Las Vegas ‘1 October’ Memorial Short $7M in Funding With 10-Year Anniversary Looming
Posted on: June 23, 2026, 10:55h.
Last updated on: June 23, 2026, 11:15h.
- The long-planned Forever One Memorial honoring the 58 victims of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting remains $7 million short of its $34 million construction budget
- Despite the state denying funding assistance, a recent surge from major donors like Clark County and MGM Resorts has brought total fundraising to $27 million
- Project organizers are determined to break ground in fall 2026 to ensure the memorial will open on October 1, 2027, marking the tragedy’s 10-year anniversary
Nearly a decade after the Route 91 Harvest Festival mass shooting, a long-planned memorial honoring the 58 people killed is still $7 million short of its construction budget, according to the Vegas Strong Fund, the nonprofit overseeing the project.
The Forever One Memorial is scheduled to break ground in fall 2026, with supporters determined to open it by October 1, 2027 — the 10‑year anniversary of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Construction can continue without the additional funds until the project’s final phase.
The shortfall exists even though the construction budget was reduced, after cost-engineering and public feedback session, from an original estimate of $70 million to $34 million,
In May 2023, according to the Nevada Independent. more than 70 survivors, first responders, and medical personnel traveled to Nevada’s state capitol to request help to close the gap. But state funding was not approved for the project.
The pace of donations has increased significantly over the past year, however — from about $4 million last October to $27 million at present, Major contributors include:
- Clark County: $10 million
- MGM Resorts International: $5 million
- Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority: $5 million
- Live Nation: $5 million
- Las Vegas Golden Knights: $1 million
Delays Cost Funding
Experts note that long-term memorial projects frequently encounter funding shortfalls as public attention shifts over time. While the immediate aftermath of the Route 91 shooting saw a massive outpour of support—including more than $32 million raised for victims and their families—maintaining that philanthropic momentum becomes exceptionally difficult once the tragedy’s initial shock fades.
In addition, contributing to survivors is not the same as contributing to a permanent, physical reminder of a tragedy.
“There may be some people who would prefer not to remember and would just prefer to put it behind them,” Stephen Benning, a UNLV psychologist who studied the aftermath of the shooting on the Las Vegas community, told the Independent. “For those people, having a project to donate to isn’t going to be as motivating as people who really felt a sense of injury or rupture of the community and view this memorial as a way of helping to put it back together.”
Healing Old Wounds
But most survivors and victims’ families say memorials are essential.
Karessa Royce, who was hit by a bullet that collapsed her lung and broke her collarbone and shoulder while attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival, told the Independent that this memorial is important not just for those families, but for the 22,000 people who attended the festival, and for Las Vegas.
“The hard truth about this is that it can’t ignore what happened,” Royce said. “People will never be the same as a result of what happened that night, our community will never be the same. We owe it to the families, we owe it to the survivors and the first responders to build this.”
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