 
They promise it will be "the
biggest birthday party the world has ever seen." Las
Vegas' city fathers have formed a centennial
commission to plan celebrations for the city's 100th
birthday in 2005. Earlier this month, they presented
their first plans to local officials, hotel
executives, businesses, educators and
community/civic leaders.
In its presentation, the new
Las Vegas Centennial Committee, chaired by Mayor
Oscar Goodman, vowed that "Las Vegas will celebrate
its 100th birthday as only Las Vegas can. Our master
calendar of events spans the year 2005 and the four
corners of the valley and beyond. Our centennial
will be on the same scale as [city birthdays in]
London, New York, Los Angeles."
Las Vegas' official birthday party and celebration
will be May 15, 2005, the date when, 100 years
earlier, William Clark auctioned off 110 acres of
meadowland to found the city. The celebration
timeline, however, reveals that the celebrations
will be, as promised, yearlong, with the festivities
set to begin Dec. 31, 2004, with a special New
Year's Eve fireworks show. Consequently, the Las
Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau advises that
planning a trip to the city encompassing New Year's
Eve should be done months in advance, because many
of the city's hotels fill up so quickly.
CREATING A CELEBRATION
To create and market the birthday celebration, the
committee recently hired Clear Channel Entertainment
(CCE), a world leader in event production,
marketing, merchandising and sponsorship sales. The
committee has also developed an "event tier" to help
potential visitors, meeting planners, travel agents
and others understand the centennial events'
relative significance.
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MGM Grand, the largest
hotel in the U.S., has 5,034 rooms and suites |
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Gold Events will be large
signature gatherings, sponsored by the Centennial
Committee. Silver Events will be sponsored by
community organizations and the committee, receiving
the sanction of a special events committee. Gold and
Silver events will carry the Centennial logo and be
listed on the Centennial master calendar.
Copper Events will be sponsored by community
organizations only, and smaller in size. These
events will not be sanctioned by the committee, and
may or may not be listed on the celebration's master
calendar. An example of a Copper Event would be an
individual hotel's special lodging, meals, golf or
spa package coinciding with the Centennial
celebration.
Centennial programs the committee are now
considering include historical markers, preservation
and walking tours, a film festival, a public art
exhibition, air shows/parades at nearby Nellis Air
Base, a PBS documentary on Las Vegas, and special
events for tourists, visitors, travelers.
Indeed, one of the committee's five official goals
is to "design and support major centennial events
that draw visitors to the community," says Stacy
Allsbrook, the committee's project manager.
Allsbrook also stresses the centennial's importance
in reacquainting the world with Las Vegas' history.
The city was originally founded in the early 1700s
by Rafael Rivera, a Spanish scout, who came upon a
valley replete with grassy fields and springs ("Las
Vegas" means "meadows? in Spanish). The area had
been home to several nomadic and Native American
tribes such as the Clovis People, the Great Basin
Clan and the Paiutes Indians.
Mormon missionaries followed in 1855, creating the
first non-native settlement. Ranching and mining
took hold, though the settlement wasn't fully
anchored until the advent of rail service some years
later. William Clark sold his 110 acres of land
shortly after completion of the line.
By 1930, Las Vegas had roughly 5,200 residents. The
pace of development picked up in 1931 with the
legalization of gambling, loosened divorce laws, and
the beginning of construction on the Hoover Dam.
World War II brought the defense industry to the
valley.
The first major resort built on the Las Vegas Strip
was the El Rancho in 1947. It had 63 rooms, a far
cry from mega-hotels such as the
MGM Grand, the largest hotel in America, with
5,034 rooms and suites, and
Luxor,
which has 4,408 rooms.
POP CULTURE
In the 1950s, pop icons took to the stages
with numerous lounge acts. In the 1960s, Howard
Hughes incorporated several hotel and casino
properties, which popularized Las Vegas as a world
leader in the gaming, resort, hotel, spa and
convention/meeting businesses.
The biggest boom in development, however, has taken
place over the past two decades, with Las Vegas
growing at an average annual rate of 7 percent. As
of December 2002, according to the Las Vegas
Convention and Visitors' Bureau, there were 35.1
million visitors a year to Las Vegas, and 126,287
hotel rooms to accommodate all those guests.
Not surprisingly, according to the Las Vegas Master
Plan 2020, "gaming and tourism have been the key
industries in Las Vegas for more than 60 years, and
are the principal drivers of employment growth
across all major industrial sector" Approximately 33
percent of the total workforce is employed in the
hotel, gaming and recreation businesses.
To receive additional information on the city's
upcoming Centennial celebration, contact the Las
Vegas Celebration Executive Committee at
702-229-4733
or visit its Web site
www.ci.las-vegas.nv.us. |
