In the hours immediately after a gunman fired on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, Southern Nevadans asked, “What can I do to help”? They answered the calls to donate blood, bring food to hospitals and fire stations, and comfort those affected by the tragedy. 

Now, seven years after the shooting, the community is asked again to step up and help. This time, to fund the Forever One Memorial.

“It was the community that was impacted. And showing that they have a hand in building this permanent memorial I think’s really important to the authenticity and the integrity of the project,” former City of Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones Blackhurst said at the Forever One Memorial fundraising launch.

The event was held outside the Clark County Government Center on September 30, 2024. Jones Blackhurst is chairing the Vegas Strong Fund, the organization dedicated to raising money for the permanent memorial. Speakers urged the community to donate what they can. 

Survivor Karessa Royce and paramedic Brian Rogers shared how important this memorial will be to the continued recovery of those directly impacted by the shooting.

“As someone who was there that evening, I can assure you, memorials matter,” Royce said. “They mark the historical permanency. They ensure the lives lost are honored and never forgotten. And they lift up the unique stories and experiences of survivors, first responders, and the community at large. Memorials are vital to the lifelong process of healing and grieving. We cannot change what has happened, but we can ensure it is never forgotten. And that is what this memorial represents.”

Rogers, who represented the many first responders on scene that night, said, “It’s a place where you can go to remember, to never forget. It’s a place where emergency and first responders can go to be honored for their courage, to reflect on and process the experiences they shared and the scenes of loss they witnessed. It matters when a community comes together in a tragedy to heal. It matters to honor the stories of those we lost. The 58. The two that perished in the aftermath. And all the others who left us due to their wounds, both psychological and physical. They must all be remembered.”

Sam Nicholson is on the Vegas Strong Fund Board. He joined Nevada Week to share more about the memorial. He brings his expertise in development to the project. 

“We still have to go through entitlements, we still have to complete the design, there are utilities that have to be relocated on the site, various things that will have to happen prior to actually breaking ground," he said. 

"And we have three years, I think that is very doable in that timeline.” 

Nicholson shared how he feels personally connected to the Forever One Memorial: He served as an officer with the State of Arizona before shifting his career to construction and development. 

“Those experiences just don’t leave you. I’ve always been very passionate about the cause and what first responders experience. And I think it’s truly an honor to them for just the horrific event that happened that night, that they be honored as well for their heroism and the things they did.” 

Nicholson continued, “The lives that were lost are just so tragic. I think it would be just unfathomable to not have a memorial that honors the victims and the first responders that day. And that’s what we’re here to do.”

The Forever One Memorial will be built on two acres of the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert grounds, near Reno and Giles Street on the south end of the Strip. A dollar amount has not been announced yet for a fundraising goal. 

The Vegas Strong Fund hopes to have the memorial completed by October 1, 2027, the tenth anniversary of the shooting.