Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2005 | 11:13 a.m.
Officials of the St. Patrick's Day Parade say that after 38 years mostly in Las Vegas they are moving this year's parade to downtown Henderson in an attempt to stem gushing losses of green -- money, that is.
The Sons of Erin, promoters of the parade since its inception, say that after losing $7,000 to $9,000 on downtown Las Vegas parades each year for the past three, they approached the Henderson Convention and Visitor Bureau and struck a deal that will save about $5,000 on their March 19 event.
"We didn't have an argument or fight with the city of Las Vegas," said Dick Linton, president of Sons of Erin. "We just lost so much money we could no longer afford to hold a parade in Las Vegas any more."
The parade has been held in downtown Las Vegas for several years after a stint in Clark County for a few years. Prior to that, in the days before the Fremont Street Experience, it was a popular parade along Fremont Street.
The event is promoted as the fifth-largest St. Patrick's Day Parade in America and regularly draws an estimated 35,000 people, many of whom have stayed for the post-parade block party under the Fremont Street Experience.
The concession sales from that event raise money for more than 20 Sons of Erin charities, Linton said.
The upcoming St. Patrick's Day Parade will be on Water Street and the block party will be at nearby Timet Park.
Upon learning of the relocation of the parade, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who has marched in the parade in recent years calling himself "Mayor O'Goodman," said he was disappointed that the group didn't ask him for his help "before they decided to go to Henderson."
"I'm sorry they are going," he said Monday.
"I hope their (St. Patrick's Day) parade in Henderson is a success," Goodman said. "The truth of the matter, however, is that the Helldorado Parade on May 14 will outshine all parades this year."
The Helldorado Parade is the prelude to the May 15 100-year birthday celebration of Las Vegas.
The Sons of Erin applied for a $10,000 Centennial celebration grant for activities tying the local Irish community into the city's 100-year birthday celebration via the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
The grant was rejected by an independent committee that screened grant requests for the city of Las Vegas, said Centennial Director Stacy Allsbrook. The panel did not report to the city reasons for denying grant applications, she said.
Goodman said that each year the city has given the Sons of Erin and other parade committees waivers of parade cleanup fees of up to $7,500. The council also allows groups to approach the board at public meetings if they want to ask for more financial assistance from the city.
Linton said the Sons of Erin decided against taking that path because they felt the city had done enough and they did not want to appear as though they were giving an ultimatum to help them or they would go elsewhere.
Linton said, however, that other entities either were not so generous or could not waive their fees, most notably Metro Police, which provides off-duty officers for traffic control at a cost of what Linton said is about $3,500 each year.
Linton said he approached downtown hotels to buy ads in the parade program to defray the costs of the parade. Last year, he said only Fitzgerald's, which is an Irish-themed resort, bought a small ad.
"It was a negative reaction -- they treated us as a small enterprise," Linton said. "And we didn't get responses to our follow-up letters to them."
In October, the Sons of Erin went to Henderson, where "they welcomed us with open arms," said Sons of Erin Treasurer Steve Morrissey.
"We had the concessions last April at a Celtic festival in Henderson on the same day as their founders parade and the turnout was fantastic," Morrissey said. "Henderson promoted their event and they say they will help us promote the St. Patrick's Day Parade."
Henderson officials also liked what the Sons of Erin had to offer.
"They approached us with an idea that we felt fits into what we want for our downtown," said Bud Pico, manager of tourism and sales for Henderson. "They have done a great job putting their parade together in the past and we feel this year's event will showcase our downtown."
He said Henderson will use no city general fund taxpayer dollars to offset the cost of the parade for the Sons of Erin. Instead, the city's convention bureau, which is funded by hotel room taxes, will pay the city's police department for parade security.
Henderson also is waiving its cleanup fees, which Pico said are minimal because volunteers and misdemeanants doing community service generally do parade cleanup work.
Henderson also will provide the barricades -- a requirement that in the past has cost the Sons of Erin at least $2,000, Linton said.
The St. Patrick's Day parade generally brings in enough out-of-town spectators and participants to fill 600 hotel rooms, and that piqued Henderson's interest, Pico said.
Henderson hosts two other annual parades, the Springsational Heritage Days Parade in April and the Christmas Parade in December.
Henderson and Sons of Erin officials say they hope the St. Patrick's Day block party will become a regular annual event at the Henderson Special Event Plaza, slated to open in 2006.
Linton said that despite losing money on past parades, the Sons of Erin still have met their charitable obligations, including serving Christmas dinner to 200 to 300 seniors, providing 100 turkeys to homeless shelters and helping organizations including St. Jude's and Catholic Charities.
Linton said at a board meeting scheduled for this evening, plans are to draft a letter thanking the city of Las Vegas for its years of support.
"It is nothing personal -- just a charitable business decision to go elsewhere," Linton said. "It is heart-breaking for us to leave Las Vegas after so many years, but we hope to start a new and long tradition in Henderson."
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