Carson City – An enduring part of Carson City’s Nevada Day celebration is the Blinky Man bike ride. The event certainly draws from the eclectic art tradition of the Burning Man festival, but somehow is a party unique to Carson City. To gain an inside look at the Blinky Man event, Nevada Capital News reporter Maribel Cuervo participated in the fifth annual Blinky Man and offers the following audio montage …
Kirk Newhence is one of the organizers of Blinkyman.
“We’re in our fifth year, and Kyle Horvath was the one who kind of started it, and he recently accepted a job in Ely, so he turned it over to me and Andrew List to kind of keep carrying on, and we’re happy to do it.
“It’s basically Halloween time anyway and lighting up your bikes and running around and seeing old friends, it’s been really great,” Kirk said. “This may be the biggest crowd we’ve had, especially for the October event, so we do one in June and we’re thinking of doing one or two in the summertime next year.
“Play! We’ here to play,” said Paula. “It’s Nevada Day, my favorite holiday of the year. And Blinky Man, we climb out of the woodwork to light up and impress people.”
2018 marked the third Blinkyman ride for Ood of Galavans.
“A lot of us have bikes and want to be adult and actually ride your bike and drink and not get in trouble for it because we are here to support each other … we might be drinking and driving, but we are responsible adult. We are representing the adults that don’t have to grow up.
“We might look crazy, but we are honest to our emotion and our feeling and looking for people who can combine and express the same feelings.”
Brooke said she enjoys Blinky Man because it brings the community together.
“The community comes together like the people that want to make the world a little brighter come together and ride around. Traffic stops, and everybody stops and looks, and you’re kind of reminded of what it’s like to be a kid. You’re excited to ride your bike down the street with your friends,,” Brooke said.
