What Nevada Day means to me

As a kid growing up in Las Vegas, I always thought we were out of school every Oct. 31 because it was Halloween. In those days, Nevada Day was on Oct. 31, even if it fell in the middle of the week.

The state song, "Home Means Nevada," was in our regular repertoire at E.W. Griffith Elementary School " it didn't have to be Nevada Day time for us to sing it. I sang the words, "home means Nevada to me," with gusto but Nevada Day meant trick or treating.

I think non-Nevadans wonder at our fascination with admission's day and the fact that we have a Nevada Day Parade. Ask anyone from California what their state's admission day is " do they know? Do they get the day off and have a parade?

I didn't really become aware of the Nevada Day Parade in Carson City until I moved here in the late 1970s. After I attended my first parade, I came to the conclusion that it was a good excuse for people to have a vacation day and be crazy in the middle of the week.

Staking out a prime spot of territory along the parade route and the four more hours spent watching the parade in either the freezing cold or scorching hot weather Nevada is famous for makes a really long day. Nevada Day can mean hot chocolate or cold beer.

Nevada Day can also mean rubbing elbows with legislators. On a Nevada Day in the 1990s, one of my friends said that if I saw Sen. Richard Bryan to give a holler because he wanted to talk to him. "Yeah, right," I said.

After the parade, we were having some beers in a courtyard behind a bar and Sen. Bryan strolled by with his plastic cup of beer. We called him over and we all sat for a chat while the senator's bodyguard looked at his watch.

Talking to constituents is certainly in a politician's job description, but it was pretty cool to share a plastic cup of beer with my state senator.

I went to the state Web site and found some fun facts to share. With the exception of the prolific sagebrush being the state flower, I noticed that a lot of the official Nevada "things" are uncommon sights. You have to go out of your way to see bristlecone pines, bighorn sheep, mountain bluebirds or desert tortoises. Maybe even rarer is to find someone who can sing, "Home Means Nevada."

Ten Nevada facts from the state's official Web site, www.nv.gov

1. Nevada was admitted as the 36th state on Oct. 31, 1864

2. "Nevada" means "snow-capped" in Spanish

3. The state flag for the Silver State features a five-pointed silver star, a sagebrush wreath and the words "Battle Born"

4. State motto: "All for our country"

5. State animal: bighorn sheep

6. State reptile: desert tortoise

7. State flower: sagebrush

8. State trees: single-leaf pinon and bristlecone pine

9. State bird: mountain bluebird

10. State song: "Home Means Nevada" by Mrs. Bertha Raffetto

Home means Nevada, home means the hills,

Home means the sage and the pines.

Out by the Truckee's silvery rills,

Out where the sun always shines,

There is the land that I love the best,

Fairer than all I can see.

Right in the heart of the golden west

Home means Nevada to me.