By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley Revitilization Project (MVRP) met on Wednesday, January 27 at Fire Canyon Gifts in Overton, to discuss, among other things, the upcoming Moapa Valley Days celebration.
MVRP is a community volunteer organization dedicated to making Moapa Valley a better place. With this goal in mind, they have been instrumental in introducing several new events to the valley during the last 3 years including Moapa Valley Days and the new semiannual OHV roundup.
Moapa Valley Days this year will be held on March 18-19. That Friday, March 18 has been informally dubbed “Wild West Night” as the evening will include cowboy poetry and a return visit by the popular buffalo soldiers who came out for this event last year.
Festivities planned for Saturday March 19 include the Valley-wide Yard Sale, organized by the local Rotary club, and a vendor street fair hopefully combined with a sidewalk sale which depends upon local business participation.
Vendors are already reserving booth space for the event. A booth this year will cost only $30 and reservations can be made by contacting Mary Kaye Washburn at 702-347-7158.
This year’s exciting innovation is digital mapping of the yard sale. The map can be accessed by smartphone while traveling from venue to venue. The full map will also be printed in the Moapa Valley Progress in the March 16 edition.
“We are excited for this event and we are moving forward and it’s great because all the organizations in the community are working together to make it a success,” said MVRP Vice President Stoney Ward.
In addition to Moapa Valley Days, the group is also excitedly planning the spring OHV roundup. The event is funded by a grant received by MVRP to promote Moapa Valley’s designation as the first OHV friendly community in Nevada. The first roundup, held last November, was a big success and organizers are looking forward to the spring event which will be held over Easter weekend. It is expected to include, among other things, an OHV Easter egg hunt complete with prize eggs from valley businesses.
Other events on the MVRP calendar include cleaning up Logandale trails through the February Welcome Weekend Project in conjunction with Partners in Conservation. In addition to cleaning, local businesses have been invited to come to the trails and hand out coupons or flyers during this time so visitors know more of what Moapa Valley has to offer.
Planning events, however, isn’t the only goal of MVRP. They also have several projects in the works for the betterment of the community including permanent benches with shades, an informational kiosk for visitors with pamphlets directing visitors to local businesses and attractions, banners, and additional signage planned throughout downtown. They are also looking into signage to direct OHV riders into town the back way to help keep them safe and out of the shooting areas, as well as warning them to slow down through residential areas.
MVRP has been the recipient of several grants and is currently applying for many more for funds to help improve Moapa Valley. However, local residents can also help without really doing anything. MVRP is a non-profit organization and has been accepted by Amazon as an acceptable charity for their Amazon Smile program. Through this program, people who shop on Amazon simply have to designate MVRP as their organization of choice and then .5% of anything they buy on Amazon is returned to the organization. To designate MVRP as your charitable organization, simply follow the link on MVRP’s Facebook page, or go to smile.amazon.com and follow the links to change or choose MVRP as your recipient.
