Celebration starts today as Nevada turns 150

It begins this Thursday with a song.

At 10 a.m., Gov. Brian Sandoval, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki and members of the Nevada 150 Commission will lead the entire state in what they hope to be a record-setting rendition of “Home Means Nevada.”

The chorus will kick off a final flurry of Sesquicentennial celebrations throughout the state. Among the events in Southern Nevada:

• At 10 a.m. Friday, Las Vegas will mark the Silver State’s 150th birthday with a Nevada Day Parade on Fourth Street downtown. The parade, organized and sponsored by the city, will feature 150 entries including floats, marching bands, horses and more.

• All day Friday, Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs will host Old Nevada Days, a celebration of the state’s 150th birthday. Visitors to the park off Durango Drive in the northwest valley are invited to wear Western attire or costumes depicting the state’s the past 150 years, and there will be ranch and harvest festival games and activities, Halloween candy for the kids and more.

• The Springs Preserve and neighboring Nevada State Museum, on Valley View Boulevard just south of U.S. Highway 95, will offer free admission from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. All other state museums will also let people in for free on Friday.

• From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, HopeLink of Southern Nevada, a support agency for needy families, will host a birthday party for Nevada at the Henderson Events Plaza, on Water Street next to Henderson City Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

• More than 300 re-enactors will gather for Civil War Days in the Battle Born State at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, off state Route 159 in Red Rock Canyon, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Activities include two battles each day, field hospital tours and a speech by President Abraham Lincoln, as well as a baseball game, a fashion show and a church service all in period dress and style.

• From noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, former Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren and his wife, Sandy, will host their 19th and last Nevada Day open house for people interested in seeing Hammargren’s enormous and eclectic collection of artifacts, oddities and memorabilia from Nevada, Earth and beyond. Visitors to the one-of-a-kind home at 4318 Ridgecrest Dr., near Flamingo and Sandhill roads, are asked to park with courtesy to the neighbors and pay a suggested donation of $15, though children 12 and under get in free.

Nevada Day parades also will be held at 11 a.m. Friday in Elko; 5 p.m. Friday in Virginia City; and 10 a.m. Saturday in Carson City.

In the capital Friday there will be historic tours, train rides at the Nevada State Railroad Museum, and the annual toast to the state constitution at the Nevada State Library and Archives.

On Saturday, Carson City will play host to a hot-air balloon launch, a chili feed, a barbecue and quilt show, an American Indian pow wow, a mining competition, a beard contest, tours of the governor’s mansion, and, for those who enjoy watching seven hours of tip-tapping, a reenactment of the Morse Code transmission of the state constitution to President Lincoln on Oct. 26, 1864.

More details and a complete listing of Sesquicentennial celebrations is available on the state’s official site, www.Nevada150.org.

School children are expected to play a major role in today’s attempt to set a world record for the most people in an American state to sing their state song at the same time, but event organizers want as many people as possible to participate. “Consider this a personal challenge — we need to set a Nevada-style record,” said Krolicki, who is also the Nevada 150 Commission chairman.

Don’t worry if you don’t know the words to the state’s official song. Lyrics and an orchestral version of “Home Means Nevada” by the Reno Philharmonic are available at www.Nevada150.org. The website is also where you can go for directions on how to upload or mail in your video or photographic proof of your signing so the record can be documented.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.