This Is The Friendliest Small Town in Nevada

Each September, 200 volunteers in Genoa hand-make thousands of pounds of candy to keep their town running. That tradition has paid the streetlight bill since 1919. It is one reason this Carson Valley community has a real claim to the title of Nevada's friendliest town. Genoa is also the oldest non-native settlement in the state. It holds Nevada's oldest saloon and its oldest standing courthouse. All of it sits in a town of barely 225 people at the foot of the Sierra, and Genoa wears the history lightly.

The Dance That Pays the Town's Bills

Held each September for more than a century, the first Candy Dance took place in 1919 when Lillian Virgin Finnegan, daughter of a local judge, proposed a dance to raise money for the town's first streetlights. To guarantee a good turnout, Finnegan and her aunt, Jane Raycraft Campbell, recruited townswomen to make candy for participants.

The lights were paid for, but the monthly electric bill wasn't, so the candy makers were called back the following year, and the year after that. Fittingly, a bronze statue of Finnegan now stands in the middle of town. An arts and crafts fair was added in 1974, and the weekend has since become a major source of income for the Town of Genoa.

The 2025 fair featured 404 craft booths and 31 food vendors, and The Record-Courier, the Carson Valley newspaper that has covered the event for decades, reported that vendor fees raised most of the $400,000 needed to fund this small town's operations for the year. Town Manager Jody Brunz has put the festival's contribution at more than 65% of Genoa's annual operating revenue. Candy making starts in July, with volunteers producing more than 3,000 pounds of the stuff from traditional recipes, including fudge, English toffee, and peanut brittle.

The Genoa Volunteer Fire Department also gets in on the act, selling beer and Italian sausage sandwiches, while students from Carson Valley Middle School work the candy counter at the Town Hall. The fair returns on the last full weekend of September, drawing tens of thousands to a town of a few hundred.

Nevada's Oldest Non-native Settlement

Genoa started off with the name Mormon Station, a trading post built in 1851 to supply emigrants on the Carson Route of the California Trail, the main overland route to the mines opening up in California. Mormon Station State Historic Park covers the site in the center of town, and although a fire destroyed what was left of the original stockade in 1910, a replica was built in 1947. Now a museum, it features displays of pioneer-era artifacts.

Also worth seeing in the park, Kinsey House was constructed in 1856 and is one of Nevada's oldest surviving residences. Other highlights include a blacksmith shop from 1908 and the Campbell Homestead with its apple orchard and vegetable garden.

If you've got the time, follow the half-mile accessible path that circles the property with interpretive signs covering 100 years of local history. A statue honors Snowshoe Thompson. The Norwegian-born mail carrier skied the Sierra between Genoa and Placerville, California, for many winters from 1856 onwards.

Another good opportunity to mix and mingle with the friendly townsfolk takes place each Independence Day. Held on the lawn of Mormon Station State Historic Park every July 4, the free Pops in the Park outdoor concert is as popular with locals as it is with outsiders.

The Genoa Historic Courthouse

Across Main Street from the park, the Genoa Courthouse Museum occupies the oldest standing courthouse in Nevada. Erected in 1865 using local brick, it served Douglas County until 1916 when the county seat moved to nearby Minden. Later serving as a school, it's now run as a museum by the Carson Valley Historical Society.

Displays cover the Washoe, the Native people of the Carson Valley and the Lake Tahoe basin, with a collection of baskets and cradleboards, as well as artifacts related to the trails that brought emigrants to (and through) the region. A standout is its Pony Express exhibit, which details the use of Genoa as a stop during its 18-month run from 1860 to 1861.

The second-floor courtroom survives, as does the tin jail cell at the back of the ground floor. It is basically just a metal box split into two compartments, which makes it easy to see why nobody ever wanted to be arrested in Genoa.

Nevada's Oldest Thirst Parlor

The Genoa Bar and Saloon is another reason why Genoa's earned a reputation as being a friendly place to visit. Opened in 1853 as Livingston's Exchange, 11 years before Nevada became a state, it's known as the oldest "thirst parlor" in the state.

Much of the interior is original, so look out for the old diamond dust mirror behind the counter, which came from Scotland in the 1800s. While most of the oil lamps were converted to electricity in the late 19th century, the property's old red lamp still burns oil, but is only lit on New Year's Eve.

The Genoa Bar and Saloon also benefits from the generosity of the townsfolk here. Heated only by a wood stove in winter, locals have been known to provide firewood to keep the fire going. It has also seen its fair share of historic figures, with Mark Twain, Ulysses S. Grant, and Theodore Roosevelt all said to have popped in over the years. The saloon survived Prohibition between 1920 and 1933 by operating as a soda fountain.

Small Town, Big Turnout

While friendliness might be a difficult thing to measure in most communities, Genoa has no such issues. Around 225 permanent residents live here, spread across just 153 property lots. Here, 200 volunteers have been churning out thousands of pounds of handmade candy to literally keep the lights on since 1919. Carson City sits just 12 miles to the north and Reno is less than an hour away, yet Genoa keeps its own pace. A town that funds itself on handmade candy has earned its reputation as the friendliest small town in Nevada.