I have attended many a Hot August Night. I was at the very first one when I was in college in the 80's. I was also there the year they had the Street Vibrations at the same time and there was rioting. It was a very bad year and from that year forward they made Street Vibrations at a different time. Of course that didn't hurt Reno's marketing at all.
I worked for Circus Circus for about 5 years, left in 2001. Last I heard, Reno is not doing all that well, economy wise, so maybe you should go spend your money and pay the taxes.