Paul Szydelko
While the Las Vegas Strip is racing, downtown Las Vegas will be dancing this November. The Neon City Festival, a new music and culinary event, has been scheduled for Nov. 22 to 24, the same weekend as the second Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The creation of the free festival for all ages, counter-programming for those not especially interested in the race, is the city's highest-profile reaction to the economic results of last year's inaugural Grand Prix.
It was "a great financial weekend," said Steve Hill, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and CEO. But he also noted it was actually "one of the lower occupancy weekends that we had. It may have been the lowest that we had."
Hill made the remarks to the LVCVA board on July 9 before it approved a $1 million sponsorship agreement for the Neon City Festival.
"There are a little over 6,000 rooms downtown, but I think rooms throughout the valley that are not on the [Grand Prix] circuit have the ability to benefit from this festival," Hill told the LVCVA board.
Las Vegas hotels slashed room rates in the ramp-up of the event, but rates increased significantly during race week, according to a report by data firm CoStar Analytics. The average daily rate from Monday through Sunday of race week was $629, which was $360, or 134%, more than the same week in 2022, the CoStar report said.
Luxury-class hotels, which make up more than 40% of the Strip's room count, had average rates of $952 and $962 on Friday and Saturday nights, respectively. That represented an increase of more than $500 compared with the previous year, CoStar said.
Occupancy down slightly
Occupancy rates Thursday through Saturday that week throughout the city were slightly lower, 89.4%, than they had been in 2022 (92.5%), CoStar said.
"Downtown Las Vegas did not feel the same impact of the Formula 1 race in 2023 as the Strip corridor," Lisa Motley, the LVCVA's vice president of sports and special events, told the board. "The properties [involved in the festival] anticipate the Neon City Festival will drive occupancy and increase ADR."
Hill said that creating the festival sends a message to tourists that the city can accommodate more than just race fans that weekend.
"We think this festival does more to deliver that message than us just saying, "Hey, we've got more capacity. Please come." It's a reason to come, but it also shows we believe and we can exhibit that we have additional capacity in the destination that weekend," Hill told the board.
Festival details to come
No details of the Neon City Festival have been announced, and no website has been created for the event yet. Organizers promise it will feature a sprawling footprint, headliner talent, art installations and diverse food and beverage offerings.
Derek Stevens, owner of the Circa Resort & Casino, the D Las Vegas and the Golden Gate Hotel & Casino, is the festival's creator. Jeff Victor, vice president of the D, was appointed the festival's CEO.
In addition to Stevens' properties, other event co-founders expected to host the festival's activities are the Fremont Street Experience, Binion's Gambling Hall, California Hotel Casino, Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino, El Cortez Hotel & Casino, Four Queens Hotel & Casino, Fremont Hotel & Casino, Golden Nugget Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, Main Street Station, Plaza Hotel & Casino and the Strat Hotel, Casino & Tower.
The festival is also expected to include adjacent outdoor areas and other businesses.
In other festival news, downtown Las Vegas will not host the Life Is Beautiful music, arts and culinary festival this year. Penske Media Corp., via subsidiary Rolling Stone, acquired a majority stake in the festival in 2022, a fixture in the area since 2013; it acquired the rest of the interests from Tony Hsieh's estate this year. Penske has decided "to hit pause" on the festival this year in favor of a more modest Block Party in the Arts District, another part of downtown to the west of the 18-block Life Is Beautiful footprint. That event is scheduled for Sept. 27 and 28.
There are several other music festivals planned for the rest of the year, as well.