My brilliant plan was to get up early (or just stay awake) and head down to the strip at about 4am. By that time, the big party has ended and the final phase begins; the clean up. Back in my chauffering days, I saw how this happens and it is an amazing transformation. Something I was hoping to capture for all the world to see.
You can imagine what a mess 300,000 people can make. So to combat that, you have a wall of people dressed like space aliens and machinery of all kinds start at one end of the strip and work their way to the other end. Cleaning, bleaching, scouring and steaming every inch of the boulevard.
By 6am, it looks like nothing even happened. The fences are all disassemble and stacked. The port-a-potties are gone, the porn peddlers brought back from storage and traffic is allowed back on the Strip. It’s just another ordinary day in Las Vegas.
The only memory of the party the night before is the heavy presence of uniformed Metro officers still cleaning up the debris from the night before. Even at 10am they were still thick as ever on the Strip. Busting just about anything that moved wrong. Seriously, these guys were everywhere.
I am starting to figure all the heavy secirity was due more to the budget crunch than to real safety concern. The Nevada Highway Patrol busted 82 people for drunk driving in Las Vegas. Up from 12 the year before. Cha-Ching….
Ok, now that you understand a NYE in Las Vegas, its on to the good stuff. The World Series of Beer Pong….
Go Ahead, Stalk Us