The top gambling state’s top gambling city will achieve its century this weekend amidst parades and firework displays. Las Vegas, however, isn’t just about gambling, and the resurrected Helldorado celebrations, held annually from 1934 until a contractual dispute with a promoter ended the event in 1998, are once again to preserve and honour the American frontier.

Sunday is the 100th anniversary of the land auction that created the original town. That first real estate is now the area bordered by Stewart Avenue, Garces Street, Main Street and Las Vegas Boulevard. The glittering Strip may be everyone’s first and most lasting impression of Las Vegas, once called Mardi Gras without Lent, but an amazing city has risen in the desert and it’s still growing fast. It is now an international city like any other only much more so, but in some respects it is still seen as that frontier town of the wild west in the middle of nowhere.

2005 should be a bumper year for Las Vegas. Visitor numbers are expected to reach an all time high of over 38 million, and the latest gambling revenue figures show that in March Las Vegas Strip made a record monthly win in excess of $500 million. As a whole, Nevada’s gaming industry made over $1 billion in March, another record.

With a large transient population and many new residents, the Centennial Committee has been working hard to create community awareness. There is a Native Vegan Pin for anyone born in Las Vegas; commemorative Resident Ribbons in seven variations ranging from 0-5 years to over 50 years of residency; and to celebrate Las Vegas’s position as a favourite place to get married, 100 weddings – but not until June 9. There is also a Whiskerino contest in a Salute to Helldorado Days, to judge the best beards.

Las Vegas is no longer just the place to gamble, it is entertainment in a big way. Shows and shopping are also visitor priorities, and this weekend’s birthday bash should be fun for all. Happy Birthday, Las Vegas, and here’s to the next one hundred years. (E-05.13.05)

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