Photos by Marilyn Newton, Special to the Sparks Tribune. Santa set up shop over the weekend at Victorian Square, greeting children and taking their requests. His visit was part of a new event called 39 North Pole Village, sponsored by the Nugget Casino Resort and 39 North Downtown, the nonprofit group of business owners and others dedicated to revitalizing downtown Sparks. … [Read more...]
Christmas in Sparks
John Byrne/TribuneThe Sparks Hometowne Christmas Parade once again rolled down Victorian Avenue on Saturday afternoon, an annual tradition that brings thousands to the city center for holiday festivities. The parade featured more than 100 entrants, including the “Mayor’s Own Marching Band,” comprised of more than 250 musicians from high schools and middle schools in Sparks. The … [Read more...]
Valdo Renucci Recalls the Days of Hitching Posts, Homemade Wine
For 94 years, Sparks resident Valdo Renucci has witnessed his community grow from a small ranching community into a city with a population of about 95,000. Throughout that steady growth and change, the World War II veteran and past city councilman has always lived within the same three-block area. When Renucci was growing up, most residents worked for the Southern Pacific … [Read more...]
Turkey Trottin’
Sparks mayor discloses he has Parkinson’s disease
Sparks Mayor Geno Martini said he had held out saying anything for as long as he could but knew the time had come. “It had to happen sooner or later,” Martini told the Sparks Tribune about his announcement that he has Parkinson’s disease. He said he was diagnosed in 2012. Martini, the longest-serving mayor of Sparks and a life-long resident of the city, said his condition … [Read more...]
Relatives of wheelchair-bound man killed in traffic accident say police ignored them
Donald Duckett was struck by a car while riding his motorized wheelchair in a crosswalk on Prater Way at Lillard Drive shortly before 6 p.m. on Sept. 19. The 77-year-old man, known by neighborhood children as the “Red Rocket” because of his red wheelchair, was taken to Renown Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead the next day of multiple blunt-force … [Read more...]
Suspicious fire guts vacant D’Andrea golf clubhouse
Rick Gardner said he thought his phone would be ringing off the hook after a fire gutted the vacant clubhouse at D’Andrea golf course, but the flood of calls from homeowners in the D’Andrea development never happened. Gardner and his company, Equus Management Group, provide management services for the D’Andrea homeowners association. Perhaps the homeowners weren’t that … [Read more...]
