Columnist Susan Snyder: Small town possesses a big heart

Monday, Dec. 29, 2003 | 9:03 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4082.

Experts predict the Las Vegas Strip's $500,000 New Year's Eve fireworks display will be the nation's largest.

And the people in Beatty say, "So?"

"The Exchange Club is having a band and a bash. And the Stagecoach Casino is having a band. And the Burro Inn is having a band," Jolene Brown, a 16-year resident of the central Nevada town, said.

"There's quite a few rooms available at reasonable rates," she added. "Beatty's a wonderful place to come."

Brown owns the Amargosa Toad gift shop on Beatty's main drag, which is also U.S. 95 north and south of town. If you drive to Carson City from Las Vegas, you drive through Beatty.

In fact, you probably stop for gas, a stretch and a Coke at its Union 76 Foodmart. At 90 miles north of Las Vegas, it's a perfect stop on the long journey to the state capital. You might even hang around a little, Brown said.

"There's a lot of places to go," she said. "There are the three casinos and three gas stations here. There's the giant candy store. We're the gateway to Death Valley. It's a wonderful community to come to."

About 900 people live in Beatty. What it lacks in population it makes up for in heart. Brown recalled the Dec. 15 community Christmas party, hosted by an older couple in town.

"About 500 people came," she said. "They went through 20 turkeys."

There's no place like a small town for the holidays, and the sentiment seems to be catching on.

Brown knows the owner of a bed and breakfast in Gold Point, a ghost town off State Road 266, which is just off U.S. 95, 31 miles south of Tonopah. (If you didn't need a map before, you do now, eh?)

"They had an after-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving, and they had 80 people show up," Brown said. "People want to get away from the big city."

Anyone who reads this column regularly probably knows I'm trading the glitz and mayhem of a Las Vegas New Year's for a 19th-century costume ball in Austin. Jan Morrison, a gift shop owner and organizer of that event, has received reservations for upwards of 70 people.

Holidays give Nevada's heydey mining towns of bygone years the chance to roll out their best and share themselves with Nevadans from the metropolitan areas.

And it's not a bad idea for residents who rarely venture north of Indian Springs or south of Henderson to cruise the Internet a little and find a new place to celebrate once in a while.

Beatty will be pulling out the stops for its centennial in October, which undoubtedly will include its famous burro races (or infamous, depending on your burro). Pioche revels in Labor Day. Logandale celebrates pomegranates in the fall. Pahrump promotes American Indian cultures with a powwow in November.

If the town is small enough, you don't even have to worry about getting behind the wheel of a car after having a libation or two. You can walk wherever it is you have to go, if you have to go anywhere at all.

A new year beckons. Why not resolve to do something fun while resolving to quit smoking and lose weight? All you need is a 2004 calendar, a Nevada map and a little curiosity.

Brown will be traveling up the street to Beatty's Sourdough tavern this New Year's Eve.

"It's the locals' bar," she said.

Sounds good, doesn't it?