LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — October 1, 2017 is the day etched in history as one of the darkest in Las Vegas’s history.
What feels like yesterday for many was eight years ago, stirring up so many memories as October approaches again.
Some of those stories are on display at the Clark County Government Center for the Remember 1 October exhibit.
Clark County Museum Administrator Amber Colbert put special care in providing items that show the support the community provided following the tragedy.
“When we collect things, typically sometimes they can be 100 years old. We have no connection to the person that left it or the people that might value it,” Colbert said.
“This collection happened now. It’s now, people are here. We actually get to meet the people that left some of these things behind. We actually get to meet people that are using this in their process to heal.”
From a painted rock from a woman who volunteered at a blood bank in the days following the shooting to a bible donated from a mental health professional that counseled people in the aftermath.
It’s all a welcome reminder for Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson.
“It’s obvious that the effect of 1 October is not lost on any of us. We still remember very vividly the things we learned that day. We learned more about ourselves maybe after the passage of time than we’ve learned about anything else,” Gibson said.
“We learned that we’re a caring community and we learned that we know how to respond to the needs of people and we knew there was no limit to what we would receive from people if we ask for things.”
The commissioner shared a story from the night of the shooting as he tried to figure out the best way to help.
He recalled how the community came together to support those scrambling from the incident.
“We had asked for sleeping bags because people couldn’t get into the hotels there. I think we had something like 500 sleeping bags show up. We didn’t have 500 people,” Gibson said.
“In view was people’s desires to be a part of something good. We were trying to cancel I think, as a community, the devastation and the wicked feeling we had about what had happened.”
That support spanned, and continues to span, well outside the Las Vegas Valley.
The Remember 1 October features several items sent in from around the country and around the world.
“17 countries are represented in our collection. We have things from every state in the United States that have been sent to us,” Colbert said.
“This healing is never really done. It just keeps going and we want to make sure we keep remembering. These victims, the survivors that were there. There were 800 people wounded that left that concert with an experience that’s going to stick with them most of their lives.”
The Remember 1 October exhibit will be in the rotunda gallery at the Clark County Government Center until October 9.
Included in that exhibit is the rendering of the Forever 1 Memorial, a permanent memorial to honor those who lost their lives.
The hope is for that memorial to be built by October 2027.
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