LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — We are one month away from 1 October and ideas on a permanent memorial are taking shape. Submissions are coming in on what it may look like.
"There were a lot of people involved. A lot of heroes. A lot of people that were affected, and we're Vegas strong together."
That's the vision artist Nancy Erskine of Pahrump has- for her design of a permanent 1 October memorial. Her family had a brush with tragedy with her son declining an invitation that night to the route 91 music festival with a friend. the person replacing him was killed.
"So, that strongly impacted our family"
Her concept involving tributes to victims, survivors, and first responders who stepped in to help. A notable feature being two sun sculptures containing 29 rays each where the names of the 58 people killed that night would be remembered.
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"That basically says, there's still hope but we are honoring these people,” Erskine said.
Erskine was one of several dozen artists submitting concepts for a permanent memorial on the site of the festival grounds. MGM Resorts donating 2 acres in the northeast corner last year. Tennille Pereira, chairman of the 1 October Memorial Committee says the submissions being considered have a high bar to clear.
"We didn't want our memorial to just be about the tragedy. We also wanted our memorial to encompass some of the healing process,” she said.
She explains the memorial process, still ongoing now five years after the tragedy was always going to take time. The committee collecting thousands of survey responses and now taking artistic submissions all to carefully ensure survivors and the community could agree on one design concept.
"It gives the community an opportunity to heal, and it gives us an opportunity to capture some of that healing in the memorial and show the strength,” Pereira said.
Strength Erskine says motivated her to put time and effort in her submission.
"It was in my heart to try and contribute something and whether they take it or not, I feel like I've given an offer. It helped me heal and bring peace to some other people too at the same time.,” she said.
The deadline for submissions for the permanent memorial is October 31. Information can be found here.
