December is here to usher in all the eggnog and sweater weather you can handle. We’ve already discussed winter holiday fun and we’ll have a guide to New Year’s Eve fireworks soon. So let’s focus on some other cool things happening around Las Vegas this month.
📚 A New Library for the Westside
We love the Clark County library system and it’s only getting better with the grand opening of a new West Las Vegas Library on Dec. 9. The new 40,000-square-foot facility doubles the size of the old version with an exterior LED wall, art gallery, event center, podcast studio, digital memories preservation lab, and much more.
😋 Fun with Food
- Durango Social Club is becoming a hotspot for pop-up culinary residencies. Lilli presents a seven-course French and Mediterranean tasting menu by Tyler Vorce (formerly of The French Laundry) most Saturdays and Sundays while Hemant Kishore launches The Toddy Shop on Thursdays and Fridays for a contemporary spin on Indian tapas. (Try the Kerala beef fry and vada lentil doughnuts.)
- The Center for the local LGBTQ+ community just opened the Espresso Yourself coffee bar. Score a free pastry with the purchase of a coffee drink through the end of the month.
- Liam’s Den & Bubble Bar at the Grand Canal Shoppes has an Espresso Martini Tasting Tree all month long with six mini-versions of the cocktail in flavors like mint chocolate and ginger snap.
- Choose between two food festivals on the same day, Dec. 6: the Tamales & Mariachi Festival at Goodman Plaza or Brew Festivus at Big Dog’s Brewing Company.
💡 Big, Bright, Colorful Lights
The holidays get brighter with the Parade of Lights at Lake Mead on Dec. 6, where you can watch illuminated boats go by from Boulder Beach, and the debut of GlowFest on Dec. 20 (near Paradise and Sahara) with “five realms” of light installations that expand far beyond Christmas imagery.
🍸 Repeal Day Celebrations
Here’s another holiday Las Vegas can get behind: Repeal Day (on Dec. 5), which celebrates the end of Prohibition. Mark the occasion with a party at The Underground at the Mob Museum and special cocktails at the Laundry Room speakeasy in Fremont East.
- Booze can do good this month too. Earn tickets for a rare whisky raffle to benefit S.A.F.E. House at Khoury’s Fine Wine & Spirits by donating a toy or spending at least $25.
🎄 Okay, Okay, More Christmas Stuff …
Do some holiday shopping at the Cowboy Christmas pop-up market (coinciding with the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo) at the Convention Center, see a performance of the Nevada Conservatory Theatre’s A Christmas Carol 1941 at UNLV or The Blanche DeBris Emergency Xmas Broadcast at the Majestic Repertory Theatre, and learn about global holiday traditions at the Las Vegas Science & Natural History’s A December to Remember.
- City Cast Las Vegas weighs in with more cool stuff to do in December. [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]
