The Annual Genoa Candy Dance and Candy Dance Arts & Crafts Faire event is always scheduled for the last full weekend in September.
A dinner and dance that originated in 1919 as a fundraiser to purchase much needed street lights, has become a world-renowned outdoor festival of epic proportions for the small town — Nevada's first recorded settlement. Through the years, donations and volunteers made up the majority of the momentum behind the historic annual Candy Dance. Starting with Lillian Virgin Finnegan and all the first volunteers, the Genoa Candy Dance has become the success it is today through hard work and great people.
The Genoa Candy Dance Arts & Crafts Faire began in 1974 with ten vendors, a few tables with artist’s hand-crafted items — like tie-dyed T-shirts, sand candles, handmade soap and perfumes, crocheted beer can hats, oil and watercolor paintings, street artists, metal artists, glass artisans and more — on the same Saturday as the dinner-dance. In the 1990s, the Faire hit its stride with over 300 handmade arts and crafts vendor and festival food booths, attended by about 40,000 visitors, who descended on the town over a two day period.
The Candy Dance’s famous Genoa Fudge and other candy, such as peanut butter cups, peanut brittle, divinity and toffee, will be sold at the Town Hall along with other Genoa and Candy Dance merchandise. Look for T-shirts, sweatshirts, bags and totes with this year's Candy Dance logo and Genoa’s logo designs.
Because of the large numbers of visitors attending the Faire, the three main streets — Foothill Road, Genoa Lane and Jacks Valley Road — in and out of Genoa are temporarily closed on Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Shuttles transport people to the downtown area from the three main parking lots on Genoa Lane, Foothill Road and the limited parking lot on Jacks Valley Road at the Genoa Cemetery. Shuttle rides are free of charge, but there is a per-car fee to park in any of the lots.
The Candy Dance itself is held on Saturday night, starting with a no-host bar at 4:30 p.m. followed by the buffet dinner served from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Music and dancing start during dinner and end at 10 p.m. Tickets begin selling at the end of August, first of September and prices will be announced soon along with the names of the caterer and the band. Stay tuned for more news!
We’ll see you at the Candy Dance!
