Providence master plan to honor literary master

Providence will celebrate the legacy of Mark Twain and his travels through Nevada, as well as the community's commitment to literacy, by honoring the author during an all-day festival today, at the 215, the Las Vegas Beltway, North and Hualapai Road.

Providence is a community designed to reflect the American spirit. Parks and open spaces celebrate small town traditions and the diversity of American literary and historical voices, according to John A. Ritter, chief executive officer of Focus Property Group.

"An important part of the theme of Providence is bringing back the nostalgic feeling of small town America, when life was more simple and neighbors came together in the town square to celebrate," Ritter said. "An event like Mark Twain Day will connect our residents, potential residents, and their families, with the history and great literature of our country."

During May of 1864 Samuel Langhorne Clemens wrote "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," which was the first work penned by the American literary icon under the nom-de-plum of Mark Twain.

Providence will help celebrate the legacy of Twain with frog-jumping contests, pie-eating contests and other family activities.

It was during Clemens' travels through Nevada that he actually took the pen name of Mark Twain in February 1863.

Clemens and his brother, Orion, who had been appointed secretary to the territorial governor of Nevada, traveled for more than two weeks on a stagecoach across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. Clemens prospected for silver and gold on the Comstock.

After failing as a miner, Clemens worked at a Virginia City newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise, before traveling on to San Francisco.

These experiences became the basis of the book "Roughing It," and provided material for "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

The family friendly activities to be held during Mark Twain Day include productions bringing some of Twain's most well-known book characters, such as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, to life.

There will be storytelling from Mark Twain's books, an appearance from the Centennial High School jazz band, a magician and relay races, bobbing for apples, pie-eating and watermelon-eating contests.

The day's events will include a crafts fair, face-painting, a skydiving demonstration and rides on the mini-express train.

The most notable activity of the day will be the frog-jumping contest in honor of the short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," a tall tale of the life and happenings of the gold rush town, Angels Camp. This story is the first internationally published writing of Samuel Clemens.

The story depicts the recollections of a long-winded townsman about a stranger who wins a bet over a frog race.

The story has delighted audiences worldwide. The first Jumping Frog Jubilee was held in 1928 in Calaveras County, Calif. and it has been held annually ever since.

Additionally, visitors can tour the nearly 80 model homes throughout the community by transportation provided by the master plan.

The model tour will include a sampling of hot dogs, hamburgers, apple pies and snow cones.

Proceeds from the day's events will benefit Through the Eyes of a Child, a nonprofit organization to fund educational and cultural opportunities for current and former residents of Child Haven.

In addition to Mark Twain Day, Providence hosts activities throughout the year designed around the community's literary theme.

The community annually hosts a Children's Literacy Festival in culmination of Nevada Reading Week to support Spread the Word Nevada: Kids to Kids, an organization dedicated to advancing literacy within the community, in particular at-risk youth.

The community also has plans to host storytelling festivals, writer's workshops, cowboy poetry festivals and chataquas.

Focus Property Group utilized names of American literary and historical icons throughout.

One of the community's signature parks, Huckleberry Park, drew its inspiration from Mark Twain's classic character, Huckleberry Finn.

Providence's Knickerbocker Park was named in honor of Washington Irving, whose "Knickerbocker Tales," is a collection of stories from 18th century upstate New York that include "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Headless Horseman."

The baseball parks within the community will be reminiscent of old-fashioned ball fields from American history.

Along with the community's celebration of the history of literature, it hopes to preserve the future, according to Ritter with the conservation of natural resources and plantings of as many as 4,000 mature desert-adaptable shade and specimen trees, along with drought tolerant shrubs and plants.

Visitors can see examples of the drought-tolerant plant palette in the community's Demonstration Garden located on the west side of the information center.

Upon build out, Providence will comprise of about 7,500 single and multi-family units in 39 subdivisions. Plans include parks and trails systems, as well as two elementary schools and one middle school.

Home builders selling at Providence include Avante Homes, Beazer Homes, KB Home, Kimball Hill Homes, Lennar Homes, Meritage Homes, Pardee Homes, Pulte Homes, Ryland Homes, Toll Brothers, and Woodside Homes. Home builders including Astoria Homes, Fairview Residential, R/S Development and Warmington Homes Nevada are expected to begin offering homes this year.

For more information, call 433-5084 or visit providencelv.com or focuspropertygroup.com.