Hawthorne’s 72nd Armed Forces Day Weekend took place last weekend rain and shine with a plethora of “Peace Through Strength” events that pay homage to our service members.
Hawthorne resident and Chamber of Commerce representative Bea Whitney was able to catch the parade and said that she really enjoyed watching the Mineral County High School marching band.
“We hadn’t had a marching band in about a decade but this year they marched, and they were really good. And of course, Cecil was the star of the show, and the Yerington band was there, making a triumphant return after covid,” Whitney smiles.
Armed Forces Day weekend also helped support the new Higher Frequency Healing center on E Street, the host of the 62nd Walker Lake High Desert Art Show.
“The art show brought in some people; it was definitely helpful for business,” Owner Brandy Keenan says. She adds that they had about a hundred entries and didn’t get many kids entries this year, but a few teachers walked their kids by the ordnance museum and then brought them to Higher Frequency Healing across the street, so Keenan is hoping that it sparked their interest to enter the show next year.
Even though she stayed at the shop most of the weekend, Keenan admitted that she did sneak down to the food vendors on Thursday night to try some of the specialties.
“We had burritos from Alicia’s, tacos, funnel cakes, we tried everything,” she chuckles. Fortunately, Higher Frequency Healing is also on the parade route, so she was able to see the floats go by from her shop doors. One of her favorites was the Class of ’73 display.
“They set it up like a classroom and were all sitting at their school desks throwing paper airplanes. It was really creative,” Keenan adds. Cecil the Serpent also made an appearance, and while it did rain on Saturday afternoon, Keenan was still able to catch Dock 6 play outside Barley’s.
Higher Frequency Healing made little Cecil souvenirs to commemorate the weekend (along with AFD stone bracelets handmade by co-owner Kerie Justus).
A member from the Renegades Car Club also had good things to say about this year’s AFD weekend. The Renegades won first place in the parade for Best Overall Car and another first-place prize for Best Float. They also had a T-shirt cannon that shot out signature T-shirts, mostly landing in the hands of kids. He also said that it was cool to have History Channel’s Danny “The Count” Koker here.
“It was amazing. The AFD Committee changed leadership hands and a lot of people don’t know what it takes to put on events like this, it is a lot of work. They spent a year planning everything and they did an outstanding job with all of it. To bring all that back after covid is hard and they stepped up.”
Want to share your story or photos of this year’s Armed Forces Day Weekend? Visit https://armedforcesdaynv.com/ to add it to their website.
