LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Eight years after the 1 October shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, the Vegas Strong Fund says they are still planning to have a permanent memorial honoring the victims, survivors and first responders of the tragedy by 2027.
Channel 13 previously reported that work on the "Forever One" Memorial was going to start six months from September of 2024 and not take longer than three years to construct.
WATCH | I spoke with members of the Vegas Strong Fund to learn where they are with the project:
"We’re still expecting to open the memorial on the 10th anniversary," said Chairwoman of the Forever One Memorial Committee Jan Jones Blackhurst. "We have every belief that it will happen."
Although Clark County is covering administrative costs for the memorial, the Vegas Strong Fund says they still need to raise around $40 million for construction.
Blackhurst says they're working aggressively toward achieving that goal.
The hope is now to break ground sometime next year on the project that many say is necessary to celebrate the resilience of the Las Vegas community.
"This memorial shows the heart of Las Vegas," Blackhurst said. "We want this park to be a place where they can reflect and believe that something positive can come out of even great tragedy."
"It’s going to honor the 58 people that we lost that night, and we’re going to hold space for the grief and the pain that those families are enduring," said Karessa Royce, a 1 October survivor and Forever One Memorial Committee member. "The impact of this event was huge, and the memorial is going to show just that. I also think this is a big step in our community’s healing."
If you'd like to get involved in the project, the Vegas Strong Fund says you can purchase a paver that will be inscribed and placed in the walkway of the memorial.
You can make that purchase, or make a direct donation to the project, at the Forever One memorial website here.