Columnist Susan Snyder: Party has sweat smell of success

Friday, June 17, 2005 | 3:35 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursday and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4082.

WEEKEND EDITION

June 18 - 19, 2005

Las Vegas ranks second as the nation's sweatiest city, according to makers of Old Spice deodorant.

The Las Vegas Centennial organizers have little reason to perspire, even if someone is selling bootleg knockoffs of their souvenir license plate and Sara Lee did charge them $95,000 for the giant Helldorado weekend birthday cake.

The volunteer who negotiated the cake deal -- and helped organize the May Helldorado Parade and the wedding for 100 couples earlier this month -- said the prodigious pastry was supposed to be a donation, which he wished he'd had in writing.

I doubt anything written would have helped. This is a company, after all, that paid someone to write "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee." (Go ahead. Diagram that puppy.)

The big birthday party committee had an extra $100,000 cover the bill and even convinced the volunteer organizer to accept $1,000 for work worth far more.

And the Centennial committee isn't exactly poor. Stacy Allsbrook, the city staffer who has headed up the effort since 2003, worked from the beginning to prevent taxpayers from paying for their own party unless they wanted to chip in.

She figures the yearlong celebration will end up costing about $3.3 million.

When you figure Clear Channel Communications donated $2.4 million right off the top, and another $1,618,656.93 has been raised through the sales and renewals of the Las Vegas Centennial license plates, it's easy to see there will be enough money to go around.

As of May, 45,905 of the plates that have been issued since October 2002 were still active, a state Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman said.

Originally, the committee planned to raise money by charging fees to groups that applied for official Centennial sanctioning of a special event. For-profit ventures were to pay $1,500; nonprofits, $500.

Some might say that having to fork over some birthday cake cash is just desserts for a committee skinning $500 from a charity that seeks to advertise the Centennial.

I wouldn't say that, of course. Some people might, though.

But it didn't happen. The idea didn't sit well with Allsbrook, either. So unless a group wants to slap the logo on something members intend to sell -- such as a keychain or coffee mug -- she's waiving those fees.

Events or items that don't commemorate, celebrate or educate people about Las Vegas' history or culture aren't sanctioned. Allsbrook said 210 sanctions have been issued -- roughly half for events. Only a handful of applicants have been rejected.

So, they already have about $4 million to cover a projected $3.3 million budget. And the license plate will continue generating money until it is retired in 2006. The committee receives $25 for each new registration and $20 for each renewal.

That's quite a chunk of leftover birthday money.

"The Centennial Committee will meet at the end of the summer to talk about what the legacy of the Centennial will be. People bought those (license) plates for the legacy of the Centennial," Allsbrook said. "But first we have to make it through the summer. We've got tons of stuff coming up."

And they have money enough to do it. No sweat.