The Clark County Commission voted Tuesday to award a $1 million grant to the Vegas Strong Fund for the Forever One Memorial, which will honor those killed during the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas Strip on Oct. 1, 2017.
The money will pay for the memorial’s administrative and design services.
“We have a beautiful concept for a memorial, and now a critical phase of work is underway that will lay the foundation for a community-wide 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,” Commissioner Jim Gibson said in a statement.
The memorial will be constructed just south of Mandalay Bay, where Stephen Paddock opened fire from Room 32-134, killing 60 people who had gathered just to enjoy country music. Paddock then killed himself.
In 2022, MGM Resorts sold Las Vegas Village — as the parcel that hosted the Route 91 Harvest Festival was known — to the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. However, the casino operator also donated two of the site’s 15 acres to the memorial, which was created by JCJ Architecture and approved by the County Commission in September 2023.
“For close to seven years, the Vegas Strong Fund has been devoted to standing by those affected by the tragic events of 1 October,” Jan Jones-Blackhurst, chair of the fund’s board of directors, said in statement. “We are now honored to embark on the next chapter of this collective healing journey with the creation of a permanent memorial.”
The memorial — which will be built in the northeast corner of the festival site off Reno Avenue and Giles Street — includes a tower of light, a community plaza, and 58 vertical candles representing the victims who died in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
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