Tribune/Dan McGee
Mike James, from Fresno, Calif., was one of the early birds Monday that claimed a shady parking place for his 1923 Tbucket Ford roadster in front of John Ascuaga's Nugger. He came her to drive the car in the various cruises this week.
Tribune/Dan McGee
Spanish Springs resident Skip Brayton stands by his 1964 Corvette he's been restoring for the past 20-years. When he bought the car it was in poor condition and now looks great in its factory color, Daytona Blue.
“We love the atmosphere, the cars, the cruising,” said James, a 14-year Hot August Nights veteran from Fresno, Calif. after polishing his car Monday afternoon.
The old Ford sat in the shade of John Ascuaga’s Nugget, its detailed tan leather seats in pristine condition and its inner workings fully exposed for all to admire.
“I took my wife on our first date in this car; I guess I did something right,” James said with a laugh.
Down the street, Skip Brayton, Gini Allen and their 1964 Chevrolet Corvette found some shade at the corner of Victorian Avenue and 10th Street.
“I take a vacation every year just so that I can watch people and the cars,” said Allen, a Spanish Springs resident. “It takes me back to a simpler time when things were a lot slower than they are now.”
The almost 90-degree temperatures didn’t stop these cruisers as Hot August Nights officially rolled into Reno and Sparks for its 24th year.
The car show will brings more than 6,000 classic cars to northern Nevada throughout the coming week. According to event spokeswoman Nicole Maddox, many still sit on a wait list in addition to the 6,000 registered participants.
Of those, hundreds will descend on Victorian Square.
“It’s a good venue,” Allen said. “If you can get here early and find some shade, you are set. In the Reno (venue) parking lots, there is no shade. Look at me; I’m a red-head. I fry. It’s just hot.”
But it’s not only the car enthusiasts who like the show and the Sparks shade. Victorian Square businesses believe Hot August Nights is a great boon to their bottom line as well.
“Business increases pretty dramatically for us,” said Bonda Young, owner of the Great Basin Brewing Co., a restaurant and brewery that sits just east of where Allen parked her car and waited in the shade.
Young said Great Basin works almost all of its 42 staff full time, or sometimes even more than 40 hours per week, during Hot August Nights. The business also brings in four additional staff members to work temporarily during the week.
“It is definitely worth it in the end,” Young said, adding that the added business makes up for the cost of the added staff time. “It is a great boost for the economy.”
Hot August Nights officials claim the event brings about $350 million in economic impact to northern Nevada, along with more than 800,000 people.
These numbers have not been verified yet. However, the event is currently being studied by Martec, a research group founded in Chicago. Officials from the city of Sparks have considered the idea of a city-run economic impact study on special events. But according to Sparks’ special events supervisor Greg von Schottenstein, the study is still just a proposal floating around Sparks’ Tourism and Marketing Committee meetings.
The Nugget, however, claims that even without research data, the event is an economic windfall to its business.
“There are a couple of events each year that have a significant impact for the Nugget: the (Best in the West Nugget) Rib Cook-Off being the first and the second being Hot August Nights,” spokesman Mike Traum said.
Traum added that Nugget hotel rooms were still available for this week, but he expected many last-minute reservations. For Saturday and Sunday, Traum said the hotel rooms were “pretty darn near sold out.”
James, however, will be staying in his motor home and avoiding the hotels altogether.
“If we are staying a week and a half, there is not enough room to put all the wife’s stuff in the back of this car,” he said with a laugh.
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