North Las Vegas hoping to start new tradition

Dan Kulin

Friday, May 16, 2003 | 5:04 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: May 17, 2003

Music, food and thousands of people are expected to fill one block of downtown North Las Vegas today for what city officials hope will be the first of many Taste & Tunes festivals.

Officials and residents hope the festival, which bears the official city description "a festival for your senses," will become the main community event for the growing city.

Mayor Michael Montandon said since the last city hot air balloon race several years ago, residents have asked him why the city doesn't have an annual event of its own. Taste & Tunes will fill that void, he said.

"It'll be the big city event year in and year out. It will establish some sense of community," Montandon said.

The mayor said he hopes the event will attract at least 5,000 people in its first year, and eventually will grow to a two-day festival.

"The thoughts are to make this an annual event," North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Sharon Powers said. The chamber received a $25,000 grant from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to help pay the $50,000 festival cost. The city received another $23,000 in private donations to help pay for the festival.

The North Las Vegas' chamber involvement in the creation of an annual event comes after the Henderson Chamber of Commerce backed out of the city's Heritage Days festival. That festival, which for years had gone by the name Industrial Days, was a Henderson tradition for more than 50 years, but Henderson chamber officials said the week-long event grew too costly and time- consuming for the chamber to continue.

Powers said the North Las Vegas chamber isn't getting into the business of organizing and funding community events. But in this case, Powers said, city officials asked the chamber for help and the group agreed.

Powers said she hopes the festival will further erase some of the negative images sometimes associated with North Las Vegas.

"We wanted to create something with some continuity. It gives an identity to the city and instills community spirit," Powers said.

Dena Stephenson, 45, a bartender at The Gambler Casino, which is within a block of the festival on Lake Mead Boulevard, said the event will probably generate some business for her. More importantly, though, the festival will bring residents together, said Stephenson, who has lived in or around North Las Vegas her whole life.

"It's good to have community events because it brings people together," she said. "People start getting lost and they don't interact with each other ... so if this helps, that's good."

Brenda Ward, 38, who has lived within a half mile of downtown North Las Vegas for about three years, said the city needs more such family-oriented festivals.

Spring Burbridge, 32 and a North Las Vegas resident since July, agreed.

"It's always nice to have something to do other than gamble and drinking. We need more stuff for kids to do," Burbridge said.

Taste & Tunes is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free. Event parking is available at Las Vegas Boulevard and Civic Center Drive.

In addition to music on two stages and food, there will be games for children and arts and crafts at the festival.

Children's games are free to families with military identification.