So far, so good, so what?

The Centennial celebration promises big events, but will the transient masses embrace it?

By Newt Briggs

Mayor Oscar Goodman doesn't know if "galvanization" is a word, but it's his vision of Las Vegas as the 100-year-old boomtown lumbers toward its landmark birthday. "Right now, I think too many of us come from elsewhere, and we still think that we are from that place instead of buying into the fact that we are from this place," Goodman says. "I'm hoping that at the end of the year we will all think of ourselves as Las Vegans."

It's the same stubborn optimism that was displayed by Mormon settlers who braved the cruel Southern Nevada summers to bring salvation to the natives in 1855. So what that their mission ended three years later in a desperate scramble back to the comforting arms of Brigham Young? Back then, Las Vegas was the wild frontier--an outpost on the edge of civilization where failure was almost a foregone conclusion. Yet that didn't stop Octavius Decatur Gass from developing the Las Vegas Ranch or J.T. McWilliams from establishing the first Las Vegas townsite or even Las Vegas mogul Howard Hughes from speculating about a "city of the future" that would be free from smog, contamination and ineffective local government. Their visions, like the old Mormon fort, are only crumbling reminders of unrealized futures, but they are also a huge part of the city's cultural legacy.

"We really have a very interesting and colorful past," says Goodman before breaking into his own timeline of local history--missionaries, the railroad, Hoover Dam, Nellis Air Force Base, the mob, Hughes, Jay Sarno, Steve Wynn and so on. "I think it's very important for us in Las Vegas to really revel in what made us what we are. Our uniqueness is something that we should celebrate--something of which we should never be ashamed. If we didn't have the history we have, we'd be like El Paso with casinos. We're something unique here. We're Las Vegas. And if locals don't want to buy into Centennial events such as the Helldorado parade, then I think they're missing something and they really might want to go back to where they came from."

But Goodman, despite his tireless cheerleading and penchant for hyperbole, is just a conspicuous mouthpiece for the 2005 Centennial celebration. The real responsibility for Centennial events has been trusted to Executive Director Stacy Allsbrook, who has been working on the project full-time since 2001.

"It would be different if we lived in, you know, Mayberry," says Allsbrook, a former public information officer for the city of Las Vegas. "But when you live in the most famous city on Earth, you almost have to throw two Centennials--one for the locals, who live and work here and call this place home, and another for the 38 million tourists, who have a totally different perspective on what Las Vegas is about."

Her sentiment is echoed by Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Jicinsky sees the Centennial as a "national branding opportunity" for the city, which will "entice people to make a repeat visit to Las Vegas." He says the LVCVA will concentrate on two Centennial events--the May 15 birthday celebration and the July 4 weekend blowout--and that it will promote them in national newspaper and magazine ads. Due to budget limitations, the print ads will not be supplemented by TV spots but should include high-profile placements in USA Today (May 15) and prominent lifestyle magazines such as GQ or People (July 4).

No doubt these mid-year celebrations will be Centennial highlights for tourists and locals alike. The May 15 festivities are slated to include everything from a re-creation of the 1905 railroad auction that established Las Vegas to the return of Helldorado Days, which was invented in 1935 to compensate for the fact that Las Vegas' population was shrinking by about 1 percent every month.

"Helldorado was basically Las Vegas' first tourist catch," says Allsbrook. "At the time, the dam was closing and Nellis hadn't opened, and some people believed that Las Vegas was headed for ruin. So they created Helldorado to boost the tourist trade, and it was pretty much anything goes--wild women, drinking, gambling, the works."

Many of the Helldorado-related events will be held in the south parking lot of Main Street Station, where a mock-up of turn-of-the-century Vegas will be constructed during the week leading up to a May 15 parade. Also on tap for the birthday celebration is the world's largest cake--a 53-ton wonder that will obliterate the current Guinness World Record before being chopped up and served to partygoers.

There probably won't be any record-breaking pastries at Clear Channel's July 4 gala, but the media giant is promising a concert spectacular for the Independence Day weekend. Thus far, it has been tightlipped about who will perform at the event, but it shouldn't be hard to cull an impressive lineup out of homegrown superstars--the Killers and the Crystal Method--and the acts that frequent Las Vegas--Elton John, B.B. King, Kid Rock, etc.

Then there are the events that will cater specifically to people with roots--however shallow--in the community. For these, Allsbrook and the Centennial Committee established three objectives: educate, commemorate and celebrate. "That's our minimum bar," she says. "If you're trying to sell something, then go away, but if you want to educate, commemorate and celebrate, then we'll try to make it happen."

Before the year is out, a marathon will be run, the old downtown post office will be converted into an interactive history museum, a few of the last remaining railroad cottages downtown will be relocated to the Las Vegas Springs Preserve, 28 massive markers will be erected at historic sites around the valley, a Centennial quilt will be sewed and the Las Vegas Little Theatre will commemorate the city's 100-year history in song. Another highlight will be the ongoing City of 100 Murals project, which will memorialize local history through a series of massive art installations. A mural of Rafael Rivera--the Mexican scout widely credited with "discovering" the Las Vegas Valley in 1829--has already been completed at the Lied Discovery Children's Museum, and there are plans for everything from a history of Las Vegas footwear mural at the downtown outlet mall to a history of local journalism mural at Centennial High School.

"All of the schools--public and private--are basically running over each other trying to get a mural at their site," says Allsbrook, noting that the city is still recruiting artists to create the murals. The job pays $1,000, and will allow local and national artists the opportunity to "leave their thumbprint on the valley."

The celebration will wind down with the creation of the Centennial time capsule in November. According to Allsbrook, neither the design nor the location of the vessel has been finalized, but she says it will be a piece of "public art"--not the space-age coffin that people often associate with time capsules. "We know we want it to be above ground," Allsbrook says. "We know we want people to be able to touch it. And we know we want it to be different than any time capsule ever created." Exactly what this means is anyone's guess, but the capsule will be filled with the memories--personal histories, photographs, mementos, etc.--of the people who have made and continue to make the city thrive.

Clearly, there's still much work to be done over the coming year and many ways to get involved. Las Vegas has come a long way from the 1,400-person encampment that stretched along Bonanza Road in 1905, but it's not yet the city on a hill that was presaged by some of its more visionary residents. When Mayor Goodman speaks of "galvanization," he is talking about the process by which something is changed or strengthened through the introduction of an electrical current. The Centennial Committee proposes to provide the spark, but it remains to be seen whether Las Vegans will embrace the Centennial or just ignore it like a year-long Growth Task Force meeting. Allsbrook is hopeful--if slightly less optimistic than the mayor--about the possibility for such a transformation.

"I don't know if any single celebration can unite a population as diverse and fragmented as that of Las Vegas," she says. "I think it will start the process, though, and I'm sure it will be a step in the right direction."

For updated schedules and more information about the Centennial, visit the event's official website, lasvegas2005.org.