opps Foundation, a nationwide group that offers mentoring and other support for vets, both active and inactive. PTSD Now! focuses on suicide prevention in Nevada (and other states) National Guard with a program called “Purple Resolve”.  Rotary Club of Incline Village celebrates Veterans Day at their lunch on Monday, November 11. If you are interested, reach out to Speeslaw@aol.com.

National Wreaths Across America Day is December 13, 2025!

Join the Incline Village Crystal Bay Veterans Club at Eastside Memorial Park in Minden or the Rotary Club of Tahoe-Incline at Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City.

Donate here.

HUNGER RELIEF

There’s a lot of buzz around town right about the potential increase in food insecurity due to  cuts in the government SNAP “digital food stamps” program. Among the numerous groups ready to help, Sierra Community House is the first line of support. They are connected to our local markets and have the best buying power with sources like Northern Nevada Food Bank, so better to donate money than food. Walk-up food distribution in Incline takes place on Thursday from 2-3:30 at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church. For more detailed information on all of their food-related services and to donate, visit: Hunger Relief – Sierra Community House.

How to help….lots of people are asking. In addition to Sierra Community House,

• Tahoe Family Solutions’ family resource center is the “boots on the ground” for SNAP recipients. They are busy finding additional ways to help.
• Tahoe Community Foundation is connecting people with programs across the Tahoe Basin
• Sierra Senior Services delivers Meals on Wheels in Incline Village, funded by Washoe County.  Kristin, give URL
• Food Bank of Northern Nevada supports us locally through Sierra Community House and the Vincent DePaul branch at St. Francis Catholic Church. (give URL)
• Faith-based: every local church offers assistance to those in need! 

Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History!

As you can imagine, I relate to this phrase quite a bit. I may not make any history book, but I am doing my best to share my time, talent, and treasure with this community! I am not alone. I have been reminded of this phrase recently with the passing of two strong women who made a difference, not just in Incline Village but also across the country. 

Nancy Siebens Binz and her family’s foundation were passionate about small private colleges and many other institutions like the Mayo Clinic.  As a longtime resident, we benefited from her generous and regular support of  Sierra Nevada College( before it became a part of UNR.) Nancy was feisty and spoke her mind. Everyone knew where she stood. She passed away in October, just a month shy of turning 94. She moved to the Cayman Islands a number of years ago and pursued her lifelong passions of travel and deep-sea fishing. 

Peggy Poindexter passed away suddenly in October, and many of us gathered to celebrate her life and support her husband, Jeff, and two daughters on Sunday at Burnt Cedar. Peggy had an illustrious career with the Department of Defense before she turned her talents to making Incline a better place. I cannot do her biography justice, but I can tell you from firsthand experience that she was an outstanding cook and shared this talent with AAUW and its garden party fundraisers and cooking clubs. When she was President of AAUW, she started a program at the high school to steer students toward vocational education and to develop skills and trades.  As her daughter said, Peggy could be “prickly”, which to me is just another way of describing a strong woman who knew her mind and made stuff happen. Thank you Peggy!

LIKE WHAT YOU READ?

IVCBA is the Community and Business Association that promotes our local businesses and nonprofits, organizes community events, and produces the Weekly SnapShot!  If you are a subscriber and regular reader, please join as a Community Supporter for $50. If you are not a subscriber, do for free! Go to IVCBA.org. We are financially supported by our local agency “investors”, and our business community and residents. Please help! JOIN HERE

Politics, sex and religion are among the subjects not to be discussed in polite company or in public, “back in the day”.  With all the social media and AI-generated content that requires great effort to verify, maybe face-to-face is a better way to have meaningful conversations. Notice I didn’t say confrontations! IVGID’s Conversation Café offers in-person chats every Thursday at 10 am at Aspen Grove. The Community Forum meets on the first and third Fridays at Incline Library at 10 am. THIS Friday is one of those days. 

Domestic violence is often one of those taboo conversations, both within a family and within a community. Sierra Community House takes many steps to educate our community and make it safe to talk about issues that affect us and our neighbors. They are commemorating National Domestic Violence month with at least two ways for community participation: 1. Go to their  35^th annual Chocolate and Wine Festival on October 25 at the Hyatt. 2. Join the Purple Walk in Truckee this Thursday, October 16.

Crossing the News Desert, a Tahoe Series program on Thursday night at UNR, is yet another way to join the conversation in person on how difficult it is becoming to get news coverage in rural communities. In case you missed it, KUNR has established a radio studio in the Prim Library, right here in Incline Village.

Talkin’ Tahoe TONIGHT!

The topic on everyone’s minds this week is the weather! Get Meteorologist Dawn Johnson’s take on how the winter is shaping up.  How DO they make the decision to call the upcoming weather a winter advisory or a warning?

High School Fair at Lake Tahoe School on October 21

We LOVE our local high school, but what if your child needs something different. Look at the flyer just to get a sense of all the choices there are, many of them local. Why not actually attend and learn more if you are a family with younger kids?

BEAUTY IS MORE THAN SKIN DEEP

Now that I have your attention, let me help you plan your Saturday (after Pet Net’s Puppy Plunge).… Go to Natural Grocer to learn why Detox is so important to your skin. THEN go to Tahoe Aesthetician’s one year anniversary to learn how she can fix those outer flaws that will help boost your confidence and make you feel beautiful on the inside too!

ON THE FUN SIDE

I can’t possibly cover all of the fun events that Incline Library, Alibi and Incline Bowl put on, but our calendar can! Check out an adventure film, the Sheldon Massacre Expedition and their Backcountry trip through Northwestern Nevada in May by the  Wildwood Foundations at Alibi on Saturday.

CORRECTION

The CAB meeting is on Monday October 27 at 5:30. The topic is on Nevada State Park renovation plans for Sand Harbor.

LIKE WHAT YOU READ?

IVCBA is the Community and Business Association that promotes our local businesses and nonprofits, organizes community events, and produces the Weekly SnapShot!  If you are a subscriber and regular reader, please join as a Community Supporter for $50. If you are not a subscriber, do for free! Go to IVCBA.org. We are financially supported by our local agency “investors”, and our business community and residents. Please help! JOIN HERE