Lake Las Vegas puts on belated holiday fireworks show

By Aida Ahmed

Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011 | 10:45 p.m.

Lake Las Vegas was buzzing Saturday night as thousands of people filled the grassy lakeside with blankets and lawn chairs for a belated Fourth of July fireworks show.

The display over the July 4 weekend was rained out, but the event’s coordinators were determined that the show must go on — sometime. Saturday’s make-up show drew more than 3,000 people.

Andrea Day, events manager for The Village at Lake Las Vegas, said the show was originally scheduled as an alternative for people who wanted to celebrate the holiday without battling Las Vegas Strip traffic.

“We were all bummed out that we didn’t get to put on the show for the 4,000 people that were here, so we wanted to give it another shot,” Day said.

One of the people who missed out on the first show — scheduled for July 3 — was Henderson resident Lorrie Pelton.

“I was out there on July 3rd when we got rained out, so we decided to come back,” said Pelton. “The kids were sad.”

She brought her three children, ages 1, 3 and 5. “They are very excited; they have been talking about it all day,” she said.

Maurice Grossano caught a couple fireworks shows in July but thought another one wouldn’t hurt.

“This is an interesting time of year to have a fireworks show,” Grossano said. “We heard about the jazz and thought it would be a fun thing to do tonight.”

Along with the fireworks, visitors were treated to a performance by the Walt Blanton Quintet and an exhibit by extreme artist Jean Francois.

Francois, who painted a portrait of the Lady Liberty in a matter of minutes with his bare hands, received a round of applause just as the fireworks lit up the sky.

Day said she hoped visitors left the show with a sense of community.