Grand Marshal Dinner

Grand Marshal Dinner!
Friday, October 29
at the Carson Nugget
6:00pm: Social Hour & Cocktails (no host bar)
7:00pm: Buffet Dinner
Cost: $30

(Cost includes dinner and presentation by Dick Rutan!)

For more information, contact the Nevada Day office (775) 882-2600

Online reservations are now closed for this event. Limited seating is still available for those who wish to pay at the door.

Nevada Day Grand Marshal, Dick Rutan, is best known for piloting the Voyager aircraft on the first-ever non-stop, unrefueled flight around the world. Nine days, three minutes and 44 seconds after taking off in December 1986, a storm-battered Voyager touched down-setting world distance records that remain unchallenged today.

Four days later, President Ronald Reagan awarded Dick the Presidential Citizen's Medal of Honor. Voyager is now proudly suspended in the "Milestones of Flight" gallery at the Smithsonian.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS OF Dick Rutan

  • In 1986, Dick Rutan piloted the Voyager aircraft on the first-ever non-stop, unrefueled flight around the world, setting unchallenged world distance records.
  • Dick Rutan was elected to serve as a member of the board for the Mojave Civilian Flight Test Center and Spaceport in Mojave, CA.
  • In July of 2002, Dick Rutan was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio.
  • Dick received his solo pilot's license and his driver's license on his 16th birthday.
  • He flew 325 missions in Vietnam, 105 as a member of the Super Sabre Forward Air Control, a high-risk operation commonly known as the "MISTY's".
  • Dick was hit by enemy ground fire on his last Airforce mission and was forced to eject from his burning F-100, to be rescued later.
  • During his two-decade career, Lt. Col. Rutan was awarded the Silver Star, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, 16 Air Medals and a Purple Heart.
  • In 1997, the "Around the World In 80 Nights" tour was successfully completed in two small experimental Rutan-designed Long-EZ aircraft.
  • In 1998, Dick's' attempt at a third around-the-world record ended dramatically with an emergency parachute jump from a pressurized capsule suspended under a 110' hot air/helium balloon after experiencing a dangerous fabric tear. This was his third life-saving parachute jump.
  • In 2000, Dick went on a sightseeing tour of the North Pole, however after the airplane, a Russian Antonov AN2, fell through the ice, this pleasure trip quickly turned into a dramatic rescue mission.
  • Dick Rutan is currently flying a Berkut home built, experimental airplane and plans to set more world records in the future, with plans to even break some of his standing world records.
  • Learn more about Dick Rutan here.
Come hear Dick Rutan tell the stories of his adventures first-hand at the Nevada Day Grand Marshal Dinner!

Online reservations are now closed for this event. Limited seating is still available for those who wish to pay at the door.

For more information, contact the Nevada Day office (775) 882-2600

 NEVADA DAY EVENTS