Carson City gearing up for Pride Week

There's a time to be prideful. It's next week.

Carson City's 16th Annual Carson Pride Week begins Friday and runs through May 1.

Each year, Carson Pride Week prompts long lines at the municipal landfill, a healthy dose of community activism and, officials say, a more beautiful place to live.

"We start getting calls early in the year asking when it's going to be," said city official Liz Teixeira.

Sponsored and carried out by Carson City, with help from several local businesses and groups, trash is hauled, the landfill is free, neighborhoods are cleaned and cars are carted away during the nine-day event.

Along with allowing free trips to the local dump, the city is sending out workers to pick up any bundled trash in the Carson City urban area that's put at curbside from April 25 through April 28. The city will also be taking in hazardous household waste by appointment, and allowing open trash burning. Burning requires a permit, which can be obtained at Carson City fire stations.

New to this year's event, Pick-N-Pull will tow away old vehicles to its salvage yard for free, as long as the VIN number is visible and the owner signs a release.

For the second year, local business 1-800-GOT-JUNK? is contributing half its service time, three trips per day, for free to the elderly or disabled. The business comes out to people's homes and hauls away junk by appointment only.

Last year, local residents found the offer so attractive they bombarded the city and the business with calls.

"It was so popular, we were not prepared," Teixeira said.

The city is also sponsoring its Adopt-A-Block program. Groups from local schools, clubs, businesses, churches and any other affiliation are encouraged to pick up heavy-duty garbage bags, "adopt a block" and clean it up. The bags were donated for the program last year by the Nevada Department of Transportation. There were enough left over for this year's event but Teixeira said it's unclear whether NDOT will participate again in the future.

The annual event has always been popular, Teixeira said, and it's always left Carson City a little better looking.

n Contact reporter Cory McConnell at cmcconnell@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.