There was a rare sight along the Fremont Street Experience over the weekend, which is no small statement. But this qualified: Tourists clad in Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and F1 apparel descended on the entertainment promenade. “The number of F1 jerseys and jackets that were out during the day, through the weekend, was huge,” Neon City Festival CEO Jeff Victor said in a phone chat Tuesday.
“The (F1) event happens at night, so they were like ‘Hey, this is pretty cool, there’s a festival going on at the same time, so our eyeballs get filled with more fun stuff during our visit.” The festival averaged 60,000 unique visitors per day and night, 180,000 total. That’s a 30-percent increase over those visiting downtown Las Vegas during F1 week in ‘23.
Designed as an alternative event during the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, the first Neon City Festival was staged Friday, Saturday and Sunday throughout downtown. All three FSE stages and Downtown Las Vegas Event Center were in operation. Alison Wonderland, Seven Lions and TroyBoi performed at DTLVEC.
Russell Dickerson, the All-American Rejects and Neon Trees took over 3rd Street Stage. That is just a sampling of the entertainment offered during the festival, which also presented ample Vegas F&B offerings, art installations, by Area15, and fireworks. Victor is also vice president of operations of Circa Hospitality Group.
The company is co-owned by Derek Stevens, a leading visionary behind Neon City Festival. All downtown prope.