Confetti, 80,000 pyrotechnics usher in Vegas’ 2015 —PHOTOS
With a barrage of fireworks exploding from casinos on the Strip, thousands of revelers shivered and cheered at midnight to welcome 2015 to Las Vegas.
Some wore fancy 2015 glasses. Others carried glasses filled with their favorite drinks. Still others packed places such as Fremont Street Experience to salute the new year while standing shoulder-to-shoulder.
As the magic hour approached, a man who goes by Frankie stood in front of a Las Vegas police barricade with six friends and proceeded to chug a 40-ounce beer. As his friends chanted “chug, chug” several officers simply smiled.
“C’mon man, it’s Vegas,” Frankie said with a laugh when asked about the incident. “It’s in a plastic bottle.”
Shortly after 11 p.m., Las Vegas police reported a half-dozen arrests had been made on the Strip and downtown. Metro also said five DUI arrests were made valleywide.
At the Fremont Street Experience, the crowd chanted the 60-second countdown as fireworks blasted from a traveling sled attached to the 1,750-foot SlotZilla Zoomline.
Wearing a white wedding suit and white shoes, Wayne Bernard, 49, married his bride, Norma, 46, who sported a white fur with her wedding gown.The Canadian couple from Prince Edward Island had their first date on New Year’s Eve six years ago. After getting engaged last year, they decided to head to Las Vegas to get married.
“You’re going to get married — do it right,” said Wayne, an electrician. With drinks in hand, they danced to the countdown, smooching as fireworks went off.
“It’s unreal,” the groom said. “It’s the most spectacular event I’ve been at.”
Miguel Martinez, 49, a banquet server at the Golden Nugget, bustled around, serving plates of short ribs and chocolate praline mousse to New Year’s Eve partygoers.
“They’re just ready to have a good time,” he said.
Confetti greeted 2015 but the much-ballyhooed snow that forecasters had predicted earlier in the week isn’t likely to shower down on America’s Party.
“It doesn’t look real good for snow in the Las Vegas Valley anymore,” said Caleb Steele, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Las Vegas.
He said the only remaining areas with a chance for snowflakes is a stretch of relatively high ground between Henderson and Boulder City. “The chances of flurries are pretty much near zero,” Steele said.
And, it looks like the record low New Year’s Eve temperature of 18 degrees — set during the deep freeze of 1990 that turned the fountains at Caesars Palace into icicles — will stand.
Regardless, Steele said, temperatures remained plenty cold by Las Vegas standards, below freezing in the mid-20s, as an expected crowd of 340,000 revelers converged on the Strip and downtown Las Vegas. Observers said attendance appeared to be down from past years, most likely because of chilly winter forecasts.
Those who came witnessed one of the nation’s largest annual New Year’s fireworks shows, with 80,000 pyrotechnic devices from Fireworks by Grucci lighting up the cityscape for 7 minutes and 11 seconds.
Downtown at the Fremont Street Experience, Golden Gate go-go dancers Jackie Brown, 25, and Martisol Cisneros, 22, strutted their stuff atop a bar counter amid a sea of onlookers.
As the crowd encouraged them to dance faster, Cisneros remarked: “We want to dance more. We have more energy.”
The black-clad dancers tapped their feet and shook their hips as more customers lined up at the bar.
“It’s a good workout,” Brown added.
Others cashed in on the business that comes with celebrating the new year.
Krysta White and younger sister Monica Anderson walked up the Strip in showgirl costumes, despite chill temperatures. Born and raised in Las Vegas, they accepted tips from picture-seekers. They bought their costumes on Ebay. The profits, White said, will helps pay for their studies at the College of Southern Nevada.
“It’s freezing,” Krysta said. “But we’re doing this as something to help us take the next step.”
For Allen Qudrat, the cold weather slowed his anticipated sales of colorful New Year’s party hats and noisemakers. As a vendor, he sells merchandise on the Fremont Street Experience throughout the year.
“When the weather gets this cold, the traffic is not as good,” he said.
He estimated he’ll sell about 10,000 items from locations on the Fremont Street Experience, instead of the 20,000 or more that might have moved in warmer temperatures.
But the shrewd 41-year-old businessman wasn’t worried. He avoided having “2015” printed on the hats — so he can store and sell the excess inventory at the next New Year’s bash.
“It’s OK, because there’s no waste,” he said.
And customers still lined up to buy the brightly colored hats to welcome 2015.
Visitors to America’s Party on the Strip gathered by the hundreds as early as 5 p.m.
Bruce Elmore 33, was on the Strip for the first time for New Year’s Eve, despite living in the valley since 2007.
“I heard it usually gets pretty crazy down here,” Elmore said. “I had to try it though.”
Born and raised in St. Paul, Minn., Elmore lived in New York for seven years before taking a vacation to Las Vegas and moving here shortly after that. He regularly spends time on the Strip during the year, but had to check America’s Party off his bucket list.
“I just wanted to come down and experience it this year,” he said. “Sometimes the best times on the Strip are when you’re least expecting it. It’s hit or miss. That’s Vegas.”
Some, like the Lima family, traveled from as far away as Brazil, for the New Year’s spectacle. Robinson Lima, 48, said they were so impressed with last year’s celebration that they returned this year.
Like the Limas, the da Silvas also ventured from Brazil.
Ana da Silva, 19, and her mother, Patricia, 44, traveled over 6,000 miles from their home in São Paulo for the chance to experience the Strip as the calendar flips to 2015.
They said they enjoyed eating staple American cuisine foods, like cheeseburgers at Johnny Rocket’s. They said they’re especially looking forward to seeing celebrities in person. Among those Ana and Patricia da Silva hoped to encounter are actress and singer Jennifer Lopez and hip-hop artist Macklemore. Both artists are performing New Year’s Eve concerts in venues on the Strip.
“Just being in the United States for New Year’s is something many Brazilians want to experience,” Ana da Silva said in Portuguese, “and especially Las Vegas. It has been a dream come true for us.”
A couple from Los Angeles brought some liquid refreshments to kill the chill.
With drinks in hand, Ronnie and Liz Ramos said this is the coldest night in their decade of coming to the Las Vegas New Year’s Eve celebration.
They planned to walk the Strip from their time-share near the Strip until 11 p.m. then “head back before the craziness,” said Ronnie Ramos, 57.
Just before 10 p.m., a disc jockey in front of Bally’s attracted hundreds of people who danced in a circle and cheered to lift spirits in a shroud of fog dotted with confetti. The line for the Iggy Azalea show wrapped around Bally’s.
Earlier in the evening, Robert Shaw, 57, of Las Vegas, wore a red-and-white stocking cap and a yellow jacket as he stood by the entrance to the Fremont Street Experience. He held a sign that read: “Had stroke at 17 year job. Lost everything. Please pray for me.”
The disabled engineer has short-term memory problems and struggles with reading and writing due to his stroke. Now, living with a friend, he doesn’t want to spend 2015 in Las Vegas. His goal for the new year is to make it to a friend’s ranch in southern Oklahoma and work tending animals. For now, he’s uncertain if that will happen.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It all depends on God. We know he has a plan for us.”
Review-Journal writers Wesley Juhl, Ben Botkin, Ricardo Torres, Christopher Kudialis, contributed to this report. Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2.
