The 28th annual Carson City Rendezvous (www.carsoncityrendezvous.com), the area’s largest special event, is this weekend, June 10 – 12 at Mills Park. The event celebrates the wild west and Civil War era history. This year, Rendezvous highlights the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s presidential inauguration.

There are a lot of new events for 2011, including the opening ceremony on Saturday at 10 a.m., a re-enactment of President Lincoln’s inauguration. To commemorate his presidency, Rendezvous participants and encampments will join in one ceremonious pageant of costume and theater, followed by a special swearing in of new U.S. citizens by the U.S. Naturalization and Immigration Department.

Rendezvous portrays the lifestyle of early Nevada settlers, complete with gun skirmishes, mountain man encampments and trapping demonstrations. Organizers have moved the famous Civil War-era gun battles from afternoon to dusk, to capture the backdrop of live-fire, flash-bang rounds exploded from muskets.

In addition to historic re-enactments, there’s also music (starting each night at 7 p.m.): Tom Hiatt, Wild West song and dance man Sourdough Slim and Rick Hays & American Steel; a Native American Village with dancers, drummers and storytellers; Pony Express demonstration and the popular Civil War Ball on Saturday at 9 p.m.

The all-ages event runs Friday, 12 p.m. – 9 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.