Know before you go: The Western Lights Festival is not afraid of winter weather
The free, all-ages Western Light Festival is coming up next week, Thursday, Feb. 19, through Saturday, Feb. 21, featuring light-based artworks in downtown Reno streets and parks; dozens of musical acts, including late-night programing that lasts until dawn; and ticketed afterparties.
You can get the basics on the festival homepage and FAQ, but if you’ve checked next week’s forecast, the pressing questions on your mind might be about how things are going to go down given the likelihood of sub-freezing nighttime temperatures.
I checked in with Rachel Macintyre, a city of Reno employee who is among the event’s main organizers, to ask whether low temperatures or snowfall could lead to any cancellations.
“This is a rain or shine event,” she said in an email. “Bundle up and get excited to play outside in a beautiful Sierra winter.”
For those who may want to duck indoors to warm up, she listed these festival venues: Sierra Arts, Reforma (the Living Stones Church building that used to be the Riverside Century Theater), The Eddy, the National Bowling Stadium and a heated, covered tent at Locomotion Plaza between Whitney Peak Hotel and the Eldorado.
Macintyre confirmed there will be hot beverages for sale. And if you find yourself needing an extra layer, she said that artists and other vendors plan to sell coats, hoodies, beanies and handwarmers.
Also note that Virginia Street and a few other downtown Reno roads will be closed to accommodate the festival. While the event lasts for three days, the closures go for a whole week, from Monday, Feb. 16, through Monday, Feb. 23. You can find complete closure details on the city’s Newsroom page.
Truckee Roundhouse is undergoing a major expansion
Truckee Roundhouse, the makerspace located at the Truckee Tahoe Airport since 2016, announced a major expansion in a Feb. 4 press release. It read, in part, “Driven by record participation and growing community demand, the Roundhouse is increasing its footprint. Construction began in September 2025 and is slated for completion in June 2026. The project will add a new metal shop, double the size of the ceramics studio, introduce a dedicated classroom for weekend and after‑school programs, and enhance overall safety and accessibility.”
If you’re looking for an opportunity to visit the Roundhouse and get familiar with its classes and programs, mark your calendar for the June 7 Maker Show, featuring lots of hands-on demos. Visit www.truckeeroundhouse.org.
The must-see Dorothea Lange show closes this weekend at the NMA
Black-and-white World War II-era images by Dorothea Lange, one of the most recognized documentary photographers in U.S. history, are a chilling reminder that the U.S. government’s current efforts to dehumanize refugees and eagerly detain non-criminal migrants sound very much like history repeating itself.
For three reasons, I’m calling her exhibition at the Nevada Museum of Art, Dorothea Lange: Seeing People, a “must-see.”
- Lange puts a human face on poverty, using the techniques she picked up as a portrait photographer for wealthy clients in San Francisco. It makes for some powerful, compassionate photos.
- We need to keep considering U.S. history from the points of view of people other than the “victors.”
- You won’t likely get the chance to see these photographs again in Reno or anywhere nearby, as the exhibition comes from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and this is its only West Coast stop.
Run, don’t walk, to the museum by this Sunday, Feb. 15, to get a last glimpse. If you can make it by Sunday, Delaney Uronen’s review on Double Scoop is an excellent primer, and if you can’t make it, it’s a great armchair read.
New roundabout sculpture unveiled in North Valleys
The city of Reno held an official unveiling today, Feb. 12, for a new roundabout sculpture in the center of the North Valleys Sky Vista Roundabout, near the entrance to North Valleys Regional Park. Los Angeles artist James Dinh designed the sculpture, and Reno fabrication studio Tutto Ferro constructed it.
The piece consists of seven sleek, abstracted, rust-colored steel “branches” that twist into the sky, and seven blue, steel, origami-like birds atop the posts. Their shape and color were inspired by Nevada’s state bird, the mountain bluebird, and are meant to refer also to the “racing planes that once flew from the nearby Stead Airport.” The sculpture is titled “Chur Chur,” a reference to the sound the bluebirds make.
In developing the concept, Dinh worked with students from O’Brien Middle School.
The $120,000 project was funded by Washoe County, the National Endowment for the Arts and the city of Reno’s public art allocations.