We're providing one of the most unbelievably great values in the history of music festivals.
Derek Stevens, Casino Mogul & Neon City Festival Founder
Derek Stevens likes to stay busy. The owner of Circa, The D, Golden Gate, and the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center continues to reshape Downtown Las Vegas with the debut of the Neon City Festival November 22-24. The free event coincides with Formula One weekend, a move designed to draw more visitors, give something back to locals, and help everyone in the hospitality industry benefit.
Is the Neon City Festival a reaction to F1, to give the city something else that’s welcome and beneficial in the middle of this chaos?
“We tried to come up with something that doesn't detract from F1 at all, but provides an alternative to F1 on that weekend. And that's what we're putting out there with the Neon City Festival — that we can bring another 50,000 people per day to Las Vegas. That's going to fill a lot of hotel rooms. That'll keep more restaurants busy. That'll keep bars full. That'll keep our slots and tables going.
“We felt that Downtown Las Vegas was a perfect location to take (some of) the costs out of a festival — fencing costs, setup costs, ticketing costs. The Fremont Street Experience has three stages and does free concerts seven nights a week, 365 days a year. The Downtown Las Vegas Event Center does over 120 active days per year and is familiar with small festivals.”
The festival is going to stretch from Fremont Street to The Strat. That covers a lot of ground. What will this look like?
“When we first developed it, we started off with just the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, Fremont Street, and a little bit of Main Street. And then we tried to spur interest with Fremont East, and they're just great to work with. They jumped in and they're putting money in and adding to the festival, so that's terrific. Then we had a great town hall meeting with the Arts District, and they want to add to this festival and turn it into something for their area as well.”
This seems to help fill a void with Life is Beautiful downsizing this year. Will Neon City become an annual festival?
“We’re not spending all this time and effort to do just a one-off. We believe F1 will be here for a 10-year deal and we want to tie in to that weekend and create a great festival during that time frame as well. You really need to have multiple events on the same days and same weekends to fill Vegas. It's just the way it is. We're such a big city. This is a natural evolution for what will be the weekend prior to Thanksgiving for the next nine years.”
