Las Vegas News Bureau
Revelers ring in the new year during iAmericais Party 2020i at the Fremont Street Experience Wednesday, January 1, 2020, in Las Vegas. (Sam Morris/Las Vegas News Bureau)
Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020 | 10:39 a.m.
In a last-minute about-face, New Year’s Eve access to the Fremont Street Experience will be granted only to guests at eight downtown Las Vegas hotels.
Before today's announcement, the Fremont Street Experience had been selling $25 tickets — branded as a “security fee” — to those wishing to attend a scaled-down version of the pedestrian mall’s annual New Year’s Eve bash.
Those who purchased tickets will receive a refund, Fremont Street Experience officials said in a statement.
The change was made after consultation with health officials, the statement said.
Members of Nevada’s coronavirus task force said they feared the gathering could have turned into a superspreader event and overrun hospitals.
“It seems an awful lot like the city worked very hard in order to skirt the spirit and the letter of the directives as they are written in order to protect us,” Caleb Cage, the state's COVID-19 response director, said earlier this week.
Since November, Nevada has limited capacity at events to 25% or 50 people to contain the virus. Cage said the Fremont Street event not only violated the current restrictions, but wouldn’t be allowed under any of the past 10 months’ looser restrictions.
“I understand that on New Year’s Eve, particularly in Las Vegas, it’ll be difficult to prevent the organic gatherings of people. That’s why it’s critical that businesses and leaders are vocal about the risks. But to organize and promote a gathering with a ticket, or a fee, as if it’s business as usual, that’s just plain irresponsible,” Gov. Steve Sisolak said at a news conference Wednesday.
Clark County's Recovery Organization Enforcement Workgroup, which is made up of health officials, law enforcement and representatives from city governments, denied Fremont Street Experience a permit, but the city of Las Vegas issued the venue a special-use permit so it could charge for access and enforce crowd control.
City spokesman David Riggleman said that by issuing a special-use permit, Las Vegas wasn’t sanctioning any event but recognizing that many planned to gather in a public place and attempting to make it as safe as possible.
“People are coming to the Fremont Street Experience and the question for the city was: What was it going to do to prepare for the fact that people were coming?” said Wesley Harper, the executive director of the Nevada League of Cities, who spoke on behalf of Las Vegas. “If they’re going to come, let’s do some things to try and make this as responsible as possible.”
Harper implored officials to view the event as a “protest” that couldn't be stopped without violating the First Amendment. He said the $25 cost wasn't for tickets, but for a “service fee” to subsidize the cost of necessary law enforcement.
Cage said he had "a hard time with the mental gymnastics" of that position.
As a result of the change, only registered guests of Binion’s, the California, Circa, The D, Four Queens, Fremont, Golden Gate and the Golden Nugget will be allowed on the pedestrian mall between 6 p.m. today and 4 a.m. Friday.
Those guests will receive a wristband to access the mall.
Those who bought tickets will get a free ticket to the mall’s SlotZilla Zipline ride with their refund, according to the statement.
To get the refund, go online to vegasexperience.com/nye.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
