The Clark County Commission voted today to accept the 1 October Memorial Committee’s design recommendation for a permanent memorial to remember the events of the tragedy that occurred at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas Strip on Oct. 1, 2017.

Following an extensive effort to gather input from family members of victims of the tragedy, survivors and the public, the seven-member committee voted in July to recommend a concept by JCJ Architecture to serve as the community’s memorial project. The selected design had the highest-ranking score in the committee’s evaluation of five proposed concepts. Evaluation criteria was based on priorities established by the committee over the course of its monthly public meetings. 

“On behalf of the Clark County Commission, we want to express our heart-felt thanks to each of you for your countless hours of service to this important work,” said Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick, who was Chairman of the County Commission when the committee was created in 2019. “Nearly four years ago you were appointed to the difficult and emotional task of gathering input from family members of victims, survivors, first responders and all those affected by events of 1 October to help our community create a lasting memorial. Your top priority throughout your work was to engage the community in this process, and the recommended design is a true reflection of that goal. Thank you for a job well done.”

The JCJ Architecture design was one of five concepts submitted as part of a process launched in June 2022 to gather ideas for a memorial to remember the victims of the shooting and honor the survivors, first responders and the resiliency and compassion of the Las Vegas community. The process included a Call for Creative Expressions so the public could submit ideas and expressions of creativity for the memorial as well as a Request for Qualifications from professional design teams interested in creating designs. The teams reviewed all creative expression submissions and hosted additional community engagement opportunities as part of their design development process.

“We are grateful to the design teams, family members, survivors and everyone who participated in this process to create a memorial to remember the events of 1 October,” said Clark County Commission Chairman Jim Gibson, whose Commission District includes the festival site. “Thanks to the committee’s hard work, a very unique process was put into place to ensure that anyone who had an idea for the memorial could be heard. The committee also made sure professionals were involved to ensure that the memorial that gets created will be a world-class project that serves as a place of remembrance, respect and healing.”

At its July 26 1 October Memorial Committee meeting, the committee reviewed evaluation scores for five design team concepts that were submitted for consideration. Evaluation criteria was based on priorities established by the committee over the course of its public meetings and included design concept narrative and renderings, community outreach efforts, public response to the designs, envisioned realm of user experience, programming and team. The recommended JCJ Architecture design they selected had the highest-ranking score in the evaluation process. The project that ranked second in that process, designed by OLIN + Andy Scott, was recommended to serve as an alternate. The County Commission accepted that recommendation as well.

With acceptance of the committee’s design recommendation, the Commission directed staff to seek out a nonprofit organization to oversee fundraising, construction and maintenance of the memorial. An agreement with a nonprofit would need to be approved by the County Commission at a future meeting.

With the acceptance of the committee’s recommendation for a memorial project, its work is complete. The Commission presented proclamations to each member of the 1 October Memorial Committee to thank them for their years of work and service to the community. Members of the 1 October Memorial Committee included Tennille Pereira, chairwoman of the committee and Director of the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center; Karessa Royce, a 1 October survivor, serving as vice chairwoman; Mynda Smith, the sister of 1 October Victim Neysa Tonks; Kelly McMahill, a now retired deputy chief for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department; architect Dr. Robert Fielden, who established the UNLV School of Architecture; Rebecca Holden, public art project manager for the city of Las Vegas Office of Cultural Affairs; and Harold Bradford, a local artist.

The County Commission created the committee on Oct. 2, 2019. The committee met for the first time in October 2020. As a result of the committee’s work, MGM Resorts International is donating two acres on the northeast corner of the concert site off Reno Avenue and Giles Street for the memorial. The donation was offered after a clear majority of respondents in a community survey indicated a preference for a memorial to be built at the festival site. Detailed information about the committee’s work and more information about the recommended design is available on the 1 October Memorial’s Committee’s website at www.ClarkCountyNV.gov/1OctoberMemorial.