Northern Lights is already underway, with many holiday lights up in the Village! It’s still warm enough to get those lights up on YOUR house and enter the Deck the Halls lighting contest. If you like what you see around town….make a donation at IVCBA.org. Those lights will be even prettier after we successfully PRAY FOR SNOW and support the Diamond Peak ski team at Alibi on Friday night. Did you know that there’s a team for seniors too? All ages, but let’s face it, those little kids on skis are scene stealers.

CANDY CANE LANE and VILLAGE is happening Saturday, December 2. IVGID Rec Center and the UNR@Lake Tahoe campus have created a winter wonderland in between. The community tree is in the middle! This event is happening rain (like last year), shine, or snow. Here comes Santa Claus…right down Candy Cane Lane!

IVCBA is about Building Community and I want to give a big shout out to Grocery Outlet for taking over the market in Village Center. Tomorrow is their grand opening. Photo Opp at 10am with the ribbon cutting…can we all show our support? If 10 am doesn’t work, maybe you can be there when they open at 7am( early birds will be rewarded).

On Monday, there was a groundbreaking event for Nine 47, the luxury condo project at the corner of Tahoe Blvd. and Southwood across from the skate park. Our community needs housing for every demographic, but especially for the workforce (service workers to teachers and office workers).  Hamilton Realty Finance (Randy and his wife Lisa live in Incline) has deed-restricted another property for 40-60 units of workforce housing.

Meetings on STR’s – short term rentals TODAY at 5pm at Incline Library Community Room or tomorrow on zoom. Find the details on IVCBA calendar. This is a chance to give Washoe County staff input on improving their regulations. 

Live Work Play, IVCBA’s magazine, should be in your mailboxes any day now…watch for it!

And get involved and take the Washoe Tahoe Acacemy Survey. Washoe County invites Incline Village & Crystal Bay residents to participate in a survey as we look to create a Washoe Tahoe Academy to hone leadership skills and develop ambassadors for public service. This is a program that will be tailor-made for this unique community. Help us to shape what the Academy will encompass by taking this survey. The survey will be open until November 30. 

Enjoy

I want to give a shout-out to our schools’ STEM designation with the State of Nevada. Tonight, an open house for the numerous programs, including the engineering classes and ‘We The People’ constitutional debate program, that qualified them to be a STEM school. Please go and celebrate academics in this rare chance to see our high schoolers showing off their talents and the school.  Incline Elementary School is getting local recognition in the news for its Makers Space program. And not to be left out, the Incline Middle School is working on its STEM designation this year. The robotics class and their “Trash to Treasure” campaign last weekend are two examples. I can’t wait to see what sculpture they create with all that trash!

COMMUNITY JOB FAIR on Wednesday, November 15, at the Chateau

Hey, reaching out to seniors and you early retired people…why not take a part-time job and help out our local businesses and earn some cash to help cover the ever-rising costs of living here?

This job fair is a group effort…IVGID, IVCBA, Raleys, and the Hyatt are joining forces to promote working in Incline. We will soon have three markets in town, our restaurants, ski area, and retailers like Mountain Hardware need help, especially in the busy ski season. 

NORTHERN LIGHTS

You will be amazed at everything that happens in November and December in this tiny community. Find it all on the IVCBA.org website!

• This weekend is the first Sip and Shop at Village Center. Shop the thrift stores and stop in to see the new floral shop, Wyld Peony. Glasses will be pouring; get a glimpse of Grocery Outlet before it is officially opened. By the way, all of the thrift stores in town, along with Karma Consignment Boutique, have specials this weekend as well.
• Toys for Tots campaign: Start shopping now for those unwrapped gifts and watch for those barrels that will be found around town soon. Shop local at Village Toys (with a discount!) across from Starbucks. 

WASHOE COUNTY survey on a leadership academy

Our community is looking for leaders and ambassadors.  Washoe County nd IVCBA are partnering on a leadership academy next year. Watch for the survey, we are looking for feedback on how to organize it. CLICK HERE FOR SURVEY >

That’s all I got this week!

Do we have more than our fair share of conflict in this little village? I don’t know. But right now, IVCBA’s mission of “building cohesiveness for the sustainability of Incline Village and Crystal Bay” seems even more difficult. For those of us who want a thriving community, how do we move forward when there seem to be so many contentious issues, rigid positions, and sides taken that don’t leave room for compromise…and how do we trust that our government and agencies are looking out for our best interests when we can’t agree on what those best interests are?! I applaud those in our community who work tirelessly on issues and work to make Incline a better place. But it’s time to take a pause and remember that we are in a small village, and life is better if we try to get along or at least be tolerant.

Whether it’s from a religious book, lessons taught by your parents, ethics classes in college, or what you learned in kindergarten, can we apply those principles to working together and healing our community? Here’s my best collection of truisms from Richard’s mother, among others, that all hold more than one grain of truth.

• You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
• If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
• You don’t learn anything when you are talking.
• Never compromise your integrity.
• To err is human; to forgive is sublime.

And last, Be generous, with your time, talent, and treasure…from Carla Hanson, the “Mother Theresa” of Incline Village who started the Parasol Foundation, along with Warren Trepp and others.

Sometimes this is awkward, but IVCBA works hard to maintain a neutral position on issues. Our 270 members all have different opinions. We advocate for more information and more interaction to discern what an issue is about and how it will affect our community. We support the governments in power and recognize that elections give us the opportunity to make changes when we are not happy with the direction that the government is taking. We are about “building community” and sometimes that means change. And no one likes changes. As the old saw goes, I’m all for progress, it’s change, it’s change I can’t stand. 

Here’s what IVCBA does to Build Community:

• Support and promote our agencies, businesses, and nonprofits.
• Provide information through a community website, IVCBA.org, SnapShot, and Live.Work.Play.
• Organize community-wide events, like the upcoming Northern Lights Celebration.
• Convene people and encourage education and positive interactions.
• Turn on the holiday lights!

If you share our vision of a thriving community that supports, and is supported by, our agencies, businesses, and nonprofits, won’t you please join as a Community Supporter for $50? Go to www.ivcba.org.

Upcoming meetings and ways to get more information:

Tahoe Transportation District and its recent decision to dismantle the community engagement committee: CAB(Citizen Advisory Committee) meeting on Thursday, Nov 2 at 5:30 p.m.

Washoe County School District and their pending decision to close Incline Middle School. 

Join the committee and be part of the process. Learn more at WCSD.net/

Community Forum: Friday, November 3 at 10am at Incline Library.

IVGID: The next board meeting is November 8.

Rotary’s Best Ball for a Cause on Sunday is so much more than a golf tournament! It starts with a BBQ lunch at 12:30, followed by an amazing silent auction and fun non-golfer putting competitions. And yes, there is a golf tournament with prizes. All for a good cause…Rotary’s youth services and scholarships.

It Takes a Village….time for Winter Warmth and Wellness. Bring coat donations to a local church, the Rec Center or the Parasol building to help our service workers.  All before October 21, when they do a distribution at the Kings Beach Conference Center.

Bad News and Good News

Village Interiors has been in business at Christmas Tree Village for 37 years with owners Carole Leavitt, Ned, and Janet Stock. They are closing at the end of October. Richard and I furnished our home through them. Years ago, they were proponents of the Chamber mixer at the Christmas Tree Village. Every storefront had homemade goodies, but everyone made a beeline for Village Interiors first. THANK YOU for being an anchor business! 

Now the good news… Lisa Douglas Designs and Tahoe Gifting Company owners Darya and Matthew are opening a business in that location. They are known for their creativity and gifts of flocal origin. Stop by to say goodbye to Village Interiors and take advantage of their 30% off everything sale except fine art. I stopped in today and was amazed at all the beautiful art by local artists. It’s like a gallery. Worth seeing!

A Big Shoutout to David and Jan Hardie

Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation honored David Hardie as a Distinguished Philanthropist earlier this summer. He is a longtime supporter and board member of the organization and the lead donor to the Tahoe Fire Safe Fund. Dave and his wife Jan are pillars of our community. THANK YOU!

Conversation Café on Thursday at 10 am at Aspen Grove

How could it be that I have never been there! I am going for the first time on Thursday. I am a guest speaker to talk about IVCBA and its mission to “build cohesiveness for the sustainability of Incline Village and Crystal Bay”. We need this more than ever right now, something positive, something to unify our residents. We all want a thriving community, right? Join me! And join the community and business association on the website IVCBA.org.

This Thursday is busy check out these events if you are in town: 

Talks @ Tahoe – Why Lake Tahoe Matters Even More Today with Dr. Sudeep Chandra at UNR

Hyatt Lakeside Yoga to Benefit Incline Elementary School – Hyatt Beach

Free Community Presentation: Middle School Superpowers by Phyllis Fagell – LTS

The Ghost of Twain…that is, McAvoy Layne as Mark Twain, haunted the outdoor amphitheater at St. Patrick’s Church one last time on Monday. However, if you see him jogging through town, it’s probably not a ghost unless it’s on Halloween. McAvoy has had a home in Incline Village and has been entertaining locals and visitors for 35 years. His final performance is at the Piper Opera House in Virginia City on September 30. Thank you, Mac! By the way, that amphitheater is one of the best-kept secrets in Incline. It is a chapel too, and is available for weddings, nonprofit events, or anything else that does well outside on a nice Tahoe day or evening. St. Pat’s also has a back deck and lower patio on its main church building that can also be used for events.

Rumors abound about the Incline Plaza. I am here to lay those rumors to rest. No, the building is not being torn down to build luxury condos. Owner Gary Kasden tells me that a new European-style restaurant called La Loca is going into the FredRick’s space. The space where The Local bar is located is looking for a tenant. Gary explained that his vision for that building is services like Luxe Nails, Bridget Giroux Design, Incline Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine, Move Mountains, and Open Mortgage are on the upper level, while the lower level is geared toward restaurants, like our beloved Bite and Drink Coffee Do Stuff. Berkshire Hathaway is an anchor business on the ground level too. Oh, and just maybe that building will get a facelift down the road, something we would all like to see on many of the buildings on our “Main Street”, aka Tahoe Boulevard.

TONIGHT…

There are no less than five events tonight on a Wednesday! Bowl Incline and Alibi (both locations) have fun stuff. If you are looking for a job, or just curious about Natural Grocer, the community room at Incline Library is your destination. If you grew up with comic books, you need to go to the Lake Tahoe School’s speaker night and learn why kids(still!) love graphic novels. They don’t call them comic books anymore. I probably oversimplified this, so please go and set me straight. It’s in the new Bobcat Treehouse Library Media Center. 

COMING UP THIS WEEKEND…

Golf tournaments…the annual Incline Village Hospital Auxiliary tournament on Saturday and a new event on Sunday to support Highlander Pride. If golf is not your thing, grab a garbage bag from IVGID and help clean up our Village and the East Shore. Saturday also brings an all-new event to Incline, the Incline Wine and Food event is high-end wine tasting in support of Boys and Girls Club and Incline Middle School. I can drink to that! 

NEXT WEEK….

A big shout out to Bowl Incline for still supporting the victims of the Maui fire. Get a discount to eat spam “for a cause.” Who’s ever heard of OLLI? The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute brings adult education to Incline Village, courtesy of UNR@Lake Tahoe. For once, it’s something during the day! Come to the Prim Library next Tuesday at 10 am to learn from the Sanford Center for 

Aging. 

Find all of the details on the IVCBA.org calendar. Like the Local Lens? Like the SnapShot? Show your support by becoming a Community Supporter for $50. Find the Join button at the bottom of each page of the website.

This is a good thing. New businesses and redevelopment of buildings mean that our community is thriving, that there is investment in our community. Here’s my take on what’s going on around town and how it helps keep our community strong.

Incline Village Grocery Outlet in Village Center has a grand opening date of Thursday, November 2.  The old Village Market is being outfitted with brand-new flooring and fixtures; stocking shelves with food is scheduled for mid-October. They are HIRING, preferably locals, with interviews September 28-30. This new business will be a great boost for other Village Center businesses like Glasses Wine Bar, Tahoe Fitness Loft, Wired Solutions, Postal Express, Tahoe Multisport, the thrift stores, and many other businesses. Let’s reconnect with the Village, aka “Post Office” Center, as the place where “locals shop and neighbors meet”. 

The brand-new building on Tahoe Blvd, Natural Grocer, is showing signs of progress, finally! We have a target opening date of January 17, 2024. This is the first new construction on “Main Street” that we have seen in a long time. Let’s hope this new building sets the tone and provides inspiration for other centers and plazas to do their own redevelopment. IVCBA and its Main Street program hope to encourage property owners to give a facelift to our commercial core. 

The Cal Neva is being renovated and branded as a Proper Hotel. Plans are to keep the historic ambiance of the Indian Room and the Frank Sinatra Showroom and update the entire complex into a boutique hotel with a spa and plenty of entertainment and dining venues that appeal to locals. The benefits of this development, along with the Waldorf-Astoria in Crystal Bay are many. Suitable tourist accommodations provide alternatives to short-term rentals, possibly leading to more long-term rentals for locals. Crystal Bay is the gateway to Nevada. No one wants a blighted commercial area to be the first thing to be seen. Did I mention more jobs!! Both of these new developments are committed to providing workforce housing. Another issue…what about the danger of more people to evacuate in the event of a fire? Let’s use these projects to leverage our desire and need for strong fire safety and evacuation plans. Thank you to the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District for taking these needs seriously and organizing the evacuation drill a month ago.

Raley’s Grocery Store is adding to its already amazing setup of services and departments. If you have been in the store lately (and who hasn’t!), you may have noticed the construction area walled off by the coffee shop. Raley’s is bringing in a Starbucks and adding a salad bar complete with hot food items for takeout or in-store dining. Wow! What a boon to us “Boomers” and to busy families.

A thriving business community provides us with the services we need and want locally.  The larger developments provide the resorts that anchor our community and provide tourist business to our merchants that allow them to stay open year-round. Our Visitor Bureau, Travel North Tahoe Nevada, is focused on sustainable tourism and educating those visitors and locals to “Take Care” Tahoe.

HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND

Friday, September 15: Community Forum at Incline Library at 9am

Friday, September 15: TOCCATA’s 9/11 Remembrance concert at St. Francis

Saturday, September 16: Washoe County Sheriff Community Picnic at 10am

Saturday, September 16: Live Music – The Wild Feathers – Crystal Bay Club

Saturday, September 16: Darin Talbot! Live Music at Glasses Wine Bar

Sunday, September 17: Alibi Sunday Sessions

No matter how it felt last weekend, fall is not officially here until September 21! I am not a weather expert, but 35 years of living in Incline tells me that we are likely to have another cold spell in September with snow, and then it will just be a nice warm fall through October. How’s that for a forecast looking through my rose-colored glasses?

I must give kudos to NDOT, Washoe County, and the crews working literally night and day on our roads. There are SO many improvements…have you noticed the more accessible sidewalks? I plan to remind Commissioner Hill that she budgeted money for more sidewalk snow removal this year. Not that it necessarily makes them safe to walk on, especially if we have another big snow year. Not making any predictions…but I am optimistic that the potholes will not return in such a bad way as they did this year. I replaced 3 tires on my 2013 Lexus sedan last winter due to potholes.  I LOVE that car, but my husband tells me I can’t keep driving through snow banks higher than my car.

We have an IVCBA BizBuz Mixer next Tuesday at Raley’s Center! This is a good old-fashioned gathering in the parking lot next to Umpqua Bank, starting at 4:30 pm. With Umpqua as the main host, T’s Rotisserie is catering. Mountain Hardware, Raley’s, The Potlatch, and Gail Krolick from Alpine Realty are also participating. This is a chance to meet up with other locals, some old friends…and make some new ones.

Back to School Nights…it’s a big week. If you are a parent, show up! You will be amazed at the dedication and high quality of the teaching staff.

There are some great community events as well. This Saturday, the Sanctuary Tahoe is having a Women’s Wellness event. Talks @ Tahoe is on again tomorrow eventing at the UNR Lake Tahoe Campus with ‘Meeting the Tides of Life through the Practice of Poetry And you can’t miss the Toccata 9/11 Memorial Concert on Friday the 15th and Kids & Horses hosts barn-raising fundraiser at the Crystal Bay Club on September 16th from 4-8pm! So Many great Community Events!

A little further out in fall we have a couple weekends of golf tournaments with Highlander Pride Golf Tournament on Saturday, September 23rd, and Golf From the Heart on Sunday, September 24th. Then don’t miss the Rotary Golf Tournament, Best Ball for a Cause on October 1st!

This is really the last Hurrah of summer, marked by the Village Ski Loft Labor Day weekend sale!

Locals know what great deals on skis and gear are given on their biggest sale of the year. 

Thanks to the hard work of its property manager Scott Dutcher, that plaza with Pet Station on the corner of Tahoe Blvd and Northwood Blvd, got a facelift last year. The building has a “mountain modern” feel to it, very fitting for Incline Village.

The Rotary Duck Drive has become the other “main event” on Labor Day. The Rotary Club of Incline Village has been selling ducks all summer. Come to the parking lot at Aspen Grove to watch the North Lake Tahoe Fire Department drop the ducks from the top of the ladder! It happens quick; don’t come late like I did last year and miss all the fun.

ONE MORE FUNDRAISER! The Diamond Peak Ski Education Foundation is having its ‘Snow on the Beach’ event at the Hyatt on September 2.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS…

• Talks @ Tahoe on September 6
• BIZBUZ Mixer on Tuesday, September 12 in the side parking lot of Umpqua Bank in the Raleys Center. Other participants…Mountain Hardware, Alpine Realty, The Potlatch, and of course Raley’s. 
• TOCCATA Memorial Concert on September 15
• WCSO Sheriff’s Picnic on Saturday, September 16. Details here:

Check the IVCBA.org calendar for all of the weekly events at Alibi, Crystal Bay Club Crowne Room, Incline Library, and Bowl Incline. 

If you like the SnapShot, the community website, all of the community events, and the Live.Work.Play. magazine, please join as a Community Supporter for $50. Business memberships start at $150. Go to IVCBA.org. Join is at the bottom of each page.

I just checked my calendar….my IVCBA.org calendar, that is. Yikes! It’s a busy week coming up!

No one will be surprised that I have FOMO…fear of missing out. How am I going to manage Thursday, August 24? Geographically, I could start in Crystal Bay at Sabrina Bellecci’s Inside Out Re/Max office for the Northern Nevada Hopes Reception and show my support for a new healthcare clinic on 4^th Street in Reno. Then it’s off to the Chateau for PEO’s  “Tastes of Incline” Fundraiser for scholarships. I predict this will be a LOT of locals like me who love to connect with the community.

After feasting on yummy food from local restaurants, I will plop myself down in a chair on the UNR@Lake Tahoe campus to listen to the Talks@Tahoe presenter Professor Zeb Hogan talk about Monster Fish.  I am just wondering if Tahoe Tessie will be there too. 

Grand Openings… Jonathan Malley’s new business,  Back Country Chiropractic, has a grand opening on Friday, August 25, from 12-3. Join IVCBA in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to kick it off.

Havana Nights….Tahoe Family Solutions annual fundraiser at Aspen Grove on August 29. I PROMISE the weather will be warmer! (Don’t you wish you had my rose-colored glasses?)

I will have to ask Myles from Incline Spirits and Cigars if he is supplying cigars for this Cuban-flavored event! 

We have many businesses in Incline that support our community. I want to give a big shout-out to Incline Village Realtors “Good Neighbors Committee” for Stuffing the Bus once again with school supplies for our kids. Stacy Collins, First Centennial Title, was once again the lead organizer. They are 2/3 of the way to their goal and taking donations until September 1st. 

Did you know… how active our service clubs are? The Rotary Club of Tahoe-Incline currently partners with Cornerstone Church for a food drive for the Gospel Mission in Reno. The Rotary “morning club” meets on Thursdays at 7 am at the Hyatt; the Incline Village “noon club” meets Mondays at noon at Parasol.

Be sure you read the breaking news in this week’s SnapShot about their expanded community grants! What a great contribution Parasol and their donors make to our community!

It’s summertime, and the livin’ is easy… if you can keep up with the plethora of events, your houseguests, and what’s going on in town! Between concerts everywhere, Little Shop of Horrors at the Shakespeare Festival, and golf tournaments, I need another vacation.

I am back from my annual trip in northern Minnesota at my “other” Lake Up North, a term those of you from the Midwest will recognize. OK, it’s one of 10,000 lakes, but it is fairly well-known, Lake Vermilion. Minnesotans make this weekly or annual pilgrimage to a cabin or resort where we get reacquainted with mosquitos, deer flies, and the Northern Lights if we are lucky. Not that they are pesky, but did I mention the relatives!

Those relatives are now headed to Incline Village. I am on my third weekend in a row of company, but I am not complaining. Company gives me the opportunity to experience summer in Incline at its best. So far, we have attended the Beach Boys concert fundraiser for Incline Village Community Hospital, Little Shop of Horrors, the Teesters member-guest golf tournament, and enjoyed the Farmers Market on Thursdays at Incline Library. We also explored the myriad paths that wind through the woods between the Rec Center and the beaches, followed by a great lunch on the patio at Sage Leaf. We also stopped into the Science Center for some hands-on learning about Lake Tahoe in the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.

While dining at Sage Leaf, I stopped into the Clearly Tahoe shop with all kinds of goodies for the outdoors, including the cutest picnic baskets ever. We walked by Vista Bikes, where people can rent an E-bike and just head right down Village to Lakeshore for a ride. Tahoe Multisport in Village Center has bikes, kayaks, you name it. Bike rentals abound in Incline…the Hyatt, Flume Trail bikes at Tunnel Creek, and Village Ski Loft. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out!

Coming up this weekend…it’s a Classical Tahoe concert on the beautiful UNR@lake Tahoe campus, hiking(for the younger set), and a Sand Harbor Experience organized by Chris Talbot and his Around Tahoe Tours company. This is a guaranteed way to get ON the beach without waiting in line for hours outside the entrance. They provide all of the set-up…umbrellas, chairs, and coolers. PLUS, Clearly Tahoe rents kayaks and Stand Up Paddles on site, so no need to drag those bulky toys to the beach. I’m looking forward to the tour part of it, getting educated on Lake Tahoe’s history and lore. 

If we had more time, a tour of the Thunderbird Lodge would be top of my list. The Visitor Bureau is a happening place these days, and good for locals too. Check out Sustainable Tahoe’s Earth Walk to learn about our native Indians, enjoy the outdoors, and not get caught up in parking hassles at the East Shore Trail. 

My favorite experiences of the summer are the Monday and Tuesday night concerts at Sand Harbor. I will be at The Reno Phil concert on Monday, August 7 for the Tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein. I will be singing along and maybe dancing in the aisles. Does anyone have an extra ticket for the Linda Ronstadt Experience on Aug 15?? 

On the more serious side, the annual Lake Tahoe Summit is being held at the Kings Beach Conference Center. It is organized by Tahoe Fund. Go to their website to register. The Lake Tahoe Summit brings all the politicians together, reminding us that the Basin is bi-state and it’s up to all of us to do what we can for the Basin, whether it’s high-level policies or just picking up trash from the trails.  

Hey, I know it’s busy right now, and the road construction doesn’t help. Don’t forget to take TART Connect, generously funded by Travel North Tahoe Nevada and Washoe County, among other agencies. Be welcoming to our second homeowners and visitors, and kindly educate them on ways to “Take Care Tahoe” and “Slow Down Tahoe”- signs courtesy of Helen Neff. Our business community is grateful for the summer season, which helps maintain them throughout the shoulder seasons.