A new event coming to the Reno area next year will celebrate the invention of blue jeans, which were invented by Reno tailor Jacob Davis.
The Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority made the announcement on Wednesday morning about the new Blue Genes Jam, which will highlight the world's most famous clothing item. Blue jeans were also later patented in Reno. (The name – Blue Genes Jam – highlights the clothing's birthplace.)
RSCVA President and CEO Christopher Baum says it all started after a local woman asked a Reno tailor to make a tougher pair of work pants for her husband. “A local tailor made an initial pair of pants and then he had a little brainstorm and saw some copper rivets sitting in his workshop that he used to put together straps on horse blankets and he said ‘I wonder what would happen if I put those on the stress points of pants,'” said Baum.
There's a plaque in downtown Reno next to the Knitting Factory where the first blue jeans were made in the early 1870s. The Visitors Authority found out about the Reno-jeans connection after a local resident, Robert Wexler, informed them about the connection. “I learned about it from a presentation that Guy Rocha made to the Historic Reno Preservation Society,” said Wexler. “I just thought it would be important to share with others and to benefit Reno tourism at the same time.”
Baum adds, “It's going to take about 12 months for our team to put it together, but we are so jazzed about the fact that so few people know that blue jeans were invented by Jacob Davis, here in Reno.”
The “Blue Genes Jam” is also expected to bring a boost in tourism for fall, between summer and winter events. “After the kids go back to school and before ski season starts there's a lull and we think this will do a great job of helping us fill hotel rooms and bring people into town to spend money at that time of year,” said Baum.
The 3-day festival will be held in Reno, Sparks and North Lake Tahoe in October 2015. It will feature performances by country and rock artists, a retail marketplace called the Jean Pool, the Blue Jean Ball, a pop-up bar and restaurant called Jacob's Joint.
For more information on the event, go to www.BlueGenesJam.com
