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‘Spectacular’ start to 2024 as Las Vegas celebrates the new year

By Brett Clarkson Las Vegas Review-Journal
Fireworks erupt over the Las Vegas Strip as part of New Years Eve festivities across the city f ...

When the fireworks started lighting up the sky over Las Vegas Boulevard, the scene was “spectacular,” said Leisha Cleveland.

Cleveland and her sister Leandra were among the over 400,000 people officials expected to descend on Las Vegas to celebrate New Year’s Eve on Sunday night. Of that total, up to 30,000 of those revelers were anticipated on Fremont Street.

The Cleveland sisters, who were outside Treasure Island, took in the pyrotechnics displays that this year were lit off at midnight from the rooftops of nine Strip hotels including the newly opened Fontainebleau.

“It was a great place to see it, since we could them going off from most casinos,” Leandra Cleveland said.

As 2024 loomed, people were in the mood to party as the Metropolitan Police Department maintained a heavy presence in the famed tourist corridor.

On Fremont Street, Linda Galvin and Linda Andrews were carrying signs that read, “Grandmas Gone Wild!!” and “Vegas, Baby, Vegas!”

The New Year’s Eve experience there, Galvin said, was “amazing” and “just what we expected.”

“We get a lot of ticket sales at the last minute,” said Fremont Street Experience President and CEO Andrew Simon, describing the event as an affordable New Year’s Eve option.

The entertainment lineup on Fremont included three different genres of music: rock on the 3rd Street Stage, R&B and hip-hop on the 1st Street Stage, and EDM on the Main Street Stage. The performers included ’90s icons Third Eye Blind, Blackstreet, Tone Loc and Color Me Badd.

There were more than 500 law enforcement and security personnel working tonight at the Fremont Street Experience, Simon said.

“The cheapest good time you can have is right here on Fremont Street,” said Loni Duran, of Moab, Utah.

Duran added that she also felt safe on Fremont, where people were having to pass through metal detectors to enter.

Earlier Sunday, police officials sought to reassure the public after a 45-year-old man, Jon Letzkus, was arrested in connection with a shooting in the 100 block of Harmon Avenue near the Las Vegas Strip and the MGM Grand.

No injuries were reported but police said the shooting happened in a unit in a high-rise building and that there was “some indication that there was some shooting, potentially, from the balcony,” a senior Metro officer said.

“Leading up to tonight’s New Year’s events, I just want to reassure that, not only do we have very good plans for keeping the community safe as we’ve done year-in and year-out, but our officers are always prepared,” Deputy Chief Dori Koren said.

In a press conference Thursday, Metro’s second-in-command declined to say how many officers will be working on the Strip Sunday night, but said there would be a heavy police presence.

“Every year we get asked that question. I’ll just say a billion,” joked Undersheriff Andrew Walsh. “The reason we don’t answer that is because we don’t want to give anybody any idea what the deployment actually looks like. But very, very few people will not be working on New Year’s Eve.”

Lais and Renan Jereissati, a married couple who are visiting Las Vegas and staying at the MGM Grand as part of a month-long road trip through the western U.S., said they’ve been impressed with Las Vegas. The one issue they pointed out, however, was the shooting.

“It seemed like a very American thing to happen,” said Renan Jereissati.

The North Las Vegas Police Department also announced in a press release early Monday that a man was killed in a police shooting Sunday night that had taken place in the 2800 block of E. Taylor Ave., near East Owens Avenue and Civic Center Drive.

The man’s identity hadn’t yet been released.

At the Linq Promenade, Joy Mogilinski said she was visiting from Chicago for New Year’s Eve since her daughter got married earlier in the day in downtown Las Vegas because of the 123123 wedding date, which refers to Dec. 31, 2023, or 12/31/23.

“I’m just going to hangout, drink and people watch,” Mogilinski said. “It’s the best thing to do in Vegas.”

It’s also the first New Year’s Eve for the Sphere, which was first lit up on July 4 and opened to the public on September 29. On Sunday night the Sphere was a globe with a slowly moving line that appeared to be tracking the new year’s emergence around the world.

Meanwhile, at Resorts World Theatre, country music star Luke Bryan took the stage with a shout of “What’s up Las Vegas!”

Bryan kicked off the show with “That’s My Kind of Night” and made his way across the stage high-fiving outstretched hands from the front row. As “One Margarita” started playing, Bryan emerged from stage right with a large beverage of the same name — which he handed to a fan in the front row.

Outside on the Strip, married couple Jess and Trip Barrios were donning “The Cat in the Hat” outfits with lights, so as to not lose each other in the crowd. The couple has rung in the new year on the Strip for 17 years together.

“We like doing this,” she said. “It’s like a big party every year,” he added.

This being Las Vegas, people were getting married.

Newlyweds Carrie and Mike Servis from Michigan arrived at the Fremont Street Experience in their wedding attire. They got married at 8 p.m. on top of The Stratosphere.

After first meeting as teenagers, the two reconnected 37 years later on Facebook during the COVID-19 pandemic and have been together since June 2020.

Fellow revelers were stopping to congratulate them and were complimenting Carrie on her wedding dress.

Her hope for the evening: “To just have a night to remember here.”

Just before midnight, Mayor Carolyn Goodman and her husband, former mayor Oscar Goodman — who between them have been mayor of Las Vegas for 25 years — took the stage at the Fremont Street Experience. Pictures of them over the years were displayed on a screen and they were presented with a trophy.

“Oscar and I love you all, and we love Las Vegas,” Carolyn said.

For all who’ve had a dream in life, Las Vegas is the place where it comes true, she said.

Staff writers Taylor Avery, Jeff Burbank, Sean Hemmersmeier, Jessica Hill, Ricardo Torres-Cortez, David Wilson and Julie Wootton-Greener contributed to this report.

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com.

Related stories:

— Downtown Las Vegas parties into 2024 — PHOTOS

— Bringing in 2024 on the Strip — PHOTOS

— Happy New Year! Las Vegas rings in 2024 with a bang — BLOG

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