Dayton celebrates its history at 12th Dayton Valley Days

Dayton's heritage was on display Saturday as the growing Lyon County community celebrated a century and a half of history with the twelfth Dayton Valley Days.

The theme for the parade this year was honoring the Italians who settled the valley in the 1800s, so plenty of green, white and red balloons were deployed and Italian sausages joined the hot dogs, bratwurst and Indian tacos in the food booths.

Lynne Ballatore, who had earned a few medals in bocce ball contests in Las Vegas before coming to Dayton six years ago, had a couple bocce courts set up next to Pike Street and was giving lessons in the Italian bowling game.

After the 10 a.m. parade, a line of small Farmall and John Deere Tractors reassembled to show off the horse replacements that kept the valley's farms producing decades ago.

Charles Steffan of Carson City, AKA Mr. Horseshoe, was showing off his new rig, the Little Bucker. It's a spring-mounted barrel, kid-sized, that simulates a bucking bull or bronc. Cody Schmidlin, 5, of Carson, was the demonstration rider, while poppa Dave Carroll was the power source.

Ray Taylor the Metal Guy, who takes a welding torch to half-inch steel to make just about anything from bookends too hefty to tip to garden gates, has a selection of items on hand and was taking custom orders, too.

The Carson access Television Foundation ran its LotsaPasta sauce competition to support its channel, while Phil Simmons of Fallon hauled a slot car track to Pike Street to raise money for DARE.

Booths displayed everything from tie-dyed clothes to fudge. Desert Rose Chiropractic Center had a skeletal pelvis and spine set up for reference as free alignment evaluations were given.

And the restaurants and antique shops all took their tempting wares to the streets for quick transactions.

The celebration continues today, kicking off with a pancake breakfast 7-10 a.m. in the middle of Pike street. pancakes, sausage, juice and coffee are $4 for adults and $2.50 for children.

The Pinewood Derby carved car races will be at 1:30 p.m. and Ballatore will be running a bocce ball tournament today as well.