A Petition for More Closed Off Virginia Street Downtown Weekends

A recap of our recent reporting plus bonus content.

Feb 24, 2025

A petition shared with us by Janae Lucas (@theyluvv.janaeee on Instagram ) which can be found on the moveon.org website calls for “Downtown Reno Weekends!!!” a position we’ve long advocated.

It seeks downtown Virginia street to be shut down to cars Friday nights through Sunday mornings.

We’re still waiting to find out how much the Western Lights three night extravaganza cost the City of Reno, but we believe similar open air multi artist events could be held for much cheaper.

Several people gloated on LinkedIn about bringing the Western Lights to “life” in Reno which makes us wonder how much they got paid, and what is the salary for the city’s “activation coordinator” Rachel Macintyre, as well as how much money the San Diego-based Grand Artique received? The City of Reno seems in no rush to give us some of those numbers.

In our most weekends of the year version, or at least once a month, there could be separated DJ / music booths with donation boxes. We bet many would play for free, and many listeners would be willing to donate. There could be outdoor displays of art and performances, which many local artists would also be willing to do with donation boxes.

Food truck operators would be interested as well, as they were for the western lights. Kids could run around and scooter on car-free streets without the risk of being run over. There could be designated areas for a multitude of vendors as well, from selling crafts to thrift resellers.

The Western Lights were unique but our own Burner residents, performers and musicians would be more than willing to display their own talents for all to enjoy on a donation basis.

It seems obvious but since when does Reno go for the obvious, low cost, homegrown option? Instead, it’s just when there is an expensive version or a casino backed event that we decide to shut down downtown Reno.