Route 91 Healing Garden: A Place Where Las Vegas Remembers

Some moments leave a mark so deep that time alone cannot heal them. October 1, 2017 is one of those moments for Las Vegas.

Fifty-eight lives were lost at the Route 91 Harvest music festival — sons, daughters, parents, friends — people who came to our city for music and never made it home.

The pain rippled through every neighborhood, every workplace, and every heart.

Locals mourned together, visitors grieved alongside us, and strangers became family as memorials formed almost instantly — including one created by people who traveled all the way from Illinois, simply because they felt compelled to show up.

In the days and weeks that followed, one question lingered quietly beneath the shock and sorrow: how does a city heal?

A Space Born From the Need to Remember

Healing doesn’t arrive all at once, and it doesn’t look the same for everyone.

But for a small group of individuals, healing began with an idea — a place where remembrance could live beyond temporary crosses, notes, and flowers.

A place where the victims would never be reduced to a number.

That idea became the Route 91 Healing Garden.

Located in the heart of the Las Vegas Arts District, just minutes from downtown, the garden offers something rare in a city known for constant motion: stillness. It is not loud. It does not ask for attention. It simply exists — open, welcoming, and deeply intentional.

More Than a Memorial

What makes the Route 91 Healing Garden so powerful is its humanity. This is not just a place to leave flowers or say a quiet prayer. It is a place to learn who these 58 people were.

Throughout the garden, visitors can read about each victim — where they were from, what they did for a living, and the words left behind by those who loved them most.

These details transform loss into presence. Suddenly, the victims are no longer headlines or dates on a timeline; they are teachers, nurses, veterans, parents, and friends.

It’s impossible to walk through the garden without slowing down. Without reading. Without feeling.

The Heart of the Las Vegas Arts District

There is something profoundly fitting about the garden’s location. The Arts District has long been a place of expression, reflection, and community — a space where Las Vegas tells its stories beyond the Strip.

By placing the Route 91 Healing Garden here, the city ensured that remembrance would live among creativity, culture, and everyday life.

This is not a hidden corner reserved only for anniversaries. Locals stumble upon it during an afternoon walk.

Visitors find it unexpectedly while exploring downtown. And when they do, they pause — often longer than they intended.

In a city built on spectacle, the garden reminds us that quiet can be powerful.

Route 91 Healing Garden: From Napkin to Reality

Like many meaningful things, the Route 91 Healing Garden began simply — as an idea.

On October 2, 2017, just one day after the tragedy, landscape designers Jay Pleggenkuhle and Daniel Perez of Stonerose Landscapes sketched the vision for the garden on a napkin. What could have remained a symbolic gesture quickly became something much more.

Within days, hundreds of volunteers stepped forward. Donated trees, bricks, plants, irrigation systems, and materials arrived from across the community. In just four days, the idea was brought to life.

The garden officially opened to the public on October 6, 2017 — a powerful reminder of what can happen when a city chooses unity over despair.

A Living Tribute

Exactly 58 trees line the garden’s paved walkways, each one planted in memory of a life lost. Shrubs, flowers, and benches surround the space, inviting visitors to sit, reflect, and remember.

At the center of it all stands the Tree of Life — a majestic oak tree donated by Siegfried and Roy. It rests in a heart-shaped planter adorned with tiles created by victims’ families, survivors, and community members, turning grief into something deeply personal and profoundly shared.

Nearby, the Remembrance Wall offers another place to pause — a space where names, memories, and love are etched permanently into the landscape.

A Place for Reflection, Not Answers

The Route 91 Healing Garden does not attempt to explain tragedy. It does not offer closure or easy answers. Instead, it offers something far more meaningful: permission.

Permission to grieve.
Permission to remember.
Permission to stand quietly and feel whatever comes.

For some, the garden is a place of tears. For others, it’s a place of gratitude, reflection, or even peace. For many locals, it’s a reminder of the strength this city showed in the aftermath — how Las Vegas came together, supported one another, and chose compassion over fear.

Why This Space Matters

Years have passed since October 1, 2017, but the impact remains. The Route 91 Healing Garden ensures that the victims are never forgotten — not as a moment in history, but as individuals whose lives mattered.

In a city that constantly reinvents itself, this garden stands firm. It tells future generations what happened, how the community responded, and why remembrance matters.

Las Vegas will always remember.

And in this quiet corner of the Arts District, remembrance has found a permanent home.

For those who want to spend more time remembering each life beyond the garden itself, the City of Las Vegas has also created a digital remembrance book. This PDF honors all 58 victims with stories, photos, and words shared by loved ones — offering a deeper, more personal way to learn who they were and how they are remembered. It serves as a lasting tribute, allowing anyone, anywhere, to pause, reflect, and honor their memory. View the Route 91 Memorial Remembrance Book (PDF).