A Las Vegas tradition throughout the 2000s, a Mayor Goodman will once again help ring in the new year on Fremont Street.
This year, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman is particularly excited about the annual downtown New Year’s Eve party.
“Las Vegas is a place that never sits still,” said Goodman, who was elected in 2011 after her husband, Oscar Goodman, served as mayor from 1999 until she took office. “It looks like 2020 is going to be just spectacular.”
Both Goodmans will be on hand tonight for a midnight toast at America’s Party Downtown. Tickets for the party are $45 and can be purchased online through the Fremont Street Experience website or at the gate tonight.
A security sweep of the Fremont Street pedestrian mall will take place at 5 p.m. tonight. After that, those celebrating on the mall will need a ticket to get in.
The party will feature the unveiling of a $32 million upgrade to the Viva Vision video canopy over Fremont Street. The new canopy will be switched on at 6 p.m., while its new signature show, Mixology, will start at 10 p.m.
“It’s probably the largest video screen in the world, and it’s just so bright,” the mayor said. “It will be able to be seen all day long, and it’s interactive. It’s going to be a fun New Year’s Eve night with a lot of people who want to be close together and celebrate.”
Mayor Goodman said she is impressed with the growth of the Fremont Street celebration over the years.
“The Fremont Street Experience and the Downtown Vegas Alliance and all the property owners downtown really have pulled together during the past 20 years,” she said. “Of course, the Strip is a wonderful place to be, too, with the fireworks every year.”
Patrick Hughes, president and CEO of the public/private Fremont Street Experience, said the upgrade to the video canopy, which spans five city blocks, will help draw people downtown. The brighter display will operate around the clock, instead of just at night.
“The surveys say — this is over a number of years — that 50% of Las Vegas visitors now come downtown during some point of their trip. We only have 5% of the city’s hotel rooms, so that tells us that downtown is an important part of the Vegas experience,” Hughes said. “Two-thirds of the visitors that come downtown say it’s primarily because of the canopy.”
The canopy’s old LED display was in place for more than a decade, ancient by today’s tech standards, Hughes said.
“People usually change their phones out every two years,” he said. “We hadn’t changed out the world’s largest digital display in more than 15 years.”
The new display includes more than 49 million LED lights, along with a 600,000-watt sound system. The massive video display, which is 1,500 feet long and 90 feet wide, is estimated to be about seven times brighter than the old one.
In addition to live performances on four different stages along Fremont Street — musical acts The Chainsmokers and Imagine Dragons are among those scheduled to appear on the video canopy — there will be plenty of other festivities downtown for New Year’s Eve.
Oscar’s Steakhouse at the Plaza, named for Oscar Goodman, is hosting a 1920s-style party, as is The Mob Museum at its basement speakeasy called The Underground.
The Plaza will also be the launch pad for the downtown fireworks show. “It will be a fantastic display that will be seen for miles,” Plaza CEO Jonathan Jossel said.
Taking a moment to reflect on all the New Year’s Eve celebrations during the past two decades, Carolyn Goodman said she’s excited about the future of downtown Las Vegas and Southern Nevada.
“For more than 20 years, one or the other of the Goodman mayors have been involved in ringing in the new year,” she said. “When you get one Goodman, you get the other.”