Third annual Viva Lauglin event to salute Hispanic Heritage Month

Posted by Elena del Valle on September 15, 2006

Las Florecitas

 Photos: Pochteca Media

The city of Laughlin in Nevada will salute Hispanic Heritage Month with the third annual Viva Laughlin! from October 6 through October 9. The event will offer Latino entertainment options in Laughlin’s casino resorts. This small city in Nevada experienced a surge of casino construction in the 1980s. Today there are nine hotel casinos, where Los Angeles Hispanics alone make an average of 3.2 casino visits per year. 

“It’s a smaller scale and it has a small town feel and more people feel at home,” said Minerva Partida, media director for Pochteca Media, which helped organize and produced the event with the Laughlin Tourism Committee and the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority. “In the last two years, there is combined revenue of $4 million and last year it sold out. This event has also introduced the city to the public.”

Malo band

This year’s version of Viva Laughlin! will appeal to an older crowd by showcasing music veterans who established their careers over twenty years. Three-time Grammy Award winning Tejano singer La Mafia will perform every night at Don Laughlin’s Riverside Resort in Don’s Celebrity Theater. Legendary Tejano superstar Little Joe y La Familia will also perform on October 7 at the Flamingo Laughlin at 8 p.m. Varied music from bands such as Malo and Las Florecitas will be part of the event including rancheras, polkas, and cumbias.

Viva Laughlin will also include a beauty contest featuring Miss Hawaiian Tropic Latina models on Saturday, October 7 at the Colorado Belle Hotel Casino; as well as the first Mexican poker tournament hosted by the Colorado Belle Hotel in the Casino Poker Room on Saturday, October 7 at 1 p.m. More information is available at VisitLaughlin.com — Sergio Carmona