Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/419349
illustration by daniel o'leary A white Christmas? Keep dreaming. In Vegas, the winter wonderland can often be experienced in a light cardigan, preferably with cocktails on a restaurant patio. But while we may not enjoy a Currier & Ives holiday setting, Sin City—hewing to it s everg reen motto "Better liv ing t hrough excess!"—has created its own sui generis tradi- tions. New England is welcome to its lovely trees coated in photo-ready snow; Vegas will have to settle for Santa diving with sharks. Wit h t he holidays, as w it h ever y t hing else, the city has retrofitted its shortcomings, turning t hem into selling point s. The lack of holiday- g rade scener y, for exa mple. Fine, Vegas says, we'll deck our cacti instead, three acres of 'em at the Ethel M Chocolate Factory, pimped out in ha l f a m i l l ion glow i ng l ight s. It 's t he most delightful mix of the beautiful and the prickly si nce Bi ng Crosby went ca rol i ng w it h Dav id Bowie. And no, Vegas can't match Vienna platz for platz when it comes to Baroque architecture festooned w it h beaut i f u l l ight s i n a sou l f u l, Olde World Advent t ableau. But here in t he New World, we can string a million bright LEDs and set up 400 animatronic displays along a few miles of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It may sound like a redneck Nativity, but do you hear what I hear? That'd be the delighted oohs and aahs of 150,000 people who don't have to worry about stumbling into a ca na l as t hey dig t he amazing glow. That's not to say Vegas can't deliver its share of cheer y Rockwel l ia n touches. Ice - skat i ng? Choose between Venetian's Holiday Spectacular a nd t he f rozen Cosmopolit a n pool, t he lat ter complete with a DJ—we're pretty sure Rockwell would groove to a good bass drop. Holiday-bedazzled horticulture? The plant elves at the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens will overdress the place in poinsettias, fa ke pola r bea rs, l ight s, a nd a work i ng t ra i n. Simila rly, Sa m's Tow n w ill encr ust it s Myst ic Falls—a waterfall and mini forest of live t rees under a 10 -story atrium—with lights, more fake polar bears, and traditional holiday bric-a-brac. A lso, lasers. Because, really, it wouldn't be Vegas without t he la sers, wou ld it? It wou ld n't be Vega s i f Santa didn't greet kids at Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef surrounded by hundreds of nature's per- fect eating machines. Correction: This wouldn't be Vegas if it didn't have two Santas frolicking w it h sha rk s, t he ot her one scuba d iv i ng w it h 4,000 fish (including three species of shark) in the 117,000 gallons of the Silverton's mermaid tank. What's that? Yes, of course he'll be wired with a mike so he can talk to the children while underwater—what do you think this is, Florida? Americans adore Christmas not just because we're gimme-gimme materialists—although that helps —but because it st i l l t ug s at somet h i ng aut hent ic a nd, yes, soulful w it hin us t hat has somehow survived creeping cynicism and mid- term-election advertising. The thing about Las Vegas is that its imagineers figured out long ago that a city steeped in artifice could use all that vibrant fakeness to stimulate real emotions. It's the city's true magic. And I'm quite certain that when you watch the children light up as they blurt their wish lists to a tank-equipped under- water Sa nt a , you'l l feel it , too. Ta ke it away, Dav id a nd Bing. V We'll Do It our Way Keep your picturesquely conventional holiday traditions. When you don't get snoW, you get creative. Which is Why las vegas is the best christmas toWn on earth. By Scott DickenSheetS 132 vegasmagazine.com Parting shot