LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nearly nine years after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, plans for a permanent memorial honoring the victims of October 1 are moving closer to reality.
The Forever One Memorial is planned for a two-acre site near the Las Vegas Strip where the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting happened on October 1, 2017.
The memorial is intended to honor the 58 victims who lost their lives, as well as survivors and first responders affected by the tragedy.
WATCH | Alyssa Bethencourt has the latest on memorial funding and its expected completion date:
“That night, when the most horrific thing happened, we came together, like we’ve never before here in the city,” said Kelly McMahill, treasurer of the Vegas Strong Fund and a member of the memorial committee.
Today, many families and visitors still gather at the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden in downtown Las Vegas, a quiet space filled with tributes, messages and memorials.
“You know and you need a place like this… you know I lost my daughter and it’s like you come and you can feel peace with this family and you don’t even know them,” one visitor said.
Another visitor described the sense of comfort many feel at the garden.
“I feel the energy in here. I know everybody is at peace now.”
But organizers say the community has long envisioned a larger, permanent memorial closer to the site of the shooting.
Budget changes helped move the project forward
Early concepts for the Forever One Memorial came with a significantly higher price tag.
“The concept was beautiful but the price tag with something like $73 million,” McMahill said.
Organizers say that number forced them to rethink the design and find ways to reduce costs while preserving the meaning behind the project.
“How do we make this reality? We’ve got to bring this number down,” McMahill said.
After refining the plans, the committee says the memorial is now estimated to cost about $34 million.
“We’re at the point today when we can say it’s a $34 million project all in,” McMahill said.
So far, about $22 million has been raised through a combination of public funding and private donations, including contributions from Clark County, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, MGM Resorts International and the Vegas Golden Knights Foundation.
That leaves roughly $12 million still needed to complete the project.
Organizers say they plan to close that gap through continued fundraising efforts, including public donations and memorial pavers that will be placed throughout the site.
“We’ve got the last 12 to go and we’re gonna get there,” McMahill said.
A memorial meant to honor those affected
The Forever One Memorial is designed to honor the victims, survivors and first responders impacted by the shooting.
McMahill said the scale of what happened that night is something many people still struggle to fully comprehend.
“I think people sometimes forget this is still the worst mass shooting in US history. 58 lives were lost that night. 422 people were shot. And a total of 850 injured… those numbers are staggering, and even though I see them over and over again, it still hits me in the heart,” she said.
Organizers say their goal is to break ground on the Forever One Memorial by October 1, 2026, nine years after the shooting, and have phase 1 completed by the ten-year remembrance in 2027.
Until then, places like the Healing Garden continue to serve as a gathering space for those remembering the lives lost and the community that came together in the aftermath.
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