Clark County Commission grants $1 million to Las Vegas nonprofit for 1 October Memorial

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Clark County Commission voted Tuesday to allocate a $1 million grant to the Vegas Strong Fund to help with the 1 October Memorial project.

The grant will help convert the concept of the “Forever One Memorial” — which was created by JCJ Architecture and approved by the County Commission in September 2023 — into a design that includes a budget and supporting a fundraising campaign to build the memorial.

The approved concept includes a tower of light, and 58 vertical candles representing the victims who died in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy that occurred at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas Strip on Oct. 1, 2017. It also includes a community plaza that was selected by the 1 October Memorial Committee following a three-year effort to gather extensive input from family members of victims, survivors and the public to recommend a design concept for a permanent memorial.

The memorial is set to be built on two acres in the northeast corner of the festival site off Reno Avenue and Giles Street. MGM Resorts International offered to donate the acreage after a clear majority of respondents in a 1 October Memorial Committee survey indicated a preference for a memorial to be built on the festival site.

“Today’s $1 million grant reaffirms our commitment to building a memorial that honors the victims of the 1 October tragedy and pays tribute to the resiliency and compassion demonstrated by our community in the days and years since,” Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson, whose Commission District includes the festival site said. “We have a beautiful concept for a memorial, and now a critical phase of work is underway that will lay the foundation for a communitywide fundraising effort to build a project that will serve as a lasting tribute to those whose lives were lost and for all whose lives have been forever changed as a result of the events of that evening.”

In April the County Commission designated the Vegas Strong Fund as the non-profit organization responsible for fundraising, designing and constructing the memorial. The Vegas Strong Fund has been involved with extensive 1 October-related charitable endeavors.  As part of that action, a total of $143,986 in donations collected by the County for the memorial also were transferred to the Vegas Strong Fund to develop the project.

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