Andrew Mendez/Nevada Sagebrush
A float at the Nevada Day Parade modeled the USS Nevada on Saturday, Oct. 27. The parade theme this year was centered around economic diversity.

For 80 years the Nevada Day Parade has been a tradition Silver State residents use to celebrate statehood in Carson City. On Saturday, Oct. 27, the parade was held with the goal of celebrating “A State of Economic Diversity”. 

Nevada Day is reserved for Oct. 26, and marks 154 years of the Silver State being recognized.  The parade was led by Governor Brian Sandoval, who served as Grand Marshall. 

The parade had over 200 entries. Entries ranged from Raptor Pest Control to Ryan Bundy.

“This year will be our state’s 154th birthday, and also marks 80 years since the Nevada Day Celebration moved to our Capitol, and featured a large parade downtown, on main street Carson City,” Ken Hamilton, Executive Director of Nevada Day Inc., said.

The parade highlighted the economic diversity in the state with representation from companies that focus on tourism all the way to legal prostitution.   

The event began with the Republican Womens Pancake Breakfast at the Governor’s mansion, and transitioned to a hot air balloon race.

According to the Nevada Day website, the parade is reserved as the second largest statehood parade in the nation.

The parade kicked off with a flyover of military aircrafts and parade goers could see floats march down Carson Street at 10:00 a.m. and lasted till 2:00 p.m.

Senator Dean Heller (R) was also in attendance and held a chili feed contest at the Carson Nugget. 

Tours were also offered of the governor’s mansion.   

Andrew Mendez can be reached at andrewmendez@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.