Editorial: Fireworks nowhere to be seen

Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2000 | 9:41 a.m.

The celebration that wasn't.

The talk around water coolers in Las Vegas on Monday wasn't so much what happened, but what didn't happen on New Year's Eve. Unlike cities around the globe that showcased themselves with celebrations capped by stunning fireworks displays, Las Vegas did nothing. This was odd, because this wasn't an ordinary new year, it also was the dawn of both a new century and a new millennium. No one is suggesting that the breathtaking shows in Paris, London and Washington, D.C., could be duplicated here, but to do nothing at all was embarrassing for Las Vegas, which likes to dub itself the "Entertainment Capital of the World."

Once it became clear last year other major cities were going to stage elaborate New Year's productions, which would be televised worldwide, that was when casinos and local governments should have come together to put on at least a modest fireworks display. But Las Vegas residents and tourists got a dud instead. If it wasn't for the Paris hotel-casino, which sent confetti cascading out onto the Strip, the New Year's party would have been a complete bust for revelers.

Instead of giving something back to the community, the casinos early on appeared bent on making as much money as possible, trying to charge several times what they normally would for a New Year's Eve weekend reservation. In the end, they didn't have many takers, forcing some casinos to dramatically drop their room prices. Although the Fremont Street Experience in downtown put on a show featuring bands and a light display, the entry fee of $100 -- the previous year's admission was just $10 -- put this out of reach for most Las Vegans. Not surprisingly, just half of the 33,000 who were expected actually showed up for this show.

Maybe red-faced business and government leaders will learn from their miscalculation. At least they have a 100-year head start to plan for the celebration to ring in the next century.