Las Vegas Review Journal
COLUMN: Norm!
Halloween parade envisioned as grand Vegas event

An annual Halloween weekend event on the scale of the Strip's New Year's celebration is being paraded before local decision makers..

With a Mardi Gras-style parade as the focal point, the inaugural extravaganza, titled Boo Ga Loo Las Vegas, would be staged Oct. 26, if approved.

Organizers, including creator Merrill Osmond of the Osmond family, are billing the event as "the place to be for Halloween."

Michael Hyams, vice president of marketing for New Century Entertainment Group, said, "It's meant to be another brandable signature event weekend for Las Vegas, much like Mardi Gras is to New Orleans and the Rose Parade is to Pasadena. It could have the same economic impact."

Hyams said Osmond came up with the idea a year ago. Plans will be submitted to the Clark County Commission in two weeks. Other groups, including the public service agencies and properties that would be affected by the Strip closure for the 5 to 7 p.m. parade, will also get the plans.

The goal, Osmond said, is to have at least 22 properties involved to put on a parade "of the style and grandeur befitting Las Vegas."

The four-mile parade route would start near Mandalay Bay and end near Treasure Island at Spring Mountain Road.

New Century Entertainment Group, with offices in Las Vegas and Reno, would be the production arm. The company has staged part of the New Year's fireworks show on the Strip the past two years.

Friday, March 29, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Back