Moonshine Ink
The love/hate relationship with tourism
The spray-painted message was loud and clear:
Tourist Go Home! I could feel the hate, the anger, the disgust that oozed out of the hand that scrawled the words along the roadside but I also understood where the author was coming from. After all, anti-tourist sentiment often is broadcast loud and clear throughout the Truckee/Tahoe region. Except, this wasn’t in Tahoe; it was on the Big Island of Hawaii.
My husband’s 95-year-old grandmother lives in Kailua-Kona. Given her age, she will no longer fly, so as pandemic travel restrictions to Hawaii began to ease, we felt comfortable saying yes when she wanted us to come visit. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a bit of hesitation. We weren’t too keen on visitors inundating Tahoe during the supposed stay-at-home order, increasing our exposure to Covid and threatening the exhaustion of our resources. But somehow this seemed different. If we wanted to avoid quarantine,
Moonshine Ink Artistry is in the Air at Truckee Tahoe Airport
WORD OF MOUTH: Photographer Ted Coakley III approached curator Carole Sesko about showing his work in an exhibit after being referred to her during a passing conversation. Photos by Wade Snider/Moonshine Ink
April 9, 2021
When the new Truckee Tahoe Airport building was constructed in 2009, local artist Carole Sesko envisioned more than an updated hub for air traffic coming to and going from the region. In her mind’s eye, she saw naked walls that could serve as a blank canvas full of possibilities for artists to display their talents.