Community · The Strip
Forever One memorial to 1 October victims breaks ground nine years later, with about $7 million still to raise
The permanent memorial, which broke ground Oct. 2, will stand on the site of the 2017 shooting, with towers for the 58 people killed. Organizers aim to finish by the 10th anniversary.
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The groundbreaking
Nine years after the 1 October shooting, the Forever One Memorial broke ground Friday afternoon, Oct. 2, at the corner of Reno Avenue and Giles Street, KTNV and other valley outlets reported. The memorial will stand on the site where the Route 91 Harvest festival took place.
Ahead of the ceremony, Tennille Pereira, executive director of the Vegas Strong Fund, told the station that reaching this point felt "surreal" and showed the community the organizers had kept their promise to start the project.
What the memorial will include
Towers for the 58
Survivor Christina Gruber, who was struck by shrapnel that night and later treated at Desert Springs Hospital and Henderson Hospital, said the design includes towers for the 58 people who were killed. She said having the memorial on the site itself makes it a place for the community to come together and remember.
The timeline
Organizers aim to complete the memorial by the 10-year remembrance on Oct. 1, 2027.
The funding gap
About $7 million still needed
Pereira said the project still needs about $7 million to be completed, a goal she described as realistic. "We are acting on faith," she said, "but we know that the heart of the community is there."
How people are raising it
Gruber's husband, John Valentine, is raising money for the next phase through a charity cage match in Salt Lake City. Donations are taken through the Forever One website, which the station linked in its report.
A week of remembrance
The groundbreaking falls in the same week as the annual sunrise ceremony and other remembrance events across the valley. More stories about civic projects and the people behind them are on our community page, and the businesses' safety response that week is covered in our report on the Meadows Mall youth curfew.
What to watch next
- Construction progress at Reno and Giles over the coming year.
- Fundraising updates as organizers work toward the remaining $7 million.
- Plans for the 10th anniversary in 2027.
