Las Vegas is getting back to the party with beers, slots and shows.
LAS VEGAS — The fountains at the Bellagio casino went off like clockwork, the water swaying and pulsating in time to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.”
Two faux showgirls in pink headdresses tried to hustle a few dollars off tourists gathered to watch. A group of men drinking beers stopped briefly to ogle the action and take pictures.
Just days after a gunman killed 59 people at an outdoor concert, the party in Las Vegas seemed to be back on.
“I feel like we kind of mourned yesterday,” said Tre Marino, a landscaper from Asheville, N.C., who was playing table shuffleboard Tuesday evening with friends at a bar across from the MGM Grand hotel. “We were definitely a little down yesterday and just hung by the pool. But this is Vegas.”
It’s not as if the famous Strip ignored the massacre by a 64-year-old retired accountant who killed himself as police closed in. The black-trimmed hotel marquees asked for prayers for the victims and offered thanks to first responders.
A small makeshift memorial was set up outside the Bellagio and at the famous roadside sign that welcomes tourists to “fabulous Las Vegas.” And there were far more police officers than usual, with a handful clustered on the sidewalk in front of almost every resort.
But in a place where normal is sometimes hard to define, little else seemed amiss. This is a city built on adult fun, where on any given day several hundred thousand visitors are looking for a good time. Many were finding it again, whether eating at a nice restaurant, seeing a show or gambling, even while the attack was still fresh in their minds.
“It’s really hard because we know how people feel after losing someone. We feel it every day,” said Mickey Ori, a teacher who was visiting from Israel with her husband, Smadar. “But the show must go on. We’re not going to let terrorists dictate our lives.”
The people who live in Las Vegas started lining up to give blood only hours after the attack. There were still lines at blood centers Tuesday, even as authorities put out the word there was enough blood for everyone. A GoFundMe account for the victims raised $8.2 million in two days, and people drove truckloads of water and other supplies to a family assistance center.
For the thousands of people only visiting Vegas, the show went on. Celine Dion played to a big crowd at Caesars Palace, and the “Ka” show at the MGM Grand was sold out for the night. People lined up at a discount ticket booth outside Bally’s to get seats for Donny and Marie Osmond, and those looking for a good time on the cheap could get into the “Crazy Girls” show for $43.
A loop on the giant High Roller observation wheel was $22, with an open bar in the cabin for $30 more.
In front of Planet Hollywood, where Jennifer Lopez canceled a series of shows beginning Wednesday out of respect for the shooting victims, a sidewalk booth was offering temporary tattoos that wash off in five days. Next door, two older men walked by a replica of the Eiffel Tower, wearing baseball caps reading “Vegas High Roller” and “Vegas Virgin.”
In an incongruous moment, a mobile billboard truck inched by with a big color sign flashing an invitation to visit Battlefield Vegas, a gun range where the special of the day was $29 to fire an AK-47.
Most shows played as usual Tuesday night. That included magician Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller, who canceled his Monday night performance at the Rio.
“We took our show off last night to be respectful, but those people that were shot, they didn’t want the world to stop,” Jillette said while donating platelets at a blood center. “Nobody wants the world to stop when there’s a tragedy. They want it to go on.”