In 2005, the City of Sparks celebrated its 100^th birthday as a city with a once in a lifetime celebration that featured special events and education programs to celebrated Sparks’ unique history. As part of the celebration, a Sparks Then and Now presentation was developed by Neal Cobb, Jerry Fenwick, Les Ede, Karen Dolan, and Scott Carey to show how the city has changed over its first hundred years. This program was shown in local schools and other organizations throughout the city and a special DVD of the program was also developed.

Nearly two decades later, this presentation will revisit the Sparks Then and Now program and take a special look at how things have changed in the city.

“Neal Cobb and Jerry Fenwick are Reno boys of a certain age who grew up, using that phrase loosely, in our town during the zenith of its days. They share a love for Reno, and a facility to note and enjoy elements of growing up here that were less-seen and retained by others, and better yet with the further ability to recall and weave some wonderful tales of the city. As caprice would have it, both of their families owned an art- or photography- related business in the heart of downtown Reno. To those two stores each day after school, pedaled Jerry and Neal, where they became involved in their respective parents’ businesses, and came to know the nuances of graphic art. If it happened in Reno, Fenwick’s parents painted it, while Cobb’s parents photographed it, and together they amassed an incredible inventory of local and rural views – on both Kodachrome, and oil or pastel. The talents, recollections and visual inventory of Neal Cobb and Jerry Fenwick were in pleasing confluence in the earlier book, and once again meet in this later one.” (Excerpted from the foreword to Reno Now And Then II written by Karl Breckenridge.)

Scott Carey grew up in Sparks, attended public schools and used the Governor Kenny Guinn Memorial Scholarship to graduate from the University of Nevada, Reno. Scott was appointed by Mayor Tony Armstrong to the City of Sparks Centennial Commission, where he served on the education committee and helped develop the Sparks Then and Now program to celebrate the city’s 100^th birthday in 2005. Scott is a lifetime member and volunteer of the Sparks Heritage Museum and since 2009 has served on the museum’s Board of Trustees.

Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, and kids 12 and under and museum members are free.