Nevada Events and Shows
The Silver State’s variety of events and shows is as wide as its landscape is open. From cowboy poetry and ice sculptures to classic cars and Shakespeare, all four corners of Nevada host beloved annual gatherings that locals and visitors alike wait for all year long.
In Reno-Tahoe Territory, a wealth of annual events span nearly every month of the year. Minden hosts bird lovers in February with the annual Eagles and Agriculture, which offers workshops and tours focusing on the migratory birds of prey in the area. Summer means the nationally-acclaimed month-long July art festival Artown in Reno, the exquisite Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival at Sand Harbor in July and August, and Reno’s classic car extravaganza, Hot August Nights. And with the cooling temperatures in September come the Great Reno Balloon Race and the classic Candy Dance in the quaint town of Genoa.
In the land we know as Cowboy Country, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering kicks off the year. Thousands make the trip to Elko to celebrate the arts and lifestyle of the Western cowboy. In February, Lovelock’s Lovers Lock Plaza hosts countless romantics who come to take part in the ancient Chinese tradition of symbolically locking their love on a never-ending chain. Switching gears – literally – in September, the annual Bonneville Speed Week in West Wendover draws speed freaks from all over with its promise of gotta-see-it-to-believe-it racing.
In central Nevada’s Pony Express Territory and farther south in Nevada Silver Trails, special events run the gamut from the annual White Pine Fire & Ice Show in Ely, a stunning ice carving spectacle, to the Hearts O’ Gold Cantaloupe Festival in Fallon, with favorites like National Trails Day in Pioche and Jim Butler Days in Tonopah thrown in for good measure.
And then there’s Las Vegas Territory. From April’s Fine Arts Festival in Boulder City to September’s Greek Food Festival to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas every December, the events here are as thrilling as the city itself.
Events like these are really just the beginning. From food and art festivals to ponies, parades and countless things in between, special events in Nevada are just that.