Fireworks explode over Las Vegas Strip casinos just after midnight on Jan 1, 2023, viewed from the Trump International Hotel.
Published Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022 | 6:05 p.m.
Updated Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022 | 12:22 a.m.
Officials planning the New Year’s Eve celebration on the Las Vegas Strip watched the weather report all week hoping for the best.
Rain was in the forecast — and a light drizzle was felt by some of the 400,000 people on the resort corridor for the annual party to usher in a new year.
But winds that were prevalent for parts of Saturday died down in the late evening, allowing for the fireworks extravaganza to go on as planned. The eight-minute show featured more than 11,000 pyrotechnics launching from the rooftops of eight Strip resorts, and like past years, is was downright beautiful.
Visitors exchanged hugs and kisses, shouted “Happy New Year” and blew on horns in joyous celebration as the fireworks erupted into the Las Vegas Strip skyline. Welcome to 2023.
The show was televised nationally in showing yet again that nobody throws a party like Las Vegas. And, as soon as that party ended, the cleaning began.
Much needed to happen for the some 400,000 revelers on the Las Vegas Strip to be able to gather in the street for the city’s famed block party — and an equal, if not greater, amount of work remains before cars can return to the area.
Metro Police immediately starting escorting pedestrians off the Strip once the fireworks ended. Officials say the street will be reopened by 6 a.m., after 10 to 12 tons of trash are collected by more than 20 street sweepers and 60 workers.
Metro, which dispatched more than 1,000 officers to the Strip and downtown, didn’t report any major incidents during the celebration. They will release incident and arrest tallies, for offenses such as DUI, later today.
We had reporters stationed throughout the city. Here are some of their observations:
Getting around
Need a ride during the New Year’s festivities? Try these options:
The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada is offering free bus rides on all fixed routes from 6 p.m. Saturday through 9 a.m. Sunday. Several additional routes will run on a 24-hour schedule or have extended hours, said officials.
Riders can board any bus on the 39 bus routes without purchasing a pass or presenting fare.
On the Strip, you can travel using the Las Vegas Monorail. It will operate from 7 a.m. New Year’s Eve to 3 a.m. on New Year’s Day. A ticket for a single ride is $5. You can buy tickets here.
Lyft and Uber will also be available, but expect higher ride rates later into the night.
Plan to pack some walking shoes, as transportation access will be limited on the Strip and Fremont Street because of road closures.
—Grace Da Rocha
Luciana Villalpando, 9, of El Paso, Texas watches The Mirage volcano show during a New Years Eve celebration on the Strip Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022.
Revelers brave elements on Strip
Standing in a line outside New York-New York’s Brooklyn Bridge, Vera Savio and Bryan Reese wrap their coats tighter around themselves to shield from the wind.
Hundreds of thousands of people are battling the elements tonight to be part of the New Year’s Eve celebration on the Las Vegas Strip.
Savio traveled across the country from Florida to meet Reese — a New Mexico native — for a night of celebrations. Although many people are ringing in the start of 2023, Reese and Savio are commemorating another year of their friendship.
“We’re here just to spend time together, renewing our friendship.” Reese said. “And we’ve always liked Vegas.”
Savio said she has a “big list” of things to look forward to in 2023, including spending the first few hours of it with Reese.
Joe and Sansa Collins were enjoying the weather on the Strip tonight — the temperature in the 40s is warmer than what they may be used to at their home in Oregon.
The couple are in town visiting Joe Collins’ family in Henderson. It’s their first time on the Strip for New Year’s Eve, the Collins’ said outside the Bellagio.
“It’s nice the street’s closed off, so you can just kind of amble around without getting run over,” Joe Collins said.
The pair said they’re optimistic about the year 2023. “I’ve got a better feeling about it,” Joe Collins said.
“He just jinxed it,” Sansa Collins said, laughing.
—Grace Da Rocha, Katie Ann McCarver
From left, Sam and Tray O’Neal from San Diego.
‘It’s a great crowd’ in downtown Las Vegas
Just outside Circa Las Vegas, a couple from San Diego, Sam and Tray O’Neal, stood sporting their matching “Happy New Year” glasses.
Still a few hours away from the new year, Tray said they decided to visit Las Vegas to celebrate New Year’s Eve here for the first time.
“We’ve been to Vegas many times, but we wanted to get that Vegas New Year’s experience,” she said. “It’s been great so far. It’s a great crowd, and it’s not quite as crowded as we expected.”
Staying at the Golden Nugget, Tray said she usually likes to attend a show or two while in Las Vegas, but that this trip was just a “quick one.”
The mood is mostly light in downtown Las Vegas, where the Fremont Street Experience is packed with revelers. Many are dancing spontaneously as live music is played overhead.
“It’s been a fun time,” Sam said. “We still have a little more of 2022 to celebrate.”
—Bryan Horwath
Fireworks display highlight of night
New Year’s Eve wouldn’t be what it is without fireworks, and Las Vegas is no exception.
The Strip lit up at midnight with a colorful pyrotechnic performance produced by Fireworks by Grucci, which has designed and launched the staple New Year’s Eve fireworks show for nearly two decades now.
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“If you’re a Grucci and you’re working on the Las Vegas show, I’ve got all the warm fuzzies swirling around me because they know what they’re doing a lot, and safety is paramount to them as well,” said Tim Keener, Las Vegas Events vice president of event and ticket operations. “They’re going to do a great show and provide great memories as well.”
Corey Grucci, production manager for Fireworks by Grucci, said at an event earlier this month that the New York-based pyrotechnics company will introduce “variegated criss-crossing comets,” in this year’s show.
The eight-minute show will begin after midnight from the rooftops of eight Strip resorts, including the MGM Grand, the Aria, Planet Hollywood, Caesars Palace, Treasure Island, Venetian, Resorts World and the Strat.
The display, congruent with the chosen 2022-23 theme of “Let’s Go Big,” includes more than 11,000 electrical devices and relies on dozens of pyrotechnicians, Grucci said. It will play out to the tune of multiple hits, such as Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.”
“Every year, we put our heart and soul into this grand performance, and then you sit back and say, ‘Oh, that was great. What are we going to do next year?’” Grucci said. “So, it’s very creative; it’s very hands-on … And it’s very challenging. But I’ll tell you, you get to see the fruits of your labor. It’s amazing.”
Fireworks by Grucci works closely with Las Vegas partners involved in America’s Party, Keener said, including both the Clark County Fire Department and Las Vegas Fire and Rescue. Months before the show launches on New Year’s Eve, members of the fire departments fly out to Virginia, where Grucci hosts a demonstration of the product they plan to use in the performance.
The show evolves in its artistry every single year, Keener said, so it’s always new and exciting for partygoers.
“(Fireworks by Grucci) continue to reinvent their creativity each year with different colors and different pyrotechnic devices,” he said.
—Katie Ann McCarver
Curtis and Heidi Dawson of Orange County, Calif, join the New Year's Eve festivities at Fremont Street Experience on Dec. 31, 2022. Earlier, they renewed their wedding vows after 20 years of marriage. They are pictured with daughter, Katie.
Getting married on New Year's Eve
On New Year’s Eve in 2002, Curtis and Heidi Dawson were married in California.
On Saturday, the couple renewed their vows at the Little Neon Chapel in Las Vegas.
An Elvis impersonator officiated as the couple’s 17-year-old daughter, Katie, a big Elvis Presley fan, looked on.
Saturday evening, the trio from Orange County, Calif., walked along Fremont Street near one of the entrances to the Fremont Street Experience.
“Elvis walked me down the aisle; it was great,” Heidi said. “I used to, back the day, come to Fremont Street a lot. This trip is special.”
The family members, in the midst of a 10-day vacation to Las Vegas, said they were enjoying the New Year’s vibes as the final hours of 2022 faded away.
They likely aren’t the only couple to get married tonight in Las Vegas. Couples strolling through the resort corridor after getting married on New Year’s Eve is commonplace throughout the years. After all, it’s tough to forget the Dec. 31 anniversary.
Take the Arvizos's from Florida, who after four years of dating got married tonight in Las Vegas. They also had an Elvis officiant.
“I wanted to do something outrageous,” the groom Daniel Arvizo said.
The couple, both decked out in white, said their plan for the rest of the night was to meet up with people and “chill.”
“Saying goodbye to the past,” the bride, Jennifer Arvizos, said of what she’s looking forward to in 2023.
—Bryan Horwath, Katie Ann McCarver
