Nevada Day 2018 — A Time-Honored Tradition and the First Time Friends Wore the Brand

Nevada Day is the best day of the whole year. I've believed that since 1972, and nothing has changed my mind since.

October 2018 was special for a different reason though. Virginia City Motorcycle Company was brand new — just getting started, just finding its footing — and for the first time, my friends showed up to the Nevada Day parade wearing the brand. Seeing the people you love wearing something you built, out in public, on the best day of the year in the state you love? There are no words for that feeling. You just have to experience it.

Nevada Day — Since 1972

I've been attending the Nevada Day parade since 1972. That's not a typo. For over fifty years, this has been a fixture of my life — a celebration I've watched grow from a community gathering into one of the largest Nevada Day celebrations in the state. The crowds keep getting better. The energy keeps building. And every year, it feels like Carson City remembers exactly what it is and where it came from.

Nevada Day commemorates October 31st, 1864 — the day Nevada was admitted to the Union as the 36th state, rushed through in time to influence the presidential election during the Civil War. The Silver State was born out of necessity, out of silver, and out of the kind of frontier determination that still runs through this place. Every parade, every float, every band marching down Carson Street is a celebration of that legacy.

What Makes the Parade

The high school bands going by — watching kids who grew up in this community march down the main street of the state capital — never gets old. The construction companies that take the time and energy to build and enter a float deserve every bit of applause they get. It takes real commitment to put a float in a parade, and it shows.

And of course — the burros. You cannot have Nevada Day without the burros. They are non-negotiable. A nod to the mining heritage that built this state, the burro has been part of Nevada Day since the beginning and long may that continue. Everywhere I go during the parade I meet and greet great people — riders, locals, visitors, families who've been coming as long as I have. People who love bikes, love Nevada, love the tradition of it all.

The First Time Friends Wore VCMCo.

But 2018 had something extra. VCMCo. was just getting started — the brand launched in 2018, the designs were fresh, and Nevada Day was one of the first times the shirts were out in the world on real people in a real crowd. My friends showed up wearing the brand, and seeing that — seeing people you care about choose to represent something you built, in public, on the best day of the year — is a feeling that stays with you.

That's the moment a brand stops being just an idea and starts being something real. When the people around you wear it with pride, it means you got it right.

Nevada Day Is Home

Carson City on Nevada Day is one of those experiences that's hard to explain to someone who hasn't been there. The whole city comes alive. The streets fill up. The pride is genuine and unperformed — this is a state that knows what it is and isn't shy about celebrating it. For a brand built on Nevada identity, on Virginia City heritage, on the spirit of the rider and the open road — there is no better day to be out in the community than Nevada Day.

Now we have something to share. Every year we come back, and every year there's more of us wearing the brand. That's the tradition within the tradition.

See you on Carson Street. Happy Nevada Day. 🐴