The large, albino snake was a traffic-stopper on the Fremont Street Experience, as its owners gingerly handled it, wrapping it around paying customers as they paused for a photo. Same with the huge, clawing birds that would perch on the heads of strangers—up to seven at a time—gurgling, cooing, rarely trying to escape as they waited for the camera flash. And then there was that artist, painter of monkeys—smoking monkeys, gambling monkeys, Carmen Miranda-style monkeys. And that guy who painted glossy dolphin and superhero creations, as a crowd gathered and bought his work while it was still practically wet. Somewhere in the mix was a sculptor, too.
No longer. As of Sunday, these vendors were gone. The FSE gave them 10 days' notice and say they don't expect to refill the slots. Joe Schillaci, the Experience's president and chief executive, says these vendors, who operate off tables or their own booths and not the matching kiosks that make up the norm, were sometimes expanding their space in an unsightly manner, and causing traffic jams (Doesn't that mean they're doing good business?). He adds that they don't quite go along with the brand that the company is trying to project.
"Our brand is vintage Vegas," Schillaci says. "It's basically our 10 great, legendary casinos all within a few steps of one another, so you have good walkability from one casino to the other. It's kind of old-fashioned hospitality."
Don't they realize the frenetic energy the attraction had taken on with these vendors? Walk down the Fremont Street Experience now and you'll see dozens of nice, neat kiosks, and, except for the canopy, heat, occasional homeless person or sight of the police cracking down on demonstrations of free speech, it feels like a mall anywhere in the United States: vanilla. There's that "Build-A-Bear" knockoff. T-shirts with forlorn kitty-cats and messages like "I need a hug!" Sunglasses, watches, candles, cell-phone covers and even edible underwear—two for $10.
Gone is the flair that these more offbeat vendors brought to the place. They hinted at a style that was a little bit carnival, a little bit Vegas, a feel that seemed to match well with the tourist/local/eccentric purity of Downtown. But the carnival atmosphere apparently didn't fit into the brand that Schillaci speaks of, or with the 45 kiosks and five other non-kiosk stands, so they're out.
Schillaci says they won't be replaced with vendors who are more corporate, as some have speculated. "We're not replacing them. We're not replacing them because we're trying to reduce the non-kiosk vendors that are out there," he says. But in excluding them from the area, FSE is essentially increasing the corporate feel. Aside from the guy who writes your name on rice and a caricature artist, most of these places seem more suburban strip mall than vintage Vegas.