Renoites- The Podcast about Reno Nevada

50 years ago, Reno hosted the first gay rodeo, an opportunity for LGBTQ participants and fans to enjoy the rodeo in a more inclusive and accepting environment. Since then, the International Gay Rodeo Association has helped put on gay rodeo events across the county. Reno hasn't hosted the event for almost 2 decades but this coming weekend, October 9-12, the rodeo will return to the Livestock Events...

Spooky Season has arrived and one of the best ways for scare enthusiasts to get the most out of it is to spend some time getting chased by monsters and zombies and horrors of all kinds (without ever being in real danger.) And of course the best place to do that is at a haunted house. Northern Nevada's premiere haunted house, Dark Corner, is moving this year from the National Bowling Stadium into t...

As the media landscape changes and we deal with new ways to get news and information, broadcast television still plays an important role. The national 24-hour cable networks aren't equipped to report on issues that are specific to Northern Nevada, and even as more news moves online, local news shows play an indispensable part. Not all that news needs to be heavy or serious or focused on things lik...

Several times a year, dozens of amateur Northern Nevada filmmakers work to create short films 5-9 minutes long, in only 2 weeks. Their submissions are judged and winners are chosen in categories including Best Director and Audience Choice, and the films are screened and awards given at the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City. The competition is coming up soon for Carson Creepy, a horror themed edit...

*This episode contains adult language Family Soup Mutual Aid has been serving dinner to 150-200 local residents, many of them unhoused, every Tuesday night at the Believe plaza in downtown Reno for the last several years. This "distribution" event also provides clothing, shelter items, and basic over the counter medicine. As a horizontally organized, leaderless organization, decisions are made thr...

Tyler Colton moved to Reno from New York about 6 years ago to transition from a long career as a professional celebrity hair stylist into a bar owner and operator here in the Biggest Little City. Named after his cat, he opened The Emerson in Midtown as a craft cocktail bar staffed and supplied by women (as much as possible) and designed to feel like an upscale hotel lobby bar- a great place for a...

For any business or nonprofit or government agency, it is very important to be able to tell the story about what you do and why it matters. It is important to relay information clearly and in a culturally appropriate way. In a state like Nevada, with one of the highest Spanish speaking populations in the United States, that can mean providing evacuation instructions for wildfires, or during covid...

Federally Qualified Health Centers were created during the civil rights era to bring health care to more people, particularly underserved communities. Here in Northern Nevada, HOPES was originally a clinic for patients with HIV but has since expanded into a FQHC providing primary care and other services to around 14,000 patients in the Reno/Sparks area. On this episode of Renoites, I spoke with HO...

Nevada has an unusual legislative calendar, in which our legislature doesn’t meet every year, but every other year. And they don’t meet the entire year either- the session is only 120 days. 120 days to do all the lawmaking for a state of millions of people. Obviously, these are busy times and there is a lot going on. Thankfully, our guest on this episode is political reporter Lucia Starbuck from K...

The Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is the agency that handles much of how we get around in Reno. They design and execute road projects, manage our local public transit, and very soon they will be installing bike infrastructure along several major streets downtown to create the Biggest Little Bike Network . Today on the show, we welcome Sara Going, Project Manager at RTC for the Biggest L...

Reno is the smallest market in the United States to have a AAA Minor League Baseball team. Our Reno Aces, an affiliate team of the Arizona Diamondbacks, play 150 games every year- half of them at Greater Nevada Field in the heart of downtown Reno. On today's episode of Renoites, we're joined by the President of the Reno Aces, Eric Edelstein. Eric's career in minor league baseball management led hi...

Ann Wolfe is the Chief Curator at the Nevada Museum of Art , the only art museum in the state of Nevada accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Collaborating with paleontologist Dr. Martin Sander, she has co-curated a new exhibition at the museum titled "Deep Time: Sea Dragons of Nevada." You might know these Sea Dragons by their actual name- Ichthyosaur. On this week's episode of Renoites...

Jamie Vaughn talks a lot about cancer. As a survivor of breast cancer who wanted to share more about her experience and provide resources to others going through similar experiences, she launched the podcast "Test Those Breasts" and a website with links to resources for those dealing with cancer. On this episode of Renoites, Jamie sat down with Conor to share the story of her cancer journey, how i...

Many Northern Nevadans have gotten used to seeing sitting Congressman Mark Amodei defeat whichever Democrat runs against him in Congressional District 2. Because this is a Republican-leaning district, the Democratic Party has never invested significant resources in those races. However, this year Amodei won't face a Democratic challenger at all. Instead, his primary competition will be Greg Kidd ,...

Very soon, Nevadans will vote for the second time on whether we would like to eliminate our closed party primaries in favor of open primaries, and institute a system of ranked choice voting for many elected offices in the general election starting in 2026. This is Question 3 on the Nevada ballot. It passed 2 years ago and if it passes again it will go into effect. One of the major advocates for th...

When did you learn to change a tire? Make a household budget? Do you know what you can write off on your taxes? Who taught you what do you if you're in a car accident? Some are lucky to have had parents or other family members, or maybe even some classes in school about these important skills, but many aren't as fortunate. Thankfully, owner of Rought & Accounting, Judi Rought, is teaching a se...

Two years ago, Nevadans voted on a ballot measure to change our primary system. Instead of party primaries which exclude participation for nonpartisan voters (the largest group- larger than either major party), the Nevada Constitution would be changed to have a single open primary for all registered voters, regardless of party. The initiative would also change the general election to introduce ran...

Dr. Peter Reed is the director of the Sanford Center for Aging at UNR, who describe themselves as striving to enhance the quality of life and well-being among elders and educate current and aspiring healthcare professionals and caregivers. On this episode of Renoites, we talked about a range of issues related to aging, both for elders but also for the rest of us (who are also aging every day howev...

Welcome to Renoites! I'm thrilled to announce some exciting news: the Reno News and Review has just released their Best of Northern Nevada edition, and I’m incredibly honored that Renoites has been voted Best Local Podcast. Since I began producing and hosting the show in 2021, it’s been amazing to see the support grow and to know that people find value in what we’re creating here. A huge thank you...

Today on Renoites we welcome Chaplain Chaz Blackburn, VP of the board of the Circle of Life Hospice Foundation and President of the Board of the Good Shepherd's Clothes Closet. We talked about what a chaplain is and how Chaz came to work as a "spiritual first responders" for people of all religions (or none), the International Fellowship of Chaplains, and the brand new Circle of Life Guest House w...

Today on the show I’m excited to welcome Deny Dotson, the executive director of Hot August Nights . Even as someone who isn’t particularly interested in classic cars, I’ve always enjoyed that Hot August Nights is an event that doesn’t just take place in one location but feels like classic cars and a sense of nostalgia are all over town. We talked about the history of the event, the appeal of class...

Education has been one of the most prominent political and social issues in recent years, including during the recent primary elections when voters had the chance to make their voices heard. Some of the issues that we hear a lot about are chronic absenteeism, underfunded schools, the battle between public schools and for-profit charters, and diversity and representation in the classroom. On this e...

There have been a lot of changes in our understanding about how we talk about neurodivergence in recent years and it can be hard to keep up. With social media driving a lot of the conversation, it’s easy to get incorrect information about things like autism and ADHD. One of the leading experts in Reno, and our guest on this week's episode of Renoites, is Cady Stanton. Her organizations Facilitate...

Kris Vagner has been writing about the arts in Nevada for a long time. She worked as the arts editor of the Reno News and Review beginning in 2004 and has either been on staff or doing freelance writing there and in countless arts publications for most of the years since. She earned her master's degree in Media Innovations from UNR in 2019 and launched her own statewide arts publication Double Sco...

We've done a lot of episodes of Renoites about how Reno is growing and the ways we can reduce the likelihood of people being priced out as the costs of housing increase. Public housing has an important role to play, and for 80 years the Reno Housing Authority has owned and operated public housing units, administered housing choice vouchers (formerly known as "Section 8"), and continue to work to b...