Las Vegas basks in glow of successful New Year’s fireworks

Ken Ritter

Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2001 | 9:58 a.m.

Fireworks on the Las Vegas Strip provided plenty of bang for the New Year's Eve buck, officials said Tuesday as they began planning another pyrotechnics show for next year.

"It was a great New Year's - as good as it gets," said Mayor Oscar Goodman, who had blamed the absence of fireworks last year for the sense that Las Vegas' Y2K celebration was a dud.

The Big Bang fireworks show Sunday had some 22,000 shells lighting up the Las Vegas night during a 10-minute display designed to blow away last year's disappointing holiday celebration.

"The world expects us to be at the cutting edge of entertainment," he said. "Part of that, on New Year's, is fireworks."

In contrast to last year when resorts slashed prices at the last minute to attract visitors, hotels reported they were full for the holiday with guests who partied hard but stayed mostly within legal limits while ushering in what some dubbed the "real millennium"

"Busy, but under control," was the way Aladdin hotel-casino spokesman Lynn Holt characterized the night at his 2,555-room hotel. "We were certainly pleased."

No major injuries were reported among the throng of people who jammed the Strip, casinos and downtown Fremont Street Experience mall. Based on hotel room bookings and estimates of residents and non-staying visitors in attendance, county officials said as many as 350,000 might have turned out to ring in the new year.

Las Vegas police and the Nevada Highway Patrol made 247 arrests, including 46 juveniles. In most cases, offenders received summonses, authorities said.

Off the Strip, a Tucson, Ariz., woman died late Sunday in a taxi crash. The taxi driver has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Police Lt. Marc Joseph said collars around utility poles discouraged climbers from repeating a Year 2000 tragedy. Last year, a California man was electrocuted when he climbed a light pole and grabbed a power line.

A daylong New Year's Day traffic jam on Interstate 15 heading to California and big crowds at McCarran International Airport underscored the perception that more people were in town this year than last, when Y2K fears and sky high prices kept the official visitor count to 251,000.

Airport spokeswoman Debbie Millett blamed holiday delays at Las Vegas' airport on snowy weather at major East Coast cities.

"Even though it's beautiful here, bad weather has a ripple effect," she said, adding that the airport remained busy Tuesday with passengers.

Las Vegas' tourism office said it could take weeks before a precise tally of the number of New Year's Eve visitors is available.

Erika Brandvik, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, stuck Tuesday to pre-event estimates of 263,000 visitors. But she characterized the authority as "just tickled" by the thick crowds and the attention that the Year 2001 fireworks generated.

The 13-member authority board will decide this spring whether to spend another $500,000 in room tax revenues for a similar show next year but there seemed little doubt talking to tourism officials that fireworks would remain on the city's menu.

Mark Paris, president of the Fremont Street Experience, said he wants to improve fireworks next year inside the five-block casino canopy.

But he dubbed this year's event "probably the best New Year's celebration we've had."

With a ticket count still under way, Paris guessed 35,000 people paid $25-$30 apiece to see live bands, a light show and fireworks at the downtown location.

"The only time it might have been bigger was in 1995, the first year we were open," Paris said. "The hotels have said it was very successful. That's the whole idea, to generate business downtown with a fun, safe event."

"From all reports, it was tremendously successful," agreed Kurt Ouchida, spokesman for the Venetian, one of the 11 Strip hotel-casinos where synchronized fireworks were launched at midnight.

Ouchida, who said all 3,036 rooms in his hotel were sold out, observed large numbers of people going from casino to casino on the Strip.

"It was great for the hotel, great for the industry and great for the city," Ouchida said. "It created a spectacle that really put Las Vegas back on the map as a New Year's destination."