LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — This October will mark nine years since 58 people lost their lives on the Las Vegas Strip in what is known as the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Now, a permanent tribute is taking shape near the site where the tragedy unfolded.
WATCH | Shellye Leggett shares the latest on this project years in the making:
The Forever One Memorial will be built on the corner of Reno Avenue, directly off Las Vegas Boulevard. Project leaders expect to break ground this fall, with an anticipated opening date of Oct. 1, 2027.
The 2.5-acre park will feature multiple displays that organizers hope honor the nearly five dozen victims.
"It's gonna be the very first park, 2.5 acres with so much beauty and so many parts of it that are gonna offer so much to people globally to come to and see from the 1,000 Points of Light to the atrium with a musical note reference to going out to the Circle of Remembrance and the lights for the 58, it's just gonna, it's, it's gonna be so impactful," said Christine Janette, a survivor and creator of the 58 Angel Wings Project.
Janette describes it as a living memorial designed to serve as an active and ongoing space for community connection, healing and learning.
"It's going to be here for generations to come," Janette said.
Roughly $22 million has been raised to fund Phase 1A of the project. An estimated $12 million is still needed to complete it.
Among those eagerly anticipating the memorial was Janette, who was at the Route 91 music festival with her husband on Oct. 1, 2017, and survived the attack. It was her first time back on the grounds since that night.
"I can just feel the power right now," Janette said.
For Janette, walking away from that night came with a sense of purpose.
"58 didn't walk away, but 22,000 did, and we have to remember what happened here," Janette said.
That purpose led her to create the 58 Angel Wings Project, a grassroots educational initiative that engages Clark County School District students in creative expression and storytelling by creating a pair of angel wings to honor one of the 58 victims.
"The first year we did random act of kindness cards and did a beautiful bulletin board in honor of the 58, but I felt like we need to do something really big," Janette said.
Student Samantha Garris is among those who participated in the project.
"I picked this person named Candace Bowers because she had three sons and my grandma has three sons, and just putting myself in that position of imagining how her sons must have felt when their mom didn't get to come home," Garris said.
Garris reflected on the broader importance of honoring those affected by the tragedy.
"What if we were like one of those people where we didn't get to come home and we didn't have a family member come home? We should be able to memorialize those people that struggled with that, and honestly, it's just a simple part of your day," Garris said. "Like, you can put your heart into something like you do other things, like sports and just different hobbies that we may have. There's no reason that we shouldn't be able to help the community out and just put forth our effort."
Janette said the Las Vegas community has meant everything to her in the years since.
"When you lose somebody, it really makes you reflect on your life and the gratitude — the gratitude I have towards the Vegas community is so immense," Janette said.
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