Las Vegas’ homage to Burning Man set for Friday

Here's an idea: Build a 20-foot-tall wooden statue, then set it on fire to mark the rebirth of downtown.

But is it a great idea? Or a crazy one?

Depends on whom you ask. Either way, First Friday organizers think it's the perfect plan for Friday's monthly downtown arts festival.

Starting at 6:15 p.m., fire dancers, fire handlers and other fire-related performers will start the final countdown for the highlight of the night: the burning of Lucky Lady Lucy, a giant wooden showgirl specially constructed for this purpose. It's an homage of sorts to Northern Nevada's annual Burning Man Festival, where all kinds of similar objects are burned. But it's also to mark a new era for downtown and First Friday.

The actual fire starts at 8 p.m. in an empty lot at Casino Center Boulevard and Colorado Avenue, and the main blaze is expected to burn about an hour. Firetrucks, police officers and other safety personnel will be on hand, just in case.

"We're not out playing with matches. We're not pyromaniacs," says Joey Vanas, managing partner of First Friday. "The reason we're here doing what we're doing is because of the community-building and the fact that art really connects people. And it was the Burning Man Festival that inspired this whole thing."

Vanas was the mastermind behind a Vegas Burning Man ceremony. So was Merritt Pelkey and a few other people. Independently, several people came up with the idea to host a communal burn by inviting the public to help build a structure and then watch it burn down.

Vanas was at last year's Burning Man Festival "experiencing an incredible sense of community and witnessing how art brings people together," he says. "I actually thought I had this great idea when I was up there. I had this idea to bring the community together, build something and take it up there and burn it."

But Pelkey and several artist friends had already thought of that. They constructed Lucky Lady Lucy, version one, and took it to the Burning Man Festival. They burned it.

Pelkey has been attending Burning Man for the past 10 years. When he and other "burners" started working on their idea, they went to the city's Cultural Affairs department. The plan was a hit and the city asked them to do it again somewhere in town, Pelkey says.

Eventually, Vanas was approached. And that is how "Vegas Burn! The Flames of Change" was born.

The idea has received a lot of support. It's also gotten some detractors. Some have wondered why organizers would want to build something and then burn it down, Vanas says. It's hard to explain what the vibe is like at Burning Man; it's one of those things that can inspire attendees to do great things.

People come together, share stories about life, connect over art and then burn the art up so they can do it all again.

Fire itself has always been a natural congregator of human beings, Vanas says. Humans wouldn't be here today if someone hadn't figured out how to burn things.

"The burning of fire is the most transformative thing we have, and the flame symbolizes what's happening downtown," Vanas says. "Throughout history, it's fire that has brought people together."

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564. Follow @StripSonya on Twitter.