Downtown to charge $100 for Dec. 31 party

Erin Neff

Friday, Sept. 10, 1999 | 10:52 a.m.

If you want to ring in the new millennium at the Fremont Street Experience this year it will cost you $1 for every year of the past century.

Partying downtown like it's the end to 1999 will cost more than usual as city officials and casino executives try to ensure a safer atmosphere.

Entrance to the all-night party on the cordoned-off Experience will be $100 per person compared to the $10 a head cover charge levied last year for the same event.

The millennial pricetag is designed to make it "very, very safe" for party-goers, Mayor Oscar Goodman said.

"The price is a vehicle to ensure there won't be rowdiness," Goodman said.

And, he added, as cover charges go for New Year's Eve, "$100 is very reasonable."

But what's reasonable for a criminal defense attorney is a little pricey for some residents.

"Who's going to pay that?" asked Martin Cowlings, a downtown resident who went to last year's event. "That seems like a lot for what you're getting if it's the same as last year."

For your C-note, you'll get a plastic party hat, noisemaker and entrance to the canopy-covered pedestrian mall. The Guess Who, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, REO Speedwagon and Starship are scheduled to perform on different stages set up throughout the street.

The party will begin at 3 p.m. with performances intertwined with the hourly light show on the Experience canopy.

Last year's Starship and Bachman Turner Overdrive show drew thousands of blue-collar partiers and tourists from the downtown casinos at $10 a pop. The casinos place guards at each doorway entrance to the Experience, and gates are set up at pedestrian entrances to the trafficless street.

Metro will also increase security at the Fremont Street Experience.

The City Council plans to approve an ordinance Wednesday banning the sale of alcohol in glass bottles or cans at New Year's Eve events.

Metro Sgt. Vincent Cannito said the measure was also designed with safety in mind. Sales of draft beverages and sales of alcohol in plastic containers will be allowed.