Erica Zachariasen was all smiles, hardly showing even the slightest sign she’d been awake most of the night, until she reached the front of the line and heard two wholly unexpected, dreadful words: “Administrative Hold.”
Lewisville Park was blacked out on June 25. Her smile disappeared as only a disappointed bride-to-be’s could.
Zachariasen, 22, arrived with her grandmother, Gayle Zachariasen, at the parking lot of the Marshall Community Center at 10:30 p.m. Monday, establishing a position outside the front door they retained despite retreating from the cold to their car at 2 a.m. Zachariasen and her grandma returned to the line at about 5 a.m. and entered the community center about a half-hour later, set up, she thought, to secure her all-important date at Lewisville Park: the only picnic shelter in Clark County large enough to host a gathering of up to 200 people.
She was one of about 20 people — their coats zipped and hands in pockets — grouped outside the center when the doors opened. The swarm swelled to about 50 people by the time reservations were accepted starting at 7 a.m.