Food Drive, New INN Club Cards, Thunderbirds Returning, More

Food Drive This Friday: Whether it is rain, sleet, snow or shine - or any combination of these - the  show goes on this Friday for the KTVN 22nd Annual Share Your Christmas Drive-By Food Drive from 6 AM to 6 PM in the CVI parking lot along Highway 395 between the hotel and the entrance to the RV Park.  Truth is the Carson Valley Community Food Closet operates all year no matter what the weather . . . and they count very heavily on the money and food collected at this event to help serve our community during the coming year.  Assuming the weather cooperates and no emergencies interfere; Santa will arrive by Care Flight helicopter at 9:30 AM and be on hand to visit with kids for as long as it takes to chat with them all. The Blood Drive runs from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Stop by and visit KTVN's Arianna Bennett, Angela Schilling & Ryan Canaday as you drop off food or money for the Carson Valley Community Food Closet.

Transitioning from Red to Blue: Sounds like some type of a major political party switch! That’s certainly not true because the Carson Valley Inn appreciates all of the business we receive from local organizations with ties to both sides of the aisle! The fact is that we are just about finished switching our slot management software which also entails changing out all of the player card readers. Because of this, the INN Club cards with the red border no longer work and everyone who has not already done so will need to stop by so we can print you a new blue bordered Inn Club card. The process is pretty simple: If you received one of our letters a week or two ago indicating that your card was ready, please stop at Guest Services. If you didn’t get a letter, or you have a fear of Guest Services counters, we’ve set up a special station in the pit (at least thru this Thursday) with a couple of card printers and keypads to reset your PIN number.  Don’t let all this cause you any concern . . . Your point balance remains the same and all the benefits remain the same, you just need a new card!

Speaking of Blue, the USAF Thunderbirds Are Returning in 2017! It’s almost 2 years away, but it’s worth putting on your calendar: The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds had such a good time here this past summer that they’ve inked Minden-Tahoe Airport on their schedule again for 2017, usurping the US Navy Blue Angels in the process (“Hey, this one is our show” they are purported to have said)! The dates are Saturday and Sunday, October 7 and 8, 2017 and there will be a major presentation difference in their show operating procedures next time . . . . more on that as the date draws closer.

Let Us Cook Christmas Dinner For You!

Christmas Dinner to Go: After a  a sellout at Thanksgiving we’re continuing the "let us do it for you" approach for Christmas by offering a Christmas Turkey Dinner To Go. The basics are pretty straightforward: we prepare a full holiday dinner for 8 to 10 people and have it ready for you to pick up on Christmas Day between 10 AM and 1 PM. What’s included? How much is it? How do you order?  All good questions – Click Here for the full story and be sure to get your order in early as we do have a limit.

As Close As We’ll Come to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Event: It’s really not us, it’s our sister property down at Sharkey’s Casino  . . . they tend to be a little more loosey-goosey! Seems Sharkey’s is one of seven pubs involved in the Gardnerville Santa Crawl on Saturday, December 19 and Santa hats, holiday sweaters and other seasonal garb (both tasteful and questionable) are all to be seen. We’ll give you more details and some of the back story in next week’s blog.

Typical Friday Night Game in CVI Poker Room

Poker Room 11^th Birthday Friday: No, we're not going to be wearing silly birthday hats and play Pin the Tail on the Donkey (is it even politically correct these days to say that?). And we're not going to celebrate with an outdoor poker game like you see in the picture. We'll be shaking off  a couple of cold and wet days with a warm and friendly gathering  in our poker room this Friday to celebrate 11 years of live poker at the Inn. There is a $50 high-hand prize every half hour from 3:00 to 8:00 PM (that's $500 total), free CVI Poker Hat to anyone who stacks or cracks their aces to the showdown (seriously, crew, how do you come up with these terms?!), birthday cake starting around 4 PM and a $100 cash drawing at 9 PM (yea, ya gotta be there) for anyone who’s played 30 minutes or more on Friday. Whether you're a regular or first timer, we invite you to stop by, grab a seat, and enjoy the camaraderie of our CVI poker family.

Race and Sports Book:

• This week you can watch and bet NFL and College Football, Horseracing, NBA and College Basketball, and NHL Hockey. We will also be taking action on some of the UFC fights coming up over the next few days.
• The PRO PK’EM jackpot is $4,444 on this week’s progressive parlay card. Four 4s in a row must have some luck significance for someone who can parlay this into picking all 15 props and winning the jackpot!
• This weekend's NCAA college football schedule includes the traditional Army-Navy Game on Saturday and the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) quarterfinal games on Friday and Saturday.
• The oddsmakers simply scratched their head over the 49er/Browns game on Sunday. They couldn’t seem to come to a consensus on a favorite so, at least as of the time we wrote this blog, it was a pick’em game.

Henry Fisher aka Aladdin

Cabaret Lounge Entertainment – No Cover, No Minimum – Free! Josh Budro performs tonight, Henry Fisher's Soul Persuaders entertain Thursday thru and Saturday nights, NFL Football is on Sunday and Monday Nights and Jonathon “JB” Barton returns next Tuesday and Wednesday. Henry Fisher's Soul Persuaders is a unique group of musicians who decided to blend together the sounds of the Motor City and Oakland, CA to develop "Sweet, Grown & Sexy" sounds - music from the 60’s to the present.  Aladdin handles lead vocal and percussion. He is joined by Les Carter on vocals and drums, Phil Weaver on vocals and guitar and Fred Williams on bass.

As Always, Interesting, Helpful and Even Useful Tidbits and News

• Tonight is Ladies’ Nights and the first 150 ladies to sign up receive a Free Christmas ornament and ladies-only drink specials. Due to the slot system transition going on this week, we won’t have the usual hot seat prizes but we will have special drawings for Cash and Country Wine Gift Baskets.
• Duck Friday, Prime Rib Saturday, King Crab Sunday in CV Steak:  Our Friday Special this week is Maple Leaf Farms Grilled Duck Breast marinated with fresh herbs for $28. Saturday night its Garlic Studded Prime Rib for $26 and Sunday's special is one pound of King Crab Legs for $32. All these specials are served with fresh vegetable, choice of rice or potato (au gratin, baked, or a one-pound, twice-baked), tableside tossed salad and warm demi-loaf of bread.
• Because We Feel Like Mentioning It:
• Today is Pastry Day and we would be remiss if we didn't again provide a link to the various baked-at-the-Inn cakes, pies, brownies and cookies that are available at our bakery counter at the Katie's entrance. We'll also mention that other pastries such as bear claws, muffins and donuts are made fresh daily and displayed and ready to tempt you in Job's Perk.
• Tuesday is Cat Herders Day. Finally a day - while dubious in its origin and authenticity - supposedly created by someone to recognize the frustration of trying to manage the unmanageable!

Comments? Have questions or comments about the CVI? Use the comments section below, shoot us an email or just pick up the phone and call us @ 775-782-9711. Hit “0” when the automated voice comes on and you'll go right to the hotel operator who can get you to the correct person or department.  We have a lot more coming up at the Carson Valley Inn so check our Blog posting every Wednesday morning!