KTVN Food Drive Friday, Mike's Horses, Sharkey's Casino, Christmas Dining, More

Mike's Horses and Sharkey's: Tiz Midnight, with jockey Victor Espinoza aboard,  won the $200,000 Bayakoa Stakes at Los Alamitos last Saturday for owner Mike Pegram and trainer Bob Baffert . . . that's two weeks in a row with one of Mike's horses in the winner's circle! And in the middle of those two weekends, Mike and the local community were the winners of another sort when the lack of other bidders landed the now-closed Sharkey's Casino in Gardnerville in Mike's hands. Watch for extensive renovations, a refreshed look inside and out, a fun business plan and a solid employer on the main corner in Gardnerville! When? March of 2015 if all goes well . . . and we'll keep you updated on the progress and the employment possibilities in this weekly blog! Back to Mike's horses - a couple more are running this weekend at Los Alamitos . . . we'll keep you "posted."

KTVN Channel 2 Share Your Christmas Community Food Drive: The Carson Valley's largest food drive is this Friday right outside the Carson Valley Inn at the entrance to our RV resort where you can drive-by and donate food and/or money anytime between 6 AM and 6 PM. The KTVN crew and hundreds of volunteers will be here rain or shine. Even though it looks like the "shine" part may be minimal this year, please come by and donate anyway . . . Possible inclement weather this Friday doesn't change the need to help feed our community's hungry over the coming year!

• Here are some last-minute tips for making donations at other locations which will wind up at the food drive this Friday - but remember, we would also like to see you this Friday!
• You can buy a bag of groceries valued at over $25 at Raley's for $10 and here's a bonus: the register receipt from Raley's clearly shows the $10 is a tax-deductible donation.
• The Towns of Minden and Gardnerville are both collecting food this week on your regular trash days. Check the details in the carsonvalleytimes.com article at this link.
• If your trash is picked up by Douglas Disposal, they also have a program going on this week and details are on their website.
• As for our KTVN On-Air crew and the question we posed last week:  Chloe Beardsley enjoys
  
  coaching basketball and working with animals, Adam Varahachaikol enjoys cooking and traveling to San Francisco, and Arianna Bennett harbors a healthy obsession with Lake Tahoe!
• Blood Drive Also Friday: If you are able, please donate at the United Blood Services Bloodmobile this Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the site of the Food Drive. To schedule an appointment or find out more, click here. 

Hidden Mickey Decorations Drawing Interest:  Our Hidden Mickey Contest for a CV Steak $100 Dining Credit is definitely drawing interest and entries. So, if you are visiting CVI, why not throw your name into the hat (up to 9 times) for this drawing? The more Hidden Mickeys (Mickey Mouse Ear Christmas Decorations) you find, the higher your chances of winning! All it takes to enter is to wander around the CVI, keep your eyes open as you look at our Christmas decorations, jot down the location of the Hidden Mickey Christmas decorations, and send us an email by clicking here. You'll be entered once for each correct location you identify before our drawing on December 23 - we'll announce the winner in our December 24 Blog.

Christmas at the Inn:  let's start with the assumption that on Christmas Day, you are either going out to eat – as in to a restaurant – or you're eating at home, whether it's your home, at a friend's house or you're going over to the relatives. If you plan to go out to eat, we have two Christmas Day dining choices: Katie's or CV Steak. Both are serving their regular menu choices at regular everyday prices on Christmas Day – plus both restaurants have Christmas Day Specials for an additional holiday touch! If you plan to eat at home or at someone else's house, you – or someone – is faced with a lot of work buying the food, prepping, cooking and tackling one heck of the cleanup project both as you go along and after everyone is finished. We have a way to minimize a lot of this work: choose one of our three Christmas Dinners to Go . . . Prime rib, turkey, or ham for 8 to 12 people! Is there a little bit of heat-up preparation? Sure, but our instructions tell you just how. Do you still have dishes to cleanup afterwards? Yep, but the overall process is a whole lot less time-consuming than doing it all yourself!  Whether you choose to go out to a restaurant or have Christmas dinner at home, we have a number of choices here at the Carson Valley Inn . . . so, consider letting us help you enjoy more time with your family and friends on Christmas Day!

Poker Room Celebrates 10 Years:  it's been just about 10 years since we started dealing live poker here at the CVI so our Poker Room is celebrating its 10th anniversary on December 19! We'll have cash drawings, free cake and champagne, and the first 100 players in the poker room on December 19 will receive a free 10th Anniversary Commemorative Poker Chip/Card Protector.

Best Sandwich Contest Crowded: The carsonvalleytimes.com "Sandwich Wars" now has over 50 sandwiches in the running including four Katie's favorites: The Big Bird, The French Dip, The Nevadan and The Monte Cristo. We are not fans of ballot box stuffing, but will gladly accept your vote for any of these four sandwiches that you feel are worthy. Thanks!

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

• A Toys for Tots donation box is near our Hotel Desk.
• December Blackjack Tournament Winners: it happens every month on the second Tuesday and last night's blackjack tournament winners were David Bailey (1st for $625), David Myers (2nd for $375) and  Richard Leigh (3rd for $250). It's just a $25 entry fee and the next monthly contest is Tuesday, January 13.
• Free Entertainment in the Cabaret: Paul Covarelli appears tonight, Jo Mama with Special Guest Stew Stewart is here Thursday, Friday & Saturday nights, NFL Football has the spotlight Sunday and Monday nights and George Pickard entertains Tuesday and Wednesday.
• Ladies Night Giveaways: Tonight's Hot Seat winners will receive a Costco gift basket and the first 150 ladies to check in tonight will receive a bracelet. Reminder, Ladies' Night now starts at 5:30 p.m.  To have your business featured on one of our Ladies' Nights (we do pay you for the prizes); call Stephanie at 775-783-7711.
• Jackpot Update:
• The Pro PK'em Progressive is $4,222 for this weekend's NFL games. That'll buy Christmas gifts for the whole family in most cases. Just a $5 play is all it takes to have a shot!
• The Penny Progressive Jackpot was approaching $57,000 late yesterday afternoon. That will buy a new-car type Christmas present if it hits on a max-coin (90 pennies) bet! 
• This Week's Game-On Fridays special in CV Steak is Roasted Rack of Venison with Cherry Port Sauce: A 4-bone venison rack seasoned with fresh herbs and roasted to your specs (Chef Patrick does not recommend cooking temps over medium). As always, served with tableside-tossed salad, vegetable and your choice of potato - au gratin, baked, or a one-pound, twice-baked potato . . . all for $32.00! 

Do You Talk Back?! 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!