Henderson prepares for St. Pat’s parade

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005 | 10:51 a.m.

Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson will serve as grand marshal of the first-ever St. Patrick's Parade in that city, the Henderson Convention and Visitors Bureau said Wednesday in announcing that it had landed the long-established event.

The Sun reported in its Tuesday editions that after 38 years, mostly in Las Vegas, the parade was moving from downtown Las Vegas to Henderson because its sponsors, the Las Vegas chapter of the Sons of Erin, suffered losses ranging from $7,000 to $9,000 each of the last three years.

Henderson convention officials will use hotel room tax revenues to pay for barricades and for using city police for traffic control, as well as pay for cleanup costs of the March 19 parade. Las Vegas officials had long waived parade cleanup costs up to $7,500 but did not not pay for Metro Police security or barricades.

The Sons of Erin say not having police and barricade expenses will save them an estimated $5,000 over what it cost to host a parade in downtown Las Vegas, giving the organization a chance to better support more than 20 charities that benefit from concession sales at the parade and post-parade block party.

This year's parade will be on Water Street in downtown Henderson starting at 10 a.m. Following the parade, which will feature about 125 entries, including the Nellis Air Force Base Honor Guard, the block party will be at Timet Park at Water Street and Lake Mead Parkway, Henderson tourism officials said.

The city also announced Wednesday that local broadcasters Nate Tannenbaum and Cathy Ray from KTNV Channel 13 will announce the parade. Admission is free. When the St. Pat's parade was in downtown Las Vegas it drew annual estimated crowds of 35,000. Sons of Erin officials say they are optimistic that their first parade and block party in Henderson will draw similar numbers, given past large turnouts for the city's Heritage Day Parade in April.