Las Vegas Sun

April 23, 2024

Reno plans festival to celebrate blue jeans

Jeans

AP Photo/Scott Sonner

This Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014, photo shows the historical marker for Jacob Davis’ tailor shop in Reno, where riveted denim jeans were first created.

RENO — Nevada tourism officials are planning a three-day festival in Reno next fall to celebrate and promote the city as the birthplace of what became modern blue jeans.

Reno tailor Jacob Davis created riveted denim jeans in 1871 in a downtown shop. Two years later, he and Levi Strauss patented the pants with the rivets to the corners and pockets that made them the sturdy favorites of miners, loggers and cowboys who helped tame the West.

Tourism officials on Wednesday announced the "Blue Genes Jam" next Oct. 2-4 will celebrate the iconic trousers' impact on popular culture.

Chris Baum, CEO of the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, says the event will include concerts, fashion shows, a retail marketplace and a mini-festival of films that helped make blue jeans a must for Americans.

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