Centennial getting sendoff with roses and fireworks

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2004 | 9:18 a.m.

The yearlong 100th birthday celebration of the birth of Las Vegas will kick off with fireworks on the Strip and also venture into another New Year's tradition -- the 2005 Rose Parade.

A giant bottle of champagne, huge birthday cake and oversized Vegas Vic and Sassy Sally will sit atop the $200,000 Las Vegas centennial float, which is being paid for by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Showgirls will also ride on the float.

The nationally broadcast parade starts 8 a.m. New Year's Day. The Las Vegas float is No. 42 in the parade, and is expected to enter the parade around 9:30 a.m., a statement from the Convention Authority said.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who is also chairman of the centennial celebration, said in the statement that everyone who sees the float "will be left with no doubt our 100th birthday will truly be a yearlong, Las Vegas-size celebration."

The centennial celebration marks the 100th anniversary of the May 1905 land auction that laid the groundwork for the city. Las Vegas was incorporated in March 1911.

Authority chairman and Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson said in the statement that while almost 300,000 visitors will be in Las Vegas and see the New Year's Eve fireworks, "millions of others will get a taste of it the next day with the Rose Parade," which he called "the perfect, high-profile opportunity to launch a year of centennial festivities."

The parade float was designed by a California company, Fiesta Parade Floats. The final stages of float decoration will be open to the public Dec. 28-31 at the Buena Vista Pavilion, 2144 Buena Vista in Duarte, Calif. Admission is $5.

In addition to paying for the float, the LVCVA also paid the $3,700 fee to get the float into the parade, authority spokeswoman Erika Yowell said.