Nevada State Parks is co-sponsoring with Friends of the Fort a family event called “Western Day” at the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park on Saturday, March 31, 2012. 

The event will be held from 10:00am-5:00pm. The Fort is located at 500 East Washington Avenue (Washington Avenue & Las Vegas Blvd) in Las Vegas, NV, 89101. Tickets will be $7 per person, and 5 years and under will be admitted for free.

The Western Day event will be a celebration of Nevada’s frontier heritage and will showcase Western-themed activities and entertainment. The Fort will provide the “old west” background for events that will emphasize the cowboy era (1860-1915).

The event will begin at 10:00am with an opening ceremony and Native American songs. The winner of five International Wild West Art Awards, LOOP RAWLINS, will perform his legendary Trick Roping skills at 1:00pm.

The WATER STONE BUNCH from Pahrump, Nevada, who won awards for their cowboy reenacting, will perform skits and gun fights at 11:00am, 2:00pm and 4:00pm. Enjoy a blend of outlaw country and a little western swing when the band Whiskey Revival performs at 2:30pm.

There will be various Living History Exhibits, including Blacksmithing Demonstrations, Mountain Men, Gatling Guns and a Cowboy Laundress Encampment. The Las Vegas Mustang Car Club will also be in attendance with their classic Mustang cars. 

Western Day will offer family activities and games for children. There will be Pony Rides, Calf Roping, Children’s Crafts, Games and a Bounce House. Don a bandana and cowboy hat to have a family Western Photo taken. Watch Old Western Movies in the theater. Visit informational booths to learn about 4-H and Horses4Heroes.

Vendors will showcase a variety of merchandise for sale.  We will have BBQ and Hispanic Foods, Cotton Candy, Snow Cones, Drinks and much more and at reasonable old-fashioned prices.

There will be Raffle Prizes. Raffle tickets will be $1 each or $5 for 6 tickets. Anyone who attends the event wearing a Cowboy Hat will receive a free raffle ticket.

Friends of the Fort is a Nevada non-profit 501©3 organization that is dedicated to the preservation of the site of the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park, where “Las Vegas Began”. The proceeds from the Western Day fundraiser will be used for programs and projects at the Fort.

Las Vegas icons long gone from the landscape.  Do you have stories about any of them?  Share them with us!

It's been a long time coming but the Smith Center for the Performing Arts is opening next weekend.  Located near the Lou Ruvo Brain Center and the Furniture Mart, the Smith joins a section of downtown that has redesigned the skyline of downtown Las Vegas.

With the nearby Law Enforcement Museum (er, Mob Museum), downtown is certainly in the media these days.

The new $470 million Art Deco inspired center will be home to touring Broadway shows, the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the Nevada Ballet Theater, classical music and jazz.

From news reports:

The Smith Center, a temple of visual and performing arts, is easily the most grandiose of Las Vegas' new cultural institutions.

Its inaugural season will feature cellist Yo-Yo Ma, author David Sedaris, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Broadway hits "Wicked," ''Mary Poppins" and "The Color Purple." Its campus includes a jazz cafe, a children's museum, a small park earmarked for outdoor concerts and an ornate bell tower that has transformed downtown Las Vegas' skyline.

More than 10,000 season subscriptions have been sold, exceeding the Smith Center's early projections. In a nod to the city's many low-income workers, tickets start at $24.

"We've been very careful to make sure we are not building something for the rich and famous," Martin said.

The Las Vegas Philharmonic plans to expand to a 10-concert season under its residency at the Smith Center. An upcoming show will feature the score from Charlie Chaplin's 1931 romantic comedy "City Lights" as the silent film is shown.

"Most people in the world, in our country, don't have any idea that we have culture," said Jeri Crawford, president of the professional orchestra. "If we ever have a change, it will be with the Smith Center."

The Candlelight Wedding Chapel when it was on the Strip

It opened in 1966 as the Chapel of the West Algiers, partly because the owner, Jack Walsh, also owned the nearby Algiers Hotel. That was when Las Vegas and the Strip were very different than today.  Back then, the Strip was populated mainly with hotels, gas stations, restaurants and desert, lots of desert.  The hotels didn't reach to the street but sat back from the main throughfare and glittered like jewels in the neon skyline.

The Candlelight was located next to the Riviera and across the street from the Circus-Circus.

In the 1970s, it was renamed the All Religions Chapel. Gordon Gust went to work there and ended up buying the business though not the property or the building.

During his more than 30 years there Gust saw many celebrity weddings, and claims the record for most weddings performed in a single day at any wedding chapel is 425. Some of the celebrities married at the Chapel include Sir Micheal Caine, Whoopi Goldberg, Bette Midler, singer Barry White, and Gust's personal favorite Clayton Moore (the Lone Ranger).

In 2003 the Candlelight closed and sat for a time vacant and vandalized. Gordon Gust generously purchased the building from its owner and donated it to the County. The County found money to move the building in early 2007, when it made its way down the Strip and out Boulder Highway.

There the building was loving restored and today sits near the historic buildings on Heritage Street.

Special thanks to Joel Rosales and LeavingLV.net for letting us use the photos.

OnStar is running a new commercial highlighting their GPS coordinates advantage over using an in-car navigation system.

In the commercial, a group of friends call OnStar with the coordinates for their destination and after talking to the OnStar voice, the coordinates appear on their in car nav system with the words:

Valley of Fire, Overton, NV

The friends arrive at the Valley of Fire and romp around the rocks and in a pool of water.

The problem?  The commercial wasn't shot at the Valley of Fire.  The Valley of Fire has a very distinctive look to it.

Looks like it was shot somewhere along the Colorado River but it wasn't shot at the Valley of Fire.

The commercial

The real Valley of Fire

Postcard image courtesy of zazzle.com