This year's theme for the New Year's Eve celebration will be “Takin' it to the Streets” and thousands are expected to do exactly that as they crowd onto the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street.

Although they would not release any numbers earlier, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is now predicting that there will be 291,000 visitors this year. Last year, New Year's Eve attracted 284,000 people to town to celebrate and help boost our local economy.

Police are warning parents that there is a strict curfew being enforced on the Las Vegas Strip for unatteneded children starting at 6 p.m. on the 31st and ending at 5 a.m. on the 1st.

 Road Closures Start at 5 p.m.

The now struggling economy and new building codes are prompting some changes to Wednesday's night's planned celebration.  

This year, all seven Las Vegas Strip firing locations will all be on the ground or on top of hotel parking garages instead of off the roof tops of hotels. 

More than 30,000 effects will be fired during the 8-minute show. The Mandalay Bay convention center parking lot will be the southernmost firing location along with a lot directly across Las Vegas Boulevard from the Luxor.  Parking garages at MGM Grand, Caesars Palace and Treasure Island will be used.  The Las Vegas Convention Center's “gold” parking lot, and a garage at the Stratosphere, round out the show on the northern end of the Strip.   

Map of the Fireworks Firing Locations

SLIDESHOW: Last Year's Fireworks Show

There will also be a party at the Fremont Street Experience called “TributePalooza,” which features 14 hours of live music on stages at 1st and 3rd Streets along Fremont Street.

Daredevil Robbie Knievel will attempt to jump the Mirage volcano on New Year's Eve between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. He chose this date because it is the 41st anniversary of his father, Evil Knievel's, famous Las Vegas jump.

For local residents trying to see the show from the suburbs, event planners say the tall Strip hotels may actually block part of the view.  The maximum height of the fireworks will be about 300 feet.  Planners sat, this year, the best viewing location is definitely going to be on the Strip itself.

Channel 8 will counting down the New Year's Eve celebration with viewers and will have coverage from several vantage points on the Strip and downtown. The coverage starts at 10 p.m. on Channel 8 and LasVegasNOW.com.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 7:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.