Army Depot Appreciation DaySierra Army Depot Employee Appreciation Day

The Sierra Army Depot in Herlong, California hired me for its Employee Appreciation Day on July 9, 2026. Cassie Scholes, the depot’s Director of Family and MWR, reached out in June: music from 7:30 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon, for a crowd with a wide range of ages, and nothing explicit.

Herlong is a long drive north of Reno, so I drove up the evening before. In the morning I set up under my canopy on the lawn, facing the big white tent with the bounce house. Around it were face painting, shaved ice and a hot chicken food truck, and an armored U.S. Army truck was parked by the road for everyone to see.

The first song of the day was Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas at 8:01 AM. The morning was classic rock and feel good songs like Lovely Day by Bill Withers, Dreams by Fleetwood Mac and Centerfold by The J. Geils Band, with requests for every age in between: Baby Shark for the kids, APT. by ROSÉ and Bruno Mars, The Army Goes Rolling Along and God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood.

Toward midday it turned into country singalongs: Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) by Big & Rich, Copperhead Road by Steve Earle, Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett and Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond. Just before 3:00 PM a drum roll, then We Are The Champions by Queen closed the day.

That same afternoon Anthony McElrath wrote that I “knocked it out of the park with his song selections and mashup edits.” The depot has already booked me again for its 2027 Employee Appreciation Day.